Once apon a time, there was a man called Rob. He was by no means extraordinary, or special. He was disabled and a dreamer and attracted to unusual things.

His fate changed one strange day when for no real reason beyond curiosity and the need to get out of his rut, he went in to one of those antique / this and that shops that dot much of the country. He was just browsing, looking at the interesting things and chatting mindlessly with the counter man, who was happy to have a potential customer on this overcast day.

For entertainment of himself and the clerk, he picked random items and would make up something based on them. A ring to call forth a storm, a walking stick becomes a wizards staff, a candle stick (no candle) that could be used to talk to ghost. Things like that. The clerk to joined in, and they made up stories just to pass the time. Amoung the odds and ends in a shelf of random items Rob found, stuffed in the back, an old thin wood Tarot card, the Moon. Asking the guy about it, the clerk did not know, but theorized it may have fallen out of an old deck at some point. They did carry such things on consignment from time to time. Rob shrug and laughed, telling him about a Deck of Fate he read about in a story many years ago as a teenager, the moon card was supposed to grant 1 to 4 wishes when drawn from such a deck, at least in the story. But you had to be careful cause there was a time limit, depending on how long the card was active affected how many wishes it could grant.

Picking up the cane from earlier and holding it up like a wizards staff, the card held aloft in the other hand he jokingly said, "Oh mighty Card of the Moon, grant me my boon, I wish I could live in another world of ancient magics, powerful places, and potentials undreamed of in the hearts of the people of this world, that there I was a mighty Wizard, with my staff in hand and knowledge of all things mystical and arcane, and that I was young, strong of body and mind and very healthy, and wealthy and that I *coughs through the next words (meant to say 'had' but garbled it so the magic thought he said 'was')* a girl as beautiful as they come, large of breast, slender of hips, firm of butt and strong of will (under breath) and kinky as my dreams." Winking at the clerk, "This I so wish, so mote it be" and with that he brings down his 'staff' and strikes it on the floor. The card glowed with a brilliant blue white light and in a flash Rob, the card and the staff vanished. The clerk jumped up and ran around the counter, but all that was left was a swirling pool of glowing mist and Rob's shoe prints burned in to the floor.

Prelude Part 2: Of unknown wishes and new worlds.

Waking on the floor and fearing the worst, in his case one of his few though disorienting mini strokes, he looks around, but this is not the store. The floor is cold stone and white mist covers the walls and very distant ceiling. His head is splitting and he hurts literally everywhere.

Coming out of the mist was a strange 'woman ?' dressed in a luminescent white gown, she speaks in a soft yet deeply echoing voice, "I must say, that was the most dramatic wish we have gotten in sometime. Well worded though, I especially liked the line 'Ancient Magics and Potentials undreamed of' That by the way is a tall order, not impossible just tricky. I suppose by your worlds standards you were thinking of what your people think is fantasy. Oh please do speak, I want to get this sorted out right. Would not do to get this sort of thing wrong, bad for business you know."

Thinking he has dropped in to a dream sequence, not unheard of as vivid dreams are not that unusual for him, " I hurt, all over, especially my head."

"Hmm, oh dear, that will not do at all, can't do an interview if the subject is in pain." she saying something to someone he can't see and the pain levels drop to almost non existence. But he still can't move. Part of his mind supposes he is in a hospital and that is the pain meds kicking in. Mixing reality and dream.

"Better ? Good good. Now then what sort of world were you thinking of ?"

"Well Advanced Dungeons and Dragons or similar you know. That's a fantasy game system. Though left to me, and my proclivities I might mix in some World of Darkness VTM version. Um there are multiple versions of both systems but I prefer the 2cd edition versions of both truth be told. An Earth variant is ok, but you know with the variant races, elf, dwarf, gnome, halfling, gobliniods, dragons, etc. The intelligent sort of dragons mind you, not the moron beast types. Can't stand all 'pure instinct and no intelligence' types in any race. Takes the fun out of talking to them don't you know."

The entity nods, "All good points, and the smart dragons does narrow it down some. Hmm, time frames, future, with cars, atomics etc, steam age, renaissance, medieval, dark ages, and yes I know that medieval and dark ages are often confused or at least mixed depending on world history, where was I ah, Iron age, bronze age. Well you get the picture."

Tries to nod but his head still feels 'wonky', "Yeah. That's a tuffy, something to be said for all of them. Well hmm, something without christianty would be nice, wider variety of faiths, none of that one faith to crush them all nonsense," the entity laughs and nods, "Maybe Rome failed to take over the world. Pushed back by combined humanoid armies or the like. Never making it much out of Italy, or what is now Italy in my world." more nodding and now he can see her flipping through a book, "Age of legends maybe pushing it. Though, hmm that is an interesting thing, that time can happen multiple times, it's just not obvious to those living in that time. On my earth for example there is the ancient one with the Greek hero's like Hercules and them, then the later times with King Arthur, and later still with Robin Hood, and so on. Each different but each leaving behind legendary figures. I admit my knowledge of such is limited to what was popular in my own culture." more nodding but nothing said, "For my ideal though, would be somewhere in medival level technology Full plate would either be new or unheard of, depending on races. Guns, hm, no. I can see them having existed at one time or another, but well, that sort of knowledge tends to come and go. Like how the ancient Babylonians had electricity, then the knowledge was lost, only to be found again later. Or the Orcs or one of the other races figured out black powder but not guns or cannons, as it's good for blowing stuff up or making fireworks. That maybe more the mage or shamans thing though, something to wow the people ya know."

The entity smiles, "My you are a font of knowledge aren't you. Read allot I take it. That's good. Mages need to be able to read. Oh on that part, we can't make you a mage of great power to start off with. We can give you the potential for it though and the basic knowledge you will need. Like having gone through a full apprenticeship, so in your terms you will likely start off around 3rd level or so. We will see how things work out. Do you mind having other potentials as well ? "

"Understandable about the mage thing, other potentials, you mean skills or occupations ? I don't mind really. Always been a bit of a mystic and paranormal researcher, at least as a hobby, or at least I used to, before the strokes. Those really made it hard to learn new things, actually hurts trying to learn new things now days."

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"AH, so that's what that is, yes will have to fix that for certain. No worries, we will make sure your very healthy. And yes that is what I meant by potentials. Actually your old hobbies work in nicely with what we were considering. May find some churches looking to hire or convert you. Those hobbies tend to attract them as well as make a better mage. Ah, do you have a specialty in mind for magic ?"

"Always partial to enchantment actually, but I would most likely not specialize as that is to limiting, granted specializing can grant abilities a generalist can't get normally, but a generalist knows things that specialist can't learn Because they are specialized. Though, I can see myself collecting a goodly assortment of enchanted items. Cause like I said, I find them interesting."

She just giggles, "Your flair for the dramatic may serve you well as a generalist to. They do tend to be a little showy. Any other hobbies or interest we should know about ?"

Shrugging, or trying to, "Well I like swords, knives, staves, wands and such as collectables, art, though mostly fantasy. Used to be able to draw ok, was better with clay though, studied music when I was young, could play piano and cornet ok. Really wanted to learn Mandolin but could not afford the course and the instrument at the same time, that is one I would love to be able to do as an extra profiency by the way, " she makes a note, "Gamer, obviously Role playing games mind you, though my dad taught me chess and some poker. Online games I tend to play artillery, ie anything with a good range attack ability. Um, I love vampire stories, supernatural romance's of all sorts, On the world of darkness stuff I know allot about vampires and shifters for those systems. Even to the point I created a few of my own clans for both groups. Um, I have some pet cats, I know they are telepathic, experimented with that to be sure. Though I have to be looking them in the eye to get any idea what they are thinking. It's usually limited as it's draining for me to do that. Works a little with dogs to, but the only dog I had to experiment with was a golden retriever puppy. His favorites were food and 'play with me'." still grinning she nods.

"Quite an elective assortment of interest, I imagine there is a few more but this will do. Weapon skills you would prefer or already have ?"

"Well I trained with Staff for a long time, know a little about sword fighting and fencing but not enough to be skilled in it. I think Blunt weapons about covers most of what I know, hammer, club, that sort of thing, does using a bush axe count. Lots of yard work and clearing out huge wisteria vines. Really got to hate whom ever had the bright idea to bring them from their original country and plant them in America. No natural predators or anything to keep it in check, so it took over allot of areas. Sorry, pet peeve of mine. Uh weapons right let me think. Oh archery and thrown weapons. I used to do both for a time, when I was young and had access to them. I got ok with a long bow. I could at least hit the target board, was better with throwing stars and knives. I know how to use rifles to, but not care and maintence of them so it's a little moot there."

"Ok, staff, blunts, well staff is a blunt but I get what you mean. Thrown weapons, yes we can do that to. So some warrior training, mage started as hobby but switched to it more full time, say cause of peace or the like ?"

"Works for me, may want to mix in a little rogue actually, and monk, well kind of. I tried to imitate what I knew of the Shaolin, mostly how to walk without being heard and not drawing attention to myself. Also well I was not a very honest teenager, fortunately I mostly grew out of that. Still get tempted from time to time you know."

"Ah, ok so Rogue mage, also workable. Race, hmm, oh they want to know about the race, though to be honest, if your interest in vampires includes one day being one I would suggest half elf or human as Elf vampires tend to be sticks in the mud, also need your starting physical age."

Thinking slowly, "Well of the two, half elf I suppose, I like the longer life span that offers, though of a lineage of a family of the same race, also like tieflings but I am not sure that is a good idea if your using the standard appearance. Meh, probably to powerful just from their starting natural abilities at any rate. OOoOooh what about Dhampyrs ? Half Elf Dhampyr would be interesting, though not sure how to go about making that work in a game balance kind of way. Dhampyrs tend to be pretty powerful people, enhanced physical with some of the psychic powers of the vampires thrown in. Though mixing, be something like a Revenant family more than likely ... that's a family descended from one or more vampire thralls, just to you understand what I am talking about. Don't want to confuse them with the vengeful spirit version. Am I asking to much there ?"

Looking solemn "Just a smidge. Though maybe something along the line could work, not a full reveant but someone descended from one a generation or two ago. Give you some of the psychic powers you spoke of and a tiny bit longer life. Being half elf that's maybe an extra 50 years or so. Mind you half elves have been known to live 300 years or so baring racist monsters."

Nodding, or trying to, "Yeah, that's a problem no matter where you go. That and blatant random stupidity."

She laughs at that, "Ok when next you wake your wish will be fulfilled. Mind you we operate a no refund policy. Once it's done that's it. No further changes can be made unless you find one of our cards and make another wish. Those are Very rare to. Most cards are limited to mage replications which lack the ability of our cards."

"What about the girl and the wealth ?"

"Oh right, need hair color, the rest is pretty self-explanatory, though kinky is giving them some trouble, hmm if I could get a wish it would be for them to give me a list of things in order, oh well. You will get some starting gear and money maybe a few minor magic items Oh and the staff, you actually found a dormant Mages staff, they are waking it now. It will be bonded to you so it can't be stolen. Also because of the complexity of this they want to add in something of a 'limiter' to you. I will let you pick something but it needs to be good. Game balance as you put it."

"Ok, girl first. Partial to red heads, fiery type not that ginger or auburn stuff, long to, at least waist length though knee length is good to, heck long enough to pool around feet is interesting, but I leave that to you all, Tall, I like tall girls, long legs, even, small feet, don't know why I like small feet. Kinky, um, I like BDSM stuff, high pain tolerance, open minded. I have limits on that but love sexy clothing, leather, pierced nipples. Pierced ears are ok to. Not noses though, that's a little to far out for me. long tongue, something sexy about a long tongue, but then I like fangs on a girl to, well sharp looking canines anyway. Part of my attraction to female vampires in that I think... on Limit. Well my favorite has always been Weirdness Magnet, sometimes called Weird Luck, think Swashbuckler kit, then amplify it a bit. Not usually enough to kill the person but if there is something strange going on, the character is likely to find it, stumble on to it, or at least walk along the fringe."

"That will do, good limiter, makes sure you’re going to have an interesting life, whether you want one or not. Sleep now, when you wake you will be in your new body and world. Good luck."

And he does.