Hey everybody,  I am ,for all practical purposes, new to rpg gaming. I played a good bit of D&D in high school about twenty years ago, but haven't had an opportunity since. I am now an LPC counselor who works with adolescents and young adults in private practice. I also help run an adventure based counseling program at a school that incorporates climbing walls, canoe trips, hiking, and running groups of elementary students.
My renewed interest in the rpg community is twofold, I would like to play again just because I enjoyed it so much, and I would also like to examine the possibilities of using rpg games therapeutically with adolescents from a group counseling perspective.
If anyone has any thoughts about this or knows of an opening for a beginner in a d&d game I would love to hear from you.

Thanks, Nick

P.S.  This is my first experience posting on a forum, so if I am doing anything incorrectly please let me know.

Welcome to the Forum Nick!

Good news... you are following forum posting etiquette, so no problems.

There are a number of gaming groups that use this Forum around the Greater New Orleans area.  What part of town do you have a preference for playing?  That would help some of the other groups reach out.  Also sounds like you are looking for the traditional 'sword & sorcery' fantasy RPG, but over the last few years there has been an explosion in options ranging from traditional D&D to Future (space exploration, aliens, space westerns, etc.) campaigns.

You may want to check out the d20 'Open Game Licensing' options, which have free rules for various genres.

I have never used a game for therapeutic reasons, but will say it does help me unwind and release stress from work!  Also the experiences/skills learnt while DM/GM'ing related to understanding Player motivation, inter-Player Conflict Management, Public Speaking, etc. have been of huge benefits to me in my professional life.  I am sure there must be folks who have tried this somewhere on the web that can give you advice.

So go ahead and check out the Forums, and have fun!

 

Welcome to the board.

That's an interesting concept to try to put into practice.  I wrote a paper years ago on the social structure of gaming groups and I can see how there might be some therapeutic aspects to gaming for that population.  Good luck!

Thanks for the replies.  I live in Metairie, but I am willing to play in the gno. I was thinking of traditional d&d, but only because that is all I know.

Both of you hit the nail on the head concerning why I think gaming could be a corrective social experience for some adolescents and adults for that matter.  It is a great place to learn social dynamics and conflict resolution because it is like a laboratory. A player can "try on" different personae and attitudes in a hopefully safe environment, see how they work in the group, and apply what they have learned to their everyday social interactions. Not too different from group counseling really, except the therapeutic vehicle is fantasy and the projection of how we really see ourselves in character creation and actions.

Thanks for your thoughts, hopefully we will get to play together sometime. -Nick

Nick,

I spoke with the GM of our group (both Kifaru and I are part of same group) and he would like to extend you an invitation.  We play every Saturday evenings at Uptown just off Louisiana and Magazine.  We are currently playing a Space Western using d20 rules, but also play regular D&D (just not at the moment).

If that time works for you and want to meet a few players, go ahead and send me a Private Mail, so I can send the details. 

All at our table are in mid-30's to early 40's except for one youngin' you can experiment on... (just kidding Wing). 

!---Perhaps I'll come armed this week. Perhaps I won't come at all... See how you fare without a Doc to patch you up!

Experimenting on me won't do much good, i'm way outside standard deviation from the norm. You won't get useful results.

Oh and one of these days, I think a 2nd edition game is in order. Thoughts?

2nd Edition?

Only if I get to play a swashbuckler with a big floppy hat!

Fine with me!