My Dad the Game Master - cover page

Review of My Dad the Game Master, a heartfelt story about growing up with a GM dad

My Dad the Game Master is a fun picture book story about a girl sharing her insights on what it means to live with her game master dad.  From finding treasures like his shiny dice and minis to making creative bedtime stories, this book covers all the wonderful and weird parts of living with a tabletop roleplaying gamer dad. 

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What is My Dad the Game Master about? 

My Dad the Game Master follows the daughter of a game master dad as she contemplates all the strange and fun things her father does.  He makes funny voices and gets super into dressing up for Halloween, reads weird books and talks to himself, and is maybe a bit easily distracted by new game ideas.  Along with all that though, he’s a great story teller, a leader of adventures, and a cool dad.  

Who would My Dad the Game Master be great for?

My Dad the Game Master - roll to see who gets the last doughnut

My Dad the Game Master would be a wonderful read for families with tabletop RPGamer parents.  It’s got great illustrations for keeping kids engaged and is very cute and heartwarming as a nice read for the whole family.  

It’s also very funny for parents – I am the game guiding parent in our house and personally do a lot of the things that the dad in the book does, so it was really fun to connect with and laugh at myself a bit.  We’ve read it several times since getting it, and I do not mind rereading this one since it’s got an awesome personal connection. 

I could see this being a great book for families to just pick up and try or a heartfelt birthday/father’s day gift for the GM dad of the family.

How My Dad the Game Master highlights the weird and awesome parts of being a TTRPG parent

Like I said above, I am the tabletop RPGamer parent in our household, and I do a lot of what the dad in the book does.  We’ve rolled dice to see what activities we were going to do that day, and I’ve definitely interrupted TV shows to burst out a game idea or jot some game thoughts down in my notebook.  My Dad the Game Master is very on point with highlighting the quirks that a GM parent brings to the table, and it was really fun to hear it coming from a young kid’s view!

Our favorite parts from My Dad the Game Master

My Dad the Game Master - shiny dice!

My kid’s favorite parts were probably when the little girl in the story was marveling over her dad’s dice.  My kid regularly does this and really likes it when we dump the dice out in a big pile and let him play with them, stack them, etc.  He also thought the part about making funny voices was hilarious and, during one of our reads, he actually stopped me there to ask if I could read the rest of the book in one of the character voices I used in the last game we played!

For me, I liked the part about coming up with bedtime stories from small prompts – this is pretty close to how I started running tabletop RPGs with my kid, and the little bit about kids adding their parts to the story here and there is something I am very familiar with.  The ending was also very sweet, covering how, while having a tabletop RPGamer parent is a bit different, the adventures are always awesome.

My overall thoughts on My Dad the Game Master

My Dad the Game Master - adventures as a family

My Dad the Game Master is incredibly relevant to parents and families who play tabletop RPGs together and is a very sweet and fun story that connects with the quirks we know we have.  It’s wonderfully illustrated, cute, funny, and just all around a good book for families with a GM dad!  I would highly recommend it for reading with your family or for getting as a gift for the GM dad in your personal story.

Find a copy of My Dad the Game Master 

You can find a copy of My Dad the Game Master at Barnes and Nobles, Amazon, and other booksellers!

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5 thoughts on “Review of My Dad the Game Master, a heartfelt story about growing up with a GM dad

  1. I just adore the fact that your kiddo asked you to read some of the book in one of your own character voices! It really warms my heart to think of others sharing moments like that. 🥰 And, you probably can relate to dice sometimes getting lost because of your kids taking them all the time! 🤣

    Thank you again for your review, it means the world to me that you and your family enjoyed my book so much!

  2. As a DM with a daughter who has the same first name as the author, I knew I had to get this book. She’s only 2, but we started going on “adventures” not long after she was born.
    I’m so glad you included images from the book as I wanted to know if the art style was going to be engaging. I’ve purchased the book and I can’t wait to read it with her! Thank you for this review.

    1. I’m so glad you found a book to share with your kid through the site!! That’s wonderful! I hope you enjoy it, and I’m glad the review helped!

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