《Notebook of possibilities》


 From & to Oblivion Online

    Oblivion online is a series I have recently found on royal road that decided to take the standard of a VR game and flip it on it''s head. Not the genre, although he is avoiding the trapped in the game trope with something more reasonable. I assume author is male, but maybe I should make no assumptions. It''s safer and no one gets hurt.


    What I mean is, it''s not all being an adventurer, you aren''t picking between elves, dwarves and such. They chose to roll out monster races.


    Now let''s just there as a topic, in their story they DID leave room in the comments for other people o put forth monsters. While I''m not entirely certain why, this alone leaves so much room. A lot of them seem to require some specific body type perhaps or physiological arrangement, cause all of them seemed to be bipedal and have two arms. I want to say there was the possibility of a naga, but if not, I want to add it right now.


    Lamia, naga, whatever you wanna call it, I wanna say there is a Medusa but don''t quote me. But that''s just a first monster. There were goblins, trolls, kobolds, gnolls. It had about ten or so choices in the poll, and that''s not bad. I mean sure you definitely gotta weed out some of them that already have some sort of trope going. Which ultimately is why, despite how much I enjoy re:monster, I am glad they didn''t go goblin route. Goblins have potential I admit, and a large possible variety of evolution I suppose, but the start is a difficult climb.


    But moving on, let''s just list some more possible player character available monsters;


    One which was added later as a possibility due to certain mechanics in a later chapter which I will refrain from mentioning has wings and is in dnd Pathfinder.


    Onto others... Well... I mean you could arguably utilize demons like from project emerilia. Though that''s so far off from expected VR game litrpgs and demons are merely a race. But I digress, if you give access to monsters as a race for players, demons is an option. Perhaps starting as imps, which is basically a demon goblin... But still is an option.


    Another race could be something like a merfolk. Very few games seem to want to go for an aquatic race on account of player separation. I understand that, but it doesn''t mean I agree. If players can get water breathing equipment fishmen can get some blasted airdrinking equipment. How hard would that be to tweak the concept of an enchantment for God''s sake.


    You have harpies, that could be an option, possibly angels, snakefolk, I''d also hazard to say something with a lot more weaknesses but also more strengths. Why should we rely on "classic" monsters. Why not a gorilla mole? Big as hell, blind as fuck, digs like a goddamn dozer. Claws that could make a knight in shining armor turn his greaves yellow. I kinda would enjoy a queztlcoatl variant creature. But, I mean, I always enjoyed the pok¨¦mon representation found in Rayquaza, and flying snakes, as much as some snakes need too tot be able to fly, I think a floaty Gardner snake would be adorable with it''s beady eyes and flickering tongue. Even as a pet or a summon. But then you can go all coatlamia and suddenly you have winged snake folk. That just sounds badass.


    In theory there could also be driders, but I dunno. Part of me says I''d rather something else. Like a spider crossed with a lizard or a wombat. Don''t ask why a wombat, my brain was really trying for like... Koala or maybe even a squirrel, but it just kinda screamed, SPIDER WOMBAT! and I had to let it do it''s thing. No we aren''t gonna bring up spider monkeys. That''s a terrible pun and you should feel ashamed for giving in to the temptation to even THINK of such a creature. Now if you had said a whino monkey you would have me intrigued.The author''s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.


    Rhino app just sounds like a raid boss. Make it an obsidian rhino ape and now you need rest scrolls out the ass. But a rhino monkey? My God it''s a charging, swinging, horned ball of fuck you up with a gutcheck tackle and it''s gonna be heavy as hell for a little two foot ball of looks like rock.


    One thing that bothers me slightly is how it''s always mushrooms in caves. Mushrooms creatures. Other plants besides moss and mushrooms can survive in a cave. They just end up really pale and stunted growth. And that''s when you toss Mana crystals that give off light into a cavern with water pools. Then you get really pale plant monsters that have no problem spitting acid or coughing a poisonous pollen into your face if you get too close to their crystals. I mean, these crystals keep them alive. "Touch not the crystals of light, else ye be coughing your lungs out and shitting your spleen from a toxic cave Daisy pollen!" Talk about allergies. Yeesh.


    Speaking of environment enemies, where are the sky beasts? All up in the mountains? There wouldn''t be enough territory. I want some sort of wind eagle king to just be flying over the level five hunting grounds for noobs, and it can magically solidify clouds and uses them as a perch. There is no such thing as a sunny day when it can magically make everything overcast.


    Or oceans. They often just have the big ass buggaboo thing that swallows a player whole. *Looking at Jake''s and daxter and the lurker shark* that''s some shit. I get we should stay in a boundary, but that shit was mild nightmare fuel.


    "Do you hear that?"


    "Hear what?"


    ''SNAP''


    "AUGHHHHHH! THE FUCK JUST HAPPENED TO GEORGE!?"


    YEAH NO. spore did this shit too. "I''mma go for a swim"


    ''Hatches out of an egg'' what the fuck just ate me?


    You technically have extraplanar beasts you can call upon.never call upon a shoggoth. The answer is no you stupid twat


    You can, probably, use a mindflayer for a character. Or make it a pirate simulator and call them Davy Jones. "I''m sorry doctor, he seems to have... A terrible case of squid face" it could work... Until you started getting those weirdo players who were all about siphoning information. Or just.... Tentacles.


    You never see a crabman race. Is that because they have claws instead? I mean... You could probably figure out SOMETHING. A symbiotic relationship character. Woah. That just makes me think that a character is a swarm of krill. HIVE MIND CHARACTER. Who needs thumbs when you are a swarm of magical things. *Gives thumbs up*


    Dragon men, technically lightside, flower person? I think dryads are all female despite all plants being two genders. But let''s not go there.


    Treants would be cool. And you could subspecies as a type of tree. Or maybe that would be your class?


    I am the WILLOW TREE! "I whip my hair back and forth, I whip my hair back and forth" you deal 7D4 damage too everything within range of your voice. Oh and 2 damage to those in range of your Willow whips.


    The mighty redwood treant. Sits on Giants because they sit on his brethren at their campsites. WHOSE TALL NOW!?


    the pine treant. Listen... We get it. He''s a bit of a prick. Give him a little bit of warmth and he can become the light of your life. And everyone in visual range.


    Birch treant. Based on research, which means I got curious and googled birch trees, these guys are even more flammable than other trees but with their peeling bark they make great scribes, they are also less likely to bring fire into the library. Just know if it DOES happen, that library is GONE. Ain''t no coming back from that.


    Ever imagine a fruit treant? How awkward would it be to ask a person for a bite of their fruit?


    OH! PALM TREANT. He''s a crack shot with a coconut. Even in spite of his very tropically laid back attitude.


    Mahogany! Nevermind they went extinct. But they did make nice cupboards. They weren''t Carpenters.


    If you think you hear of a mangrove treant in the area... Just leave. It can stomp a mudhole in your ass a hundred times and still have more feet to go untouched.


    I think that''s about it for now. My phone is slowing down as I type.


    Writing will definitely be uhh... Sporadic. And I dunno what could be in the next "chapter" but it will be something. Assumably.

 All a do about dragons and physics.

    In today''s chapter, we will be going over mythological creatures and the theoretical possibility of their actual existence and what would be required or could be optimal for their existence in a biological manner.


    For those who didn''t understand that... Uhhhh... I''m sorry I somehow lost the ability to translate my own English into English.


    Now, let''s start with the thought that typically comes about to set off this chain reaction of "why the hell did you think of this?"


    "What if this creature existed?"


    Now that''s a very simple question with a very expansive answer. And it is usually aimed towards dragons, because there are multiple dragons, but also because the more you ask about the same creature, the more you can expand upon previous ideas. Revisiting a concept can sometimes cause it to explode in interesting new directions with concepts.


    For example, due to just how much I think of this question as it pertains to dragons I''ve concluded that in order for a dragon to fly it probably needs the lightweight bone structure of a bird, but possibly with a greater density for the mythological strength. But if they are so dense, how can they fly? Physics dictates that it would need a truly monsterous wingsize so massive it would not be feasible for only one heart to pump all the blood through it''s entire body, not to mention in cold blooded creatures, under the assumption a dragon could be as a lizard, with wings that large and that full of blood vessels, they would be extremely vulnerable to temperature fluctuations. Imagine your ears and how quick they get cold, now make them like 100 feet long and super thing so you could shine a flashlight on it and see the veins in perfect relief. Yeah. Not great.The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.


    So to combat both of these, what if it had gas veins? Gas is lighter than air. So what if it had tubes in it''s body leading to various organs that produced gas? Some of these might have helium, and then for fire breathing they have a gas sack full of methane.


    Yes I just said dragons breathe farts. Deal with it. XD


    But continuing on, assuming this helium vein set makes them light enough for their wings to allow lift off, they effectively become psuedo dirigibles. Now it''s said dragons have tough skin, immune too fire, yada yada yada, but in so many fantasy stories, if you can interrupt their attack they can hurt themselves with their fire, despite it not affecting their skin so much, this is tpically attributed as a critical hit on internal organs, but what if it''s also burning into those helium veins? That would cause some major issues making internal injuries truly a thing to be feared for dragons.


    How do they breathe actual fire? That''s relatively a simple statement. You see if you know enough about chickens or even just eat certain parts you''ve heard of a thing called a gizzard. What is this and why does it have anything to do with dragons? Well in a chicken a gizzard is a part of the throat system that is filled with rocks and pebbles and grinds up a chickens food. Now let''s say it''s Flint, what''s gonna happen? It''s gonna make Sparks. So there is the connection.


    Dragons have a gas sack of methane, which exits into the throat and pools up, making a methane oxygen mixture which is ignited by breathing Sparks out of their Flint filled gizzard allowing them to breathe fire.


    Boom. Dragons in a real world scenario.


    The flight might need a bit more touch up, a different gas, other physical attributes. But this is all for the Western dragon.


    I''d have to give more though to the eastern dragon since they are said to claw their way through the skies on clouds... But you know... That''s for another time.

 Antihero species, heroic character?

    Thanks to such stories such as re:monster and Oblivion online and other reborn as a monster or such style stories monsters have come to light as a dynamic character besides something to kill or advance the plot or cause character development. And as such, I wanna bring to light other creatures that may be interesting as a concept character and their abilities.


    Taking from machiavillain, you got your zombie. I can understand why you wouldn''t want it, and why it may be bad for something like a vr game story, cause in theory you would have to transmit the feeling of having a rotting body. Yeah, that can be an issue. But what about skeletons? I mean that would be interesting? It kinda depends, we going for a wolverine style regenerating bone skeleton so they can throw their bones? I mean that would not work well in Oblivion online either I bet.


    But another creature... The mummy, technically in real life a mummy has some organs missing, but otherwise is a full body. So in a story, what''s to say that magic isn''t involved? Suddenly it''s a phylactery for these organs, magically ingested items are transferred to the organ, (dried as it may be) and it will still perform it''s purpose. Likely through more magic. Obviously this sets it as a very magically induced creature. But what if you want a brute mummy? Simple, you give it a Mana imbuement/manipulation skill if it''s a litrpg and suddenly it''s whipping out it''s bandages like crazy, toss in some tailoring and it can make all kinds of "bandages" and maybe you can start making nonfavric bandages. Make a metal ribbon mummy, why not? It could be quite amazing. And you could have any number of ways to change it into some badass bandage whipper.


    "Bathed in a bath of molten mithril, the pain was second only to having his brains pulled out his nose and his mouth sewn shut, thankfully he had tightened his lipstrings before the bath or this may have gone poory, and loudly, searing his withered flesh, the mithril soaked into the bandages, imbuing it''s mythical strength into the very fibers of Mum-breh''s bandages and being. Hours after the pain turned to a dull ache, he surfaced once more, a chrome wrapping of ribbons with glowing yellow eyes speaking of ancient hatred rising from the molten mythril, a core pupil of silver shining forth from their wizened depths"


    Imagine how badass that could be. I mean I''m partial to clockwork golemancy myself, but a mummy that shifts his bandages to make himself look like a big, bad, motherfucker made of silver and asskicking would be pretty cool. Not my style though. But it IS an idea.


    Other creatures, I mean, like I said I enjoy clockwork creatures. Think of it like this, you see a single lizard man made of metal, but in reaaaality, he''s a clockwork draconian, and he has shifted all his spikes into a nice scalemail motif to LOOK like a lesser creature. And inside, you look down it''s gullet, and you see the depths of hell itself, glowing molten red light shines up the throat, shining the burnished enchanted brass of the throat just before magical fire boils out of the clockworks mouth, engulfing you in a blaze of Mana empowered flamethrower.


    It''s not just a clockwork creature, it''s a fucking magical transformer. Forearms? What use is this when a mechanical golem has no muscles? THATS SPACE FOR WEAPONS. Pull out an auto crossbow, an actual bow, the thigh pulls out a quicker of metal arrows.


    There is a lot you can do with "artificial" races.


    Lich would be interesting. I do question why it has to have a nonliving phylactery. I mean, what happens if a dragon rider turns lich? Like, he had a deep and trusting relationship with his black dragon, dragon dies, he loses his mind, he uses necromancy and through real and error brings the twisted soul of his dragon back and imbues the corpse, then he turns it into his phylactery so you have to grind every last bone to powder to truly finish off the lichlord dragonrider! But maybe that''s the very reason why. Alternatively, use some bone sculpting and hide the phylactery along the backside of the breastbone of the dead dragon. Or inside the skull if possible.This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.


    Other creatures of a typically nefarious nature...


    Nobody seems to do dark elves, but when the entire race is said to be either dark mages, necromancers, or assassin''s, I get it. Dealing with a backstabbing character and trying to attempt the level of scheming as a drow? Hell no. I resign. It''s not worth it.


    Can''t really do a chimaera, that might be too difficult. Multiple minds? Ehhhhh that is a lot of effort.


    Perhaps a mindflayer? I mean, if you master illusion magic who is to say you aren''t a human? Or elf. You''re still too tall to be a dwarf. But arguably with tentacle hands it might mean you have more limbs. Although it proooooobably has a predisposition for people assuming a lewd story.


    You don''t see much in stuff like lycans though. Or even hybrid races of monsters. There are no horned lycans, there are no driderlycan. You can come up with all sorts of weird ways this goes. It could be a werewolf with like... Doc Ock legs on the back, and they can just fold up and hide along the back. Or be deadly ass spikes. Or it could actually be spider under the waist and be terrifying.


    You never hear a story about a harpy. "THE ONLY MALE HARPY" Turns out male harpies have actual arms or something and look kinda like a rito from breath of the wild, but with a human face. Mistaken as angels or something weird.


    You never have a naga hero. Hell even a naga-kobold hybrid would be interesting. Big ass fangs and spits poison, has flaps like a cobra! Speaks a snake language. Can be mistaken as a lizard man. Not a lot on some sort of hydra hybrid.


    You don''t hear of headless horsemen types, possessed items often, or even ghosts. Could be possible to have some sort of half ethereal creature in some aspect. Ohhhh you don''t hear about wraiths! I''m talking the tattered robe wearing ghost weilding a scythe and wearing a terrifying mask kinda wraith. Bony arms and taut skin, clammy, pale looking death waltzing through the air kinda motherfucker.


    Part of me wants to talk about stuff from randidly ghosthound, or that other one with the harbinger and the system is called schema and whatnot, but the world''s have no established predecessor, it''s a forerunner type of world. Like the first ever videogame in a way. The world''s are full of potential, but without having a parallel world and being able to see the various discrepancies it''s difficult to say how you can abuse it and make it even more amazing. Not that they aren''t pretty amazing already, but when you find something as cool as a fantasy world you wanna be the most badass thing possible.


    I mean, if I had full range and such, I''d want a clockwork golem, but then you go and you cover it in enchantments, make it an enchanter, toss in Mana manipulation, mage, and that''s just the profession tropes it falls under. Toss in a body that looks like a draconian, but to throw everything off the rails, add hunter, tailor, and then you cover it with treated furs and attach these furs to make it look like a completely new creature. And it has wings, granted covering those with a proper material would be hard, so I suppose you could just say a mad scientist created you, not entirely wrong, and put clockwork gear and fused it to your flesh, which is also a misnomer since you fused your metal to flesh.


    It would be interesting but it''s immediately op. Having activateable enchantments, the ability to fly, durability of metal, interchangeable parts, spell casting? Bah, you''d have to be stuck in a hallway to keep from having nigh invulnerable mobility and ranged attacking.


    You don''t hear about shapeshifters either. Those already sound op, but I''m sure it could be a buildup character. Or Medusa but that seems to have all sorts of issues.


    Monsters have a lot of potential and not enough stories truly utilize them. You can take any of these and go ham, but to truly bring them out you need a complimentary fantasy world system.


    But I hope you see monsters are more than just walking loot. Sometimes they are more interesting than your run of the mill hero with a "tragic" backstory.

 The possibilities of future fantasy

    In the artwork you see ruins, it''s from a pretty great distance and the central piece is this half collapsed and slightly overthrown technological looking semicircle.


    This got me thinking, there is potential there. In most stories ruins are just that, scavengers live in these husks of civilization, creatures run through broken walls, open thoroughfares, and maybe a glade has cropped up in some backyards. Some of you may have heard of things like the term, "urban jungle" but they always mean big cities and stuff. But why has there not been a more literal interpretation of this terminology?


    Let''s say a story is set in blah di blah time period, 7000 years after the collapse of the golden age of the so and so empire, and 1400 years out of the age of the collapse, and into the age of stability. Now... Let''s put a smattering of story here.


    Our journey does not begin, for we are not here, our journey also does not end, for we are again, not here, but instead we intrude upon the life of another, and his name, is Andrew McCalloway, and his profession is archeologist, he is an adventurer for hire yes, but his passion is towards the ancient wonders of the golden age of the empire Dyschix (dis-kicks). As an adventurer he is robust, especially since his class is magus, but our intrepid hero of naught is by and far not alone, nay, for at his side is his young daughter Maryth McCalloway.


    Maryth is but 12 years old and filled with the same exuberance and curiosity as her father, but much less tempered with experience. A tragic tale of the loss of a loving mother and wife, leads to Maryth being homeschooled and journeying with her father. Though for her sake he does tend to go on expeditions less often. But today, is not a day at the home of the McCalloways, no, today we are in a tradehub of the Dyschix empire, sat upon the Crux of where the rivers Albion and Coserta meet, before traveling to the ocean. The ancient super structures of these music loving people''s were grand and amplifying arrays were prevalent amongst their architecture for many reasons. The empire itself was largely passive, but by no means weak. Utilizing their sound magic arrays they had numerous military advancements, as it was a magical barrier, it had strength against spells, as sound was a physical force, it had physical defenses as well. However their untimely end did not come from without, but instead within, DEEP within. With the flourishing economy of the empire naturally immigrants and people of all walks of life traveled betwixt their cities. This was a wonderful thing...


    But also their downfall. Unfortunately for the Dyschix their medical technology and natural immunities were not enough to prevent the plague that came with the nomads of Eschauvant, and the only thing the government officials could do is attempt quarantine... Sadly, while this prevented the spread of disease, it was already too late, and by the time anyone knew, too many necessary to removing the barrier had died or fallen ill, and so the barriers became tombs until the very structures themselves collapsed, bringing the barriers down on what had gone from a safegaurd, to being a tomb.


    Present day:


    Andrew looked up from under the brim of his hat at the moss grown metal structures, seeing many wooden platforms having been constructed by the local elven population several centuries back after their forced migration due to herds of blinker rhindbeetles. Trees scaled the metallic monoliths as if defying their silvery sides, wooden platforms appearing hither and you like broad leaves along a massive tree, bridges spanning them like vines across the blue sky above.


    Maryth twirled in a slow circle, wonder and awe upon her face as she beheld the sight of Olru''Ta''Goth, the Land of the Steel Seabeasts as it were.


    "Papa... Look at all the metal! How do you think they made it so tall? I bet even the biltor birds couldn''t fly that high!" She said with reverence in her voice.The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.


    Andrew glanced down at his daughter, taking her hand and pulling her over a large root before she could trip.


    His mustache, Sandy blonde and mildly bushy quivered as he smiled.


    "Well that''s what we''re here to see if we can learn my little blixenberry muffin. Mayhap we can speak with the elves and see what insight they have gained from these ruins over the years."


    Maryth nodded slowly as she began to take more careful steps across the uneven ground, before it was a level pathway of metal and rock, now it was broken and eroded by nature''s grasp, roots tearing through cracks and crevices to find the light of day and reclaim the land as it''s own. Andrew glanced upwards once more, Less to see the architecture and more to spot the local denizens. Most towns had some smattering of races, but they typically had one that was most dominant. Here it was highland elves, typically of a more densely muscled build, they were surprisingly strong for their somewhat slim bodies.


    As he gazed skyward he saw one, a gentleman with indiscernible height from such a distance, but with clearly light brown hair swept back and flowing towards his shoulders, with high cheekbones and a rounded chin, pointed ears stuck out from the side of his head, holding his wavy hair away from his face as he seemed to stare pensively over the ruins. His clothing, as far as what could be seen, was a rich blue with pine green overtones vest, over top of a brown cotton shirt, the sleeves seemed to flair into small ruffles near the wrists, likely a shopkeep or government official perhaps.


    Andrew tore his gaze away and picked up Maryth, setting her upon his shoulders as he made his way across the forest floor. The trees were simply massive, and yet they were still dwarfed by the ruins themselves. To put it in perspective, the trunk of the smallest tree would need 37 men to reach out and touch hands to be able to ring about the trunk, and it grew tall enough to be able to be considered worthy of multiple floors and hold numerous houses, and yet these trees just shy of putting an elderwood forest to shame were still naught but a child scrabbling at the countertop in comparison to the ruins, branches snaked their way up the sides of them, twining into any crevice they could, ever attempting to reach higher, and yet they came at best to wind into a branch barely large enough to hold a staircase to 3/4 the ways up the structures. But that is not to say there was no greenery upon the top of them, for 3/4 was only slightly above where the semicircle began to level out enough that walkways could be anchored upon it, and gardens and parks were grown upon them for their great height allowed more sunlight to reach their farms.


    Much effort was put into bringing up soil, many terramancers were imported to be able to haul proper soil and stone up the trees to the tops of these massive monoliths of a bygone age, and yet as elves were want to do, they blended nature and technology together to create something absolutely gorgeous. Planned walkways and gazebos could be found hither and yon across the top of the ruin, a massive viewing platform supported by magic as much as by engineering, sat suspended hanging off the edge of the broken edge of the highest point of the curve, looking for all the world as if it were meant for the God''s themselves to gaze upon the splendor of the world below in awe.


    :End


    But that''s what I mean by a literal interpretation of "urban jungle"


    No I''m not likely to actually make that into a full blown story, as nice as that might be, making enough world history to be able to not screw myself over in the details of what is where and why and how? I can''t do that. I''d get about fifty chapters in, and suddenly instead of heading to this town five miles away, they are somehow in the town that took them three weeks of travel to get away from, all because I can''t keep the mental map straight.


    You know, maybe we should take a look at some of the saying we have in our language. It would be an interesting thing to draw from.


    Although maybe we could also take from titles of our history too. The hanging gardens? I mean come on, slap some chained platforms into a cavern and have all sorts of magical growing plots. That could be awesome, even if the original "hanging gardens" actually wasn''t hanging... But still. And Alexander''s lighthouse? Why not some sort of plateau in the sea towering high above, converted by mages, dug out by dwarves, manned by sailors, and all to be a giant Haven in the seas, a light so magically powerful it can be seen at the edge of the horizon on the closest continents some 2364 miles away from the coast. A bastion against the storms and deep sea creatures, a training ground and a bar set for adventurers, with caverns far below leading into a sea grotto dungeon full of all sorts of beasties of the deep.


    We have so much to draw from, you just gotta take the simple stuff, and sometimes, just add in a bit of magic, and a bit of imagination.


    The leaning tower of Pisa could easily be a dungeon with gravity fluctuations. And maybe it''s set into a cliffside and they once took designs and made blueprints and found it spiraled into the cliff so going "up" in the tower actually has you walking a circle like a Nautilus shell that drills deeper into the hillside, and all the while you''re not usually on the same gravitational plane as the planet. A real mc Escher dungeon if you will.


    But who knows. Maybe this will spark something crazy from someone else out there. Good luck to you. :3

 Dreams can be so much more.

    Dreams can be wild and zany and a source of grand inspiration.  And so here I shall tell of the one I just woke from I promise you it will make very little sense.


    Where to start... I suppose I should describe myself in the dream. I was rather thin, a longer face, kinda made me think of a xianxia character to be honest. Rather willowy really. Slender and flexible with a face that could be masculine, but also like that skinny guy from Mulan. So what I say later can make a little more sense I guess.


    It started off feeling like an mmo. And it was third person, but it didn''t feel like a game, it felt like it was life. But in a strange way. I was this person, I felt I had no recall of my memories, but at the same time it was waiting for me to simply reach out and grab it. I was wearing heavy metal armor which made me look bulky bully and huge as hell. Ahh... But wait.. we need to go back further. Strangely enough in my dream I was not even introduced yet.


    We start again with our intrepid duo of  adventurers, having already passed the highly stylized metal gate into the dungeon, bars and pipes bent and curved into the form of some sort of sigil of magic, with a rectangular frame held atop like a crossbeam, but there was nothing in it. It had two rounds of squared bars, an inner and an outer frame for this. Like if you saw a torii gate and it had a floating magic sign in it, but instead it was a wireframe gate made of metal bars. That would be the closest approximation to this thing I am mangling. The sides of the gate that flowers around the sigil we''re bent outwards, as if they should have been straight but the force of the magic sigil itself, which could not be felt or seen in any sight, bent it outward in a gentle curve around the sigil, giving the legs a semicircle arch from the top to the ground.


    Inside we found ourselves in a sparse forest grotto, walls of mossy stone rose upward and ever outward, like being in a muggy canyon where life bloomed and a forest of pine trees flourished. A young woman, dressed in leather armors, perhaps a ranger, perhaps a rogue, strode forth with her male companion, a small man covered in leather with pockets full of doodads. He seemed to be more of a crafter type. They got into a large enough clearing just off the main path through the dungeon and he pulled something from his pocket, it looked like a clockwork snow globe. Strange since you shake snowglobes and nothing else yes? He then dashed it upon the dried earthen pathway, and a strange vehicle exploded forth in a magical light show. It had four wheels and a dark color and a very odd frame.


    Sadly my memory of this doesn''t want to co-operate, as I do not recall much in the way of details for THIS vehicle.


    They continued onward into the forest path, beaten dirt beneath their wheels giving the constant sound of shifting dirt under tire as they ran around the forest bottom, suddenly the girl pointed to the cliff face, "careful!" She whispered as loudly as she dared. Trees changed every now and then into what would arguably be a large oak tree, branches splayed out and growing in strange wiggling shapes. This one was little different, however it had branches digging into the cliffside and snaking along like roots across it''s face. At a point where the cliff stopped being a wall, there was a large branch that rounded this corner, and upon this moss covered extremity sat an ape. It looked a lot like rendition. From Tarzan to be honest. More round and fluffy than bog beat the shit outta you brute.


    The tinkerer slowed the vehicle down to make it quieter as they continued forth, slowly the path wound up around a very large, arguably mountainous pillar, set in the middle of the canyon deep. To continue this dungeon every level goes upwards, and the path sometimes goes by the edges, meaning you can fall all the way back down to the first level. If you survive at least you are close to the exit. Continuing on they had reached a large clearing near the edge of the second layer, lots of trees, but plenty of room to fight or manuever or turn with vehicles. They were scouting the area when suddenly they hear the buzz of another vehicle, it sounded like a four wheeler.


    Keeping an eye on the direction of the sound, further in from the dungeon, not unlikely that an adventurer or team was returning from their hunt, but what rounded a bend in the trees was no adventurer... Instead it was a great white ape, with big old tusk like teeth shooting up like he was part or. To be honest his jaw and tusks would put most other creatures with tusks to shame, shy of a boar or elephant.


    The vehicle came to a stop upon a small ridge on the edge of the clearing and it stood up, the vehicle was average for a human... The ape was not. It stood a good eight feet tall and seemed to have a neanderthal level spear. It roared and spittle flew, the trees shook, their hearts beat faster in abject terror, and birds took flight in the sky. His voice was overbearing, but sounded a little deeper than what would be anticipated from the perfect white Knight archetype. Big bulging muscles showed off pectorals that looked like they could crush rock if he flexed them. He spoke and the words came forth, demanding respect but also fear.


    "BEGONE HUMANS! One of your kind has trespassed our lands and now you shall all be given the chance to leave or die!"


    His tusks giving him a bit of an alteration to being able to speak properly, but his visage and the tone brooked no argument, nor told of any lie. He would drive that spear through your heart faster then you could react. The tinker revved the engine and spun the little cart on a dime, it tore ass along the forest path, and they could feel the eyes of the white ape upon their backs as they recedss down the path until out of sight. He was not a second level enemy. Someone had fucked up the natural order of things. As they continued on back into the first level nothing challenged them, nothing happened except their fear and curiosity spiking.


    They came to the entrance and it looked innocuous enough. Even if behind the metal frame door and sigil was nothing but an abyss of darkness leading through the wall. The gate swung open at an insane speed just before the cart could hit it, it smoothly glided along it''s hinges just barely out of reach of the carts frame until it was at 90¡ã of it''s closed position, and the cart tore through the whole while.


    They left. The dungeon through a dark and winding path which always felt straight but they new was not. Barely a minute had passed before they started to see light. The tunnel with no roof and what felt like no walls, only darkness opened into a tiny clearing before the second gate that let you in. The cart slowed down as it got closer. No matter how fast you went you always took the same amount of time to enter or exit the dungeon space between the gates. And as they pulled up to the gate notifications relayed relayed across the rectangular frame on top of it. As if it were an LED sign with scrolling words. But this was made of magic, and it stated the same words that had been spoken by the white ape. Someone had tresspassed upon lands they should not. And all adventurers would feel his wrath.


    For every escpade into the dungeon you would have a chance of rewards beyond just what you brought out. The tinkerer and woman of unknown class saw a bubble showing what they had gotten at random, and what they might have gotten. A few weapons and random items they could have won, and a vehicle with a trailer, the vehicle had a flat bottom, and the chassis rounded and looked like a large tree had been felled and turned into the exterior. A dark metal bark like texture ran to an uneven edge as it swept back along the vehicle, the hood of which for some reasons reminded one of a snake, despite looking more like a log you would drive. The trailer was in much the same style appearing like a sickly dead purplish gray log had been hollowed out to be a vehicle. Between them was a cable of red that acted as the hitch, but also provided unparalleled turning capabilities and the transfer of magic. Many vehicles were built this way.Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.


    The title above it said the forestsidewinder, it was a vehicle based on a large snake found in the higher levels, big as a tree and it camoflage itself by using this to it''s advantage with it''s uneven scales that stuck out like a dead trees bad bark, it would hide it''s tail to look like the root system, while really hanging from another trees branch far above. When adventurers past it''s tail would whip out and crush them in it''s monsterous grip, and consume them at it''s leisure.


    Just outside the gate as they exited a commotion came about as clouds drifted through the crowd across the stone work promenade. The area outside the dungeon was built to be a small staging ground in a radial pattern, and a medium sized group of adventurers had gathered for the news. Few had been able to kill the white ape, fewer survived to bring it''s corpse back. And none did so unharmed.


    Standing at the back edge of this crowd stood me, in my very large bully armor marking me as a tank. Take big hits, give big hits, survive to slay again. That was my role. My hands rested against the pommel of my sword hilt, stuck point downward in the ground. This was bad for the weapon of course, but over time many adventurers had set up station that had grind stones. Pedestals of various sizes awaited weapons of a specific make, and these all sat along the outer ridge, my greatsword sat in one now, being sharpened by a grindstone array in the ground. This area was not commissioned by the empire and as such was less lovely on the eyes and made of different materials than the promenade. Uneven bricks and sometimes wood we''re the pathway around this outer ring of adventure preparedness. It was truly a great analogy for the world of adventurers. The basics funded by the government to make adventurers seem glamorous, the real gnitty gritty needed to survive was ugly and often mismatched.


    I wandered over, wondering how I got here and only remembering something about possible reincarnation. Everything felt right but also wrong. I would find the wrong later. As I walked over the woman''s class was finally outed as she said it would take a ranger of a higher level than her to even think of taking on the white ape.


    I smiled at the thought of a challenge and stepped forward into the group, greatsword now slung across my back. My voice was smooth and just shy of Noble. A high level adventurer who was known in some locations, and had to deal with nobles, but still down to earth with what really happened in the life of an adventurer.


    "I might be able to do it, I just need to job change and do a little training." I said with confidence


    The entire group turned to look at me. A hulking tank of a man in heavy armor saying he could become the spritely and fast ranger class. They wondered if he were not insane.


    I smiled as inside I knew exactly what I was talking about. Not many were aware of mastery of a job allowing you to utilize the skills of it even when it was inactive. And stats rose across the board as each job had it''s own stats, and once mastered joined your base stats for any future job. However leveling up the new job became harder as mastered jobs increased the level cap, and became your base level.


    I turned away and headed to the central kiosk, a statue of stone and metal which allowed a greater access to the system, using this to store his armor and change his class to ranger. Starting over again... Sort of. Somehow this did not feel strange, just one of those things I needed to reach out and recall. And with it came a sense of familiarity and rightness.


    (The kiosk I added in because... I have no idea how I changed classes in my dream... Weird huh?)


    I returned to the group and they had mixed reactions to my leather clad self with a bow almost as tall as I was strapped to my back. The ranger girl had a look of worry, many of the physical attackers had looks like they were going to enjoy me going down a notch.


    I walked up, arms crossed, my thin physique of corded muscles more aware now that I had on for fitting leather armor. Speed and movement we''re necessary as a ranger, not knockout dragout potential. It was the same set as when I had been a rogue.


    We walked over to an obstacle course set in the trees and as their smiles widened I knew this would be enjoyable. For me, but definitely not for them.


    I ran through the obstacle course, jumping from one tree to the next as I went through rings suspended by ropes, shot targets from my blindspot, and generally outperformed any ranger previously seen upon this course. When I finished I was at the top of the highest tree, and I could see the rest of the island. This world was set upon floating islands and continents, it afforded a beautiful view, but I couldn''t recall what or if there was anything below them. Only that I had been there some long forgotten time ago.


    I leapt from the top and spun in a lazy circle before landing on my feet, a small plume of dirt billowing out. I had jumped from a height no normal man should be able to do without at least breaking something. Even as a high level class. But I was MULTIPLE high level classes.


    The would be hecklers stood mouths agape as the ranger looked stunned but excited, the tinkerer surprised and eyes wide.


    (I''m not sure what happened after this. My dream seems to have just... Skipped forward somehow.)


    I found myself being ingratiated once more by some fool toady of the empire. I was wearing my official robes, a light cyan color as I walked the streets. I do not remember how or why I am here, but I do know I am supposed to be someone of importance. It felt like a Mongol empire or something of the sort. I don''t know why however.


    As things would progress I did meaningless tasks until something happened and I was met by another official from the emperor, the dream is fading now from my memory but I recall saying something about how it seemed like I was some sort of local czar, and everything flooded back about what my Noble title was, I was some sort of leader of a small City state or some such. After that I had .legal and lawful revenge against the fools who tried to use me. Somehow this amnesia thing I had been under was not uncommon and was said to be a sort of bonding of souls. I was one of the greatest of adventurers, and a leader of my people under the empire.


    From what I recall the empire was not something evil. Though I do know corruption would exist as it does in any society. But streets were kept clean, the populace was fed, given work, and paid, and a sense of propriety was upheld as we ventured into the dungeons for wealth and the ability to further advance technologically. The strangest thing is, there were no mages seen, but I knew I was capable of being one.


    Soon enough a call awakened me and I knew I wouldn''t be able to get back to sleep. So I wanted to show where some of my creativity... Stems from? Floods into? I know not the truth of this matter. All I know is that dreams can be an exciting and strange spark of creativity.


    The modified or false parts of this were the grindstone array, in my dream my sword was just set into the ground, but I know that damages and dulls the blade. So it felt wrong to continue such a stupid thing. The other was that the obstacle course did not exist, there were those who looked at me with derision, but much like the class change, I have no idea what happened outside of suddenly being a ranger leaping through the forest and off what felt like the dungeons internal cliffs, only to fall and land in a crouch and seeing the ranger from previously. After that the dream changed. I''m not sure why I used the term czar in my dream, but it had a strange mixture of feeling Russian, Mongolian, and having a heavy style influence from the far East. I did say that clouds obscurred the promenade. I wanted to allude to the later moment where I said it was all on flying islands. This is also true. But I don''t know much about that too. And the land underneath was just a feeling. It''s like somehow I had a birds eye view of the dungeon entrance island and there was a slate grey mountain reaching for the sky, but also a brown dirt and root mountain reaching for below, and something said I know what''s down there... But I had no idea. So there had to be something. How would I know what exists below? Surely I''d have to have been there. Something says it is something of death. But I still do not know and this is all conjecture.


    The city state I officiated was like seeing a brighter more pleasing version of the trolls market from hellboy. The many layers going over each other, the tall buildings with numerous shops interwoven between one another. But somehow it never kept sunlight from reaching the bottom. It never stopped the whole area from being civil and colorful. I feel like maybe the pathways were grates of some sort but I just don''t know how it worked. I just knew it did. The main pathways along the bottom level marked out where buildings stood going straight to the sky, so in theory the only time they could be lit ulby sunlight is noon, but I also want to say I was at a higher tier for government officials and was able to look down and over the city walls to see the sunrise but it was all lit by sunlight. I assume now maybe magic had a hand in matters.

 Metaverses by books

    I wonder if any of you have read the Ink Heart series. It''s a few years old by now. But the premise is interesting and if you look deeper into it the basis of the entire series is a rather thought provoking one.


    Not to spoil too much but it''s a meta story. The first book in the series is a title used within the series and is the start of it all. And the premise then brings forth the concepts of transportational equivalent exchange and our world being a multiverse composed of books, and each book is a seperate universe. Taking this outside it''s parental narrative, you have to consider not only the truths of this when considering the fact of there being crossover series which happen between other authors and even the same author and their different works. It''s a strange way to think of it, but in a sense every author with an actual story is a god of a small world. Through the use of words and text they created a world.The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.


    And that in and of itself could be the source of a story. A self aware world within a book. Sort of. They understand the name of their god in some abstracted way and their holy writs are all about how on what day what was created, and how and the way it''s explained. How artists are like gods or demigods peering in through a lense to see what the author described, what they thought this character was supposed to look like.


    However based upon this it brings forth the possibility of cross mechanic world''s with characters that go between. Which could cause interesting and broken things to happen, but when done it can provide a basis between the mechanics of different worlds. If an author can do it properly, between a standard fantasy and technology or xianxia it can be the basis for this again in the future, and every story building upon the base concepts, so long as they fit within it naturally and with a balance, it can fit within the balanced mutliverse narrative mechanic blending. Which is a rather groundbreaking thing.

 Systems and how to break them

    A lot of litrpgs have systems. I''m actually pretty sure it''s a defining factor of a litrpg. Some numerical way to quantify a person''s strength and capabilities. Some little probably blue box, for arbitrary reasons, that says this thing you know you can do is now called a skill or ability and you are this good at it.


    Well systems come in all kinds of colors of blue and various parameters to say how badass and op your character is. But have they truly aimed to break the system? Nope. Not really. An author strives for balance, and as such their character is the guy who slips through the cracks with unconciously luck to get some broken combination, rather than a minute max stat feed combo build. I would wreck a system world through sheer curiosity and too many times playing DND. Strange since I''ve only been part of 2 campaigns, there was a third planned, and I got a lot of chance to make a level 10 character with a Homebrew. I would have felt bad for the DM if I hadn''t kept an eye towards balance. But then the DM actually helped me and made it MORE broken. Kinda nuts. But yes, a healthy dose of curiosity in a system world can throw several spanners into things.


    It''s like the system is a bunch of cogs, and every player is their own little stand alone generator. And then I manage to put a trandimensional belt on it and my character is powered by the system, which leaves me more room to undermine every other character. But let''s move on to the specifics, how can a person subvert the system?


    Let''s take a look at the important aspects, we need to know what sort of system we are looking at, how much freedom do we have in this and how does it react to various stimuli?


    Taking for example the systems of randidly ghost hound, to be honest I haven''t figured out how to properly break the system in terms of trying to get a class that is as op as randidly''s, but that leads us to the first part of how to figure that out.


    OBSERVATION. A great way to learn to break any system in a litrpg is simply watching and learning, gathering data is important. Going back to randidly ghost hound it''s possible to notice several things, outside the standard ominous tethering to a town figure, there is the fact that in the ghosthound system you are given three choices, there is the random choice, the choice based on your history, and the choice of what suits you right now. Given this information it automatically says that people with experience of violence or crafting or various other things will automatically have at least one choice to reflect that. Assumably within the ghosthound world there are sections that held military, I''m sure many of them had the option of either some combat profession like soldier, or maybe a Gunner class. And based on their physical ability maybe a decent "current you" class as well.


    But the way I see it, by taking this information in, and then the information of the 6th cohort, it reasons out that the optimal thing to do, is to train yourself and gain skills that lead you on the direction you want, and then give it a specific image and title to go with it. If you want to be a crafter extroardinaire with an ability to layer on all sorts of mojo against the undead, you might learn tailoring and blacksmithing and woodworking and fletching and all the crafting skills you can, and then set your workshop up in a church and remodel it to some crafting god you remember from a fantasy book. You may ask "but why?" The answer is simple.


    In theory, if you, in your crafting, become fit, able to fight, but also maintain in your crafting a schedule or superstition where in you pray upon every work, and then you go to a village to get a class, I would bet you''re "current self class" would have a dedicated crafter title under the god you worship in your workshop church. But this is only a theory.


    Now, we move onwards to a series inspired by randidly ghosthound. With Daniel Radcliff, a.k.a the harbinger of cataclysm. While I currently forget the title of the story, I admit it is good. However this system is both named, and sentient. Schema, however it seems to lack actually giving a class with tangible benefits. Everything there falls under stats and the way you build them. In such a world it''s all about perks and skills. And the way to break it is rather simple, do as much as you can as strenuously as you can and gain as many skills as possible and attempt to boil them down to a legendary skill. It''s like a connect three game. Every three of this or that tier can combine to a greater tier and you just keep recombining until you have the highest item you can get. It''s simple, but it also takes creativity and willpower. Because you have to put forth the effort to perform these actions, but you also need to think about whatever action it is and whether it may have a skill, but more importantly, that if it did have a skill, would you want it?


    Moving onwards to such things as the legendary moonlight sculptor it has a very open world skill system, but it''s a difficult skill system and the virtual world therein relies upon your external ability to perform these actions. Effort begets reward, but perseverance is required to make sure you put in the necessary amount of effort. Creating skills is a good way to break a system should the system have the ability to allow handmade skills. Now in reality it would take an ai with some serious processing power to be able to make and code the allowance of the new skill, this is likely an unsaid thing within the world, as it requires the 1000 hits in the same way to properly map and code the skill in. On top of that the physics engine and the air controlling that and running the math on the new skill to dictate it''s strength, and therefore rarity and damage, would need to be pretty beefy too.The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.


    Other systems are simpler or harder based on the many components it''s made of. For example within the Homebrew dnd campaign my creature was of a race I called seemed, yes I took it from Skyrim, I made the entire race lean towards being scrawny but intelligent. They were a crafting class.


    Sounds simple, but it''s deceptive, the entire race was a half fry celestial (because the DM actually decided, trust me I wanted it to be part dwarf) and it had bat wings, a prehensile tail, and four arms. This all sounds like it''s a grotesque creature with very little useability. But they were Crafters, as a blacksmith you automatically know how to weild the weapon you made with proficiency.


    Automatically that means you can forge four daggers and be a flying razorwind. Not bad. But let''s continue to where i really broke it. As it was level ten you can choose perks and skills and things. I chose many crafting abilities. Including enchanting. Many may be aware of the Skyrim exploit of using potions to buff enchanting, to make better enchanting gear or potion making gear, and then it cycles around into a broken loop of insanity. Using this sort of thing to my advantage, as a four armed creature I could easily enchant rings out the wazzoo, and be decked out with anywhere from 16-20 rings, 4 bracelets, an amulet, and maybe even a tail ring. And all of these could be enchanted to make my racially intelligence based creature become a tank never before seen.


    At level ten and 9 levels in alchemist and 1 in gunslinger this creature named master draz had 40 intelligence. He had a straight up +10 on int rolls. He didn''t fail to make a +5 ring of strength, he simply did it. And if you think about it, that means crazy shit for a hotswap build. Granted he didn''t have the classes for it, but it did mean my scrawny little guy could easily hold back an ogre, and probably win against a giant in an arm wrestling match.


    What this all boils down to is testing the limits of the various inner mechanisms of a system. If your system has potion making, or enchanting, or stat building, you can use it to your advantage. In some litrpgs like emerilia you can train stats. It''s not easy, and usually endurance is a painful one, but in theory, that means if you put forth the effort in the early game you can get massive dividends later on when you start to level up. Other options might include using crafting as a training excercise. In theory you might be able to use tailoring to up things like dexterity, perception, and maybe endurance if you screw up and see yourself to the material enough times. Others can be attempts at getting skills that might just seem insane. Like say you get juggling as a skill, intentionally, and then you start to juggle slowly heavier items, it trains the skill, it trains dexterity, it trains strength, and at the end of it, maybe you can even use it offensively by chucking knives in the middle of battle that you were juggling.


    In real videogames there are no oversights, there is a lack of ability towards player creativity, it will have some feedback loops to exploit every now and then, but in a litrpg you have this capability to screw with the system just by the fact that you can do zany shit with things that most people wouldn''t consider. Perhaps taking strolls through monster infested woods and chatting with the wildlife without any battles going on could give a strange and unprecedented skill or perk. It''s hard to say, but I will admit to having broken one authors system by merely asking about the possibilities. I wouldn''t say there was any discrepancies with their system, but there was never stated that this thing had had  tried, there was a mechanism, there was option A, and there was option B, the two were seperate by only one component, and when I set a on b, it apparently created an unthought of feedback loop that the author outright stated had broken the world by the mere concept. It then had to be given some thought so as to prevent it from being an inconsistency, and now has the potential in a limited and more abalnced version to be a part of the story. Had it actually be a litrpg world in which I was in, I would have damned the consequences as it was a very world and I could respawn, and I would have shattered some conceptions, and likely been nerfed or hired by a company. Lol


    Sometimes the best way to break a system is to simply ask questions. Be aware of what limitations are stated, but note what isn''t stated as well. If the game says you can''t get more than five ounces of water from a bucket, ask how much water you can get from a larger container. Thinking outside the box has its rewards and dangers, and in a litrpg that can mean a broken op character simply because they don''t let defined walls set the route for them, they look at the place where they haven''t found a wall and they start trailblazing.


    If you are an author and you make a system, you need to consider the questions that might be ridiculous. Like what if I made my vegetable soup in Mana potion? Would anyone ever do it? No, a Mana potion is to be drank! Is what they would say, but then you have the experimental chef and he suddenly has vegetable soup that refills your Mana with the slurp of a spoon. Ridiculous questions beget ridiculous outcomes. In one manga a renowned blacksmith has retired and is no longer famous, he is picked on by street thugs and they get chased away by a Japanese "Yankee" when the blacksmith asks him what he wants as a weapon he says an iron pipe. So what happens? The blacksmith makes him a mithril iron pipe with a straight leading into an elbow joint.


    You might be surprised by what concepts can be birthed by a mind that is said to only ask "stupid questions", going against "common sense" does not necessitate stupidity, and can cause a whole knew standard to come about and better your world and enrich its history and capabilities.


    So if you have a path to power in your story... Try tossing in a few oddball ideas and see if you can''t break it. Maybe you''ll find that it works even better now than before, and it''s something new to write about. </img>

 Class permutations and the skills and stats they grant Pt. 1

    I know, long chapter title.


    But this is a rather scientific look at ... Well a fantasy setting. You see classes are often the meat and bones of many fantasy settings. The creation of a class to surround your mc is very important, many may note the standard sword and board warrior of legend that tends to trope through many stories. On occasion you find alternative warriors, chain users, sickle wielders, greatsword, staff, martial arts, there are many weapons and each tends towards specific classes or personas.


    For now let''s label the standard classes and then the various specifications and then we move onto permutations.


    Warrior- standard melee character


    Mage- magic wielder


    Rogue- standardly Archer or long range melee


    Now, let''s further divide this, often you can divide a warrior based on their weapon. But we''ll not be doing it THAT specifically.


    Standard warrior, uses swords, shields, and occasionally spears.


    But you also have samurai which use Katana and can be a specific type of warrior,


    Knight, a very defense and heavy armor warrior


    Brawler, a standard melee fist fighter or grappler


    Now we move onto mages.


    Standard mage, long incantations but great power, often subdivided by element, or category, which means in theory, based on self permutations alone the standard mage is rather innumerable. This alone makes mages with a rather free form system quite versatile on top of being hard to figure out, thankfully often mages are shown to have a great level of pride and thus often are shown to display the or element freely in the color of their wardrobe. Not always, but often enough that their pride comes before the fall.


    Summoner- obvious as a backline but often a still powerful magic user, if indirectly, but still physically, the summoner is often left untouched as an mc.


    Warlock- typically a darker and more demon friendly version of a mage, it''s uh... It''s basically a mage using another dimensions creature to supplement their power. And usually comes with the typical Faust and Mephistopheles. The tale of a man who made a deal with a devil in order to attain knowledge, and then used it against the demon to retain his soul. Moving on.


    Druid- the green mage! May my plants grow strong! May the forest spirits watch over me! *Waves a watering can violently* GROW MY ALLIES!


    Necromancer- if you have no idea what a necromancer is... I can''t help you and furthermore how did you even get here?


    Aside from going down the standard elements and then self permutations, this surprisingly has very few specific classes.


    Rogue- rogues have much in the way of specifics, as it''s a physical class based on dexterity, which means things like an attempt at Dodge tanking, or relying on critical hits for damage. Onwards! To specific classes!


    Ninja, this rogue relies heavily on attacking from the shadows at range using poisons and causing status problems. A good support but not a great solo due simply to the needs of massive dexterity over strength and so remaining hidden to best cause massive damage.


    Thief, similar to a ninja, this rogue utilizes closer ranged combat using knives and short swords at best, often better at picking locks and many less combat useful skills like pickpocketing.


    Archer, less stealth based, the Archer utilizes the bow bor long range DPS, a standard for many parties and sometimes classified as a seperate class spec than a rogue, despite both primarily needing dexterity.


    Unorthodox classes- these classes have little in the same vein as other classes when you break it down to the bare bones of what the class is meant to do. Arguably they can fit into another class, but I think they stand alone quite well.Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.


    Bard- the best at making half elves! Oh... And half orcs! Err.... And buffing the party? Not as sure about that last one. XD


    beast tamer- similar in aspect to the summoner, they often are as much a physical fighter as their companions in this case. It''s like saying a warrior attacks with a club as a mage attacks with a close of earth. Same thing different name.


    Explorer/adventurer- sometimes this is a class and focuses on movements and exploratory passive bonuses, not a bad class, but not an active class in most aspects. Sometimes it''s also a title for adventurers in general.


    And last is a staple too all games. Usually...


    The healer! Er... THE PRIEST! or priestess. WHICHEVER YOU PREFER FOR GENDER PRONOUNS! because I don''t care. Arguably this can be held by a mage, but at the same time a healer can derive power from divinity instead of Mana, this is useful in the aspect of a story, making sure you have your mechanics straight is very important should Mana forgo an affinity, however to do such a thing typically means there is only one religion, as to have a holy affinity, by which I mean the priest worships a specific god or goddess and is granted various secondary abilities based on their deity, this allows a lot of versatility within a single class name.


    Now, we''ve covered what I consider the basics, and the intermediates, I suppose. The more you specific your classes the more unique the world, but the more math and statistics and mechanics you need to be aware of.


    Onwards into permutations!


    Permutations refers to the combining of two classes to make a new one with benefits and drawbacks all it''s own.


    An example of a permutation class is the simple PALADIN. A cross between a Knight and a priest, the paladin boasts superior physical strength and defense with an addition of low level healing.


    So let''s list some of these permutations, and the lesser seen ones shall be stated at the end.


    Paladin- be healed even as I slam a jam into a monster ma''am!


    Deathknight- the necromancer variant of paladin. If a dark paladin is not a thing. In that case the death Knight is the physically whoopass one man army, not just a sit behind the back lines general like a necromancer.


    Spell sword- a mage combined with a warrior, it boasts the ability to self buff with elements to better handle various situations.


    Redmage- apparently I''m color blind. I took a mage and combined the "white magic" of holy healing, and somehow it turned red.


    Monk- I fight with my fists but I destroy out with the magic I push out of my fists. A tertiary permutation of brawler, mage, and sometimes priest, they utilize their own life force as a weapon, often called Ki.


    Ranger- this is also arguably a tertiary class as a ranger is often seen shooting spell buffed arrows and having an animal companion, this class combines archers with a mage and beast tamer, even if only to one creature.


    Battlemage- occasionally you get a reversal and find a mage has taken a physical class, whether that means a fist fighter or a other weapon.


    Unorthodox permutations


    Holy archers. Not sure what to say about this in particular, but it''s not really been done.


    Summoner permutations. I''ve never really seen summit or beast tamer with a physical class combination, the exception, sort of, is dungeon nursery, but that''s because he summons toddler monsters. Each summon somehow is younger than the previous. Which makes them less and less useful.


    Summoner archers aren''t seen much either. In fact summoner anything is not often seen. I mean some have a strange contracted weapon that let''s let''s them utilize magic or summon creatures which also are their weapon. But that''s not a true summoner to me. It''s a variant of spellswords summoner. In a weird way. Maybe a weapon tamer spellswords warlock combination... If you think of it like the weapon is a demon.


    All of these are standard to typical battle in the form of classes, however it completely overlooks crafting classes.


    Now I understand, anyone who has played an mmo thinks a crafting class is just a drudge to get to what they really want. However, if you think about it, the permutations of crafting can work together with battle classes to make something even greater.


    Rogues would go well with a leatherworker or a tailor. The dexterity used would give top quality materials for either of these classes as well as give a bonus towards crafted items.


    Blacksmith would work well with warriors and warrior permutations, as the strength would do double the work, and the items made would be easier to make, if not of a higher quality, and would give an immediate use if making your own heavy weapons or armor.


    Rogues would also be great as alchemists. But so would archers.


    Woodworker would be great for an Archer if only for the fact of making your own bows.


    Mages goes well with enchanting, even as it''s beneficial over all for any class


    But truthfully most crafting classes have a snowball effect upon each other, and will overall benefit any battle class.


    Golemancy would be great for necromancers or mages in general, likely warlocks, necromancers as a specialty, on top of this summoners and tamers might benefit as well.


    Gunslingers is a more futuristic version of Archer but it too has many permutations that would work.


    Depending on how much science is in your fantasy, an alchemist would work well with this as well, or even gunblades and various physical weapons with a secondary ability to fire like a rifle, or perhaps another gun.


    A spell slinger would be a great combination of mage and gunslinger. As instead of a chamber for bullets, each chamber CNA be a different spell affinity, allowing a spell slinger premade spell circles to fire out of their weapon.


    Various other specifics can be Valkyries, which is basically a spellswords who uses a spear. And is theoretically typically female, if you want to use Norse mythology.


    We shall end this chapter here, and hopefully you''ll be able to come up with your own classes, and find a weapon and spell combination that would work well to your advantage as a writer. :3

 Class permutations and the skills and stats they grant Pt. 2

    in some systems the ways classes and stats interact is different. In some systems, classes give stat growth, in other systems a class is skill unlocks as opposed to stats, how they interact can give openings for exploitation. But this varies from one system to the next and is typically ''balanced'' by how much experience is needed to progress.


    In a balanced system a stronger class gives greater stat growth returns, even if it means that those stats are locked into specific areas. But in order to truly dive deep into how stats can be used to break a system, first we must identify what our stats are. And this is of course a major underlying framework for a world at large. If you choose a fantasy Gameworld with stats, it means it has the obligation to be visible to some character who will be relevant to the story, otherwise it holds no meaning in the quantifying of the power of your character, now, granted as an author in order to better organize your thoughts you could in theory give them a world of levels, and have stats be a shadow framework that you keep in a seperate program in order to keep track of what is an appropriate opponent, much like a dungeon master in dnd will keep track of the characters strength to give them a suitably challenging fight or alternate encounter.


    So let''s get down to brass tacks. Many stories have the basic stats or a derivitive variation of them, some stories have multiple variations that, due to their tangential use, can be a better alternative e stat and thus a good replacement. Sometimes a skill can be used to replace a stat. But the important thing is that you have all the basics covered, and even if you use tangential stats, it needs to have everything covered, otherwise one comment can find the plot hole you never realized which is now the Achilles heel of your character, and with that on your mind it will actually like rot, slowly spreading through that character from that point forward. I mean this metaphorically, but from that chapter onwards that you learned of this critical failure you will tend towards a subconcious decision to lean away from situations that would put said character in that problem and related areas, and it will slowly build, even if it destroys your story by keeping them away from a plot point that would make for good writing, instead of just finding roundabout ways to deal with this new ability to fail, you avoid the entire build up to it. And this can be costly to a writer.


    As for stats themselves, it''s important to keep some kind of notepad of some sort with the stat description, in a later chapter I''ll talk about what I think I''d an optimal way, even if it is more effort. But for now, it''s a good idea to figure out what stats you want and what they do, what their purpose is, and a good description of them. In the end, the more detailed your writing, the better for adaptations. After all, you don''t want that moment in Harry Potter and the chamber of secrets where he fights the basilisk after it''s been blinded by faux, and somehow part of the pipes he runs through to escape it just isn''t there.


    This is a minor and rather pedantic point, but I stick with it, for those who read the series and recall that moment with clarity, Harry ran down a pipe and through several corners before coming to a dead end with a grate he could not pass by, so he found a stone at his feet, and tossed it down a side passage, the basilisk, now relying on sound (for whatever reason since snakes have a decent sense of smell and even heat sensors, but hey, let''s not poke holes in the plot) immediately rushed down the side passage, Harry then followed the pipe back the way he came from and out a seperate corner, coming out near the massive face in the arena where Riddle''s ghost stood. However in the movie, the pipe was shorter before the dead end and had no curves, he also followed behind the basilisk and immediately ended up coming out by the large face. This is of course a spatial error on top of just being too lazy to have a small pipe maze for a cheap snake to run through, but I was still incensed by their callous disregard of this moment.


    MOVING ON.


    If you give great enough detail and even put forth the effort to give it mathematical formulas it means your book, if you choose to make it a litrpg, has the potential and the framework to be made into a videogame, and with the mathematical framework already in place, it means some of the hardest part is done, assuming you balanced your entire books game world.


    So now we actually list the various stats and some descriptions.


    Strength- a standard staple of many stat groups, strength has been used for a variety of things in games and litrpgs, from how much physical abuse, and thus taking over other stats, to attack damage modifiers, how much the character can pick up, and even health, strength is sometimes an all around physical stat as opposed to just what it is, how dense and big your muscles are and what that means for your weight, and lifting ability. On top of that, comes pure melee damage.


    Intelligence- the metaphysical side of strength that has everything to do with how smart you are in being able to piece some things together and also how powerful a character magic is. If strength is the density of physical muscle, intelligence is the density of metaphysical muscle. Sadly, as I said, it rarely has an actual effect on the thought processes of a character, this in and of itself holds a great mechanic which can be used to transcend settings in a litrpg, let us say that the litrpg setting has a virtual world and a real world with nanites, and your body out of game will be reflecting your in game starting stats, and each point in the game can have a reflection upon the character outside the game, this is of course an ability used in emerilia in a sense, and it has great use as a plot point of the story. The ability of the body being changed by the game is an interesting concept few utilize.


    Endurance- endurance is part of a trifecta and is often swapped by Vitality, or in the all encompassing Strength, but it''s important to note each stat still has it''s unique niche in which it fits. Endurance covers things like stamina and defence, and sometimes covers health, vitality focuses on health and seconds endurance and defence.


    Wisdom- wisdom is a metaphysical version of endurance, and is, if used in the physical world, a repository for whether a character can successfully complete a lore check. A character with low intelligence might not be able to tell you what 2+2 equals, but if they have high wisdom they can have an idiot savant moment and tell you that if it''s a demon king''s castle it''s supposed to have a back door full of traps because the demon king can''t trust his subordinates to not murder him, and the castle will be rice with secret passages. Of course everyone looks at them like they are stupid until they poke a torch and voila, there she blows, a secret passage that, sure enough, is confirmed about two steps in to be full of deadly traps. Wisdom can have numerous unusual uses in a party, but it''s main use is Mana regeneration. This is great in a world unlike dnd, as dnd has how many spells you can cast a day, as opposed to how much Mana you have per encounter.


    Dexterity- this stat can be swapped or even be alongside Agility, where as dexterity can be considered how flexible and nimble your body is, allowing you to do superhuman crafting, lockpicking, or trap disabling, it generally revolves around a person''s hands, however if you have a dexterity of 40 I would say you might be able to fire a bow with your feet, so there is that. Agility on the other hand revolves around the quickness of the body, and both of them can be used in reflexes and dodging, the main difference is agility is not typically utilized for crafting, even if it''s necessary for performing any action with any amount of speed.If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.


    Sometimes RPGs can have a rather straightforward stat instead of overlapping ones. This means less bang for your stat point perhaps, or more, depending on whether you enjoy an umbrella stat, or a spear stat. And what I mean by that is, an umbrella stat may distribute its live preserving goodness and be funneled entirely into giving you another 20 hp, or it can be an umbrella which gives 5 hp, 5 defense, 5 stamina, and 5 stamina Regen. Ultimately it''s very dependant upon the stat system you choose and what math you utilize, but if you have what we could call a heads up display, or HUD, it all needs to be able to be matched out into a whole number.


    Mana or mp, magic, aether, the system has numerous ways to designate the system of Magicka or the arcane. In other words, no matter what way you set your campfire alight, so long as it''s not through a physical means you can say a wizard waved his hand and spent a couple of wooblah on it for all I care, but the terminology is often important in some aspect based on how in depth you want your magic system to be. In some cases arcane is different than magic power, and as such can have a conversion rate that can be used to create a broken character.


    Taking conversion abilities into account, let''s look at Blood and Cupcakes, a series that was until recently on royal road and was put on Amazon by another author, within this story the system was a more freeform one where in your actions dictated what abilities you could naturally create, and by doing so would allow you to convert one of your three pools, stamina, health, and Mana, into each other. This is an excellent system that while rare can be extremely useful to have an edge in battle, regardless of class, being able to take a "useless" pool and drain it into a more necessary one means regardless of what pool in increased, it will never be a waste no matter your playing style.


    Now, as for the systems and their skills, some systems allow for self made skills, this is not very often done as it''s much easier for an author to simply have it be pre-existing and have conditions that naturally will be met by the mc over the course of the story, allowing them to gain it when needed, as opposed to what may feel like a tedious chapter of training the same move for an arbitrary amount of times to create a unique skill known only by the mc to make them more Mary Sue.


    However, other systems have previously skills that require extra effort to gain, but are easy enough to get simply by putting forth great effort, or time. Sometimes one may be shortchanged for another, more effort, less time, more time, less effort. There is always a minimum bar needing to be met for skill, otherwise they can''t be gained for the mc to be broken as everyone would have the skill and thus it''s easier to have another character utilize it in a broken way and thus be better. Obviously other characters need to be greater than the mc or their is not a mountain peak for them to reach, if every step of their journey shows a mountain below them, why bother with calling an action story litrpg, when if they are all powerful it''s a drama filled slice of life. Oh have to understand all the nuances of story building to create a truly immersive story.


    Continuing on with skills, what makes a skill broke and overpowered?


    Honestly to me it''s vagueness. The less concrete a skills title is the more manipulable and breakable it becomes. Any skill that can be used with creativity is inherently able to be broken.


    Take for example the lowest most overlooked of skills in any litrpg, the manipulation skills.


    It tells you one thing, you have control over something. This is important. Because instead of a stone spike spell, having a stone manipulation spell may mean early game low damage, but you can still make a stone spike even if it does Les damage, but later on you can make a multitude stone spike that explodes. All because of manipulation skills.


    Imbuement is another, if you can put energy in it, it doesn''t say how much, or for what purpose, or what item, this gives it great versatility to be used to temporarily enchant a weapon to deal fire damage or even leave a trail of magical napalm in an opponents wound. Possibly poisonous magical napalm.


    Vague skills are left open to interpretation, and this means a creative character can use it like a crowbar and Morgan Freeman their way to saving the world.


    Sometimes you need skills to be very specific, but a combination of vague skills and concise skills can let a character have "ideas" that suddenly takes a concept from the concise skill and then combines it with previous ideas to make something devastating.


    Other ways skills can be broken is if a system allows skills to be overlapped. Not only buffing a person who uses a skill strike, but having that skill strike have a flame blade skill used on top, it''s two skills that both swing, one has incredible power and accuracy, and one has power and an affinity to deal a status effect, if you can layer skills, then just like in "A New World" you can, if not create a new skill, make a combo skill which deals proportionately more damage.


    Thank you to a comment or for helping me remember the title of that one previously.


    There are many ways to have a broken system, and the logic behind why it''s not been found before is simply "common sense" sometimes other characters, be they NPCs or other player characters, they might not even attempt to push the boundaries. And that''s why I''m writing this. I am a boundary pusher, and I like seeing how much insanity and chaos I can make with a simple potion bottle full of random things.


    Taking from a different story, oblivion online''s author introduced a new mechanic of transmutation one chapter, and since then I have questioned what happens if you throw vegetables in it, what happens if you combine plants and animals, what about undead and living, what about already infused items? When I posted these questions the first time I had, even in spite of knowing that a creature can only be infused once, broken their transmutation system, simply by asking "what about if a monster is infused with an infused item?" It gave the author options they never realized before.


    Personally I''m wondering how delicious a meal can be made by infusing cooking ingredients time and again, but I enjoy eating. XD


    Just as I enjoy throwing a wrench into systems to see how it works out, I also wanna see how mundane I can take these systems which are deemed to be used by the upper echelons, simply because of something like a greater cost or need or it not a toy. The question becomes... But what if it WERE a toy? What if I use this on frivolous and mundane things? The answer apparently is magic bullshit.


    Imagine a game world where using skills causes them to level, well... First of all I''m grabbing a manipulation skill, and then every chance I get I''m gonna use it for stupid things even if the common sense of the world says mages should be Noble and not look dumb. Listen, if me making patio furniture out of water is stupid but gets me to equal level of a grand mage in a month of me twiddling me thumbs to be comfortable in a pool of water held by water so be it. I will do so.


    Because summer is hot and it''s training that is fun. This is a great application of what can be done to make training good. In randidly ghosthound randidly trained his spear mastery with his root control, it made an interesting moment in the story which allowed for a boost in ability at the same time, being able, as an author, to think of these ridiculous things and use them to make a fun training montage that''s going to break up the seriousness of a story is great.


    "Is the archimage wearing sunglasses and swimtrunks in a floating pool of water?" Yes. Yes he is. That arch mage decided today was hot, so he made a pool of water, made it grow watery legs, and it''s carrying him around town as he does his errands and buys tools and ingredients, and the entire thing remains cool and he just floats there waiting for the baker to stop gaping and get him some fresh pastries. Why? Because it''s training and it''s beneficial.


    Sometimes thinking outside the box gets you ideas you can''t use immediately. Sometimes it gives you ideas that are crazy, but keeping these ideas for later or can be used on a nonsense side character that comes around again and again can give character growth. Nothing says the mc had to have every idea. Maybe he was waiting outside the blacksmiths when he saw the archimage go buy on his aqualegs and he thought of how he can train himself in a similar way, a suit of earth armor to train up his earth manipulation, or a windsuit to keep cool and protected even in town.


    If you want a serious mc, it''s not wrong to make a jester character to try out ideas with. And if necessary can be used to fuel the growth of the mc.


    Just remember, thinking outside the spell book can have greater rewards than following the notes of the spell took alone. :3

 Science and how it relates to fantasy

    Science is the study of our world in the many ways it can be viewed, whether that''s chemically, biologically, or through the observation of physics. Now this is all well and good, but surely you wonder how that relates to a fictional world where in a single human with no outwardly definieable difference can somehow produce fire from his fingertips or cause water or dirt to levitate. That''s a good question, and honestly there are many ways to explain such phenomenon to be canonical to your realm.


    For example, and this is all a giant tangent from what I really wanted to talk about, in the series necrotourists, the mc, who is never given a name besides "boss" as far as I had read to, never ''produced'' any kind of phenomena, in fact it is stated that Mana is an extradimensional being which is commanded by mages to take the chosen phenomena from another dimension, and place it within his own, effectively it''s not controlling anything, it''s a dimensional distortion of the material chosen by the mage that is already doing what they want, possibly even coming from several other dimensions, let''s say in dimension b, where in he is pulling his floating earth from, it''s a cliff there, but he then begins to move it in a figure 8 pattern. The dimensional distortion isn''t moving in a figure 8 in dimension b, because now the floating stone needs velocity, velocity being a 3 dimensional abstraction of motion with direction and mass. So it no longer pulls from dimension b as dimension b is stationary, however, in dimensions c through p, the stone within these dimensions is moving at a velocity that matches the effects of the figure 8 being attempted, so in a way, the Mana is a movie Maker taking frames from alternate realities and pasting it seemlessly into dimension A to create the motion picture of a rock floating through a figure 8.


    Necrotourists utilizes a rather unique variation of what magic is by use of physics and the mutliverse theory.


    But necrotourists is also really funny and often off the rails ridiculous, so... Take it with a grain of salt I guess? I dunno. I enjoyed how wierd it is.


    Back to the actual topic I wanted to speak of, as an author having a greater understanding of science in all it''s myriad facets can allow you to place more detail into your story, and even have it potentially be more physically possible.


    For example, many authors have very large world''s, now, based on science this means several things that can cause a rather large plot hole. One, if the planet is solid, and it''s obviously not a gas giant, then gravity must be far more than anticipated, many authors simply never state how large the world is, simply because making unknown continents can be time consuming on top of everything else, however, an alternative is a hollow section of planet that allows it''s overall mass to be less, thus decreasing gravity. But that brings forth new problems like how thick the crust is before this cavity, and how is the outer crust supported on this cavity? Arguably it''s a great chance at a cavern world setting, and depending on how you do it, it can be an inverted world setting as well. My thoughts on this are rather simple, if there is a cavity, and it supports tectonic plates, each plate above must be connected to a plate below by pillars, these pillars sit on a smaller plate, and act as lava tubes to allow volcanos to still exist, as well as allow earthquakes. Granted as far as I recall only GATE: AND SO THE DEFENCE FORCE FOUGHT, is a fantasy world setting that has ever had a normal earthquake. Others simply have monster caused anomalies. Which is fine to help define the strength and weight of a creature on top of setting a mood for a fight or flight scene, but it''s not usually considered as it''s a fantasy world. So somehow those things don''t exist unless a monster caused it.


    Normal ecological and natural disasters are often overlooked in fantasy worlds. If a tidal wave comes it is because some great Leviathan of the ocean surfaced. If a volcano erupts it''s because some monster through a rampage in a dormant volcano, if there is an earthquake it''s cause a sleeping behemoth awakened from a several hundred years hibernation and is hunting again. Forest fires are caused by a mage who couldn''t keep control during a fight with an ogre.


    These are all valid excuses yes, but I do believe an author should not discount normal natural disasters being a roadblock for the mc. The middle of a fight and an earthquake hits? A perfect opportunity to slay or be slain as someone loses footing. The eruption of a volcano and subsequent channeling of lava or destruction of a village is an excellent time to find specific habitat monsters. A tidal wave is a wonderful time to find treasure and also show off some sort of prowess and strength, or introduce a character who will hold great importance to plot later on.This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.


    Now, more about science in a fantasy world, some stories have the mc use chemical formula as an ability to make their magic stronger or cheaper, or even change it completely into something else simply because color association. A fire that burns in the presence of copper is green, but a green flame is known to be something that can curse, and by this world magic association, the mc can freely send this curse flame about simply because he understands how to make a green flame. Systems can often be broken by science, or in others it''s incompatible and the world rejects science, as in one story where in the Mana of an area went haywire and was harder to control because the world was on the Advent of the creation of gunpowder.


    Moving back towards world science, topography is highly important and likely very overlooked, as if you have a map of South America, I believe it''s in South America, there is a desert along a coastline to the... West of the continent, the reason why is simply how topography effects weather patterns. Most authors won''t put forth the effort to make a weather pattern for their world, and that''s fine, but at the same time, if you adapt this, and people can chart it out properly, it can easily be used in something like dnd and have a far more accurate system where in things can be properly planned for. In the same way, if you put forth the effort for this in your world, suddenly you are simply moving characters around the world, and the setting creates itself. The desert by the coast in South America, to finish that statement, is caused by a mountain range just to the east which causes clouds to go higher in the atmosphere, which is colder, which makes them condense, which causes all the rain to fall on the Eastward side of the mountain, the winds continue west, but it holds no moisture for the westward side.


    Now, to combat this it is possibly to have things called mountain valley microclimates, in the world there are places with staggeringly different climates than an area about 30 miles distant, I know, I''m showing my nationality, whatever, and this is caused by the surrounding topography blocking certain weather anomalies from reaching this area, and allowing others to pass through, much like how in a dungeon you can go from a frozen tiaga, to a volcanic wasteland. It''s similar in a sense to that, but it''s not caused by magic. Using this to create a framework for your world means you just need to plug in the data. But it also means lots of effort. You also lose the ability to change the weather on a dime and make a perfect setting for two characters huddling in a cave during a sudden monsoon. But hey, that''s what monsters and magic is for! Who needs the weather magician on friendliest when you walk into a hydrosuarus Rex territory and it takes a nap just close enough to flood your hunting grounds for a week?


    Moving back towards planetary scale stuff, a big planet DOES mean lots of room to explore and make a world and politics and all that plot nonsense. But sometimes you need to think outside the box, if you wanna push, then don''t shove like you want to move your dresser two inches to the right for your Feng shui, hulk that bitch and shove that dresser like you want your room on Jupiter. What I mean is, look at fantasy stories all over and absorb some ideas. Mix your science with fantasy.


    For an example let''s look at the long on hiatus for legal reasons Log Horizon, I truly enjoyed the open ended features of the system there, and if you go through, at one point you will notice Crafters are using a fire creature to heat up a boiler for a steam engine.


    That''s a wonderful mixture of magic and machine. Golems are always nice, but why can''t we make a Boeing 747 using materials like the feathers of a roc, and the ability to produce air streams of magical enchantments?


    Another thing never truly looked at is the ocean. I get it, fire doesn''t burn under water. But what if you can make it do so? Water is hydrogen and oxygen, and fire burns hydrogen for fuel in the presence of oxygen, you make a bubble, you set a fire, boom. Suddenly exploring the Marianas trench isn''t so difficult. However, the alternative is you just mcguffin it and say magic is the answer. It''s a flame made of water. Effectively it''s just flash boiling water in the shape of a flame. While underwater. There aren''t really any water world fantasy stories. Granted shit gets scary in the ocean what with goblin sharks, angler fish, and every other bugaboo that lives well beyond the reaches of light. I mean shit, if I was that ugly I''d not want to be seen either.


    Alternatives to that, and more towards the monster fueled steam engine, space, not like emerilia, I mean using hocus pocus to make a rocket. Why has no one done that? Who says elves and dwarves weren''t from another planet? Why do the God''s put them all on one planet? Why is there not a grander scale of magic? The possibilities of fantasy are as endless as the imagination, and it''s important to remember that.


    As an author knowledge is your strength, the pen is your sword, be the spell blade and enchant some readers with a whole new world they never expected to see. Just give it your all, who knows, you may enchant yourself with your newfound world. :3

 How holy art thou author-sama!?

    The point of this chapter is to focus on the authors of the story, not simply their world. Where does the author fit? What is the author to everything?


    Let me bring to you a word that I believe perfectly encapsulates everything that is an authors job.


    ?dem¨¥??rj/


    noun


    <ol class="lr_dct_sf_sens">


    <li>


    <div>


    <div>


    <ul>


    <li class="vmod">


    </li>


    </ul>


    </li>


    </ol>


    The demiurge. This is in essence what an author is. Whether their story is about a single continent, a whole world, or even a multiverse, they are, in essence, The Creator of this realm in which they write.


    As an author, through the keystrokes upon the computer, the taps and clicks and edits, they form, reform, and mould a world to their whims. They create gods and goddesses, demons, humans, any race they can think of, all with but a mere thought. What makes an author powerful within their books is that ultimately, what they say goes. Sometimes it''s a tragedy, sometimes it''s a joy, sometimes it''s bob got drunk at the tavern again and his wife Suzy is already on her way with the sword from above the fireplace mantle and Joe the barkeep understands he and every other patron still awake need to make themselves scarce.


    But this is the essence of being an author. I mean, if you wanna take this to a spiritual level, and maybe even make this meta, what if god were an author? My only question is who is the mc? And why the HELL did you make this place so boring?Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.


    Then again what''s to say the books we write aren''t an actual existence within the multiverse? And some elf is sitting down at his desk, a candle flickers next to the window as he boots ink and writes about how some human is going about his day job, doing audits, typing on this thing he calls a "computer" and hating his boss who under appreciated him.


    This is all a fictional moment I''m not an office worker.


    With the multiverse theory nothing says that these situations aren''t true. People assume... Well.. I assume people assume, that the multiverse theory pertains to our world, and they are right, but only our world. They never consider that something happened differently and suddenly magic is faffing it''s way through the air, cavemen didn''t rub sticks together, there was simply a cold winter night, one guy farted, another wanted to be warm, and boom, suddenly there was fire. And also caveman Joseph had his loincloth burning. But they were warm that night. And every night after when he got a club set on fire and his loincloth got put out by his panicked flopping on the ground.


    Point being, there is an infinite number of possibilities, and each of them says one thing... There is a 100% chance that thing happened. A 100% chance EVERYTHING happened.


    Some guy named bill stepped in a puddle, and in another he got married that day instead, and in another he was a grand wizard who sneezed and blew up the really expensive and really nice portrait he had of his half orc wife and he is likely to be scolded by his dwarven secretary. And in yet another bill was a caterpillar in a cocoon that day. And in yet another earth was attacked by giant spiders and bill is now digesting in a cocoon of spider silk. Gg spider world bill, we knew ye not.


    And even as I have said this... These are all potentially real somewhere. And we either got really lucky or the really shit end of the stick that everything is... Relatively boring on our earth. Who knows maybe our universe is getting magic in five years when something in space explodes just right. I hope so. I wanna break physics with a new particle.


    But just remember, even your head canon technically happened somewhere. Authors may have power, but as readers we too are demiurges, we just peer into the universe of another. :3

 Why I dont make an ACTUAL story

    This being a bit of a continuation of the previous chapter in a sense, being an author to me means notes. You want to make sure you didn''t fuck something up. Make sure this person continues to have these personality traits and this appearance... God that moment you misname a character and their actions are those of another and it''s like they have mood swings all because you screwed up their name. Bah. Been there, fucked that up.


    Anyway, personally I kind of feel that for ME to be a good author, I need to take notes. And if I were to do a litrpg... My God I''d need folders of folders of shit. Keeping track of characters is very important for an author, and if you get several chapters in, and somehow have like ten or more active characters it becomes more dialogue than action, and that can help if nothing is going on, but you also need to make sure to not get people confused, but also need to remember to interrupt with action as and when necessary.


    With how it relates to the last chapter, I feel like setting up the world is important. To have a decent framework means you can reference your own material and set up how it''s supposed to go. Granted sometimes when you make a character, and you want them to make a certain choice... It doesn''t happen. You wrote the character and their personality clashes so hard with the option in front that before you know it you''re wrote them being true to themselves, even if it''s not the optimum solution you may think it could have been. It''s strange when it happens, and not everyone who has wrote something will know what I''m talking about. But there may come a point when you start to hmmmmm and hawwww because that''s not what they would do and you know it.This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.


    To me, understanding the world and how it works is rather important to making a coherent world that has a decent grasp of physics and can turn them on it''s head to make rather interesting and amazing new concepts for fantasy. But it all needs to be comprehensible and be able to mesh well. I suppose this chapter will be a bit short in comparison to all the others. I''ll admit I''m rather distracted by my attempt at background noise, but next chapter shall be about note taking and what I believe is the best option for a litrpg

 The importance of notes

    As a reader, and someone who made like... A 50 chapter fanfiction that never needs to be known exists or how to find it, (we all have a point in life where hormones make us do or say or write stupid things. Let''s not drag it out) I have learned some things that I wish to bring to light in an effort to help make a better story in general for authors to write and readers to, well... Read. To that point, let''s get started.


    I''d like to say that, in a strange sense, writing a book needs to be meta. What I mean by that is, writing book starts by writing a book. I know, it sounds redundant, ridiculous, and frankly a bit stupid, but let me explain.


    You see, a book is more than the plot, it''s the characters, it''s the world, it''s personalities, and events, it''s so so much effort, it''s like building a Jenga tower, but the blocks are hand carved. Each time you make it higher using an old block shape, you need to keep it the same shape, refine it, make sure it matches or that the blocks around it are good enough to cause it to change shape. If you suddenly use a different block by accident because you mislabeled things in your head, suddenly the Jenga tower collapses in a weird space and you have to figure out why.


    I know, an abstract concept for something relatively straightforward, bear with me I do this shit.


    So, what I mean by write a book to write a book, first, you need a world, if you can write the details for the topographical locations, that''s a good start, you make your areas, you give them descriptions, what you are making isn''t a story, it''s a self reference guide for your story. It''s a device that let''s you know where everything is. To put it into proper terms, you combined an atlas, with local tourist guides of each location, threw in a beastiary, and wrapped it up with every newspaper talking about current news of the area, and a crafting guide complete with a resource guide.


    Basically you are making a primarily guide for a game in a sense.


    Now, let''s move forward as to WHY you want to make this behemoth that is the "dummies guide to my world", that''s actually quite simple. It''s so you can keep your own facts straight. Nothing can ruin a book like getting your own information wrong. A typo here or there, yeah that can be annoying, but if you read enough books you see it still happens. I dunno if nobody paid for someone to read it over and check for that, or there is no editor or what, but typos are small beans compared to the mountain in chapter 3 suddenly being moved across the plains of halandaise and somehow being replaced by an ocean, unless you have a magic space warping creature that fucks with the topography every now and then, but that''s an idea I''m not sure even I would touch to be honest. A book survives on it''s readers, readers are fans, and having concrete moments and places in your story can give rise to some amazing shit like fanart. Sometimes it means you might be able to use funds from the book to get a good artist who is a fan, to read through and draw and color some of these moments, immortalize that scene where Sir Alfandregal tripped over his pet shadow tiger''s tail, and managed to stab his spear straight into the throat of the wimblejangle bubble breather. Who knows. You fucking describe a creature well enough and that shit flies off the page for you.


    Getting back on topic, once you make this reference guide... Then you need to add the "Appendix Of Important People And Shit" and this is where you keep traits and short histories of the various major characters and shit you need. Sometimes you kill a character, does this mean it''s not necessary to keep them there anymore? No, one, it''s a great way to immortalize them, two, if you fucked up somewhere in how they might act and have to rewrite shit, you have a great way of not only keeping people separate, but also knowing what is more likely.


    "Alfred McGillicuddy handigrab van woldershints- a naive young man with an unnatural level of attentiveness to his facial hair, said that sometimes he is sure his beard will warn him of dark times to come, many are unsure if he was merely eccentric, or if it was true as it seemed this unseen beard sense allowed him to somehow completely circumvent traps, whether they were physical, political, or emotional. On one occasion he halted our group before we created a hill stating, and I qoute, ''my beard tingles, much like the time before I learned of my uncle''s death at the hands of roving Naga pirate gypsies for his outstanding debt with their floating brothels and his hoard of compromising lingerie for them. How I learned of this I shall not tell, know only that over this ridge lies a death of uncomfortable magnitude, and mayhap we would be best to wait for five minutes, to allow the area to air itself out.'' what we learned five minutes later, for most of us anyway, as corporeal Sean haven''t art maugerbrauden decided his words were nonsense, created the hill, while the corporeal was off losing his lunch after warning us to wait, we later found a large group of ****** that seemed to have expired whilst ********** in the middle of ******* and that somehow their matriarch horned albino ******** had somehow survived the attack of the ****** and it had something left not only a gruesome sight, but also an unbearable smell, which caused the young corporeal to be quite visibly scarred for life, and seemingly traumatized by the idea of cooked snake and baked beans. We are unsure just what he saw and smelled, but many of us see the haunted look on their faces when we near the snake filled black beans boglands and we thank Alfred for his words."The author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.


    It''s shit like this... In a less er.... Strange way, that can help keep your characters straight and true to themselves, and if you keep it updated it allows you to take their character as a whole and make the optimal choice to keep them doing what they do. Whether that means they somehow do a crazy man fighting cultists for his "wee little men" that they stole from his lawn, or maybe a Knight errant who is off to slay a dragon. Keeping tabs on your characters and possibly even having accurate tabs on the wider world you have made allows you to set in motions certain things from the shadows. On top of all of this, by keeping a good record of the world allows you to possibly even start multiple intertwining series within the same world that interact tangentially by pushing an action in a new direction, allowing you to do crazy things with multiple characters and stories and possibly even having a self works crossing. Like how toriko and one piece had a crossover. It would be like having two fire emblem games in the same world and era and you can swap party members for one chapter or another.


    And depending on what genre you write, it can be easier or harder, for a standard fantasy, I highly suggest using a word document but printing it out, so you have a hard copy in the event of a worst case scenario, although paper and pen can be nice too and add a little bit of a home touch to it. On top of all of this, it could end up being like the hysrule historia Loz, a guide to help make sense of everything that happens in a story. Much like how Narnia had their giant book of everything and a timeline. That''s just good note taking.


    In the event of a litrpg, I highly suggest an Excel spreadsheet sheet on top of it, using Excel means you can make a stat page, and then have your work done for you in a lot of ways by using various equations that reference other stats and cells within the spread sheet. You need to do a little learning to get the hang of it, and sometimes certain things will have a value added ability that can toss in errant numbers, but if you do it right, and you keep it up to date chapter by chapter, you have the ability to keep stats accurate on a mathematical level. On top of that, you can take the original spreadsheet, and copy it to another page in the Excel document every chapter, that way if you absolutely HAVE to go back and fix something, you have period accurate data of the character to help you fix any errors you may have made. As opposed to wondering how many skill levels he increased between this or that chapter and what that means for the story and logic in built by your efforts.


    For anything else... Well... The basic reference book is enough for most stories. Although if you wanted you could divide it up. If you have artistic talent I would highly suggest drawing many of the assets yourself. Maps, diagrams of buildings, town architecture, characters, whatever. If you can make a portfolio of all of this, it can be a side book for the series. Who knows. A little bit of lore can often be quite nice when the world is well made.


    Remember, chaos is not your friend, and going back to fix these things when your mind is a tangle can sometimes be the death knell for a story. The first and final nail in the coffin when you have some seventeen active characters to keep track of.


    So it may be a bit extra work, but it''s often worth it as it makes a more complete and better story. :3

 The basis and basics of understanding a system

    The basis and basics of understanding a system, well, to truly be able to explain this I need to give some information of what sparked it. In previous chapters I have mentioned the underlying mechanics of other systems and how sheer creativity can often be easier them. This is a true statement, but is also an incomplete statement. I also said that studying a system gives you a better ability to break it. This is also true. But now we must consider the system and how it works.


    What is the basis of most systems? That it is commemorative of videogame status screens? That it''s some quasiphysical construct that shows our physical, mental, and emotional aptitude and limits in numbers?


    Not really no. Until now, or possibly even World Keeper, most litrpgs status screens systems have given information... In text. It''s communication. Communication is the basis of the system. In some stories this is forgotten, in others it''s the framework. In one story a creature gained the system, but because it could not read, the system message requiring a boolian response never went away until the creature found out what it meant to accept. Upon realizing this, it was able to clear away the box, letting it continue it''s life. In world keeper, writing was not invented before the system came to be and quest scrolls became a thing. But they did have verbal communication. This verbal communication allows the system granted by the keeper to hold information, this information could not be read as no formal written language yet existed on the planet, so it took the information, and when it was queried what the quest was, it responded in the form of psychic channelling of the information held within, often, I think, with the voice of the quest giver.


    Now, what does it mean that the system is based on communication? To understand the system of randidly ghosthound, we must delve into what communication means. However...


    Before we continue, I wish to state that there is no response or inside knowledge that has given me this information, or confirmed it''s validity, and as such it is deemed a theory, and more importantly... My headcanon.


    Let''s continue. Communication in the days of the Egyptians was done with heiroglyphics. These images portrayed a meaning between those who understood. Far before that was cavemen paintings of what typically was quite easily recognized landmarks, creatures, and plants. This too was a form of communication just as much as grunting was. As such, communication is not limited to words.


    Moving back towards the RG system, my theory starts with the hints dropped during the spearman tournament arc, where in level was not important to tell how proficient one is. Instead it was the visualization of an ''''magr'' this image through aether gained power in the physical world.


    Moving down the timeline, when the level 50 cap was reached, or even just during his dealings with aether it was understood that images and meaning color and reinforce the aether held by a person that makes up their class.This novel''s true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there.


    Further on after that was the creation of randidly''s class. This is also an important point as randidly''s class started as being nothing but code from Lucretia and his new bone wyrm, it was utilizing communication via text, to a system that converts to text on it''s own, and has a universal translator which has a predispotion towards one method of communication over others. This caused the ball of woven aether to be useless as the class randidly ENVISIONED was too powerful for such a low amount of aether bandwidth. Thus it unraveled it, consumed it, and the system turned the image into a class all on it''s own.


    But even then I did not yet figure out the basis of what could break the ghosthound system.


    Until the newest arc and most recently chapter 489. The new mc of this arc is a cowboy, and in his zone people were separated into different tiers by an ai, that was so human that it was given access to the system as well. I think, a class is never truly stated for the ai, but that was the goal envisioned by the scientist who made him. And we get backstory, on the mc, the ai, and why the cowboy was given such a high status for a class that previously was, by the logic and reasoning held by the tests done in donnyton, "gunslinger" would be rather weak, if full of options. But the ai, named "ghost" gave one response.


    Before we get to that, we need to summarize the backstory of the mc. As he was growing up, he was taught many things by a hard handed father, and idolized characters like John Wayne. In other words, his entire youth was spent dreaming of being "THE COWBOY" not just any cowboy, not some ranch hand, not some horse rider, no, he was a stand up for justice, quick draw sheriff, chug a sarsparilla and gun down five wanted bandits, and then ride out of town like a badass, punch some teeth out cowboy.


    Now, ghosts response to why he thought so highly of the mc and his class was this, "of course your class would be stronger, others have ideas on the moment, but you''ve been dreaming of being a cowboy your whole life."


    What does this mean? I shall restate, that this is only my theory, but in the RG system, image is king. To dream is to be, but the more time, effort, and detail you put into an image, the stronger it will be, this is proven in shal''s world, but is proven by ghost to simply be the framework of how the entire system works. In other words, if the system hit today and we had unfettered access to classes, it''s not simply thinking of what would be powerful, no, it''s the one who has dreamt of being an astronaut for years and years and never gave up, it''s the one who dreamed of being an arch mage with a long flowing beard ever since he was a child, it''s the one who dreamed of saving lives and had those childhood dreams for so long they became more than the words that make up the idea. It transcended text to become image, and image gained the system to become as powerful as reality would allow. The details of dreaming for that long made a powerful image for the mc of the newest arc, and it''s what allowed me to realize the basis and how to break the system of RG.


    It all starts with skill grinding. You get the skills you want, random things for everyday life, do some paths, and each and every day, you sit, you consider, and you visualise the class you want. You think on it every day until you begin to suffer aether sickness for your strong skills, and then you go and see if it is now a class you can take. If so, boom, it''s done. It''s there, it''s powerful enough and has been waiting. If not, maybe you got a skill from it anyhow, but my money is on it becoming something class related. The alternative is it becomes a soul skill. Which with greater detail becomes ever more powerful.


    I suppose the lesson this chapter is, never stop dreaming. :3

 Inspiration and its sources

    A story is more than plot, it''s twists, turns, and ups and downs, and it''s important for an author to understand where this font of creativity stems from. We''re a man to build a fountain without regard for where the water comes from, will it flow? Not likely. He might get lucky... But each chapter is a new fountain. And if you do not understand the river from which it draws, you may end up building in the middle of a desert. Then you only have false hope.


    Now, inspiration, it is in many ways magic in and of itself. Why? Because inspiration is anything which can EVOKE something from you. Much like the Skyrim school of throwing fireballs and snowstorms, evocation is an important concept. It is what we try to do with our stories, and what we get from inspiration. Now, much like how evocation has many schools, so too does inspiration. And we shall see into them.


    The schools of inspiration is primarily divided into the five senses, and these can each have their own subclasses and specializations. You may not think taste is a great source of inspiration... But I wonder where else you could come up with shokugeki no Soma. But it''s most likely to come up with food based ideas, but it''s not like you can rule out a tasty ham sandwich with a bit of sharp cheddar suddenly gives you a new idea on the same old quill pig. I mean... In the story "no loot here, only puns" there is a CHEESE WIZARD. Explain THAT one. Or maybe you can use Rick and Morty. I''m afraid to comprehend what and why they considered pickle Rick. Or you could go for toriko. It''s a shounen jump manga that was turned into an anime adaptation. And all the monsters were basically food. Both before and after a chef got their hands on it. Strange things are inspired by the concept of taste. Possibly even the flying spaghetti monster.


    Sight is relatively straight forward. You see it, And your mind extrapolates a different idea from what you see, into what you can visualize. For example within darkest dungeon, which can be purchased on steam, just to say where it comes from, and it''s media component, has a place called the farmstead as a level to ... Well... Traverse doesn''t feel like the accurate term but it is what I will use. In it was a scarecrow afflicted with some ethereal crystal growth of some sort of become a monster that would fit in with lower Eldritch, undead, and possibly also constructs like golems and homunculi. The concept I extracted from it is turning a scarecrow into a character for use as an mc, in a similar vein as threadbare, which sadly is no longer on royal road, but happily on Amazon, and may(?) Get a sequal. I have no idea if this is true, but it certainly is my hope. But I put this scarecrow mc into a litrpg world with a system of evolution and growth more akin to oblivion online, but perhaps not in a virtual world. Maybe a threadbare world, but an oblivion online system. This allows evolution, and growth, but also mayhap it could be combined with the threadbare mutliclass system. This would provide numerous avenues of growth and the world is still free to be designed however one may wish. You could go for a reincarnation story, or maybe a good touched creation sort of system. Whatever you want. And all this stems from SEEING one monster of many from another source.The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.


    Sound... This is a bit more nebulous, but it''s hard to say that there are times when you have heard a noise but not seen it''s source and your mind has run wild. Sometimes in terror, sometimes with Glee. Whether that noise is a creepy creaking door, or perhaps music you enjoy, sound can be a great source of inspiration as it can use your mind to take the music, noises, lyrics, and turn it into an image you visual during that sound. This can be a wonderful way of refreshing yourself during your story as well. But I will admit, if you choose to listen to it on replay, you may want to get a playlist full of songs that help you in this manner.


    Touch, this one may well have much less... Overall impact, but understanding the texture of things can help in your writing, on top of that, it does much more than make your scenes more lifelike, it can give inspiration, the fur of your pet can give rise to the idea of a giant fuzzy beast! The pockmarked rough texture of stone gives rise to a large stone cog, clockwork of cavemen working to power an unknown ancient object. The smooth feel of metal can make you consider things like a golem, standing gaurd, tall, light glinting off it''s smooth round armor.


    Smell. Smell is also somewhat nebulous for some people. But to consider you can''t understand the sight evoked by the smell of manure, or the scent of roses, lavender, so many concepts await your nose to bring forth as something new, something other than perfume. A treant, a wind elemental in a garden, there are many ways to take these inspirations.


    Specializations of these can be combinations, or even taking away certain things from the concept utilized by the specialization. Things like nature. It falls under all of them, but you first think of sight, then maybe smell. Utilizing these combinations and using all five senses as and when you can in your story will give rise to not simply a world gazed through a filter, it''s a world that is now touched upon by the reader, they can see it, they can feel it, they can smell the world you''ve made. And it brings them to a whole new land of creativity. Your land of creativity.


    So it''s important to find what brings forth these images and ideas, consider them, And bring them close if you can. Use them to write your story to a whole new level. :3

 The future!

    This chapter is, as the title implies, about the future. Now, does this mean talking about sci-fi fantasy litrpgs?


    Sadly... No. I could go on and fill a couple of paragraphs with thoughts and theories about how to utilize magic in space exploration... But if you''re gonna do that you''d probably be making a vrmmo litrpg. Nothing wrong with that, but the respawn mechanic kinda takes away some of the danger that can be found in a reincarnation, or summoned hero story. Although permadeath series go quite well. In my opinion at least. It prevents marysues from taking on the surname leroy Jenkins.


    But no, this chapter is about how I''m unsure of what to do for this ''book'', there is the chance that it will continue to be about tips for various genres and about how to write. But everything leading up to this chapter quite well explains the basis of what I believe is a good foundation for being able to write, and continue doing so, how to improve your writing. One thing I have never mentioned, however, is vocabulary. Having an expansive vocabulary helps to keep your story from getting stale, not based on plot, that''s how you want it to go, but based on how you describe the action, and how the story plays out. It''s important to have a good number of pronouns at hand, but you must also remember that labeling what character does what is most important. Making a string of action verbs to describe a Jackie Chan asswhooping scene doesn''t work when somewhere in the middle they lose who Jackie Chan is. If you use the pronoun "he" for two characters without ample ability to tell who did what, suddenly you get the "good clone bad clone" moment where the sidekick Patsy has the gun and has to shoot the good or bad one. And that''s just no good for the reader to be doing this unless you absolutely want to pull of a moment where in they are unsure who is who and pull some kind of swap around for a plot twist. I would not suggest an evil twin thing though. Maybe go for a pair of twins are switching g places and get found out, go for a fake evil twin plot, then they resume things with one of them getting free and escaping after the choice is made.Love what you''re reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on.


    Kinda like that old riddle, you walk down a hallway and come to a fork with two identical statues. A sign in the middle says that one statue always tells the truth, the other always lies. And in order to figure out which one tells the truth which guards the path that leads to heaven, you may only as one question.


    The answer is obviously that you ask either statue this. "If I asked your companion statue which path to take, what would they say?" The answer is given, and you take the opposite route. The good statue will tell you the evil statue would day the route leading to hell, and the evil statue would lie about the good statue and also say the road to hell. So you go the opposite way.


    However in the case of swap twins, both ways lead to heaven, and the truth is neither statue wants to be found out that they are both telling the truth.


    But yes. If the pen is mightier than the sword, than surely the amount of words you have is how many ways you can cut with your pen. Keep your wits sharp, and your ink ever flowing. :3

 CI: inspirational elemental!

    Upon watching the 39th episode of a YouTubers DND series one chararcter had water elemental thrall, and this got me to thinking.


    What about a multi element elemental, utilizing four elements but requiring a "main" element at the start.


    For example, if you consider them as a dnd character, their race is elemental polymorphist or something. You have like... A stone golem, but their eyes are a mixture of the other three elements, water eyes, with fire sclera, air Iris, so they are burning blue eyes. And then as an ability can change between the other three elements as a free action, and this changes the eyes to be made of the other three elements. And their main body dictates the greatest number of spells of that element, and then like three minor spells of other elements. So like... Maybe there is a hell tree, and as an earthen body, can cause like... Earthquakes, but say they have an air body, at most they can cast stone fist. Something like that. The overall spells they can cast is the largest pool, but it''s lowered by the body they have. As an earthen body, they have the full earth spell pool, but only another 9 spells total if they have three accessible per alternate element.The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.


    And as an elemental morphist, they can probably take on various creature forms. This could allow things like being able to be an air elemental wolf, utilizing the air elemental to be able to differentiate between smells better as an air elemental, using a wolven form to boost certain abilities. I suppose the story could somehow gain them more elements to increase their rather... Jack of all elements abilities. I suppose it would be like the protagonist from Forging his own way, but instead of being a chimera, he''s an elemental.


    Personalities could be their own concept for characters, as sometimes mixing and matching races and personas can alter abilities as choices vary widely between personalities. The plot is an important point but also is a separate point that could be made.

 Into the Abyss!

    This chapter is inspired by... The concept of justice, but also of what constitutes justice, and what is true vengeance and many other things that are conceptual and if I ever delved to deeply into, would likely have me talking to several psychiatrists. But I never use it because of a fundamental ideology of my own person. "It''s not what a person says or thinks that makes them good or bad, it''s what they do." In other words, actions speak louder than words.


    Now. With the actions happening within the 25th chapter sparking a fire of indignation, hatred, and retribution within me, I''ve created a concept within the said chapters comments for a goddess backed dungeon. But I also had a second idea, which spawned from it.


    You see, in long ago days there was a book, this book was considered terrifying, nightmare causing, it was an epitome of the description of terror. And no it''s not the necronomicon.


    I speak of... DANTE''S INFERNO. this book spoke of hell hell being separated into 9 rings, for various sins, crimes, and punishments. And apparently either the original or a reprint at a later date, utilized the description held within this tome of fear to now include images and portaiture depicting the punishments held within each and every ring of hell.


    So I thought... What if you made it a dungeon? What if you took the concept of a 9 area prison for They Who Hath Committed Grievous Err? And so I''ve gained my inspiration.


    With the dungeon being named the 9 Circles of Hell, it needs 9 of something. 9 floors? Oh no... No that''s to easy.


    It gets 9 layers. Each layer can have several floors. But as the entrance of this dungeon is via teleport, you start at the bottom, and you climb your way up through hell to try and escape. Obviously the bottom floor is the easiest. The end has the greatest treasure you could want after getting out. Freedom.


    The bottom floor is the largest, and the entire dungeon would have an inverted circular step pyramid cavern, leading to this tiny little spot in the cieling from so far below, letting you always see sunlight, always see the exit. But it would have antiflighy enchantments, and various ranged enemies everywhere. There is no winged angel escape from the 9 rings. Oh no.


    The first layer is the largest, a normal, stone cavernous like area. Middling enemies, but so many debuffers. Poison, fire, dot is the name of the game in this hellhole. The way up is through tunnels in the walls, it leads you higher to small caverns, and hanging islands in the hells... And each layer shall be worse, and have a gimmick. The second layer immediately cranks it up to 11 as it sends hordes of weaker enemis in tight enclosed spaces. Fighting over the first layer on stone bridges, some that crumple under your feet, with enemies that can fly in the dungeon, climb across all surfaces, and can fire from range. Imps and hellwraiths, spawns of hatred.... Maybe even toss in a shoggoth. Just to be really mean.


    The third layer starts having islands, smaller ones supported by bridges, some hanging from the cieling with stalagtite pillars, some from other islands with pillars. Some breakable, some half scaleable, some smooth and slippery. The fourth layer the islands are held by chains, giant swinging chains from the cieling, where massive onis and ogres are fused into the walls, holding chains that seem to come out of their chests, their eyes following the creatures below them, shaking these chains and swaying the chain birdges that creatures and criminals must cross, never having stable footing, sometimes raising and suddenly dropping islands. The more irritable and angry spit fireballs upon islands, splashing pools of lava about, melting stone, heating chains and making everything hot as hell should be.The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.


    The sixth layer cross crosses between being as hot and unbearable as the fith layer, and being as cold and freezing as the seventh. Caught between the war for supremacy between firespitting flame breathing ogres and onis, and ice wielding Giants, blizzard blowing atronachs, frozen to the cieling higher up, and in the very islands themselves. Crossing between bridges of chain, or bridges of rope, swaying at the mercy of the powerful oni, or the blustering blizzard of the atronauchs. This layer is a testament to the criminals who have passed this challenge.


    The seventh layer is an icy hellscape, a sheet of ice clear as crystal covers the entire area, with islands frozen in various spots within, equal, above, or below the ice sheet line, swift frozen tundra hunters cross this slick surface with claws of ice, never leaving a scratch to Mar the surface, as the ice Giants wield icy spears, and sometimes chucking glacial hammers, shattering the sheet when they see fools crossing their path, large semi frozen ropes come from wounds held within their chest, showing to those who gaze into the ice behind them massive harpoons that just into the ice and rock.  Breaking the ice sheet reveals a new platforming hell of slippery unbalanced rope supported sheets, some with bridged that had been frozen within coming to use, or finding they broke, brittle with age in their icy slumber.


    The eighth floor is darkness, the light of the escape so close only able to be seen, above and below you see the seventh and ninth layers, even down to the first layer... But the eigthe layer is naught but a ring of shade, shadow abounds and within it you hear whispers, bump into objects that when you reach for, are not there, hunted by what can only be known as an amalgamation of eyes, glowing golden eyes in the dark, sometimes at a distance, sometimes it''s upon you before you can realize. The only true descriptor of the eighth floor is it is blindness, but hearing screams... Always screams. From near and far, and the end comes when you run into something... And you turn and see a giant yellow eye... And then a grizzly mas full of gore. How one escapes is said to be luck or skill, those who have passed never speak of it, never say how they got through, never speak of what they sensed within that shadowy hell where you can''t even be certain you have your limbs, for it feels like the shadow saps all sense of feeling but the feeling of rough hewn boards beneath your feet, some say stone, others say it''s the ice again, some say burning hot coals... None can ever truly agree on what it was they felt. But those that can Peirce the gloom, never speak of what they SAW.


    The ninth floor is a spiral leading inwards, a gauntlet... But for the mind as much as the body, because as they go up the nine rings, it is ever visible, even from the bottom, even if it makes no sense how they should see through the eighth floor... But once inside... They say it comes alive, no one ever sees it move from below... Never wary of the trap that it is, how the walls move, how things change, and how you may walk in circles and never realize the truth. But once you reach the center, bloody, battered, broken and insnane, gibbering about the whispers of the walls, the eyes you see from around the corners, the traps, the blood, and somehow the lack of danger until you put your guard down. You don''t walk out of there. You crawl, you drag yourself into the center, you are then given a choice of sacrifice. End your life and allow an innocent creature to go free, or slay the beast by dropping it into the bottom of the nine rings and gain your freedom. They who give in to temptation, find themselves to be slain before they ever realize. Those who give up on life find it handed to them and they escape, to find soldiers guarding the area. But if you have made it out alive... You are allowed to go free. But of the teens who escaped of millions over the millennia, only one ever walked away without a word. The rest begged forgiveness, asking for repent, demanding a chance to right their wrongs.


    This... IS THE NINE RINGS DUNGEON PRISON.

 Inspiration 2: parallax universe

    As I have said, ideas can appear from anywhere. Sadly it can also be about anything. And it doesn''t always work well for a story. In this case I was browsing a webcomic app and barely got into the first sentence of the synopsis and it said "in the city of galleries" or something and then my brain immediately popped out a new idea.


    I imagined a world that was like a cross of the concept of a link between world''s 2-d portait, paper Mario, and a pop-up book kinda thing. I suppose that a book of a pop-up world wouldn''t relalydo well as an adult book, or as a kids book. One takes too much material, the other becomes too... It''s like imagining the entire lord of the rings trilogy being turned into a pop up book. Not exactly kid friendly, or mature enough for adults. Hard to say. So ultimately, to have a long story in such a world... Makes it better to be a videogame. I mean... Like I said. Link between world''s and paper Mario.


    If one were to do something like that... Well... It would be very difficult, considering you have to place the entire book in a 90¡ã third person perspective, and then if you made it 2.5d then it has multiple layers. Ultimately it takes a lot of description and setting down rules of in order to make it easier. But it would be... Interesting.


    Considering a world where the surfaces of the surroundings dictate so much about your reality would be very interesting. Maps would be so simple... And yet it would so perfectly and accurately describes the entire world in which it sits. Imagine having a scale model of the earth that you can rotate and it would show cities and roads and all the topographical parts. That''s what it''s like for a paper mario-esque world, the difference being they could build that accurate map with our current technology level. We somehow need to get a lot more detailed technology. Oh well.The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.


    Parallax, for those who don''t know, is a term that refers to multiple 2 dimensional layers that, in the attempt to recreate dimension of depth, it has these layers that move at different speeds. Like when you are riding in a car on a high road that shows you several hills, the nearest items move quickly, but the ones farther out on the next mountain, all move slower in your view. And the big mountain at the very end moves not at all, it acts as a backdrop in your vision to all the others.


    Now, converting this to a world... It''s easy to imagine for me... To describe... Good Lord no. The more layers means the thicker the local area. A plain may have five layers of nothing but grass of varying colors of wavy gold. But a forest will have like seven layers of different types of trees, and then a city may have like three to five layers, or, could go all the way up to ten layers. With the farthest layer being either the exterior wall of town, or the interior Manor of whatever is at the center. A church, a nobles house, a market, a castle, a barracks. Whatever. This ''central'' parallax, in a story, would then need to depict a place of importance. Because it''s a town mostly. But other places can be used for that too. A difficult thing to do truly. Maybe it can be like a Picasso painting overlay for a chapter where a character is sucked into a slightly ruined book or something. Ideas like these function better with visual material. Unfortunately. Because it IS an interesting concept to be certain. After all.. a 2d creature that has turned sideways is invisible for all intents and purposes, especially in a 2d world where all creatures have an external perspective.


    Considering perspective in a book is very important. It''s good to keep these in mind as an author. :3

 Sometimes we have control... Not often.

    In a previous chapter I once stated authors are like gods, or demiurges.


    I retract my statement. Cause it''s either that there are more types of authors than omniscient, omnipotent beings.


    How do I know? I started a different book up. But like any time I try to make a story with a plot, the damn thing never does what I want. Its like i made a server and coded up a game in an instant and it immediately says, "world''s done, you can''t be player. Stop trying." It''s a strange thing that I''m not sure can be understood without having experienced it.


    Like one story I made a while ago I wanted the characters to do a specific thing. They never got around to it and it eventually was a shelved idea because I''m one of those Frankenstein doctors, you make a wonderful creation that you think is beautiful and wonderful, and then it betrays you, ignores you, or stabs you in the back. Another story I made i got to a moment where a choice was to be made, and I wanted the dark choice, it was supposed to be a pivotal moment, lots of character development, a bunch of self introspection, problems would arise, challenges would need be overcome! And then the fucking character decided... NO. I tried so hard to write the scene but it felt so wrong, so out of place, so vehemently not them despite how any other person may react to the moment... That I had little choice but to go along with a fictional characters pre-existing traits and whims.


    We maucreate the world. We may even suddenly add a new feature, or a sofa, or something ridiculous like a seven wings oroborous so with only left wings so it flies by biting it''s tail and frisby-ing across the world like a ufo from heaven.This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.


    But make the choice to have the naive goody two shoes stab an enemy to stop him from coming back for revenge? Yeah apparently THATS the impossible thing. Writing stuff doesn''t always make sense. And at best you may be like me, a mildly telepathic ghost peering into another world. Somehow you can move shit with your ghosty powers, but you can try all you want and scream your lungs out, but those characters are never gonna hear you, never going to do what you want, and especially never in the time you want it to be. Its like herding cats. It''s just not gonna happen.


    Being an author is like rolling a d100 at times, for those who play DND. For those who don''t... Imagine a random number generator for 1-100. Don''t look at me like that. Not everyone is a glorious nerd and understands a d20 or a d100. I''m not entirely sure how they found this. I''d say this is a pretty nerdy form of literature. But that''s just me.


    For me, I like to think that there are many sources of things like "writer''s block" and sometimes it''s that you lose interest, sometimes it''s being unsure of where to go next, and sometimes the characters just seem to lose all want to do the heroic and epic actions they did. And as an author, one should likely take this into account. Too much action? Let them take a break. A week of being lulled and charmed into staying at an in that''s haunted by deadly creatures. And you just make sure they keep being near misses until, "oh man, what a great rest that was. I feel like I was supposed to be doing some- WE GOTTA FIGHT THE DEMON LORD!?" *Draw sword, shatter illusion, find out the proprietess is a demon, slay demon, rush across the map* you get a little bit of variety, humor, and tension. And it hopefully gives you a bit of a break from the arc you were writing.


    Taking a break doesn''t need to mean stop writing, if that''s what you don''t want, it could just mean the arc needs to pause and take a step back, recenter things. But it''s up to the author. But hopefully you never lose the enjoyment you get from being a god... Or being a ghost. :3

 The problems and benefits of the deeps

    What are the Deeps?


    I have two answers for this. The Deep Sea, and Deep Space.


    You see, these two environements are simultaneously very alike and very different. Both have a pretty inhospitable set of circumstances, crushing pressure, or a lack of pressure period. This is two very opposing corcumstances that ultimately under standard physics leads to the same thing. A painful if possibly quick, death for most creature portrayed in a protagonist way.


    Other things in common can be just how unknown and mysterious they are. There is potential in the reaches of space for alien life. And we know so little about our own depths of the oceans that for all we know, this too is the truth.


    But that''s the glory of using them in a story. You have so much potential. The Genesis of the world! I wonder how many of you have heard, played, or watched an lp of Soma, it was a very interesting horror game. And it took place deep under the ocean. But that''s not important that it was a horror. Or even anything about the mc. Although that was a twist and a half.


    Moving on, you have so much capability with an understanding setting. You have verticality, and floating things. Like... Oh let''s go crazy and build a town around a mine. Just a floating mine set deep in the ocean, just on the edge of where the phototropic layer ends. And all these little sea creatures have gained sentience after a nuclear war has wiped out humanity. And so they grow scaffolding from coral, and many of the creatures that can''t outright swim climb the bouyancy chain, which has been set with a pathway. The irradiation of the ocean causing a bloom of evolution into intelligent life. Even if some of it is horribly mutated closer to land.


    Think... James and the giant peach, and you''ve got a pretty good idea. And that''s just a hub. One single hub. Maybe the turtles mutated to be larger, and while some are intelligent, some few specific species... Like maybe box turtles, others are not. It made them live longer, and slowly their population may grow, and others become transient towns. With amphibian dwellers that live upon them in towns along the front edge. Turtles gotta turt and lay eggs too. But these turtles are so massive, even that front crescent of town is enough for many denizens. And they have little floating towns that get harnessed to the turtles and they drag them back under the waves when breeding season is done. The currents of the world we''re shifted and now all the seven seas have cyclic currents and offshoots to one another, creating a giant oceanic highway, full of these town turtles and their cargo. A fleet of houses where deep sea denizens congregate and communicate, a hub of news and trade. Stories untold of the lands now assumed dead, of the deeper seas and their own residents.Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website.


    And yet who is the hero of this? Who is the wanderer who shows the wonders of this world? Why, it''s none other than a mutant variation. Kin to the shrimp that can close it''s claws to superheat water. But four armed, with tiny triple claws that allow for better grasping. A bit of bioluminescence, and a working oceanic degree in coral growth control.


    But onwards, to outer space!


    For what do we behold in space? Emptiness, millions of light years of asteroids, planetoids, stars, comets, and debri. Possible alien life forms, colonies of large or small beings, dominating a solar system. Traveling the stars, surviving the oxygenless depths of space, WHOLE NEW SPECIES OF LIFEFORMS THAT AREN''T CARBON BASED!? an entire planet, in a slightly warmer orbit of a blue star, the entire planet is covered in sand, and growing from this silicon soil is a crystalline flower, as the sun sets and rises it shifts through out the day, growing taller, feeding on veins of magma that run just below the soil, drawing in raw silicon and nutrients of the planet. Fields of these silicon flowers bloomed across the surface, gently swaying in the sand laden winds.


    A rock stag, like a deer covered in igneous plate armor, slowly making it''s way through the field, munching on flowers, the sound of grinding stone and crushed glass echoing across the glade, trees with slowly pulsating veins of lava running up their trunk, little balls of rock clinging to their Stony bark, chittering as they scampered up and down the tree in search of the heat proof insects that plagued the trees, scaly little insects, colder blooded by biology, burrowing into veins and killing the tree for the sake of warmth, eating away at the brittle tree that remains after death. An entire ecosystem based on the heat of the core, the radiation of the star, the very materials upon which the planet was based.


    Space is full of adventure, just as much as the sea is of rain. And attached it needs is an author to show off that one story to bring the environment to life. :3

 i wanted a magician who is well aware of his abilities, so... here

    Samuel was considered a young master of magic, not spell casting, the old style of magic, and a little bit of the new stuff too, what with the portal spewing magic into the world when he was growing up, but hey, nothing is perfect. What this all meant however, was that ever since he was young he had loved the classic masters of sleight of hand, of misdirection, of mystery, such as Harry Houdini, and the like. The real question was what does that have to do with a young twenty something man with close shaved hair on the sides with a more... spiky, shall we say, hairstyle on top, it wasn''t spiky in the way of anime, hair gel, or anything of the kind. no... his hair was just kinda short cut so it naturally stood up a bit, the kind that was often rubbed until it looked like he lost a fight with a rag on the end of an eggbeater, or noogied by an uncle seven thousand times too many. Yes, this was the young man who was stood in a magicians outfit, trim build, hiding his muscles because he still helped haul all the random crap he needed for a magic show even as he was considered some young and up and coming magician who should be in Las Vegas...


    No, he was not in Las Vegas right now, oh heavens no, he might actually be SAFE if he were in Las Vegas. instead he was stuck back stage, in some fifty year old theatre, tables and storage containers stuffed up as a barricade against the doors as thumping and growling could be heard from the otherside, as some two hundred people were milling about in the audience worrying about goblins, orcs, wolves, wargs, weavers, whiners. zombies, vampires, or whatever else their far too active imagination was considering could be amassed outside the bloody theatre. What was ACTUALLY outside of the theatre was a small hoard of random beastial monsters. Giant Ants, massive Beetles, various insects of a disproportionate size really. Honestly most people complained heavily about how unfair it was that a massive seven foot tall common garden variety ant was NOT crushed under the weight of its own carapace, but sometimes we don''t always get what we want, and physics majors everywhere could bitch and whine to entymologists and such all they wanted while the latter dissected a massive bug too large for their little pin boards.


    These thoughts and many more flew behind the eyes of our... hero is too optimistic a word, but sure. lets call him a "hero" for now.


    ...


    ...


    ...


    Done calling him a hero? good, cause our magician was known as Samuel, how did you forget? Sammy who hated to be called Sammy, or Samson to his friends when they wanted to annoy him, was currently sitting on a large footboard storage chest, sure it was large enough to hide a body, but it was just a big prop chest, and watching as a fat man in a blue shirt who looked like he was three degrees off from Danny Devito argued with someone else. it was like saying he was not quite as short as Danny, and nowhere near as handsome or charismatic, Gods only knew this manager of the theatre needed to work on his people skills, because he did NOT have the face for showbiz like some people. Meanwhile, as this short goblin of a man, and no he was NOT an actual goblin, kept arguing with a much taller, much slimmer, business woman that Samuel would rather dive off the roof of a building than actually claim to know in any capacity, much less as his manager of shows Salina, Samuel wondered if he kept getting gigs at this place purely because the man was so short, he literally did not get a choice in staring at her boobs, held tight by her blouse and suitcoat, as he ''looked her in the eyes''.


    Actually tuning in for five seconds let him realize they were discussing how to face the monsters outside, and that HE was the center of their topic.


    "Woah, woah, woah, I''m a magician, as in ''look at this hand, the card was in the other!'', not ''bing, bang, boom, i got a fireball of doom'', magician. why was i brought into this nonsense anyways? i only know prestidigitation, which... i typically use to be lazy at home." Samuel said as they both stared at him like he was both an idiot, but also an idiot with the deus ex machina stuck in his back pocket. Actually, just to be sure, he checked his back pocket, and only found his phone. Which, in this situation was useless. the manager had already called the police about this and a leveling team was on their way shortly anyway. To be fair, he probably should do something. He needed more levels and skills anyway.


    Jerking back to the present, man his attention was shit, he did it again! Always off topic.


    "Samuel, we know you have more than one skill. not everyone can just power level the skill set of something ancillary like ''physical magician'' and not get some bonuses. grab your ''wand'' make it a big spear, shut up Louie, that was not an in for a dick joke, we have bugs to squish!" Salina was mildly fuming as the manager held up his hands as if he was accused of his most detestable of wrongs, which... knowing Louie, may well be something like paying for a meal instead of scamming it out of someone. a notorious cheapskate, buuuuuut, he did pay me regularly, and fairly... though most of the time that was because of Salina. Honestly when he looked offended, he not only acted like, but also looked like he was related to Ebeneezer Scrooge.


    I needed to stop getting off track, and Salina made a good point. I could always do a bit more spear practice, though to be honest, insects were probably a bit beyond me, even at a lower level, those carapaces had some mean defense. The beetles were worse, because the best time to hit them was when they were about to fly, so you had to get behind them, and they rarely let anything intentionally get behind them. meanwhile, stabbing an ant was as easy as losing an arm. Sadly thats not entirely a joke, because the best spot to stab them was between the mandibles. without a spear level in the low twenties, or a reaction speed skill to boost you, well... you''d end up like the man who stuck a sword down a spiders throat, and lost his arm. He did survive the fight, but he was very unhappy with the sudden amputation. Thankfully we have better hospitals now than before, so he got his arm back... after a year of regular healing, and large meals, followed by a couple months of physical therapy and regular excercise.


    Yeah, easy. Real easy.


    With a sigh of defeat, Samuel pulled his tophat off, and without hesitation, reached into what should have only reached his forearm, all the way up to his shoulder, reaching into his Prop Box, a variant on the Item Box skill, which, really just had the caveat that it worked better with a persons outfit, as opposed to the Item Box which just opened a hole in the air. Thankfully, no matter what was shoved towards it, into it, or pulled out, it magically made the mouth of the portal holding outfit expand for whatever was needed, and typically, was only used during the show between scenes for easy setup. It also would keep a living creature, though the larger it was, and if it was unBound, would significantly shorten any amount of time in the dimension before being spewed out, at random, from any possible seem of clothing. He learned that the hard way when he walked on stage and spewed out pidgeons and rabbits he had stored hours early out of nervousness on his first show.


    Without flourish, he pulled a small redwood wand about one foot and four inches long from his hat, with a metal cap on both ends, and one being slightly pointed, it looked nice with the polished silver tips. It was even more useful when he placed his hat back on his head, and began to pull on either end of his wand, and it stretched out into a full size spear, still capped with silver, but one end was significantly more pointy and mildly barbed than it was prior. Now properly armed, he swished his cape from his shoulders and headed to the roof. Best to take out the ones on top first so they couldn''t box in his ceiling, he could escape it yes, but why waste the stamina on an escape skill when he could brute force the beasts, as well as use other tricks for a better effect?


    As he stood behind the door, he rubbed the back of his neck as he stretched, a faint crackle and pop coming from the joints in his neck, his Audience Abounds sensory skill showed him several ants, and across the street, a few people in their offices. The way it worked was, any being within auditory range was picked up, as well as any who were, or would, be within visual range as well, powerful, but it was easily circumvented at range by simply being hidden. so the visual range portion was a bit spottier, but if they were within the area he could or would hear, say, thirty to forty feet, they were dead to rights known position.


    Taking a deep breath, he slammed the door open as his Exemplar Entrance went off. This was a bit of a mixed bag, as it worked well with Audience Abounds, so to say that, if there was an audience, and ANYONE could be an audience so long as they were present, mentally not included, he drew all attention of anyone who couldn''t make the resistance checks, but he could also tailor it with a second skill, Stage Hands, effectively this skill was a buff and shield, but since there was no other human combatants up here, and it didn''t work on anyone outside the range of thirty or forty feet anyway, the people in offices had their attention drawn not by magic, but by the magical effects secondary effect of Exemplar Entrance. That is to say, the door smashed open, and firework fountains worth of flames and sparks lit up around him, and under various insects crawling upon the roof.


    Hands in the air as if awaiting applause, spear in one hand, he performed his first trick, the simple bread and butter skill of Physical Magician... Misdirection Malediction, with a wave of his hand, the focus of numerous compound eyes made heads swivel towards a white gloved hand that suddenly held a VERY sharp edged deck of metal framed throwing cards, and as the spear wand flashed forward to the maw open in awe of the nearest giant ant, no insect even noticed as a compatriot died as the deck in hand spread out like a fan, and with a wave of his hand, cards were flung out, slicing across his rapt audience of insectile foes. Unfortunately for Samuel the Swift, there was a Beetle just climbing up the wall which screeched with an insectile hiss, and the spell was broken, along with many antennae, and one ant lay crumpled and curled up, the spark in it''s eyes gone dark.


    Frowning at the Interruption, Samuel kept flashing cards flinging across the rooftop as he began to make steady but confusing steps across the roof, his leather shoes slapping dully due to rubber soles to the staccato rhythm of his Sorcerous Stepping, less a skill, more of a technique, it threw all sorts of false signs, more misdirection across his entire body as muscles twitched and the body moved in a way that was NOT at all expected, the waving, weaving, wandering of his footsteps made ants snap at thin air as they targeted his flesh, and found nothing, not even a colored handkerchief. A self assured smile found it''s way to Samuels roguish lips, brim was pulled low as he ran out of cards, and with a single move, darted forward even as more fireworks flashy fire magic flashed and pulsed right above where he had been, leaving nothing but a burning image in the retina of anyone unlucky enough to have been facing his direction.Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more.


    As combat truly began to kick off, his upgraded skill of Phantasmagoric Phenom set a bumping beat of ''i got a feeling'' as background music, complete with ethereal lights that, while not blinding, and not even with an actual source, managed to paint the rooftop with reds, blues, greens, and every mixture there in, becoming a disctracting discoteque demolition as Samuel practically skated between ants and beetles, his spear flashing out for compound eyes, joints between the carapace, and vulnerable flesh between mandibles. His smile only grew as Side Show activated, and small explosions rocked the rooftop, singing insects, knocking others off balance, and generally creating a chaos of showmanship known by any decent magician since the Flooding. Prestidigitation on his fingertips just as much as his tophat, he began to spew out his summons of Heavenly Hares, and an entire unkindess of Razorwing Ravens.


    He reveled in the fact that by having a contract with a conspiracy, he was truly a dangerous theorist. Sadly this was not a joke enjoyed by most of his audience, though whether that was due to the pun, or because of how truly menacing his ravens seemed, he was never sure, after all, he thought they looked lovely, he was more offput by how his hares seemed fluffy, but relatively untouchable. It made for difficult times when he first started wtih kids parties. How to control the otherworldly fluffiness of a rabbit that refused to be held by a twelve year old girl with too much sugar, and not enough self control. But he was past that at this time... Except for his sisters daughters birthday next week, he needed to remember to show up and bring out Mary, she enjoyed cuddles well enough.


    The squish and crunch of carapace drew Samuel back to the present as his Hares and Ravens tore through the insects all across the roof. Big fluffy ghostly feet were certainly a lot less lucky for these insects than the rabbits that were sending said foot through their thorax. Meanwhile, the ravens were having a ball, somewhat literally as they swirled and danced to the music, slicing through shell as if it wasn''t there, beaks diving through the hard exterior to sample the bugmeat beneath as if a waiter has passed by with finger food samples during a ballroom dance. He never quite understood how they could turn a pop song with such a penchant towards chaotic moshing on a dance floor into a graceful dance awing, and even in the middle of a battle of all things, but they did, and it even worked with his footwork as he went back to sending a spear into another beetle as he slipped between two razor sharp sets of those trademark ''so blue it''s black'' raven feathers as two pairs of ravens waltzed around slicing and stabbing into various insects in a menagerie of carnage.


    As the song slowly came to it''s end the rooftop was clear, and with a bow, the choreography between bouncing bunnies landing in a circle around him, with ravens twirling in small circles above them dissapeared in a cloud of smoke along with the music and lights, the rooftop none the worse for wear in spite of the pyrotechniques, which seemed to only have dealt any kind of structural damage via the sudden collapse of massive insects on the roof, and various bits of bug guts and ichor possibly staining the roof soon enough as well.


    The smile upon his face wiped away like putting on a drama mask as Samuel came out of his bow, the glamor that was a passive benefit of The Show Must Go On, which provided an in battle buff the more he was a center of attention, which worked very well with basically the ENTIRE BLOODY BUILD OF HIS, he did very well in one vs. many fights, but effectively lost out when it came to duels without any kind of audience to watch. But this was covered by other skills that he typically used for utility backstage, like his summon skill Phantoms Of The Opera, if he didn''t have an audience, he could MAKE one, and they could also help in and out of battle, so it made setup a breeze.


    As he gazed over the edge of the theatre he reached into his sleeve and began to pull out a rope, he kept the handkerchiefs for another occasion. Slowly it went down the wall before it touched the bottom, and with that, instead of an end to the rope, a wicker basket was pulled out of his sleeve, and was set upon the edge of the roof. With a tap of his spear wand, the rope perked up like a snake shaped puppy, as the end came all the way back up the wall and wrapped itself about Samuel''s waist, before tying into a lovely butterfly knot that magically had two separate ends, despite the rope leading out from it''s center to the basket. Stone cold expression upon his face, he took a step upon the edge of the roof, and directly over, spear in one hand, he snapped his fingers and Exemplar Entrance once more began.


    The activation for it was really simple, but this also set it so there was no cooldown, as it was effectively an entrance only skill, and could be only used once in a battle unless you managed to evade detection long enough to appear from somewhere else, which, was a synergy Samuel was capable of, as he did have a short range teleport ready for entrance, exit, and positioning, though it was far more useful on a battlefield with more coverage, a flat wall, not so much. If you met all the requirements, it had a much shorter cooldown, but if forcibly activated, Curtain Call created the environment to make the user dissapear from view long enough to teleport somewhere else within twenty-five feet of the moment of activation. a secondary teleport skill, the Tricky Trapdoors, allowed for a more space bending version, as anything could become a trapdoor, even if it had been a solid object, it would be able to hinge open to a pitch black space, which would send the user out through another hole within a distance of sixty feet, but took a bit more set up, as one needed to find an object to be able to easily grasp as a sort of handle, or handhold. a flat surface could be done, but it was harder as you would still need to effectively pry the door open out of solid material, good luck getting enough traction on your fingers to open a seemless trapdoor.


    The rope pulled taut, the basket sitting at the edge of the roof not even budging as Samuel detonated a circle of colorful sparks around himself, blowing insects off the wall, the number was much smaller on the roof than in this back alley parkinglot for employees. The barest hint of strain was on his face as he was bounced back up the wall a little ways, but with a twist of his torso, he began to spin, and once he lost momentum, he untwirled and came back down towards the aggroed insects like a swirling dervish, and boy howdy did he let it rip! His spear ripped a line straight through three ants, their corpses dropping upon beetles and ants as he used prestidigitation to start small explosions of light in front of lidless compound eyes, singing the fine hairs on many antennae, and generally causing a fearful distraction for various insects before he flung his hat out, the brim suddenly shimmering with the ethereal light of magic sharpening the brim.


    His hat one way, his spear another, legs were slashed by a hat, and a few ants found out that spear does NOT taste good, in fact, it tasted like bug gore, before the hat made it''s return trip, smashing aside a beetle with far more weight than a felt top hat should have, especially in flight, and even more especially in a flight at a 90 degree angle to gravity. As he grabbed the hat, the force was aborbed in another twirl up the rope, his feet spinning and dancing across the red bricks of his wallfloor, before coming back down, whirling away once more, centrifugal force being unleashed in a slash across numerous foes, the jerking motion of the rope trying to twist him the other way around instead being used with a pirouette as he ducked under the rope leading up, his leg coming up to help his balance and smashing into the face of a beetle, sending it hurtling to the ground.


    A white gloved hand came to his mouth as he gave a piercing whistle to couple his piercing stab to another ant, and the rope jerked upwards for a moment, drawing him a little away from the encroaching hoard. Tiring of the swarm and the fight, he set loose Phantasmal Phenom, and as dark blue lights tinted everything in the alley from nowhere, and as cooler than me began to play, his hat was tilted down, the brim covering his eyes as his cape was devoured by the backside of the hat, showing his vest and white undershirt, his coat having practically unbuttoned all the way to the armpit to vomit him out, now looking more like a poolshark than a magician, his undershirt had rolled itself up as he was disgorged from his coat. With regularly snapping to the beat, blue flames of Will-O-Wisp, one of his few side class skills, began to burn into insects.


    His secondary class was actually Drama Fiend, and played further into his bachelors degree in fine arts that his interest in magic had. As he snapped his fingers further, Audience Abounds alerted him that only insects were anywhere of import, so he truly let loose.


    most of the time most people assumed his secondary class was just some sort of theatrics related class to further strengthen his physical magician, but this was actually only half true, in fact, he had only claimed Phantoms Of The Opera as a part of his mainclass for it''s utility, when in truth, it was a major mainstay of his Drama Fiend. As he snapped his fingers an eerily smiling drama mask formed upon his face, and his top hat was prestidigitated into a bowler hat, his white shirt was suddenly striped, and his formerly neat black pants and vest turned a bloody maroon color in the shadows of the alleyway.  He disliked allowing anyone to see behind the curtains, and so he kept his main class and second class as secrets, like two separate personas, even as his joy in tragedy-esque Drama Fiend wasn''t actually evil, it certainly gained a mild buff from not being in the spotlight, which was the exact opposite of his Physical Magician.


    But that was his whole spiel, misdirection was the name of the game, though he was sure that maybe Salina might have an inkling that maybe he was not showing his everything, with another snap of his fingers his wand was back in the Prop Box, and out came his brutal bat. which was not magical, unless you consider a bat being all metal as magical, then yes, it was magically metal. The good news was it worked well with a second active ability, Prop Weapon, which, as a part of the acting based Drama Fiend, he could strike as hard as he wanted, and it could deal a dramatic amount of actual damage, or it could fall flat with no damage, and just send someone or something flying with a prat attack.


    But these insects got the dramatic damage part of it... and gruesome was the only way to describe it as entire bugs shattered and splattered with a strike that was perpendicular to gravity blew straight through them. The downside of the ability was that afterwards, he would be feeling it in his muscles, as the skill caused muscles to twitch in just the right way to increase strength right at the moment of contact, it also used up stamina rather than mana, so that was another issue. But it wasn''t a problem right now, and much less of a burden on the toned muscles of Samuel, and so he splattered beetles and ants up and down the alley, and all across the wall. Once they began to realize that going up to him was a bad idea, the insects stayed in the alley out of reach, and so with a simple whistle, the rope came undone, and he fell the remaining ten feet to the ground, super hero landing style, crushing an unlucky insect into the pavement before he stood, his bowler hat highlighting his white mask as he stood, back straight, bat across his shoulder, and a stance screaming confidence that may have a little to do with the unsettling smile upon his mask.


    Wisps floated in the air, instead of giving off light, seeming to more absorb it, and somehow, painting the area around Samuel with a reddish bloodlust feeling as the light reflected off his maroon outfit, his shirt seeming a dinghy gray with offyellow stripes in the dim lighting, patting his hat, he rushed for the last of the insects in the alley.


    a few minutes passed as the song wound down, and as it came to an end, the team of Levelers who had been called stopped as they swore they heard a pitiful dying screech of agony from an insect in a strangely dark alleyway. As they watched, it brightened, and a young stage magician walked out tugging on his sleeves, not a speck of ichor on his person, and a faint smile of satisfaction upon his face as he noticed their appearance.


    "Ah, terribly sorry, I seem to have finished them all off, I''d allow you to check, but I''m afraid my familiars are currently dining on a meal and are taking care of cleanup already, so not much will be left within a few minutes, and what is... well, it''s not pretty. but by all means, do go ahead." Samuel stated with mild cheer, before heading to a side door and unlocking with with a wave of his hands and a bit of prestidigitation, to show Salina on the other side with a clipboard.


    "Ah, finally finished Samuel? Wonderful, we can charge for monstrous defense, as well as a late charge for delaying us on our preparations for the next venue."


    Louie was slackjawed behind her, and the Levelers were wide eyed behind Samuel, and one unfortunate archer lass looked around the corner into the alley and vomited into a nearby trashcan.


    "Seems she has a bit of distaste for bugs. Worry not, it''s not the first, and likely not to be the last time this alley sees some poor visitor vomiting within it." Samuel said with a straight face. Salina merely rolled her eyes, and the jab at how often a drunk stumbles out of the theatre went over the bald head of the stupified louie.

 fantasy foundation, and the mixture a system causes

    Many fantasy stories are either litrpgs or psuedo litrpgs, this classification comes about  by having a system with number metrics that allow for a more easily visible numeric representation of various strengths and weaknesses held by characters, objects, animals, and everything in between.


    This creates issues for authors for various reasons. On one hand, you can''t exploit a system if it doesn''t exist, and even just looking at our own reality, there is a sort of system in place, but this has been defined by humans, for humans, and is considered the frameworks of our reality, Through these efforts we have not only found basic laws of our reality, grouping them together under the title of Physics, but broken it down into various statistics to be a more manageable chunk of knowledge, like how gravity is a force, but velocity is a speed with direction, and how everything has mass, and then, and this is the pain in the ass part, the way it all comes together and reacts and interacts and how this creates new numbers for other things.


    Now, this is important to a fantasy story why?


    The answer is really quite simple. As an author, we have created a world, and we have decided arbitrarily on various points of data which, regardless of what we attempt, is within the frameworks set up by the hardwork of our physics based predecessors.


    Example; An ogre is somewhere around 400 plus pounds, maybe even on the light side, over 6 or 7 feet tall, and swings a tree trunk like a club. guess what, i was already wrong in my assumptions because a 7 foot ogre, covered in fat, thick skin, with digits described as sausaged easily weighs in at a 1000 pounds or more. a 400 pound ogre would likely actually be a few month old ogre infant, assuming such a thing exists in the story, or its gonna be an orc before it can evolve into an ogre. the tree trunk, assuming standards would be an oak tree, would probably weigh a couple hundred pounds. if we divide by ten on either side of the equation of what is being tossed around, that would be like saying a hundred pound man, swinging a ten pound bat. possible, but it might seriously offbalance him on the backswing. so we have to further increas the ogres weight to anywhere from 1400 pounds minimum as a scrawny ogre, to a whopping 2600 pound fatass behemoth of slavering jaws, thigh thick fingers, and a whole jabba the fatass worth of rolls of fat. just to swing that 100 pound tree trunk like it was a bat. and after that, we have giants. no less than maybe 7 thousand? maybe? its hard to say, because a tree trunk, from an oak, would be a thick stick to a giant. swung like a short club, or maybe a short sword.


    yes. this is fucking terrifying to put into numbers. it gets WORSE. if you wanna make an unbreakable system, you need to account for physics. and then you just fuck with biology by using mana and magic as a stopgap for how some ten to twelve foot tall humanoid weighing a ton or two can walk around and not die instead of existing.


    The good news for all this hardship of trying to actually make it functional is simple, people can technically grab the actual physics based equations just like you did, and put the numbers in to follow along, not that many would actually want to.


    the hard part comes with fucking with physics, because thats EXACTLY what stats are supposed to do. This is the real bitch of the system creation process. how do stats affect the biology, strength would increase muscles and mass, and dexterity increases density and flexibility? but then you go from a plausible 220 pound well muscled near 6 foot young man, into the clearly superhuman point of muscle density that can only be described as possible because macguffin says so. the macguffin being magic, and the system.


    On top of all that, you need to figure out HOW the stats interact with physics as well as biology. Does strength bring an integar variable? or is fractions allowed? how far down a decimal would you allow? Would strength be added? Multiplication? A power number? How would it affect the characters upper limit dealings with the world?Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.


    Thats important for equations. if i had to guess, there would be a numeric way to measure muscle density, and then a perctentage multiplier of the possible maximum amount of force that can be applied, and then you take into account wind up, distance traveled, resistance from atmosphere, liquid, gas, vacuum, maybe even plasma if thats an equation we have access to, and then you work in how strength changes the upper limit on strength, and how that can be increased or decreased by gravity... so on and so forth.


    The point I''m basically working towards is the idea that you AREN''T writing a book. you''re designing a simulation and giving various points of reference which are documented by your story.


    This is a very difficult task, its physics after all, and we can''t even make a computer capable of handling the equations to create a simulation of our entire universe as it is, and here I am saying the most unbreakable system needs to not only incorporate what cannot yet be simulated, but complicate it by adding further variables, and then you have to also be able to break it back down to be a variable that is known at any point during the story. Its a very tall task, because thats not necessarily a good story, its just a firm foundation to make it so it''s harder to crack the bedrock and find something from.... Beyond, so to speak. in other words, an exploit. something so beyond what you expected or accounted for, that it shatters the boundaries of strength in your story simply because of one fact.


    You didn''t find the exploit, so it was never taken into account, and its not in the history, there is no plausible reason at the moment why this could not happen, and nothing to declaim the plausibility of someone stumbling on it.


    Which is why having such an iron clad system built on what we can figure out is so important to be able to handle continuity.


    things only get more complex if stats aren''t even an integar, but a variable in and of themselves. like saying one point of strength for a giant is not equal to one point of strength for a human. this would further complicate matters because race would come with further variables than just effects on skill levels, leveling, and the like, instead you get that races would also have their own values for stats, which complicates a bit on halfbreeds and whether or not this is a baseline truth for all members of a race, or if one would need to instead make a sort of range generator for the value which would then be multiplied by the actual stat numbers.


    in which case... you just owned yourself, to use a colloquialism, because now EVERY race has to be documented beforehand so you can keep continuity straight. a brutal task if you ever want to make a beastiary, as you would need to make two or three separate versions as a primer for the story. one for you, which has the hidden values, the shown stats, the skill progression, and maybe important cultural facts. then the public one, which gives average stats and age values, common stats, and more about culture and history, and then the definitive edition, which has everything but the history, as if to say that its a beastiary of potentially useable beasts for a different fantasy setting. The titles for the beastiaries would naturally be a bit different, as maybe the DM version has everything as opposed to the "definitive" edition.


    but thats why i have a hard time creating a story. short stuff is fine, relatively easy even. but the hard part is defining everything with a clear cut set of numbers and values, and then, keeping continuity going properly without leaving some major gap in the story. which would become a serious issue for me without basically writing three separate books, or more, detailing the physics, the equations, maps, beastiaries, character glossary, elements, stat names, classes wheel. EVERYTHING. there is so much i have to figure out before i could be serious, and that is all before figuring out a plot, any arcs, characterizations, and logical and illogical choices to be made because going for some sort of silver path i built into the system would not be allowed.


    As has been said before, balance in all things, as is right. if i were to complete my ''research'' so to speak, all things would have balance. darkness may be blinding, but its not as fast, or does less damage, lighting would be fast and cause either a short stun, or have low damage. there could be no overwhelming winning element or spell in any or perhaps all branches, simply because that would be unfair in such a system, and would create bias, which, might technically be a plot tool, but that is easily remedied by having less research into various elements. just because the basics of each element may be like the root of a single giant plant, each and every specific branch will be different, but equivalent length, if that makes sense.


    Like if lightning were considered a very strong element, that could be because no one had realized earthquake was a plausible spell, there are many options, and it all depends on how i could balance and check things.


    the same goes for any author. it all depends on what you think something could do, but if you aren''t careful and a bit creative, you may miss simple exploits in your own system.

 i present the SAX system!

    I present to my readers, my critiques, my fellow litrpg enthusiasts and system breaks alike... THE SAX SYSTEM.


    Yes it sounds like i''m just saying its a saxaphone system. It''s an acronym. Short for Synergy, Achievement, XP system. It even has a pretty nice bold font style of motto going for it if you want it as a sort of marketed concept for a game story featrure.


    "Hello, and I am the CEO of Hyperware Untamed, Leon Sveltum, and I would like to introduce you to the world of Calynthim, home to our latest project at an immersive simulated world. We can''t quite ramp up to an interstellar level just yet, but I am proud to say our servers can handle the entirety of Calynthim, and even quite possibly twenty billion simultaneous logins, and then, we really pushed that to the limit. The server finally crashed from our rigorous DDOS testing, after fifty billion simultaneous attempts... it finallt crashed. Give or take a couple hundred thousand... And then we improved upon it. I hold no doubt in my mind that the entirety of the human race could login all at once, and STILL get our quality level of login speed, provided you use our patent protected hardware and software to do so.


    But enough flexing about keeping out malicious attempts at crashing the game. You came here to find out all about our game at this Expo, and I won''t let you be dissapointed.


    You see, unlike the standard mmo or rph formula, we went another route somewhere in the middle, between the importance of gear, and the importance of stats. So it''s not a gear treadmill, and it''s not quite a level grind fest either. Its not even a data sheet about what class has the best growth and such. Oh no. We introduce the SAX system, with a focus on three things, culminating into one point, that is the players free will to be whatever they want."


    Leon walks across the stage as projectors raise from the stage and begin a 3d hologram projection, phasing in from the left side of the stage to the right like an old powerpoint fade in. It all culminates into one moment when Leon stops on the right side of the stage, and as he turns back, is covered in gold accent polished silver armor with a red and gold trim cape fluttering behind him.


    "As you can see, I look like quite the knight, ready for justice, to swing my blade, and slay monsters and villains!"


    As he speaks, he brandishes a longsword in hand heroically, before walking down the dirt path superimposed over the stage.


    "But that doesn''t mean it''s my class. My class is actually Scholar, and while this armor does increase my defense, thanks to the first part of our three part focus, this armor actually increases my MP bar. I present, Synergy. certain items will have various effects, sometimes even curses, but! Every item has a use, a good use is another question, sometimes its just a necessary ingredient in something else important. But this item for me, is a ring. This ring has the enchantment power to turn my gear into not only a magic reservoir, but also a magic absorption shield, all without causing an actual drawback to my armor unless i run out of magic IN my equipment. And by that point, I''m effectively out of magic anyway. But it works better to saturate my equipment if it''s metal, effectively a major bonus to magic knight style characters."


    With a swing of his sword he sends a fireball launching into the wings, dissipating as it leaves sight.


    "Now you might think I was a Magic Knight, after all, the build works for it splendidly yes? And you would be correct to assume as such. It is my currently applied Class. But classes aren''t exactly easy to get, oh no, thats not how it works. You can''t just waltz up to an adventure plate, slap your hand against it, and be a warlock supreme!" fitting actions to words, a stele of stone rises in the middle of the dirt path, illegible writings ordered neatly from top to bottom, his hand technically not hitting it, as it was a projection, but being just far enough away to barrrely touch it with his knuckles.


    "No, this is where our Sexond focus comes it, the Achievement part of the system. The most basic of basic classes are easy to get, and are even freely spread about by just about every npc on how to acquire said classes. You picked up a sword, you can be a warrior. You figured out how to feel your mana, you can be a wizard. You prayed to one of the gods, congrats, you can be a priest. the achievements get a bit harder from there on out. Swinging a sword ten times to become a knight, Two swords for a Duelist, been on a boat, with a gun, and a melee weapon of some kind, some sort of pirate or buccaneer. A spell is cast ten time, specification of the wizard class. This also applies to crafting classes. Though often relegated to a tertiary slot as opposed to the sub class, or second class slot, this one gives XP boosts while performing specific crafting actions, but mostly to the skills involved, as opposed to base class xp."


    With a wave of his hand his guantlet dissolves into motes of light, and then spreads to the rest of the hologram.


    "And so we get to the third focus of our system. Xp. Now I know I said we don''t have a level grinder like other games. This is true, because we speak of a different kind of experience. We speak of the Human experience. Finding new places, facing new beasts, trying new things. Yes, killing ten of the wolves in the plains around town in a basic quest to get you to level two or something, but the game isn''t designed for you to sit holed up around some restock point. It''s designed to give you something to explore, to try new things. To learn new things. The application to gameplay is simply that, for every new thing you try, if it gives xp, it will give more than it typically would otherwise. But the more complex a situation is, the more xp gained as well. Because the entire point of this three part system focus, is enjoyment. So once again, ladies, gentlemen, boys and girls and everyting in between and out beyond, may I present to you... THE SAX SYSTEM.Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel.


    Remember, Synergize, Achieve, EXPERIENCE."


    The crowd gives applaus as the lights dim and he walks offstage, the presentation complete.


    <hr>


    if you just wanted the story bit, its over now, now it goes into a little more detail and technical stuff about how i THINK it would work, at least for me.


    <hr>


    The Sax system is a very freeform plot flexible system based on having items, stats, and being in places.


    What that means is, if a fighter swings a sword ten times, he can get the knight class, this can obviously be set to whatever nonsense anyone wants, but like, if you unlock a class, you can immediately class change, in fact, a class once changed into, its permanently unlocked, so it means, if a fighter has three fire spells and walks into a volcanic region on accident, he could get a fire axe class, but because he also has a production class of chef, he could unlock volcanic chef production class, he has those three spells and is a basic fighter, who is also carrying a spear in his inventory, he could get volcanic spearman, as well as fire spearman, and these could have different benefits to them, but once he takes volcanic spearman, until he comes back as a regular fighter with the same items, the other two classes are locked to him, but he can have an inkling of what he needs to unlock it.


    changing a class requires a stele, and a subclass can be changed freely, but has no effect on unlocking classes related to it. which would mean that dungeons and dungeon-esque raid zones would have a reason for mulitple trips through it.


    furthermore, a class itself has very little purpose, it''s till important, but not as all important as many other games would make you think. in the SAX system, a class gives no active skills, and nothing is suddenly learned from leveling up. instead it has a world learning system. if a magician runs mana through water, he might learn some sort of spell depending on the water, and what its doing. primarily it would just be water manipulation at first, but maybe they learn water ball, waterfall, create water if they pour mana into fog, or a cloud, or rain, maybe they can learn some ice spells because its a cold stream on rare chance.


    thats not to say a melee fighter is disadvantaged, as they have to be watching natural happenings and use their weapon in conjunction. while the mage build is running mana through the water fall, the axeweildering fighter is staring at the water fall and swinging his axe, after several swings he learns a random attack, maybe its water blade, maybe its waterfall axe slash, maybe its hydrosheath. it gives the author a lot to be creative with.


    this means that a character can have any number of skills, but to use them, they need the correct weapon, or activate the proper resource pool, health, stamina, mana, the skill list will naturally collapse into what is currently accessible, with a sort of hotbar system to help, and could be plot assigned to specific weapons, like favoriting a build or something.


    but the real important matter of classes is, they give only a couple passives, usually towards specific skill xp gains, or maybe healing passives, or others, but the classes always give passives, never actives. these bonuses differ based on class, from type to what kind of bonus to the amount. say a fighter gets a 3% bonus to strength, and a 2% defense bonus, but knight, a higher tier class, gets a 4% bonus to strength, and a 4% bonus to defense. meanwhile, an even HIGHER tier class like dragon knight gives an 11% bonus to strength, a 6% bonus to defense, and a 8% bonus to magic power.


    the other things classes do is, they grant one extra stat minimum, but also typically allocate one more point than they grant, often in a cyclic style, and show the main stats the class would utilize. a fighter may give one extra stat point per level, but also automatically allocate two stats to strength, dexterity, defense, and vitality in a two level loop, a dragon knight may grant two stats, and cycle between all stats in a loop, allocating three stats a level. some classes could allocate three stats, but only give one. and a classless individual gains  a base of five stats per level.


    moving back to a major important matter is the synergy concept. the main point of the sax system is that accessories are super important, but not necessarily super rare. you can change your armor and even set bonuses as you level for your needs, but an axxessory often has added effects beyond stats to make it so they maintain relevance from level one, to level one hundred. and this is important because its effectively a part of your build. some skills or abilities are not capable of being trained to gain.


    for example a ring could have a blessing of thorns. any attack you recieve before defense is inflicted as retaliatory damage against the attacker, thats pretty good for a defense build. but if you combine that with another ring with the curse of the petty, then it could save all that damage up for one singular attack, the synegy between them is, the curse of the petty will store the damage that would otherwise be inflicted on the enemy by the blessing of thorns, and while that could be strong, the curse of the petty can only do a percentage of the damage dealt to you, after all defenses have been calculated. so if before defence, an attack would be 100, and after it may be 10. the curse of the petty may store 2 or 3 damage, but the curse of thorns will immediately send back a full 100 attack. together, the curse of petty thorns build would store 100 damage to be afflicted at a later moment upon the enemy.


    up to four, maybe six rings could be used at once, two to four bracelets, a necklace, a set of earrings, all of these can be synergized together, or into separate strategies, to make a competent build. armor itself would give stats, as would most weapons, sometimes they could come with auxilary skills, but said skills are less important because they can be learned, or an equivalent, but most acessories have no spell equivalent, or at least none of similar strength.


    this all culmimates into getting accessories to help either get a class, or maybe get to a specific place in hopes of a class, and the various growth around that. respeccing would be possible, but it comes with level drop penalties. but also, it could be some classes are restricted by levels and locations on top of each other. like say, a dragon knight has to be ten levels below the area that dragons are in, but what dragon means could be anything from kobolds, drakes, or wyverns, up to true earth shaking, kingdom ending dragons.


    and some classes could require a prerequisite class as well.


    so most of the importance and gameplay cycle would be gaining impressive skills, gaining a complimentary skill growth class, and then cycling about various areas at various levels with various equipment to find a class you want for whatever plot related endgame purpose the author desires. which means, a self imposed quest to travel across the game world to get prereq classes for some other class. and possibly having to do so multiple times because of some classes having further prerequisites, and overlapping requirements.


    it can be as ridiculously complicated or simple as you want. for me its an idea yes, but its not fleshed out enough on equations for me to want to put into practice, and i would DEFINITELY map out all the classes i could think of, even if several basically overlapped in purpose but with different niches. fire sword, fire spear, fire axe. all gain the same fire magic bonus, but growth in a specific weapon as well.


    this system is really about what can you explain as mundane alone, but bring together in a creative mash of exploit.


    so, enjoy that if you want i suppose. hope you enjoy.