High-Fidelity Roleplay

About this episode

Che Webster discusses reframing mental health challenges in the context of roleplaying games and introduces the concept of 'High-Fidelity' play.

For a long time, I thought the friction in my hobby was a personal failure. I used to record my GM's Journal while running, wind hitting the mic, breathless and fumbling, calling myself the "world's flakiest GM." I saw my diagnoses of ADHD, Generalised Anxiety Disorder, and Social Anxiety as bugs in the system—things I had to "overcome" just to run an RPG session. This season, we’re stopping the drift. I’m moving away from viewing my mental differences as pathology and towards creating an Architecture for Play that fits the way my mind prefers to work. I have stopped trying to 'fix' my brain. I’ve realised my brain isn't broken; it's just a different kind of receiver to the one some people have. I’ve stopped fighting the symptoms that troubled me and started seeing them as features rather than bugs.  I call this 'High-Fidelity' play. The invocation of the Otherworld with as little distortion as possible. Aiming for an experience that feels like something original and real. A true secondary world created with and for my players. Game on! Roleplay Rescue Details: Voice Message: speakpipe.com/roleplayrescue Patreon: patreon.com/rpgrescue   Email: roleplayrescue@pm.me…

People in this episode

Host: Che Webster

Topics covered

• mental health
• roleplaying games
• ADHD
• anxiety
• game design
• play architecture

Keywords

• roleplay
• ADHD
• anxiety
• game master
• high-fidelity play
• RPG
• mental differences

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Tale of the Manticore, Patreon, Acast

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• Sojourner in the Otherworld · May 2, 2026 · 25 min
• Deploying the Scout · April 25, 2026 · 22 min