26 Books Like In Real Life

Boys are one way; girls are another; that’s the way it has always been. But when Aster finds himself ineluctably drawn to the magic that should only be the province of the women in his family, he begins to realize some rules are not only antiquated, they can do material harm to the soul. Ostertag deftly uses the supernatural as a simple and elegant metaphor for the thousand indignities we can heap upon the queer and gender nonconforming, with an art style that simultaneously insists upon and celebrates the multiplicity of bodies and expressions that are our lived experience and belie these closed and closeting norms. An ingenious allegory, smartly and briskly told with charm and generosity.

For the teen reader who likes a bit of a scare, Anya’s Ghost tells the story of Anya, a teenager of Russian descent who wants nothing more than to fit in at her American high school.

Ah, to be blonde and popular! While walking home through the park, Anya falls into a deep hole and discovers a set of bones. Freaky! And a ghost. Double Freaky!

The ghost seems nice enough but Anya doesn’t want to set off on some quest to find a murderer or anything. She just wants to go home, get a hot shower, and be normal. The ghost tags along when Anya is rescued and tries to help Anya fit in.

It’s good – until it’s not, and Anya does have to solve some mysteries to get rid of the ghost and save the people around her. Anya’s Ghost is just scary and spooky enough to… show more.

This series turns the “tortured outcast” trope on its head: these nerd characters are proud to be outcasts, and the one thing they don't want to be associated with is beautiful, popular people! I love this story because I, too, once fell into the “us vs. them” mentality against people I thought were too cool for me as a youth— people who could have potentially become my best friends! This manga series beautifully celebrates how we are all different, but still might have more in common than we think.

Blue Flag features an intense love rectangle between four unlikely friends and explores everything from cliques, crushes, self-hatred, projecting your insecurities onto others, and figuring out how to grow as a person. The relationships in Blue Flag are very complex, and almost uncomfortably real in their strengths and shortcomings. This is a series I wish I could have read as a teen; I would have loved it to be my companion in navigating the unnavigable maze of school social life.

Lone Wolf is a book that is also a game. A LitRPG for Kids, originally written in the 80s, it is the start of a wonderfully long series of illustrated books that both allowed children to choose their actions as the protagonist of the story and also gave them choices on how to develop the hero and make him progress.

It’s a model of book that I really would like to see more of today.

Lone Wolf might be the series that started me on my gaming path, and it is a magical and beautiful quest that teaches about honor, teamwork, and clever tactical planning.

Even better, the author made the series free online in 2015. So it is now available all over the internet and even as a number of free phone apps.

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?

Understanding story structure, narrative drive, and world-building are incredibly helpful when running tabletop role-playing games.

As you run games you will often find that the players do not do what is expected and as the Game Master (GM) you have to adjust the story as you go. Understanding common story tropes and character arcs can help GM’s with building their world, their campaign, and adjusting the story as needed.

Hickson uses examples from literature, anime, and popular media to help illustrate the different themes explored in his series. 

For many Game Masters it can be difficult to understand how the monsters and adversaries in their worlds would act.

In his book, and its sequel, Ammann helps to provide guidance for how different adversaries might act towards the group of heroes. This book helps GMs think critically about the monsters in the world and can help with teaching how to provide a more dynamic and consequential experience for players.

Ammann also helps readers think in terms of a world with magic and how those living in such a world might think and approach problems differently than we do in our magic-free world.

Sometimes you might find you have a great idea for a campaign, or know what theme you want to explore but are struggling to understand how to bring those ideas together.

D’Amato takes you through building your campaign through both a discussion of storytelling devices as well as pointed questions you can use to help flesh out your ideas and turn them into a full campaign. This book also helps GMs learn how to make their world feel lived in through descriptions and building history.

This is the book you want to use to build a small idea into a full campaign! 

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!