Outside, it is gloomy, with storm clouds threatening to darken the sky before night even comes.
Inside, huddled around a table in a gaming store, is a group of seven. Six guys, one girl. Their ages vary. Their relationships vary. Some have been friends for many years, and some are only here because of the game.
At the head of the table is Jenkins. He's a short, pudgy guy in his early twenties, with hair that has been dyed blond and grown out with three inch long brown roots. He’s surrounded by binders, folders, and notebooks.
Jenkins flips through one of the folders and starts passing out character sheets to all the others.
"We'll start by making characters," Jenkins says after the sheets are distributed. "Think carefully about your character's name, because that is who you are from this point forward. You will no longer be known by your real name until the game is over."
"This character sheet is weird," the only girl at a table, a brunette named Lucy, remarks. "I thought we were playing D&D."
"I never said it was D&D," Jenkins chuckles and leans back with a devious smile on his face. "This is going to be a little different. This is my world, and I created everything from scratch. Don't worry, it's fairly easy to learn."
"Alright then," Lucy says. "Well, I'm going to make things easy and name my character Lucy."
"That's fair." Jenkins nods and looks around at the others, who are still mulling over the character sheets. "So tell me about your character. Who is Lucy?"
"I don't know anything about your world." She shrugs. "Is there magic? Are there dungeons? Dragons?"
"The world is called Bryconia," Jenkins says, opening a binder that is filled with what appears to be hundreds upon hundreds of pages of material. "Tell me what kind of character you want to play, and I'll make it work."
"Let me think about that." Lucy sinks into her seat and studies the character sheet.
"I'm going to be Leone Lebrae," the largest and, debatably the strongest guy at the table says. "I'm a seven foot tall elf with long golden hair. I grew up on a ship, and may or may not have been a pirate once upon a time."
"That's tall for an elf." Jenkins perks a brow. "Why don't you put elf with a question mark next to it? There's going to be some mystery about your exact origin."
"Okay." Leone beams a smile. "But everything else is okay?"
"Nah, we gotta work on that," Jenkins says with a chuckle. "In Bryconia, there is a long history of conflict between the elves that live in Elvenlark and the various other races. Elves that leave Elvenlark to join the outside world are not usually met with kindness, and some have even been enslaved."
"I'm not a damn slave," Leone retorts.
"Then perhaps you were a kitchen boy on a ship that may or may not have been involved in piracy." Jenkins contemplates the dilemma. "There you picked up a few things, like sailing and how to wield a rapier better than most other level zero characters."
"Level zero?" Lucy asks. "Damn, we can't even be level one?"
"Nope," Jenkins says with a chuckle.
"Alright then." Leone writes a couple of things down on his sheet. "What about other skills and attributes? Do we need an alignment? Will we have abilities?"
"You'll have some of that," Jenkins nods. "You won't roll for your attributes. They just need to make sense for your character."
Jenkins reaches across the table and points at the attributes section of the character sheet. Each one has a scale of 1-100.
Power
Speed
Intelligence
Affinity
"Hmm," Leone stares at the attributes. "Uh, I should have really high power since I'm seven feet tall. High speed because I'm an elf. I'm smart, obviously. Wait, where's charisma?"
"You don't need that. It's part of your character." Jenkins reaches over and swipes the character sheet, quickly jotting down a few things, then hands it back. "This is what I'd go with, based on what you've told me."
Leone Lebrae – Level 0
Character Class: Fighter
Race: Elf/?
* Hit Points: 50
* Mana Points: 0
Power – 85
Speed – 75
Intelligence – 60
Affinity – 50
-Rapier – Level 1
-Sailing – Level 1
"What is Affinity?" Leone asks.
"It's for magic users." Jenkins says in response. "If you're a spellcaster, your Affinity has to be higher than sixty."
"No spells for me." Leone shakes his head. "Is that it? Am I set? What about money and equipment?"
"What do you have in your pocket right now?" Jenkins asks.
"Uh, I don't know." Leone reaches for his wallet and flips it open. "I got five bucks, but I got my debit card, so I don't really need money."
"No debit cards in Bryconia. Your character has five gold pieces. Write it down." Jenkins motions to the character sheet. "Basic equipment like armor and weapons will need to be purchased when you get to town."
"I should have a rapier." Leone scoffs.
"You were a kitchen boy. You likely trained with someone else's rapier and never owned one yourself. Sorry." Jenkins smiles and shrugs.
There's silence for a few minutes as everyone takes in the character creation process. Lucy writes some stuff down and then passes the character sheet over to Jenkins.
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"Okay, how about this?" She asks.
Lucy – Level 0
Character Class: Rogue
Race: Human
* Hit Points: 35
* Mana Points: 0
Power – 55
Speed – 75
Intelligence – 70
Affinity – 50
-Sling – Level 1
-Persuasion – Level 1
***
Equipment:
Ten gold pieces
"Persuasion?" Jenkins asks. "Did you make that up?"
"You gave Leone sailing." She shrugs. "I figured you'd be okay with that, too."
"I am perfectly fine with it." Jenkins smiles. "How about everyone else?"
A couple of comments fill the room, then the others begin to work on their characters, jotting down information. Jenkins sits back with a devious grin, watching as his friends try to make sense of Bryconia and what it will entail.
"I'm going to be Vryce." A guy with a medium build, sandy-brown hair, and glasses says. "Here's my character sheet?"
"Excellent." Jenkins looks down at the sheet and makes a few adjustments.
Vryce – Level 0
Character Class: Fighter/Necromancer
Race: Half-Elf, but appears human.
* Hit Points: 55
* Mana Points: 20
Power – 65
Speed – 55
Intelligence – 75
Affinity – 70
-Two-Handed Swords – Level 1
-Intimidation – Level 1
***
Equipment:
Nothing
"I have an average build, but I wear a black robe, with light armor underneath it, and I have a massive two-handed broadsword on my back. That's where the intimidation comes in." Vryce smirks.
"I'll allow that, once you have obtained your sword." Jenkins nods. "The robe you can say is part of your basic equipment. You have enough Affinity to be cast spells, but at level zero, you will only have one cantrip at your disposal and since you're a hybrid class, your casting will be limited."
"That's fine." Vryce shrugs. "What cantrips can I choose from?"
"Your cantrip is called Sacrifice. You can sacrifice one living creature with less hit points than your available mana points, and channel their hit points to yourself or someone else." Jenkins writes a few things on Vryce's character sheet as he explains the spell. "At level zero, the cantrip will drain all of your available mana when you cast it."
"How many hit points do cats have?" Vryce flashes an evil grin.
"Oh hell no!" Lucy interjects. "You are not killing cats around my character!"
"Hold on." Jenkins raises a hand. "All of that can be sorted out in game. We won't have time to do anything other than make characters today."
"We don't even get to play?" Leone glares angrily. "Fuck, that sucks."
"Sorry guys." Jenkins motions towards the window. "I need to make it home before the storm. You guys know how my dog gets when the weather is bad."
"I have my character ready." The oldest guy in the room, and the owner of the gaming store, leans forward. "I'm Palmer. Nothing special, I'm just an old cleric."
"Why are you still level zero if you're old?" Lucy laughs.
"I guess I got a late start." Palmer shrugs. "I didn't make the rules."
"You'll need to come up with a story before the game starts." Jenkins takes the character sheet and makes a few adjustments.
Palmer – Level 0
Character Class: Cleric
Race: Human
* Hit Points: 60
* Mana Points: 30
Power – 55
Speed – 45
Intelligence – 70
Affinity – 75
-Mace – Level 1
-Divination – Level 1
***
Equipment:
Book of Knowledge – Cleric
Fifty-five gold pieces
"How'd I do?" Palmer asks.
"It's good." Jenkins smiles. "Since you're a cleric, you will have two prayers at level zero and you will not be able to comprehend any of the other spells in your book."
"Sure." Palmer shrugs, seemingly unbothered by the decision. "What are they?"
"The first one is a basic heal, which will cost half your mana and restore five hit points. The second one will cost five mana points, and it is a blessing that can be placed on a weapon to imbue it with holy power for one hour."
"Holy power, huh?" Palmer nods. "What does that do?"
"You'll have to choose a god." Jenkins leans back in his chair. "That will determine what kind of blessing you get."
"What are my options?" Palmer asks.
"Give me a basic idea and I'll find one for you." Jenkins smiles as he flips through his binder.
"Battle? War? Whatever." Palmer tries to peek at the binder, but Jenkins pulls it away.
"How about Grath? He's a lesser god with a small following and his followers believe in honorable combat." Jenkins studies the page in the binder. "His blessing will allow the wielder to draw the attention of an enemy, but only if the intentions are honorable."
"That sounds good to me." Palmer nods.
"That just leaves you two." Jenkins looks down the table at the two guys on the end.
"I'm Rabu." The larger of the two says. "I'm a evil little gnome necromancer who is um, very well endowed."
"What the fuck, dude?" Vryce chuckles. "I'm already a necromancer."
"You're a hybrid," Rabu says. "I want to play a pure class."
"Let me see your character sheet." Jenkins beckons for it and Rabu slides it down the table.
Jenkins studies it for a moment.
"How is it?" Rabu asks.
"I'm going to make a couple of adjustments here." Jenkins leans forward, pushing his pencil into action.
Rabu – Level 0
Character Class: Necromancer
Race: Gnome
* Hit Points: 35
* Mana Points: 40
Power – 25
Speed – 35
Intelligence – 80
Affinity – 70
-Negotiation – Level 1
-Language – Level 1
***
Equipment:
Book of Necromancy
Jenkins slides the character sheet across the table and the others lean over to take a look.
"Language?" Lucy asks. "What does that do?"
"Rabu speaks one additional language in addition to his native gnomish tongue and the common tongue everyone speaks." Jenkins smiles.
"What language?" Rabu perks a brow.
"You choose." Jenkins motions to him.
"Can it be anything?" Rabu's eyes light up and his lips twist into a grin.
"You're pushing your luck, but sure. Try to break the game." Jenkins laughs.
"Rattus." Rabu says with a deadpan stare. "I can speak Rattus. Latin for… Rat."
"Oh shit." Leone cackles and shakes his head.
"I do need sacrifices!" Vryce turns to Lucy. "Rats are better than cats, right?"
"Fuck off." Lucy scoffs, but a wry smile teases the edge of her lips.
"Alright," Jenkins says. "Only one character sheet to collect."
"Yeah." The thin-framed guy at the end of the table says. "I'm Malakai. I'm a Paladin. To make things easier, I also follow Grath. Palmer and I should get along great."
"Where is Malakai from?" Jenkins asks. "How did he become a paladin?"
Malakai thinks for a moment, running his fingers through his hair. He's older than everyone other than Palmer, but he has a youthfulness to him that sometimes makes him seem younger.
Also, he's usually high.
"Hell, I don't know, man." Malakai shrugs. "He's an orphan or something and he grew up in a temple."
"Done." Jenkins nods and grabs the character sheet. "Let me make some adjustments."
Malakai – Level 0
Character Class: Paladin
Race: Human
* Hit Points: 65
* Mana Points: 10
Power – 55
Speed – 45
Intelligence – 65
Affinity – 65
- – Level 1
-Piousness – Level 1
-Meditation – Level 1
***
Equipment:
The Sword of Grath.
"Wait, what?" Palmer raises a brow. "He got a weapon?"
"He did." Jenkins nods. "It made sense for his character."
"I'm a rogue." Lucy argues. "I should at least know where to stash a knife or something."
"Valid point." Jenkins smiles. "Add that to your equipment."
"Damn right I will." Lucy bites her bottom lip as she jots it down.
"Okay, so like, I don't have a book with spells or anything?" Vryce exhales sharply. "I'm at least half-necromancer."
"You didn't put in the time required." Jenkins shrugs. "You spent too much time trying to learn how to be intimidating."
"Whatever." Vryce rolls his eyes. "I'm ready to play."
"Soon." Jenkins says, as a second later, a flash of lightning is accompanied by thunder. "But I think that's our cue."
"We better start next weekend." Leone gathers his things. "It's been almost a month since Big Mike wrapped up his campaign."
"I know." Jenkins says with a faraway look in his eyes. "This will be different, but I think you'll enjoy it."
"We'll see." Leone smirks. "I'll start something up if it sucks."
"Give it a week or two." Jenkins winks and slings his bag over his shoulder before walking towards the door.
Outside, they look up at the sky and make their way to their vehicles. The storm is coming in fast. It’s not the normal pop up storm that plagues the area this time of year. It seems to be more violent and destructive.
But even stranger, it seems to be following each person as they depart the gaming store.