a Christian podcast about tabletop RPGs and collaborative storytelling

Episode 114 – Gaming and Counseling (with Matthew Surber)


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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

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