What better way to blow off some steam than to become a pretend wizard?
While emerging scientific evidence – as covered in hallowed back pages past – has shown promising effects of tabletop role playing games on mental health in patients, Sutherland Shire GP Dr Christopher Timms reckons it’s a winner for doctors, too.
Speaking at the RACGP annual conference on Sunday, Dr Timms introduced his “world-first” initiative: Doctors and Dragons.
It is exactly what it sounds like.
“We are doctors who play Dungeons and Dragons or other tabletop role playing games, either online as improvised collaborative comedy or as offline games,” Dr Timms told delegates.
The idea was borne out of a feeling of isolation while repeatedly relocating during registrar training.
“If you take people who don’t have a tribe or don’t have someone to hang out with socially, and you give them someone to hang out with socially, then there’s probably something in that,” Dr Timms said.
On the other side of the doubloon, the Sutherland Shire GP said, it was also a way to build bridges with the tabletop role playing (TTRPG) community.
“In studies, [the TTRPG community is] very high in people who are neurodivergent as well as very high in people who are LGBTQI+,” he said.
“And why is that? Well, it’s very interesting – you might [have the freedom to] play a character, for example, who is someone who changes their gender or sex at will, you might play a character who’s playing out trauma, and psychologists and coaches are already using [Dungeons and Dragons] as therapy.
“And while the evidence is not as high as I would like for it to be, I think it is a space where [doctors are] not in the conversation, and I think we do need to be in conversation.”
The virtual tabletop is open for new players and meets one night per month for a 90-minute session via Discord or Facebook.
Campaigns are purposefully kept short to allow for unpredictable medical schedules.
“There’s a Venn diagram of doctors and D&D players, and in the middle is ‘people who are hard to schedule’,” he said.
Prospective barbarians, elves, rogues and druids can apply within.
Dr Timms is hoping to run a charity fundraiser with Doctors and Dragons in June 2026, with proceeds going toward Beyond Blue.
Story tip? Roll your 20-sided die to Holly@medicalrepublic.com.au.
