Social Support Derived from Virtual and Analog Table-Top Role-Playing Games: The Supportive Role of Table-Top Gaming.

Tabletop Role-Playing Games (TRPGs) for disaster response management are collaborative exercises in which participants take on the roles of characters, guided by a “Game Master.” TRPG are useful tools for training, improving the preparedness of emergency responders, and understanding/validating Agent-Based Models (ABMs). This study evaluates the knowledge of participants and assessed the effectiveness of utilizing TRPG in validating a NetLogo model. Medical doctors and master’s students were divided into two groups, who participated in the exercise based on defined disaster response strategies. The central components of the ABM were transformed into a Disaster Response Tabletop Role-Playing Game (DRTRPG). Medical doctors and master’s degree students were assigned to two groups in the exercise that is based on defined disaster response strategies. Multichoice pre- and post-assessment tests were used to evaluate each group’s knowledge, while a performance scoring matrix was used to generate data from in-game activity. Data was analyzed using Pandas and MS Excel data analytical tools. Pre and post-assessment test results (n = 8) showed an 11.5% and 3.1% increase in knowledge for medical doctors and students on disaster and healthcare decision-making, respectively. Visual comparison between the ABM and DRTRPG results reveals partial model validity. However, statistical comparison shows a clear variation in the outcomes. The “Alternate” policy strategy resulted in better disaster response outcomes. The design and implementation of the DRTRPG resulted in a collaborative understanding and communication of the ABMS model with promising results. However, there are significant statistical differences between both methodologies, highlighting the challenge of validating the predictive capabilities of ABMS using RPGs.

From a young age, children are exposed to societal standards of gender and gender roles and, by extension, inherent sex-based biases, which can become inculcated into their worldview. These biases affect their daily lives negatively in ways that can seem almost natural unless specifically pointed out. Table Top Role Playing Games (TTRPGs) are pen-and-paper games that revolve around collaborative storytelling in a shared, collectively imagined and built world, usually involving 2 to 5 players. TTRPGs provide a safe, controlled environment to mimic social interactions in a way that video games and other forms of media cannot. This paper introduces a new TTRPG, New Age Mages, aimed at a younger audience, with the goal of introducing the concept of biases and helping them to see things from a different perspective. In New Age Mages, players interact with a world where magic is commonplace as students that have recently unlocked their magic, while a Game Master (GM) narrates the world as determined by the players’ choices. The game’s magic system allows it to mimic the influence and/or impact of modern-day gender roles and biases without referring to them directly while remaining simple and easy to learn for a new player. The game also aims to subtly incentivise the Players to make decisions that would be different from what they might usually make, and promote trying to understand the others’ points of view. We believe this game will be useful for those seeking to help children gain a better understanding of gender roles and their subversion. We use a questionnaire based on the Gender Role Attitudes Scale (GRAS) to measure the impact gameplay has on players’ ideas of gender roles. We also test the game with some initial gameplay experiments among a smaller audience that is more familiar with TTRPGs and present the results. Our work explores not only the ability of TTRPGs to influence perspectives and opinions, but also doing so specifically in the space of understanding gender roles among a younger audience.

In tabletop roleplaying games (TTRPGs), game masters (GMs) facilitate creating an improvisational shared story, responding in real time to the actions that players take and the things that they want to see in the world. In order to examine the process by which GMs co-create such player-driven narratives, we conduct interviews with GMs about their process preparing for and running TTRPG campaigns. We qualitatively code these interviews in order to synthesize a list of techniques GMs can use to move the story forward. We also compare these interviews to other sources of advice for GMing in sourcebooks and essays. Using the GMing techniques found through this analysis, we discuss insights into the GMing process and how this can be used to inform the design of a computational assistant for GMs.

Master all the skills you need to deliver a tabletop role-playing game programme in the library. For librarians or teachers who aren't players themselves, the scope of role-playing games can seem overwhelming. Starting from the basics, <i>Let's Roll</i> is a practical guide to delivering a tabletop role-playing game (TTRPG) in a school or public library, all within the time constraints imposed on library sessions. Coverage includes: A step-by-step guide to setting up a TTRPG programme in your school or public library including an example of a TTRPG proposal; Advice on bringing senior management on board to a TTRPG programme; How to attract players, basic table rules, and preparing as a game master; The health and learning benefits of TTRPGs including creativity, teamwork, cooperation, boosting confidence and encouraging reading; A comprehensive list of TTRPG games and how to implement them. <br><br>Featuring case studies from librarians around the world focusing on their experiences setting up TTRPGs, <i>Let's Roll</i> will help librarians, teachers and other educators deliver an engaging programme that results in significant benefits on a budget - and is a huge amount of fun!

We propose the concept of a game system that includes an automatic story-generation function based on a table-top role playing game (TRPG). In this idea, stories are generated or transformed based on communication between a “game master (GM),” who controls the story generation, and “players (PLs),” who change and transform the content of a story proposed by a GM. This paper focuses on the mechanism for changing and transforming a story proposed by the GM. In particular, the proposed mechanism has various techniques ranging from macro-level techniques, which are related to the entire structure of a story, to micro-level techniques, which are related to the partial structures of a story. For instance, when the GM is a real human, these techniques in the PLs, who are computer agents, can produce changed and transformed stories that were not originally conceptualized by the GM.

We present a design plan of a narrative generation system based on a scenario generation method for tabletop role-playing games (TRPGs). This system is an application of an integrated narrative generation system. The objective is to support the creation of a narrative by using the interactions between a user and the system. A TRPG is analog, wherein one or more players (PLs) play the role of a character within the framework of a narrative prepared by the game master. Role playing by a PL promotes the development of scenes, and as a result, a big narrative is completed. In this study, we describe the overall constitution of the narrative generation system for implementation.

In this paper, we propose a narrative generation system based on the scenario generation method in tabletop role-playing games (TRPGs). This system uses an integrated narrative generation system (INGS) that synthesizes various narrative generation mechanisms. The TRPG is an analog game in which one or more players (PLs) play the role of characters within the framework of the narrative prepared by the game master (GM). A PL promotes the development of scenes, which leads to the completion of the narrative. In particular, we concentrate on the “world setting” that consists of the rules or constricts for a narrative and also the components defined by the rules and the stage setting of the narrative. In an ordinary scenario, a GM sets a basic world setting for the narrative generation through the interaction between the PLs. We consider preliminarily prepared scripts corresponding to various world settings in addition to the detailed mechanism to use it.

 The aim of the article is to present the phenomenon of using the second-person narrative in tabletop role-playing games. Despite its ambiguous status in literary projects, the dyadic narrative is the basic component of the phenomenon of pen-and-paper RPGs. In the intro­duction, the author briefly introduces the specificity of text-based narrative games and the history of their creation. Then the most popular systems, such as Dungeons & Dragons or Vampire: The Masquerade, were characterized, as well as examples of games created in Poland. To illustrate the phenomenon, official manuals, and recordings of sessions of the most popular Polish artists published on YouTube were used. When discussing examples of second-person narration, the author draws attention to its occurrence in guides and in the statements of the player functioning as the Game Master. The Game Master is a specific narrator of heroes’ adventures, who in his action smoothly moves between different types of narratives (first, sec­ond and third person): he describes the scenery and actions of NPCs and creatures, constructs statements of characters not guided by other participants of the session, but also comments on the actions and commands of player-created heroes. It is precisely in this last type of activity that the dyadic narrative is extremely important. In the statements of the Game Master, it manifests itself primarily as a commentary on the actions of the characters, the continuation of the plot after the actions and statements of the players, and when consulting the heroes’ further actions, but also serves technical communication related primarily to the mechanics of throwing polyhedral dice. The use of a second-person narrative in RPGs primarily contributes to increasing the immersion, the involvement, and the sense of interactivity between players.

Islamic population constitute more than 20% of the world population and is growing rapidly. Nevertheless, data concerning informal caregiving to older Muslim patients diagnosed with cancer are scarce. Improving the well-being of caregivers is a vital step to optimal care for the patients themselves throughout the Muslim community and the world. This study focuses on a sample of Palestinian caregivers of older Muslim patients diagnosed with cancer living in East Jerusalem, the West Bank, and Gaza. The study aims to describe the socio-demographic characteristics of the caregivers and to understand their social support, and identify predictors of caregivers' depression. A cross-sectional study of a convenience sample of 99 dyads of Palestinian patients (age ≥65) and their informal caregivers. Depression and social support were measured using the five items of the Geriatric Depression Scale and the Cancer Perceived Agents of Social Support questionnaire. Caregivers were most frequently adult children (52%) or spouses (32%), with male patients cared for by spouses (47.5%) or sons (32%), and female patients by daughters (50%). Clinical levels of depression were reported by 76% of the caregivers and 85% of patients. The significant predictors of caregiver depression were female gender, lower education, lower perceived social support from spouse and family, and higher perceived support from faith. Healthcare providers serving the study population should determine the position and role of the caregiver within the social and family structure surrounding the patients' families. This understanding may facilitate overcoming barriers to effective and meaningful social support.

Purpose We explored the lived experience of high-school aged girls receiving social support during concussion recovery to better understand (1) how they define meaningful social support and barriers/facilitators to receiving it; (2) who provides that support; and (3) the role of peers. Methods In person, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 10 girls (aged 14–19 years) with a personal history of concussion. Results Close friends, youth with personal history of concussion, and parents were identified as key providers of meaningful social support during concussion recovery. Participants identified specific examples of support provided by each group. Close friends built a sense of social inclusion that mitigated feelings of social isolation. Youth with a personal history of concussion used their lived experiences to communicate empathy and validate the participant’s challenges. Parents assisted with practical challenges (e.g. accessing accommodations) by leveraging their “adult power”. Participants identified that lack of understanding of their lived experiences was a key barrier to receiving support. They proposed solutions focused on education initiatives highlighting personal accounts from youth with concussion, and specific examples of how peers can help. Conclusions Fostering social support may require strategies tailored to each group of key providers as they mitigate different challenges in recovery.

Tabletop role-playing Games (RPG), such as Dungeons & Dragons (D&D) use dice in order to control the outcome actions by characters when the Game Master needs to introduce randomness. While dice are fundamental to such games, the examination of dice as objects of design has not been explored. This study examines fifty-nine participants (thirty familiar with the D20 set system) and asks them to examine two 7-die sets commonly used in D&D, the first set being a common set of polyhedrons, and the other set designed to replicate the objects used by a Wizard. It examines the fairness perceptions of the participants and finds that players who have experience with the polyhedral set in the past are more likely to accept the fairness of Wizard dice, and that all players are more likely to accept the fairness of the Wizard set after a play session.

This article is a preliminary exploratory analysis of the narrator in Baldur’s Gate III seen as a digital simulation of an analogue game master (GM). As the reception of Baldur’s Gate series has always been closely linked to its analogue predecessor, Dungeons & Dragons, the main context of the analysis is theoretical reflections concerning tabletop role-playing games (TRPG), especially in relation to digital ones. The analysis covers not only a close reading of some of the in-game utterances, but also the commentary of Amelia Tyler, the actress lending her voice to the narrator. The author argues that while all installments of the series attempted to re-create certain experiences characteristic of TRPG sessions through the digital medium, one of key differences between Baldur’s Gate III and its predecessors is that it features a complex, voiced narration, designed according to real-life GMs.

In tabletop role-playing games, the game master and players in a group are encouraged to construct their own fictive world in which they can play. By using a critical world-building approach, we analyse the garments and accessories in the illustrations in Player’s Handbook (2014) for Dungeons & Dragons (5th edition) and find that clothes have four conspicuous functions in establishing a world of possibilities from which a group of players can build their game world. The four functions are: to convey that the world is one of action and magic, to provide a range of cultural and historical alternatives to the traditional pseudomedieval fantasy world, to communicate what is important about particular groups, and to maintain a difference between female wizards as physical and sexualised and male wizards as people of knowledge and military competence.

People rely on their personal networks for an abundance of resources, including emotional, social, and physical support. Digital media provide many tools for seeking and using these networks and their social benefits. Social networks are particularly useful to help enhance individual coping capabilities, and the emergence of digital media and technologies has broadened access to meaningful social support during stressful situations by creating both informal and formal spaces for interaction. This chapter first presents a conceptual overview of stress, coping, and social support before addressing the role of digital media in these processes. Additionally, several exemplar crises (e.g., natural disasters) are highlighted that reveal the utility, versatility, and challenges with online social support. Lastly, this chapter presents the COVID-19 pandemic as a case study for examining the intersection of digital media, social support, and emotion-focused coping during a time when online interactions were a vital source of connection.

Spousal loss, common in older age, has been linked to negative mental health outcomes and well-being, yet the mechanisms linking spousal loss and mental health are still unclear. To investigate whether physical activity, social support, and gender modify the psychological distress effects of marital loss among community-dwelling older persons in Ghana. Data from a 2016/2017 Ageing, Health, Psychological Well-being, and Health-seeking Behavior Study (N = 1,200) were examined. OLS regression models examined associations between spousal loss and psychological distress outcomes and interaction terms. Spousal loss (widowhood and divorce/separation) was associated with psychological distress (measured by the Kessler Psychological Distress Scale [KPDS-10]) for the full sample (β = .798, p < .001), women (β = .831, p < .001) and for men (β = .533, p < .05). After adjusting for potential confounders, the associations between spousal loss and psychological distress persisted for the full sample (β = .727, p < .001) and females only (β = .730, p < .001). In particular, when experiencing spousal loss, those with meaningful social support (β = -.856, p < .005) and engaged in physical activity (β = -.258, p < .001) were less likely to be psychologically distressed. Spousal loss precipitates an independent risk of psychological distress in older age particularly among women, but social support and physical activity engagements moderate the relationship. These findings support the premise that providing opportunities to improve social support and regular physical activity may buffer the effects of psychological distress among older persons experiencing spousal loss. Providing support for older adults in times of divorce and widowhood, and working towards changes in social attitudes towards divorce are important considerations.