Want to Be a Better GM? Read More Books.

Years ago, the author Kurt Vonnegut (you know, the guy who wrote Slaughterhouse-Five) developed a theory around the patterns he saw in Western stories. His point? Stories aren’t entirely unique — they follow specific “shapes” or patterns in how they unfold. It’s like storytelling is a more nuanced version of Mad Libs, where we follow familiar frameworks and plug in our own creative twists.

Vonnegut wasn’t the first — or only — one to explore this idea. More famously, Joseph Campbell introduced the concept of the monomyth in the 1940s with his book The Hero with a Thousand Faces. Today, we commonly know it as the iconic Hero’s Journey.

Still lost? Let’s break it down. Think about your favorite Hallmark Christmas movie. Sure, the setting and characters change, but the story? It’s practically identical every time. Give me 15 minutes of any Hallmark classic, and I can predict the ending with eerie precision. That’s structure in action.

The takeaway? Building homebrew worlds and story-driven campaigns isn’t as daunting as it seems — not once you understand the skeleton most stories share.

Why Reading Books Makes You a Better GM

Now, I won’t go down the rabbit hole of outlining every story structure. (If that’s what you want, check out Vonnegut’s own lecture on story shapes.) Instead, I’ll leave you with one key piece of advice for building better campaigns:

Read more books and watch more old movies.

Yeah, yeah — it sounds like boring, dusty advice. But books are full of rich material you can plunder for your game. And not just fantasy or fiction, either. Want to build immersive worlds? Read up on:

• Government structures
• Religious systems
• Economics
• Geology and ecology for mapmaking

Old Movies Are a Goldmine

So why watch old movies? Because they move slower. They take their time. Dialogue matters. Characters matter. It mirrors how many of us run TTRPGs — building relationships, motives, and tensions over time. Sure, modern movies can do that too, but the unfamiliarity of older films can refresh your creative palette and bring new sparks to your worldbuilding.

Need a place to start? Try films by Akira Kurosawa, early film noir, or even Golden Age Hollywood dramas.

No Right Way to Build

If you’re not a reader or an old-movie buff — don’t stress. The beauty of TTRPG storytelling is that it’s yours. It doesn’t need to be perfect. It doesn’t need to win awards. It just needs to be interesting to you.

When in doubt, stay curious. Pay attention to the world around you. You might just stumble across the story you’ve been looking for all along.

Looking for more tips on storytelling, campaign design, and GM advice? Explore our other blog posts for more.