Adam and I have spoken around the country about the benefits of tabletop role-playing games like Dungeons and Dragons. At our PAX South panel, we outlined four reasons we use tabletop games in our social skills groups in the Seattle area. We recently came across this TEDx talk by Ethan Gilsdorf, author of the book Fantasy Freaks and Gaming Geeks, about his personal experience with the game and some other ways tabletop role-playing games benefit all who play.

In addition to giving a great summary of what a tabletop role-playing game actually looks like, Ethan highlights an impressive list of important benefits given by tabletop games: Collaboration, teamwork, preparedness, innovation, problem solving, resilience, character building, moral choice, empathy, tolerance, and of course imagination… just to name a few.

Adam Johns and I talk about how Wheelhouse Workshop "helps teens build social skills using tabletop role-playing games" all the time. We recently spoke at Emerald City Comicon for the second time about how we specifically use these types of games to help teens and adolescents become "more confident, creative, and socially capable."  We’ve been facilitating games therapeutically for five years, we’ve spoken at conventions around the country and even taught a class to therapists about these games, and yet we still hear the question all the time and have trouble answering it.