List of Talking Points

Talking Points for Fundraiser

About RPG Research

RPG Research is a 501(c)3 non-profit research and human services charitable organization, that is 100% volunteer-run, studying the effects of all role-playing game formats and their potential to improve lives around the world. This includes tabletop, live-action, electronic, and hybrid formats.

Brand New Book Available Through Amazon!

Role-Playing Game Training Workbook for beginners through professionals. Released by for-profit RPG.LLC, but donate 20% to RPG Research.

300 page workbook (Amazon Preview Edition): $19.99 or Kindle eBook $2.89. Buy Now!

This workbook directly supports RPG Research's free 16 week volunteer player and game master training program. Buying through Smile.Amazon.com and selecting RPG Research as charity of choice means a portion of all your shopping on Amazon will be matched and donated by Amazon to RPG Research at no added cost to you. Also 20% of the book's margins made by RPG.LLC donated to RPG Research.

Learn more about this workbook here: http://rpgworkbook.com/


Our Roots Begin in 1977

Beginning with our founder, we have been involved with role-playing games   since 1977 ,   researching   their effects since 1983, using RPGs for   educational   goals since 1985, with incarcerated populations since 1990, and in   therapeutic   settings since 2004.

Our Global Volunteers

We are 100% run by (unpaid) volunteers). None of us are making any money doing these programs, we just help each other to help make lives better for others.

In 2018 we had only 10 regular RPG Research staff volunteers (not counting the thousands of other volunteers over the years when partnering with many other organizations). 


As of November 2020 we are nearing 150 volunteers!


Our  volunteers span 5 continents , and come from very diverse ages, education, professions, backgrounds, cultures, languages, and demographics.


Join our Discord Chatroom:  https://discord.gg/u8fqtVg


See our ABOUT US page for the list of our volunteers across the world.


Mission

4-Part Mission Statement


1)  To clearly establish, through rigorous scientific testing, the effects on participants of: music and all role-playing game (RPG) formats: tabletop (TRPG), live-action (LRPG), electronic (ERPG), and all hybrid variants (HRPG). In addition to determining the potential relevance of correlated factors, wherever possible, significant emphasis is placed on contributing to the body of causal research information.

2)  Based on any available established research, from a variety of disciplines, using relevant evidence-based and theory-based approaches, RPG Research will assess, design, develop, implement &  evaluate intervention programs using music and/or various role-playing game formats as intervention modalities for participants to achieve their recreational, educational, professional, therapeutic or other quality-of-life-enhancing goals.

3)  Based on funding, staffing, and resource availability, RPG Research will provide these services to individuals, population groups, and communities where research indicates they may benefit the most from our programs, and advocate for accessibility and inclusiveness for the widest range of populations possible, especially those in under-served and un-served areas.

4)  Whenever legally and ethically possible, all such research information will be freely and openly shared with the public to help further advance the global body of knowledge and overall improve the experience of the human condition.


Vision

Using scientific research and community outreach programs to determine the actual caveats & benefits from participation in cooperative music & role-playing game activities, over time we will:

1) Eliminate the myths & stigma associated with these activities.

2) Through these inclusive and accessible programs help the widest range of populations possible globally achieve a remarkably improved quality of life.

3) Raise the experience of the human condition globally through the sharing of knowledge on a free platform accessible to all, while encouraging others to share their findings on this platform.

4) Provide free training to those willing to take the time as volunteers to develop the skills necessary to achieve these goals.

5) To provide services that achieve all of the above.



Impact

See the list of populations and areas that our programs have a real impact here: IMPACT STATEMENT

Some excerpts from our Impact Statement page: See the link above for the full page.

RPG Research directly helps improve the quality of life for thousands of people each year.


Our programs have turned out to lower the crime rates in the neighborhoods where they run, having an even greater impact.


Our program offerings include

  • Local and online RPG community, school, library, and related programs

  • Drop In and RPG Online, & Mobile Programs with the Wheelchair Accessible RPG Bus & RPG Trailers

  • Research programs

  • World's largest free and open RPG research repository

  • Live Internet streams

  • Online group and community programs

  • Many instructional and informative videos

  • Blog postings

  • Publications

  • On-site and online gaming/fan/literary conventions

  • Professional conferences

  • Professional panels

  • RPG educational workshops, videos, online education, and other applied learning programs

  • Music & drum circle cooperative jams and training workshops



Our programs measurably improve the quality of life of both the direct participants and indirectly improve lives for businesses, families, neighborhoods, schools, online, and around the world.

  • Proven measurable benefits include developing and improving:

  • Anger management

  • Anxieties reduction

  • Artistic awareness & expression

  • Brain injury recovery

  • Behavior guidance & moderation

  • Cognitive functioning development

  • Communication skills

  • Compassion

  • Creativity

  • Creative writing

  • Cooperative problem solving

  • Cultural awareness & understanding

  • Delayed gratification

  • Drawing

  • Effective assertiveness (not aggressive) behavior, speaking up for oneself

  • Emotional well-being

  • Empathy

  • Ethics

  • Family connections

  • Friendships

  • Frustration tolerance

  • History

  • Improvisation

  • Intentional speech directed at others
  • Languages learning & development (native & foreign)
  • Leadership

  • Learning complex concepts & systems

  • Loneliness reduction

  • Long-term planning

  • Math fundamentals

  • Mental health

  • Music

  • Physical well-being

  • Poetry

  • Problem-solving

  • Project management

  • Quality of life measures

  • Reaching consensus

  • Reading comprehension level

  • Reduction in aggressive behavior

  • Reduction in crime

  • Reduction in recidivism

  • Resilience, perseverance, "grit"

  • School participation levels

  • Science

  • Self-control / Impulse control

  • Self-efficacy

  • Self-esteem
  • Self identity
  • Shyness
  • Social phobias
  • Turn-taking

  • Writing skills

  • Vocabulary


Populations that often frequently benefit directly from our programs include:

  • Accessibility / adaptive

  • ADHD

  • Agoraphobia

  • Anxiety

  • Autism spectrum (ASD, PDD, Aspergers, etc.)

  • Aphantasia

  • At-risk youth and adults

  • Brain injuries (stroke, TBI, etc.)

  • Cerebral Palsy (CP)

  • Deaf and Hard of Hearing (HoH)

  • Depression

  • Developmental delays (DD)

  • Developmental impairments (DI)

  • Gifted & Talented

  • In-patient youth and adults

  • In-patient to out-patient rehabilitation transition programs

  • Incarcerated populations

  • Learning disabilities

  • Muscular Dystrophy (MD)

  • Phobias

  • Trauma & PTSD

  • Vision impairments



    RPG Research Community Programs
    For each single RPG Research volunteer running our monthly RPG community program 3 hour sessions per month, the quality of life for the participants of over 100 people per year are improved.

    The ripple effect in the local community positively impacts hundreds more per year.



We Need Fundraising & Administrative Help


Most Urgent Needs Page


Why This Fundraiser?

Money for facilities, to fit our accessible and inclusive programs, broadcasts, equipment, RPG museum, lending library, RPG Trailers and RPG Bus safely.

Most equipment, bus, and trailers, stored at our founders home, (Hawke Robinson). The neighbors are quite irritated.

His house is now overflowing. We need a minimum 2,000 to 4,000 square foot warehouse so we can move the equipment storage, RPG Bus and RPG Trailers, and studio out of his home and into our own facilities.

Rent is typically $0.4 to $0.9 per square foot, average around $2,000 to $3,000 per month (plus added cost of utilities, Internet, etc.).

We also need somewhere safe to store the RPG Bus and RPG Trailers. They keep getting damaged at other storage facilities.The warehouse solves this.

We are working on the RPG Museum, a full hands-on experience of the history of role-playing games. We're working right now on the online version of the RPG Museum, but with a warehouse we can provide a physical hands-on experience as well (when safe to do so of course).

We do not run community programs at the house, having the warehouse means we can run more regular and accessible in-person programs in addition to our many online programs.

Our broadcast studio is in the basement of our founder's home, with the warehouse we can have much better space (for example ceiling height and room width) to work with for a much better studio broadcast experience.

We currently don't have enough space for our AR and VR RPG programs, the warehouse solves this limitation.

Our small offices are shared with lawyers. They aren't allowing any more than 1 person at a time in the building, so we can't operate there anymore. Also their building has never been wheelchair accessible. Finally, we have never been able to run our music, drum circle, or larp programs in that building. The warehouse solves all these issues.

Our founder's house is on the edge of the country side with no bus routes nearby. This has been very challenging for some of our volunteers, especially our younger ones. have the warehouse near a bus route will greatly improve their ability to participate and provide programs to others.