This lecture is Part I of a series on Safety in Role-Playing Games by Sarah Lynne Bowman. She gives an introduction to safety concerns with regard to transformative role-playing games (RPGs). Bowman describes how processes of transformation happen best when supported and encouraged by safety structures before, during, and after play and gives some preliminary recommendations, which are expanded upon in other videos in the series:
Part II: Before the Game
Part III: During the Game
Part IV: After the Game
Part V: Cultivating Safer Communities
Bio: Sarah Lynne Bowman, Ph.D. is a scholar, game designer, and event organizer. She is an Associate Professor for the Department of Game Design at Uppsala University Campus Gotland and the Coordinator for Peace & Conflict Studies at Austin Community College. McFarland Press published her dissertation as The Functions of Role-playing Games: How Participants Create Community, Solve Problems, and Explore Identity (2010). Bowman has edited for The Wyrd Con Companion Book (2012-2015), the International Journal of Role-playing (2016-), and Nordiclarp.org (2015-). She helped organize the Living Games Conference (2014, 2016, 2018) and Role-playing and Simulation in Education Conference (2016, 2018).