Lucas hurriedly grabs his dioramas from the floor of his room, carefully tiptoeing over piles of his belongings. He knows that Charlie will arrive at any minute and wants to be sure that everything is in place before he shows up.

“Mom, have you seen my notebooks?” he shouts. He frantically looks around his room, knowing that his night is ruined if he does not find them.

“Which notebooks? You have so many!” she replies. Lucas lifts up a pile of papers from his bed. He motions to dismiss them but stops when his eyes catch the writing on the page. He looks at the scrap of paper closer and slightly reels when he realizes what it is.

“How did this get here?” he thinks. In his hand are crudely drawn characters with blurbs describing who they are. He flips the page over in his hand and reads the description aloud.

“Sir Edwin. Athletic build, if not a little on the bulkier side – Shoulder length brown hair. Hazel eyes. Soft features but a commanding stare. Champion of the people - Hates oppressors – Not the smartest but not dumb – Good with a sword and shield. Trustworthy to a fault – Has a hard time asking for help but freely gives it.” Lucas looks at the drawing.

“Charlie drew this in fifteen minutes based off of that description and it’s better than anything I have ever drawn in my entire life,” he thinks.

He looks at the rest of the page and realizes that it came from the notebooks he is looking for. “Sir Edwin. We’ll see how you get yourself out of this one,” he says.

“Lucas, do they have drawings all over the front covers?” his mom asks. Lucas’ attention jolts from the pages in his hand to his mother’s voice from downstairs.

“Yes! Thanks, I’ll be right down!” he replies. He folds the pages into his pocket, picks up the LEGO creation, and heads downstairs. He makes his way to the living room and sees his mother holding the notebooks. She is going through them, a curious look growing on her face.

“Hey, don’t look at them! It’s private!” he commands. His mother smiles and closes the notebooks while handing them to her son.

“I didn’t mean to pry. But, did you write all of that? Every single one is filled,” she asks. Lucas looks at the notebooks and begins to glow with pride.

“Yes, I told you I have been working on the ultimate fantasy adventure. I’ve taken bits and pieces of my other stories and combined them into this,” he says.

“Well, if that is the case, how can it be private if it’s a game you are going to play?” Lucas scoffs and rolls his eyes.

“Because, mom, these contain every possible outcome I could think of. You play the game, but depending on the choices you make, the heroes can go on different adventures. So you might not experience everything I’ve written in one playthrough.” Mrs. Brown sits down on the chair next to the fireplace and opens up a magazine.

“I see. So how long does one playthrough take? Are you going to get it all done tonight once Charlie gets here?” Lucas laughs, amused by his mother’s ignorance.

“Of course not. We are starting this adventure tonight. It’s called a campaign. I hope that we can get it done by the end of the summer, but you never really know for sure. There are enough paths and options for multiple campaigns in here. I created a whole new world of possibilities!” he says exuberantly.

“The whole summer? I guess Charlie will be coming over here often, then?” Lucas flops down on the couch and starts flipping through the notebooks.

“Well, it depends. I’ve been working on construction of the main city and some of the dungeons the heroes might go to during their journey. Charlie has been working on building some other locations altogether. But I couldn’t tell him everything because I can’t give away too many details about what might happen.”

Mrs. Brown takes a sip of her iced tea, sincerely engaged and proud of her son’s imagination.

“But you always have to play together? You can’t play on your own, right?” Lucas sits up and looks at his mom. A frustrated tone comes over his voice.

“Right, which is why I don’t want Sophie to play. It will waste our time and she never takes it seriously,” he says.

“Why doesn’t she take it seriously? She likes playing with you, even if she doesn’t show it,” Lucas retrieves the pieces of paper from his pocket and unfolds them, showcasing them in the air in front of him.

“These are all of the characters in the adventure. You can play more than one of them, but it’s better if you just pick one. She doesn’t like any of them and she never has. She only likes playing with me if Tom is playing too,” he says. His mother gets up, walks over to the couch and sits next to Lucas. She looks at the pictures on the top page.

“Can I see them? I promise I won’t read the details, I’ll just look at the pictures, ok?” Lucas begrudgingly hands the page to his mother.

“Fine,” he says. Mrs. Brown, true to her word, skims over the images. She flips the page over and does the same on the reverse.

“May I see the other as well, please?” Lucas hands her the rest of the pages and lies back down. She quickly peruses them and hands them back to Lucas, her face now looking slightly disappointed.

“There isn’t a single female character on any of those pages. That’s why she doesn’t like any of them. The only choices you gave her are men!” she exclaims. Lucas turns his head away and sighs.

“So, what? There are plenty of really cool characters here. From all sorts of backgrounds and with all sorts of strengths and weaknesses and powers!” he replies.

“Don’t sigh at me, young man. Don’t you think if you had female characters for Sophie to choose from that she might enjoy it more?” she asks. Noticing the tone in her voice, Lucas realizes that the question is equal parts inquisitive and also a command.

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“But she hates playing, and I didn’t know you were going to make her. Does she really have to? I don’t want her to ruin it after Charlie and I have spent so much time getting this ready!” At this time, Mr. Brown walks into the room and sits down on his recliner.

“What are you two talking about?” he asks. Mrs. Brown looks at her husband with an incredulous look.

“I was just telling your son how thoughtful it would be if he were to create some female characters for Sophie to choose from when they play their game,” replies Mrs. Brown. Lucas sighs even louder than before. Before he can utter a word, Mrs. Brown cuts him off.

“Yes, yes I know. It’s not a game. You know what I meant,” she says. Mr. Brown turns the lever on his chair, extending the footrest as he looks at Lucas.

“No women? None at all? Doesn’t that seem a bit odd to you?” he asks. Lucas stands up from the couch and walks over to his father, handing him the pages of characters.

“There are female characters in the world, dad. I know there has to be women. I’m not dumb. There just aren’t any that you can play, but they still play a vital role in the story,” says Lucas. He turns and sits back down on the couch. “Those are all of the characters you can play as. Just look at the pictures Charlie drew. They are really cool!” he says.

Mr. Brown thumbs through the papers quickly. “I know Charlie is good at drawing. That’s not the issue here. You say there are female characters but you don’t play as them? How does that work?” he asks.

“They are called NPCs. Non Player Characters. That means that the person running the campaign assumes the role of those characters,” replies Lucas. Mr. Brown reaches for his glass of scotch and takes a sip.

“Believe it or not, I have heard of NPCs before. With how much you and Tom talk about video games when he is here I would be remiss if I didn’t pick up anything at all,” says Mr. Brown.

“Ok, so I have to play those characters. Many of them are throwaways, like a bartender or a merchant. Some of them, however, are much more fleshed out, like the villains for instance,” says Lucas.

Mrs. Brown, realizing that David has the conversation under control, gets up and begins to walk out of the room but stops in the doorway.

“I’m going to leave you two to it, then. Lucas, do you have everything you need downstairs? I don’t want you all running up and down the basement stairs all night long.” Lucas looks at the building by the side of the couch and replies, “Yep. I just need to take this down and put it next to the rest of the compound and the city should be complete.”

“That’s good. I am very proud of you that you built that whole city and that all of those bricks are being put to good use. Now finish talking to your father and be nice to your sister, do you understand?” she asks. Lucas slumps his shoulders but is happy to hear that she is proud of all the work he has put in over the past month.

“Thank you, mom. I will be.”

“Good, good. Then I am going to read my book. If you need anything, ask your father. He’ll be watching the baseball game for a while.” She then proceeds to her bedroom and shuts the door behind her. Mr. Brown looks back at his son and continues their conversation.

“But how is it fair if you are playing one of the characters and the NPCs. Don’t you know everything that is going to happen?” he asks.

“Maybe it isn’t fair, but someone has to be the NPCs. But I also want to play as the main hero. And it’s no fun if Charlie is playing his character by himself. This is an adventure. The interactions you have with the people you are playing with are just as important as the game itself, if not more,” Lucas replies. Mr. Brown reaches for the remote next to him and turns on the television. He finds the channel playing the baseball game and mutes the volume.

“Well, you will have Sophie and tomorrow Tom will be here. I know he loves playing these games with you. Is three people enough for you to only play as the NPCs?” he asks. Lucas mulls the idea over in his head. He knows that Tom will join in.

“I guess it could work if Sophie doesn’t ruin it. And if she actually likes her character she might want to keep playing,” he thinks. He gets up and walks over to his father.

“Can I have those back?” he asks as he points at the character pages. Mr. Brown hands them to Lucas. Lucas then walks over to the counter of the bar that forms a boundary between the kitchen and the living room. He sees the stack of notebooks he was looking for earlier and places the pages back into the notebook labeled ‘Heroes’. He passes over the book labeled ‘Villains’ and opens up the notebook labeled ‘Allegiance Unknown’. The cover is filled with more of Charlie’s drawings. Faces of all shapes, sizes, and species emblazon it from corner to corner. Mixed in with the faces are pictures of all manner of beasts. Yet, in each corner there is a drawing separated from the rest by an ornate border of magical runes. A language Charlie created specifically for the adventure.

Lucas walks back from the bar towards the couch and accidentally knocks the top of his building over. This reveals the detailed rooms within and the intricate design of the building as a whole. Each floor is built so the entire level can be removed, allowing for them to be completely accessible. He lays the notebook on the ground next to the building and begins to assess if he caused any damage.

“Looks like everything is okay. I just have to put the floors back together again,” he thinks. Relieved that no major reconstruction is necessary, he reaches for the first floor of the building. He begins to place it back into its proper position but stops to look at the exposed basement level. “I really like this way this turned out,” he says. Mr. Brown looks over from the television and down at the pieces of the building on the floor.

“Everything ok? Oh! Is that the one you were struggling with?” he asks. He gets up from the recliner and walks over to where Lucas is kneeling.

“Yeah, and I was saying that I really like how it turned out. I wasn’t sure if I had all the pieces I needed, but it ended up better than I had hoped it would,” says Lucas.

Mr. Brown kneels down and takes a look at the exposed basement. He notices a stairwell that leads up to the main floor and a wooden door at the entrance to the room. Cells with stoned walls and metal barred doors fill the majority of the floor plan.

“Oh, so this is the dungeon you had mentioned? It looks really dreary. So, I guess that means it’s great!” exclaims Mr. Brown. Lucas smiles at his father, knowing that he meant the compliment sincerely.

“Thanks! This is where the new adventure begins. Well, sort of. I’ll explain it to Charlie and Sophie, I guess. And Tom when he gets here tomorrow. It’s a bit hard to explain unless you know the whole world that I created,” Lucas replies. He then places the main floor back on top of the dungeon and continues to reassemble the rest of the building.

“I should get this down to the basement before Charlie arrives. I want to start as soon as we get settled,” he says.

Mr. Brown reaches down for the notebook and looks at all of the pictures on the cover. His eye is caught by the drawings in the corners with the border of runes.

“Sounds good, but we never settled on who your sister was going to play. She really would enjoy it more if she could play a female character,” he says. He watches Lucas pick up the building and place it on the counter by the other notebooks.

“I know, dad. I agree. I think I have a plan that will work out well. It might even make the whole adventure better,” he says.

“Alright, so you’re going to make new characters for her to choose from?” asks Mr. Brown. Lucas walks back over to his father and stands next to him, looking at the cover of the notebook.

“Nope, I am going to take an NPC and let her play it as her own character instead. I have a really cool one that I think she will love the design of,” he says. Mr. Brown looks down at his son, a somewhat worried look on his face.

“Don’t you think it would be better if she got to choose? Which character is it? How do you know she will enjoy it?” asks Mr. Brown. Lucas smiles up at his father and points at the corners of the cover. The first picture is of a black dog. The next two show the dog in varying stages of transformation. The last is that of a tall woman, wearing a long black cloak with striking black hair. The energy of a magical spell swirls around her arms and a devilish grin adorns her face.

“Trust me,” says Lucas. “She will like it.”