Behind the Scenes: How Tabletop Gaming Shapes Taylor Thomson’s Horror Storytelling

Canberra filmmaker Taylor Thomson traces his love of storytelling to a place few directors would: the tabletop. Years before he was crafting short films that played at festivals like “Yeh! Nah! Horror,” Thomson was huddled around a table with friends, rolling dice and weaving improvised tales in games like Dungeons & Dragons. Those sessions, he says, taught him as much about character, pacing, and tension as any film course could.

“D&D is funny enough—funny you bring that up,” Thomson said in a podcast interview. “That is one of the things that helped me realize I adored storytelling, that whole side of it. D&D and other tabletop games are, I think, an excellent tool to help people—young people especially—develop moment stories for characters.”

From Dungeon Master to Director

Thomson’s gaming background runs deeper than casual play. He’s been running campaigns for more than a year and a half, often in dark, gothic settings of his own design. “I’m a weird contrarian,” he said. “I refused to use the default setting. I made my own world, realized that was too hard, then started using a third-party setting.”

That first attempt drew inspiration from the video game Bloodborne, with its bleak architecture and creeping dread. The aesthetic left a mark that would later surface in his psychological thrillers Speak to Me and Empty House.

Rather than traditional fantasy adventure, Thomson’s campaigns leaned into darker material. “It was gothic horror and dark German fairy tales,” he explained. “That’s always been what I gravitate toward.”

Lessons in Improvisation

Tabletop gaming, Thomson argues, is an ideal rehearsal space for filmmaking. Running a game teaches quick thinking, adaptability, and collaboration—skills every director needs on set. “It can help a lot with thinking on your feet. Absolutely. Improvisation,” he said. “You’ve got players doing unpredictable things, and you have to adapt. It’s the same when something goes wrong on set.”

When a light fails or a location changes, Thomson treats it like a plot twist in a game: an opportunity to improvise. That flexibility, he says, keeps the creative process alive.

“Filmmaking isn’t something one person can do,” he added. “It’s inherently a team activity. Unlike painting or whatever, you cannot go at it alone—and if you think you can, you’re a dumb fuck to put it kindly.”

World-Building for the Screen

What begins around a gaming table often ends up on screen. Thomson’s attention to myth, folklore, and religious symbolism gives his films a lived-in realism that grounds the horror. He treats supernatural elements not as spectacle, but as extensions of belief systems that could plausibly exist.

That mindset was shaped in part by Lamentations of the Flame Princess, a grim, unforgiving tabletop system that punishes reckless play. “It’s the kind of game where death is really, really, really easy and quick,” he said. “If you don’t play it smart, you’ll get exploded—and I like that grounded element, that sense that a peasant with a pitchfork can just kill you.”

That same sense of vulnerability carries into his films, where characters face genuine danger rather than narrative safety nets.

Shared Worlds, On and Off the Table

Thomson now plays under the guidance of his gaming partner Sarah, who also co-founded Evil Gazebo Media with him. The pair produce music videos and documentary projects, blending their shared storytelling sensibilities into their professional work.

For Taylor Thomson, tabletop gaming is more than a pastime. It’s an incubator for creativity, collaboration, and world-building—the same skills that drive his filmmaking career.

“Speak to Me,” which earned a Best Short Screenplay nomination at the 2024 “Yeh! Nah! Horror” festival, stands as proof that good storytelling can begin anywhere—even with a handful of dice and an idea.