《Botched DnD》 The Prolouge Attention everyone, I have decided that we will be completely restarting this current campaign, and do it completely differently. There are a few reasons for this, but the most prominent one is that I have been really bored with this last campaign¡± The DM typed as he leaned back in his chair. He really was bored with this one. The first time they¡¯d played their little game of DnD, however botched it was, he had still really enjoyed it, however, this time, he really hadn''t been in the groove, which had led to several not well thought out segments, which made this time around kinda horrible. This time, however, will be different, the DM planned on making a map and quests and all that beforehand, and really make it more in line with regular DnD. This would allow for the game to have a more in line and be more linear, preventing too much insanity. Having said this, he hasn¡¯t actually prepared anything yet, so the DM erased his message and planned on saying that again later when he actually had everything planned. Three hours Later Alright! Now is the time! He had successfully created all his plans for the campaign, and while he can¡¯t plan for everything, he still thinks it¡¯ll be fine. First, the map! He spent probably the most time on this in order to make it look acceptable, and he thought he did alright. The key locations he put on there were 3 towns, a mountain, a few farms, a valley, and a large river that all of the villages were placed on. The river went all throughout the map, and he was hoping it could pose a decent obstacle for the players. He also sprinkled a few crappy monster sprites throughout the map so that the monster encounters weren''t made up on the spot, which would hopefully help prevent the players from grinding in one spot for too long. Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author''s preferred platform and support their work! He planned on using the same system he had used in their previous games, more refined of course, since the other ones were made as things were happening. He also decided that he would spawn everyone as humans in the same area so that nobody would have an inherent advantage. The first time they did this was a disaster. For some reason, he decided it would be a good idea to spawn somebody as a freaking door, and another person as a regular house cat. Why he thought that would end well, nobody knew. He had also added a few goblin villages and a couple of other monster hot-spots. Then, the DM made some sheets for a few monsters he planned on ¡°cursing¡± his world with. He added a few different monsters, including but not limited to: rabbits: these would be the lowest level to start with, crabs, wolves, deer, bears, and a few more. Alright, now the only thing he needs to do is the quests! He planned on having about 4 quests per town, with one town having 5. After another hour of writing, the quests were finally done, and it was time! Hopefully nothing goes too wrong, but hey, what could happen? The DM decided that they will start tomorrow. While in bed that night, he thought about the world he wanted to create, and the lives of the villagers. There will be a cult for a made up God who people of one city are fine with, but another city is entirely against. There will be a war going on between the country they start in and another country the players will learn about later, and maybe even join in on. The next day, after school, he got on Discord (where the group played their game) and typed out his message. After typing this he thought to himself ¡°is that the only reason I''m restarting?¡± And no, no it wasn''t. The real reason he hadn''t enjoyed his previous experience with botched DnD was because of his lack of preparation, and lack of enthusiasm. He included these thoughts into his message, and then hit send. Nobody responded for the next few minutes, and so, while he waited, he set up everyone''s character sheet. After a while of doing this he remembered how he had given one of his players a wild card, an item that allows literally anything (as long as it''s reasonable). Since the last game was cut short, he decided to let the player start this one with it, since he hadn''t gotten a chance to use it. After about 20 more minutes of prep, he got his first response. He chatted with his friends for a bit on what they wanted their character''s name to be. His friend the frog god asked to be named Trazyn. The DM didn''t know why, but it sounded cool, so he accepted the name. His other friend, known in the group as salad, decided to be known as Harry. And finally, their other friend, who the DM called sandya, named their character Anubis. Then, at long last, they began their game. ¡°Alright so¡­¡± the DM said¡­ The First Awakening ¡°You awaken in a forest, with several rings of dead trees centered around one big deceased tree that you are all currently laying against¡­¡± ¡°Mrrfgh¡± I say as I wake up. Even though My eyes are closed and my arm is over my head, it is STILL really bright! It''s almost like the sun itself is intentionally in my eyes to try to wake me up. Why would it even do that? I finally open my eyes and discover that, yes, the sun is trying its hardest to wake me up. ¡°WHAT THE HECK MAN?¡± I yell at the sun in annoyance. After I fully gather myself I realize. ¡°Hold on one moment¡± I mutter. Where am I? I look around and notice a few key details. First, I am in a forest. This is the least surprising thing, as, if i was going to wake up somewhere that is NOT my cozy home, the woods is at the least the best second option. Second, all of the trees within sight are dead. This is slightly concerning, but it makes sense because it feels like winter right now, and it''s quite chilly. Third, there are more people around this tree. I had walked around the tree to try and get some sort of sense of where I was, when I noticed 2 entirely different people laying against the tree I woke up against. One of them was a human, and looked kind of insane. The other one was an elf, who looked like they had a bad hair day today. Both of them were asleep. After looking around more, I spotted some kind of pedestal with nothing on it, which was strange. This is when I realized the fourth thing; I don''t remember anything. Except for one thing. My name is Harry. I remember nothing else. Freaky. I go back to my side of the tree and sit down and ponder. Then I realized something. ELVES? There are elves here? Is this a video game or something? Then I noticed something. If this is a video game, is there a pause or something similar? I whisper out ¡°pause¡±, which does nothing. Then I whisper several other things like ¡°menu¡± and ¡°Harry¡±, until I say ¡°status¡± which causes a window opens up: Name: Harry Race: Human Class: N/A Sub-Class: N/A Hp: 10/10 Inventory: Wild Card, Map (2/6) Equipment: N/A Status Effects: N/A Skills: 1 Recently Gained Skills: Inspect: a common skill used to get a description of an item, enemy, or more. Can also be used on status to get more information on things. If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement. Interesting. So this is an isekai, or at least similar. I decide to use inspect on ¡°class¡± Class: a class is a representation of your main focus and goals. Classes give skills based on the class, and number of skills is based on how you got your class . You can get a class by either forcing it through meditation (warning, May take several days) or through gaining levels. Very, very interesting. A class sounds very useful. I decided I would try to get a class. The first class I could think of was a rogue, which would hopefully give me skills like sneak attack, or stealth, that might help me survive. Since the description mentioned meditation, I sit down and go into the classic meditation pose and think. ¡ª ¡ª ¡ª ¡ª ¡ª ¡ª I woke up to someone yelling. By the light from the sun, I could tell I was outside, and since I don''t remember falling asleep¡­ wait. I don''t remember anything. That''s concerning. After waiting a while until I felt like whoever yelled was gone, I opened my eyes and looked around. I was in a forest of dead trees as far as the eye could see, and there was an elf next to me, and a human who looked like he was meditating? Who the heck meditates in the woods? Well, I guess this guy did. After a quick double take after I realized there was an elf here? I realized something. I''m from Earth, but there''s an elf here. To my knowledge, elves don''t exist on Earth, and therefore, I''m no longer on Earth. I remember from Earth that I read a heck of a lot of litrpg isekai books, and this is giving some serious isekai vibes. The most common thing from those books is a system, so, I say ¡°menu¡±, but nothing happens, so I try ¡°status¡± Name: Trazyn Race: Human Class: N/A Sub-Class: N/A Hp: 10/10 Inventory: Map, (1/6) Equipment: N/A Status Effects: N/A Skills: 1 Recently Gained Skills: Inspect: a common skill used to get a description of an item, enemy, or more. Can also be used on status to get more information on things. Neat, I use inspect on everything, and thought up a quick summary: name is my name, race is my species, class is important, subclass is just a class, but worse, hp is my health, but also my levels? That is odd, but still pretty in line with what I know from reading. Inventory and equipment are what you would expect, status effects are things like being on fire, and skills are class/Sub-Class given abilities, and you can also get them through effort. I quickly realized that a class might be critically important for the future, and that I should try to get the best one possible as soon as possible. I decided I would try going for an artificer, which is a kind of magical blacksmith, or similar, focused on breaking the system. I also wanted a cool ¡°affinity¡±, as, in the books I read, the protagonist generally had a unique ability, such as gravity or something. I went with cosmic. I began meditating on what I thought I needed for my imagined class. ¡ª ¡ª ¡ª ¡ª ¡ª ¡ª Waking up, I stretch my arms and yawn. Blinking quickly to wake up. I open my eyes and stretch even harder and then suddenly, I feel it. My hand hit a tree. Why am I outside? I quickly snap to reality and realize that we aren''t in Kansas anymore. I brush my hair out of my eyes and stand up. I wipe off my clothes and look around. It''s a odd looking forest with no green in sight. The grass was dead, the trees dead, and the sky was gray. It''s also really cold, which makes me want to get out of here as soon as possible. It feels like I''m going to get snowed on any moment! I wander around the area and end up finding two people meditating for some reason. I try poking them to see if they respond, but the completely ignore it. ¡°Dang these crazy¡¯s are concentrated¡± I comment. I then notice that they are both wearing backpacks, so naturally, I try taking them. When you''re in the woods, every resource counts. However, when I try to take off one of their backpacks, it refuses to even budge. Confused, I reach back to see if I''m wearing a backpack, and I am. It pulls off easily, and I open it up. Inside is one thing. A map. I look at the map and find that I am in the middle of nowhere, and that the nearest city is like, 20 miles away, and the only thing in the way is forest and farmland! I also noticed that there is a large river spanning the whole area, a entire mountain range, and a large valley. Because of this, I decide to go to the city that''s closest, and I go north. I start walking for qu ite a while, until suddenly, I see green at last. The dead forest becomes a normal one! Deep meditation As soon as I sat down, everything turned silent. It was like the world was put on mute for a moment. I knew that I wanted to be a rogue, but the only issue was how. I decided to think about what a rogue meant to me. A rogue is a person of stealth, an assassin if you will, who would kill just for a quick paycheck. A rogue is a demon in close combat (while unseen), and has a mastery of every single one of their skills. A rogue is also an expert thief, who can steal anything as long as they have enough time and resources. That is what I thought a rogue was. After these thoughts, I thought about how much this class would give me and the potential it brought to my life. On this, I had little ideas. I needed to become a rogue to become as strong as possible in the shortest amount of time. Becoming a rogue would also give me a goal in this life, and a beacon to head towards. Another big reason to become a rogue is to become filthy rich, assuming there are other people in this world, which I assumed there were given that it was highly unlikely this was a game with no people. After a while of sitting in the void thinking, I asked myself, ¡°How did I get here?¡± While it may be the first thought most would have when waking up in a forest, I honestly hadn¡¯t even considered it until right now. My first thought was that I had been called here by gods to do their bidding, but I hadn''t spoken to any gods, nor do I think that I had any reason to have. That was when I realized. ¡°Is there actually literally no reason for me to be here?¡± then, all of a sudden, a system message popped up: Reason for being on this plane of existence: Your current line of thinking. Seriously? The system takes me from what I assumed to be a perfectly fine life, then throws me into the woods for 0 purpose whatsoever? That''s actually crazy. Shaking my head, I continued meditating on Rogues. Being a rogue is going to be awesome. After a while, I feel a pull back to the real world, and open my eyes. This book''s true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience. ¡ª ¡ª ¡ª ¡ª ¡ª ¡ª Surprisingly, when I sat down to ¡°meditate¡± like that other guy was doing, the entire world became pitch black. I tried to stand up, and when I did, I looked down and saw myself. ¡°Well that''s freaky.¡± I mutter to myself, before I realize that no sound comes out. Everything is silent. Then I remember why I was here in the first place: becoming a cosmic artificer. What is an artificer? I ask myself. Haha, no I don¡¯t, that would be stupid. Instead, I think about how I can build a pickaxe, so I can go down. First, I would need some iron, twine and wood. This is important to keep everything together. Then, I need a phoenix core, which would be pretty simple to acquire, and make my pickaxe significantly higher quality. I''m also planning on getting some minions to help me mine faster. What else will I do? I could also make a thing to tell me my coordinates, and maybe even an orbital missile? That sounds simple enough. Hmmm. Perhaps body modification would be in the cards. ¡ª ¡ª ¡ª ¡ª ¡ª ¡ª I open my eyes to a brand new day and stand up. ¡°OW¡± I yell because DANG it was uncomfortable to sleep on the ground last night. I seriously needed to build some shelter. Since Shelter needs wood, I figured the first thing I need to do is get some serious wood. Since I don¡¯t have an axe, I need some other way to cut down trees. My first thought is to punch it like in minecraft. I start slamming my fists into a tree next to me for the entire first and second day, and even though it hurts an insane amount, I do manage to punch down one tree. However, now, it¡¯s just a log, which won¡¯t really help me. I definitely need an axe. I had spent the first half of the 3rd day looking for a good stone to make an axe with, when a thought struck me. I¡¯m not hungry? Not even thirsty? Am I immune to death by dehydration or starvation? I must be, since I didn¡¯t even feel parched. That is really weird. Anyhow, while I was thinking about this, I found a rock that looked surprisingly axe shaped. I went back to the tree I had cut down earlier and started carving a branch into a handle for my axe. This took the entire rest of the day. After I finished my axe, I went to sleep. ¡°WHY¡± I scream into the wilderness, when I wake up, soaking wet in the rain the next day. Miserable and cold, I go over to my handmade axe and grab it. Then, I get ready. Today, I planned on cutting down enough trees to make a log hut. I grasp my axe in a familiar position, and slam it into the nearest tree. After cutting it down, I grab it and trudge it back to my camp. I then go back to another tree, and slam my shoddily made axe into it. Surprisingly, the axe didn¡¯t actually break, and worked surprisingly well. It took about 45 minutes per tree, and I ended up with a pile of 21 trees. I went to sleep that day incredibly tired. Things are done for once I awaken from my meditation to find myself soaking wet and covered in flies. I open up my status: Name: Harry Race: Human Class: Rogue Sub-Class: N/A Hp: 10/10 Inventory: Wild Card, Map (2/6) Equipment: N/A Status Effects: N/A Skills: 3 Recently Gained Skills: Sneak Attack: A classic Rogue skill, that increases damage dealt by 30 (?) Stealth: prevents anyone from perceiving you when you are more than 20 feet away, or more than 10 feet away if mostly covered. (?) Nice! These new skills should hopefully help me out, and allow me to actually get food. I stand up and then immediately fall back down. Apparently, sitting too long makes it hard to stand. I stand up again, then steady myself with the tree I woke up on. While I was meditating, it clearly had rained, even if it wasn¡¯t right now. I walk around the tree and find that the elf has disappeared, and the other human had woken up and was also meditating, like I had. I didn¡¯t know how long I had been meditating, but it only felt like an hour or so, which was odd because it had rained? Weird. I then realize at this point that I am outside, and haven¡¯t been in any sort of shelter this entire time. In search of some kind of town, or maybe just a cave, I walk in a straight line in a random direction for the entire day. At some point while I was walking, I passed out, and fell asleep. When I woke up the next morning, I scouted the surroundings. I saw that it was a normal forest, not dead like the last one, and that it sounded great, because the birds were singing, and the sun was shining. I supposed I must have missed the transition the previous day due to the darkness. While I was looking, I felt something watching me. I quickly looked around, but didn¡¯t see anything. Then, I remembered something. Didn¡¯t my status say ¡°Inventory?¡± I quickly checked my pockets and felt around myself when I felt it. I was wearing a backpack??? SINCE WHEN?? I opened the backpack and, sure enough, there was a map in it. I quickly opened the map and looked for the nearest city. Since I wasn¡¯t really sure where I was, I checked the sun and faced north. I walked in that direction because there were two cities north, so I will likely run into one. Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original. I continued walking in that direction for the rest of the day, and the next morning I realized something. ¡°I¡¯m¡­ not hungry?¡± I hadn¡¯t needed or felt the need to eat or drink for the past few days. I chalk it up to weird video game magic and continue going. After 4 days of walking since I had awoken from meditation, I arrived at a town. Fortunately, I had successfully gone in the right direction, or I would have been lost in the forest for days. When I arrived, it was pitch black and nighttime, and I figured now was the perfect time to do some looting, if you know what I mean. I first went to the blacksmith, but unfortunately, the doors and windows were locked. Around the back, I found a stable, which was unlocked, and I entered. Inside was just a horse and its food, so I left. I then went to the next door neighbors and checked their doors. Also locked. I continued checking people¡¯s houses until, FINALLY, someone¡¯s backdoor was unlocked. I opened the door quietly and looked around for anything useful. Unfortunately This was their basement, and there was absolutely nothing of value here. At the time I had reached that conclusion, it was already really late, and so I left the house and went out to the woods to sleep in the grass. ¡ª ¡ª ¡ª ¡ª ¡ª ¡ª Alright, at this point, I¡¯ve been in this endless void for freaking 20 DAYS or something. It''s not like I have any marker of time, but it sure feels like too long! What, am I supposed to do something? I thought all I had to do was WAIT! Ok FINE I¡¯ll think about what a cosmic artificer is. It''s an artificer that makes things with cosmic energy! Ok DONE GET ME OUT OF HERE VOID!!! UGH. At this point, I¡¯ve been here for so long that I¡¯ve memorized the entirety of everything the system tells me! And I can¡¯t even yell because of the pure silence! ¡ª ¡ª ¡ª ¡ª ¡ª ¡ª Since I have an obscene amount of wood, I decided to build a little shack. I started with finding a good spot for it, and after a while, I found the perfect spot for it. It was a strangely flat stony area, and I figured it was the perfect place to build something. I spent a few hours lugging the logs over, and then I placed them into position next to the spot. I then started chopping off the branches and bark, which I saved to the side for potential firewood eventually, and shaved every one of the trees. I then put the 4 biggest ones in the corners facing upwards, as the pillars are to keep the shape. I then cut all of my other trees into the exact size between the pillars. I then spent a while using my axe onto the stone to cut out a small circle of the wooden base to be in. I used some mud to solidify it into place. I then used some more mud to fuse together another log in between two of the pillars, and did the same thing for the rest of the pillars. After waiting for it to solidify and dry, I stacked another log onto the walls, and used even more mud to keep it intact. I then kept doing this until the walls were finished. After that, I used some big leaves I had found to make the roof, and at last, the outside was finished. I then made a small bed with a lot of the leaves I had found, and chopped open a door. Then, the house was entirely finished. It had taken me four entire days to do this, but it was worth it. I was satisfied with the house, and knew that I could survive here in the wilderness. Especially since I didn¡¯t need food! The next day, I go into the woods and start collecting some grass to make into twine, for no reason other than it might be useful. I was thinking maybe I could knit it into a pillow or something? I¡¯m not entirely sure that''s how that works,but at this point, I am REALLY tired of sleeping on the literally rock hard ground. I spent the entire day doing just that. I ended up with a large pile of grass that I tried to make into twine. Awakening The next morning, I get up, and go back into town. Since it was daytime now, I walked up to someone and said ¡°Hi! I¡¯m a traveler, could you please direct me to the adventurer¡¯s guild?¡± He responds and says ¡°Of course! The adventurer¡¯s guild is 3 blocks that way.¡± He points to somewhere northeast. ¡°Are ya looking for some quests?¡± He asks jokingly. I respond with ¡°Something like that, yeah.¡± and then I start heading in that direction. After a few minutes of walking, I arrive at a large building that is clearly the adventurer¡¯s guild judging by the sheer amount of people pouring in and out of it. I push through the crowd, and arrive at the front desk. I ask ¡°How does adventuring work?¡± The lady at the desk replies ¡°You sign up for a quest to help out the locals, then you do that quest, and then you get money. It¡¯s pretty simple. You can also sign up to be an adventurer, but that is a competitive market, and you¡¯ll only really have a chance if you have a reputation with us beforehand.¡± ¡°Alright, well, are there any important quests to take right now?¡± I ask. ¡°There is one quest of critical importance.¡± The lady responds. ¡°What is it?¡± ¡°We need someone to investigate a local break-in that happened last night.¡± ¡°Really? Where?¡± She then proceeds to describe the exact place that I had entered through the unlocked door. ¡°How do you know someone broke in?¡± I ask. ¡°There was a trail of footprints leading to and from the door, and the door was left wide open. The weird thing is, nothing was actually taken, Just the carpet got muddy.¡± She responds, looking confused. ¡°Alrighty then, I would like to sign up for this quest! Also, how do parties work here?¡± I asked before I left. ¡°Simply high five someone and they join your party. If you slap them in the face, you kick them from your party, and if they slap YOU in the face, they leave the party. It¡¯s simple enough. Health distribution is given mostly to the party members who contributed the most. Rewards for quests are equally distributed between every party member." She says. "Alright, Thanks!¡± I say. Leaving the adventurer¡¯s guild, I start looking for people to party up with. I was looking for someone who wasn¡¯t too experienced at this sort of thing so that way I could still get the majority of the health (speaking of which, what did she mean by that? I would assume that you get experience to level up, which gives you more health, but the way she made it sound made me think otherwise) And I also wanted to find someone who looked trustworthy enough that if things got out of hand, they got my back. Looking right across the street from the adventurer¡¯s guild, there was a restaurant labeled ¡°The Partygoers Delight¡± which sounded like the kind of place where I might find someone to join my party. I walk in and a bell rings. I walk over to an empty table and start scouting people out. I quickly found 3 people who looked younger than me, and would hopefully be up to joining a party. After walking up and chatting with them, one of them named Tom said he would be fine with joining my party and helping me out with the quest. I give him a high-five and add him to the party. Tom added to party: Tom: Hp: 14/14 Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings. Dang. He has 14 hp, which feels kind of low, and there isn¡¯t mention of a level at all. This system is kind of weird. I get to know him, and then after a couple of hours of chatting, I go back to the plains and go to sleep on the familiar, at this point, mud. ¡ª ¡ª ¡ª ¡ª ¡ª ¡ª ¡°F***ing FINALLY I¡¯m out of that PRISON!¡± I yelled when I FINALLY awoke from meditation. While I was in that ETERNITY, I had thought a bit about how I wanted some minions, but it might be a lot harder than I expected. In order to get minions, I first needed to survive until I could find some. To do that, I needed some tools. But before anything else, I needed to check my newly gained skills: Name: Trazyn Race: Human Class: Cosmic Artificer Sub-Class: N/A Hp: 10/10 Inventory: Map, (1/6) Equipment: N/A Status Effects: N/A Skills: 3 Recently Gained Skills: Manasight: Allows you to see mana, allowing for more ease of enchantment and other mana-based creation. Inbunement: Infuse your mana into your creation, giving it one enchantment based on what it is. (?) Interesting. I think this imbuement will be quite useful, but since I don''t have any tools or anything to enchant, I first wanted to try out manasight. I used Inspect on the skill to figure out how to use it, and then tried it out. Woah. Everything wildly changed, and I saw wildly different colors. Everything had a tint of gray, but the ground was brown, and the sky was blue. The tree next to me was gray, but really bright. I looked at my hand. It was a dull green, dull gold, and the same bright gray as the tree. The fact that my hand was gray didn¡¯t feel very healthy, and I thought that maybe I should leave the area. I started walking in a random direction and looked for a river, and I turned my manasight off. After a few hours of walking, I found a river at the very edge of the dead forest. Beyond the river was a normal forest that wasn¡¯t gray at all. I swam over to the other side and felt much better. It was almost like that gray was like a disease or something. I decided to be wary of that area in the future. I then spent a few more hours that night collecting a bunch of mud bricks and preparing them for the future. I did need a kiln for my plans, after all. I then fell asleep on the ground next to the kiln. ¡ª ¡ª ¡ª ¡ª ¡ª ¡ª I woke up that morning after collecting all of the twine, and decided that today I would strengthen my axe, and maybe even make another, just in case. The old axe was almost shattered at this point, and I was honestly very surprised to find that the axe was still intact. I started by replacing the stone I had on my axe, and I spent a solid hour looking for 2 perfect rocks, but only ended up finding one. It felt strangely heavy, but I ignored that. It felt like there were some chunks of metal in it, so I assumed that was why it was so heavy. I cut the axe head to fit the new rock, which took another 2 hours. Then, I used over half of my twine to make sure the new axehead never flew off. I also added some twine to the handle to make it grip better, so that it would be harder for me to accidentally send it flying while chopping a tree. I then spent the rest of the day carving another handle for something I can make later. Maybe a shovel?