Creative Scotland describes creative learning as taking place 'when arts and cultural activity leads intentionally to the development of understanding, knowledge and skills' and says 'all cultural activity has the capacity to inspire learning by its very nature' (creativescotland.com, 2013).

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The eLearning company ELM outlines several creative learning techniques (elmlearning.com, 2021):

• Hypothetical scenarios

• Improvisation

• Analogies

• Debates

• Storytelling

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These are all fundamental components of tabletop roleplaying games. ELM goes on to explain that 'learners engage deeply with creative learning experiences' (2021) and that they can lead to improved knowledge retention and expanded understanding.

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Some companies have even begun to use roleplaying games like Dungeons & Dragons for therapeutic purposes! US-based nonprofits Game to Grow and The Bodhana Group both advocate 'the use of tabletop gaming as a directed therapeutic and clinical practice' (thebodhanagroup.org, 2021), suggesting it helps 'build social competence, reduce isolation, and form friendships that last' (gametogrow.org, 2017).

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While we at Mischief & Monsters are not qualified therapists, we are trained teachers, actors, facilitators, and gamers, so building community and leveraging that to both support people's social-emotional development and inspire their creativity, all through tabletop gaming, is well within our wheelhouse.

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Kade Wells, an educator in South Dakota, reflects on how Dungeons & Dragons encourages both of these areas of growth: 'D&D saved my life, I've seen it save and change the lives of others [...] Dungeons & Dragons is the best metacognitive tool for education I've seen. The reading growth observed and measured in my class [...] doubled each time they tested' (tribality.com, 2022).