A closed, goal-oriented group therapy experience that uses tabletop roleplaying games as a therapeutic tool.
Led by Adam Johns, MA, LMFT — co-founder of Game to Grow, lead designer of Critical Core, and co-author of Therapeutically Applied Role-Playing Games (Routledge, 2023).
Talk therapy is powerful — but it isn't always enough. Some challenges are easier to experience than to explain. Some insights only emerge when we're in motion, making choices, playing a role, living out a story.
Forged in Story is a closed, goal-oriented group therapy experience that uses tabletop roleplaying games as a therapeutic tool. Over the course of ten weeks, you and a small group of fellow participants will share a collaborative story — and each other's journeys. Your personal goals and growth are not private — they are held by the group, woven into the story, and supported by the people sitting at the table with you.
Some truths about ourselves are easier to meet through the characters we play.
Forged in Story is designed for adults who are motivated to grow but may find traditional talk therapy limiting, frustrating, or simply not the right fit for the challenge they're facing. You might be a good fit if you:
You do not need to be a gamer or have any experience with roleplaying games. Curiosity and a willingness to engage are all that's required.
The arc of the program moves through three connected rhythms: a private session to prepare, ten weeks of collaborative play, and reflection that closes every session.
Before the group begins, you'll meet individually with Adam for a one-hour intake session. Together, you'll create your character — the person you'll play in the story. This isn't just a game mechanic. Your character becomes a mirror: they might embody strengths you want to practice, or reflect patterns you're ready to change.
You'll also establish your personal quest — a therapeutic goal that you'll share with your group, and that will be woven into the story throughout the arc.
Each week, your group of four will gather for a two-hour session. Adam serves as your Game Master — guiding the story, shaping the world, and creating moments that invite each player to encounter their personal growth edge in real time.
Your personal quest and the goals you established in your intake session are known to the group. Your teammates are part of your story, and you are part of theirs. The narrative is shared, the vulnerability is shared, and so is the support.
Sessions include variety — different scenarios, shifting challenges, moments of humor and moments of weight. No two sessions feel exactly the same.
Each session closes with dedicated time outside the story. As a group, you'll reflect on what came up during play — the feelings, the moments of challenge or breakthrough, what felt meaningful, and what support you might need going forward.
This is where the game becomes explicitly therapeutic: a space to name what happened, process it together, and carry it into your life outside the room. This closing circle is also where the group's relationships deepen — built on shared experience, mutual support, and genuine honesty about the work you're each doing.
One of the most powerful tools in therapy is externalization — giving a problem a form outside yourself so you can examine it, engage with it, and ultimately change your relationship to it.
Roleplaying games are a natural externalization engine. Your character carries the struggle. The quest gives it shape. The story gives it stakes. And because you are playing a role rather than talking about yourself directly, you often find it easier to take risks, try new behaviors, and discover things about yourself that talk therapy alone might never reach.
This approach draws on established therapeutic frameworks including narrative therapy, acceptance and commitment therapy, and interpersonal process group work — applied through a modality that is engaging, active, and genuinely fun.
The method has been developed over more than a decade of clinical practice and is documented in Therapeutically Applied Role-Playing Games: The Game to Grow Method (Routledge, 2023), the field's clinical training manual, which I co-authored.
Groups are closed — once a cohort begins, no new participants join. This protects the trust and continuity of the group. Participants may re-enroll in subsequent program arcs.
Groups form based on participant availability and fit. To express interest and be considered for an upcoming cohort, complete the interest form. You'll be asked about your availability, your fees and format preferences, and a bit about what brings you here.
Once enough participants with compatible availability have expressed interest, I'll reach out individually to discuss fit and schedule your intake session.
Express InterestQuestions? Reach out directly at adam@adam-johns.com or call 206-659-6479.