New Frontiers in Gaming: Playing with Hope

The author, a queer educator, documents how a transformative experience sharing their love of collaborative storytelling games with peers lead to them designing a new game. The author explores the potential of games like Dungeons and Dragons to make space for voices that popular media doesn't offer a platform to. They explore opportunities to use role playing to practice new social skills, build community, and the potential for emotionally therapeutic play. Finally, outlined is an original game entitled Frontiers which aims to help players develop environmental hope.