As far as things to help a neuro divergent player (autism, adhd, anxiety): 1) An explicit list of rules at the table. Even if the expectation is common in the community at large, say, don't assume. 2) clearly communicate any non-WOTC rules written game rules somewhere accessible. 3) be consistent in applying rules, inconsistency js an issue for any player, but some forms of neurodivergency thrive best with constants. 4) allow for non-standard modes of roleplay. We often think of roleplaying in terms of funny voices, and gestures, etc. Some may not want to emote that way for any number of reasons. For example, when someone is making a persuasive argument we give them advantage if they can come up with a good one, but this is not accessible to everyone. Allow someone to say "I try to convince him" and let them make a persuasion check. You can even give them a DM inspiration style extra dice to use once a day for a "great" effort. 5) have warnings about content, and means for the players to opt out, even calling a halt to the scene and skipping the content in question.
I’m so blown away by this whole panel. Thank you for raising awareness, thank you for showing so much respect, thank you for always being so inclusive. This once again proves how open and diverse D&D can actually be. You all did a wonderful panel here. Thank you.
Haven't even finished watching, but I am still amazed that Sam Riegel made up a dumb tune for an ad spot and now it is in an epic soundtrack opening for this company's content
I'm just about to watch this. I'm Nick from Germany, 39 years, on the autistic spectrum, and started to know D&D and Critical Role in the first months 2021. I'm already a DM for two players since may, we had 6 sessions yet plus few extra sessions, they find me a very good DM, and my supportive service helped me finding out about how D&D already became a new special interest for me. I love creating a world between buyable campaigns and my own homebrew thoughts and rules. I love watch my players stumble and fight and communicate their way through a world I design and wait for whatever outcome they walk into. I already experienced soon-to-be overloads at the table, but since we act like a small family (my players are my wife and my brother in real life) it is okay to grow together with each other on another level. D&D became a big part of me already within a few months and the three of us can't await the next sessions to see what's next (and, for me, what of my sort of a plan they will explore next). It helps a lot with the everyday struggle everyone of us three has, but for me it is a fascinating way to be social while doing exactly what feels good to me. I can connect several things I got to love during my life so far - videogaming (RPGs and action adventures), playing theatre and musical roles on stages, doing audio plays, singing, writing fantasy books, researching topics all day for local radio stations ... it is a blast (if you can say so) to live this D&D thing to an extend I never knew it was there. I still have struggles with it, because I have to find a middle way. I'm into overplanning for the sessions, spending to much time and money into it, while I have to focus some hours on my work schedule and focus on saving money for more important things like food and rent and so on. It feels like I don't do enough for the game. It doesn't feel perfect. Don't get me wrong, I already know where D&D came from and that one isn't supposed to play with ALL that is to buy there. It's the thing with autistically mirroring the behavior I saw in other lets plays. Some play it just with some dice and some paper and that's it. But some others have massive collections of miniatures, maps, stuff to create a 3D map and playlists full of relatable music in the background. And somehow I feel forced to reproduce this videogame kind of experience for my table because I like it a bit more. But that's when I have to control myself to say "okay, you won't buy more miniatures this month you're fine with what you already purchased". It's like, you know, I would spend my entire money for ALL the minatures I would need for the entire campaign I planned (I even already got the miniature for my BBEG but my players won't meet it anytime soon until somewhen next year). But we are just 19 days ingame time into the whole thing yet. It were intense sessions, some over 15 hours straight because my players want to explore and don't stop too soon. And they love what I create although I'm still a beginner like they are. But somehow I do great. And yeah, I have to learn to work more on the plot and preparing the arcs (which I do nearly everyday and I love it) and we don't know when we play our 7th session because of personal stuff each of us has to do with (I'm the only one on the spectrum though) so yeah that's how it goes in my life with D&D now. A lovable little thing that grew bigger and teaching all three of us little lessions about ourselves.
To add: We never had any session zero and are just fine by working it out while playing. I guess it wouldn't work the way it does if we weren't that familiar with each other.
As you might know, roleplaying games have the potential to enable psychological growth. One of the things we can do that is most conducive to psychological growth is being accepting towards others, e.g. giving up prejudices and moral judgements about people. It seems to me that one of the things most lacking in our world today is empathy, imagining what it's like to be "in someone else's shoes". This lack of empathy is one of the main causes of problems in our world. We can use roleplaying games to show people what it's like to be in someone else's shoes. E.g. if the players hate humanoids (e.g. goblins and kobolds), have a curse transform the player characters into humanoids, and then they will experience what it's like to be on the other side of that relationship, while they (presumably) try to remove the curse.
Very interesting talk. And funnily enough the second video posted today that talks about letting silence just be at the table. If you struggle as a GM, Halfling Hannah just posted a video on it on how to work with it.
As someone with autism and ADHD, it was great to hear from people who've benefited similarly from roleplaying games. I've run and participated in online, forum-based RPGs since I was a teenager but was only able to get a proper D&D campaign now in my 30s. It's opened up a whole new obsession for me in the last few years to the point I'm working on my own system. Solo RPGs are another great way for neurodiverse adults to approach TTRPGs on their own terms and learn the rules yourself in a calm, controlled environment. I would love to see D&D officially take that on.
So helpful and reassuring. My first experience was not good. I am a hesitant to speak as I get used to something/someone new, and I appreciate so much folks sharing that that is okay. 💜
I want to be clear that I enjoyed this conversation and thought it was productive. But as an autistic individual, I have to wonder how people would respond if a panel about gaming and POCs or gaming and gender identity didn't have a panel entirely made up of people from those marginalized populations. It's really weird to me that it's considered acceptable with neurodiversity when it isn't done with other groups.
@@Garchomp4LiFee We don't actually agree. This one conversation was productive, but too many conversations happen without autistic individuals. I apologize. I should have been more clear.
@@synthetic20 good point. i'm autistic and although marieke is autistic and amy is ADHD, i would have liked for the people on the panel to be completely neurodivergent and be able to advocate for themselves. the suggestions were really helpful for me as an autistic DM who wants to run games for neurodivergent players
@@CleoPinto4317 it can naturally be helpful for neurotypical people to discuss issues effecting neurodiverse people, but would you not agree that it's better that a panel on D&D and neurodiversity should really mostly, if not exclusively, be made up of neurodiverse people? we can speak for ourselves and we should be encouraged to
That goes with most all content their videos. I’ve always been disappointed with most all of D&D Beyond’s streaming content. There are so many other great streamers out that creating good content, my time is spent elsewhere.
As far as things to help a neuro divergent player (autism, adhd, anxiety):
1) An explicit list of rules at the table. Even if the expectation is common in the community at large, say, don't assume.
2) clearly communicate any non-WOTC rules written game rules somewhere accessible.
3) be consistent in applying rules, inconsistency js an issue for any player, but some forms of neurodivergency thrive best with constants.
4) allow for non-standard modes of roleplay. We often think of roleplaying in terms of funny voices, and gestures, etc. Some may not want to emote that way for any number of reasons. For example, when someone is making a persuasive argument we give them advantage if they can come up with a good one, but this is not accessible to everyone. Allow someone to say "I try to convince him" and let them make a persuasion check. You can even give them a DM inspiration style extra dice to use once a day for a "great" effort.
5) have warnings about content, and means for the players to opt out, even calling a halt to the scene and skipping the content in question.
I’m so blown away by this whole panel. Thank you for raising awareness, thank you for showing so much respect, thank you for always being so inclusive. This once again proves how open and diverse D&D can actually be. You all did a wonderful panel here. Thank you.
Haven't even finished watching, but I am still amazed that Sam Riegel made up a dumb tune for an ad spot and now it is in an epic soundtrack opening for this company's content
I'm just about to watch this. I'm Nick from Germany, 39 years, on the autistic spectrum, and started to know D&D and Critical Role in the first months 2021. I'm already a DM for two players since may, we had 6 sessions yet plus few extra sessions, they find me a very good DM, and my supportive service helped me finding out about how D&D already became a new special interest for me. I love creating a world between buyable campaigns and my own homebrew thoughts and rules. I love watch my players stumble and fight and communicate their way through a world I design and wait for whatever outcome they walk into. I already experienced soon-to-be overloads at the table, but since we act like a small family (my players are my wife and my brother in real life) it is okay to grow together with each other on another level.
D&D became a big part of me already within a few months and the three of us can't await the next sessions to see what's next (and, for me, what of my sort of a plan they will explore next).
It helps a lot with the everyday struggle everyone of us three has, but for me it is a fascinating way to be social while doing exactly what feels good to me.
I can connect several things I got to love during my life so far - videogaming (RPGs and action adventures), playing theatre and musical roles on stages, doing audio plays, singing, writing fantasy books, researching topics all day for local radio stations ... it is a blast (if you can say so) to live this D&D thing to an extend I never knew it was there.
I still have struggles with it, because I have to find a middle way. I'm into overplanning for the sessions, spending to much time and money into it, while I have to focus some hours on my work schedule and focus on saving money for more important things like food and rent and so on. It feels like I don't do enough for the game. It doesn't feel perfect.
Don't get me wrong, I already know where D&D came from and that one isn't supposed to play with ALL that is to buy there. It's the thing with autistically mirroring the behavior I saw in other lets plays. Some play it just with some dice and some paper and that's it. But some others have massive collections of miniatures, maps, stuff to create a 3D map and playlists full of relatable music in the background. And somehow I feel forced to reproduce this videogame kind of experience for my table because I like it a bit more. But that's when I have to control myself to say "okay, you won't buy more miniatures this month you're fine with what you already purchased".
It's like, you know, I would spend my entire money for ALL the minatures I would need for the entire campaign I planned (I even already got the miniature for my BBEG but my players won't meet it anytime soon until somewhen next year). But we are just 19 days ingame time into the whole thing yet. It were intense sessions, some over 15 hours straight because my players want to explore and don't stop too soon. And they love what I create although I'm still a beginner like they are. But somehow I do great. And yeah, I have to learn to work more on the plot and preparing the arcs (which I do nearly everyday and I love it) and we don't know when we play our 7th session because of personal stuff each of us has to do with (I'm the only one on the spectrum though) so yeah that's how it goes in my life with D&D now. A lovable little thing that grew bigger and teaching all three of us little lessions about ourselves.
To add: We never had any session zero and are just fine by working it out while playing. I guess it wouldn't work the way it does if we weren't that familiar with each other.
As you might know, roleplaying games have the potential to enable psychological growth.
One of the things we can do that is most conducive to psychological growth is being accepting towards others, e.g. giving up prejudices and moral judgements about people.
It seems to me that one of the things most lacking in our world today is empathy, imagining what it's like to be "in someone else's shoes". This lack of empathy is one of the main causes of problems in our world. We can use roleplaying games to show people what it's like to be in someone else's shoes. E.g. if the players hate humanoids (e.g. goblins and kobolds), have a curse transform the player characters into humanoids, and then they will experience what it's like to be on the other side of that relationship, while they (presumably) try to remove the curse.
Very interesting talk. And funnily enough the second video posted today that talks about letting silence just be at the table. If you struggle as a GM, Halfling Hannah just posted a video on it on how to work with it.
As someone with autism and ADHD, it was great to hear from people who've benefited similarly from roleplaying games. I've run and participated in online, forum-based RPGs since I was a teenager but was only able to get a proper D&D campaign now in my 30s. It's opened up a whole new obsession for me in the last few years to the point I'm working on my own system.
Solo RPGs are another great way for neurodiverse adults to approach TTRPGs on their own terms and learn the rules yourself in a calm, controlled environment. I would love to see D&D officially take that on.
So helpful and reassuring. My first experience was not good. I am a hesitant to speak as I get used to something/someone new, and I appreciate so much folks sharing that that is okay. 💜
This was a great conversation, my daughter is 5 and Autistic and I can't wait till she is old enough to play!
Owlbear rodeo is a GEM. It would be awesome to see D&D Beyond integrated with it.
I want to be clear that I enjoyed this conversation and thought it was productive. But as an autistic individual, I have to wonder how people would respond if a panel about gaming and POCs or gaming and gender identity didn't have a panel entirely made up of people from those marginalized populations. It's really weird to me that it's considered acceptable with neurodiversity when it isn't done with other groups.
I agree. We should be more accepting of POC subject panels with non-POC panel members.
@@Garchomp4LiFee We don't actually agree. This one conversation was productive, but too many conversations happen without autistic individuals. I apologize. I should have been more clear.
@@synthetic20 good point. i'm autistic and although marieke is autistic and amy is ADHD, i would have liked for the people on the panel to be completely neurodivergent and be able to advocate for themselves. the suggestions were really helpful for me as an autistic DM who wants to run games for neurodivergent players
Your opinion is valid but i think it's okay for neurotypical people to take part in the conversation as long as its in a respectful manner
@@CleoPinto4317 it can naturally be helpful for neurotypical people to discuss issues effecting neurodiverse people, but would you not agree that it's better that a panel on D&D and neurodiversity should really mostly, if not exclusively, be made up of neurodiverse people? we can speak for ourselves and we should be encouraged to
Really inspiring panel , thanks guys 🥰💙
I am autistic and this was very reassuring : )
I wish I could bottle some of Amy's fun. That would be a wonderful magic item 😀❤️
Yay!!
Summer. /j
Yeah, kinda annoying when I play DnD as someone with autistic spectrum.
Like say...trying to meticulously take note or suddenly lose attention.
It took nearly 8 minutes to get to the actual content of the video... That i way way WAY to long.
That goes with most all content their videos. I’ve always been disappointed with most all of D&D Beyond’s streaming content. There are so many other great streamers out that creating good content, my time is spent elsewhere.