Psychologists are using the game to help patients notice patterns of behavior. Alaina Demopoulos gives it a try
I am Goldie, a druid with long white hair and the half-human, half-horse body of a centaur. I walk into a lush, green forest with my constant companion, a goat named Penny. As we tread down a winding pathway, we start to smell the rotting stench of decay. Then we see it: the corpses of other animals, decayed beyond belief, spores poking from their bodies. There are mushrooms everywhere.
It’s a little after 9pm and I’m sitting at my kitchen table in Brooklyn, Zooming into to a fantastical journey led by Megan A Connell, a licensed psychologist who uses Dungeons & Dragons during therapy groups. She’s leading me through a round of the popular tabletop game to help me notice patterns of behavior.