“Hey, have you seen the ad campaign for ‘Defenders of New Earth’” Roger Cohen asked his friends and housemates as they sat around the dinner table eating pizza. Roger was a short, chubby young man. He wore a yamaka on his head, as he took another bite of sausage pizza. Uncaring about the irony.

“How could we not?” Keith Renolds responded from across the table. “It’s everywhere.” Keith was thin, almost delicate in appearance. If one looked close enough they would find his ancestors were from everywhere. He usually kept his long dark hair tied into a ponytail but it was hanging loose right now.

“It looks interesting.” Albert Michaels-Shango added. “Do you know what platform it will be on? There’s no way the would advertise this much for a tabletop.” Alby’s tight curls were cut in a short and feminine afro. She wore a pink ‘My Little Pony’ t-shirt that didn’t go well with her dark skin and a grey skirt. She wore skirts as much as possible as if to tell the world how much a girl she is despite what her body says.

“Any word on the price?” Nicolas Alexopoulos asked, a ready smile on his greek face. He was wearing a faded KISS t-shirt and blue jeans. He had several rings in each of his ears, one in his eyebrow, and several rings on his fingers. His short hair had been in spikes but it was starting to droop.

“Not yet. There is a ton of stuff on their website about races and skills.” Roger replied. He smiled mischievously. “Everything we need to decide on a character. Plus a countdown timer that ends tomorrow morning.”

“Now I’m curious.” Nico said as he reached for another slice. “Rolling a new character sounds good to me. What about you guys?” He looked to Alby and Keith.

“Sure.”

“Sounds like fun.”

“Great.” Roger got up to grab his backpack. He pulled out a thick stack of papers and handed it over to Alby.

Alby glanced through the stack and seperated it into piles. “Looks like we’ve got Body Skills, Mental Skills, Crafting Skills, and races.”

“Give me Body Skills,” Keith said jokingly, “Since a real man uses his body.”

“That leaves using her mind to the woman.” Alby laughed as she placed the Mental Skills in front of herself.

“I’ll take the Races section.” Nico said. “See if there is anything interesting.”

“That leaves me with Crafting.” Roger smiled.

“So how does this work?” Keith asked.

“Tier 1 skills cost one hundred Skill Points. Each Tier up costs ten times more. You start with 1000 Skill Points. You get Skill Points either by killing monsters or trading for them. ” Roger explained without looking up from his papers.

“Is this pay to win?” Alby frowned

“Not really. You could buy all of the Tier 1 skills, but you can't buy Tier 2 in a skill until you have maxed the Tier 1 version. You have to actually practice the skill to level it.”

“Looking at the Tier 1 skills, they all seem pretty weak.” Keith contributed.

“So you could buy a bunch of Tier 1 skills, but they won’t help you unless you level them up?” Alby pressed.

“Pretty much.”

Nico added, “The Races look pretty interesting. Lots of different choices. There’s a bunch of lore for each one. Different Skills level faster depending on the Race.”

“Like what?”

“Basic stuff like humans, elves and dwarves.Then there is more interesting stuff like beastkin, undead, monsters, and fae.”

“Any actual difference or is it just flavor?”

“Mostly bonuses to various skill leveling speeds. Let’s see, humans get 20% to everything.”

“So generalists.” Roger put in.

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“Beastkin get double leveling speed for body skills but half speed for magic skills.”

“Let me see the beastkin.” Keith requested.

“Elves and fae are good with different magic skills.”

“I’d like to look at those.” Alby said with a smile.

Roger pulls out his laptop and boots it up.

Alby glances over at him curious. “What are you looking up?”

“Alchemy looks really interesting. It has different sections. One of which is grenades. I want to look up the recipes.”

Alby laughed. “It looks like we have our AoE damage dealer.”

Roger smiled. “Crowd control too.”

“Nice.” Keith contributed.

“Dwarves get a bonus to crafting skill advancement.” Nico inputted.

Roger responded eyes on the screen. “Sounds good. This is cool. There are alternative recipes for each concoction. Let’s see … huh.”

“What is it?” Alby asked.

“Troll blood is listed as an uncommon ingredient that is hard to come by but is incredibly useful.” A mischievous smile crossed Rogers face. “Nico, you said there are playable monster races?”

Nico blinked. “Yeah, here.”

Roger spent several minutes looking through the races, crafting, and recipes, before sitting back in his chair. “I think I am going to go with a troll alchemist. It may not be the strongest but it sounds like a lot of fun. And that’s the point, isn’t it?”

“Definitely.” Nico agreed.

“I’ve decided too.” Keith put in.

“Oh? Another barbarian?” Alby asked.

“No, I have matured. No longer will I beat stuff up due to rage and bloodlust. I have decided to become a monk, so I can beat stuff up for peace and wisdom.” Keith laughed as he said this.

“What race?”

“Tigerkin. They get double speed leveling for all body skills and a damage bonus for all unarmed combat.”

“Hence, the monk.” Alby laughed.

“Of course.” Keith smiled.

Alby announced, “I decided to go with a drow psion. Female, of course.“

Roger glanced up from reading recipes. “They have drow?”

“Yeah. They have lots of types of elves. Most are attuned to a particular element. But drow are psychic instead. There's lots of cool psychic skills too.”

Roger, Keith, and Alby look over to Nico who is busy scribbling on a sheet of paper. Alby asks with a smile “Writing out your backstory? Care to share?”

“She is the daughter of a Duke known far and wide for her beauty.”

“A girl this time.” Alby interjected.

“On the eve of her arranged marriage… ”

“Political marriage for the win.” Roger included.

“she is kidnapped by a vampire who desired her for himself.”

“Didn’t see that coming.” Keith supplied sarcastically.

“Her uncle the king sent his finest royal knights to rescue her.”

“Can’t mess up the political marriage.” Roger said cynically.

“The vampire meanwhile set up the blood magic ritual that would convert our heroine into his perfect bride.”

“Is she really a hero if she hasn’t done anything the whole story?” Alby asked.

“Is the ritual thing consistent with the lore?” Roger asked.

“Yes, it’s consistent. Can I continue? Where was I? So, the royal knights ride to the rescue.”

“How did the knights find them?” Roger asked.

“Tracker dogs. But the knights arrive too late. The ritual has been completed. Our heroine is now a vampire.” Nico looked up from his paper. “I haven't flushed out the rest yet but basically: the wedding is called off, she decides to become a paladin and hunt evil.”

Alby smiled at Nico. “I’d like to read it once you’re done.” Alby looked to the others. “Should we fill out a character sheet including our starting skills.”

“Sounds good.” Keith opined.

“Right after I put down my character description.” Nico said.

“Let me see what besides alchemy I need.” Roger added.

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Later that night as Alby and Nico are getting ready for bed, Nico is removing his jewelry and placing it in a dish beside his bed. He looks over at Alby who is now dressed in an oversized t-shirt and pink pajama pants. “I really like our characters. Do you think the game will be as cool as we are expecting?”

Alby pulled back the sheets of her neatly made bed. “I hope so. I like playing with you guys.”

Nico smiled. “Friends do make everything better.”

Alby climbed into bed. “Thanks for being my friend Nico.”

“Always, Alby. Always.”

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Meanwhile in Keith and Roger’s room.

“G’night dude.” Keith said.

“Night.” Roger replied.