novelraw Chapter 2 : Character Creation
Chapter 2 : Character Creation
Chapter 2: Character Creation
‘What the hell is this nonsense?’
The voice rattled off words like something a game master in a TRPG would say, and soon after, a white screen appeared in front of my eyes.
‘This is… a character sheet?’
The screen displayed a document format used in TRPGs for writing down a character’s information.
Whether it was a hologram or something else, the sheet couldn’t be touched no matter how much I waved my hands through it.
‘There’s no device projecting light nearby… More importantly, where the hell am I?’
Thanks to years of experiencing lucid dreams, I could clearly tell this was reality.
“What’s with this all of a sudden? Who are you? Are you the one who sent me that note earlier?”
[Notice. This is the campaign I planned, as explained in the note. Remaining questions: 4.]
[Notice. I am the game master. Remaining questions: 3.]
[Notice. That’s correct. Remaining questions: 2.]
I nearly exploded with rage in that moment, but I barely managed to hold it back.
‘Remaining questions? You didn’t even bother telling me my questions were limited! And now, more than half of them are gone just from those few things I said earlier?’
If I opened my mouth carelessly again, I would surely waste the last two chances I had left.
‘They kidnapped me without me even realizing it, and now they’re trying to run some life-or-death game. Is this one of those insane rich people’s games you see in movies?’
It sounded like pure delusion, but I couldn’t explain it any other way.
I had thought about death many times before, but now that it had shown its real face and was closing in on me, my body trembled.
But I quickly took a deep breath and began to observe myself from a distance.
‘I’m just… playing the character named Daisu right now.’
The trembling in my body stopped immediately, and I felt as though I was looking down on myself from a quarter-view perspective.
I quickly narrowed down my questions to two.
“What are the ways I can safely return to my original everyday life?”
The most important things were survival and escape, of course.
So I framed the question in one sentence to find out whether there was a way and, if there was, how many options I had.
[Notice. If you complete the campaign without receiving a failure judgment, the game will end with a special reward, after which you can safely return to your original everyday life. Remaining questions: 1.]
‘Second-worst.’
The reason it wasn’t the worst-case scenario was because it didn’t involve outright murder and destruction.
Of course, that’s only if the game master was telling the truth.
“How can I meet the other party members?”
The last question was designed to infer the campaign’s progression.
On top of that, it could also clarify one of the most important yet puzzling elements of completing the campaign.
The idea of gathering my previous characters—with all their mismatched levels and backgrounds—into one party had felt far too vague.
[Notice. The campaign is divided into several chapters. Except for the first, each chapter takes place in a specific character’s background setting. You must find and recruit other characters as party members. Remaining questions: 0.]
‘Another second-worst.’
The reason it wasn’t the worst was because I could tackle it in sequence.
Leading multiple characters that all appeared at once with a newly created level 1 character was simply impossible.
Lastly, just in case, I threw out one more question.
“What kind of special reward is it?”
[Notice. You have used all your questions. Please ask again next time. Remaining questions: 0.]
That was an unexpected gain.
Since they mentioned “next time,” the chances were high I could get more question opportunities later.
Somewhat satisfied, I began to think seriously about my character’s direction.
Objectively speaking, the characters that appeared in my replays were far from normal.
So if I wanted to run a campaign with a party made up entirely of such characters…
I needed to create a versatile character who could handle all internal and external communication for the party while also possessing excellent adaptability.
“My character is a 70-year-old male elf.”
I didn’t know how to input it directly on the sheet in front of me, so I simply spoke my idea out loud for now.
Immediately, the corresponding field on the character sheet was filled in.
Elves originating from the World Tree had higher charm stats than other races, and they were specialized in the “nature” attribute and ranged weapons.
Since an elf’s life expectancy was about 500 years, I set his age to 70, the equivalent of a young adult just starting out in society.
This was also a build-up for the background setting I would introduce later.
“His class is a cleric serving the World Tree.”
In the AaA world, clerics were a blend between the priest and summoner classes found in other games.
They were described as cultivating their spirit to commune with divine beings, spirits, and beasts, and receiving aid from them.
The next step was to distribute 10 “bonus points.”
Every character sheet for each character had categories for stats, traits, and skills.
“Bonus point distribution” referred to allocating bonus points gained during character creation or level-ups to these categories.
For efficiency’s sake, I would choose the traits first.
Choosing normal traits consumed bonus points.
However, there was also a system where choosing penalty traits would grant additional bonus points instead of consuming them.
“I’ll choose the penalty traits
§§{Traits}
Nature Affinity Lv.1
Frail
Insensitive
Slow Learner
Short Stature (Elf)
Center of Attention
Non-lethal Lv.1
Trauma Manifestation Lv.1
Speechcraft Lv.2
Bonus Points: 25 §§
The things I said were written in the traits section of the character sheet.
Most of them were insane penalty traits, but they didn’t pose much of an obstacle to me.
Because—
‘I know the true nature of these traits, unlike others.’
The additional bonus points gained from selecting traits ended up totaling 15.
Next came the stats.
Considering the direction I had in mind, I set Intelligence, Constitution, and Mana all to 12, and invested Charisma to the level 1 character limit of 27.
§§{Stats}
Strength: 6
Perception: 6
Intelligence: 12
Constitution: 12
Mana: 12
Dexterity: 5
Charisma: 27
Bonus Points: 6 §§
Thanks to the penalty traits
In other words, I had efficiently redistributed points from unnecessary stats.
Now only the skills section remained.
The more skills that used MP, the higher the total MP, but for a level 1 character, the efficiency wasn’t worth it.
So I ended it by investing all the points up to the class-level cap into
§§{Skills}
Ranged Weapon Mastery Lv.1
[Sponsor] World Tree
Plant Summon Lv.3
└ Lv.1 Tree Vines
└ Fertilizer Supply
└ Lv.1 Celestial Fruit
Languages
└ (Unselected)
└ (Unselected)
└ (Learnable)
Bonus Points: 4
Learnable Skills §§
“I’ll choose Common and Elvish for the languages, and leave the last slot for later.”
In AaA, characters started with two languages by default, with one recommended to be Common for smooth campaign progression.
Along with an extra language granted by the effect of
The next step was to set the name, appearance, values, and background.
These helped immerse your character into the game world, which in turn helped you and the other players get more invested.
This was one of the core elements and purposes of the TRPG genre, and the game master encouraged it by awarding “immersion points” during play.
By spending these immersion points, you could gain positive modifiers to dice rolls, allowing players to literally get more immersed in the game.
“My character’s name is Dicendel Lio.”
It was a name I had thought of a long time ago.
I then began describing an appearance that matched the stats and traits.
“My character, befitting his high Charisma, has softly wavy silver hair, green eyes that hold the forest within them, skin so pale it’s nearly transparent, and a high-bridged nose…”
This was my ideal vision of an elf’s appearance.
“Applying the
Amazingly, as soon as I finished the description, the image of a beautiful elf matching my words appeared on the character sheet.
Next, it was time to decide his values.
Values included moral alignment, the purpose of the adventure, and behavioral patterns.
In my case, I had to incorporate the penalty trait
“His alignment is ‘Neutral Good,’ and he holds the belief that he must not kill directly. However, he’s fine with violence and indirect killing through summons or allies, which makes it rather shallow. The purpose of the adventure is…”
After roughly writing Dicendel’s background, I added one last line.
“…He enrolled in a seminary that trains high-ranking clerics serving the World Tree.”
According to the rules the game master had explained earlier, the first chapter would be tailored to my character.
Thus, I aimed to make this chapter into an “academy story.”
This was also a setup for showcasing the Rule-chicken play I had been planning for a long time.
The final step was “choosing starting possessions.”
You began with 100 capital points, with any leftover converted into currency for your starting background location when the first session began.
Recalling the list of available items in my head, I picked out the appropriate ones.
§§{Possessions}
[Equipped] Worn Clothing Set (+0.2kg)
[Equipped] Tough Leather Armor (+4kg)
[Equipped] Shabby Robe (+0.4kg)
[Equipped] Steel-hide Gloves & Boots (+2kg)
[Carried] Sling (+0.2kg)
[Equipped] Crooked Deadwood Staff (+4kg)
[Equipped] Rotten Oak Shield (+10kg)
[Equipped] Worn Travel Backpack (-10kg)
└ Beginner’s Adventure Kit (+13kg)
└ Miscellaneous Junk (+10kg)
Currency: 17 points (+0kg)
Carrying Weight: 33.8kg / 35kg §§
My character’s low Strength meant the carrying limit was almost at its peak.
I had 17 capital points left over.
Now, if these points were converted into currency, it would probably amount to about six months’ wages for a laborer working in a medieval-level city.
For reference, equipping gear was done automatically, so the elf’s appearance on the character sheet had also changed.
‘I thought they’d just run a campaign, but no—they went as far as kidnapping me and turning me into their plaything. They’ll regret doing this to me. I’ll make sure they choke on that so-called impressive Rule-chicken play of mine.’
With that resolve, my vision went dark.
Once I filled in all the blanks on the character sheet, the bright glow faded, darkness swallowed everything, and that familiar voice returned.
[Notice. Beginning the first chapter.]
At the same time, I felt a strange floating sensation before the surroundings brightened instantly.
‘The environment just changed suddenly. Looks like some sort of set… Did the floating sensation just now come from the set moving?’
The space around me had transformed into a spacious, simple room with a high ceiling.
Green sunlight, fragmented by leaves, poured in through a large window. A long staff leaned against the windowsill, bathed in that light.
On a desk against one wall, piles of books were stacked beneath a robe and a shield. On the bed opposite, a large backpack and all sorts of clutter were strewn about messily.
‘I thought it had turned into a set with a table for running the campaign… but what’s with this large room? Some sort of waiting area? And these items are definitely…’
They were the starting possessions I had just chosen.
But even if I assumed they had prepared these props for the set in advance, the gap between just now and this moment was far too short.
As I looked at them, the vivid sensory feedback I felt made me glance down at my own body in confusion.
‘Something’s wrong!’
At some point, the pajamas I had been wearing were gone, replaced by worn clothes of coarse material and a polished leather armor.
Clothes exactly like the ones my newly made character would wear.
“Ha, what the fu— No! This doesn’t make any sense!”
In a rush, I reached up to touch my ears, then quickly shook my head to dismiss the first thought that came to mind.
But the silky hair swaying beneath those pointed ears, and the faint silhouette reflected in the bright window, forced me to accept it.
‘I’ve turned into an elf—or rather, into the character I made, Dicendel. Exactly like the one I saw on the character sheet just now—huh?’
§§{Character}
Name: Dicendel Lio
Total Level: 1
Race: Elf
Gender: Male
Age: 70
Class: Cleric (World Tree) Lv.1 [0]
Experience: 0 / 100
HP: 260 / 260
AP: 46 / 46
MP: 184 / 184
Attack: 28 (+0)
Willpower: 70 (+0)
Defense: 25 (+12)
Resistance: 15 (+2)
Turn Speed: 9.7s (+0)
Movement Speed: 0.8m/s (+0)
Vision: 30.8m (×1.1)
Range 1: 0.33m (×1.1)
Range 2: 7.01m (×1.1)
Height: 177.0cm
Weight: 62.5kg
Status: --
Eye Color: Green like the forest
Hair Color: Silver
Build: Slightly thin
Alignment: Neutral Good
…§§
When I thought about Dicendel’s appearance—or more precisely, the character sheet itself—a semi-transparent display appeared before my eyes.
I could instantly tell it was the same character sheet I had just filled out.
I reached my hand out, but there was nothing to touch. When I moved my gaze, the semi-transparent display followed along.
It still couldn’t be touched, just like during character creation, but this time it followed my line of sight.
And it didn’t even show up in the reflection of the window.
There was no way something like this could be possible.
A mix of confusion and disbelief hit me, but as time passed, fear began to overwhelm both.
It wasn’t eccentric rich people with twisted tastes who had kidnapped me—this was the work of some transcendent being.
To resist such an entity was unthinkable, and it was obvious that escape would be impossible.
I squeezed my eyes shut in fear from that realization.
But the character sheet, as if acting directly on my retina or brain, remained “visible,” so I couldn’t even turn away from this reality.
I couldn’t understand why something like this had happened to me of all people.
Slipping into panic, I just blurted out whatever words came to mind.
“End game! Log out! Status window! Let me out! Game master, you bastard! If you want to pull this crap, you could’ve picked someone else instead of me! Get rid of all this, I said get lost!”
For a moment, the character sheet seemed to flip over before disappearing completely.
‘Huh? Did I just imagine that? Character… sheet.’
The character sheet reappeared, and I slowly repeated the words I had rushed through earlier.
“End game, log out… You could ‘change’ it, right?”
At last, the character sheet flipped, revealing its “back side.”
What was written there was information about me—no, about the character Daisu, since I was now Dicendel.