We're long-term Game Masters and tabletop roleplaying enthusiasts. Our recent book, The Game Master's Handbook of Proactive Roleplaying, is available now wherever books are sold.
Jonah Fishel has been playing TTRPGs for nearly twenty years, and has game mastered far more than his fair share of campaigns.
Away from the gaming table, Jonah is a learning differences tutor. He lives in Charlottesville, VA with his wife, daughter, and dog.
For some reason, Jonah has a degree in Storytelling.
Tristan Fishel is an author and RPG writer living in Newport News, Virginia.
Tristan has written several adventures, rules expansions and other content for both 5e and a few of his other favored systems. In his spare time, Tristan enjoys running home games for his friends, writing fiction, and serving as a devoted caretaker to his beloved cat, Cupcake.
What people are saying about the book
"This book and the concepts in it helped me rethink my approach to running games, making a better experience for both my players and me. It helped move my games away from a monster-of-the-week style to play centered around my character's interests in the world. The smaller size also helps me keep it on the side while running a game, something I couldn't do with a larger book. It was an essential investment to improve the way I run my table."
- Cheryl, verified purchaser on Amazon.com
"I’m a player that has had issues figuring out my goals for my characters and this book touches on everything required to fully flesh out a story or character. I’ve tried to write one-shot campaigns in the past and I wish I had this book to help me grasp the concept of goals and motivation more thoroughly, this is an amazing read for anyone who wants to either create developed campaigns or fully embody their player character to make tabletop role-play more immersive."
- Brandon, verified purchaser on Amazon.com
"A must have for GMs, especially newer, less experienced ones, who still might think they as the GM have to do all the heavy lifting for a fun game!"
- Kelly, verified purchaser on Amazon.com
"I consider this a must read for GMs and players, and for me it's up there with great books like "Play Unsafe" and "Unframed". Many GM advice sections in TTRPGs have strategies on prep and recommend basing the "story" around the player's characters, but this book does such a superlative job of explaining how to actually put that into practice."
- Jon, reviewed on Goodreads.com