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Metagamer Chronicles #1
Homebrew
If Gary had known he'd get trapped in an RPG with his real-life stats, he’d have tried harder in gym class.
Gary Burns just wanted to create the greatest RPG campaign of his gaming career. But a freak magical accident sucks him into the very world he created—as himself.
Surrounded by heroes who look and sound like his friends, Gary is forced to play out the story he wrote. Worthless in a fight, Gary must prove himself valuable even if it means feeding the team insider knowledge.
Because he needs keep his friends close—and himself alive—until he can solve the puzzle he never how to get everyone back home.
Homebrew puts the RPG into LitRPG, taking the ever-growing GameLit genre back to its tabletop roots. If you miss the rattle of dice and gaming at a table with your friends, the Metagamer Chronicles are what you've been craving. Fans of Dungeons and Dragons and old TSR novels will love Homebrew .
Gary Burns just wanted to create the greatest RPG campaign of his gaming career. But a freak magical accident sucks him into the very world he created—as himself.
Surrounded by heroes who look and sound like his friends, Gary is forced to play out the story he wrote. Worthless in a fight, Gary must prove himself valuable even if it means feeding the team insider knowledge.
Because he needs keep his friends close—and himself alive—until he can solve the puzzle he never how to get everyone back home.
Homebrew puts the RPG into LitRPG, taking the ever-growing GameLit genre back to its tabletop roots. If you miss the rattle of dice and gaming at a table with your friends, the Metagamer Chronicles are what you've been craving. Fans of Dungeons and Dragons and old TSR novels will love Homebrew .
330 pages, Paperback
Published March 29, 2018
Ratings & Reviews
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Displaying 1 - 29 of 29 reviews
August 15, 2018
An interesting take on the genre. Think NPC's by Drew Hayes but with the DM taking part as an adventure but remembering everything.
3.5 rounded down due to too many and very repetitive character sheets. Besides that, very well written and will pick up the next one.
3.5 rounded down due to too many and very repetitive character sheets. Besides that, very well written and will pick up the next one.
September 13, 2026
Final Rating: 2.54/5.00
Starting score: 2.50
+0.26 for making the world's designer a vulnerable participant with useful but limited knowledge.
+0.38 for the dragon encounter turning knowledge, fear, and personal responsibility into compelling conflict.
+0.19 for histories and everyday consequences that extend beyond Gary's campaign outline.
+0.17 for giving cooking, music, negotiation, and practical cooperation meaningful uses.
+0.14 for individual motives and boundaries beneath Braeleigh's and Sira's character roles.
+0.09 for generally clear everyday wording and concrete physical descriptions.
+0.11 for musical and film references that contribute to character and problem-solving.
-0.56 for prolonged stretches of routine adventuring before the story became engaging for me.
-0.23 for repeated character sheets and mechanical explanations interrupting the listening flow.
-0.18 for insufficient development of the emotional consequences of Gary's manipulation.
-0.13 for comic caricatures and recurring crude jokes limiting the companions' depth.
-0.08 for an incorrect roll calculation in a story that makes numerical precision conspicuous.
-0.12 for postponing the central mystery behind another abrupt ending hook.
Calculated final score: 2.54/5.00
Narration and technical audio production: not separately scored.
Essential Context
I received a free audiobook review key through Booksprout, and this is my honest response to listening. I also understood that a separate free offer was running until 17 September, so I was unclear about what additional access the key provided. That uncertainty does not affect my rating. The more relevant context is that I do not enjoy tabletop gaming or D&D. My enthusiasm for games and LitRPG audiobooks does not extend automatically to recreated tabletop campaigns. I came to this as an audiobook listener, without the warm familiarity of evenings spent rolling dice with a gaming group. That makes a real difference here, because the story puts that culture at its centre from the opening gathering onward. I can respect the affection behind it while finding much of the resulting experience boring. My paws are planted firmly on that distinction: this review reflects how the adventure worked for me, including the considerable improvement that finally arrived near the end.
Hook and Thesis
For most of this audiobook, I felt like I was trudging through snow toward an ever-receding fire. Then the dragon arrived, and the story finally gave me something I wanted to lean into. Until that point, I had been worried that the entire experience would remain at the same uninteresting level for me. The improvement mattered because it changed that expectation. Gary's unusual position finally made his choices compelling. I could finally see a version of this series that might hold my attention. Still, that late change cannot transform the preceding hours into an experience I enjoyed. The strong encounter and the long boredom both count. My judgment therefore sits close to the middle, with real frustration on one side and a late reason for curiosity on the other. As I would put it from my den, “The dragon woke my ears, but it did not shorten the winter before it.” That is the shape of this listen for me.
Basic Plot Summary
Gary Burns is a cook and musician who has created an elaborate fantasy campaign for his friends. An incident involving a peculiar crystal ball puts him inside Pellar, the world he designed. His companions resemble his friends, but live as their adventuring characters without sharing his understanding of their situation. Gary arrives with his own disappointing physical capabilities and discovers that knowing a world's rules does not provide the muscles, equipment, or authority to dominate it. He becomes a bard among a paladin, a cleric, an elven ranger, and a halfling rogue, accompanied by a growing wolf. Jobs, dangerous ruins, and the predicament of an elven woman carry them through a setting whose secrets Gary often already knows. His missing friend and the question of returning home remain larger uncertainties. Beneath those problems lies a promising tension: Gary must decide how far to interfere in an adventure he once expected to supervise safely from outside, while the people enduring it increasingly have needs that his original plans cannot comfortably contain.
Praise and Critique
The contrast between Gary's knowledge and his physical limitations is a worthwhile starting point. His understanding of a dangerous location does not make carrying equipment effortless or turn an awkward musician into an accomplished swordsman. Even choosing weapons involves the practical problem of managing them alongside his instrument. Those physical details make his poor statistics tangible. His usefulness also extends beyond damage: he negotiates, cooks, recognises threats, and helps the group find alternatives to fighting. Barricading a door provides a sensible escape when recovered goods would slow a retreat. That is the sort of practical solution I appreciate. Cooking earns its place among spectacular abilities; support matters without strength. The weakness is that Gary himself spends considerable time treating the bard's role as an embarrassment. The story has already shown reasons to value him, yet it often returns to his perceived uselessness. I wanted those contributions to change the group's relationship with him more steadily, instead of repeatedly waiting for another demonstration that he deserved his place.
Pellar also contains more substance than an empty arrangement of combat rooms. The city's diminished population reflects lost trade and war, while local businesses exist within an economy of theft, intimidation, and imperfect protection. A greengrocer describes protection money, something Gary never specified in such detail. Something he invented as an adventurous setting has developed ordinary people who must pay to keep functioning within it. Historical encounters expose sorrow beyond his brief notes. Those are promising cracks in his assumption that the world is fully understood because he designed its outline. I want fantasy lore to have consequences like these: changes in where people live, what they fear, and what they believe they owe one another. From HowlStrom, I recognise the value of a world whose old battles still affect the warmth available in someone's home. Here, however, that depth often arrives as an observation before the party moves along. I can identify worthwhile world-building without pretending it overcame my boredom. The imagination exceeds the early execution.
Braeleigh and Sira have individual concerns that deserve recognition beneath their familiar party roles. Braeleigh's determination to help another elf is connected to displacement, lost family, and a longing for cultural belonging. Finding someone from her own people matters beyond completing a quest. Sira's commitment to her calling also gives her reasons for caution and boundaries around how she wants to be treated. She discusses her purpose with Gary and warns about abusing bardic influence, giving their interaction personal weight. Her prejudice against wizardry also has a family history. Their different experiences create disagreement. Beldrak likewise offers reassurance and practical protection, so the group's treatment of Gary is not uniformly dismissive. I give the book credit for those distinctions. I still wanted more conversations to remain at that level long enough for the relationships to deepen. A dependable pack becomes convincing through repeated attention to one another, and here the meaningful exchanges must compete with a strong tendency to return everyone to their most recognisable joke or function.
The references work best when they belong to Gary's own resources. He brings familiar music into an unfamiliar world, including John Lennon's “Imagine” and a lullaby built around Metallica's “Nothing Else Matters.” The contrast between those songs and his available instruments helps connect the bard to the musician he was before arriving. His claim about contacts, languages, and disappearing clearly echoes Indiana's bluff about Marcus Brody in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. The accompanying “Worked for Indy” modifier makes the connection unusually explicit. Familiar fiction becomes material he can adapt under pressure. Recognising it is an extra pleasure available to a listener, but the immediate tactic remains understandable without recognition. That matters more to me than a parade of titles. They offer an avenue into the story beyond tabletop. They do not erase the campaign-heavy presentation, but they give Gary a cultural identity that can influence his decisions and offer the adventure some personality outside its rules.
The dragon encounter is where the strongest parts finally come together for me. The opponent's physical superiority leaves little comfort in Gary's cleverness. He has knowledge, but he must decide how to present it, how much to risk, and how to respond when the situation resists his intentions. The conversation has pressure because a failed tactic can expose people he is trying to protect. His companions demand explanations for his withheld information, adding a personal conflict. I will leave the solution for other listeners to discover, but the appeal is that Gary becomes responsible for doing something with his unusual position. This is the point where my ears finally lifted. The scene gives the bard's verbal abilities weight and makes the world's history relevant to an urgent decision. It also complicates the fantasy of knowing everyone else's secrets: such knowledge can become cruel as readily as useful. That tension belonged throughout the adventure. Here, at last, the premise feels capable of carrying a story I want to follow.
Criticism
My largest problem is the long distance between those possibilities and sustained engagement. The party travels, negotiates, encounters obstacles, solves puzzles, and checks its progress. Events certainly happen; the difficulty is how frequently they leave me waiting for a stronger reason to care. Gary often knows an obstacle's answer, leaving uncertainty about how long the others will take. The dwarven vaults show this clearly: he can guide the group with small hints while preserving the experience of discovery for them. That may capture the satisfaction of running a campaign, but it places an audiobook listener in an awkward position. I cannot participate in the group, and Gary's privileged understanding can drain surprise from observing it. Even his doubts about reality frequently give way to ordinary adventuring. I wanted those doubts to alter the direction and emotional pressure more consistently. My dislike of tabletop explains some of this mismatch, but it does not make my response disappear. Campaign companionship dominates, while the distinctive conflict waits.
The mechanics create an additional problem specifically for listening. Full character sheets repeat largely unchanged information alongside significant updates. Keeping track of a new ability can help me understand a decision; hearing another broad inventory of Gary's capabilities can interrupt the scene that made me interested in that decision. A written stat block can be glanced over quickly, while spoken information occupies time in sequence. This is a structural issue in presenting the story through audio, separate from any judgment about voices or recording quality. Everyday wording is generally clear, with concrete descriptions of physical actions. That clarity earns a small positive adjustment. Numerical editing is less dependable: one persuasion roll gives 1 + 8 - 2 as 9, when the total should be 7. That small error does not break the system. Nevertheless, a story that repeatedly foregrounds arithmetic makes accuracy part of its own presentation. My separate deductions concern unnecessary repetition and an incorrect calculation; they are different problems, with very different effects on the experience.
The companions' comic identities also become restrictive. Zeeto repeatedly supplies greed, insults, and sexual jokes; Braeleigh returns to flirtation or exaggerated naivety; Beldrak's ornate speech announces the formal paladin. The difference in their language makes the dialogue attributable, and Beldrak's phrasing is deliberately stylised rather than automatically a grammatical mistake. Yet recognisable speech patterns are only one part of making people interesting. When the same comic habits repeatedly take over, individuality can start feeling like a limited menu of reactions. Zeeto's extended play with “right” and “left” is a good example of a joke continuing after its purpose is established. Friends sometimes enjoy deliberately irritating one another. My difficulty is being asked to enjoy so much of it from outside their circle. The warmer and more revealing exchanges show that the book can do more. I wanted those experiences to accumulate visibly, giving the party's teasing a stronger foundation of affection and allowing changes in their relationships to survive beyond the next punch line.
Gary's handling of his knowledge raises a deeper concern than his usefulness in combat. He withholds information partly because he is still thinking about how the campaign should unfold, even as others endure its risks. His uncertainty about whether the world is real gives that behaviour an understandable starting point, but the moral tension deserves more sustained attention as contrary evidence accumulates. Before the dragon encounter, he recognises his companions' grounds for feeling betrayed. That recognition is important. I wanted the resulting damage to trust to become a fuller part of the story, with room for the companions' reactions beyond an immediate crisis. Likewise, suffering lies behind his casual inventions. A dangerous protagonist can be fascinating. I am asking for the consequences to receive development proportional to the power he holds. My claws tighten at the gap between noticing somebody else's pain and letting that recognition change a relationship. The book opens that question more convincingly than it explores its aftermath.
Evaluation and Personal Impact
The creative side provides my clearest connection to Gary. HowlStrom is part of my identity; I understand investing time and feeling in an imagined world. Gary's wish that his friends would take his work seriously therefore has an emotional basis I can understand without sharing his love of tabletop. His need for appreciation meets his inhabitants' independence. Their fear cannot remain a useful ingredient in his ideal adventure once he is treating them as people. That is where this premise could reach much further into loyalty and responsibility. His need to demonstrate that he deserves a place also has more emotional possibility than another joke about his weakness. I value practical contributions to a shared life, including making food and paying attention to what others need. As I say in my den, “A pack needs more than its sharpest fangs.” Gary already has ways to contribute, so I wanted the story to spend more time examining whether he recognises their worth and whether his companions do, rather than repeatedly returning him to the position of a tolerated extra.
My wider listening preferences help explain why the late improvement matters so much. Continue Online can hold my attention through grief, identity, and questions about the significance of relationships within another reality. Quiet passages work when they deepen something I care about. Here, the uncertainty around Gary's companions could provide a similarly compelling reason to linger: familiar faces do not guarantee that he understands who these people are now. Too often, however, that possibility gives way to watching the next part of the campaign proceed. I also want fictional communities to feel inhabited, a concern behind my criticism of Dungeon Tour Guide. Pellar does offer people and pressures outside Gary's immediate group, but I wanted their lives to exert a more continuous influence on his choices. These comparisons explain my preferences. Gary finally interested me when knowledge, danger, and obligation became inseparable. My response changed because the story gave me a more compelling use for its own premise.
Conclusion
Listeners who enjoy tabletop party banter, incremental encounters, and the experience of watching a campaign unfold have much more reason to appreciate the journey here than I did. I cannot recommend it broadly on the assumption that enjoying LitRPG means enjoying that particular structure. The dragon provides a worthwhile payoff, and later material suggests more initiative from Gary. That leaves me more open to the series than I was during the long stretch that bored me. It does not establish that the next instalment will sustain the improvement. The abrupt ending hook leaves the central mystery unresolved, attaching another request to continue to that newly earned interest. My 2.54 reflects that uneven result: useful ideas, some individual character motives, and a stronger late confrontation against a listening experience that took too long to engage me. I finish with cautious curiosity rather than enthusiasm for everything that came before. Back in my HowlStrom den, I can acknowledge the heat of those final flames while still remembering how long my paws spent crossing the cold.
Starting score: 2.50
+0.26 for making the world's designer a vulnerable participant with useful but limited knowledge.
+0.38 for the dragon encounter turning knowledge, fear, and personal responsibility into compelling conflict.
+0.19 for histories and everyday consequences that extend beyond Gary's campaign outline.
+0.17 for giving cooking, music, negotiation, and practical cooperation meaningful uses.
+0.14 for individual motives and boundaries beneath Braeleigh's and Sira's character roles.
+0.09 for generally clear everyday wording and concrete physical descriptions.
+0.11 for musical and film references that contribute to character and problem-solving.
-0.56 for prolonged stretches of routine adventuring before the story became engaging for me.
-0.23 for repeated character sheets and mechanical explanations interrupting the listening flow.
-0.18 for insufficient development of the emotional consequences of Gary's manipulation.
-0.13 for comic caricatures and recurring crude jokes limiting the companions' depth.
-0.08 for an incorrect roll calculation in a story that makes numerical precision conspicuous.
-0.12 for postponing the central mystery behind another abrupt ending hook.
Calculated final score: 2.54/5.00
Narration and technical audio production: not separately scored.
Essential Context
I received a free audiobook review key through Booksprout, and this is my honest response to listening. I also understood that a separate free offer was running until 17 September, so I was unclear about what additional access the key provided. That uncertainty does not affect my rating. The more relevant context is that I do not enjoy tabletop gaming or D&D. My enthusiasm for games and LitRPG audiobooks does not extend automatically to recreated tabletop campaigns. I came to this as an audiobook listener, without the warm familiarity of evenings spent rolling dice with a gaming group. That makes a real difference here, because the story puts that culture at its centre from the opening gathering onward. I can respect the affection behind it while finding much of the resulting experience boring. My paws are planted firmly on that distinction: this review reflects how the adventure worked for me, including the considerable improvement that finally arrived near the end.
Hook and Thesis
For most of this audiobook, I felt like I was trudging through snow toward an ever-receding fire. Then the dragon arrived, and the story finally gave me something I wanted to lean into. Until that point, I had been worried that the entire experience would remain at the same uninteresting level for me. The improvement mattered because it changed that expectation. Gary's unusual position finally made his choices compelling. I could finally see a version of this series that might hold my attention. Still, that late change cannot transform the preceding hours into an experience I enjoyed. The strong encounter and the long boredom both count. My judgment therefore sits close to the middle, with real frustration on one side and a late reason for curiosity on the other. As I would put it from my den, “The dragon woke my ears, but it did not shorten the winter before it.” That is the shape of this listen for me.
Basic Plot Summary
Gary Burns is a cook and musician who has created an elaborate fantasy campaign for his friends. An incident involving a peculiar crystal ball puts him inside Pellar, the world he designed. His companions resemble his friends, but live as their adventuring characters without sharing his understanding of their situation. Gary arrives with his own disappointing physical capabilities and discovers that knowing a world's rules does not provide the muscles, equipment, or authority to dominate it. He becomes a bard among a paladin, a cleric, an elven ranger, and a halfling rogue, accompanied by a growing wolf. Jobs, dangerous ruins, and the predicament of an elven woman carry them through a setting whose secrets Gary often already knows. His missing friend and the question of returning home remain larger uncertainties. Beneath those problems lies a promising tension: Gary must decide how far to interfere in an adventure he once expected to supervise safely from outside, while the people enduring it increasingly have needs that his original plans cannot comfortably contain.
Praise and Critique
The contrast between Gary's knowledge and his physical limitations is a worthwhile starting point. His understanding of a dangerous location does not make carrying equipment effortless or turn an awkward musician into an accomplished swordsman. Even choosing weapons involves the practical problem of managing them alongside his instrument. Those physical details make his poor statistics tangible. His usefulness also extends beyond damage: he negotiates, cooks, recognises threats, and helps the group find alternatives to fighting. Barricading a door provides a sensible escape when recovered goods would slow a retreat. That is the sort of practical solution I appreciate. Cooking earns its place among spectacular abilities; support matters without strength. The weakness is that Gary himself spends considerable time treating the bard's role as an embarrassment. The story has already shown reasons to value him, yet it often returns to his perceived uselessness. I wanted those contributions to change the group's relationship with him more steadily, instead of repeatedly waiting for another demonstration that he deserved his place.
Pellar also contains more substance than an empty arrangement of combat rooms. The city's diminished population reflects lost trade and war, while local businesses exist within an economy of theft, intimidation, and imperfect protection. A greengrocer describes protection money, something Gary never specified in such detail. Something he invented as an adventurous setting has developed ordinary people who must pay to keep functioning within it. Historical encounters expose sorrow beyond his brief notes. Those are promising cracks in his assumption that the world is fully understood because he designed its outline. I want fantasy lore to have consequences like these: changes in where people live, what they fear, and what they believe they owe one another. From HowlStrom, I recognise the value of a world whose old battles still affect the warmth available in someone's home. Here, however, that depth often arrives as an observation before the party moves along. I can identify worthwhile world-building without pretending it overcame my boredom. The imagination exceeds the early execution.
Braeleigh and Sira have individual concerns that deserve recognition beneath their familiar party roles. Braeleigh's determination to help another elf is connected to displacement, lost family, and a longing for cultural belonging. Finding someone from her own people matters beyond completing a quest. Sira's commitment to her calling also gives her reasons for caution and boundaries around how she wants to be treated. She discusses her purpose with Gary and warns about abusing bardic influence, giving their interaction personal weight. Her prejudice against wizardry also has a family history. Their different experiences create disagreement. Beldrak likewise offers reassurance and practical protection, so the group's treatment of Gary is not uniformly dismissive. I give the book credit for those distinctions. I still wanted more conversations to remain at that level long enough for the relationships to deepen. A dependable pack becomes convincing through repeated attention to one another, and here the meaningful exchanges must compete with a strong tendency to return everyone to their most recognisable joke or function.
The references work best when they belong to Gary's own resources. He brings familiar music into an unfamiliar world, including John Lennon's “Imagine” and a lullaby built around Metallica's “Nothing Else Matters.” The contrast between those songs and his available instruments helps connect the bard to the musician he was before arriving. His claim about contacts, languages, and disappearing clearly echoes Indiana's bluff about Marcus Brody in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. The accompanying “Worked for Indy” modifier makes the connection unusually explicit. Familiar fiction becomes material he can adapt under pressure. Recognising it is an extra pleasure available to a listener, but the immediate tactic remains understandable without recognition. That matters more to me than a parade of titles. They offer an avenue into the story beyond tabletop. They do not erase the campaign-heavy presentation, but they give Gary a cultural identity that can influence his decisions and offer the adventure some personality outside its rules.
The dragon encounter is where the strongest parts finally come together for me. The opponent's physical superiority leaves little comfort in Gary's cleverness. He has knowledge, but he must decide how to present it, how much to risk, and how to respond when the situation resists his intentions. The conversation has pressure because a failed tactic can expose people he is trying to protect. His companions demand explanations for his withheld information, adding a personal conflict. I will leave the solution for other listeners to discover, but the appeal is that Gary becomes responsible for doing something with his unusual position. This is the point where my ears finally lifted. The scene gives the bard's verbal abilities weight and makes the world's history relevant to an urgent decision. It also complicates the fantasy of knowing everyone else's secrets: such knowledge can become cruel as readily as useful. That tension belonged throughout the adventure. Here, at last, the premise feels capable of carrying a story I want to follow.
Criticism
My largest problem is the long distance between those possibilities and sustained engagement. The party travels, negotiates, encounters obstacles, solves puzzles, and checks its progress. Events certainly happen; the difficulty is how frequently they leave me waiting for a stronger reason to care. Gary often knows an obstacle's answer, leaving uncertainty about how long the others will take. The dwarven vaults show this clearly: he can guide the group with small hints while preserving the experience of discovery for them. That may capture the satisfaction of running a campaign, but it places an audiobook listener in an awkward position. I cannot participate in the group, and Gary's privileged understanding can drain surprise from observing it. Even his doubts about reality frequently give way to ordinary adventuring. I wanted those doubts to alter the direction and emotional pressure more consistently. My dislike of tabletop explains some of this mismatch, but it does not make my response disappear. Campaign companionship dominates, while the distinctive conflict waits.
The mechanics create an additional problem specifically for listening. Full character sheets repeat largely unchanged information alongside significant updates. Keeping track of a new ability can help me understand a decision; hearing another broad inventory of Gary's capabilities can interrupt the scene that made me interested in that decision. A written stat block can be glanced over quickly, while spoken information occupies time in sequence. This is a structural issue in presenting the story through audio, separate from any judgment about voices or recording quality. Everyday wording is generally clear, with concrete descriptions of physical actions. That clarity earns a small positive adjustment. Numerical editing is less dependable: one persuasion roll gives 1 + 8 - 2 as 9, when the total should be 7. That small error does not break the system. Nevertheless, a story that repeatedly foregrounds arithmetic makes accuracy part of its own presentation. My separate deductions concern unnecessary repetition and an incorrect calculation; they are different problems, with very different effects on the experience.
The companions' comic identities also become restrictive. Zeeto repeatedly supplies greed, insults, and sexual jokes; Braeleigh returns to flirtation or exaggerated naivety; Beldrak's ornate speech announces the formal paladin. The difference in their language makes the dialogue attributable, and Beldrak's phrasing is deliberately stylised rather than automatically a grammatical mistake. Yet recognisable speech patterns are only one part of making people interesting. When the same comic habits repeatedly take over, individuality can start feeling like a limited menu of reactions. Zeeto's extended play with “right” and “left” is a good example of a joke continuing after its purpose is established. Friends sometimes enjoy deliberately irritating one another. My difficulty is being asked to enjoy so much of it from outside their circle. The warmer and more revealing exchanges show that the book can do more. I wanted those experiences to accumulate visibly, giving the party's teasing a stronger foundation of affection and allowing changes in their relationships to survive beyond the next punch line.
Gary's handling of his knowledge raises a deeper concern than his usefulness in combat. He withholds information partly because he is still thinking about how the campaign should unfold, even as others endure its risks. His uncertainty about whether the world is real gives that behaviour an understandable starting point, but the moral tension deserves more sustained attention as contrary evidence accumulates. Before the dragon encounter, he recognises his companions' grounds for feeling betrayed. That recognition is important. I wanted the resulting damage to trust to become a fuller part of the story, with room for the companions' reactions beyond an immediate crisis. Likewise, suffering lies behind his casual inventions. A dangerous protagonist can be fascinating. I am asking for the consequences to receive development proportional to the power he holds. My claws tighten at the gap between noticing somebody else's pain and letting that recognition change a relationship. The book opens that question more convincingly than it explores its aftermath.
Evaluation and Personal Impact
The creative side provides my clearest connection to Gary. HowlStrom is part of my identity; I understand investing time and feeling in an imagined world. Gary's wish that his friends would take his work seriously therefore has an emotional basis I can understand without sharing his love of tabletop. His need for appreciation meets his inhabitants' independence. Their fear cannot remain a useful ingredient in his ideal adventure once he is treating them as people. That is where this premise could reach much further into loyalty and responsibility. His need to demonstrate that he deserves a place also has more emotional possibility than another joke about his weakness. I value practical contributions to a shared life, including making food and paying attention to what others need. As I say in my den, “A pack needs more than its sharpest fangs.” Gary already has ways to contribute, so I wanted the story to spend more time examining whether he recognises their worth and whether his companions do, rather than repeatedly returning him to the position of a tolerated extra.
My wider listening preferences help explain why the late improvement matters so much. Continue Online can hold my attention through grief, identity, and questions about the significance of relationships within another reality. Quiet passages work when they deepen something I care about. Here, the uncertainty around Gary's companions could provide a similarly compelling reason to linger: familiar faces do not guarantee that he understands who these people are now. Too often, however, that possibility gives way to watching the next part of the campaign proceed. I also want fictional communities to feel inhabited, a concern behind my criticism of Dungeon Tour Guide. Pellar does offer people and pressures outside Gary's immediate group, but I wanted their lives to exert a more continuous influence on his choices. These comparisons explain my preferences. Gary finally interested me when knowledge, danger, and obligation became inseparable. My response changed because the story gave me a more compelling use for its own premise.
Conclusion
Listeners who enjoy tabletop party banter, incremental encounters, and the experience of watching a campaign unfold have much more reason to appreciate the journey here than I did. I cannot recommend it broadly on the assumption that enjoying LitRPG means enjoying that particular structure. The dragon provides a worthwhile payoff, and later material suggests more initiative from Gary. That leaves me more open to the series than I was during the long stretch that bored me. It does not establish that the next instalment will sustain the improvement. The abrupt ending hook leaves the central mystery unresolved, attaching another request to continue to that newly earned interest. My 2.54 reflects that uneven result: useful ideas, some individual character motives, and a stronger late confrontation against a listening experience that took too long to engage me. I finish with cautious curiosity rather than enthusiasm for everything that came before. Back in my HowlStrom den, I can acknowledge the heat of those final flames while still remembering how long my paws spent crossing the cold.
April 29, 2018
This was awesome! The writer of this book did something I've yet to see other's do. They actually rolled dice to see the outcome and as a GM went with it throughout the entire story. It was well done. It makes it so that you really don't know what's going to happen when you actually roll the dice. The only thing that I wasn't really a fan of is how the MC knew things and let his party just do whatever. Granted, I do get it that he didn't want to give away the "game" but after realizing that pain is real, how can you really sit there and say that you're not there for REAL. Anyway, that's a personal gripe. Besides that, I'm REALLY looking forward to see what happens in book two!
September 12, 2019
Since my only introduction to fantasy gaming group actually entering the fantasy world they play in was Joel Rosenberg's Guardian of the Flame series, I wasn't sure what to expect from a "modern" scenario. While I loved the Guardian of the Flame Series up until they decided to "end" slavery, I also liked this book too.
I'll admit I was, at first, a bit bored with the dice rolling and stats of the gamers but as I kept reading I found myself looking for these just to see what Gary was going to put the new stats on and how he was going to use them.
I found the plot of the book to be quite good. DM gets transported along with 4 of the 5 players in his gaming group and has to deal with adventures. I wondered why one player didn't transport but then figured out that Gary transporting was the reason why Zane didn't (or at least I believe that's the reason.). Gary was a gamer who was a DM (dungeon master) and didn't play a character in the games he was DMing so when the transfer occurred and he was sent along with 4 of his gamers it messed things up a little. The game was made for 5 gamers...not 5 gamers and the DM.
I do think Gary has way too much information and his stats (and reasons for putting new advancement stats where he does) is a bit weird because I played D&D since it came out and only stopped when my brother (who made the world) lost interest in 2010. It also seems a bit formulated since Gary knows everything that is going to happen and any information that's needed to survive. He made the world!
I am interested in where the author is going to go with this to keep the reader's interest so I will probably pick up the next book in the series. It remains to be seen if I will read any of the others.
I'll admit I was, at first, a bit bored with the dice rolling and stats of the gamers but as I kept reading I found myself looking for these just to see what Gary was going to put the new stats on and how he was going to use them.
I found the plot of the book to be quite good. DM gets transported along with 4 of the 5 players in his gaming group and has to deal with adventures. I wondered why one player didn't transport but then figured out that Gary transporting was the reason why Zane didn't (or at least I believe that's the reason.). Gary was a gamer who was a DM (dungeon master) and didn't play a character in the games he was DMing so when the transfer occurred and he was sent along with 4 of his gamers it messed things up a little. The game was made for 5 gamers...not 5 gamers and the DM.
I do think Gary has way too much information and his stats (and reasons for putting new advancement stats where he does) is a bit weird because I played D&D since it came out and only stopped when my brother (who made the world) lost interest in 2010. It also seems a bit formulated since Gary knows everything that is going to happen and any information that's needed to survive. He made the world!
I am interested in where the author is going to go with this to keep the reader's interest so I will probably pick up the next book in the series. It remains to be seen if I will read any of the others.
July 3, 2023
~Disclaimer: I received a free audiobook copy of this book. I did buy the kindle book to accompany my reading. ~
I really need to share this story with my dungeon master because their most recent game was a horror dnd game where we were trapped and I think they deserve to contemplate being thrown into that horror show. The premise was a huge draw, but I took a bit to actually listen/read because... well... sometimes life is like that.
While I believe that tabletop gamers will derive more enjoyment from this book than general gamelit fans, it still offers a compelling narrative for anyone interested in the genre.
The characters in the story felt true to the spirit of a roleplaying campaign, and the clever jokes about common tropes brought a smile to my face. Although I didn't always agree with the main character's choices, I understood that since he wasn't fully convinced of the reality of his situation, some of his decisions were forgivable. In fact, if I found myself unexpectedly transported into a game I had created, I would probably react in an entertaining way rather than making the most strategic moves.
One aspect that became tiresome and unnecessary was the repetitive inclusion of the character sheet. Instead of providing the entire sheet repeatedly, it would have been more effective to simply highlight the changes. This would have made the narrative flow more smoothly. My other issue was the cliffhanger ending. I fully intend to pick up the next book because I enjoyed the story, but cliffhangers always annoy me. Especially since I felt like the story wrapped up really well prior to the cliffhanger.
Mikael Naramore does an excellent job narrating.
I really need to share this story with my dungeon master because their most recent game was a horror dnd game where we were trapped and I think they deserve to contemplate being thrown into that horror show. The premise was a huge draw, but I took a bit to actually listen/read because... well... sometimes life is like that.
While I believe that tabletop gamers will derive more enjoyment from this book than general gamelit fans, it still offers a compelling narrative for anyone interested in the genre.
The characters in the story felt true to the spirit of a roleplaying campaign, and the clever jokes about common tropes brought a smile to my face. Although I didn't always agree with the main character's choices, I understood that since he wasn't fully convinced of the reality of his situation, some of his decisions were forgivable. In fact, if I found myself unexpectedly transported into a game I had created, I would probably react in an entertaining way rather than making the most strategic moves.
One aspect that became tiresome and unnecessary was the repetitive inclusion of the character sheet. Instead of providing the entire sheet repeatedly, it would have been more effective to simply highlight the changes. This would have made the narrative flow more smoothly. My other issue was the cliffhanger ending. I fully intend to pick up the next book because I enjoyed the story, but cliffhangers always annoy me. Especially since I felt like the story wrapped up really well prior to the cliffhanger.
Mikael Naramore does an excellent job narrating.
December 26, 2023
A fun start to a new LitRPG series
This book is one of a relatively new genre which crosses over between fiction (usually fantasy fiction) and roleplaying games. Different books in this genre take different approaches to this mixture. In this one, nerdy gamer Gary Burns has spent a long time creating not only his own fantasy world for his friends to play out their adventures, but a whole roleplaying system. In tabletop roleplaying, this is known as a ‘homebrew’, hence the title of the book. After an introduction to Gary and his friends, a bit of magical flummery transports all of them into the world that Gary has created, but only Gary is aware that it is a game.
The fantasy world is richly detailed but sticks close to classic tabletop gaming tropes. We have the obligatory tavern meetup, patrons, quests, random monsters, underground ‘dungeon’ exploration and so on. What makes this book interesting, though, is the combination of Gary’s knowledge as the creator of the game combined with his bafflement as to how they all get there and the challenges of how to help his friends and maybe even get out of the game alive.
The game system described in the book is interesting, too. It borrows a lot from Dungeons and Dragons, as most such systems do, but has its own take on player character classes, levels, and advancement. I think this is a good choice for a LitRPG books, as it helps reduce the confusion faced by new players/readers when faced with a whole lot of new stuff right at the start.
All in all, an enjoyable start to a series and I am looking forward to future books.
This book is one of a relatively new genre which crosses over between fiction (usually fantasy fiction) and roleplaying games. Different books in this genre take different approaches to this mixture. In this one, nerdy gamer Gary Burns has spent a long time creating not only his own fantasy world for his friends to play out their adventures, but a whole roleplaying system. In tabletop roleplaying, this is known as a ‘homebrew’, hence the title of the book. After an introduction to Gary and his friends, a bit of magical flummery transports all of them into the world that Gary has created, but only Gary is aware that it is a game.
The fantasy world is richly detailed but sticks close to classic tabletop gaming tropes. We have the obligatory tavern meetup, patrons, quests, random monsters, underground ‘dungeon’ exploration and so on. What makes this book interesting, though, is the combination of Gary’s knowledge as the creator of the game combined with his bafflement as to how they all get there and the challenges of how to help his friends and maybe even get out of the game alive.
The game system described in the book is interesting, too. It borrows a lot from Dungeons and Dragons, as most such systems do, but has its own take on player character classes, levels, and advancement. I think this is a good choice for a LitRPG books, as it helps reduce the confusion faced by new players/readers when faced with a whole lot of new stuff right at the start.
All in all, an enjoyable start to a series and I am looking forward to future books.
December 31, 2023
Gary Burns is a game master (GM) for his friends, and is exited to start a new campaign in the world he has created. But when a magical accident thrusts him into a real version of his created world, surrounded by caricatures of his friends as the characters they created, Gary begins to question what is real, and his own sanity. However, as Gary begins to accept this new reality, he must decide what role he wants to fill, and weather or not he should use his game knowledge to sway things in he and his friends' favor.
As a tabletop gamer myself, I greatly enjoyed this story, and look forward to further installments in this series.
I received a free copy of this book and am voluntarily leaving a review.
As a tabletop gamer myself, I greatly enjoyed this story, and look forward to further installments in this series.
I received a free copy of this book and am voluntarily leaving a review.
January 15, 2021
Overall the book is enjoyable, especially if you are someone who likes the litrpg genre. The story is fun and imaginative without relying too much on other pop culture stories and ideas. The mystery of how the characters end up in the game has not yet been addressed but I am sure it will in future books. I think what I liked best about this book is that it avoided harem elements or having all the female characters be the same cookie cut mold. I’m excited to read the next book as this one ended on a bit of a cliffhanger.
February 10, 2021
A super interesting concept - if I (as a GM) was taken into my own campaign magically, what could I do and what sort of trouble would I inadvertently get myself into? Great concept.
Sadly, the MC is a bit dim (I hate reading about/spending time with dim people) and the secondary characters seem to be a tedious collection of stupid nerd/gamer tropes and annoying habits.
Interesting as the concept was, I gave up after an hour (audiobook).
Sadly, the MC is a bit dim (I hate reading about/spending time with dim people) and the secondary characters seem to be a tedious collection of stupid nerd/gamer tropes and annoying habits.
Interesting as the concept was, I gave up after an hour (audiobook).
November 25, 2024
Fun and entertaining book that follows some of the typical role-playing adventure tropes, also is a home brew world and is uniquely adapted to make it interesting. I have read several other books where the role-playing group gets pulled into the adventure, this one is by far the best one I have read.
In particular, I think the author did a fantastic job of including details that only the DM would know, while still excluding some details from the DM so that it was a challenging adventure.
In particular, I think the author did a fantastic job of including details that only the DM would know, while still excluding some details from the DM so that it was a challenging adventure.
February 9, 2025
4.5 stars including a half star since it was a wonderfully creative LitRPG to have a portal fantasy with the DM included with his own regular stats. I don't know how more people haven't read this! If you haven't, you'll struggle a bit to understand what's happening. But if you've done any type of RPG, you'll love the book despite its awful cover. (I know what the author was going for with that cover, but It could be so much better!)
April 10, 2018
Great story for anyone who has DM’d a game
This story really settled inside my heart in a special way. The characters who are observations the main character has about his friends, the side thoughts he has about how people interact in a world he created - the emotional resonance that comes with the characters plight in the world... it fits together brilliantly.
This story really settled inside my heart in a special way. The characters who are observations the main character has about his friends, the side thoughts he has about how people interact in a world he created - the emotional resonance that comes with the characters plight in the world... it fits together brilliantly.
May 16, 2021
Real Interesting LitRPG
You’ll love this book if you like playing D&D — nostalgically for me. If you do NOT know what I refer to as D&D — don’t bother reading it.
Otherwise — I already bought the rest of the series to read. What does a “normal” bloke do in an extraordinary circumstance?
Fast-paced ... like a good adventure / campaign.
You’ll love this book if you like playing D&D — nostalgically for me. If you do NOT know what I refer to as D&D — don’t bother reading it.
Otherwise — I already bought the rest of the series to read. What does a “normal” bloke do in an extraordinary circumstance?
Fast-paced ... like a good adventure / campaign.
January 1, 2024
Reviewed in the United States on December 23, 2023
The little I've read in this genre has not really caught my fancy, but this was an interesting take. The plot was engaging and I liked the character development. I'm looking forward to where this is going.
I received a free copy of this book and am voluntarily leaving a review.
The little I've read in this genre has not really caught my fancy, but this was an interesting take. The plot was engaging and I liked the character development. I'm looking forward to where this is going.
I received a free copy of this book and am voluntarily leaving a review.
January 14, 2024
In this LitRPG portal fantasy, a gamemaster inadvertently makes a wish and finds himself in his own campaign with his players as their characters. The game progresses predictably, though the GM knowing the details of the campaign he designed are an interesting twist.
Nothing special here. The writing is fine, as is the story.
Recommended only as a light interlude.
Nothing special here. The writing is fine, as is the story.
Recommended only as a light interlude.
May 8, 2018
Great Story
And well-written, too. But a few glaring errors. (Embarrassing, too . . . who can screw up simple addition?) But the errors aren't frequent enough to detract from the story, just the occasional drop from emersion.
And well-written, too. But a few glaring errors. (Embarrassing, too . . . who can screw up simple addition?) But the errors aren't frequent enough to detract from the story, just the occasional drop from emersion.
October 5, 2018
Review
Alright, at first I didn’t really know if I’d like the book but I was totally wrong. It’s hard to put down and I kept finding myself needing to read the next chapter. Check it out if you have a soft spot for d&d and share that love with your buddies.
Alright, at first I didn’t really know if I’d like the book but I was totally wrong. It’s hard to put down and I kept finding myself needing to read the next chapter. Check it out if you have a soft spot for d&d and share that love with your buddies.
April 20, 2024
This was a fun concept with an okay execution. I had a good time with it, but will probably forget about it rather soon.
But it's perfect as a break between bigger books of long fantasy series! :)
So maybe I'll continue at some point.
But it's perfect as a break between bigger books of long fantasy series! :)
So maybe I'll continue at some point.
September 6, 2025
Enjoyable read
Perhaps the best LitRPG novels I’ve read. I like how the author explains real world people in a fantasy world especially how they level up. Very good explanation and story.
Perhaps the best LitRPG novels I’ve read. I like how the author explains real world people in a fantasy world especially how they level up. Very good explanation and story.
April 12, 2018
Hard to fo,low
Book was difficult to focus on. I read first few chapters and abandoned.
Characters and their I teractions were lame.
Book was difficult to focus on. I read first few chapters and abandoned.
Characters and their I teractions were lame.
April 27, 2018
I liked it a lot. interesting story and characters.
February 6, 2020
This book was an interest start to the series. I wasn't expecting some of the things that occurred. Its an interesting take on table top games and getting stuck in the game world.
October 14, 2020
3.5 Stars
September 14, 2023
This was a fun read (listen). I'm so glad the MC took the gloves off near the end. Also, listening to this the week Baldur's Gate 3 dropped is tremendous! 👍🏽👍🏽
June 19, 2026
Fun adventure! :)
Read
June 30, 2026Mmmm… no. That’s all
August 1, 2026
3.5⭐, rounded up
August 6, 2026
I liked the concept but the story was a bit too bland
April 28, 2018
I received a review copy of this book.
Homebrew is the first book in a series where the dungeonmaster and his entire group gets transported to a world he just created, this was to be their first knight playing. As it turns out, things start out the same, then take a turn for the random, and events aren't as they were built.
It's a pretty good story, and one I've read before, and (apparently) I enjoyed it much more the last time I read it. I would have skipped reading this a second time, but I was already to chapter 6 before I realized I'd already read this one, and I couldn't find any way on booksprout to say I didn't want to review a book I'd read before, so here we are. A solid 3 stars showing these days, but it does remind me there are some series I did not continue reading, so there is that. :)
Homebrew is the first book in a series where the dungeonmaster and his entire group gets transported to a world he just created, this was to be their first knight playing. As it turns out, things start out the same, then take a turn for the random, and events aren't as they were built.
It's a pretty good story, and one I've read before, and (apparently) I enjoyed it much more the last time I read it. I would have skipped reading this a second time, but I was already to chapter 6 before I realized I'd already read this one, and I couldn't find any way on booksprout to say I didn't want to review a book I'd read before, so here we are. A solid 3 stars showing these days, but it does remind me there are some series I did not continue reading, so there is that. :)
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