“Stephen’s delightful memoir makes you want to travel upstream to your own formative D&D headwaters, dig out your old graph-paper maps and worn dice, and rediscover the gateway to what the author calls ‘the fantastic path.’”
—Ethan Gilsdorf, author of Fantasy Freaks and Gaming Geeks: An Epic Quest for Reality Among Role Players, Online Gamers, and Other Dwellers of Imaginary Realms

“A vibrant recollection of what it’s like to encounter Dungeons & Dragons for the very first time.”
—Dan “Delta” Collins, author of Book of War and co-host of Wandering DMs

Praise for Blue Flame, Tiny Stars

“I recommend this book not just to fans of ‘Holmes Basic’ but to anyone who enjoys playing Dungeons & Dragons. The author’s clear prose captures the excitement of those early, half-remembered adventures when everything about the game was new and awe-inspiring.”
—Zach Howard, author of The Ruined Tower of Zenopus and archivist at Zenopus Archives

“From his first glimpse of those strange dice, Stephen paints a picture of a young gamer’s friendships and adventures as he finds his way into a new world. The book is both a wonderful narrative and a personal history.”
—Tony Dowler, author of How to Host a Dungeon: The Solo Game of Dungeon Creation

“Stephen’s essays take me right back to those heady days. You will recognise many of the moments in this book, from figuring out weird dice, employing outside-the-box tactics, inventing new spells and monsters and magic items, drawing sprawling maps—but, most of all, you’ll remember the freshness of a completely new kind of play.”
—Michael Thomas, author of BLUEHOLME

“A celebration of dice, maps, friendship, and, above all, imagination—the very stuff from which the hobby of role-playing is made.”
—James Maliszewski, author of Grognardia: Musings and Memories from a Lifetime of Roleplaying

More Praise for Blue Flame, Tiny Stars

“Stephen Wendell writes in Blue Flame, Tiny Stars, ‘Every now and again life shows us a thing that changes the way we look at it.’ That thing for him—and for me and for countless others—was Dungeons & Dragons. With charm and wit, Stephen captures the ephemeral first experience playing D&D, back in another age, before the Internet, when the only way to learn was to be led into the dungeon by a best friend. His delightful memoir makes you want to travel upstream to your own formative D&D headwaters, dig out your old graph-paper maps and worn dice, and rediscover the gateway to what the author calls ‘the fantastic path,’ which D&D has offered countless gamers. Stephen reminds us why this game retains such a hold on our imaginations.”
—Ethan Gilsdorf, author of Fantasy Freaks and Gaming Geeks: An Epic Quest for Reality Among Role Players, Online Gamers, and Other Dwellers of Imaginary Realms

“A vibrant recollection of what it’s like to encounter Dungeons & Dragons for the very first time, with your best friend, as a teenager on a hazy 80s summer vacation. Stephen keeps in touch with the childlike wonder, and reminds us of the indelible nature of that first expedition. I’m jealous he had actual dice!”
—Dan “Delta” Collins, author of Book of War and co-host of Wandering DMs

“I greatly enjoyed Blue Flame, Tiny Stars, Stephen Wendell’s charming memoir of his discovery of Dungeons & Dragons in the early 1980s. It holds a particular fascination for me, as Stephen starts with the same version of the D&D Basic Set in the same year as myself. I recommend this book not just to fans of ‘Holmes Basic’ but to anyone who enjoys playing Dungeons & Dragons. The author’s clear prose captures the excitement of those early, half-remembered adventures when everything about the game was new and awe-inspiring.”
—Zach Howard, author of The Ruined Tower of Zenopus and archivist at Zenopus Archives

“Blue Flame, Tiny Stars rekindles the wonder and sometimes confusion of a fledgling gamer taking his first steps into the world of Dungeons & Dragons. From his first glimpse of those strange dice, Stephen paints a picture of a young gamer’s friendships and adventures as he finds his way into a new world. The book is both a wonderful narrative and a personal history. To those of us who grew up deciphering the strange rules and arcane vocabulary of the game, this is a reminder of where we came from. For others, it’s a look at how the game was discovered and experienced by so many people when it was new.”
—Tony Dowler, author of How to Host a Dungeon: The Solo Game of Dungeon Creation

“No matter where or when our role-playing experience started, all of us can remember that incredible sense of wonder and feeling of limitless potential offered by these weird games. Stephen’s essays take me right back to those heady days, though I was the guy who said, ‘Man, you’ve got to play this game!’ You will recognise many of the moments in this book, from figuring out weird dice, employing outside-the-box tactics, inventing new spells and monsters and magic items, drawing sprawling maps—but, most of all, you’ll remember the freshness of a completely new kind of play.”
—Michael Thomas, author of BLUEHOLME

“Stephen Wendell’s Blue Flame, Tiny Stars is an enchanting reminiscence of learning to play Dungeons & Dragons. It’s a celebration of dice, maps, friendship, and, above all, imagination—the very stuff from which the hobby of role-playing is made.”
—James Maliszewski, author of Grognardia: Musings and Memories from a Lifetime of Roleplaying

Bonus Material

These are articles or portions thereof from Anecdotes and Old Games that are pertinent to Holmes Basic D&D but extraneous to the memoir.

• Polyhedrons (Role-Playing Game Dice)
• Holmes on a Coin’s Weight
• Recalculating a Coin’s Weight
• “Hack-9”
• In Memoriam
• Never Say Die
• Firing into Melee
• The Holmes Spirit: Simple and Unique
• Three Paradigms: Evolution of Ability Score Adjustments and the Prime Requisite Bonus in Old-School D&D
• The Giant Kingdom: Another Holmes Uniquity

The story continues…

• A Craft Store Discovery