A nostalgic look at one boy's discovery of Basic D&D in the early days. Reading this brought back memories of my own introduction the game. A heartfelt memoir that ever gamer, old or new, should appreciate.

Its hard in this world today where everything is available a click away to imagine what it was like to first be introduced to the first tabletop role-playing game by a friend and letting your imagination free. This memoir is able to capture the wonderment and mystery of those early days after the invention of Dungeons & Dragons. Grab a copy and find yourselves transported back to a more innocent time.

Man what a great little book. Brought me back to all those happy years with my Basic Set, my Monster Manual, and those tattered issues of Dragon Magazine. Good times!

Originally posted here: https://theotherside.timsbrannan.com/2023/03/review-blue-flame-tiny-stars.html

I was on Mastodon a while back (and I really do need to do more over there) and I struck up a conversation with Stephen Wendell. He was promoting his new book Blue Flame, Tiny Stars, and I asked for a copy, which he happily sent me. I got it in the mail about a month ago and I finally sat down to read it. Honestly it was hard to put down. While he was not expecting a review when he sent it, I said I would review it. So here it is.

Blue Flame, Tiny Stars

Blue Flame, Tiny Stars, or more properly, "Blue Flame, Tiny Stars: A Memoir of Early Experiences Playing the Holmes Edition of the World’s Most Superlative Role-Playing Game" by Stephen Wendell, is a memoir of one man's first experiences with Dungeons & Dragons.

Stephen's story here is a familiar one. I could have recounted a very similar tale of the summer of 1980 after being exposed to D&D back in December of 1979. But his tale is an earnest one and an engaging one.

The sales pitch for this book includes the line "Warning: Reading this book will make you want to play D&D!" and that is 100% true. Reading through Wendell's recollections of his first encounter with D&D, via the Holmes Basic Rules (same as me) made me want to pull out my Holmes set and roll up a new character. It reminded me of summer days coloring in my own dice with a white crayon and then playing games at night with my brother or friends.

This is not a long book, a little more than 30 pages. It also reads much faster than its size would suggest because it is so engaging. Wendell manages to do something rather magical here. He engages you in his own discoveries and makes you recall your own at the same time. It is not just a fantastic new tale; it is a fantastic OLD tale that you already know.

I have talked a lot about Holmes Basic and its enduring appeal. This book is a love letter to that set and that time.

The book is on sale in lots of places, and Wendell sells it in a variety of formats (print, pdf, epub), all at Pay What You Want (at DriveThru). But seriously, find the suggested price and pay more than that.

Regardless of what you pay for it or how long it takes you to read it do pick this one up. Especially if you started as part of the "Second Generation" of Gamers that did not learn from war games or from the ancient masters. We taught ourselves or learned from others that also taught themselves. This is the group that both Wendell and I (and likely many of you) claim membership in.

Props also for including the quote from Carl Jung. Seriously was this book custom-made for me? We even have the same dice.

If you are part of that Second Generation, then you owe it to yourself, or at least that 9-11-year-old version of yourself, to pick up this book. It is more than just a nostalgia grab. It is the real thing, and I am happy to have it.

I am sticking my copy inside my Holmes boxed set where it belongs.

It's a short memoir, but it hits right to the heart of being a teenager in the early 1980's and feeling the world grow and change around you, while also discovering a game that's going to alter your life. I enjoyed it quite a bit.

This amazing book brings back so many childhood memories of playing D@D.

I really liked this book when I read it. It is short yet delightfully nostalgic. It resonated with me in several ways, though I came later in life to RPGs than the author. Like the author, it set me on a path where many of my friends would be met around a gaming table, both as a young & shy university student and again today so many decades later.

The book also resonates now later in life as I am reminded how RPGs brought me engagement with others who became my friends. Particularly during the isolation of the pandemic, it was a way to stay engaged with others even if remotely. An RPG is also how I am now meeting and interacting with new friends, as the next adventure unfolds.

As well, for me it was also the love of maps that drew me in. Then, it was the love of exploration that kept me enthralled! As a younger boy, I quietly passed many a rainy afternoon in our family's cramped travel trailer, learning about maps from the "complete a map" books my parents had learned would give me the mental space I needed in that too-small physical one.

Once the weather cleared, it was out and about to find all the hidden spaces, marvelous creatures, and ever-expanding vistas of the real world. There were not many physical treasures, perhaps, other than a shiny rock or a technological artifact. The real treasures are the ones of the mind. RPGs, particularly D&D, captured that magic for me. The magic is still there.

It’s a short read but Stephen has written a solid and charming account of his earliest memories of his introduction to the Holmes edition of D&D. Unlike the first generation of gamers who had a fellowship of war gamers and tabletop wargame experience to fall back upon, Stephen is part of that second generation of gamers who encountered this immediately mysterious and freaking cool game and had to teach it to ourselves. His story evokes that feeling of wonder and discovery of our beloved game.