Advice and Tips for Players and DMs/GMs
Curated by: RPG PHD (139 videos)
Dr. Ben discusses character death in ttrpgs (Episode #184). #dnd #pathfinder #ttrpg #wfrp Website https://rpgphd.com/ Discord https://discord.gg/e49rJVQCwW RPG PHD swag!!! https://rpg-phd.myspreadshop.com Facebook https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100089593636905 Instagram https://www.instagram.com/rpg_phd/ Bluesky @rpg-phd.bsky.social Special thanks to Evelina for the thumbnail template, much appreciated!! 😊 Why this grief is psychologically real, why a beloved character can start to feel as real as a friend, what actors already know about exiting a role cleanly, where this research gets misapplied, and a full step-by-step guide for running a character's death at the table. Full source list linked below. Drop a comment with how your table has handled a character's death, we're collecting these for a future video. TTRPG, tabletop RPG, D&D, Dungeons and Dragons, character death, character loss, grief psychology, parasocial relationships, parasocial grief, disenfranchised grief, continuing bonds, narrative transportation, de-roling, drama therapy, bleed larp, tabletop gaming, GM tips, dungeon master advice, game master, roleplaying psychology, psychology of grief, TTRPG psychology, character retirement, worldbuilding, campaign design, RPG theory, tabletop community, actor training, grief theory, meaning reconstruction, dual process model, DnD tips, homebrew campaign, session zero --------------------------------------------- 00:00 Intro 01:16 Why the Grief is Real 07:22 How Real is a Chraacter 14:47 Leaving a Character 19:05 Greif Models 23:23 Pitfalls 26:00 Step by Step Guide 30:46 Thoughts? -------------------------------------------- Works Cited Bailey, Sally, and Daijah Porchia. "De-Roling from Experiences and Identities in Virtual Worlds." K-State Research Exchange, Kansas State University, 2014. Boss, Emily Care. "Romance and Gender in Role Playing Games: Too Hot to Handle?" Presentation, Ropecon, Helsinki, 2007. Bowman, Sarah Lynne. "Bleed: The Spillover Between Player and Character." Nordic Larp, 2 Mar. 2015, nordiclarp.org/2015/03/02/bleed-the-spillover-between-player-and-character/. Broom, Timothy W., Robert S. Chavez, and Dylan D. Wagner. "Becoming the King in the North: Identification with Fictional Characters Is Associated with Greater Self-Other Neural Overlap." Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience, vol. 16, no. 6, 2021, pp. 541–51. Cohen, Jonathan. "Defining Identification: A Theoretical Look at the Identification of Audiences with Media Characters." Mass Communication & Society, vol. 4, no. 3, 2001, pp. 245–64. Doka, Kenneth J. Disenfranchised Grief: Recognizing Hidden Sorrow. Lexington Books, 1989. Eyal, Keren, and Jonathan Cohen. "When Good Friends Say Goodbye: A Parasocial Breakup Study." Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media, vol. 50, no. 3, 2006, pp. 502–23. Gardner, Wendi L., and Megan L. Knowles. "Love Makes You Real: Favorite Television Characters Are Perceived as 'Real' in a Social Facilitation Paradigm." Social Cognition, vol. 26, no. 2, 2008, pp. 156–68. Green, Melanie C., and Timothy C. Brock. "The Role of Transportation in the Persuasiveness of Public Narratives." Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, vol. 79, no. 5, 2000, pp. 701–21. Johnson, David Read, and Renée Emunah, editors. Current Approaches in Drama Therapy. 2nd ed., Charles C. Thomas, 2009. Klass, Dennis, et al., editors. Continuing Bonds: New Understandings of Grief. Taylor & Francis, 1996. Kübler-Ross, Elisabeth. On Death and Dying. Macmillan, 1969. Lassken, Savannagh. "Persona Non Grata: A Systematic Review of De-Roling in Drama Therapy." Drama Therapy Review, vol. 3, no. 2, 2017, pp. 165–78. Neimeyer, Robert A. Meaning Reconstruction and the Experience of Loss. American Psychological Association, 2001. Snodgrass, Jeffrey G., et al. "Tabletop Role-Playing Games as Drama Therapy in the Wild: Developing Personal Bonds with Characters Improves Players' Self-Concepts." Transcultural Psychiatry, 2026, doi:10.1177/13634615261418363. Music and Sounds: https://www.epidemicsound.com/track/Erdns8jA3D/ https://www.epidemicsound.com/track/MRyCi54t7M/ https://www.epidemicsound.com/track/AQBpWzOsID/ https://www.epidemicsound.com/track/yCvSWOBYUe/ Music: http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/ https://www.epidemicsound.com/track/c0X3Z8H8uZ/ https://www.epidemicsound.com/track/yCvSWOBYUe/ Music: http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/ https://www.epidemicsound.com/track/bWHPOsoaql/ https://www.epidemicsound.com/track/uDAHxg3lIS/ https://www.epidemicsound.com/track/e3mQvva1kZ/ https://www.epidemicsound.com/track/e3mQvva1kZ/ https://www.epidemicsound.com/track/e3mQvva1kZ/ https://www.epidemicsound.com/track/2dLRmfzdA5/ https://www.epidemicsound.com/track/jrNZjxJQqZ/ https://www.epidemicsound.com/track/c0X3Z8H8uZ/ https://www.epidemicsound.com/sound-effects/tracks/8c51eca6-dbb5-4925-b4ec-7ee51630322e