---
title: Home
description: Transformative educational therapeutic roleplaying games analog TTRPGs like Dungeons & Dragons by disability advocate and social worker designer Luka Brave
image: https://www.psychhound.com/hubfs/full%20itch%20header.png
---

[Skip to content](https://www.psychhound.com#main-content)

This is a search field with an auto-suggest feature attached.

- There are no suggestions because the search field is empty.

[![A silhouette of a running greyhound. The greyhound is wearing glasses. The words PsychHound Games are cut out of the silhouette's torso..](https://www.psychhound.com/hs-fs/hubfs/Psychhound%20Logo%20v4%20teal.png?width=1500&height=700&name=Psychhound%20Logo%20v4%20teal.png "A silhouette of a running greyhound. The greyhound is wearing glasses. The words PsychHound Games are cut out of the silhouette's torso..")](https://www.psychhound.com/?hsLang=en)

- Featured Games 
    - [Spiritkeep: A Transformative TTRPG](https://www.psychhound.com/spiritkeep-ttrpg)
    - [Shadow / Giant 2e: A Wolf & Cub Duet Game](https://psychhound.itch.io/sg2e)
    - [With Breath & Sword: A Calming Solo Game](https://psychhound.itch.io/with-breath-sword)
- Accessibility Resources 
    - [Audiobooks for Accessibility](https://www.psychhound.com/hound-blog/rpg-audiobooks)
    - [The Accessible Rulebook Checklist](https://www.psychhound.com/hound-blog/accessible-rulebook)
- Freelance 
    - [Layout & Design](https://www.psychhound.com/wip)
    - [Writing & Editing](https://www.psychhound.com/wip)
    - [Consulting](https://www.psychhound.com/wip)
- [Research](https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=WbtM7yoAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao)

- [game shop](https://psychhound.itch.io/)
- [Luka's LinkedIn](https://www.psychhound.com/www.linkedin.com/in/luka-brave-5a9227310?hsLang=en)
- Search Search
  
  Search

## Scholar - Advocate - Game Designer

### Transformative analog games, made in community.

![A logo of two shaking hands with the text Accessibly Designed](https://www.psychhound.com/hs-fs/hubfs/Accessible%20Rulebook%20Logo%20White.png?width=150&height=150&name=Accessible%20Rulebook%20Logo%20White.png "A logo of two shaking hands with the text Accessibly Designed")

![A logo showing the face of an orange and white greyhound wearing glasses. The logo says PsychHound](https://www.psychhound.com/hs-fs/hubfs/psychhound%20square%20logo%20no%20bg.png?width=500&height=500&name=psychhound%20square%20logo%20no%20bg.png "A logo showing the face of an orange and white greyhound wearing glasses. The logo says PsychHound")

![A logo of a hand with the palm facing the viewer and the text Human Made](https://www.psychhound.com/hs-fs/hubfs/4_centered_text_with_hand%20white%20png.png?width=120&height=133&name=4_centered_text_with_hand%20white%20png.png "A logo of a hand with the palm facing the viewer and the text Human Made")

A note to those using screen readers: All images should have IDs and every hyperlink should be labeled. Please reach out with any accessibility concerns at Luka@psychhound.com

## About Psychhound Games

### Transformative Analog Game Design

Psychhound Games is an analog game design company spearheaded by Luka Brave. Since its founding in 2022, Psychhound has published more than 30 games and supplements, fueled by a passion for storytelling and transformative play.

Luka's interest in transformative play follows from a varied background as a social worker, teacher, disability advocate, and community service volunteer. Again and again, he saw the effect that cooperative, imaginative play had in helping diverse communities and individuals learn and grow. The more he researched, the more he found that others were saying the same: play can change lives for the better. As a researcher focused on therapeutic and educational applications for games, Luka has been published in the International Journal of Role-Playing, Rascal News, Playtest Material, and more, and has presented at conferences such as Generation Analog and Leveling Up the Classroom. [You can find more of their writing and research here.](https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=WbtM7yoAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao)

 

In the realm of game design, Luka's interests lie in original, bespoke systems, unusual and eccentric mechanics, and memorable characters. Their early, experiemental work includes an MMO-style apocalyptic survival game about the social media bot takeover, a two-player game about a werewolf mother and her child randomized through flower collecting and the weather, and a live action photography game where players document the migration of spirits in their cities. As Luka has come into his own as an analog designer, his sensibilities have shifted towards high-impact play, thematic and intuitive rule design, and compellingly complicated characters. He aims for his games to be accessible and inclusive, and is happy to always be learning more.

![A vector image of a 12 sided die.](https://www.psychhound.com/hs-fs/hubfs/darkathena-d12-brandcolors.png?width=200&height=200&name=darkathena-d12-brandcolors.png "A vector image of a 12 sided die.")

You can [find Luka's games and supplements on itch.io](https://psychhound.itch.io/).

- ![A page from The Narrator's Paradox, showing rules and a tarot-based oracle in a retro teal and orange style.](https://www.psychhound.com/hs-fs/hubfs/narrators%20paradox.png?width=1210&height=934&name=narrators%20paradox.png)
  
  **The Narrator's Paradox**
  
  Solo storybook character wrangling
- ![A spread from Shadow Giant 2nd edition, showing two pages from the Giant playbook's character creation section. The style is made to look like an old, textured book or comic, with art of a pocket knife and an old First Nations Haida woman and young Mongolian girl traveling.](https://www.psychhound.com/hs-fs/hubfs/Screenshot%202026-05-21%20130914.png?width=1050&height=743&name=Screenshot%202026-05-21%20130914.png)
  
  **Shadow / Giant 2e**
  
  2-player wolf & cub journey
- ![A page from Familiar Field Trip, showing the cat playbook. The page has stats and customization, moves, and a cute and simple drawing of an orange cat. The background is a cute village on rolling hills, with columns in pink and teal.](https://www.psychhound.com/hs-fs/hubfs/screenshot-2023-12-21-180626.png?width=1078&height=834&name=screenshot-2023-12-21-180626.png)
  
  **Familiar Field Trip**
  
  Family-friendly multiplayer competition
- ![A spread from A Heart Starts Beating. The background is a dark sky woodcut stained red. One page has text in light gold, while the other page shows a glowing red figure falling away from a dark moon with decorative text in red.](https://www.psychhound.com/hs-fs/hubfs/a%20heart%20starts%20beating%201.png?width=1169&height=888&name=a%20heart%20starts%20beating%201.png)
  
  **A Heart Starts Beating**
  
  Solo haunted house horror rituals
- ![A spread from With Breath & Sword, showing the rules on one page and an oracle table on the other. The background is white, with minimalist blue decorations and a linework chinese dragon.](https://www.psychhound.com/hs-fs/hubfs/screenshot-2024-03-06-210330.png?width=813&height=626&name=screenshot-2024-03-06-210330.png)
  
  **With Breath & Sword**
  
  Solo grounding & anxiety management
- ![A spread from How High! showing a page with NPCs and a page talking about the wolf pack pantheon. There is a foggy forest background and decoration in white, black, and red.](https://www.psychhound.com/hs-fs/hubfs/how%20high%201.png?width=1072&height=832&name=how%20high%201.png)
  
  **How High!**
  
  System agnostic industrial fantasy setting

## Luka's Work

### Therapeutic TTRPGs

During his time as a neurodivergence-focused social worker, Luka heard the same story again and again: tabletop roleplaying games had changed his clients' lives. Through roleplay, they made friends, learned about themselves, learned better ways to live in the world, and grew as people. This experience so closely reflected his own journey with tabletop roleplaying games (TTRPGs), that it inspired a hunger for more knowledge. How common was this experience? What about TTRPGs had this effect? Could this be intentionally harnessed for therapeutic practice?

As it turned out, it already was. Discovering the world of applied analog games (card games, board games, and roleplaying games used for education and therapy) led Luka to play one of the scariest and most intensive games ever created: grad school.

#### The Thesis

Luckily, he won. After losing a lot of HP and gaining a lot of EXP, Luka graduated in 2025 with a master's degree in Writing Studies plus a certificate in Learning & Motivation from Oklahoma State University's departments of English and Educational Psychology.

After defeating the final boss—his master's thesis—Luka published a 150-page, 40,000-word research essay on the therapeutic potential of TTRPGs. His conclusion was that tabletop roleplay did indeed have an inherent incredible potential to change lives. These games give players the space to grapple with their past and their emotions, learn new skills and build confidence, make meaningful connections, practice relationship-management and conflict-navigation, and engage in artistic creation. 

However, while existing games were already having these effects on players, many of the most popular games were designed in ways that actively hindered their potential, and there was a shocking lack of intentionally designed games for growth. Luka kept circling around a question:

If games for entertainment already had the potential to help people, how powerful could a game be that was designed from the ground-up to be transformative? 

![A photo of Luka's thesis in book form, called Designing Spiritkeep: A new text to harness the emotional benefits of the therapeutically applied RPG genre. It's lying on a black surface with dice surrounding it.](https://www.psychhound.com/hs-fs/hubfs/thesisphoto1.jpg?width=500&height=500&name=thesisphoto1.jpg "A photo of Luka's thesis in book form, called Designing Spiritkeep: A new text to harness the emotional benefits of the therapeutically applied RPG genre. It's lying on a black surface with dice surrounding it.")

[Read Luka's thesis for free on ProQuest.](https://www.proquest.com/docview/3251554766)

![A drawing of a man sitting on a tree stump. Thin, with tan skin & white hair pulled back in a messy ponytail with small braids. He has light purple patterns on his skin & is wearing travelers clothes. 1 hand waves, the other holds 2 forearm crutches. The crutches are wooden with intricate carvings](https://www.psychhound.com/hs-fs/hubfs/dreamfolk%20wayfarer%20transparent.png?width=500&height=537&name=dreamfolk%20wayfarer%20transparent.png "A drawing of a man sitting on a tree stump. Thin, with tan skin & white hair pulled back in a messy ponytail with small braids. He has light purple patterns on his skin & is wearing travelers clothes. 1 hand waves, the other holds 2 forearm crutches. The crutches are wooden with intricate carvings")

#### Spiritkeep: A Transformative TTRPG

Psychhound Games' most ambitious project to date attempts to answer that question. 

[*Spiritkeep* is an upcoming community restoration game](https://www.psychhound.com/spiritkeep-ttrpg?hsLang=en) set in a world full of animist spirits, where the makeshift team of player characters must step up to help their struggling community. Whether they volunteered out of love for their town, are avoiding the repercussions of a difficult past, or just saw an opportunity to be less lonely, these 3-5 player characters must learn how to work together, being lead by a facilitating game master through journeys of diplomacy, rescue, disaster, heroics, failure, discovery, and everything in between.

To learn more about how the game draws on touchstones such as Studio Ghibli, Spiritfarer, Stardew Valley, and His Dark Materials, incorporates the rights of nature movement and Indigenous scholarship, and builds off trauma research to create over 500 combinations of character roles and ancestries, [check out the Spiritkeep overview page here.](https://www.psychhound.com/spiritkeep-ttrpg?hsLang=en) If you're interested in the continued development of this project, the last section of that page outlines ways to get involved.

## Work with Luka

Reach out with the contact form below or at Luka@psychhound.com to discuss: 

➡ Guest writing or design. 

➡ Accessibility or sensitivity consultation. 

➡ Custom games for your classroom, community, or loved ones. 

➡ Layout, graphic design, or visual branding.

➡ Working on Spiritkeep as a guest writer, artist, or collaborator. 

➡ Having Luka teach, run a workshop, or give a presentation.

➡ Something else! Surprise me!

![psychhound square logo no bg](https://www.psychhound.com/hs-fs/hubfs/psychhound%20square%20logo%20no%20bg.png?width=300&height=300&name=psychhound%20square%20logo%20no%20bg.png "psychhound square logo no bg")

[![A silhouette of a running greyhound wearing glasses. Text says PsychHound Games / TTRPGs by Luka Brave](https://www.psychhound.com/hs-fs/hubfs/itch%20banner%20v4%20white.png?width=1250&height=489&name=itch%20banner%20v4%20white.png "A silhouette of a running greyhound wearing glasses. Text says PsychHound Games / TTRPGs by Luka Brave")](https://www.psychhound.com/?hsLang=en)

Meaningful and transformative analog roleplaying games by Luka Brave. 

 

luka@psychhound.com

Last updated Oct 2026

### Quick Links

- [Home](https://www.psychhound.com)
- [Blog](https://www.psychhound.com/hound-blog)
- [Game Shop](https://psychhound.itch.io/)
- [Bluesky](https://bsky.app/profile/psychhound.com)
- [LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/in/luka-brave-5a9227310/)
- [Google Scholar](https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=WbtM7yoAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao)