Below you will find our first few successful quests into thr workd of academic publishing that link Dungeons and Dragons and Higher Education
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.
Baker, I.S., Turner, I.J. & Kotera, Y. Role-play Games (RPGs) for Mental Health (Why Not?): Roll for Initiative. Int J Ment Health Addiction (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11469-022-00832-y
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.
Turner, I. J., & Robinson, L. A. A Table-Top Role-Playing Game (TTRPG) for developing Higher Education employability skills (2023). Innovative Practice in Higher Education, 5(1) - link
How can a game such as Dungeons and Dragons support children in primary science? Lewis Morgan and Ian Turner explain
Morgan, L., & Turner, I. J. (2021) Can playing table-top role-play games help children learn? Primary Science, 170, 30-32 – Reprinted in Assoc. Science Education Int. Journal, 15 (1), 10-13.
Below are a selection of books that explore some aspect of Dungeons and Dragon or Role-Playing Games. They range from transdisciplinary studies, to the culture impacts and influences of the medium. A much more extensive list of game based books (including RPG) can be found on this virtual bookshelf managed by one of our DM's (link)
By Sarah Lynne Bowman - link
The link will take you to a Padlet Digitial Bookcase curated by Prof. Ian Turner which contains a wide range of books linked to games, game-based learning and gamification.