The Dungeons, Dragons, & Psychology Podcast
The Dungeons, Dragons, & Psychology Podcast is a TTRPG podcast that helps collaborative storytellers build great campaigns using psychology. Each episode dives into different aspects of tabletop roleplaying games, and offers listeners (psyclithids) tricks of the trade for how to improve their own games. Your host, Robert Walker, is a longtime DM and student of psychology and is the author of "Session Zero: The DMG to Writing Great Campaigns in any System."
Recent Episodes
Oct. 4, 2025
Emotional Regulation with Session Zero
Text us, Psyclithids Session Zero isn’t just about rolling stats and swapping backstories—it’s the primary emotional regulation tool for your group. In this episode of The Dungeons, Dragons, and Psychology Podcast, we dive into why Session Zero matters so much, and how it sets the tone for your ent…
Sept. 30, 2025
Defense Mechanisms for RPGs: Realism at the Table
Text us, Psyclithids What happens to an adventurer after the dragon burns their village, or when they fail to save an innocent life? In this episode, we dive deep into the psychology of defense mechanisms—the unconscious strategies people use to protect themselves from overwhelming stress—and explo…
Sept. 27, 2025
The Impostor Syndrome of the DM (a.k.a. The Matt Mercer Effect)
Text us, Psyclithids Do you ever feel like you’re “not good enough” to be a Dungeon Master? That pressure to run the perfect game… That voice in your head saying, “I’m a fraud”? This week on The Dungeons, Dragons, and Psychol...
Sept. 23, 2025
The Psychology of the Bard's Influence
Text us, Psyclithids Is the bard’s silver tongue just a fun game mechanic, or does it reflect real-world psychology? In this episode of The Dungeons, Dragons, and Psychology Podcast, we explore the fascinating connection between the bard’s abilities and the science of persuasion, charisma, and soci…
Sept. 20, 2025
Cognitive Dissonance in Immersive TTRPGs
Text us, Psyclithids Have you ever made a choice for your D&D character that felt like a betrayal? You know, when your Lawful Good Paladin lies, or your nature-loving Ranger fells a sacred tree? That feeling of internal conflict is a real-world psychological phenomenon called cognitive dissonan…
Sept. 11, 2025
Critical Comeback: More Episodes, More Guests, More Psychology, New Directions
Text us, Psyclithids 🎙️ Welcome back, Psyclithids! After a long break, The Dungeons, Dragons, & Psychology Podcast is returning on Sunday, September 21st with a full run of new content—two episodes per week, straight through the holidays. In this short episode, I share what’s ahead for the show…
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