COVID-19 has impacted the mental health of the general public negatively, associated with preventative measures, restricting life activities. These restrictions, such as the stay-at-home strategy, resulted in heightened stress, depression, loneliness, substance abuse, and domestic violence, violating people’s occupational and personal lives. During the pandemic, the demands for role-play games (RPGs) have increased: for example, the sales of “Dungeons & Dragons” tripled, underscoring the potential mental health benefits of such games. However, research into the mental health benefits of such games remains under-developed, needing more scientific attention. Accordingly, this commentary paper reviews the existing literature, and suggests areas for application and research about RPGs and mental health including psychotherapy, career guidance, education, and people with disabilities. Insights offered can help practitioners and researchers in RPGs and mental health conduct empirical research and develop alternative approaches for mental health in stressful times. 

Employability provision in Higher Education is traditionally delivered in-curricula and adapted to the values and skills sets of programmes. In addition, extra-curricula & co-curricular employability activities are often available on demand to students. This paper presents the use of a table-top role-playing game (TTRPG) as the pedagogic delivery mechanism an extra-curricular employability skills session. The TTRPG involves players trying to navigate their way through a series of puzzles that are designed to develop specific employability skills. The game was delivered both physically and digitally to 42 players with unified positive feedback. TTRPG show potential as a tool for students, in an abstract way, to explore and realise their own employability skill.

How can a game such as Dungeons and Dragons support children in primary science? Lewis Morgan and Ian Turner explain