I would describe myself as a forty-two-year-old bachelor, gainfully employed at a decent-sized company, a resident of a moderately sized city in one of Japan’s more rural prefectures.
There’s nothing particularly unique about my looks or abilities, though I think I’m at least average by most measures. Despite that, unfortunately, there was never a time when I thought marriage was anywhere on the horizon. If asked about my hobbies, I could only say I enjoyed playing TTRPGs. When I was younger, I even helped organize conventions. However, I almost never found time to play once I joined the workforce.
But that average life of mine came to an abrupt end.
The last thing I remember was finishing up some unpaid overtime, returning to my apartment, and opening the door.
After that, I found myself in an empty void. I was unable to perceive anything above or below me—not even my own body. The only thing I was aware of was my consciousness, floating in empty space.
I thought I had at least another twenty years before my time was up…
Though I can’t explain how, I realized that I was dead.
I thought of my work colleagues and friends, my relatives and neighbors, my unfinished work, my unread novels and tabletop sourcebooks, as well as my backlog of video games, and I felt the loss of all of those things envelop me in the void.
Well, it’s not like there’s anything I can do about it now.
Looking back on my life, there wasn’t really much I could boast about, but there was nothing I was particularly ashamed of, either. All in all, it wasn’t so bad, I thought. It’s unfortunate it had to end so soon, but what’s done is done. Gradually, I accepted my condition and made peace with my passing.
After I’d already lost my sense of the passage of time, something spoke to me.
“I am one of the Watchers.”
I could not see the source of that voice, nor hear it, but its words and intent were conveyed to my consciousness all the same.
“Henceforth, you will be transported to a space that exists beyond the limits of your plane of origin—what you might call a parallel world.”
“I’ll be…transported to another world?” I asked.
Hearing that phrase out loud felt strange, but oddly nostalgic.
“According to a search I ran on this dimension’s information substrate, ‘transported to another world’ is indeed the most adequate phrase to describe the phenomenon.”
“Well… Huh.”
Confused, I wasn’t able to give more than a half-hearted response, but some part of me had already accepted whatever was in store. There was no reason to be frightened. After all, I was already dead.
Not to mention, I was a big fan of otherworldly stories like A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court and the John Carter series, to name a couple of the classics. I remembered hearing the genre was experiencing a sort of revival recently, too.
But those were just stories, fiction—or at least, I thought that was the case. Now the same thing seems to be happening to me.
“Um… Once I’m transported to this other world, what exactly is going to happen to me?”
“I will provide you with a body suitable for your new life there, so, if you would, please provide me with the information required for its creation. Your destination can be described—using the terms familiar to you—as a fantasy world of the so-called ‘sword and sorcery’ subgenre, so it would be best if the information you provide is well-adapted to that premise.”
“A new body…in a fantasy world?”
The first thing that came to mind was a character I’d made for a western tabletop RPG called Dungeons & Braves. I’d played that one passionately during my student days. Over seven years and across several campaign scenarios, I’d raised this character to the maximum level allowed in the game. He was the character I felt the most attached to: the great magic user, Geo Margilus.
“I have completed a search on your character. Using the information contained in the rulebooks, sourcebooks, scenario notebooks, and character sheets found in your room, I will reproduce the physical and mental abilities of ‘Geo Margilus,’ as well as his possessions. However, in order to prevent any dissociation, which might negatively affect your state of mind, no changes will be made to your physical appearance.”
In other words, not only did this self-proclaimed Watcher read my mind, it also looked through all my notebooks filled with the delusions and fantasies of my youth.
This is incredibly embarrassing…
“The creation of Geo Margilus has been successfully completed,” the watcher proclaimed.
While my disembodied self was writhing in shame, the Watcher finished its work. I began to regain the sense of having a physical body.
I was dressed in a black robe, a knapsack over my shoulder and a staff in one hand.
My physical appearance was the same as before. I still had the black hair, dark eyes, and plain face of an average Japanese man, so it felt like I’d simply put on a costume. However, I could sense more had changed than met the eye. This is the physical strength and lightness of body of someone in their twenties, I thought, but I should clarify: I felt more energy than I’d had in my twenties, as I hated sports and was an indoor-dwelling otaku.
“Are there any issues with your consciousness or memories?” the Watcher asked.
As I searched the corners of my mind, I discovered an intuitive understanding of my character Geo Margilus’s magic abilities, as well as an inventory of his magic items and a grasp of how to use them. Everything I had worked out together with the game master and written down in my notebooks as background information was now ingrained in my mind as knowledge. Despite all the new information, I could still access the memories of the forty-two years of my previous life without any problems.
“Everything seems to be fine,” I replied. “But you weren’t kidding. I really am a character out of a TTRPG…”
My character, Geo Margilus, was a Level 36 magic user. By Dungeons & Braves’s Master rules, Level 36 is the highest level any character can reach. When I remembered that fact, after becoming him, I was assaulted by a mix of anxiety and excitement.
Wait, is this really okay? What have I gotten myself into?
Even among fans of the genre, D&B has a reputation for being a bygone relic. What most people associate with D&B are parties of weak characters, only 3 to 5 hit points apiece, struggling—and failing—to survive, as they explore unexciting dungeons infested with rats, bats, goblins, and hardly anything else. This may be hard for those used to contemporary TTRPGs to believe, as more emphasis is now put on colorful characters and intricate plots, but that is a fairly accurate description of gameplay in D&B.
However, that description only applies to the Basic ruleset. As in-game characters mature, the nature of their adventures changes dramatically.
D&B has four core sets of rules: Basic, Expert, Companion, and Master, with each set corresponding to a range of ascending character levels. Once D&B’s Master ruleset is in use, you can expect each character to be the head of a guild or the leader of a country, for adventures to lead into space or to alternate dimensions, and for fights to be historic battles with demons or gods. Depending on the circumstances, characters may go on an adventure to become a god.
In order to reach the level required for D&B’s Master rules, one must play a character through a minimum of one hundred campaign scenarios. I spent seven years raising Geo to his final state, and his abilities—powerful enough to hold sway over the fate of the world—reflected that.
“Having done all this for me, what is it you want me to do?” I asked.
“Once you are transported, we will not direct you, nor interfere with your actions.”
You’re telling me that after you go out of your way to transport me to another world, I’m supposed to do whatever I want? There must be some ulterior motive at play, I thought, trying to read between the lines of what this self-proclaimed Watcher told me.
“This isn’t something, where—for instance—it’s all well and good that I’ve become a wizard, but Geo’s magic doesn’t work in the other world, right?”
In that case, this wouldn’t be a portal fantasy, but a dark sci-fi comedy.
“The magic in your character’s game is fundamentally at odds with the principles of the other world, but an implementation of it is still possible within the confines of that world’s natural laws. The same applies to the details of your physical strength and abilities, as well as your game-derived knowledge.”
“Are you sure about this? I might throw the whole world into disarray.”
“If that is your wish, we would have no objection.”
Well, I would!
There once was a time I’d wished I could be Geo, but the idea that I, a man in his forties, should have the energy and drive to take some grand action to save or destroy the world with Geo’s powers was just asking too much of me. Of course, if this had happened to me twenty years earlier, that would be a different story.
“Don’t you think Geo is a little too strong? I have a feeling a Level 6 Cleric would be much more reasonable… But then again, Geo is the character I’m most used to,” I muttered, weighing alternatives and backpedaling.
On the other hand, I couldn’t deny the rush of excitement I felt inside me over this strange turn of events. Here was a chance to be the hero of the many adventures I’d played with my friends around the table in my youth.
Normally, I wouldn’t have had the time to abandon my work and go play around—let alone visit another world—but at the end of the day, I only had this chance because I was dead.
I guess I could think of it as an early retirement? Regardless of whether I spent however many years I had left in Japan or another world, it wasn’t a bad deal, as long as I didn’t have trouble feeding myself. Though, if I got the chance, it would be nice if I could eat good food every now and then, maybe go to some hot springs, read some interesting books… If I could fit in some roleplaying, that would just be icing on the cake…
Let’s be honest. By the end of my conversation with the Watcher, I’d forgotten all the lessons I’d learned from life. I was over the moon, painting fantastic futures in my mind.
“Well then, I shall now send you to the other world. For your reference, your destination is the continent of Sedia, as it is called in the language of its people,” said the Watcher, and that was the last I heard before my consciousness was cut short.