This channel aspires to help new and seasoned players, GMs/DMs and designers advance in their craft by creating more compelling narratives, constructing richer and more immersive game-worlds, improving their improvisational skills, and striving to be exceptional in the tabletop RPG arena. Greetings and welcome to RPG PHD! With over 35 years of experience playing role-playing games, I am thrilled to witness how this hobby has flourished, transformed, and gained greater acceptance than ever before. Alongside my passion for RPGs, I have pursued a professional career as a theater professor, facilitator, actor, writer, director, and storyteller, teaching people of all ages how to act, write, direct, play RPGs, and craft captivating narratives.
My goal is to empower new players by equipping them with the necessary tools and skills to enhance their confidence and enjoyment of the game. Thank you for joining me, and I hope you find value in what RPG PHD has to offer! - Dr. Ben
RPG PHD
https://youtu.be/I7fGMU6n5iQ
Many table problems get blamed on player engagement or GM skill. But there's a 90-year-old acting manual that diagnoses almost all of them by name. Part one of a two-part series is live. Concentration, Memory of Emotion, and Dramatic Action applied to players, GMs, and designers.
6 hours ago | [YT] | 0
View 0 replies
RPG PHD
Ever drop a villain's voice mid-scene to check your phone, then pick it right back up like nothing happened? Sociologist Erving Goffman spent his career studying that exact gap. This week on RPG PHD, we're breaking down front stage, back stage, and impression management, and applying it directly to your GM screen, your NPCs, and the split between your character self and your actual self at the table.
https://youtu.be/xVbBKDu7Arc
1 week ago | [YT] | 9
View 0 replies
RPG PHD
Why does one failed roll ruin someone's session while another player shrugs it off?
It's not resilience. It's psychology.
Three frameworks explain what's actually happening when failure lands at your table: one for how much it hurts, one for where the blame goes, and one for why you're still thinking about it a week later.
https://youtu.be/VkJ_TIU0js8
2 weeks ago | [YT] | 19
View 6 replies
RPG PHD
Your character feels hollow. The campaign is good. The GM is doing everything right. So what's wrong? Identity psychology has an answer. Three frameworks, one diagnosis: you might be playing the wrong character for who you actually are.
https://youtu.be/rsuSfl-clyo
2 weeks ago | [YT] | 20
View 0 replies
RPG PHD
The monster isn't what frightens them. The corridor is. Five fields of research explain why the architecture gets to your players before any threat does. New video up now.https://youtu.be/PKvKQQuNcAI
4 weeks ago | [YT] | 11
View 0 replies
RPG PHD
That one player who's always in the middle of every scene? There's a reason your table keeps producing them and it's not what you think. In this week's RPG PHD, Dr. Ben breaks down the psychology of Main Character Syndrome in TTRPGs. Six frameworks. One loop. And a step-by-step GM toolkit for designing your way out of it.
https://youtu.be/qyPUL8Oyuko
1 month ago | [YT] | 12
View 0 replies
RPG PHD
Hey everyone,
I just wanted to take a moment to say thank you. We hit 10,000 subscribers on the channel and I am humbled by it. When I started RPG PHD I had no idea if anyone would care about applying academic frameworks to tabletop RPGs. Turns out there are a lot of you out there who love this hobby as deeply and thoughtfully as I do and I could not be more grateful for that. The comment sections, the Discord conversations, the questions and pushback and shared experiences, all of it has made the content better and reminded me why I love this hobby. None of this happens without all of you and so thanks to each and every one of you who made this possible.
Sincerely,
Dr. Ben
1 month ago | [YT] | 150
View 23 replies
RPG PHD
Why do engaged players stop engaging? New RPG PHD breaks down Self-Determination Theory and the three psychological needs your campaign is either meeting or destroying: autonomy, competence, and relatedness. https://youtu.be/JHgRQMnKEl0
1 month ago | [YT] | 23
View 4 replies
RPG PHD
Had a blast on the Creative Contraband podcast talking about authority in TTRPG spaces. Specifically, what Stanley Milgram's obedience experiments can teach us about the GM-player relationship. Ever wonder why some players become murderhobos and others push back on every authority structure the GM sets up? Milgram might have an answer. open.spotify.com/episode/1feRqnvZsmogkYDy8GUvUh?si…
1 month ago | [YT] | 27
View 2 replies
RPG PHD
Your passive player problem is a psychology problem. The Bystander Effect explains exactly why players disengage. New RPG PHD video: the research, the design audit, and the fix.
https://youtu.be/rhMi6Ob52VI
1 month ago | [YT] | 10
View 0 replies
Load more