The Writer Games

It can take decades to write a masterpiece, and years to plan it- so see what a couple of amateurs come up with in 15 minutes after a prompt. College Fool, Couer Al'Alran, and the (mostly Jaune) story concepts that followed.

/


/

Coeur's (self) Prompt: Deconstructing the Gamer Crossovers - AKA - Why not all OP semblances are good for you.

/


Title: The Games We Don't Want To Play

Summary: Becoming the Gamer was a dream come true for Jaune, but for there to be a Gamer there must be a Game, and sometimes Games can have terrible consequences.
Genre: PURE HORROR – My first foray into horror.

Arc 1 – Jaune becomes the Gamer back home before Beacon, and is thrilled with his discovery. So begins a few simple chapters of Jaune going through the typical Gamer things. He earns levels, tailors his stats and goes through the relatively simple quests the Game offers him. They seem to be getting more difficult each time, but it's hardly a big deal.

Things go wrong however when he gets a Quest to save his sister from a hostage situation – which horrifies him as he rushes to do so. He comes across his sister held by a man at a supermarket, both his sister and the man look terrified.

Jaune tries to stop the man, only to be held back when the man threatens to shoot her. Knowing he won't be fast enough to reach her in time – no one would be – he does the only thing he can think to do; talk the man down, as the Quest tells him to.
Charisma Check Failed.

Jaune didn't put any points into Charisma, it never seemed necessary to becoming a Hunter, and his sister is executed for it. He stands there in horror as blood splashes across his face, as Police and Hunters open fire to kill the criminal and try to resuscitate her, to no avail.

Jaune is near catatonic as his family bands together to handle the grief. The killer was a normal man with a family, who had no motive or reason for his actions. Another odd thing is that his sister had no plans to be there, and didn't even take her purse to the supermarket. His family doesn't understand, but Jaune does.

His sister didn't intend to be there, she was brought there by the Game. By him pushing ahead in Quests to the point that the "story" progressed when he wasn't ready. But also by him putting all his points into purely combat stats.

When Jaune's next quest tells him to attend Beacon, he dare not refuse.

Arc 2 –

Jaune gains entry to Beacon through his own merit, smashing his way through Ozpin's tests through sheer stats rather than any skill. He is tense and focused, to the point that Ozpin brings him aside to test his mental stability – admitting that he knows about what happened to his sister. Ozpin frankly admits he fears Jaune will snap under the pressure, or give in to dark thoughts of revenge. Jaune says he won't, though Ozpin makes it clear he will be watching.

Come initiation things are in some ways the same, in others different. Helping Ruby is a Quest, and as much as he hates that he follows it – scared of what might happen if he doesn't. This initially damages the friendship however, as Jaune fears/suspects the Game – and that Ruby is "associated" with it makes it hard for him to trust her. This is resolved later, as their friendship evolves more naturally – but for now is a sticking point.

Jaune interacts with no one in initiation, keeping to himself, which only makes him look lonely – prompts Ruby and Yang to try and involve him, and ironically leads to him being insulted by Weiss – literally echoing Canon (which for astute readers would be a hint that the Game isn't letting him ignore things, it's altering events to force him on the same path).

Initiation is passed – Jaune gets Pyrrha as per usual, since Weiss still finds him first but due to her insulting him, she chooses Ruby over him ala canon.

Jaune is made leader despite, and perhaps because of, Ozpin's suspicions.

Arc 3 –

Early Beacon life mixed with the Game. Jaune hates the Gamer semblance and tries to do his best to ignore it, however at Beacon quests become an almost daily event – with bigger ones happening on a less-frequent basis. At first he tries to ignore the little quests, such as "Fight the Boarbatusk in Port's lesson" – but each time he does there are negative consequences of Quest Failure.

He refuses to fight to Boarbatusk, so Weiss does – leading to a fight between Weiss and Ruby, which he receives a Quest to fix. When he refuses to do so, and only offers a few comforting words to Ruby – he ironically finds that's all that was needed, prompting Ruby to fix it herself, and earning him another wad of Exp regardless of his reluctance.

Another Quest he refuses is to help Velvet, something which gnaws at him because he wants to help her – but wants to spite the Game. The failure being that Velvet is tormented. Jaune gains a few levels due to training, but takes the unusual approach of refusing to allocate any points, so he remains say at the skill of a lvl 5 for instance, despite being lvl 10.

The reasons are shown why a chapter or so later when one of the Random Event Quests happens – when his team are out in Vale. An REQ tells him to "Save the Girl (Dex)" – and as he looks around in horror he literally sees a young girl spontaneously pull away from her mother and run out into the road – a terrified expression on the girl's face, as though she can't control her actions.

Jaune slams open his menu and assigns every single point he has to dex, before rushing into traffic – narrowly saving her. He gains two levels and a shiny Quest Complete menu, despite his promises to not play the Game.

He realises what has happened. By refusing to play the Game, it's been slowly upping the ante – if he can ignore people being bullied, then it's given him harsher stimuli. To the point where the Game tried to murder a young girl to force him into action.

And it worked.

Jaune muses that he isn't playing the Game, it's playing him – and more than that, it's playing with the lives of everyone around him.

Arc 3 draws to a close with the bullying Cardin Arc, and Jaune settling in to completing quests out of fear of another little girl incident happening again. As he gains levels he continues to save the points, not wanting another repeat of his sister, where it requires a stat he hasn't upgraded. He saves stat points so that when a Quest he dare not fail appears, he can boost the required stat.

This leaves him weak and unbalanced in combat. One day he can be weak and fast, another day he is twice as physically strong – it's hard to adjust and each time he "allocates" a bulk amount of stats – he has a full day of seeming like a clumsy fool.

Forever Fall is a grim Quest however, in which he fails the Quest to save Cardin, leaving the young boy to die in a harrowing scene where Cardin could obviously flee, but finds himself rooted to the floor. And no matter what Jaune tries, the Ursa won't die – as though it's locked into a cut scene he can't interact with.

As soon as Cardin is cut down, the wounds Jaune caused the Ursa kill it. Instantly… It's clear the Game kept it alive as a Quest Failure consequence. Jaune's team comforts him for his failure, but it only makes him feel more alone, because they can't understand that it IS his fault.

Arc 4 –

An initially peaceful Arc of Jaune and his team recovering from the trauma of Forever Fall. There are more small Quests, and Jaune completes them all sadly, unsure what he is supposed to do. The others are convinced he still blames himself and try to cheer him up – with Ren trying to say it isn't his fault.

"The world doesn't revolve around you Jaune, you're not responsible for everything."
"That's the thing Ren… I'm beginning to think it does."

Jaune begins to show signs of PTSD, though it isn't explained as such – he shows symptoms, and it's up to the reader to figure it out. During that time his team suggests ways to calm him down, and in the end Jaune tries to go along with them, not wanting to worry his friends.

A bright spark in the darkness occurs when he decides to maybe try out one of his other dreams – dating. He's more confident in himself now, and asks Velvet out – surprised when she says yes. Though the flashing words "Charisma Check Success" in his mind do worry him for a bit. The relationship is budding but successful, he meets her team briefly – and Velvet seems to really love him.

The docks incident with Blake happens around this time and although RWBY doesn't come to JNPR for help, Jaune finds out about it through a Quest chain about the White Fang. It basically spoilers everything by literally calling Blake a faunus and ex-White Fang, but he's cynical enough not to care at this point.

With the Quest relating to team RWBY he dare not ignore it, and does all he can to complete it. It takes a day or two, but long-story short it mirrors their journey and leads to Jaune being at the docks when events conspire to cause the fight.

Jaune becomes concerned however at how badly Team RWBY is losing the fight, they are multiple levels lower than the White Fang – who despite having no Hunter training, seem somehow unusually resilient. Jaune realises that their levels are about five higher than Rwby – conspicuously the exact amount that his own level is higher.

Level-Scaling, he realises. The Game has introduced level scaling to make sure his opponents remain the same as him, and it's going to cost his friends their lives. The Quest tells him to stop Torchwick but he ignores it and instead fights with Blake, Ruby and Penny – the four of them defeating the White Fang as Roman escapes.

Jaune's Quest Failure Notice simply says "Consequences" – which he knows won't be something to look forward to.

Arc 5 –

A few more chapters of development occur, and Jaune's condition worsens – even as his friends continue to offer their support. Velvet is loving, but Jaune is worried that being with him will place her at risk, and his reluctance shows to her.

Tensions rise as Velvet accuses him of loving his friends more than her, and she latches onto Blake as the cause – since she doesn't know about the docks, only that he was out with Blake all weekend apparently. They argue, and Jaune breaks things off angrily.

There's also the bit where Blake is on no sleep due to her White Fang hunt, but Jaune doesn't get involved really, leaving it to Yang – he's more worried about how he's supposed to handle his EXP issue. If he ignores the Quests then they get worse, start to target people he cares about and give harsher consequences (often fatal).

If he completes them then he levels up, faster than his friends do – placing them in danger.
The decision is taken out of his hands however when he gets a quest called "The Price of Love" – with the details; "Blake or Velvet" – consequence: Death.

Jaune is horrified and tries to find either of them. CFVY hasn't seen Velvet since she came back earlier, and follow after him due to his terror. Similarly RWBY hasn't seen Blake in a few hours – she's probably still at the library.

They arrive there to see a harrowing scene, Blake on her knees with Velvet behind her, Gambol Shroud in her hand as she threatens to kill Blake. Velvet is clearly mad, eyes wide and breathing ragged as she shouts about how this is all Blake's fault. Port is there, doing his best to calm her down – but even he looks worried, clearly knowing it won't end well.

Jaune tries to calm her down, only for Velvet to scream that it's Blake's fault – that she interfered in her and Jaune's love, that without Blake in the scene Jaune will be hers once more. Jaune tries to calm her down, but it doesn't work – Velvet has gone mad with love, and he realises her mind has been warped.

By him. His Charisma Check has literally broken her mind, changed her in some way she can't understand. Jaune walks up to her, apparently giving up and accepting Velvet's love as he hugs her. He tries to kiss her as his hand reaches for Gambol Shroud to disarm her, but Velvet realises what is happening and tries to kill Blake regardless.

Jaune cuts down Velvet instead, making his choice. No one can hear them as Velvet dies, Blake unconscious from being attacked by Velvet, and the others screaming – but as he holds her Velvet's eyes clear and she simply says:

"I… I didn't mean any of this."

"I know," Jaune says as she dies in his arms.

Arc 6 –

Jaune is before Ozpin. The Headmaster doesn't blame him, even though Jaune says he should, that it's his fault. Ozpin tries to calm him down, but Jaune won't have it, he knows it's his fault – he knows that everything is his fault entirely.

It's because he is the Gamer, that all these things happen. The Grimm are getting stronger due to him, Velvet's mind was broken due to him. Team RWBY was nearly killed at the docks, Blake was nearly killed, his sister WAS killed. All because of him.

As Jaune leaves, to return not to his dorm but to go from some fresh air, he considers killing himself – wondering if it would be better for the world if he was to die. He holds out Crocea Mors, but ultimately decides he can't. Not brave enough, or maybe too brave to give up, he isn't sure. But when his team welcomes him warmly he knows he can't leave them. RWBY too are welcoming, thankful for saving Blake's life.

The heartbreaker is when Coco comes to see him however, clearly distraught at Velvet's death. She thanks Jaune for making it quick, and for not letting Velvet do something she'd have regretted.

As the Vytal Festival approaches however, Jaune realises that he needs to be stronger still. As much as he hates the Game, he needs its power to protect his friends in the face of stronger enemies and more dangerous quests. He spends his nights in the forests farming EXP, survives on little sleep, but otherwise spends the rest of his days around his friends – terrified of leaving any of them in case a Quest happens and he's too far away to react.

The dance comes and goes, and Jaune goes alone – he notices Pyrrha's affection but stonewalls her, pretending he can't in a desperate attempt to avoid her love. Partly because he's terrified of setting off another Charisma check, partly because he's scared she will become a target. He spends the night alone, watching the revelry and ignoring Pyrrha's longing looks.

Arc 7 –

Mission time occurs, and Jaune is very much against the idea of RWBY going off without him, to the point that it causes a big fight between the teams. RWBY accurately figures out that Jaune is being protective, but as big independent girls they don't like that. They're Hunters, they have to do these kind of things.

MT Glenn happens despite his protests, and the breach occurs as per canon. Jaune and his team rush to save the populace, and when he sees Roman cause the breach he realises this was the "Consequences" of his failure to stop him earlier – the deaths of hundreds of civilians. He can literally see the bodies and blood stained across the street, and knows it's once again his fault.

It's at the very crux of that moment that Jaune tries to kill himself, in a moment of emotional panic realising he is killing everyone around him, he tries to pierce his throat with a nearby knife he finds (Crocea Mors a little too big for it) – but the knife shatters on impact with his aura. He tries again, with another discarded weapon – the same result.

The third time, the weapon shatters as soon as he picks it up, and he screams angrily as he realises what's happened. His team again find and comfort him, believing him angry that they couldn't save more lives.

There's the usual "it's not your fault Jaune," comforts, except that he knows them all false.

Arc 8 –

Jaune decides if he can't kill himself, and can't ignore the Game, then there's only one real option. He has to finish the Game, and quickly. He throws himself into training and completing quests, showing increased ruthlessness in his decisions and actions.

Ran out of time here – so the ending is summarised as an addition to planning time.

Vytal Festival takes place – Strange Grimm anomalies mounting outside the walls, the people focus inward on the Festival, desperate to distract themselves. Doomsayers cry of the apocalypse, but propaganda focuses on Hunter supremacy and the tournament. It's all a very big "Don't notice it!" play.

The Quests relate to the tournament, and so Jaune throws himself and his team into it, training ruthlessly and focusing on teamwork. They excel against team Bronze and become crowd favourites, and the ones RWBY are most worried/excited to fight. The fights remain as 4v4's all tournament – something I'm sure we'd all rather see in canon than boring 1v1 fights.

The final is RWBY vs JNPR, and it's a close fight. RWBY is stronger individually, but JNPR is a tighter team who have better teamwork. They fight as a unit, splitting RWBY up and ganging up on isolated members while heavy hitters like Nora or Pyrrha distract the others. They fight 2v1 wherever possible, with Ren and Jaune acting as surgical strike team to overwhelm key players like Weiss early on.

The fight doesn't end however, as Cinder reveals her gambit – taking over all the Atlas robots thanks to her virus in the CCT transmitting control codes, etc… they go on a massacre – meanwhile the wall collapses as the Giant Grimm enters the city. Jaune receives a "Final Quest" – Kill Cinder, win the day.

It's a frantic battle in which they are all tested, but due entirely to Gamer related skills he is able to defeat her, completing the Quest. In shock he starts to feel weaker, and realises he can't see his level, can't see his hud or anything. There's a cry of confusion from the crowd – as the giant Grimm slaughtering the populace has vanished – literally… despite that those dead remain dead, it's as though it never existed. But all jaune can do is fall to his knees in relief and cry.

Meta Knowledge: The monster vanished because Game logic - he wins the Game, so the world is saved, even if that makes so little sense, that's just how "Game's" work.

Epilogue –

Jaune is older with Pyrrha, who he marries – the two are talking about their daughter who will be going to Beacon. Jaune sits at the dining room table listening to his daughter training with a fond smile. All is peaceful.

Until he hears his daughter hesitate.

"Huh, what's this? A Quest Window?"

The glass in Jaune's hand falls to the floor and shatters.

Meta Knowledge: I.e. Stuff that would be included, that isn't in summary.

Jaune: Starts off idealistic and becomes more like a machine as the story goes on. He starts idealistic and heroic, then becomes traumatised via his sister – then starts to recover at Beacon – then broken worse by Velvet.

RWBY: Supportive of Jaune – his friendship with Ruby is like canon, except closer as she never asks him what is wrong – she just hugs him. The two bond over leadership issues better than they do in canon (which is like none, or all off-scene, canon show is REALLY bad for this – have they ever even really spoken since like first few episodes? – other than the occasional team comment?)

Blake is initially wary, but opens up to him after the Docks and Velvet fiasco, though it's clear she causes Jaune distress through memory. She stays as a distant supporter, offering what help she can but not wishing to cause him pain.

Weiss starts off acerbic as per canon, but comes to respect him as a competent leader and fast-learner, even if she never has any feelings for him. The relationship is colder because he doesn't help with Neptune in any way, but she feels she owes him for protecting Blake.

Yang builds a stronger relationship than canon as thanks to him – she tries to do her best to help him by setting him up with Pyrrha, alas she doesn't realise he's been trying to avoid that, and obviously can't understand his reasons (the Game).

JNPR: Close and supportive, they are as firm friends as canon – though of course its altered subtly.

Pyrrha: There's no dependence issues as in canon but that only serves to make things worse. Rather than by goofy and not know her, he is confident and skilled and doesn't know her – so the attraction is five times worse. The entire team is awkward over the fact that he doesn't realise (though Ren suspects Jaune does and is ignoring her.). When Jaune's trauma starts to kick in the entire team keeps trying to band around him but struggles to do so. They honestly believe it's not his fault and that he is wrongly blaming himself – because how could it be his fault!? Sadly it IS, due to the horror of the Game.

Ren: Voice of logic, Ren's intelligence allows him to quickly diagnose PTSD and Depression signs in Jaune, and the boy genuinely worries that Jaune might do something to hurt himself. This leads to Ren showing concern in the only way he really knows how – keeping an eye on Jaune – which makes things worse for Jaune, as he feels stalked and pressured.

Nora: Tries to heal Jaune through overwhelming affection, and honestly is the one who gets closest to success and acts as an emotional buffer for Jaune. Her simple reasoning – "if he can't stop blaming himself I won't try, I'll just hug him!" – provides more concrete results than Ren's reasoning and Pyrrha's misplaced sympathy.

/


/

C.F.'s Reaction:

I really don't have much to say. Horror's not my cup of tea.

I'm not sure this really counts as a deconstruction. I mean, it's certain a great example of how OP doesn't mean happy, but a deconstruction is aimed at taking a premise to its logical, unvarnished conclusion. This doesn't.

It's a way of how The Game isn't benevolent, sure, but there's no logic to why The Game is screwing over Jaune. There's no end-goal, reason, or purpose behind it- no internal logic, which actually reduces the horror. The Game's not scary- it's just harmful for no apparent reason, and things that are harmful for no reason or rational aren't malevolent- they're just forces of nature. Horror requires an element of malevolence, but malevolence requires an element of will. How horrifying is a tornado? Scary, sure- but horrifying?

As it is, Jaune gets kicked around for no clear reason, for no clear purpose, and the Game arbitrarily concludes at an equally arbitrary point. There wasn't a compelling character drama because there wasn't a challenge for the character to overcome- Jaune can only endure, the people who get caught in the game are screwed, and everyone else doesn't know what's going on.

I hate to say this, but... I was kinda bored. Maybe I'm not the best audience for this.

/


/

Coeur's Reflection:

It's a horror story and something I haven't tried before, I'm not very good at horror but I took inspiration from Final Destination, an old anime called Gant (I think?) and a few other things. Either way, I'm not good at it and I think it shows a little.

The potential is there, as are the mechanics – and the individual plot pieces DO work – they just need to work a little better, or be paced better. I think before starting anything like this I would need to read a few horror stories, just to get an idea of pacing. Alas I haven't read horror since Goosebumps! Which is like 15 years old.

You can also clearly see that come the time limit I ran out of ideas, and that's how it is sometimes. If I had longer maybe I could have thought of something, but such is not the nature of the Game. As such I threw together a quick summary just to finish it, when it's not the ending I would have honestly liked.

Ah well.

Could be better – but has the makings of an idea, if it were explored a bit more deeply. Perhaps more on the Ozpin angle as a mentor figure, maybe more with Coco to delve into the guilt there (comfort sex to make things worse?), maybe even leave Cinder behind entirely, and end with a different enemy – something purely constructed by the Game itself. For added pain/trauma it could BE Ozpin, after he becomes a mentor.

So the Game even forces him to kill his mentor, who is no doubt being subverted by the Game…
Or Ironwood… Anything might have been better than the canon ending! Oh well!