Roll 4 Confidence

Level Up Your Confidence and Social Skills Through Roleplaying Games

Meet your Game Master and Trainer

Hi, I’m Michael, and I’m the one running the adventure as your narrator, game master, and skills trainer.

I was an avid tabletop roleplayer as a teenager, and – quite frankly – it was these games that got me through some rough times.

When I first watched the epic show Critical Role for the first time in 2021, I had already been a confidence trainer for five years and had worked with over a thousand clients from all around the world. But when I saw this game in action again after so many years, a thought struck me:

“This is the perfect way to train social skills!”

 

I’ll talk more about why that is in the Play section. 

Once that thought saw the light of day, things have been in motion. I even built my very first bookshelf all by myself (talk proud moment here!) to make room for all the stuff.

During a psychology conference, I found out that there is actually already a name for what I wanted to create: it’s called Therapeutically Applied Tabletop Roleplaying Games. Or TA-TTRPG for short (ok, admittedly, not that much shorter!)

I went through the training with Geek Therapeutics in 2023, and I am now a certified Therapeutic Game Master (note the fancy badge I got)!

If you would like to learn more about me outside of TA-TTRPGs, I invite you to watch a talk that I gave at TEDxVienna, and/or to get in touch!

Media Bio

Michael Herold is a confidence coach and social skills trainer.  He’s helping his clients build their confidence through Acceptance and Commitment Therapy and fun exposure exercises.
 
Since 2015, he has worked with over 2,000 people, including entrepreneurs, special forces, actors, stuntmen, parents, and kids.
 
Michael is the head coach of the L.A. based company The Art of Charm, running their confidence building program “Unstoppable” and workshops on small talk, storytelling, vulnerability, and more. He is  the scientific advisor and co-producer of their popular The Art of Charm podcast with more than 250 million downloads. 
 
He is also a co-host of the Psychologists off the Clock Podcast, one of the leading psychology podcasts in the world.
 
As a member of the Association for Contextual Behavioral Science (ACBS), Michael is the current President of  the ACT Coaching Special Interest Group with nearly 1,000 coaches worldwide, and the co-founder of the ACT in Austria Affiliate of ACBS, a nationwide meetup for ACT practitioners in Austria.
 
Michael has spoken about finding courage and chasing your dreams at TEDx, in front of members of parliament, universities, and once in a cinema full of 500 kids high on sugary popcorn.
 
He is also presenting on psychological topics like social anxiety (ACBS World Conference), the Imposter Syndrome (Anxiety and Depression Association of America), values-based living (DGM), and conversation techniques (Wise Minds Summit).
 
He is also a certified therapeutic game master, using the popular Dungeons&Dragons tabletop roleplaying game to train communication, assertiveness and teamwork with (young) adults – or actually, anyone ready to roll some dice and battle goblins in a supportive group where players want to level up (pun!) their social skills.
 
In a previous life, he was a character animator working on award-winning movies and TV shows such as “The Penguins of Madagascar” and “Kung Fu Panda”. That was before he realized that helping people live a meaningful life is much more rewarding than working in the film business – even though the long nights in the studio allowed him to brew his own beer in the office closet, an activity he highly recommends.
 
Michael grew up with five foster kids that were all taken out of abusive families. His foster siblings showed him how much positive change is possible in a person if they receive the love and support they deserve.