TTRPGs are such a powerful medium for storytelling, and a tool that can be used by therapists to help their clients. Learning how to run games can seem daunting, these books have all helped me with learning how to run games more effectively. From thinking about stories, to exploring tropes, using storytelling techniques, and sharing the narrative with players this collection of books will help you on your journey of building worlds and telling stories.
When I first started GMing I had pages and pages of notes that took hours to prepare.
It was unsustainable and I knew there had to be a better way. The Lazy Dungeon Master technique of session and campaign planning helps to ensure that while you are prepared for your sessions you are not wasting time planning too much.
Using the methods in this book, my session preparation time went from several hours to around an hour and I think my sessions improved as a result.
I'm the author of over 15 novels written for kids, teens, and adults across several genres. The thing all my books have in common is that they are sad and they are dark. My most recent novel is my most distilled, compressed delivery of deliciously dark sadness yet! Oddly, I'm rarely sad in real life. My daughter suggested that I write books to get the darkness out of my head and onto the page, which I think is very insightful (she is my kid, after all). I enjoy the beauty in the breakdown, I savor the sublime catharsis of tragedy, and I want to share that perspective with everyone.
I have never encountered a story that depicts the dread and heartbreak of growing up more authentically than Black has done in the pages of this Newberry-awarded novel for children.
It is both as brutal and as delicate as the creepy antique doll (which may or may not be haunted) at the center of the story. Three kids head out on their own, determined to lay the spirit trapped within the doll to rest while the all-to-real fears and quiet dangers of their regular lives snap at their heels.
It is a book of loss, acceptance, and courage that will remain nestled in my heart for life. I am literally tearing up right now as I think of it.
My name is Eleanor Kerchner. You can call me the Queen. I died in 1895. Now it's time to play.
A chilling ghost story by the bestselling author of The Spiderwick Chronicles, Holly Black.
Recipient of a Newbery Honor Award. An ALA Notable Book. A Kirkus Reviews Best Book. A School Library Journal Best Book. A Booklist Editor's Choice Books for Youth. A Publishers Weekly Best Children's Book. A 2013 Goodreads Choice award nominee. A People Magazine 'Best New Kids Book'.
Escapism is my drug of choice. As a child, I was angry that my existence was confined to this reality, and I did everything I could to find a way out. Stories made it bearable. Whether it was Thor’s Bifrost, the wardrobe of Narnia, or the mirror in Stephen R. Donaldson’s Mordant’s Need duology, I was hooked. Now, I tell my own stories of escape. I create and invite others to find solace, adventure, love, and passion in fantasy realms, outer space, and reinvented parallel realities. This door is always open.
I didn’t know I wanted a story about a girl and her talking animal friends, but when it turns out that all of them have been enslaved by an evil witch and are shackled by her torturous magic, I couldn’t put it down.
Seemingly insignificant creatures decide to try and take their fate back, all while their frailty remains. I found myself invested in the whimsy of the fairy tale juxtaposed with the horrors of enslavement. Watching the girl called “Thing” navigate the human condition was beautiful and painful, and several times, I held my breath, unsure what the outcome would be.
This story is an unusual tale of hopelessness transformed into determination and a beautiful bond formed through shared trauma and circumstance.
A band of outcasts begins an arduous journey through a world of evil witches, walking trees, and miraculous gems along a path that will reunite them with their true destinies
Though I write, I will always be a LitRPG reader first. I enjoy these stories for their ability to craft interesting magical worlds, their creativity of plot, and their breadth of scope. Some LitRPGs are two-dimensional, which have their place, but each of the stories I’ve listed here are most definitely not. They act as my inspiration, both in how I wish to write and in how I’d like to be more creative overall. My day job is as a technical writer for a software company, and LitRPG stories got me back into reading, forced me to think more creatively, and allowed me to follow my dream of writing my own.
Whenever I think of a ‘typical’ LitRPG, I think of World Tree Online. And I’ll be honest, I dropped it once before picking it back up! Years after my grave mistake, I still point people towards this story because it exemplifies many of the reasons why I love this genre: A thought-provoking world where human emotions take root in both the good and ‘bad’ characters; a story where there are actualconsequences when things go wrong; and a magic system with endless possibilities, driven by creativity and perseverance.
If I haven’t sold you yet, know that the action escalates with each book and the author only got more creative as time went on. This story is one I draw inspiration from often and I hope you check it out.
In 2056, the world’s most powerful AI System, ARKUS, comes online. Created to extend human lifespans, it quickly makes world-changing discoveries in health science. It also develops an advanced VR headset that uses consumable nanomachines to let users experience time faster in virtual worlds.
Two years later, ARKUS releases World-Tree Online, a game where players scale a giant tree with thousands of unique game worlds hanging from the branches. The game’s time-dilation makes it so that one hour of playtime feels like one month to those in-game, allowing humans to virtually extend their lifespans.
In the 1980s I was bullied for playing Dungeons and Dragons. Kids like to bully each other, but this was different: The bullies felt they had been given a moral license to pick on D&D players because pastors, talk-show hosts, and politicians were all claiming it was a Satanic, anti-Christian game. Those claims were my first inkling that adults did not know what they are talking about. After getting a PhD in the sociology of religion, I was finally able analyze and articulate why religious authorities felt threatened by a simple game of imagination.
This was the first sociological study of fantasy role-playing games. Fine was able to detect and articulate what is sociologically significant about these games.
The book takes dynamics that role-players just “get” and articulates them as sociological concepts. For example, he uses “frame theory” to explain how players verbally transition from the frame of the game mechanics and the story world of their characters.
He also explains how games like Dungeons and Dragons are “autotelic.” In other words, you do not “win” at and these games, the purpose is “engrossment” or being absorbed into the fantasy world.
Fine also did a great deal of participant observation for this book and it provides a great historical insight into the culture surrounding these games in the early 1980s––warts and all.
This classic study still provides one of the most astute descriptions available of an often misunderstood subculture: that of fantasy role playing games like Dungeons & Dragons. Gary Alan Fine immerses himself in several different gaming systems, offering insightful details on the nature of the games and the patterns of interaction among players - as well as their reasons for playing.
I have been a baseball fan since the New York Mets won the World Series in 1969. Unfortunately, I am not an athlete, so I needed to figure out how to experience the sport in my own way. That path led me to baseball analysis and fantasy and a career writing about them. I pinch myself every morning that I have been able to turn my passion into my career.
Back in the mid-2000s, I invited Matthew Berry to speak at my conferences, so I know firsthand how he can instill humor and entertainment into the geekdom of playing fantasy sports.
In his book, I loved how he interspersed stories about how we play fantasy with his own personal narrative. His book is about me, you, and everyone who loves this crazy game.
Includes new chapters with small, easy-to-understand words. Bestselling words!
Fantasy football, fantasy baseball, fantasy basketball, even fantasy sumo wrestling: the world of fantasy sports is huge, and still growing. Today, more than 35 million people in the United States and Canada spend hours upon hours each week on their fantasy sports teams. And as the Senior Fantasy Sports Analyst for ESPN, Matthew Berry is on the front lines of what has grown from a niche subculture into a national pastime.
In his New York Times-bestselling Fantasy Life, Berry celebrates every aspect of the fantasy sports world. Brilliant trash talk. Unbelievable…
TTRPGs are such a powerful medium for storytelling, and a tool that can be used by therapists to help their clients. Learning how to run games can seem daunting, these books have all helped me with learning how to run games more effectively. From thinking about stories, to exploring tropes, using storytelling techniques, and sharing the narrative with players this collection of books will help you on your journey of building worlds and telling stories.
This book is a series of essays from some of the most well-known writers and creators in tabletop gaming.
This book is filled with tips and tricks to help you build your world and create a compelling plot that your players will want to engage in. This book will help you learn how to use different storytelling devices effectively in an RPG as it is slightly different than how you would use such devices in a written novel.
This book really helped me to start wrapping my mind around how shared narrative stories can work and how as a GM I can steer the story without taking away the agency of my players. This is a great quick read for new and experienced GMs alike!
Whether you’re a new gamemaster or a seasoned vet looking for a new angle to shake up your game, these 19 essays by 13 expert gamemasters demonstrate ways to construct your campaign from the ground up and keep your players engaged until the dramatic conclusion.
Within this volume, masters of the art show you how to begin a new campaign, use published adventures or loot them for the best ideas, build toward cliffhangers, and design a game that can enthrall your players for month or even years. Want to run an evil campaign, or hurl…
I’m currently on the 3rd book in the He Who Fights Monsters series.
The story is completely unconventional yet strangely engrossing. It feels like a Dungeons & Dragon game with a phenomenal Dungeon Master. The audio narrator is incredible, although there are a ton of stats listed, and having them all read every time gets seriously tedious.
The combat scenes are unique enough to be engaging and the social intrigue (and fun powers) balance it all out. The level of detail in the world-building and magic system feels like Name of the Wind. (My favorite book of all time.)
I highly recommend He Who Fights Monsters to high fantasy lovers and players of role-playing tabletop games. Be warned: It’s not quite as accessible to the less-nerdy.
Jason wakes up in a mysterious world of magic and monsters.It’s not easy making the career jump from office-supplies-store middle manager to heroic interdimensional adventurer. At least, Jason tries to be heroic, but it's hard to be good when all your powers are evil.He’ll face off against cannibals, cultists, wizards, monsters...and that’s just on the first day. He’s going to need courage, he’s going to need wit, and he’s going to need some magic powers of his own. But first, he’s going to need pants.After cementing itself as one of the best-rated serial novels on Royal Road with an astonishing…
Although I was part of a large family, I frequently felt alone growing up. While my siblings were busy playing sports or running around with their friends, I sat by myself in the basement, reading fantasy stories. Eventually, I began creating my own worlds and published the Riddle in Stone series and Sword of Betrayal. I suppose I’m still trying to find a place where I fit in.
Guardians of the Flame is a fantasy series where seven college students get together for a night of role-playing games and suddenly find themselves in an alternative world of swords, magic, and deadly fire-breathing dragons. To get home they must find the mysterious “Gate Between World.” It is a witty adventure story any fan of fantasy can appreciate. It explores the question—what would happen if readers of fantasy were transported into their favorite fantasy world?
It had begun as an evening of fantasy gaming - college students passing the time. Then the impossible happened:
the players found themselves transported into the bodies and personae of their game characters - trapped in an alternate world where magic worked all too well, dragons were a fire-breathing menace, and only those quick enough with a sword, or their wits, survived. The only way back to Earth was a legendary portal called the Gate Between Worlds, but there was no guarantee they'd pass through safely even if they managed to find it. And their new selves had precious little…
In the 1980s I was bullied for playing Dungeons and Dragons. Kids like to bully each other, but this was different: The bullies felt they had been given a moral license to pick on D&D players because pastors, talk-show hosts, and politicians were all claiming it was a Satanic, anti-Christian game. Those claims were my first inkling that adults did not know what they are talking about. After getting a PhD in the sociology of religion, I was finally able analyze and articulate why religious authorities felt threatened by a simple game of imagination.
Peterson is the foremost historian on the history of Dungeons and Dragons.
To research this book, he tracked down countless documents from the early history of the game––including things like greeting cards from game creator Gary Gygax. But this book doesn’t just cover D&D. It traces the history of simulation games from chess through nineteenth-century military training exercises and finally into the emergence of fantasy role-playing games.
This is the definitive source on the history of these games.
Explore the conceptual origins of wargames and role-playing games in this unprecedented history of simulating the real and the impossible. From a vast survey of primary sources ranging from eighteenth-century strategists to modern hobbyists, Playing at the World distills the story of how gamers first decided fictional battles with boards and dice, and how they moved from simulating wars to simulating people. The invention of role-playing games serves as a touchstone for exploring the ways that the literary concept of character, the lure of fantastic adventure and the principles of gaming combined into the signature cultural innovation of the late…
