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We’re joined this week by Matthew Surber, who’s both the Program Director at the West River Center in Maryland and a game designer affiliated with Defy Danger Adventures. We actually found Matthew through the most unlikely of sources (Reddit comments, of all things) but he turned out to be a fantastic guest! After addressing Patreon backer Tom’s question about broad and narrow skills in roleplaying games, and a quick diversion from Jenny about the dangers of Canada’s nuclear wildlife, we buckled down with Matthew to discuss applying counseling principles to games. Matthew’s got a Master’s degree in counseling and a Dungeon World game he runs for his other camp counselors; naturally, he had a lot of excellent advice to give about trust, bonds, empathy, and saying ‘yes’ as a GM and player.
Games mentioned this episode: Dungeon World; Beyond The Wall; Pugmire; Honey Heist; The Skeletons; Ten Candles.
Other things mentioned this episode: MegaDumbCast (MDC); Defy Danger Adventures; STG 25 with Jack Berkenstock; The Bodhana Group; Wheelhouse Workshop; and that rad Honey Heist t-shirt.
Matthew can be found on Twitter at @TheRealSurberus.
Scripture: Jonah 2:2, Psalm 119:76, Mark 2:15-17
One thought on “Episode 114 – Gaming and Counseling (with Matthew Surber)”
Wow, my question came up already. I guess that’s the fun of a random table. I think my preferences have evolved like yours. Back in high school I played in a home-brew RuneQuest variant that had over 250 different skills. It was designed that way across the board as Matthew commented about and was a lot of fun. I go back and forth as to which I prefer and the pendulum is settling somewhere in the middle. The comments about having things that describe your character and inform what part of broad skill sets are actually part of your character concept were also great. I hadn’t ever really thought about that possibility. As always, another great episode. Now I just have to come up with another question.