I believe that role playing games have tremendous potential for helping us to develop deeper empathy, connect with parts of ourselves we often ignore, and imagine new ways of being in the world. Play can teach us things about our “real” selves that we might otherwise miss, and experiences of play can be steered in a transformative direction if approached with intention and attention. Approaching "heavy" topics can also feel less threatening when viewed through a playful lens; it can give us permission to be vulnerable in a safer container than our everyday life might provide.

I also firmly believe that, through play, we can imagine better worlds into being. Yes, building a better world takes hands-on, hard work, but imagination and play can guide that work in exciting new directions. And, as Terry Pratchett's iconic, anthropomorphic personification of Death says in the book Hogfather, "YOU NEED TO BELIEVE IN THINGS THAT AREN'T TRUE. HOW ELSE CAN THEY BECOME?"

Toward that end, I am developing contemplative journaling games that can be played on your own time, as tools to help you reconnect with yourself and your world. Any games that I develop can be found and downloaded (for free) below or by going to my itch.io page.

insight checks

insight checks is a collection of five meditative, introspective games, to be played alone or with a friend, that aim to help strengthen your connection to yourself, your community, and the world around you.

the games in this collection are as follows:

• the other you: a game that uses biofeedback (body sensations) to guide you through various prompts imagining what your self in an alternate universe might be facing and bearing compassionate witness to that alternate self.
• wayfinding: a game about discernment, where you will write a letter from your future self who has made a decision you’re facing to your current self, telling you about the outcome of that decision.
• attendant spirits: a game about the power of belief in shaping reality, wherein you will take on the perspective of an “attendant spirit” witnessing your real human self and offering wisdom and encouragement to your human self in various scenarios.
• true voice: a game about recognizing your own true voice, the voice of your inner knowing, through self-reflection and noting how it feels to state facts vs. falsehoods.
• sacred: a game that takes the form of a small ritual to explore what is sacred to you.

each game begins with a brief introduction, which includes some framing for the purpose of the game, notes on how to bring a friend into the game with you if you wish, a list of any suggested materials for play, and some notes on safety. at the conclusion of each game is some space for reflection and an invitation to potentially integrate something you may have learned or gained from the game experience into your everyday life before you are gently guided back to the here and now.

listen

this is a game about listening. it is also, on some level, a game about animism, a philosophical/theological/spiritual framework that allows for the possibility that everything we interact with or come across in existence has at least the potential for sentience and agency. whether you consider yourself an animist or not doesn't matter in the context of this game, but being open to the possibility that the beings and objects you interact with might have some underlying personality, whether innate or imbued, will make this experience more interesting.