This is not a story about epic battles, spellbinding magic, valiant heroism, or chocobo riding. But it will include all of these things.
Instead, this is a story of a group of friends getting together to play a tabletop roleplaying game called Final Fantasy.
Taking inspiration from the hit webcomics, DM of the Rings and Darths and Droids, I've decided to write a story set in a world where fantasy roleplaying never became popular. Instead, Super hero roleplaying was the big thing during the seventies and eighties. Fantasy games like D&D became obscure, but some were cult classics.
And one such tabletop game was called Final Fantasy, created as a last ditch effort by a company on the verge of bankruptcy. Though it became a cult hit among gamers wanting a different roleplaying experience, it lasted only a few years before the company fell apart.
This story follows some gamers playing Final Fantasy, most of them for the first time with adventure modules based off of the real life first Final Fantasy game. This is just the first of a planned series of stories, each one based off of a different game.
Well anyway, enough random jabbering. On to the actual storyline.
NOTE: Due to the nature of the story, the narrative will drift in and out of a script-like format. The reason is because of reader convenience. Roleplaying is very VERY dialogue driven. Multiple speakers describe their actions and what they say. It would be repetitive for the reader to constantly say "Jack said, Aaron said, Brian said, etc." This is the reason why roleplaying session transcripts are generally written in such a format. Though the whole story won't be like this, just the actual roleplaying parts.
DISCLAIMER: Btw, I do not own Final Fantasy, I'm just a loyal fan. Also, I do not own in any way the webcomics Darths and Droids, DM of the Ring, or 8-Bit Theater but I do recommend them to any RPG fans. I also do not own Dr. Pepper and wholeheartedly believe root beer is better. Sorry Dr. Pepper fans : o
Update 8-20-10: Fixed a minor typo where Brian said "Jack" instead of "Aaron."
Update 9-17-10: It has come to my attention that I made a typo involving the beverages that they are drinking. Thank you Alex for informing me.
Update 12-13-11: After over a year of no activity with this fic, I've finally got the time to come back and try to write more of it. Before I start new chapters, I'll be revising the ones I have, finally fixing the above mentioned typo (I swear I thought I fixed it twice...). The third chapter is actually already halfway done from a year ago... I just never finished it. But I will very soon, so stay tuned!
Chapter One: A Party With No Mage.
The GM knocked on the door, a blue bag slung over his shoulder. He impatiently waited for the door to open. He was always excited on game nights.
After a few seconds, the apartment door opened and the GM saw his friend Mike in the doorway.
"Welcome," Mike said, stepping aside to let the GM in the small apartment.
Just inside the apartment was the table the friends used for tabletop gaming with a few movement grids and dice scattered about. Currently, only one person was sitting at the table, Brian. "Ah! Steve's here!" Brian said, getting up to greet the GM.
"Hello hello," the GM said as he headed over to the table. He sat down and started rummaging through his blue bag, getting his stuff out. "Anyone else here?"
"Oh yeah," Mike said. "Jack is in the bathroom. Aaron said he is on his way."
"Knowing Aaron, that means he'll be here sometime before tomorrow evening," Brian said with a laugh. The GM smiled. Aaron was always late.
"Ah, Steve's here." Everyone looked towards the back of the room to see Jack coming out of the bathroom. "So now we just need Aaron."
"Lame," Mike stated.
"We might as well get started creating your characters," Steve said, setting up his GM screen.
"I've already created mine," Mike stated. "Anyone want a drink?" He opened up the fridge, pulling out a root beer.
"Dr. Pepper for me," Jack said as he sat down at his spot on the table.
"Same for me," Brian said.
"I'll take a root beer," the GM requested.
"Sorry, I didn't get any," Mike apologized.
"You say this knowing that I have full control over the world you'll be visiting tonight."
He grinned. "Yeah, I'll take my chances. Sorry man."
"I'll take a Dr. Pepper then. So you said you already made your character?"
"Yeah," Mike said, bringing the drinks over. He was the only one other than the GM who had actually read the rules for this Final Fantasy game they would be playing tonight. He placed the five drinks around the table.
"Uh," Brian said. "I think you got one too many."
"Oh no I didn't. That one is for Aaron." His friends gave him odd looks. "What? I don't feel like getting up when he comes."
"Can I see your character sheet?" the GM asked. He had to be careful with Mike. The guy had a knack to bend the rules to his favor. In the many rpgs they had played, he would create his characters with as many minor drawbacks he could find that would give him the most bonus creation points for the least inconvenience possible. Of course, the game they were going to play was class based instead of point buy based. But even then, there was plenty of room to exploit the system.
"Sure."
The GM looked over the sheet carefully. "You picked a thief?"
"Yep."
"And... You're an elf? You know that-"
"Yeah, I know that elves are supposed to be Tolkien-esque jolly do-gooders. But really... would ALL elves be like that? I mean, why do all elves have to be good when all humans aren't?"
"Fine... As long as you make it interesting." The rulebook actually said that elves should not be thieves do to their supposedly sugar-coated, good-hearted nature. Oddly enough, they can still control powerful destructive magic as Black Mages.
"Sure thing," Mike said. In reality, he just fancied that nice dexterity bonus the elves got as well as the nifty low light vision. The GM knew that's the real reason for Mike choosing the elf, but he let it slide. He did have a point, even though the rulebook portrayed them in such a positive and bright light. The rulebook actually said that elves should not be thieves do to their supposedly sugar-coated, good-hearted nature. Oddly enough, they can still control powerful destructive magic as Black Mages. But still, no thieves, no evil actions. Why can't elves be people, too?
"So Mike... why thief?" Steve asked.
"Because they are sneaky bastards. And have a high evasion rate. I mean, many of the other classes have high hit points, but they also get hit more often."
"Any idea what they are talking about?" Jack asked Brian. Brian shook his head. "Yeah, me neither," Jack said.
"You'll get a hang of it," the GM stated as he passed the character sheet back to Mike. "Okay, guys, time to create your characters. I guess first you should choose your class."
"Class?" Brian and Jack asked together.
"Basically your role," Mike chimed in. Mike and Steve passed their rulebooks to the other two gamers. They were the only ones who actually went out and bought the rulebooks.
After some time, Brian spoke up. "Yep, fighter is for me." In previous super hero games, Brian liked to play as a very tank like character, able to take a lot of punishment. The best way to survive is to take no damage at all from attacks. The description in the book said that the fighter could equip the heaviest armor and thus meant he could take the most punishment from enemies.
"I think I like the black belt," Jack said. He always played the badass normal type of character in their super hero campaigns. Instead of powers, his characters relied on peak human abilities and martial art skills. He felt that the black belt was the badass normal of the setting.
"Hmm... You guys sure?" Steve asked. "None of you wants to play as a mage?" A recommended party has at least two mages, a designated healer and a mage to dish out offensive magic. But so far, the party had no mage at all.
"I looked at those," Jack said. "The descriptions say that they can't take many hits."
"Yeah, we won't survive as mages," Brian said, grinning towards Jack. They were notorious for rushing into combat on many occasions.
"Alright, as you wish." The GM felt a little down that his group couldn't realize the potential of mages. But ah well. They could still survive with what they had. "Now choose your race."
"Uhm... White?" Brian said.
"I wanna be some kind of Asian," Jack stated. "You know, like a martial artist from the East kind of thing."
"No, that's not what I meant," the GM said, laughing at their comments. Mike chuckled a bit too. "Fantasy race. You guys ever read Lord of the Rings?"
"No?" Brian said.
"I read the first book," said Jack. "I got bored."
"Ah, you should give it another chance, man," Mike stated. Mike was the special sort of man who had read all of Tolkien's books and stories at least twice.
"Well races are like those in Lord of the Rings," the GM said, bringing the topic back to focus. "You have the all around humans, the hardy but clumsy dwarves, and the skillful but frail elves."
"What about hobbits?" Jack asked.
"I think they are called halflings in the game. Copyright reasons I suppose."
"I'm going with human," Brian said.
"Me too," Jack stated. "I can't see a dwarf or elf being a martial artist."
"You guys are sure? You don't want to read the descriptions for them?"
"Nah, we are good," Jack announced for both of them.
"Alright. Now for attributes, combat stats, starting equipment, and all the other good stuff. Hmm... This may take awhile."
After some time, the character sheets were all filled out and ready for play. But Jack and Brian didn't fully understand all of their statistics and what they meant. Steve said they would come to understand as they played the game.
"I got a good name for my character," Jack said. The others looked at him, waiting for his idea. "Chak Yi."
"Chak... Like Jack?" Brian asked.
"Ha, lame," Mike stated.
"Eh, it's better than 'Bryant.'"
"Hey!" Brian exclaimed. "I couldn't think of a good name!"
"Well mine is Snivel the Rogue," Mike said. "Scourge of the streets of Elfheim!"
"Did you just make that up?" Brian asked.
"He wishes," the GM said. "It's a town mentioned in the rulebook."
"So when did Aaron say he'd get here?" Brian questioned.
"He said he was on his way," Mike stated.
"From where?"
"He went to see Leslie. Which is just down the street... Either he is having major car troubles or he is getting laid."
"Are they, like, together?" Brian asked.
"Dunno," Mike said.
"Well, we might as well get started," the GM said. "He can just jump in later."
"Fine by me," Mike said. The others nodded in agreement.
"Alright." Steve picked up a book titled "Heroes of Corneria" and opened it up. "The world is veiled in darkness..."
GM: … The wind stops, the sea is wild, and the Earth begins to rot. The people wait, their only hope a prophecy- "When the world is in darkness, three, er, four warriors will come-" After a long journey, three of those warriors arrive.
Mike: I take it those "warriors" are us.
Jack: What tipped you off?
GM: You all are brought together for one purpose: a king's cry for help.
Mike: And why should I help him?
GM: Kings are wealthy.
Mike: Point well taken.
GM: You three travelers have heard of the king's pleas. His daughter, the princess of Corneria, has been captured by a man named Garland.
Jack: Wait, how did someone manage to capture a princess?
GM: Garland was known far and wide as a proud knight of Corneria. He was the king's most trusted soldier. And, uh...
The GM couldn't really find a defined motive for such an act in the module. It just says that the man was a very prestigious knight that decided one day to just kidnap the princess for the thrill of it. Unsatisfied, he figured it was time to improvise.
GM: … And he was well known as the princess's lover. Initially arranged by the king, the princess grew close to her husband to be. But something went wrong. Maybe the princess found another man behind Garland's back, or maybe there was some other dispute. But one night, Princess Sarah disappeared. And Garland was nowhere to be seen.
The GM figured that was enough to satisfy the adventurers until he came up with some details for this backstory. He even added a name to the previously unnamed princess, though he didn't have the time to think up some fantasy sounding name. Ah well, Sarah would do.
Brian: Sounds solid. So where do we meet?
GM: On the outskirts of the city of Corneria. All three of you had heard of the price on Garland's head and conveniently met up with each other before entering.
Mike: Convenient indeed.
Brian: I draw my axe.
Jack: Dude, we are friends.
Brian: I don't know that yet. "Who are you?" I say. "Friend or foe?"
Jack: "Friend, dumbass."
Mike: "Yeah why would I attack you? I just have a dagger to your axe."
Jack: "And I'm unarmed."
Brian: "An unarmed black belt can be a very dangerous foe."
Jack: "Good thing I'm not a foe, huh? So who are you?"
Brian: "Bryant, knight of Corneria. And you?"
Jack: "Chak Yi."
Mike: "And I'm Snivel the Ro- er Traveler. Of Elfheim."
Brian: "I'm guessing you two came for the bounty on Sir Garland's head."
The other players nod. Brian decided to improvise a backstory to his character by detailing that he is actually a knight of Corneria as opposed to just a mere traveler.
Brian: "Good. Corneria needs more men to sacrifice for the safe return of Her Royal Highness."
Jack: "Sacrifice?"
Brian: "Several heroes have ventured to get the princess from Garland's clutches. And none have returned."
Mike: "As long as we are paid well."
Jack: "You can't get paid for dying."
Mike: "Well... If we work together I'm sure we can bring her back."
Brian: "What a... noble thought, Sir Traveler. Let's go find Princess, uhm..."
GM: "Sarah."
Brian: Yeah that. Uhm, where is Sarah at, by the way?
GM: You'll have to have an audience with the king and ask him.
Mike: We can't just go find her ourselves?
GM: You could. But the king knows where Garland is. That and it'll buy time for Aaron to finally come.
Jack: Good point. "To the king!"
GM: You walk along the streets of Corneria, heading to the large castle in the distance. You walk by the many buildings and the nameless peasants tending their houses and living peacefully.
Mike: I attempt to steal.
GM: Steal from what?
Mike: I'm sure the peasants have something to steal from.
GM: It's doubtful you'll get much. But roll anyway.
As Mike rolls the dice, GM consults the Heroes of Corneria module book. There he actually finds a chart displaying what a thief might steal from the townspeople after a roundabout check. The development team thinks of everything, thought the GM. When he looks up from the book, he sees that Mike rolled a perfect 10, after rolling the ten sided dice.
GM: Oh wow.
Mike: What? What did I get?
GM: Three potions. Despite the fact that these are all poor simple folk.
Mike: I'm just that good.
Jack: Nah. You just got lucky.
Brian: "I'll pretend I didn't notice what you just did, Traveler. But that is the one and only time."
Mike: Hmm... Steve, from now on when I roll to steal it's assumed that I'm trying to make sure Sir Goody Knight doesn't notice.
GM: Alright. After Snivel the... Traveler sneaks a few potions from the unsuspecting townsfolk, the three of you continue to the-
Mike: Wait! I wanna sell those.
GM: Keep them. Trust me. You'll need them. Especially since you don't have a healer.
Brian: Wait, were we supposed to buy potions with our initial equipment money?
GM: You didn't buy any?
Brian: No. I spent all my money on armor. Well, and this axe.
Mike: I spent mine on a dagger, leather armor, some rope, a long pole, lock picks, a grappling hook, a crowbar, some flint, a torch, and a small compact mirror. But I didn't think to get any potions.
Brian: What the hell... Do you need all of those things?
Mike: They could come in handy. You never know.
GM: Are you sure you can carry all of that stuff?
Mike: I got a backpack, too. And some pouches. The encumbrance rules are pretty lax.
GM: Hmm... fine.
Jack: Well I got some potions. I had some extra money since I didn't have to buy a weapon.
GM: Good. Now, you continue onwards to the castle. A guard greets the party. "Welcome to Corneria. Have you brought more heroes to rescue the princess, Bryant?"
Brian: "Yes. And I've decided that I will go with them."
GM: The guard looks concerned. "You are going with them? But..."
Brian: "I'll be fine. This is Chak Yi and this elf is Snivel the Traveler."
GM: "I've heard of a man named Snivel the Rogue from Elfheim. A dastardly sort of underground scum."
Mike: I grin smugly. "Wrong guy. I get that all the time."
GM: "I... see. Come on in." The guard turns aside and lets you follow him inside the large castle.
Mike: I loot the place. But being careful that Bryant doesn't see.
Jack: Uhm dude... it's a castle.
Mike: Oh and so that the guards don't see of course.
GM: Sigh... Roll the dice.
Mike: A 3...
GM: You find nothing. Luckily the guards didn't notice you rummaging the royal castle. Because if they did you would surely be dead.
Mike: See? Skill.
Jack: Actually I think the GM is just being easy on you since it's the first thirty minutes of the campaign.
Mike: GM favor should be a skill.
There was a knock on the door. "Finally," Mike said. "Come in!"
The door opened and in came Aaron, dice bag in hand. "I'm here!"
"Hey Aaron," Brian said.
"Finally," Jack said. "Have a seat."
Aaron sat down at his normal spot. "This my drink?" He picked it up. "It's warm."
"Yeah you took too long, jack ass," Mike said.
"Sorry. I was at Leslie's. So did you guys start without me?"
"Yeah," Steve said. "Mike, get him up to speed with what is happening and help him create his character."
"Why me?" Mike asked.
"Because out of the four of you, you are the only one who knows the rules."
Well that was chapter one. I hope you liked it. And like how I plan to do with my other stories, this story will have an after chapter section full of notes and trivia. Enjoy (or skip if you don't care).
Note on The Game:
The game system that they are playing isn't really defined and will be mostly left ambiguous. It's not really any actual game system. And if you can't already tell it is d10 based, unlike the world famous D&D system (which is d20 based). But like d20, they'll use other polyhedral dice for damage and other effects.
However, if you want a great tabletop rpg with console style rpgs in mind, I highly recommend Super Console. Last I checked, it was like a dollar for a digital copy.
Character Notes:
I actually planned to have one of the characters have a low Intelligence score so they could put more points in other attributes and thus the GM would make them roleplay accordingly. I quickly dismissed the thought because the likely character to have low intelligence would be Brian's Fighter. The thief needed to be cunning and have a bit of skills. The black belt would be wise and have a reasonable intelligence. The fighter, however... All he had to do was swing an axe or sword.
However, I decided against it for two reasons: 1) As I thought about the concept of Brian, I wanted him to be a noble roleplayer. He likes roleplaying (and gets more experience points because of it) and I'd have a hard time showing this if he had to roleplay an idiot (though that could easily come about in another campaign. Which could be interesting. There are some dumb ass characters in some Final Fantasy games). And 2) It would be a blatant rip off of 8-Bit Theater's Fighter.
Brian's character does, however, have the lowest Intelligence score of the bunch (just below average) which may come into play somewhat later, but in a more minor way.
Mike is a very obvious min-maxer, a guy out to get the most out of his character, usually by taking many many drawbacks. However, this game doesn't have a point buy system like the super hero games they usually play and as such he cannot get extra points from drawbacks. But the GM knows full well that he is clever enough to get over such limitations.
Jack has not really been fleshed out yet. And of course neither has Aaron. But this is the first chapter. There is plenty of room for character development and whacky adventures in Final Fantasy Land.
Coming up next: The Heroes get a third member, Cardigas the Red, and start their journey to the Temple of Chaos. Yeah, lame name. But I don't write the location names. Square does (or well did). Until next time!