This message is a placeholder for Eric's new thread, GMed by JohnA1nut.  :)

So, the Carters vanish. POOF!!!! And they're gone!!!!! And then Buddy walks up and slaps you on the back and says "It's okay now!!! Things will get better."

And then you're waking up. You feel different. Not yourself. More animated, as it were. Your clothes feel different. Like you're wearing something else entirely. It feels more silky and smooth. You feel that your Chaos Katana is in your left hand, and your Ordered blacksmithing hammer is in your right. How could this be? It was miles away. But it is.

And you hear a crowd of people cheering "Tad-e-usz!!! Tad-e-usz!!!" It's the kind of thing you might expect to hear at a baseball game for a star player. Or perhaps at a cage fight. Rooting for the hero.

And you haven't opened your eyes yet.

(Doing Therapy)
This message was last edited by the player at 12:16, Sat 18 Oct 2014.

Breathe..........................................................curiousity and worry and self regard overwhelm shock for a moment...open my eyes a crack.

OOC)For this post, I am going to take complete and total control over your character's actions. There is a perfectly valid story reason for this. I assure you, your character will neither be harmed, nor harm anyone else, regardless of what you might be thinking. I am only going to do this once without your consent. (Although you will probably consent to it later.) Also, you will have a whole boatload of new skills when I'm finished. So just roll with it for a minute.

Amid the cheering and screaming, you hear another voice. Mechanical in nature. It's saying "QUARTER ALERT. QUARTER ALERT."

And then you spring to your feet, energized and ready for action. Looking in front of you (Which is the only way you can currently turn your head to look) you see a cartoonish landscape, like something out of a video game. You're looking at a stage. There's a whole stadium of spectators cheering "Tad-e-usz!!! Tad-e-usz!!!" And you're facing a cartoon warrior. A ninja or samurai. He's got a pair of hatchets in his hands. Then a voice comes out of nowhere and says "Stage One." The opposing warrior moves towards you. You jump up into the air. Perhaps 20-25 feet. You bring your blacksmithing hammer down onto his face. Blood flies and then disappears. He slashes at you with a hatchet. You feel an impact, you see blood leave your body, but you feel absolutely no pain. Just an impact. It doesn't hurt at all though. Then you spin around and slash at him viciously with the Katana in your left hand. More blood leaves your opponent's body. Then his body flashes twice and disappears. There's a door in front of you. You batter it open with your blacksmithing hammer.

You are now in a hallway. Coming at you are a dozen similar warriors to the one you just defeated. You pulls back your blacksmithing hammer. You see a large black ball of Order energy form around it. Then you make a throwing gesture. A block of ice comes off of your hammer and impacts the first guy coming at you. He flashes twice and disappears. You pull back the Katana. This time, it's enveloped by a white aura. And you make a throwing gesture. A large, bright fireball shoots off of it and impacts the next guy. His body bursts into flames, and then flashes twice and disappears.

Then you run forward full tilt, swinging both weapons wildly. You plow through the first 3 or 4 guys like a lawnmower. They flash twice and disappear. Then one of them hits you. Then you cease to exist for a moment. But then the world is back. For about 5 seconds, you see the world flashing. And for that 5 seconds, you feel powerful. Like nothing could hurt you. And you plow through the remaining guys. And you reach another door. Bashing it open, you hear a voice say "Stage One Complete."

You are now standing in a spaceship hangar. And again, it is animated like a cartoon. You run over to one of the ships and get inside. Setting your weapons down in the seat next to you, you start the spaceship. You see through the view screen outer space as the ship takes off. Then a bunch of ships are coming at you. You fire the ship's weapons at them. They flash twice and disappear. Then one of them fires at you. You see the ship explode from the inside. You're engulfed in a fireball. But it doesn't hurt a bit. You just feel impacts. Then you cease to exist. And you come back. For five seconds, the world is flashing around you. And you feel invulnerable. You fire the ship's weapons at more ships coming at you, and they flash and disappear. You're flying like an ace. Like you've been doing this all your life. It's natural to you. You shoot down dozens of ships which all flash and disappear. And then you're facing a monstrosity of a ship. It's like the Death Star and the Battle Star Galactica had a baby. And it is ugly. You fire the ship's weapons at it, and you see you're causing it damage. But just not enough. It fires an energy weapon at you. Again, the ship explodes in a fireball. This time though, there's no flashing. You just cease to exist.

From nowhere, or perhaps from everywhere, you hear a male voice say "Man, Tadeusz rules!!!!"

And then you're looking at yourself. An animated, cartoon version of yourself. He's dressed in a silky ninja type of outfit. And he says "Good work Tadeusz Two!!"

And you have the following new skills.

1@1 Great Jump
1@1 Order Ice Attack
1@1 Chaos Flame Attack
1@1 Pilot Spaceship
1@1 Weapon Dependent martial art, using Katana and Blacksmithing hammer. B7@1
Fast-aggressive.
Attack Multiplier: 2.
This message was last edited by the player at 20:34, Sat 18 Oct 2014.

OOC: Understand.  The most worrisome result is the addition of new skills.

I let my mouth hang open.

"Uh, hello, me."

Okay, the entire world around you is black. Not dark. You can see Tadeusz just fine. But everything around you is black. Like there's nothing there. You look down at your feet. You see your feet, but not the ground. It's just black. You're not floating either. You're just there.

Tadeusz says "Sorry I missed the Quarter Alert. You must have code-dropped at exactly the right time. That's not unheard of. You were supposed to go through orientation first, Tadeusz Two. Oh well, nothing like being shoved right into the action on your first day out. Is there anything you'd like to know before you go to orientation Tadeusz Two?"

(Right in the middle of Dextroland.)

Two Posts



Why is that worrisome? I thought you'd be jumping for joy at that.

I thought I mentioned this before.  Generally, its something I'd lean against doing.

"I'm in a video game, aren't I?"

Tadeusz says "You are a Tadeusz Two. A secondary backup avatar compatible with all Tadeusz game systems."

He goes on to explain that Tadeusz is like Mario. Mario was in Donkey Kong, Super Mario Brothers, Doctor Mario, Mario Kart, even had a cameo as the fight referee in Mike Tyson's Punch Out. He does a lot of games. If this one isn't your speed, you can find another.

Then he says "Our job is to serve The Creators." and points up at the sky. You see a huge window floating in space. Just floating there. And through it, you can see the inside of a video arcade. Everything from Asteroids to Zaxon.

"It is the sole responsibility of the Tadeusz One avatar to answer all Quarter Alerts. Unless you happen to be in the right place at the right time, as you were today, you will never be called up to play against your will, Tadeusz Two."

Basically, you have all the rights and privileges of an extremely popular video game character, but share none of the responsibilities, unless you choose to share them.

OOC) You might want to watch the movie Wreck-It Ralph to get a better feel for what you're looking at. That's the inspiration for this.

"Like Wreck-It Ralph." I murmur to myself.  I'd watched that movie twice, I think.  It was good.

"What happens if I lose  afight, I'm in?"

Tadeusz says "You know Ralph, Tadeusz Two?"


"If you leave your game, stay safe, stay alert, and whatever you do, don't die! Because if you die outside of your own game, you don't regenerate. EVER! It's Game Over. That applies to all Tadeusz games. If you die inside a Tadeusz game, you will regenerate, Tadeusz Two."

Which is to say, you cannot verse out if you die inside a Tadeusz game.

But then the call comes in "QUARTER ALERT!! QUARTER ALERT!!"

Tadeusz asks if you want to take it. It's his responsibility though.

"If you don't want it, then get to orientation at Game Central Station." And then there's arrows on the ground pointing the way.

So are you taking the Quarter Alert or going to Game Central?
This message was last edited by the player at 08:59, Wed 22 Oct 2014.

"Heard of him." I say, and then wonder if I really have as does a story from another realm qualify?

"Thanks, Tadeusz One." and I head to my borientation, determined to extract useful data and pay attention.

OOC) What's the plural of Tadeusz? Tadeuszes? Tadei?

So Tadeusz One disappears. You hear the chanting "Tad-e-usz!!! Tad-e-usz!!!" as his game begins.

And you follow the arrows in the blackness. It wouldn't be right to say the arrows are on the floor, since there is no "floor". There are arrows at your feet in this black environment that you're following. But they lead you to a small kiddie sized train. The train is also just floating in the blackness. You board the train and it starts to move down the track. As far as you can tell, there's no one driving it. It leads you down in the inside of an electrical cable. Like a tunnel, but it's a power cable, until you come to a plug end. That's the train's end. You walk through the third prong as if it were a tunnel, and you find yourself in a gargantuan hallway. You can see the wall opposite you, but the two ends stretch as far as the eye can see. It's more or less infinite in length. The walls on both sides are lined with the plug ends. The plug you are leaving through has the words "Tadeusz, Supersoldier Extraordinaire" written over it. That's the name of the game you were in. There's Pac-Man, Asteroids, Mario Brothers, any game you can think of. The names are written over the plugs.

In this room, there's all manner of video game characters walking about. You see several other Tadeuszes? Tadei? walking around. But when you walk, everyone in your path whispers "Bad guy coming!!" and gets out of your way. Except of course, for the other Tadeusz characters. They don't seem overly interested in you. But everyone gets out of their way too.

There are different kiosks here and there in the hallway. "Information Services" "Power ups" and one marked "Orientation." Approaching that, you walk up, and find yourself in a classroom. Desks, chairs, and numerous video game characters sitting around in class. The teacher is Megaman.

OOC) How do you properly use supercharacters? Well, everyone you see is a supercharacter in some sense of the word. Tadeusz is just in the top 75% most powerful among them.
This message was last edited by the player at 13:17, Wed 22 Oct 2014.

"Megaman." I say with a short, but courteous nod.  I've heard of the name, but I'm not familiar with him.   He's some Japanese creation.

I hope that I'm not going to have to drag out what little I've read about Japanese culture to deal with this guy...

OOC) So you're not a video game junkie? That's good. Atari 2600 and 8 bit Nintendo is about as far as I got. I was afraid you were going to be an expert on them.

Megaman is a shorter guy. He's wearing an outfit that reminds you of a motorcycle racer with a helmet. His biological right hand has been amputated and replaced by a bionic enhancement with all manner of different attachments. Mostly different types of blasters. He's currently wearing some type of laser that lets him write on the screen in front of him.

In a sort of mechanical, computerized voice, Megaman says "Game jumping. Leaving your game and joining another. There's two types of game jumping. There's passive game jumping and there's active game jumping. Passive game jumping is going in as an observer. For example, being in the stands in a sports game to watch the action. As long as you do not interfere with the action, this is perfectly acceptable. You can passive game jump as an observer into any game and cheer on you favorite hero or villain. Just Do Not interfere with the action!! You want to watch a baseball game? You want to watch Tadeusz kick the crap out his enemies? Sit in the stands or in the designated observer areas. Your avatar's appearance will change accordingly. Active game jumping is trying to join the game as a player. Interfering with the action. This will bring disciplinary action up to and including code deletion."

Those guys that were cheering "Tad-e-usz!!" They were passive game jumpers. Just there to cheer you on and watch.

"Power ups. Non-game power ups are only to be used in designated power up testing areas. Non game power ups are not to be used in your own game during active play. There was a problem for a long time with power ups being used outside of games." And he describes something not unlike an illicit drug trade. "So the ones in charge decided rather than combat the problem, to allow it with regulation. If you want to test Mario's leaf flying or invincibility star, do so in the designated power up areas after game closure. Be forewarned, non game power ups will not work the same for you."

Instead of being the equivalent of an illicit drug trade, it's become part of the entertainment industry. Highly regulated. You want to fly like Mario? Get a leaf power up, go to the designated power up testing area and fly. Just be sure to lose the power up before you rejoin your own game. Failure to do so will result in disciplinary action up to and including code deletion. Same goes for non game weapons testing. You want to test out a Tadeusz Order hammer and you're not Tadeusz? Go to the designated testing area. But if you're not Tadeusz, Do Not use it in your own game!!! Or, for that matter, anywhere outside of the designated testing area. With a few exceptions.

Non game extra lives will not work for you and no amount of extra lives will save you from dying outside your own game. However, they are sold as a delicacy food item. You do not need to eat to live. You can eat for the sake of eating and you will not need to go to the bathroom. But if you like food, eat all you want. Pac-Man chips are another delicacy food item. The large chips that let him eat ghosts will give you 30 seconds where you can eat literally anything. Uranium, arsenic, eat your way out of a dungeon. Anything.

"Viruses. There is a major problem with viruses. Some areas of Game Central have become completely overrun with viruses. If you happen into one of these areas and you wish to pass through, you are requested to help combat the viruses as you pass. Be forewarned, if the virus kills you, you will not regenerate outside your own game. Anyone leaving a virus infected area must be scanned for virus infestation. If you are found to be infested, you will not be allowed to leave until the virus has been cured."

This is one of the exceptions to the no power ups rule. Since of course they want the viruses cleared out, you are permitted to use power ups and weapons outside the designated areas in order to help to combat the viruses. But it's still highly regulated.

"Any questions so far?"
This message was last edited by the player at 22:21, Sat 25 Oct 2014.

This is fascinating stuff.  I can see planning on using some power ups, then going virus hunting.  Perhaps i should go watch some other Tadei to learn their moves, and t hen test them, and then virus hunt....

I smile cheerfully.

"Thank you, no."

Megaman continues with the lecture. "You do not need to eat, sleep, or use the bathroom. The games are active for 12 hour cycles whilst the arcade is open. Twelve on, twelve off. After hours game jumping is perfectly acceptable. Tappers and Burger Time are popular game hang out spots." (That would be a game set in a bar and a game set in a hamburger joint, respectively) "How many of you are secondary avatars?" Every hand in the class goes up. "The best way to get training is to play in a game. There isn't a primary avatar out there that won't welcome the break. To buy power ups you need gold or other precious materials of trade value. The best way to get those is to play. And if there is nothing else, class dismissed. Welcome to life in Game Central."

And you hear a Ryu from Street Fighter elbow the guy next to him and mutter "I'm going over to Mario Brothers after hours. I heard that's a great place to get coins and power ups."

I turn to him, and say calmly and directly...

"Mind if I join in?"

When you nudge him to get his attention, Ryu turns around belligerently, prepared to tell off this interloper who's getting into his business. Until he sees who it is. Then his face changes to a bit of fear panic. He gasps "Tadeusz....." He's quite taken aback. Perhaps how you might feel if someone on the level of Gary Gygax wanted to join your pathetic little gaming club. He kind of stammers "Um, uh, sure Tadeusz. Meet us at Mario Three at uh game closing time."

Pause. OK, that's going to be a problem.

Smile.

"Thanks, Ryu."

I look around for a Tadei in a Race Car game, if there is one.  If not, then a FPS.  I'll ask the Tadei if he wants a break, and if he says yes, I'll tell him I'm a noob, and could use some basic know-how on his game.

OOC) Problem? Surprised. I thought you liked it when guys got out of your way. Personally I think Ryu is one of the toughest characters in Street Fighter and he's terrified of Tadeusz. Tells you something about Tadeusz.

Also, I believe you said you wanted a staff weapon. You get to pick one more martial arts/melee weapon for the Tadei to be carrying. You'll see.



"Um, yes. Thank you. It would be an honor to uh, run with you Tadeusz."

Then you gives you a polite bow and walks away.



Ryu leaves you and goes over to the door of the classroom. He opens the door and disappears into thin air. Then the door closes. You go over and open the door. When you open it, you're standing back in Game Central, in front of the kiosk where you entered. Ryu is nowhere to be seen.

Okay, let me set the stage here. You are wearing a silky ninja outfit. You are barefoot, barehanded, and wearing a toolbelt of sorts with the Katana and blacksmithing hammer hanging from it.

Standing against a wall is another Tadeusz. He is wearing the silky ninja outfit. He's also wearing motorcycle boots and leather driving gloves. He's got a staff weapon strapped to his back, like how Donatello carries his. His toolbelt has the Katana, blacksmithing hammer and one of the paintball guns with glowing paintballs from your last world. Also the before mentioned martial arts/melee weapon of your choice is hanging from the toolbelt. Anything you want, but it cannot be another hammer, Katana or staff. Anything else is fair game. Last but not least, Magehammer's cloth bag is hanging from his toolbelt. It's smaller than the one you've got. Looks about right to carry a single grapefruit.

You approach him and ask him about racing games. He says "That's good that you want to play Two. If you're going to live off our reputation, you better be able to back it up. Nothing infuriates the Tadei faster than a Two who refuses to play and just lives off our reputation."

He says "Two" curtly and with a touch of disrespect. Like how you might expect a senior in high school to say "Freshman".

But then he continues. "You want to race Two? Well, get over to Tadeusz Racing. I hear that guy hasn't had a break in months. I can help you get there Two."

I want those boots, I hate being barefooted.

I focus in on his toolbelt, and for a second, a very long one, its just a blur.  Then I make our a broadsword.

"Who said I was going to live off your reputation?  Feel free to tell everyone I'm an immortal dimension traveller just visiting your little corner of reality."  I shrug.  "I guess I was doing such, but if it bothers you, then disown me.  I don't care.  I've walked through Hell, and you little gaming avatar probaby had...." I stop.  I dislike making accusations I don't know aren't true.  Its why I win as many arguements as I do.

I give him a long look. Its odd. Seeing my own face.  The uncertainty. The harshness. The dark eyes.  I swallow considering that he probably can kick my teeth in.

"No." My voice warbles a bit as I turn away.  "No, I'll get there on my own, little avatar."

You're going to the right place. You get the gloves and the boots in the racing game.



Darn, I was hoping you'd go for something exotic like a mace and chain.


At this he laughs and says "No you're not. Not yet anyway. If you were a dimension traveler, you'd have the unreality sack." and gestures to MH's bag. "Keep playing Two. You'll get there."

Not even a hint of disrespect this time.



"We look out for our own. But only if our own look out for us. Remember that Two."



He just looks back. He might be thinking about doing just that. Or he might just be a little bit awed by your brashness. Hard to tell.



"Then go in peace brother." And gives you some complicated hand salute. When you don't return the salute, he laughs again and says "So you haven't been there either I see!!"

But you walk away. When you walk, everyone clears a path. You hear a lot of murmured "Bad guy coming!!!" when they clear out.

But then you get to Tadeusz Racing. Going into the plug tunnel, you hop on the little kiddie train and it takes you in. You hear a race going on. Multiple engines running at high RPM. And then you're looking at a computer generated racetrack. And there's a row of cars and another row of high end motorcycles lined up for players to choose from. When the race ends, the Tadeusz avatar from this game appears right in front of you. He wasn't there then he was there.

He smiles warmly and says "You wanting to play? I could use the break."

His clothes are a racing jumpsuit that closely resembles the silky ninja outfit you're wearing. He's also wearing the gloves and motorcycle boots.

I consider correcting him, then decide not to bother.

Walking through the crowd, I feel a long abandoned cloak descend over me, and I walk with more purpose and drive with my face blank and eyes hard and watchful.

Upon reaching the moto race, I first think....no,no.....and then....crud.

I look at the smiling Tadei with a look I know because I've seen a photo of it on a rollercoaster that was simply awful.  Grim determination.  this is going to be awful and I'm going to get through it.

"I hate motorcycles. I thought this was going to be cars."

I force a smile.  He's a nice guy, he doesn't deserve my mood.

"Yeah, but I need a helmet, shoes, I mean boots, and whatever else. I'm on my second game so give me the noob tour." Pause. Remember to be polite. "Please."

Tad Prime grins and says "Yeah, I'm not too fond of them either. It's up to the selection of the Creator playing the game though. Lucky for us, cars are much more popular."

It's both cars and motorcycles. You get the gloves for racing a car and the boots for a motorcycle. I said "Driving Gloves" and "Motorcycle Boots".



"Eh, no need for that. You just go stand in The Pit and when the Quarter Alert comes, you'll know what to do. Everything will be taken care of by the Creator playing."

Then he says "How long can I count on you staying? I really need to get out of here for a while. We've got about 10 hours before game closure."
This message was last edited by the player at 10:27, Fri 31 Oct 2014.

I remind myself to pay attention.  The facts were right in front of me, but I did not add them up.

"How about after an hour you send someone down here to check on me?  If I'm doing good, I'll go another hour, if not, he can take over."

I wait for his reply, and then walk down into the Pit, sizing up my competition.

"I'm afraid it doesn't work like that. But don't worry. You're not going to get stuck here. Unless of course......"

But he doesn't finish that sentence. Suddenly you're standing in the Pit and he's nowhere to be seen. (In case you haven't figured it out yet, this world works by cartoon/video game physics.)

The pit is your typical race pit. It's down below the stands. In the stands are avatars sitting. The spectators. And there's a clock in the tower. You watch that clock count down 30 minutes in what feels like a matter of seconds. Then you hear it:

"QUARTER ALERT!! QUARTER ALERT!!"

This is followed by "Player, select your vehicle!!"

And all of a sudden, you're sitting at the wheel of a Ferrari Testarosa. You're wearing the driving gloves. You still feel barefoot though. You're in line on the racetrack. The light is going red, yellow, green. And you're off.

The car takes off, the G forces pin you against the seat momentarily. You're driving like an ace. Weaving in and out. You're about a quarter of the way through the lap and you see a box floating in the air in front of you. You crash into it. But instead of hurting the car, you hear "Weapon Power Up." And there's a paintball gun with glowing paintballs sitting in the seat next to you. You steer with one hand and point the gun out the passenger window and fire at the car next to you. But instead of a paintball, the gun fires a huge three foot diameter ball of energy that completely obliterates the car next to you. After it explodes, it blinks twice and disappears.

From nowhere, or from everywhere, you hear a voice say "Got him!!!"

And you're driving some more. Taking curves and corners like you've been doing it all your life. Halfway through the lap, you lean out the driver's window with the paintball gun. It again fires a three foot ball of energy which obliterates the car next to you. After it explodes, this car also blinks twice and disappears.

This time the voice laughs and says "You're no match for Tadeusz sucker!!!!"

And you continue through the lap. You finish second.

And again you hear "Player, select your vehicle."

And suddenly you're sitting on a Harley Fatboy. Looking down, you're wearing the boots. And the gloves. The light changes to green, and you gun the engine. You rip out of the starting gate. Leaning into turns. It's the most natural move you've ever made. And again you crash into the floating box. And again you hear "Weapon Power Up!"

And the paintball gun is in your hand. You blast the bike in front of you with a three foot energy ball. Then you drive the bike right through the explosion. It doesn't faze you a bit. No heat, no pain. You just go through it.

And the voice says "Gotcha sucker!!!"

And you finish this race fourth. A voice says "Game Over!!"

And then you're back in the Pit. You've got the paintball gun strapped to your toolbelt. You're wearing the gloves and the boots. The clock in the stands has counted down 20 minutes whilst you were playing. And you watch it count down another 20 minutes in a matter of seconds before hearing "QUARTER ALERT QUARTER ALERT!!" yet again.

And this cycle repeats several times. You drive about three cars for every motorcycle. The clock in the stands has gone forward 5 hours. It didn't feel like more than one though.

Finally you're standing in The Pit and Tad Prime is there with you. He says "You like that? You want to play some more?"

New use on your driving skill, new use on your motorcycle skill, two new uses on your paintball gun skill.

"Yeah, that wasn't bad."


OOC: I'm not certain about this game take over effect you've got going on.  Its uunconventional, and generally goes against Good Advice, but the writing is fun to read.

Tad Prime grins and says "Yeah, it's kinda weird at first letting the Creators take control over your body, but you get used to it after a while. Nobody is getting hurt. Would you like to meet the drivers you shot on the track?"

And suddenly you're surrounded by a whole bunch of racers. They're all congratulating you. You hear a lot of "Good Gaming Tadeusz!!!" They're not upset about it in the slightest. It's their job to die in the game, just like it's your job to kill them. They just regenerate, no harm no foul.

And the Tad Prime says "You want to stay and keep playing?"



OOC) Let's take that to Facebook.
This message was last edited by the player at 09:29, Sun 02 Nov 2014.

"Yeah, let's keep going."

I laugh and josh with the others, letting them tell jokes at my expense on occasion.  And then after the laughter goes down, it out with a joke of mine.  I don't keep even as I don't really
care.

One of the other non-Tadeusz racers says "I would never let the Creators take control over me. I might get blown up every game, but at least I'm nobody's puppet."

And Tad Prime says "Yeah, but nobody gets out of your way when you walk down Game Central. I get respect for what I do. I might be a puppet in the game, but I'm a master outside it."

Five hours to go till game closure. Tad Prime asks if you want the next Quarter Alert.
This message was last edited by the player at 19:06, Tue 04 Nov 2014.

"Yes, I'll take the next quarter alert for the rest of the game day.  Don't let me keep you from your business."

And as soon as he's gone, I'll walk over to the guy who said he was independent, and ask him what he means, and how that works.

Tad Prime disappears. You ask the other racer.

"I'm what the Creators would call a computer controlled character. Except I'm not. I control myself. My job is to compete with Tadeusz. I'm limited though. I can't game jump as a player. A Tadeusz can play in any Tadeusz game. I'm stuck here. And he was right. Nobody gets out of my way when I walk down Game Central. I get no respect. Some of the Tadei call us 'Expendables'. They've been known to kill us outside the games because they know we won't regenerate." Then he turns away from you. You hear sadness in his voice. "Tad Prime was right. Being independent isn't all it's cracked up to be. You're better off as a Tadeusz."

"They call me Two, and I don't hold with killing the weak or the innocent."

I'll ride, but as I ride in the game, I'll try to learn from it.  Later, I'm going to be keeping an eye out on how Tadei deal with Expendables.

"Not all of them are like that. For characters that are supposed to be the same, they're as different as any other group of people. Tad Prime in this game is pretty cool. He's gotten us out of a few scrapes with his fellow Tadei. He's a Prime. NOBODY!!!! messes with a Prime."

Primes are the top echelon. The backup avatars have ranks, as you've found out. You're now somewhere between a Two and Three. But even the highest ranked backup avatars will still back down to a Prime.




What are you trying to learn?

It isn't long before you hear "QUARTER ALERT!!!!" The rest of the racers disappear to their positions. You get to drive a DeLorean and several other hopped up cars and bikes. You do notice though that the racer you were talking to isn't as competitive as he was before. He stays back a little bit. He seems to be trying to prevent the other racers from overtaking you. You win a few more races.

In between races, you're back in the pit alone. The clock counts down time rapidly. You are a computer program. Time is relative to you.

But then you hear an announcement. "GAME CLOSURE!!! GAME CLOSURE!!!!"

The other racers appear out of nowhere. One of them asks what you're doing. If you have plans. You were planning to meet Ryu at Mario Three.

I try to learn how to do the driving stunts, like sliding around a curve, and how to do the shooting at cars while moving.

I've got a lot of driving experience, but not much at all at extreme high speeds.

"I'm meeting someone at Mario 3, maybe another time, okay?"

OOC) Well, you got a New Use on your driving skill. Is that good enough? Or are you wanting those stunts as separate skills?



To this one says "Don't go crazy in there. Don't try to pick the place clean. I know it's tempting. There's coins and power ups all over the place. But Mario and Luigi can be kind of territorial if they think you're taking too much. If they get pissed off about it, whatever you do, don't try to fight them. Just surrender what you've got and walk away. They're at home. They regenerate. You don't. There's not an avatar out there that won't defend his home turf."

And then another one says "Yeah, and the enemies that kill them can kill you too."

And a third says "We're going over to Burger Time. They got some amazing burgers over there. Stop by when you're finished if you want to."

So you all board the train back to Game Central. Whilst you're exiting the tunnel, you see across the hallway a tunnel that says "Verser Tadeusz." There's two Tadei leaving. They both have the blacksmithing hammers, Katana swords and MH's cloth bag. So that's where you get the unreality sack. Also, it seems you use the same weapons in multiple games.

One of the random kiosks has a sign that says "Information." There's a map leading to Mario Three.

"Thanks for the advice, and yeah, Burger Time sounds good." It does.  I wonder if they have bacon cheeseburgers, or jalopeno burgers....mmm, mmmm good.

I laugh to myself at seeing the other verser game.

Then I follow the map to Mario, and once there, look around for Ryu, which is not something I'm that good at.  Spotting people in crowds is a weakness of mine.  But I figure he can see me looking around, and just walk up to me.  And then we can go in to the game.

Whilst you're looking at the map, Pac-Man floats past you and hands you one of the chips from his game. He's just smiling and passing chips out to random people. It tastes exactly like you expect manna to taste. Sweet with a bit of honey.

So you're walking down the hallway. People are getting out of your way. You see Link from Legend of Zelda. He's carrying a huge treasure chest. Wreck-It Ralph walks over. Links says to Ralph "Smash this open for me, will ya?" And Ralph screams "I'm gonna wreck it!!!" and smashes the lid. The chest is full of rupies. Link tells Ralph to take a handful for his help.

When you reach Mario Three, Ryu is waiting for you. You don't have to find him. He's standing outside. He comes up to you and asks "So, uh, did you have a good first day Tadeusz?"

And you enter Mario Three. You board the train and roll into the game. It's Mario Three alright, but it's a three dimensional landscape instead of side scrolling. Blocks and coins floating in midair. Ryu jumps up under one of the blocks and punches it from underneath. A mushroom pops out and starts sliding across the floor. Ryu picks it up. He says to you "I heard that if we eat one of these, we become twice our size and strength for 30 seconds. Oh, what I wouldn't give to take one of these into a fight with Chun-Li."

No sign of Mario or Luigi.

"Thanks Pac Man." I eat the chip.

"Yeah, Ryu, most enligtening.  I learned a lot of stuff."

Mmmm. I listen to Ryu, and try to come up with a solution, but can't.  Oh well, some things are not meant to be.

I follow Ryu's example.  After that, I leap for a block.  If I can get an edge, maybe I can climb up, and then I'll leap down.  Just to get an idea for how it feels.   I don't want to be doing some super high jump and go splat when I did not expect that, after all.

If that works out well, then back up on a block, and leap for coins...

So you Great Jump up under a block and hit it with your fist. It explodes into a shower of bricks. The bricks just fall through the ground and out of the world. You jump up on top of blocks and fall off. And although you're falling from a height which would normally be painful, you don't feel a thing. You just take it and walk away.

Ryu meanwhile has jumped up onto blocks which would put him about 5 or 6 stories up. He jumps off and does a tumbling leap. He lands on his feet and doesn't seem to be hurt at all. This is a video game. Falling from great heights doesn't hurt.

You see a bunch of coins arranged in an inverted U shape floating in midair. You leap up and into them. You grab one with your hands, but all of the coins your body touched disappear. You feel your pockets getting heavier. The coin in your hands is about 8 inches around and weighs a half pound. Solid gold. Looking into your pockets, you see more gold coins about the size of quarters. Pulling one out, as soon as it leaves your pocket, it changes from the size of a quarter to eight inches around and weighing a half pound. Putting it back into your pocket, it reduces to the size of a quarter. Video game physics. You've got 10 coins.

Ryu says "I wonder if it works the same for us as it does for Mario. If we get 100 coins do we get an extra life? The extra life wouldn't work for us, but I've heard they're really tasty."
This message was last edited by the player at 22:18, Sat 08 Nov 2014.

"A good thought." And so Ryu and I set out to collect a hundred coins each.  It gives me a goal, and along the way I practice my Great Jump, and High Punch, and Flying Side Kick, and High Fall with Tumble like Ryu was doing.

Its exhilarating to feel the surge of adrenaline as I swan dive off a seven story high block, do a double flip, land on my feet, and do a somesault roll...awkwardly.  But that's what practise is for, and soon I'm not so awkward.

After a bit, I say to Ryu...

"See that really high block with the mass of coins above it?"

"How about I do a boost?  You run  and I hold this coin between my hands for you to jump on, and I'll shove at the same time...."

So you jump up and hit a block. Out pops a mushroom. It's about 3 feet tall until you pick it up. Then it reduces to the size of a normal mushroom.

The next block you hit has a fireball flower in it. Again, three feet tall reduced to the size of a dandelion when you pick it up.

The third block you hit has a leaf in it. Turns Mario into a flying racoon. The leaf is three feet across until you pick it up. Then it's a normal leaf.

You boost Ryu up to the block with the coins over it. He tumbles through the air and falls, landing on his feet. The he turns to you with an idiot grin. He says excitedly "There's a whole field full of coins about a mile that way. I saw it when I was in the air!!!!"

So I presume you take off after it. Indeed there's rows upon rows of coins floating in the air. If you just start running into it, you'll collect a hundred within minutes.

So you do. (I would assume) And you feel your pockets getting heavier and heavier. Then suddenly your pockets feel empty and on the ground is a green, three foot mushroom. An extra life. But you have no more coins.

And you eat the mushroom. (Why not?) Every bite is a different flavor and texture. First bite tastes like chocolate cake. Next bite tastes like sweet sausage. Next bite tastes like vanilla pudding. All amazingly delicious.

But then you hear a voice from behind you. An Italian sounding accent. It says forcefully.

"Tadeusz-uh. What-uh are-uh you-uh doing here-uh?"

Turning, you're face to face with Mario. He's six feet tall, pixelated in the old 8 bit fashion.
This message was last edited by the player at 21:29, Fri 14 Nov 2014.

Cool.  We tumble, leap, and flip through the air.  I have Ryu also do the stair maneuver so that I can do  high-flying leap.  Its awesome upon the top of the curve, but going down is worse than any roller coaster.

So fast I almost forget to tumble in my horrified fascination.

When Mario shows up, I turn and gravely nod to him.

"Hello, Mario, we're practising our skills in the off hours.  I hope to get good enough to defeat some of the virii.  Do you wish to join in?  Or are we in your way?"

OOC)You rolled a GE of 6, so Mario isn't upset, he's happy to see you.

Mario greets you with the same complicated hand salute that the other Tadeusz gave you. When you don't return it, he says:

"So-uh, you-uh, haven't been-uh to-uh Search-uh And-uh Rescue Tadeusz-uh?"

And since I don't feel like typing this in the Italian accent, he goes on to say that there's a game where Tadeusz is a SAR team leader. That's where you learn the salute. And since one of the levels has Tadeusz rescuing someone from a sewer, naturally Mario is a member of the SAR team. So you're in a game together. It's kind of a crossover game.

He tells you that he gets notified whenever someone from outside collects 100 coins. Anybody else he would throw them out. They're taking too much. But not for his buddy Tadeusz. You're welcome to stay and hang out. Ryu on the other hand.....

"You-uh vouch-uh for-uh Ryu-uh Tadeusz-uh?"

If you don't vouch then Ryu has to leave. Ryu is looking at you like a lost puppy.

"No, I haven't, perhaps I can check that out tommorrow, or soon."

I smile and nod at Ryu.

"He seems a good guy.  Hey Mario, why don't we practise, and before we leave, we'll leave all the coins and the extra lives behind, keep the powerups.  I do need to develop my virus hunting skills, and this looks like a good place to learn how to jump and balance and hit targets."

Mario says "Ah!!!!! Tadeusz-uh wants-uh to fight viruses-uh? Go to Verser Tadeusz-uh game. What is name? Wizard-hamma? Magic mallet? Mario no remember-uh. He give potente virus weapon-uh."



Ryu couldn't be happier.



Mario authorizes you to test the power ups in his game, so you don't have to go to the designated testing area. That's an exception to the designated area rule. If you have authorization from the game owner. You could do that too, but you would have to test Tadeusz power ups in a Tadeusz game. And you do that all day.

He says that you all should go battle some Goombas and Turtles to get practice. And he even knows where the power ups are.

(Doing Therapy)

We will come along with him to the power ups, and practise using them, and taking on the goombahs.

Mario says "First, let me-uh suit up-ah."

And hits a block. Out pops a hammer. He grabs the hammer and is transformed into Hammer Mario.

"I hope Tadeusz-uh let's Mario down to a Tadeusz-uh game. I want to try that hamma of yous."

But he points out blocks that have Fire Flowers and Raccoon Leaves in them. Those are all over the place. The hammer suits are really hard to find, so naturally Mario is saving the best for himself.

"Tadeusz-uh want to try-uh frog suit?"

Lets you swim and jump like a frog.

So you grab several Fire Flowers and Raccoon leaves. You have to eat them to activate them. The give outsiders one minute of the power.

And now it's up to you to decide which you use and how. But Mario takes you to a field of Goombas. They're three feet tall and they're just walking around aimlessly, bumping into each other. About a half-mile away. There's pipes going into the ground; blocks and coins are floating everywhere. Mario tells you you can grab 20 coins to take with you. That's what he usually lets people get. There's nothing keeping the Goombas from coming at you, but at the moment, they're relatively far away.

But Mario does tell you that they can kill you just by touching you. This is his game, it's his game rules. So you do not approach one unless you are on at least one powerup. Then you can get hit once without dying. And then you run. They're slow and easy to outrun. This is a lot more dangerous than you might have been thinking. He advises you to skip the racoon tails and just use fireballs on them. You can do that from here. Use the tails somewhere else.

OOC) You've evidently played Mario 3. What other powerups are in that game? Hammer suit, frog suit, several different raccoon suits, fireballs, what else? We might even make up new ones.

HAPPY NOVEMBER 19th!!!!!!

(Doing Therapy)
This message had punctuation tweaked by the player at 05:39, Wed 19 Nov 2014.

Two Posts

Almost forgot the mushrooms. You got a bunch of those too. Those take you from 6 feet tall and 1@9 strength to 12 feet tall and 2@8 strength. But it only lasts for 60 seconds. Six foot tall Mario was on a mushroom when you met him. In this game, he's normally only three feet tall. Ya know how it works. He's short, he can't break bricks. Then he eats a mushroom and grows taller and able to break bricks. So twice the height and strength. Or something like that.

Invincible stars, 20 seconds. That's about how long they last for Mario.

(Doing Therapy)
This message was last edited by the player at 07:40, Wed 19 Nov 2014.

"I'll try to get you in, but they call me a Two.  So...you know..."  Shrugs.

I'll get close to the outer edge of the goombah's and Fire Flower them, and when they charge, I'll shift to Frog and jump way over them on the other side. And rinse, repeat, and recycle until they are all gone.

It turns out frog suits are almost as rare as hammer suits. Mario has 3 of them. You're welcome to all of them. So for the moment, I'm going to assume you only use one.

You get up to the field of Goombas and eat your fire flower. It tastes spicy. But it doesn't linger. Your mouth stops burning shortly after you swallow. You feel yourself grow warmer. Very hot. And then you fire. You just think about shooting a fireball and your shoot one. They bounce along the ground, traveling in a perfectly straight line until their either hit something or go out of sight. You fire at the Goombas. It's just like in the video game. The fireball hits them and they fall through the ground. Which is not to say the fireballs can't set things on fire. You're just playing by Mario World rules at the moment. So in 60 seconds, you shoot off 60 fireballs. Some of them visibly bounce over the targets. The Goombas don't seem to even notice. They just keep wandering around aimlessly, bumping into things.

Then the fire flower power goes away. You burp, like you would after a long night of good Mexican food. It burns!!! But you're okay. Then you take out a small plastic-like model of a frog. It's like a hard gummy candy. It tastes like chicken. (Ever had frog's legs? They really do taste like chicken.) And then you have frog's legs. Actually, your whole body that you can see is a frog!!! And you jump up 30-40 feet in the air, effortlessly. Giving it a great jump, the suit enables you to reach 60-70 feet. You jump up and stomp on a Goomba. It squishes flat, blinks twice and disappears. And you bounce around in the Goomba field for 30-45 seconds, squashing Goombas every time you land. It feels like you're stepping on something soft and flexible. Then it disappears. When your time gets short, Mario yells at you to get out of the field.

"You-uh have-uh good time Tadeusz-uh? Mario never gets-uh tired of squishing thu Goombas." and you share a laugh.

(Doing Therapy)

"This is AWESOME." And I do a frog leap and double somersault before coming down on another Goomba.  After this, I try to take out two of them at once by landing on their heads, one head, one leg of mine...

And I wonder to myself what frog legs taste like, having never had them, not that I really wanted to anyways.  Fact is, a burger was sounding better and better.

"Hey Mario, and Ryu, I got invited over to Burger Time....after we get done here...." Jump. "We could grab some burgers."

I've played Mario before, but not much so I'm not familar with their powers, so this is new to me as I soar over the field doing acrobatics in the air.

Little known fact about the Mario games. If you can step on (I believe) 10 enemies in a row without touching the ground, you get an extra life. So you smash one, then you smash two at once, then you flip and smash another. This continues for a few seconds, and suddenly there's a green mushroom on the ground, directly underneath you. You grab it and eat it. Each bite is a different one of your all time favorite foods.



Ryu "Yeah, they do have some great burgers over there. You want to come Mario?"

Mario "Nah, I-uh got-uh some things to-uh do here-uh."

But Mario does ask if you want to go somewhere else to test the raccoon suit. It lets you fly and gives you a tail to whack things with. The mushroom would make you twice the size and strength, but there's nothing in this game that you can't already do.  You're as big and strong normally as Mario is on a mushroom.



You've only got 60 seconds unless you eat another frog suit. You've only got three frog suits, so I am assuming you test one and save the other two. Unless you say otherwise, of course.

"Sure Mario, we can do the raccoon suit..."

After that, its burgers. My stomach is rumbling, and my blood sugar is teetering on the edge.

I will do two frogs tho'.  Get some solid practise in.

These you have in abundance. Mushrooms, raccoon leaves and fire flowers are plentiful. Only the more exotic suits are difficult to find.

But Mario takes you to an open field. Nothing anywhere. He tells you to eat the leaf. It tastes like a leaf. Suddenly, you have a raccoon tail and your ears feel different. They're on top of your head now. Mario tells you to get a running start and jump. Then keep jumping.

So you do. You get a running start, you jump, and now you're not on the ground. You're 10 feet up. And you jump again. But you're not touching the ground when you do it. But you're another 10 feet up. And you keep jumping and jumping. You get a good 350-400 feet in the air. And the leaf power gives out. POOF!!!! You're back to being Tadeusz. And you're falling. Falling. Falling. The ground is rushing up at you at 200 miles per hour. But then you land. It doesn't feel any different than if you had fallen 6 inches.

Mario tells you that you can whack things with the tail. He takes you to some blocks. You eat another leaf and spin around. The blocks explode and the bricks just fall through the ground. Mario tells you you can hit enemies with that, but the effect it will have varies from enemy to enemy.



Actually it isn't. You have no sensation of being hungry. You're a video game character. You don't need to eat, sleep, or use the bathroom. Characters eat for the pleasure of eating; but you will feel no different after eating a dozen double cheeseburgers than you do now. And now you feel normal.



Okay, so you did that.

And its Burger Time....

So Mario leads you back to the train to Game Central. He tells you where Burger Time is and you go there with a clear path.

Have you ever played Burger Time? You run around on scaffolding, climbing ladders, and you run across burger pieces. Like you run across a top bun, and when you run across it, it falls down onto the level below. And then you run across a meat patty, and it falls onto the level below. You can use those to smash your enemies. When you drop all of the burger pieces to the bottom and assemble the burgers, you advance to the next level.

So when you go in there, that's what you see. Burger pieces on scaffolding with a guy running across them, dropping them down. Except here, they're dropping into a diner. Inside the diner, there's all different characters sitting around, waiting for their burgers to drop in from the ceiling. Ryu is with you. He's not saying very much. In one corner booth of the diner though, you see two familiar faces. Magehammer and 18 year old Samantha are sitting across from each other in a corner booth. He is in his traditional black trenchcoat with his backpack sitting on the floor next to him. Samantha is not in her practical skirt and blouse. She's wearing a pair of flip flop sandals, a pair of cut off jean shorts that would make Daisy Duke jealous. She's got nice toned legs. She's also wearing a bikini bra top over her ample bosom. You know how they love to slut up the female game characters. She's getting quite a few looks from the other male characters. Magehammer and Samantha are animated video game characters. And they're just sitting there, eating burgers, and looking into each others eyes all lovey dove. They don't have scriff senses to them since they're not versers here. However, this is an accurate representation of where their relationship went after you left. They're now associates and lovers.

OOC) You didn't really think I could not bring him in, did you?
This message was last edited by the player at 01:01, Sat 29 Nov 2014.

Two Posts

http://www.cracked.com/article...ally-used-pt.-2.html

Click this link and check out these guns. You're probably going to end up with a weapon or two inspired by something on this list.

And just because it's driving me nuts, don't worry. Magehammer's appearance probably isn't what you're probably thinking.
This message was last edited by the player at 13:06, Mon 01 Dec 2014.

I take a seat, and do my best to ignore the two.  After a bit of careful study of the menu, which has me looking for Blue cheese, and bacon,and tomatoes and curly fries...

OOC: yes, I'm hungry in RL.  making some hot dogs, not as good as a Bacon Bleu Burger.

You got all of that. Whatever kind of burger you can think of, and plenty you can't. Whilst you're sitting there thinking about what burger you want, a bottom bun falls from the ceiling and lands on the table in front of you. Then a meat patty falls from the ceiling. Then cheese. Then vegetables. Then the top bun. They each fall one piece at a time. You didn't tell anyone anything. You just had to think it.

A couple of the other racers come over to you and sit down. Same thing happens to them. They just think about what they want, and it falls from the ceiling, piece by piece.

One of the racers kind of surreptitiously points at Magehammer and whispers to you "I don't know who that guy is, but I heard the Tadei all hate him for some reason. I was hoping maybe you could tell us who he is." But then he says "His girlfriend's got some nice pixels on her though."

"Really?" I raise an eyebrow, and then shrug.  Then I turn my attention to my BBB.  Ah, its good. Salt, protein...a fresh vine ripe tomato, the odd but satisfying taste of blue cheese, and Bacon!!  And the grilled, juicy black pepper seasoned burger is good enough not to need accompaninment.

I sigh in delight, and remind myself to thank God for my blessings. Its easy to forget when things go well.

I'm a good listener, and i spend my time asking questions likely to provoke long answers, and enjoying the BBB.  After that, to their wide eyed amusement, its another burger...fried, breaded jalopeno, thick melted mozzarella, and two thin burgers separated by grilled onions.

OOC)You're really trying to avoid Magehammer, aren't you? I did that for a reason.



The racer says "Don't know why they hate him. All I know is he's in the Verser Tadeusz game."

That would make Magehammer an Expendable. Not a main character. You are the main character.



And it falls in from the ceiling, piece by piece. The others aren't in wide-eyed amusement. You're not any more or less full than you were when you came in. You taste the burger, you feel it in your mouth, but once you swallow it, it doesn't feel any different to you. You just eat for the pleasure of eating. You could eat a hundred burgers at a sitting and it wouldn't affect you at all. You are a video game character. They're all eating too. You might be in amusement at what they're eating though.

So you sit and talk for a while. They tell you that Vanellope from Sugar Rush issued an open challenge to the Tadei. To a race, after hours, in her game. Tadeusz Racing and Sugar Rush are the two most popular racing games in the arcade. So far, none of the Tadei have accepted. It's generally considered foolhardy to accept a challenge like that in another player's game. They regenerate. You don't. Really easy for them to wipe you out in their own game.

But you see Magehammer and Samantha get up to leave. He raises his eyebrows at Samantha and says to her "Let's get over to Leisure Suit Larry, shall we?" and pats her on the butt. As they're leaving, two more Tadei come in. Magehammer kind of cowers and lowers his head as he walks past. They both give him exceptionally dirty looks.

The other two Tadei sit down in the booth they were in and get their burgers.

OOC) Eh, screw it. I thought that might make a nice role-reversal for you. Now you are the supercharacter and Magehammer is the one who fears your power.
This message was last edited by the player at 18:47, Wed 03 Dec 2014.

OOc: Yes.

"I think I might want to take on Vanellope....but first i need to get in more driving practise."

I stop after two burgers.  The experience lacks and gains at the same time.  Interesting.

"See ya around, guys. Nice chatting with you."

I'll head over to Sugar Rush just to watch.

OOC) Well since you made that clear, you're not going to see him again unless you go into Verser Tadeusz, which I hope you do. That's where you get the unreality sack. And I want to show you why the Tadei hate him. But I thought that might make a nice role-reversal for you. Now you are the supercharacter and he's the one who fears your power. There's one of him and you are backed up by a small army.



One of them says "Don't let that cute avatar if hers fool you. I've seen her drive. She's amazing."



Anything you eat will be the same way. You taste it, you feel it in your mouth, but you won't fill up no matter how much you eat.



They bid you farewell.



So you leave and head down Game Central. You find Sugar Rush easy enough. Vanellope is standing outside in the Game Central Station. Just standing out in front of her game chilling out. Her avatar is about 3 feet tall. She's a child. When you approach, she says:

"Hey there Tadeusz. You finally gonna let me spank your butt on the racetrack?"

And Wreck-It Ralph sees you and ambles over. He stands nine feet tall and weighs 643 pounds. He cracks the knuckles on both of his hands and says rather forcefully:

"Is this guy giving you trouble V?" He's not intimidated by you at all.

And Vanellope says "Nothing I can't handle Ralph. But thanks for looking out."

Two Posts

Just because I'm a paranoid psychotic (emphasis on the "Paranoid") I just want to make sure that you saw the words in red at the top of the previous post. Magehammer is just a minor bit character in the Verser Tadeusz game. You are the supercharacter here. You won't see him again unless you go into that game.
This message was last edited by the player at 15:27, Sun 07 Dec 2014.

"Just checking out the competition. Maybe later, kid." I say casually.  I give Ralph a hard stare.  He smirks.  I like the guy,and so i grin, and walk on in to watch....

OOC: Yeah, I saw it. It's cool.

So you board the train to Sugar Rush. As you're going in, you start to hear music. It sounds like upbeat Japanese singing. Then the chorus kicks in:

S-U-G-A-R, jump into your racing car.
Cause it's Sugar Rush. It's Sugar Rush.

S-U-G-A-R, jump into your racing car.
Cause it's Sugar Rush. It's Sugar Rush.

Followed by more Japanese singing.

This song is playing on a continuous loop when you go in. Eventually you will get to where you can't hear it, but it's playing at the entrance to the game.

The ground beneath your feet feels spongy and soft. It looks like chocolate cake or a brownie. If you taste it, that's what you will taste. Everything you see is made out of candy or cake or some manner of sweetness. Even most of the characters. You see gumball people with arms and legs. An alligator made from black licorice with candy corn teeth waddles past you and flops down into a fruit punch pond. There's peppermint sticks and lollipop "trees" in the ground. Hills made from ice cream that won't melt. Pretty much everything around you is edible.

Then there's the racetrack. It looks like a mile long loop. The lanes are marked with powdered sugar. There's a half-dozen cars on the track racing. The cars are likewise made out of cake with candy wheels. And they're zooming. Vanellope isn't currently racing, but her competitors look like they could give Tadeusz a run for his money. They're zooming by at 200 MPH.
This message was last edited by the player at 04:16, Tue 09 Dec 2014.

Two Posts

I'm just writing this down whilst I'm thinking about it so I don't forget.

Tadeusz Supersoldier Extraordinaire, Katana and blacksmithing hammer
Search and Rescue Tadeusz, Hand Salute, SAR training.
Tadeusz Racing, Gloves, boots, paintball gun
Verser Tadeusz, Unreality sack
Tadeusz Knights, Staff, Broadsword. (You've not heard of that one yet)
I believe you wanted a first person shooter, so there's one of those too. Paintball gun.
Maybe more.

I have to try a bit of the grass, just to do it.

I watch several races closely, studying how agressive the drivers are, their special abilities, how they slide on a sweet road rather than asphalt...

I nod to V and R as I leave.  They'll be seeing me...

I check out T. Knights, and after a bit ask the host if he wants me to fill in.

It tastes like mint cake frosting. That's what it is, actually.


After this race is over, Vanellope comes in. She's making a big show of it for you. She gets in her cake and candy car, and sticks her tongue out at you before the race starts. But then it starts. She gets an easy lead early. The cars seem to handle as they would on a dirt track. All of the drivers are exceptional, but V is way beyond them. She takes the lead right off and keeps it for the entirety of the race. The second is 10 car lengths behind her at the finishing line. When she gets out of her car, she waves at you and sticks her tongue out at you again. Being a little smart aleck.


Ralph just gives you a look as you leave. He doesn't like anyone who is a potential threat to Vanellope. He almost seems like he's in love with her. Protective and ready to kill anyone who does her wrong. He's also the first person you've seen other than the Tadei who clears a path when he walks. People get out of his way too.


Checking an information kiosk, you find Tadeusz Knights. It's knights of the round table. Tadeusz is the leader of the castle knights. Your silky ninja outfit changes into a chain mail suit with the same coloration. The Tadeusz Prime of that game tells you:

"Games don't start for another 5 or 6 hours. But you can skip ahead if you've got nothing else to do. Just will time to go forward in the game."

He shows you the staff and the broadsword. (Remember that article I showed you about the weird guns?) The staff unscrews in two places and houses a single shot 12 gauge shotgun at both ends. Double triggers. But if you're not careful and hit the wrong trigger, you can easily blast yourself with it. Gotta be extra careful where it's pointed and which trigger you hit. The broadsword also has a large caliber double barrel pistol on the side next to the blade. The Katana and blacksmithing hammer are both magical. These are not.

Tadeusz Prime says he's more than willing to let you take over when the game starts. He wants to go down to a basketball game and watch. He hasn't seen a basketball game in a while.

To T. Knight...

"Time control? Wow. OK. I will do that."

I do it right there.

And then I wave to T. Knight...

"I've got this, dude.  Go shoot hoops.

Tad Prime says "Not time control. You just change your perception of it. In some games, a few seconds will feel like weeks. And you can't go backwards, no matter how hard you try."

OOC) BTW, this isn't a skill you can use in the next world when you verse out. This is something unique to the video game world. Like being able to eat a hundred burgers at a sitting.

But you will time to go forward. He said it was 5 or 6 hours until game opening. In 5 or 6 seconds, you hear the Tadei war cry. "QUARTER ALERT!!! QUARTER ALERT!!!"

And you find yourself standing on a castle drawbridge. Your broadsword is in your hands. A whole battalion of knights are right behind you. A whole battalion of medieval warriors are in front of you. You hear yourself yell "FOR KING AND COUNTRY!!!!" And you charge into battle, followed by the knights behind you.

And you're swinging your broadsword wildly, but expertly. It feels natural. Like you've been doing it all your life. You're slashing and stabbing and slicing your way through. Sometimes you're standing 10 feet away from an enemy and you hit the trigger on the sword gun, and fire a projectile which kills them.

And then suddenly the sword isn't in your hands anymore. You're in the same battle, same quarter alert. But the staff is in your hands. You didn't change weapons, it just happened. And you're whacking guys on the melon. And then there's two of them on either side of you. You hit the left shotgun trigger and blast the guy on your left. Then you hit the right trigger, and blast the guy on your right. Those triggers are made to be very difficult to hit when using the weapon as a staff.

And then you are hit. You flash twice and cease to exist. But then you're back. The world is flashing and for 5 seconds, you feel invincible. You're leading your army against the opposing foes. And you seem to be winning. The staff switches to the broadsword and back several times, at the whim of the Creator playing the game. You get stabbed again. You flash twice and cease to exist. Then you come back. For five seconds you're invulnerable. And you melee your way through the hoards.

And then you see it. The enemy stronghold you've been fighting to reach. It's an imposing looking stone structure. Battlements up here and there. Archers are shooting arrows at you. A huge ugly dude approaches you. You expertly decapitate him with your broadsword. His head flies off and his body falls over. It flashes twice and disappears.

And just as you reach the enemy stronghold, you are impaled by a dozen arrows. You cease to exist. You hear the dreaded "Game Over."

And then you're back in the castle where you started. Just sitting at a wooden table.

With some variation, this scenario will play out every time there's a quarter alert.

1@1 use broadsword
1@1 special move, decapitate with broadsword.
1@1 use staff weapon.
This message was last edited by the player at 12:05, Sat 20 Dec 2014.

Cool.  I play a few more games as that, and try to pay attention to the various factors so that when I play at night, I can do, well, not horrible.

I enjoy both the sword and staff, but the staff fits my mind better.  So in my first combat at night, I use the staff.

Start with a sudden stop-thrust, then a snap strike at the ankles...

So you play and you play and you play. But come the end of the night when you want to play some more, none of the other avatars want to play with you. You hear a lot of "Give it a rest Tadeusz." and "Don't you get enough of being the hero Tadeusz?" and they leave or go to their homes in the game. Only a handful of the knights are left in the castle, and they're all eating meat and drinking mead. You get a few dirty looks from some of them, but if you want to stay and eat and drink that's fine with them.

(Doing Therapy)

Two Posts

Just a heads up. I started a game called "Looking to Learn". I've already got 2 players. Kyler and a guy named Manticore. If you want to take these over there, that would be fine with me. Or not. Just letting you know.

Kyler is in Paintball world, but Manticore's game I think would be of interest to you. He's in a world populated by nothing but versers. He's literally on a world with about three billion versers on it.

BTW, would you mind if I used Tadeusz as a character there?
This message was last edited by the player at 21:19, Wed 24 Dec 2014.

Hunh. I shrug, and decide to take it easier tommorrow, nah, spread out my efforts into other games.

The meat, baked pig with apple, and roast beef with gravy is mouthwatering, but mead, blech.  I'll pass with courtesy, and head toward Burger Time.  I do keep an eye out because some people don't respond well to hard, but fair play.

OOC: Feel free to use Tadeusz.  I like here.  May you have good fortune with this endeavor.

As you're leaving, when you get back to Game Central, you see two random game avatars standing outside the game talking. You just happen to overhear the last bit of their conversation.

Avatar 1. "Is that right?"
Avatar 2. Nods. "The Tadei are leading the assault."

Then they both see you and their eyes bug out and their mouths drop open, like they realized they just said the wrong thing in front of the wrong person.

Pause for half a second.

Help. That's a prayer.

Smile widely.

Walk up to them, my arms out stretched wide.

"I'm sure my two good friends are going to tell me exactly what they heard, how they heard it, la la and la la. Right?"

The one that was talking says "You haven't heard Tadeusz? No, you were playing. A Cybug escaped from Hero's Duty. It's one of the most vicious viruses known. All it does it fly, and eat, and make little viruses. Wreck-it Ralph accidentally unleashed one some time ago, and it nearly destroyed Sugar Rush. Within hours it had multiplied until there were thousands of them. The Tadei, the Hero's Duty soldiers, and a lot of the other more combative avatars are forming an assault team to take it down before it spreads too far. If it gets too out of control...... The Tadei are leading the assault. They usually do when this kind of thing happens. If you want in on it, head down that way." And he points.
This message was last edited by the player at 16:23, Fri 26 Dec 2014.

Two Posts

I keep forgetting to tell you. You've got a toolbelt with the Katana, blacksmithing hammer, paintball gun, and now it has the broadsword. The staff is strapped to your back. The toolbelt also has elastic straps on the right and left hip. One side has ten 12 gauge rounds for the staff, and the other side has ten 50 caliber pistol rounds for the broadsword. And of course the gloves and the boots. You will notice though that some of the Tadei have an augmentation to the gloves that you do not yet have. You can't quite tell what that augmentation is yet.

I think that's everything you've picked up so far. Correct me if I'm wrong.
This message was last edited by the player at 21:03, Mon 29 Dec 2014.

"Thanks, man."
n
And I turn and start jogging toward trouble.

My senses are keyed up, and my heart is starting to race and thud a bit.  I flex my fingers getting ready.

Look for trouble.

Reach for my staff, reconsider.  Stand-off first, then close in.  I go for my paintball gun and a Weaver stance when I see trouble.

OOC) I just wanted to point out that you have no idea what the paintball gun does outside of a game. Inside a game, it can shoot anything. Outside a game...... Who knows?

So you start running in the direction you were pointed. You pass by Verser Tadeusz and Tadeusz Racing. That's as far down this way as you've gone. You pass by a lot more games, some you recognize, some you don't. Then you pass Search and Rescue Tadeusz. Two Tadei are leaving from there. They've got the glove augmentation. One of them looks at you and says "That's not gonna work." But don't say anything else, no matter what you say or do.

As you get closer and closer to your goal, you start to see more and more avatars running back the other way. You're running through a crowd of people heading back. But they still clear a path for you. Seems most folks are trying to get away from the Cybugs. The Tadei are the only ones dumb enough to run towards them.

But then you see it. Up ahead, a small swarm of Cybugs (And by small, I mean about 150) are crawling on the walls, ceiling and on the ground. Some are flying. The Cybugs look like huge flying cockroaches. But uglier. Much, much uglier. So far, none have breached the line. There's a dozen Tadei in the middle swingng different melee weapons. The soldiers from Hero's Duty are shooting futuristic looking battle rifles. Wreck-It Ralph is going two fisted with a bunch of them. Even Pac-Man got into it. He's got a bunch of the larger game chips. The ones that let him eat ghosts. He eats one of those, and then floats by eating all of the Cybugs in his path until it wears off.

When you get there, you see a Tadeusz reach into the unreality sack and pull out a small metal ball bearing about the size of a marble. He closes his fist around it and a dozen Cybugs burst into flames. When he opens his fist, the ball bearing is gone. Another Tadeusz punches a Cybug with the glove augmentation. A green laser shoots from his fist and cuts the Cybug in half.

You also see Mario. He eats a fire flower and starts shooting fireballs at the Cybugs. But his fireballs are pretty much useless if they're not on the ground. You've got some of those.

You get in and start shooting. The paintball gun fires a glowing paintball. Not the three foot blaster effect you were probably hoping for. Sorry, the GE roll didn't like you there. But on the positive side, the glowing paintball does hit a flying Cybug and it falls to the ground. Five minutes later it will get back up and resume what it was doing. Outside of a game, it just shoots knockout paintballs.
This message was last edited by the player at 16:25, Tue 30 Dec 2014.

"Mario! Let me help." I'll say from behind him as I shoot one off the ceiling.  Hopefully it lands in front of Mario.

"Incoming, dude."

That way he can fireball the KOed ones I put on the ground.

If that works, I'll keep it up until I run out of shots. Then drop the pistol, wipe the sweat from my face, and draw the staff.

Toss the other fireflowers to Mario, and ...

"I'm going melee, Mario."

Start staff bashing.

Mario nods. He seems to like your plan. So you start shooting. The Cybugs are small, fast and hard to hit. You fire off about 30 paintballs, hitting 1 out of 3 Cybugs. Then Mario blasts them with fireballs when they hit the ground. They burst into flames.

Then you pull your staff. You swing at a Cybug and hit nothing but air. They're not as easy to hit as the other Tadei are making it look. But then another comes at you. You tag him and send him flying into the wall, where he splatters like a bumblebee on your windshield. You swing at another and again hit nothing but air. It just flies past you. Turning around though, you take another swing and bash it into the floor.

A Tadeusz next to you is swinging the blacksmithing hammer in his right hand and the katana in his left. He rears back with the hammer and throws a black aura which freezes a Cybug in midair. Then he spins around with the katana and throws a fireball at another Cybug, completely incinerating it.

This battle continues. You hit and destroy about 50% of those you swing at with the staff.

Between the many combatants, you've got it reduced considerably. Then there's a cry out from a Tadeusz. Two Cybugs are on him, biting and trying tear him apart. You see his body blink twice and disappear. A Tadeusz yells "They killed a Prime!!!" And goes berserk, wiping out the two cybugs. It isn't long before all of the Cybugs are dead and burning.

Everyone takes a deep breath and calms down. Then a Tadeusz says "Who's going to replace that Prime? We need a secondary to take his place."

If you take it, you will be stuck in his game unless relieved by a secondary. But you will have the status of a Prime.

Two Posts

The Game Central Station stretches almost literally forever in both directions. This is hooked up to every single active arcade video game system in he outside world. You always see an arcade when you  look out. but it's not always the same arcade. Occasionally avatars get lost when the game is unplugged. But it's rare thing. Like trying to commit suicide by flying commercial airplanes. There are Tadeusz games in here that you haven't even seen evidence of. The Tadei that you've seen so far stay in that area. That's their Hood, as it were. But there's a Tadeusz fighting here that has an AK-47 and several pistols, and no melee weapons at all. So there's more to it. This  battle is happening on the edge of the two Hoods. But you're allowed go into and play any and all Tadeusz games.

(Doing Therapy)
This message was last edited by the player at 12:16, Sun 04 Jan 2015.

Three posts

Your katana is magical. Your broadsword has a double pistol. But in the melee, you saw a Tadeusz throw a lightning bolt from a broadsword, and another Tadeusz fired bullets from a katana sword. So there's even more you can go after.

There's weapons with guns, and weapons with magic, and weapons with both.

(Doing Therapy)
This message was last edited by the player at 13:02, Sun 04 Jan 2015.

"What is he Prime for?" I ask my brothers.  Its odd, as they glance at each other, sending thoughts, not by telepathy, but a Look, that I can follow them, and  they me. I let them see my sympathy, and my curious caution.

Is this a good idea for me, for us?

One of them speaks "You have to take it sight unseen. That's just the way it is. But who cares what game it is? You get to be a Prime."

There's no shortage of volunteers for the job, so don't feel obligated to take it. I just thought I'd give you first pick.

I shrug and shake my head 'no'.  I don't want it enough to deprive it from someone who actually really wants it.

I consider fighting more, but I figure I need a break to be at my best.  I'll go to Burger Time, and have a black pepper spiced inch thick grilled steakburger with grilled onions and mozzarella cheese.

You start to walk away and a Tadeusz grabs your arm. "You should wait for Master Prime and the Priming Ceremony. It won't take but a few minutes."

And you might still walk away. In which case, you don't see any of this. But I'm assuming you at least stick around for a few more minutes.

You notice that there are Tadei showing up in droves. Dozens of them. Whether they're latecomers for the fight or what, who knows? But all of the Tadei line up against the two walls of Game Central. Then another Tadeusz approaches. He's wearing the silky ninja outfit and a backpack. No toolbelt, no visible weapons. Just a backpack. But you've not seen any of them wearing a backpack. And all of the Tadei, every single one of them drop down onto their right knee and bow their heads before the Tadeusz with the backpack. I'm not assuming you do any of that. You might be the one idiot standing in the middle of the hallway when this happens. It doesn't really matter. It won't change anything.

The Tadeusz with the backpack approaches a Tadeusz, seemingly at random. He takes him by the hand and pulls him up into a standing position. He smiles and says "Money cannot buy the honor which you have earned here today. You make us all proud."

And then all of the Tadei leap to their feet and there's a roar of thunderous applause and cheering. Several of them lift the new Prime up onto their shoulders and walk away with him. Master Prime, the Tadeusz in the backpack leads them away in the direction he came from. Then things go back to Business As Usual.

Still going to Burger Time?
This message was last edited by the player at 12:43, Mon 12 Jan 2015.

I will stay, pulled by curiousity and respect.
I'll be the one idiot standing.

"Yeah!!"

Make note of probable First Tadei.

Burger Time.

I will stay, pulled by curiousity and respect.
I'll be the one idiot standing.

"Yeah!!"

Make note of probable First Tadei.

Burger Time.

So you go to Burger Time. The place is pretty much overrun with Tadei celebrating the new Prime. It's like they unofficially took the place over for the evening. You hear a lot of conversation about it.

"Man, did you see Master Prime?"

"I heard there's a waiting list to second in his game. Even some Primes try to second for him."

"I heard his game has got over 20,000 levels. The backpack has everything."

"I seconded for him once." And all attention is on him. "Yeah, his game has every level of every Tadeusz game, and then some. All of the Tadei equipment. Everything any Tadeusz carries is in that backpack. And then some. When you strap it on, you feel like you could rule the world. Too bad you don't get to keep it....."

There's a Tadeusz that has your 30-06 bolt action rifle and a crossbow strapped to his back. Another that has an AK-47 and a bunch of pistols. There's a Tadeusz in a baseball cap with a bat and glove, and another wearing a football helmet and pads. More variation than you've yet seen. Pretty much think of the possible game, and you'll find it represented in a Tadeusz present here.
This message was last edited by the player at 01:33, Thu 15 Jan 2015.

I stare in amazement at the variety, and then just shake my head and smile, bemused.

Its fascinating being around so many versions of myself.  There is a latent violence everywhere, but its held in check by courtesy, and good sense.  I hear thoughtful comments, and see attentive listeners, and then roles change with an obviousness that is yet, smooth.  Its like elephants moving about in a herd.

Some are cracking jokes, others are telling blatantly impossible stories while kdeeping their faces still to hold in the smile.  A couple are laughing so hard they're almost crying.  There is a lot of 'discussion', good tempered arguement, although occasionally tempers flare.

And I notice others doing like me, just looking. I nod at one and smile faintly.  He replies in kind, and then I turn to butt into a conversation near me, which is also happening here and there too.

The two Tadei are talking about Master Prime and how cool it would be to second in his game. When you butt in, one of them says "Aren't you the idiot that didn't kneel?" then laughs to let you know it's not a big deal. "Kneeling isn't really required, but everyone knows if you want to get in good with The Boss, doing your work and showing up on time isn't enough. You gotta brown nose."

And the other one says "You eating?" Then holds out his hand. A mushroom and Swiss cheese burger falls into his hand piece by piece. He chomps off half of it in one bite, then holds out his other hand. A frozen glass mug falls from the ceiling and then fills with beer. He chugs that, swallows the burger and the mug refills.

"Fun times to be had!!"

"Not much on kneeling. Frankly I'm surprised you guys did.  I understand showing respect, and I believe in being courteous to all people, but...kneeling, I kneel to God."

I smile, and try to duplicate his savoir faire at holding my hand out for a bleu cheese and bacon burger, and a coke.

"Indeed, fun times."  This is one of my favorite worlds, I note to myself.

One of the Tadei says "You don't get it. Around here, Master Prime IS a god. That backpack is a four-dimensional infinite storage hypercube. He's got dozens if not hundreds of weapons in there. Clothes, armor. All of the Tadei equipment. I wouldn't be surprised if he could pull out a Mauler tank. We ARE kneeling before a god. Or at least as close to one as can be."



You hold out your hand. A bottom bun falls into it, followed by a meat patty, followed by bleu cheese, then several strips of bacon and then the top bun. Then you hold out your other hand. A frosty glass mug falls into your hand, and then fills with ice cold Coke. And if you move the mug, the stream of Coke will follow it. No matter how hard you move the mug around, every single drop of Coke will fall perfectly into it without spilling any.


So you eat and talk. One of them asks what games you've been in. They make note that your paintball gun is empty. They tell you it will refill automatically next time you go into a game that uses it. Same thing with all ammunition. If you use it outside the game, just go back into the game and your ammo will be replenished automatically.



OOC) Glad you're enjoying it. And the best part is, no matter what, Tadeusz will be the hero in the end!!!!!
This message was last edited by the player at 23:26, Mon 19 Jan 2015.

"Can your god raise the dead? Cause a Sun, no, a galaxy to exist with a word? Know the Future   entirely?  For a man, he's doggone impressive.  For a god, not so much."

"You're absolutely right. But I said Master Prime was as close to a god as one could be. The true gods are The Creators. The ones who created the games. They can do everything you said and more. They could erase us all from existence just by pulling the power plug. They're the ones we should be kneeling before. Our job is to serve The Creators. They are our reason for being. The reason we exist."
This message was last edited by the player at 11:53, Tue 20 Jan 2015.

I ask him what games he plays in, and tell him we'll talk more.

Then I head toward the game that refills the paintball gun, and try to play.

I ask him what games he plays in, and tell him we'll talk more.

Then I head toward the game that refills the paintball gun, and try to play.

"I'm the Prime for the Verser Tadeusz game. That's where you get the unreality sack. You should come by there at game opening tomorrow. I've not had a break in a while."

You got the paintball gun in Tadeusz Racing. Going in there, you feel it get heavier on your belt as soon as you go in. It's full. Thirty paintballs.

Unfortunately though, you can only find 2 avatars that are willing to race with you. It is after hours after all. This is their time off.

My mouth drops open, and I find I have no words.  So I just nod, and stumble off.

I'll race with them gladly enough.  It allows me to focus more to just have a couple combatants on the race track.  I'm more interested in driving than shooting I tell them, buti whatever they like is fine.

"Good, we don't like getting shot at." They tell you.

So you get in a Ferrari Testarosa, they're both in Lamborghinis. Red, Yellow, Green And you're off!!! But you're not driving like an ace. Not like when you're a player controlled avatar. Relying on your own skills, the car is too powerful for you. You never really noticed that before, how many horses were under this hood. Acceleration G Forces pin you to the seat. The other drivers have lapped you completely by the time you get the hang of it. You hear them laughing at you when they pass even over the roar of the engines. You're clearly not ready to take on Vanelope.

OOC) And I spelled Lamborghini right on my first try!!!! I love little victories like that!!!!

I'm used to driving 4 cylinder Saturn and an SUV.

I remind myself I have to get used to a new platform, and then the HP.

Next race I focus on the first, then  if I can talk them into another race, I'll press the speed up to 3/4th to 4/5th of max rpms.

OOC) The dice like you a lot better this time.

So you line up at the starting gate. Red, Yellow, Green, and you're off. This time something clicks and you get the feel for it early. You take a car length lead right from the get-go. You're going around corners like you're glued to them. The acceleration G force isn't nearly as bad this time. Or you're more used to it. Or whatever. You watch in the rear view mirror as the other two drivers collide and go skidding off the tracks.  You've nearly lapped them by the time they get things back in order. Now it's your turn to laugh at them. They scream curses at you but get back in their cars and come at you again, but they're not going to catch you. Not this race. The wheel feels natural in your hands. It's going smoothly. And you get the checkered flag when you cross the finish line.

The other two drivers approach, obviously peeved, but they ask if you want to go again.

"We need a tie-breaker!!!"

"Absolutely we need a tie-breaker." That had been awesome, and yet, I'm well aware of the luck involved. I thank God for the success, and ask Him to help me again, or if not, that I would learn valuable things from the losing.

It occcurs to me that God may want me to be an example of good, and to help improve the Tadei's.  Of course, I like them a lot, but sometimes they're not totally cool.  I wonder what that says about me, and then shrug.  Its very hard to be objective about oneself, and I'm learning its better to trust God's leadership in sorting me out, than my own.

http://www.ebaumsworld.com/video/watch/84436798/ OOC) You should check this guy out if you're running any games with archery involved. I think they said this guy has the world's record for it.

God doesn't seem to be listening today, but that's not anything you're not used to. As far as the Tadei needing improvement and what they say about you, don't forget that they're not you. They're not even really human. They're sentient computer programs that just happen to look like you.

Red, Yellow, Green, and they're off!!! Tadeusz takes an early lead. He's followed closely by Racer One with Racer Two trailing behind. Coming into turn one, Racer two is making his move. He's starting to overtake Tadeusz on the outside. Racer one is falling back. Into the straightaway Tadeusz gets his grove on, he's running neck and neck with the other two racers. Coming into turn two, Tadeusz is falling behind. Racer one is overtaking him. Racer two trailing not too far behind. And once again, into the straightaway Tadeusz is making a daring move on the inside rail. This is a close race folks. Coming into turn three, racer one hits the accelerator. Can he pull it off? NO!!! He's losing control of his car ladies and gentlemen. He's going into a skid. And he's off the track. Looks like this is between Tadeusz and Racer two. And into turn four, Tadeusz and racer two are neck and neck. It's going to be a photo finish folks. And at the checkered flag, it's Tadeusz by a nose!!! The crowd goes wild!!!!!!!

I enthusiastically congratulate the others, which is easy as I'm bouncing off the clouds, emotionally.

"Good race, guys,good race.  We have to do this again!  Not now, but another night. Wow...."

I try to leave them feeling if not great,  at least not angry or sullen.  I hope to part on good terms.

That done, I try to find a peaceful section of a peaceful game, if there is such a thing.  And then I kick back by my lonesome.  I may not need to sleep here, but I feel a need to kick back, unwind, let my mind wander...

I snicker to myself at the memory of a bumper sticker seen at a convention...Don't let your mind wander, its too little to go out on its own.

They're not upset. One of them says ruefully "You better come back and do this again!!!" He's not angry, he just wants a rematch.

So you're parting on good terms.


So you go to Mario Brothers. Mario is inside. You find him almost immediately. When you tell you want to kick back and unwind, he leads you to the cloud city.

"Nothing-uh like-uh sitting-uh on-uh cloud-uh to-uh relax-uh."

He also asks if you'd like one of his "Special" mushrooms to help you relax. You get the feeling it's probably on the lines of a hallucinatory effect.

And indeed, the clouds are soft and relaxing. Feels like you're not sitting on anything, but your weight is supported completely. Lay back, roll around. It's like floating and being supported at the same time.



OOC) I like the one "Next time I lose my mind, I hope it brings back a large pizza and a six pack."

I chill out, occasionally telling myself I ought to get up and do something, and I will in a little bit, but then more time passes...

And the game is starting up for the next day, as I head on out.

I do some stretches, walk up and down the games I'm familiar with in Game Central, and then I head off toward the Cybugs to see if the defenders need any more help.

The Cybugs were completely defeated the night before. They're all gone. They have been since before Master Prime showed up.

OOC) I know I said you wouldn't see Magehammer again unless you actually went into Verser Tadeusz, but I'm asking the Sergeant Major for his opinion on a scene I've had in mind for a while. Let me know what you think of this. This is supposed to kind of change your character's opinion of him. Thoughts?

As you're strolling around Game Central, you see Magehammer walking with his head down. He's surrounded and being followed by about 5 or 6 Tadei. One of them comes up behind him and smacks him in the back of the head, for no apparent reason. He recoils and cowers some more. You hear a lot of taunting and name calling "Waste of Photons!!!" "We don't need you in the game!!!" Magehammer turns around and yells "Why are you doing this to me????" And one of the Tadei yells back "Because you're a dork!!!" and then pushes Magehammer into the wall. He's being bullied by them and obviously afraid. He doesn't seem to be able to do anything to stop them. He's not the powerful wizard you knew. Here, he's just a victim.

First response, groan. I don't want to deal with him.
Second response, appalled at the behavior of the Tadei.
Third response, a flicker of anger, like a pilot light lighting.
Fourth response, am I justified in acting?
Fifth response, mmmm, yes.
Sixth response, fear.
Seventh respnse, try to get over it.
Eighth response, few things anger me more than wanton, pointless cruelty, sadism for no reason, just because one can, to those weaker than one self.
Ninth response, rage.
Tenth response, fear and draw staff.
Eleventh response, finally smarten up, and pray for help with fear.
Twelth response, RAGE.

"HEY IDIOTS!"

I'm walking toward them spinning my staff, my face a mask of frozen fury, my eyes black....

You instantly feel insanely courageous. Still fearful, but overcoming it. Courage is derived from the French word Cour, heart. It doesn't mean you're not afraid. It means you have the heart to overcome that fear. And that's where you're at. Your logical brain is saying "What da heck are we doing????" But your heart is saying "Let's do this!!!!"



The Tadei back off of him, and turn their attention to you. One of them says "You're turning your back on us???? For HIM?????"

And another says "Don't you know what he does to us in the game? What he does to us Every. Single. Time????"

A third says "This guy is a waste of photons!!!"

None of the Tadei have drawn any weapons. You might get out of this without a fight.

Meanwhile Magehammer has his hand wrapped around his blacksmithing hammer. He looks like he's seriously considering smashing one of them in the back of the head.

"If what you are is gutless, cowardly picking on the weak, I don't merely turn on you, I spit on you."  Cold glare. Stop moving, but still keep spinning the staff.  "Magehammer...No."

I point at him with my left hand.

"Explain yourself, Tadei."

If they feel like I'm setting myself up as a judge over them, its because I am.

"You want to deal with this freak? You deal with him. I've had it. Come on guys."

And you realize that the guy who was speaking was the Prime from Verser Tadeusz that you were speaking to in Burger Time the night before. They all storm off, leaving you with Magehammer.

Magehammer looks at you and says "Thanks. I have to put up with that a lot. But it looks like we're going to need an avatar to play in the game today, and I think you just got yourself elected for it."

OOC) So, what did you think of that, Sergeant Major? I really did want your thoughts on that. How that might change your opinion of Magehammer.

I stare after them as they leave, disconcerted, and questioning.  The fact that Prime was involved makes me wonder if I was right, and the fact that he was involved makes me tend to downgrade his character.

I stop spinning the staff, and put it up.

"Why do they do that?  And what do you mean about finding an avatar?" I ask Magehammer.  He had been a nice guy, a bit overbearing, but nice.  Of course, this could be some computer copy not much like him, or....?????

I stare after them as they leave, disconcerted, and questioning.  The fact that Prime was involved makes me wonder if I was right, and the fact that he was involved makes me tend to downgrade his character.

I stop spinning the staff, and put it up.

"Why do they do that?  And what do you mean about finding an avatar?" I ask Magehammer.  He had been a nice guy, a bit overbearing, but nice.  Of course, this could be some computer copy not much like him, or....?????

"I'm not exactly sure. I mean, I'm just doing my job in the game. Whenever I ask them why they're doing it, they always just say 'Because you're a dork'. Maybe when you play in the game, you can tell me why they do it."



"Didn't you hear him? He said you can deal with me. That means he's not playing. If no one plays, the game will get shut down. Me, Samantha and a whole bunch of other avatars will go bye-bye. You might be able to live with that, but we can't. So I'm asking you. Will you please play in the game today?"

He almost sounds like he's pleading with you to play.

"Um sure, at least for today. I need to find out what's going on."

Magehammer says "We don't really have time right now, but as soon as this is over, we'll go to the Council Chamber. It's his responsibility to play, or to make sure someone does. He can get in beaucoup trouble for walking off like that."

So you go to Verser Tadeusz. The game's not started yet. All of your gear disappears as soon as you enter. Magehammer assures you that you'll get it all back when you leave.

"Here you use the katana, blacksmithing hammer and the unreality sack."

So you're sitting around chilling. Then you hear it "QUARTER ALERT!! QUARTER ALERT!!"

And you find yourself in the abandoned world where you started. The crumbling, decayed city. You're in the ninja outfit. And you're walking. You don't have any choice in the matter.

But you walk up to Magehammer and 18 year old Samantha outside Bubble City. He's in his trenchcoat and backpack. Samantha is in cut off jean shorts and a red flannel shirt, unbuttoned, and tied at the bottom. It shows off ample cleavage. You know how they love to slut up the female characters.

You hear yourself say "Where am I?"
MH says "Welcome to The Multiverse. You're going to need these." And hands you the unreality sack. You take it and put it on your toolbelt. Inside are 10 black iron spheres about the size of shooter marbles.
You hear yourself ask "What are they?"
MH Answers "They're reality benders."
You say "What do they do?"
MH "They bend reality."

Then Samantha says "And you're going to need tools and weapons." And hands you the blacksmithing hammer and the katana sword. You take them and put them on your toolbelt.

And then Magehammer wraps his left arm around Samantha, clamping his hand firmly on her butt and says "Now get lost, you're cramping our style." and then draws his revolver with his right hand and shoots you in the forehead at point-blank range.

And this opening sequence will play out exactly like this every single time there's a quarter alert.

When you wake up, you're looking at a sign. It says "Training. Blacksmithing hammer left. Katana sword right." And you get to choose. Not the player. But, regardless of which one you choose now, you will have to take the opposite the next time there's a quarter alert. So, which way are you going for the first time?
This message was last edited by the player at 09:01, Sun 01 Feb 2015.

I'll choose katana.

Right now, I'm focused on not messing up too badly.  So, I go with the flow mostly.  And I keep my eyes open, and stay on my toes, ready for any curveballs.

That last bit looked like a trailer scene.  Perhaps thats why Prime is so put out, he gets s hot everyday.  Hmmmm.  Still, he could toss off his job to another for a week and get some rest if it is wearing him down.  Or maybe he enjoys the status of being Prime too much to give it up, and is thus following unwisdom.

(OOC: I wrote 'unwisdoom' the first time, which is surprisingly apt.  :)  )

OOC) I had to buy myself some more time to figure out where you were going with this. So I gave you the choice.

So you go down the hallway into the training room. Before you enter though, you catch a glimpse out the screen, into the arcade. You see a clock on the wall. It says 10:30 and 30 seconds.

The training room is a dojo. 18 year old Samantha is in there in a silky ninja outfit like yours. She's your trainer. You're holding the katana left handed. It doesn't take very long for you to realize that she's teaching you the weapon dependent martial art you learned in the first game. The one that used the katana and blacksmithing hammer. Except now you're just using the katana. That's a New Use. 1@2. She also teaches you the Chaos flame attack. New Use, 1@2 Chaos flame attack.

You look out the window of the dojo. The sun is low. It's early morning. And as you're training with Samantha, you watch the sun rise and set. You've been training for 16 solid hours. You can't stop. You can't leave. You just stay in this dojo and train with her. Then she unrolls a mat for you to sleep on and you go to sleep. You still have no physical need to sleep. It's just part of the training montage.

When you wake up, it's immediately back to training. Sun rises, sun sets, 16 solid hours training with Samantha. She's polite and sweet. No complaints about her training style. She's graceful.

And you follow this routine. For the next 10 days solid. That's all you do. You don't leave the dojo. You just wake up, train with Samantha, go to sleep. For the next 10 days solid.

Then you leave the training room. As you're leaving, you catch another glimpse of the clock in the arcade. It says 10:30 and 40 seconds. 10 days to you, 10 seconds to the outside world.

Then you walk through a door and outside. It's a 20th century city.

OOC) And I'm gonna leave it there for a minute to get your thoughts on the matter.

Note to self: ZOMBIES!!!!!!
This message was last edited by the player at 23:19, Wed 04 Feb 2015.

That was odd.  Enraging. Terrifying. Developed patience. Despairing.  I went through a wide gamut of emotions as I tried to escape, found I couldn't and tried to reconcile myself to the situation.

In the end, as I walk out I just feel a mixture of odd, and wary, and intense relief.

And I do enjoy the new skill I have.  I see the world slightly differently now.

OOC: Well, it worked.  Not a technique I reccommend.  Some of that is no doubt, just me being me.  In general, force feeding skills is a bad idea, but like most things in gaming, which makes it sometimes confusing, a bad idea if done once or twice can be a good idea.

OOC) Just wait till you get to the blacksmithing hammer training. Shooting you in the face is only the smallest part of the reason the Tadei hate Magehammer.



OOC) I look at it like this. Are you enjoying playing? Then we're doing it right. (If you're not enjoying playing, then we're not doing it right. Let me know.)

IC)

So you step out into a 20th century city. And you feel the player taking control over you. The landscape is three dimensional. It's not a side scrolling game, it's three dimensional. And you start running down the street. A haggard, green-skinned humanoid figure is shambling towards you. You realize it's a zombie. As you approach, it reaches out with its right hand and throws a vine-line tentacle at you. You slash at that with your katana sword, cutting it expertly. Then you do a spinning roundhouse attack and decapitate the zombie.

Turning the corner, you see a small army of zombies approaching. About a dozen of them. And as soon as they see you, they all turn their attention on you. Does Tadeusz do the smart thing and run like crazy? Nope!!! You reach into the unreality sack and pull out one of the spheres. Closing your fist around it, every single one of the zombies approaching bursts into flames. Now does Tadeusz do the smart thing and run away? Nope!!! He runs into the flaming, burning mass of zombies. They're wailing and screaming. You don't feel the heat of the fire, but you're swinging your sword and cutting them up. Occasionally you throw extra fireballs and burn them up even faster. But you run away leaving the entire hoard dead (Undead?) on the pavement.

You take down more single zombies as you're running through the city. And then two guys pull up beside you in a garbage truck. You hear them shout "Look, it's Tadeusz!!! He'll know what to do!!!" When they pull up beside you, you see it's Bill and Ted. Bill is driving. He asks you if you want to get in the truck. You do. Bill moves over and you start driving. (New Use on your driving skill, if you've never driven a garbage truck.) You start driving, running over zombies in your path. Bill tells you "We need your help. There's a whole mass of Creaker zombies. You're the only one that can take them." And tells you where to turn. You finally get to the destination Bill is directing you to. You see a whole flock of wooden Arnold clones. Wooden, bodybuilder zombies. You hop out of the truck, and pull out a sphere from the unreality sack. But these zombies are too tough. The sphere has much less effect on them. You use the sword Chaos flame attack, that does more damage, but still not enough. But Tadeusz still doesn't do the smart thing and run away. He charges straight into the mess, swinging the katana. He's slicing limbs and decapitating burning zombies. But there's just too many. You're getting hit from every side. You feel impacts, but no pain. You feel yourself being drained. Then you hear the dreaded "GAME OVER!!!"

And a disembodied voice says "Aw nuts!!!"

Then you find yourself back in the black. It's completely black around you. Magehammer and Samantha are there. You come in just in time to catch him kissing her with his hand in her shirt. But they stop immediately and go about business as usual.

Two Posts

That martial art you're learning. You use Order weapons right handed and Chaos weapons left handed. So you're learning to use the Katana left handed. Also, you can use one weapon at a time, but you only get one attack per turn. Using both weapons at once you get two attacks per turn.

But don't worry. It's hardly the only martial arts style available. It's just the one you've run into so far. There's also Ninja Tadeusz.......
This message was last edited by the player at 05:45, Fri 06 Feb 2015.

I ignore what they were up to, politely.

"That was pretty intense."

"Those fireballs remind me of the Elfstones in Terry Brooks novels, kind of. Ok, maybe not really."

"I guess now would be a good time to practise with the other weapon."

I ignore what they were up to, politely.

"That was pretty intense."

"Those fireballs remind me of the Elfstones in Terry Brooks novels, kind of. Ok, maybe not really."

"I guess now would be a good time to practise with the other weapon."

Magehammer "Chaos magic always is."



Samantha "Never heard of those. But yeah, I'm more than just a pretty face in this game. You'll find my avatar as a trainer in a lot of the games. I'm also your trainer in Ninja Tadeusz. Well, a different avatar of me. You use the staff and the katana, and I think a few others. I've never played it personally."



Magehammer says "Next quarter alert. Then I train you with the blacksmithing hammer." Then he says "We gotta go see Prime Prime about the Tadeusz that's supposed to play here. You saw Master Prime. Prime Prime doesn't play in any games. He coordinates it. Who knows? You might get a shot at becoming the Prime of this game. Game abandonment might be worthy of code deletion."

You'll have time to speak to them some more before the quarter alert.

But then you hear it. "QUARTER ALERT!! QUARTER ALERT!!"

You go through the opening sequence. You get shot. Given the choice of katana or blacksmithing hammer, this time you go to the blacksmithing hammer. Before you go in, the clock in the arcade says 11:10 and 10 seconds. You wind up in a very similar dojo with Magehammer. But he's in a ninja outfit like yours.

Unfortunately though, he does not share Samantha's sweet training demeanor. He's up in your face. He's got all the grace of a Marine drill instructor. What am I saying? A Marine drill instructor would be calming by comparison. He yells a lot. Sixteen hours solid dealing with that. Then he unrolls a mat for you to sleep. Sunrise, you're up training.  For sixteen solid hours a day for 10 days straight. You absolutely understand why the Tadei dislike him so. But when you leave, the arcade clock says 11:10 and 20 seconds. 10 days to you, 10 seconds to the outside world. On the positive side, it's another new use on the martial art. You're up to 1@3. He also teaches you how to Order heal with the hammer. Not just healing people, healing anything sick or inured. You use the hammer right handed.

Then you're led through a door, outside and into a forest.

Note to self: SLIDEHAMMER!!!!
This message was last edited by the player at 07:22, Fri 06 Feb 2015.

"They are kind of like Lord of the Rings knock offs.  Hot dogs, instead of steak.  The first one is Sword of Shannara, and its probably the best.  Be warned tho', a lot of them are downers."

I babble on a bit more about favorite books, and then get to the job at hand.

"Look, Magehammer Trainer, I understand you're behind mad about being the target of a mob.  But deleting...no, I can't go for that.  Also, this seems to be some sort of really high level game compared to the others, and I'm well, rather new.  The clear thing to me is try  to set up a tournameant of the Tadei in some safe game, perhaps one with an obstacle course;  also some sort of morals test to weed out any talented jerks.  Whoever wins gets to be the next Master prime."

At first, I do stone face.  And I'm really good at holding my cool.  Then rage, and for that day, not much training gets down as I keep trying to whack my trainer.  Eventually, I cry a bit, and then I finally begin to follow the example of a friend who did go to the Army.  He said he found th e  DI's to be the funniest thing in the world.  I wobble off the path a bit, but by the end, I'm having to restrain giggles as Magehammer screams at me.

Magehammer "After the day is over, we'll go see Prime Prime and see what he says. It will all be up to him anyway."

And Samantha says "You seem more compassionate than most of the other Tadei."



And you feel an incredible load of relief as you leave and step outside into the forest. You feel the player taking control over you. But your relief is short-lived. A dozen villagers with torches and pitchforks start approaching. They're all yelling "Verser Scum!!!" at you. And they're also all wounded. One is missing a leg, he's hopping on crutches. Another only has one eye. They other eye has a patch over it. Several of them have horrible burn scars. Like 60% of their bodies are burnt. Surprisingly, you do not fight them. You pull your magic Order hammer and heal them of their injuries, one at a time. You feel like a coiled spring, ready to attack at a moment's notice, but you don't. You restore the gentleman's eye. You regrow the leg for the guy who's missing one. You heal all of their scars.

They all look dumbfounded. One of them asks "Are you here to rid us of Slidehammer?" And you hear yourself say "Yes, that's why I came."

And you continue on.

You come to a farmhouse. The land around it has been burnt and destroyed. You pull a sphere from the unreality sack and hold it in your hand. The ground begins to come back to life. The burnt vegetation falls away to lush, green plant life.

Whenever attacked by villagers, you don't fight them at all. You heal them with your magic hammer.

And looking ahead, you see a formidable looking stronghold. It's built from wood and trees. A Jamestown colonies type fortress. And the door opens. Out steps a young man, early 20s. He bears a striking resemblance to Jerry O'Connell. He's wearing a black trenchcoat like Magehammer's. And he's got a magical hammer.

He roars loudly "I AM SLIDEHAMMER!!!!" and throws a fireball at you. You jump it deftly. Now it's time to use the hammer as a weapon. You run up to Slidehammer and smack him a good one upside the head. He hits you with his hammer. You feel the impact but no pain. Then you hit him again. And he hits you. You go back and forth trading hammer blows. But in the end, he's just too powerful for you. You feel like it's a close match though. You almost got him. But you hear the dreaded "GAME OVER!!!!"

And once again, you're back in the black. Magehammer and Samantha as there. She's sitting in his lap, and they both leap to their feet when you arrive.

This reminds me of Space Ace, if that was the video game, I tell myself.  It was hand painted, I think, and you had to do just the right move to get past each obstacle.  OK, not really the same.

But, hmmmm....let's say next time I soften him up with an energy blast, and then get in close at a full sprint to try to hit him before he recovers.

Problem with that theory is you're not the one doing it. The player is. Only way you could do that is if you attacked him outside the game. Sorry.

HOWEVER!!!!!!! This cycle repeats itself. You alternate between the two games. You train with Samantha, then with Magehammer, then Samantha, then Magehammer, etc. You get shot multiple times in the opening sequence. The next time you face Slidehammer, the player does your move and you defeat him. And you go onto the next level. You're back in the zombie world. Except you're healing them of the zombie sickness. Then you battle Slidehammer and lose to him at the end of level two.

You spend a hundred days training with the katana and blacksmithing hammer. All in one day. So you're now up to 1@4 in that martial art.

And unless you have something else in mind to happen, the day ends and you get to game closure. Magehammer approaches you about going to go see Prime Prime about the Tadeusz who walked away from this game.

"It's up to Prime Prime to decide what happens to him, but we have to report it. Game abandonment is a serious offense here."

Two Posts

OOC) I'm kinda making this world up as we go, so I might make notes once in a while.

Disco Tadeusz. Learn how to disco dance and disco roller skate.
Ninja Tadeusz, staff, katana, whatever else we can think of.
Shooter Tadeusz, GUNZ!!!!!!!
Hunter Tadeusz, 30-06, crossbow

Any suggestions/requests from Sergeant Major Ashley?

(Doing Therapy)
This message was last edited by the player at 22:56, Sat 14 Feb 2015.

OOC: You're doing fine.

I nod to Magehammer a bit grimly.

"Lets get it done."

OOC: You're doing fine.

I nod to Magehammer a bit grimly.

"Lets get it done."

As you're walking down Game Central, most avatars get out of your way. The Tadei though, they give you a lot of strange looks. Imagine if the high school quarterback and the biggest loser in school were walking and talking like old friends. That's the kind of looks you're getting from the Tadei.

But you get to the office of Prime Prime. Prime Prime is a Tadeusz. He seems somehow different from the others. Nothing you can really put your finger on. Just different somehow. And he's staring at you. His face is awe, wonder and bewilderment. Magehammer says to him "Sir, the Prime from Verser Tadeusz abandoned his game today. Luckily I found this gentleman to play." Prime Prime dismisses Magehammer saying "I'll take care of it. Now you just leave." So Magehammer does.

Then Prime Prime approaches you. He's giddy with excitement. He keeps staring at you. He walks right up to you and (If you let him) He puts his hands on your face, then runs his hands down onto your shoulders and arms. His face is like that of a kid seeing Santa Claus for the first time.

When he's finished touching you (or if you don't let him) he takes a step back and becomes a bit more serious. Then he says "You're just like me. How did you get in here?" Awe, wonder, amazement.

Then he says "My name is Eric Ashley. I was a computer programmer on the outside. I designed the Tadeusz game systems. Some years ago, I was diagnosed with a fatal illness that I cannot pronounce. So I transferred my consciousness into the system. A last-ditch bid for immortality, if you will. But you. How did you get in here?"

I am a mix of gravely courteous and not backing up one bit with the Tadei.  That whole mindset of qback and loser is largely foreign to me, or so I tell myself.  I try to judge each man by himself.

He touches me a bit, and then I back off.  'Whoa, dude."

I stare at him. Then my mouth drops open.  Then, weak-kneed, I find a chair, and gingerly set down in it.

"I think I need a Coke." I say, or rasp out, having a hard time speaking.

After a long minute of staring at him, I say.

"I'd wondered if the human soul would duplicate to a new matrix, or if it had some sort of attraction that would allow it to jump from th eold matrix to the new one, or worse, if the new one would be soulless, and a perfect target for the Infernals.  Fascinating."  I stare more closely at him.

"Sorry. Um, your question. Wow. Uh. Are you familiar with the theory of multiple universes?"

At this point, I probably could not get up out of my chair for dizziness and shock.

That's when he backs off and starts his speech.



At this he laughs a little and says "Being a programmer in a video game might as well make me God." And he holds out his hand. Just like in Burger Time, a frosty glass mug falls from the ceiling and fills with Coke. He hands that to you. Then he says "Would you like anything else?" And holds out his hand and a plate of steaming chicken wings falls from the ceiling. He tells you "They'll be any flavor you want them to be."



"I have no idea. I don't even know if your body is really here. Your body might be somewhere else entirely. In here, everything is photons and force fields."

He seems to be saying that he's not sure if you will be able to take your new gear when you verse out. It might not be real outside here.



"The Multiverse? That's a real concept?" He asks curiously. "You've got the unreality sack, so you've been to Verser Tadeusz. Before I transferred my consciousness into the matrix I met a couple who claimed to have been Multiverse travelers. In case you couldn't guess, their names were Magehammer and Samantha. They claimed they had already met me. It must have been you that they met. The stories that they told of their travels became Verser Tadeusz. At the time, I thought it was a fancy bit of fiction, nothing more. Are you saying it's true? Magehammer told of a protege of his named Slidehammer. Apparently he became an evil verser. Wreaked havoc. He became the villain of the game."



It's the single most comfortable office chair you've ever sat in. It's like it's molding itself to every millimeter of your body. If you move, the chair conforms to you. The room you're in is a standard office type room.

"Of course." I drink the frothy cold coke with just the right amount of ice chunks in it.  It clears my head and my throat, and gives me time to think and a bit of sugar to kickstart that thinking.  "Sysadmin powers.  Low Medium Buffalo with a side of Blue Cheese." I say, and watch the blue cheese appear next to the wings.

They smell good, real good, but right now I have more important things to focus on.  And considering how much I like food that's saying something.  I set it down on the desk, and retain my coke.

"Thanks. um. Hmmm. Good point, your soul might be with your real body, and you're just VRing it here.  But I thought you had some fatal thingie...?"

I nod in agreement at what he told me.

"Thing is, Magehammer, well, he was the next thing to an archangel.  He knew how to do everything better than you, and could have clocked me with both hands and feet tied together.  If he'd gone up against a dragon, I'd have felt sorry for the dragon.  I met him in this place we called Bubble City, which was pretty weird.  Didn't figure it out.  That might be one way you're different than me.  I'm not that good at puzzles, and you're a high level computer programmer."

This message was deleted by the player at 05:19, Fri 20 Feb 2015.

OOC) I screwed up. That's why there's a deleted post.



Eric laughs and says "You're not realizing the potential here." And he picks up a wing and says "Vanilla ice cream with chocolate sauce." and that's what the wing turns into. It's a chicken wing-shaped piece of vanilla ice cream covered in chocolate sauce. He gulps it down bones and all.



"That's the thing. You've got consciousness. I'd like to think your consciousness is your soul. That's something none of the other avatars have. They're intelligent and self-aware, but they lack consciousness. They lack souls. They're not sentient. You and I have consciousness. You and I are sentient. That's what sets us apart. I know my physical body is gone. As far as I know, it was cremated. That's what I stipulated in my Will, anyway. I could tell you were conscious and sentient. I could tell you had a soul. What I don't know is if your physical body is in this matrix or just your consciousness. I know my body is gone. Yours on the other hand...... I don't know how we could determine if this is your body or just an avatar. Or where your body is if this is an avatar. But your consciousness is here. No doubt about that. That's how I could tell you were different from the other Tadei."




He looks thoughtful. He finally says "He never did anything really amazing in front of me. A few tricks. Smoke and mirrors kinds of things. Or so I thought at the time. He claimed he could do real magic. Like, like, Real Magic. But said something about the world biases being too low to support it or something. Pretty convenient that he can't prove what he's saying. So I'm thinking 'What asylum did you escape from buddy'?" and he does the twirling screw loose with his finger. "But his crazy stories inspired me to write Verser Tadeusz. And now you're telling me what he was saying was true?" Then he looks perplexed and says "Oh boy, what a conundrum."

But then after some thought, he says "As far as I know, Magehammer and Samantha are still out there. Out in the Real World. I wonder if there's any way we could communicate with them...... If they can really do Real Magic, maybe they could help us figure out where your body is. Help us get out of here. Who knows?"

"Indeed." I wonder if that much power, no flexibility in an environment might drive one mad.  So I mention the idea to my other.

"Hunh." I think about it for a moment, and then realize neither of us has the intellectual firepower needed to tackle this question.  I'm smarter than the average bear, not much doubt about it, but there are some things simply beyond me.

So I mentally table that discussion, and go to something else I can deal with.

"Definitely Real Magic.  I've done some things that qualify, but he's again, well, me T-ball, him Major League.  That said, do you really want out of here?  Your old world is closed to you, I think.  Here you have a nice place.  Hey, I like this place.  Its really neat.  Occasionally I'm dissapointed in the Tadei, but even they are good guys to hang out with."

"What do you mean by power with no flexibility?" And he waves his hand around. Suddenly there's a supermodel gorgeous blonde, brunette and a redhead in skimpy tight outfits standing in the room with you. The blonde approaches you and starts trying to seduce you. The other two go to your other.

Eric says "Blonde, brunette and redhead. I'd call that flexibility, wouldn't you? As far as driving one mad. That's the only thing that keeps me sane."

But then he says "Sorry ladies, we've got more important things to discuss." And waves his hand again and the women disappear.

"Like I said, a computer programmer in a video game. I'm God here. I think you could probably do it too. It's programmed to respond to my consciousness. We can't be that different."



"Really? What kind of Real Magic have you done? You've obviously done magic in the games, but I wonder if your Real Magic would work here. What I'm doing and what you do in the games is a computer illusion. Not Real Magic."

He seems to ponder your question of whether he wants to leave this place. Finally he says "No, I'm happy here. It's just, What If? I've heard it said that's the longest sentence known to man. What If? What If we could contact Magehammer and Samantha? What If we can find your physical body? What If a hundred other possibilities?"

"Sorry, man, I misspoke. I meant so much flexibility, not no. Stumbled on that letter 'n' when I meant 's'.  But your example kinda proves my point."

I pause.

"I'm just saying, its something to watch out for.  Too much chocolate can be too much." I hope.

I cast my memory back, and tell him of the spells I've worked, and the prayers I've done.  I lay it out clear and simple, answering his questions without any effort to hide, or to embellish.  Which means sometimes he asks me a question, and I shrug my shoulders, and then smirk.

"Dumb looks are still free, man."

Once I empty my coke, I tell him I want to try his idea.  I visualize Coke in the glass, with ice, but chopped ice this time...

At this he laughs. "Gotta be careful with that. Especially in programming. I remember one time I was designing a game system. I forgot to put in a single period in the computer's lines of code. That period was supposed to tell it to stop running that program. Without the period, it didn't know to stop the program when it was supposed to. It just kept running and running. I destroyed a million dollar game system over a single period. Gotta be careful there."




"It can be a lot of fun though." And waves his hand. Instead of sitting in an office, you're suddenly sitting in deck chairs on a tropical beach. Perfect temperature. Waves lapping the shore. A beautiful tropical paradise.

"It hasn't driven me crazy yet. I do see your point though. All sunny days and no rain creates a desert."



Surprised "In the Real World your katana can heal people? Here it just does things like throw fire and lightning. I never thought of removing Chaos to heal. That's interesting. Gonna have to file that back."

OOC) Without more specifics, that's the one that I remember the best.



Chuckles "That they are."


And it's there. You're drinking an icy cold Coke on the beach with yourself.

"Chaos seems to be a combo of energy and randomness. You got to have energy or you're a statue. Too much and you're a log on the fire.  But when someone is sick, t hey have this free flowing Chaos, often enough, wandering about inside them, not in Ordered paths, causing Random damage.  Or....I don't really get it that much."

I look around the beach, and at my now chaise lounge chair.

"Nice."

I visualize a reef with a sandbar about a hundred fifty feet out in the water.  If I do this right, it should create a breaking wave out there, and a lagoon nearer to us.

"Interesting. I never really gave it much thought. Fire and lightning just seemed Chaotic to me, and ice and the like seemed Orderly. Never really gave it much thought beyond that though."



And you've got your breaking sandbar. You're getting sprayed with a cool sea mist as a result.

Eric tells you "And the best part is, you should be able to do that anywhere in Game Central. There are a few stipulations though. You can't use it to uncreate an avatar that you yourself did not create. Like I did with the women. Create them and uncreate them. But you can't use that to uncreate one that already exists. You also can't do that while you're playing in a game. Then the player has control. A few more stipulations, but those are the main ones."

Then he asks if you want him to bring the women back.

"Just imagine a hotel room to take them to. They'll do anything you want. Yes, even that."
This message was last edited by the player at 20:04, Sat 21 Feb 2015.

"Even fire has Order.  Lightning follows a path through the sky.  Pure Chaos is formless potential.  I suspect that long, long ago, before Lucifer fell, and there was the Primeval Dark, that it was all Potential.  And when God said 'Let there be light', he was creating the Ordered possibility of Light later, but even more, he was blocking out the million billion other possibilities."  I shrug my shoulders.

"No, I'd rather create..."  And I pull up a memory of coconut trees, and dot them in the midst of the others, then a few banana trees, then a few monkeys (well mannered ones not inclined at throwing tbings) among them.

Then I reach out further, and add a smaller moon, not enough to effect the tides greatly, but pretty.

"Even fire has Order.  Lightning follows a path through the sky.  Pure Chaos is formless potential.  I suspect that long, long ago, before Lucifer fell, and there was the Primeval Dark, that it was all Potential.  And when God said 'Let there be light', he was creating the Ordered possibility of Light later, but even more, he was blocking out the million billion other possibilities."  I shrug my shoulders.

"No, I'd rather create..."  And I pull up a memory of coconut trees, and dot them in the midst of the others, then a few banana trees, then a few monkeys (well mannered ones not inclined at throwing tbings) among them.

Then I reach out further, and add a smaller moon, not enough to effect the tides greatly, but pretty.

"Even fire has Order.  Lightning follows a path through the sky.  Pure Chaos is formless potential.  I suspect that long, long ago, before Lucifer fell, and there was the Primeval Dark, that it was all Potential.  And when God said 'Let there be light', he was creating the Ordered possibility of Light later, but even more, he was blocking out the million billion other possibilities."  I shrug my shoulders.

"No, I'd rather create..."  And I pull up a memory of coconut trees, and dot them in the midst of the others, then a few banana trees, then a few monkeys (well mannered ones not inclined at throwing tbings) among them.

Then I reach out further, and add a smaller moon, not enough to effect the tides greatly, but pretty.

He shrugs his too. Seems to agree.


Eric smiles at what you've done and just says "Nice."

Then he waves his hand and suddenly standing on the beach is a small building about the size of an outhouse. The blonde, brunette and redhead are in skimpy string bikinis standing in front of it, all giggling like schoolgirls.

Then Eric says "Well, you have fun. I'm going to enjoy the ladies' company."

And he opens the door to the outhouse. Looking through the door, you can see the inside is a hotel room at least as big as a gymnasium. It's much bigger on the inside than the outside. The three women follow him inside, and you're alone on the beach.

I add a wooden dock, and then a small street half-covered by sand running by the outhouse.  Then I add a surf and touristy kitsch stuff (little lighthouses, sandcastlers, dried starfish) shoppe next to the outhouse.

Inside, I check out how the shopped is filled out, because I was thinking of something with a couple thousand little knick-knacks  in glass cases and shelves for 1.99 to 7.99 along with a wall of actual surf gear.
Thing is, I don't know that much about surf gear, and I'm not imagininG the little stuff in detail.  I want to see how it responds.

You see what you expect to see. Nothing more, nothing less. If you expect to see a peg leg pirate with an eye patch and a hook on his hand selling necklaces made out of shells and shark's teeth, that's what you see. If you expect to see muscles bound surfers boys with bikini clad bimbos walking down the dock, that's what you see. You might turn a corner and expect to see surf boards painted like the American flag. Guess what? You see surf boards painted like the American flag. If you suddenly look out on the ocean and have a flash of a thought that a Great White shark is attacking a surfer, that's exactly what you'll see.

You see what you expect to see. Nothing more, nothing less.

Good. I 'save' this.

And then I get solidly to work.

First a globe. Larger than the Earth because it has less percentage of heavy metals and iron.  Its eleven thousand miles through.

Its covered by water, except for already created areas.

Now, every tenth to a quarter to a half (it varies) raise long slender islands with great beaches out of the sea.  Vary their growth by Jungle, S Hemisphere Temperate, and English.

Each of the seven groups of islands should be a hundred miles from the nearest one, and they in total curve around 3/5ths of the planet and extend up and down over a thousand miles.

TADEUSZ!

Natch.

I save this.

Then I show it to Eric.

"I'm trying to create Beach Adventure: Tadeusz. It might be impossible to get it out there, but hopefully the locals can enjoy it."

All you see for yourself is the beach changes into a jungle environment. If that means you created an entire world is for you to decide. There's trees and jungle animals roaming around.

But when you knock on the door to the outhouse to try to show Eric, he opens the door a crack, but enough for you to see that he's probably naked. You get as far as:


And he hollers "What do I gotta do? Hang a Do Not Disturb sign on the door!?!?!?!?!?"

Then a woman's voice coos "Come back here baby!!!"

And he slams the door in your face.

Then there appears on the door a sign that says "Do Not Disturb!!!"

And a deadbolt the size of a 2X4 appears and slams shut.
This message was last edited by the player at 05:47, Mon 23 Feb 2015.

I'll add beach to my choices, and revert the beach.  Yes, I've created a world.

I blush as I back up from the door, and decide to head the furthest north, and here at the top of the E's forward spike, the storms and surf are tremendous and a bit scary.

I go back down the coast a bit to a tamer area, and create a wide, placid harbor.  Then I add whales, several varieties, and make one of their spawning grounds just outside the harbor.

And then I add a cruise ship, the SS Mary Piper, for some reason.  Its a whale watching cruise.

A tourist trap town is next, with a back country of sheep herders.

Then back to the point of the E, and here I make a few rough buildings, add penguins, and sketch out some avatars.  Surfer Extreme guys, not just ordinary surfers, but ones who like forty foot waves.

How are you planning to get around to all these places? Because if you think about flying, you will take off into the sky and fly. If you think about running really fast, you will run really fast. Or maybe you want these places to come to you. In which case, you will stand completely still and the landscape will move towards you.

Strangely (Or perhaps completely expectedly) Eric's outhouse is never far away from you. No matter where you go.

And you create your world. You can't see the whole thing at once, so you really have no idea if what you're creating is being saved or if it's just the landscape changing in front of you each time. You spend hours doing this.

Finally Eric comes out of the outhouse. He's fully dressed. The ladies are nowhere in sight. He waves his hand and the outhouse disappears.

After he berates you soundly for disturbing him, he asks what you're doing.

When you tell him you're trying to make a new game, he chuckles loud and long for a good 30 seconds. And still laughing in spurts, he tells you:

"Even if you could design the (laughing) landscape and the software, (laughing) there's no (laughing) machine to put it into!!! (laughing) There's no hardware for anyone to play. (laughing) The best you can do here is (laughing) make a game for the game central avatars to play in. But no (laughing) outside world humans will ever see it." (laughing)

I accept my berating by stilling my face, and waiting it out.

"I've already  yelled at myself." I point out to him at one point.

"Actually that's good. I'd like a place where the avatars could come, have fun...and be safe. Is there a way that if some avatar gets killed in here, that he is not really killed, just shunted to temporary storage and taken back out, with say a loss of five hundred coins?"

OOC: Am I making sense?  I want all the characters in all the games, except Cy-Bugs to be able to come in, do some cool stuff, hang out and get a suntan, and not have to worry about being deleted while in here.

"I really like creating.  And another thing, I wonder if we ....uh, one thing at a time. I'm gettng ahead of myself."

"That's good. Sometimes you can't get yelled at enough."

But he's calmed down now about it. You know how it is. When you get done yelling, it's done and over. No hard feelings.



"Unfortunately no. The avatars might be able to come in and hang out, but if they die, they die. It's not really a big deal. You're talking about killing computer programs. Surely you've played video games on the outside. You didn't cry when your character got killed, did you? That's the way I look at them. They're not people. They're just photons and force fields. Although that blonde I was with......."

But then he says "Speaking of which though, Magehammer said something about the Prime from Verser Tadeusz abandoning his game? Do you want to take over as Prime for that game? I'm thinking about deleting his code for that. I can promote a secondary easy enough. Or generate a new Prime. No big loss. For you though, say the word and you're a Prime. Any game you want, except Master Tadeusz. Master Prime is kind of my right-hand man around here, you understand. Or you never have to play again. Least I can do for myself."

Seems sincere. Also, you cannot delete their codes, but he can.



"Well, spit it out......"




OOC) Yeah, I got what you want here. I thought (And thus Eric 2 thought) that you were trying to create a new game for people to play. That would be impossible since you cannot create the hardware to support it. Unfortunately though the dice didn't like you, so it's not gonna happen the way you want. Sorry.

I see him put aside his anger, and make himself smile, and I can tell, its not that hard.  Its easy to read him.

"The ones in here seem to care about their own lives.  I suspect they do have souls. But how about this idea....an armor suit...."

A thin armor appears about me.

A volcano appears at my feet.  Around him, for a space of five feet, I leave everything the same not wanting to be rude or scare him.  I jump in the volcano, and bob up and down in the magma...hopefully.

You're uncomfortably warm in the armor suit in the volcano. Like an electric blanket turned up on maximum. But you feel you could stay there for hours with little to no ill effects. When you look up, Eric 2 is holding a multi-pronged stick with hotdogs and marshmallows cooking over the volcano.

"Why do you care about the avatars? They're just computer programs. That's all. Killing them is not much different than if you burned a child's drawing. What do you think we should do about the Tadeusz avatar that abandoned his game? I say code deletion and replace him. What do you think? And do you want to become a Prime?"

"As I said, I suspect they have souls." I laugh at his hot dogs.

"I like mine well burnt." I say as I float back up.  "Create a suit that is rented for X gp, that you have to wear to enter T:BA, and it has defenses against anything lethal we can come up with.  You have to take it off when you leave, tho'."

As to the Master Prime...

"He clearly hates his game, but he's also well liked and respected among the Tadei.  Give him a high status, but lesser game, and tell him he's on probation.  As to the game he left, lay out the problem, and then have a tournameant for any Tadei that wants to enter.  Make it hard, but non-lethal, and have some fun with it."

"Remember, I met Magehammer in person."

"I'm telling you, they don't. You might as well say a washing machine has a soul."

He's got just the slightest detectable touch of annoyance in his voice. Like he's getting tired of telling something this obvious.



"That's the only way to make them."



"And put as little in here that could kill them as possible. It could work. I'm not trying to discredit the idea."



OOC) We're not talking about Master Prime here. We're talking about the Prime from Verser Tadeusz. But since you didn't say that, your divergent won't say anything about it.



"That's interesting. A competition to see who would qualify for it. I never would have thought of that. What manner of competition would you suggest?"



"What was he like? Could he really do magic? What kinds of magic could he do?"

He created a restaurant and you went hang gliding. He could do with magic what you're doing here with a computer program.

OOC) You never did answer me about the role reversal. Now you are the superverser and he's the one who fears your power. You never did answer me what you thought about that.

Someday, a washing machine might have a soul, I think to myself, but hold myself  back from arguing. We've made our points, and its time to step back, and go on about something else.

"Yeah. And it would be fun.  I mean, I like Burger Time, but a little variety wouldn't be a bad thing.  And I think you'll find the benefit of open sourcing it is that we'll get some really cool stuff we didn't expect...we'll get some stupid stuff too.

In my world, we had programming communities of volunteers that would get together about some shared interest, and sometimes they jointly, but sorta on their own, sorta, its hard to explain, they created the most amazing things."

I tell him about Minecraft, and some of the other gaming communities.

"Well, two fold. One, can you hack the requirements of the job.  If youcan't stand being uelled at for twenty minutes, or being the butt of the joke at a comedy roast, then you're not going to  survive MH's training.  On the ther other hand, pure physical skill.  Something like American Ninja Warrior."

I tell him about the show, and about seeing a guy solve a problem swing no one else had by flipping over, and swinging from his  legs.

I tell him what I saw MH do, and what he hinted at being able to do.

OOC: Its a good step.

"What kinds of things do you expect to get?"



"Tell me more."



"Sounds interesting. Tell me more."



"Would you like to set that up?"




::Eyes bug out::

"That's the thing....you never know what someone is going to make if you give them the tools to make with.  And to make it neater and wilder, this creativity builds on itself. One guy comes up with a cool idea, and another guy takes that and maxes it to insanity, and another guy..."

"You had guys who would make their own maps for levels in games. And then they would make new weapons.  And then they would find ways to take their weapons from one game to another.  And then they'd make up totally new and utterly silly weapons, and...."

"Eventually, some of the fan made stuff got to be better than the pro stuff. A lot of people think only a few people in the future are going to be useful.  I think just the opposite.  Everyone who is willing to be honest and try is going to be able to participate in at least little ways."

"Yeah, I could totally set that up."

I nod in sympathy as his eyes bug out.

He likes your ideas. He thinks it's good. He thinks you should begin work on what you need to do. But be quick about it. It's only a few hours until game opening. You don't have to play. He's basically giving you a free pass to do almost anything you want. But a lot of the other avatars do. So now's your chance to get the most playing in your simulation.

"Thanks, Eric." I nod, and stand up decisively. "I'll get cracking on this."

I visualize myself into orbit so I can see the whole of Planet Tadeusz. Whee! Ego trip, much, I laugh at myself.

Step Two. Once that is checked, I move down over the 'U'.  I add a giant floating neon sign in a dozen different colors, and just to be weird, add a few colors human eyes can't see.  It hovers ten miles over Continent U, and is a mile long and five hundred yards high.

"U-Design Continent" Blinks, and sparkles, and rotates on a vertical axis at a speed of one rotation every five minutes.

Step Three. Create a fifty mile radius circle device that is self-moving.  Its...a Second Moon
Spacecraft that is capable of flying out of the atmosphere and to the Second Moon (the one I created.)  It has a thousand rooms.

It lands on its powerjets which fuse an unbreakable line on the edge of U, lifts up, and moves up to create another circle just touching the previous circle.  Occasionally it flares its jets in certain spaces to create spikes deep in the Earth to stabilize the vast circles of unbreakable glimmerstone (set density value to 10,000) which often extend for miles over the water.

I set it going to cover the whole, or as near as it can of U with these circles.  I watch a bit, and then go on.

Step Five. Builder's Point.  A giant outsized Eiffel Tower extending down two miles into the ocean, and a half-mile above the ocean, made of battlesteel (set density at 2,000).  It has dozens of roads (short) and three main shopping centers, and two shopping districts, and a lot of houses, and hotels, and conference centers, and restauraunts.  It also has a Baptist church, and a park for Thinking and/or Worship.

There is another park, a skate park, and also a run around and get crazy park.

There is a jet helicopter port, and a boat port.

It is here you can register to claim your fifty mile circle.  Once you are give a Wand of the Circle, and it is targetted on one particular circle, as long as you're inside that circle with that Wand, you have sysadmin level control.

There are limits as this is a PG game, and I think most such restrictions improve art.  Effects cannot pass over the border of a circle so you can't build a antimatter bomb and wipe out the whole continent U.

Enough for now.

I'm mentally exhausted, and I go find a simple game that needs a Tadei, and ask somewhat indifferently if they want a break.

Paraphrasing Genesis "And when God saw what He had made, He smiled because it was Good."



The first game you see is Ninja Tadeusz. Going in, you tell the Prime about what you've done with Planet Tadeusz. He says "I'll tell you what I think of it after game closure." then he leaves.

Samantha comes out in a silky ninja outfit. She's got a Katana, staff, and whatever other ninja weapons Tadeusz would like to play with in this game.

Your Katana suddenly has a 50 caliber pistol barrel jutting out from the hilt on either side of the blade. And your staff feels different. Not sure how yet. Just different.

So both of those are augmented. And what other ninja weapons are we playing with? You can pick up to two.

Oh, yeah, it was nice.  And hopefully that's just the beginning.

But I moan when I get into the next game.  Oops.  I wanted soemthing easy.  This is going to be hard.  I remind myself that my body is not tired, but my mind replies that mental tiredness is real too.

Sigh.

I was into the practise, trying to stay alert, but get caught off guard several times.

I'll use a sai, and a daikyu, a Japanese longbow.

OOC) I gotta ask you something serious. I've been debating for a while whether or not you can take your new gear when you verse out. In here, it's just a computer simulation. It's not really real. You will have the skills at using it, no question. But as far as the actual gear, I don't know. I realize that you would want to take it, but do you think you should be able to? If you were running this world, do you think you would let the player take computer simulated gear into The Real World? I'm asking you to be objective, not just say yes because you want to take it. And give me your reasoning either way. I didn't think of that when I versed you in here, but now I'm thinking about it.

IC) You have one sai. The long blade is hollow. It unscrews and holds a 50 caliber bullet. So it's a single shot sai gun. You've got the bow and a belt quiver with 10 arrows. In the game though, they're infinite. Outside the game, you've got 10. The arrows have explosive tips. Think Rambo.



OOC) Actually, not everything is as you expect it to be. There was a method to my madness, sending your tired mind into Ninja Tadeusz.

IC) Whilst you're waiting for the Quarter Alert, Samantha just sits with you. She won't speak unless you speak to her. She just sits there staring straight ahead. But when the Quarter Alert comes, you get up and follow her into a training room. You see out the window of the video game and into the arcade 9:30 and 10 seconds. In the training room, the first thing you do is sit down on a mat, with Samantha sitting across from you. She teaches you meditation and mental relaxation. You meditate for an hour before doing anything else. Your mental fatigue takes a long walk off a short pier. You feel calmer and more relaxed than you have in a while.

When meditation is done, Samantha instructs you to hold the katana in your right hand and the sai in your left. It doesn't take you very long to realize that she's teaching you the same martial art that employed the katana and blacksmithing hammer. What you're learning is how to use two different melee weapons simultaneously, then one at a time. You train in that for several hours, New Use on the martial art bringing you up to 1@5.

Then she teaches you to use the staff weapon. It's the same martial art you were using in Tadeusz Knights. Except now it's an Order staff. The double shotgun would still work, but it's not used in this game. Samantha teaches you to use the staff. And how to conjure up an Order tornado. You spin the staff for several seconds, and then make a throwing gesture. The Order tornado is more or less a solid column of air to attack your enemies. 1@2 Staff, 1@1 Order tornado.

Then you go outside, onto the archery range. Samantha instructs you how to use the bow. The explosive arrows obliterate the targets that are set up, but as soon as one is destroyed, another pops up to take its place. You could rapid fire arrows and always have a target in the same spot. 1@1 use longbow.

Samantha is very patient and calm. Very kind and sweet. She's doing everything she can to make it as relaxing as intensive martial arts training could possibly be.

When the day is done, you sit down with Samantha and meditate for another hour before going to sleep. She unrolls a mat for you to sleep on. You sleep like a dead man. Your mind is so at peace.

And this routine continues for 10 days. Get up, meditate, practice sai and katana, practice staff, practice bow, meditate, sleep. Like clockwork for 10 days solid.

Leaving the dojo, you see out the window, the clock says 9:30 and 20 seconds. It occurs to you that the player of the game is probably seeing all of this condensed into a 10 second training montage as the game loads.

Then Samantha leads you out the door of the dojo, and into a street in a feudal Japanese city.

And that's where it will stop so you can give your thoughts.
This message was last edited by the player at 22:06, Tue 03 Mar 2015.

I bow to Samantha after spending an hour meditating on Psalm 23.  I feel remarkably better.
"Thank you. "  and You too, I add with a cheeky prayer.

"This Niten Ryu is something I always wanted to learn." I say after we finish the two weapons practise.  I think that was the right term, anyhoo, onward...

Since Samantha is not pushing me, I'm being most methodical, and ...Okay, I've got this one, now if I pull just a bit faster on the bow, I can get out two shots.... giving myself little experiments where I try to push myself.  Some days, I get so lost in the thing that I'm a bit surprised when Samantha tells me its time to quit.

Just before we go, I turn to her.

"I'm creating an avatar only game. While you will be able to be killed there, its going to have significant protections.  It occurs to me that something like a City of Peace would not be a bad thing, and that your pal and you might want to visit, pick out a lot, and build yourself a dojo, or just a Japanese temple with a rock garden.  In any case, think about it.  I'll set something aside for you, and you can make up your own mind later."

OOC: Hmm. I sent Jhiaxus to a Legoverse, and he obtained a lightsaber there that worked just fine in the regular world, except it had 'lego' on the hilt base.

I'm struggling a bit to divide my personal desires from my GM thoughts.  Not working that well.  I'd say, no weapons, possibly lessened skills, but if he ever does enter into a Matrix world, or into something like Heartwar which was a collective mind, the weapons could manifest.

I would say things like Order Tornado definitely don't pass over into  non video world.

You're doing fine, man. Guten. :)

Samantha looks intrigued. She says "Tell me more at game closure."

But then you step out into the Japanese city. You hear the game do a voice over. "The Yakuza, led by Slidehammer, have been on a terror rampage throughout Japan. And only Tadeusz has what it takes to stop them."

And then you've got the sai and katana in your hands. Then you've got the staff in your hands. Then the sai and katana. It's like the player can't decide. But then a dozen ninja warriors come at you. It's a side-scrolling game. You go at them with the sai and katana. Some you slice with the katana, some you stab with the sai. But the last one you decapitate with a spinning katana attack. His head flies off, blinks twice and disappears. (1@1 spinning katana decapitation attack)

Then the sai and katana change into the staff. And stay that way. More ninja warriors come at you. You come in swinging like a madman. Hits, blows, pokes, the last one you spin the staff and hit him with an Order tornado that blows him completely off the screen.

And then you hear a steady rhythm. A helicopter. Flying overhead. You pull out the bow and roll onto your back, and fire an explosive arrow straight up. The helicopter explodes and rains flaming debris down on you. You feel the impacts but no pain. Then you leap to your feet.

More ninjas come at you. Sometimes staff, sometimes sai and katana. You decapitate some, blast some with Order tornadoes, and blow a few up with explosive arrows.

And then you hear it. "I AM SLIDEHAMMER!!!!!" and he's standing before you. A young guy, early 20s, bears a striking resemblance to Jerry O'Connell. Black trenchcoat, and a Chaos hammer. Eric told you he was a protege of Magehammer's. That is obvious in his appearance. He's like Magehammer's evil twin.

He attacks you by throwing a fireball at you. You jump out of the way. Then you point your sai and katana at him, and fire all three 50 caliber rounds at once. Apparently the player was saving those for him. Blood flies from his three wounds and blinks and disappears. He attacks you with the hammer, and you block with the sai and slash with the katana. Then they change into the staff mid fight. You spin the staff and hit him with an Order tornado. He's blasted back, but he's not done yet. He spins his Chaos hammer around and throws a Hiroshima-sized fireball at you. Your weapon switches to the bow and you fire a volley of arrows at him. Your arrows impact at about the same time as his fireball impacts you. It's pretty clear you've both killed each other, but you hear the dreaded "GAME OVER!!!!"

Then you're back in the blackness with Samantha. She's still not speaking unless you speak to her first.



OOC) The magic rituals you're performing to use the Order hammer and Chaos katana are real magic rituals. Don't forget, those weapons were inspired by actual versers. So the Order ice attack and Chaos flame attack that you have learned will work with your Order hammer and Chaos katana. If you manage to acquire an Order staff, the tornado attack will work. The magic rituals for the magic weapons are real.

Skill at using the weapons is definitely going to come through. So you are learning how to fight with a katana and blacksmithing hammer. If you get a bow, staff or broadsword, you will be able to use them at this skill level. That's something I'm definitely giving you. The skills you're learning are real and will come with you. I kinda like the Candy Store approach to refereeing. Thus, giving you those skills is something that I am adamant about.

As far as if you can keep the gear, I think I might roll a GE when the time comes. I think this kind of world is something MJ never considered when he wrote it.



OOC) Glad you're enjoying it. But just do me a favor. Don't tell me I'm doing fine if I'm not.

Well, we dealt with Heartwar a bit which I think brought up some of these issues, maybe.

I'll go to sleep.

Is everything okay? You're not like pissed at me or something are you? Or just too tired to give a good reply now?

A bit tired, and not sure what to say in response.  I'm going to try to write another section of Practise Bits in a bit.

We haz snow...again. Weird winter.

Just as long as you're not pissed at me. But yeah, that's pretty much why I've not yet replied to yours. Can't think of what to say back. I see why you like refereeing better than playing. It's somehow easier.
This message was last edited by the player at 07:45, Sat 07 Mar 2015.

"Well, Samantha, I notice how MH gets the idiot crowd treatment from the Tadei, and it occurred to me that inside this new vast setting I was making up for everyone that a City of Peace where all violence was forbidden by physical structures, and probably all verbal attacks as well....don't want to create the world's greatest snakepit...where a man could rest might be a good thing.

Otherwise, I'm hoping to dot the world area with lots of interesting challenges, but with high safety guards.  I'll have one of the continents be set for individual creators.  In the end, I might have two or three for that purpose.

I suppose I ought to save back half of the continents for later development.  which with the sub creator one only needs enough to cover three other continents.

Hmmm....I think the City of Peace ought to be in Fluffy Bunny Land.  Its the type of stuff that will appeal to the six year old girl, and the four year old boy in all of us.  Unicorns, simple puzzles, rainbow foot paths.  For the slightly more mature, I think a Riddle Quest set in the High Middle Ages with some gentle swordplay, and a lot of riddles.

The three Elven Queens will be Guardians of Fluffy Bunny Land, and live with their people in the center of the continent in the Deepwood.  Occasionally they send out infiltrators armed with sharp arrows, stealth, and the Power of Nice to other lands.

Its not a place that a cybug could immigrate too as it would be turned back by impassblel forcefields.  And I might have some sort of emotional field, which heals those who seek peace, but irritates the violence seeking.  Not sure if I can do that last one."

Samantha looks at you puzzled, like she doesn't understand a word you just said.

"Who is MH?" Is her first question. (This is a different Samantha from his girlfriend, remember.) She really wants you to explain what you're talking about.



OOC) You can create because you have consciousness. None of the other avatars would have that ability. To her, a "Creator" is someone outside who builds video games. The whole concept of an avatar creating is foreign to her.

"Short for Magehammer. Your pal. Sorry."

And once that's clarified that she doesn't know MH, I then back up and explain in more detail who he is, and who she is in the other game.

"Does this happen a lot?  People confusing each other for others?"

OOC: I would not grasp this yet, as I don't have such a high  opinion of creativity, or a low opinion of them.

OOC) I'm putting that down more so I don't forget. I need to play the NPCs right. I need to remember that. To them, the Creators are gods. You've basically told Samantha that you're a god. And in a sense, you are. I need to remember that to play her right.




"Any relation to Slidehammer? I hate that guy. He's always trying to fight me because I train the Tadei to beat him. He doesn't mess with the Tadei. Just with me."



She seems to get it. "Yeah, I know my avatar is used as a trainer in several of the games. I didn't know there was another trainer named Magehammer though. So she, the other Samantha, is in some kind of romantic relationship with him?" She looks envious. Like she hates being alone. "I wish I could find romance."



"Sometimes."

But when you explain further about creating a new game, a place for the avatars to go and relax, she starts to get it. Her eyes grow wider and wider. Her mouth drops open a little at a time. She stammers "Are, are, are you a Cr-Cr-Creator?"

She looks to be in utter awe and amazement. Like she's trying to decide if she should kneel at your feet in worship.

"They may have had a history.  You'd have to ask."

+++++++++++++++++

I think about her comment a bit about romance.  I consider giving her a bit of harsh truth, but decide not too, in part because I don't really know her, and besides I don't know that the avatars work like humans work in their heads that is.  After a bit, a clever idea comes to me.

"I bet I could get you a date with Mario."

++++++++++++++++++

I want to smack something. Aaargh.  In ways, I am an incarnate being, sort of, maybe.

"Its not a game the Creators can play.  Besides, when you go to Burger Time, don't you sometimes create a weird burger?"

OOC) Just to refresh your memory. Eric 2 told you that Slidehammer was a former protege of MH's. He became an evil verser. I'm introducing him to you here for a reason. <wink> So your character knows their history. Slidehammer is an immensely powerful Chaos mage. Krillis would have done battle with him if he had continued playing.




At this she scoffs and says "What female avatar /couldn't/ get a date with Mario????"

Mario is Italian, don't forget.



"No, I select pieces from the offered menu and put them together."

But when you mention that you made a bleu cheese burger with bacon, her eyes go wide again.

"There's no such thing as bleu cheese or bacon on the menu!!!"

Big difference between creating something and putting already created pieces together. You're doing the former, she's doing the latter.

I'm starting to get their intellectual limitations.

"Ah, well in the Creative Zone, we'll have various structures and items, and you can put them together how you like."  OK, that is not what I had planned, as I had hoped for some massively cool and weird creations, but I can give them a sandbox full of already built toys, and they can do cool things with them.

I'm not sure what to do with her thinking me a god.  I don't like it, but I can see her logic.

"That sounds like it's going to be a lot of fun."

Then she grins and winks at you. Almost flirtatiously.

And unless there's anything else you need to say to Samantha, the day progresses. You train with Samantha enough to get +1 in all of the skills she's teaching you.

OOC) What would you like to do after this world? Your choices are Verser World, battling zombies or protecting an 8 year old girl. You're not in danger of versing out, I'm just wondering.

I ignore her flirtation, although it annoys me a bit.  I then take out my annoyance on Slidehammer.

Wham. "That is for..." Slam.  "Every pain in the neck:" Crunch. "Thing I've endured."

OOC: Zombies probably.

You keep forgetting, you're not in control of yourself when you're fighting Slidehammer in the game. You're able to think that, maybe even say it, but your fighting is controlled by the player.

HOWEVER!!!!!

At game closure, when you and Samantha are about to leave, Slidehammer comes out. Samantha draws her staff. Slidehammer draws his hammer. It's pretty clear they're about to go at it, and Samantha is not expecting you to help.



OOC) We'll see. It might not be any of those.
This message was last edited by the player at 05:15, Fri 13 Mar 2015.

"Step aside, Samantha." I say flatly.  "Prepare to eat..." Grandiloquently. "Shoeloaf!!"

Come in high and wide with mystaff. Change style as I...  Duck at the last second snd snap his shins.

From the look on Samantha's face, it's fairly obvious that no Tadeusz has ever stepped up to defend her. That look is quickly replaced with "My Hero!!!"

Slidehammer roars "This is gonna be fun!!!" and pulls back his hammer. He's about to swing when you duck and leg sweep him. You see his knees bend 45 degrees the wrong way as your staff makes contact. He goes down onto his back. But then he says "Chaos In Chaos!!!" and fires a lightning bolt at you. It hits you square in the face, but with no pain. You've got the feeling though that your face is blackened in a cartoonish kind of way. You bring your staff down and hit him whilst he's on his back. Then he swings his hammer at your leg and knocks you down. Then he springs back to his feet. His legs seem fine. From the ground, you poke and stab with your staff. Hitting him in the face. He swings again at you on the ground, but you block it deftly. Then you spin the staff around and catch him in the head. His head snaps at a weird angle. Then he blinks twice and disappears.

Samantha offers her hand to help you up. She's grinning. She kisses you on the cheek.

"I see you really paid attention during the training. Unfortunately he'll be back tomorrow. Every night we fight to the death, the loser has to stay here for the night."

OOC) To settle the question of whether or not you could take your new gear when you verse out, I turned to the old classic, the coin toss. I flipped best two out of three for if you could take it. You won three out of three flips. So it's going with you when you verse. The gear might not be real, but it's real to Tadeusz. So that's good enough for me.`

"That was weird." I say a bit shakily.  I pretend not to notice Samantha.  Then I turn to her. "Thanks for the training."

Briefly I consider maxing out on Being Needy and Awkward, but I'm not likely to be able to stick to the script, and thereby succeed in chasing off the female.  Instead I turn cold.

"Every body..." I emphasize those two words.  "Deserves decent treatment."  For some, thats not very much kindness, but at least they don't deserve to  be chased down the street by a mob of cowardly thugs, or be set upon by a maniac every night.

My face is ice cold by now, and my usual brown eyes are almost black.  Samantha starts to say  something, and I tunr to her, and she suddenly just gulps, and quiets.

"Bye."  I walk away, noting that those woh get near me, veer from my path.  Inside, I realize I need to go blow off some steam.  First, I try to find a quiet corner, and beat the snot out of a poor innocent wall with my staff.  After a bit, I decide when I'm a bit calmer to go with favorite rememdy....Burger time and a coke.

Grilled onions and tomatoes and mushrooms on melted Swiss on a thick, juicy burger, nothing else.  And an ice cold Coke...

OOC: The Dice have spoken.

Still bubbly she says "That's what I'm here for."



OOC) What I said about Magehammer being bullied by the Tadei was taken straight from my childhood. Every morning, a bunch of kids would follow me to school making my life hell. Every day I asked them "Why are you doing this to me?" And every day I got the same answer "Because you're a NERD!!!" It took me years to realize that it wasn't my fault. So what if I was a nerd? Why couldn't they just let me be a nerd? (Not to mention the fact that I still don't know what a "Nerd" is.) If I had one wish, it would be to go back in time as Magehammer and teach them what it feels like to be bullied. That's why I believe there HAS to be a God. Somebody has to make all of this right in the end.




But your cold, aloof attitude has the desired effect. Samantha turns away from you. It's pretty clear you've hurt her feelings and she won't be coming onto you again. She walks away from you, into the game.



So you go to Burger Time. You see Magehammer and Samantha (Not the one you were just with) sitting in a booth. Magehammer waves you over. How he can tell you from the rest of the Tadei is a mystery. But he says to you "I don't know what you did after I left, but the Prime from Verser Tadeusz has changed radically. He was polite. He even called me 'Sir'. I haven't had any problems with any of them today. Thanks."


For the first time you notice the menu that everybody else orders from. It has onions and tomatoes, but not grilled onions. Mushrooms are nowhere to be seen on the menu, and neither is Swiss cheese. It's relatively basic as far as burger menus go. Although strangely, fried eggs are available on the menu. You see a few patrons with fried eggs on their burgers.

But you get your burger just the way you ordered it. You get the feeling you could probably get spaghetti and meatballs or lasagne or anything else you wanted in here.



OOC) And I'm happy that they spoke in your favor.

"I'm glad to hear it, MH." I nod, and find myself relaxing a bit. Justice and sanity prevailing at least a little bit.  Something occurs to me, and i ask them to stop by my table for a couple minutes later.

I stil need chill.

Seeing the egg, I consider a Royale Burger, which is egg on burger.

After I untense, and relax they  come over, and I mention Other Samantha's problem.

"She doesn't like Mario which to my mind is stupid as he's a great guy, but maybe Ralph? And  I'm pretty sure Ralph would put a quick stop to Slidehammer messing with her."

MH laughs heartily. When he's finished he says "You don't know Mario. The guy's a womanizer. He spends almost as much time in Leisure Suit Larry as he does in his own game. I wouldn't want any version of my baby with him."

Samantha says "As far as Ralph, he's in love with Vanellope. There's nothing he wouldn't do for her. He even stands up to the Tadei for her. Not many avatars will stand up to a Tadeusz, for any reason. To beg the obvious though, why did you refuse her? What would be the harm?"

When you tell them about your fight with Slidehammer, they both look confused.

MH "He must have been taking it way easy on you because you're a Tadeusz. He doesn't want to bring the wrath of the entire force of Tadei down on himself. So he threw the fight. Our programmed back story is that Slidehammer was my protege and student. I introduced him to Chaos magic and he turned evil. Caused a lot of damage to a lot of worlds. He's a lot more powerful than he was giving you in that fight. You probably wouldn't have stood a chance if he was giving it all to you."

Samantha says "I can vouch for that. I've had to fight the Slidehammer from our game more than once. He must be programmed severely misogynistic."

MH "Yeah, he never fights me. Just her."

I ignore their question about me.  If they press, I just shrug and smile.  If they press more, I say I'm married.  If they press more, its evil eye time.

I shrug at their Slidehammer explanation.  Could be.

Afterwards it back to chilling.

They press it as far as you shrugging and smiling. Then they let it go.



And after you shrug and smile again, they decide that you're not going to be worthy of conversation and depart. Magehammer takes Samantha's hand and says "Let's head to Leisure Suit Larry." And she gives him the evil eye. But not in a bad way.



So you're chilling. Nobody else really disturbs you. You see two Tadei get into an argument over whose game is more popular. Pac Man floats by throwing game chips randomly. They taste sweet, like honey. About how you expect manna to taste. And a drunken Link from Legend of Zelda stumbles past your table, crashing into it. He just looks at you and gives you a stupid grin before stumbling away.

Other than that, it's your typical night at a hamburger joint.

"Careful there, buddy." I say to the Link with a small smile.  Man, this place is wild!

I go back to Beach, and spend some time putting together basic stuff fzor the Create Yr Own circles.  Houses (straw, stick, and brick. Tudor, Elizabethan, Victorian. Spanish, Russian, and Japanese.)
A dozen flower beds.

Geometric shapes (so if you want you want a triangular brick house you merge them. Same with a circle.)

I add about twenty trees.

And then I design one Circle.

A brick circle on a hill. Passageways from five doors leading to circular Tudor, Victorian, Russian with onion dome, Spanish, and one that opens out into a flower garden ringed by trees that leads down to a path through the woods and to the edge of the Circle with a wooden sign.

"Welcome to the House of Circles."
"All permitted, except Cybugs."
"Owner. E. Tadei."

Eric Two comes out and looks around. "Not bad, not bad. What exactly are you trying to create for the avatars here? What's your final goal?"

When he sees the No Cybugs sign, he kind of laughs. "Nice touch, but I don't think they can read. You might want to add a beacon. It's like a giant bug zapper. They're drawn to it and it fries them."

All in all he seems pleased with what you've done.

"Good point." I image a bug zapper into existence a hundred yards down the circle, where its visible, but not annoying to avatars walking up the path to the house.

Then I step into another Circle right next to the first circle.

"Imagine you're one of the non-creatives, but you still have the power of choice. So..."

And a variety of menus and submenus appear.

"Hills/Lake/River/Plains"
"Large, Small, and Tiny"

He makes his choice.

Then appears ground cover choices which is simpler.  "Lawn, tall grass, weeds"

Then the House choices.

"So by giving them a wide array of multiple choice questions, well it may not be true creativity, but its something.  And I hope to see a couple thousand avatars making their own Circles after they get the Key to each circle at the Oil Rig out there."

I point out into the water at the Permission Platform, a kind of gigantic Eiffel tower I already discussed.

"And if they don't like it, I can easy peasy tear it up and try out something different."

"I'm impressed. I never thought of doing anything like this. But why? Why are you doing this for the avatars?"

Then he says "I took care of the Prime from Verser Tadeusz. I can change their personalities pretty much on a whim. He won't cause any more problems."

And then "You seemed to enjoy Ninja Tadeusz. Would you like to become the Prime for that game? And isn't the trainer Samantha a dish?"

"Yuu and I disagree. I think they are real people.  Besides, I like to do this.  I like to create, and solve problems for people, although I'm far better at the first than the second having near zero skill at the second."

I shake my head.

"Not interested in getting involved with a 'girl'.  If you're right, and they're not people, then that's icky and unfulfilling.  If it isn't then its messed up in another way."

"You cannot reprogram real people. Just ask the Ladyfaire, that is to say, my former wife. I love creating too. Why do you think I designed these games? So when do you think this will be ready for you to let the other avatars in?"



He says "If you stay in here long enough, it won't seem so icky and unfulfilling. When your only companions are computer programs, it does get a little weird. I'll give you that. Sometimes I forget they're not real people. Then I have to reprogram a Tadeusz with a thought, and it all comes back to me. Unless you know the programming language, you shouldn't be able to reprogram the avatars. That takes a serious understanding of coding, more than just thinking it into existence. But I could make that Samantha avatar do just about anything. You never answered me. Do you want to take over as Prime for Ninja Tadeusz?"

Just to overstate the obvious, he's saying he could reprogram Samantha so she will never again come on to you. That is, if you wanted to take over that game.

"I hear you.  I need a couple more days work on the Circles, and another week for the rest of the world, then I'm going to need your help as we build the safety protocols."

I wave a hand and a small model of the world appears.  On it, red dots of contemplated construction outnumber the too few dots of already done constcution.  Even if all the red were blue, the place is still pretty clearly sparse with lots of empty space.

I visualize a railroad track following the Z, and add cites, and train stations.  Add a duplicate track.  Add some partically built track so that work is available for those who want to add on.

Drawing on memory, I recreate the Nashville Grand Central station.

Then underground, I create a space for a race of dwarves, and another of mischevous, but not malevolent gremlins.

"I could use your help there." I point to the two slots in the biome.

"What kinds of safety protocols are you trying to put in?"



"What sort of help?"

OOC) You're from Tennessee. I heard that the Memphis Belle, the famous airplane from that movie is in a museum in Memphis. Have you ever seen it?

"Anything that can kill them in here has an armor or other safety device against it."

I blink, and then grin.  Then I snap my fingers.  The oceans no longer have the ability to drown people.

"I can't create a small clan of dwarves, and a smaller family of gremlins."

The only place I stop in Memphis is at the Welcome Center overlooking the River.  Well, I did buy some plastic race car beds way back.

"You can also make things safer. Falling rocks that won't crush anyone, lava that won't burn, water that you can't drown in. This could be a regular cornucopia for the avatars to play in."



"And why would you want to do that?"

OOC) I picked up two new players on Looking to Learn. One of them is even less experienced than I am.

I blink, and then consider....

"Well...." I think. "I just thougth that having some underground creatures to stock an underground might be good...but we could stick to game avatars.  As to gremlins, I wanted foes that were not lethal...just enough to give people a challange.  But y'know, I don't  need either."  I shrug.

OOC: Excellent.

He looks shocked. "Foes? DUDE!!! Most of these avatars battle foes all day long in their games. The last thing they want to do in their off hours is battle more foes. But if you want creatures to stock an underground, how about some more lovelies?"

And with a wave of his hand, two dozen bikini-clad supermodels appear.

"Better?"

"Ok." He's got a point. I set them to 'Dark Elf lovely' with more clothes, and a PG code of behavior.

Eric two approves of your changes. "You're right. They should be servants, not sex toys."

And he also creates two dozen male waiters in tuxedos.

"For the ladies."

OOC) I now know how you felt being "The dumbest guy at the table" and the game referee. One of my players is 2@ in martial arts, and he's with Super Samantha. Super Samantha is an expert at martial arts, but the referee knows next to nothing. My other player is a computer scientist. She's with Carter. Carter is an expert at scriff tech. Two weeks ago, the player didn't know what scriff was, but she probably knows more about how it would work than the referee.

I nod in approval.

And since he's going with waiter, let's make a few restaraunts....one with the option to go hunt for your own freshwater octopi so you can have really fresh calamari and sushi.

"Samurai's Spearfishing." is a hokey to the max mix up of Kung Fu, Samurai swords, underwater sea cave exit for the hunter/divers and Jamaican mon, yah mon.

OOC: Try to learn from them as you can so you'll look smarter to the next guy who comes along.  Best of luck.  :)

"Oh man, you crack me up." and he's laughing.

Then he thinks about it for a minute and says "How about a geyser that throws candy into the air?"

And waves his hand. You're looking at Old Faithful that spurts jellybeans into the air every 10 minutes.

"What do you think?"

I burst out laughing.

"I like it, man."  I say after I calm down a bit.

After he stops laughing he says "Have fun, I'm going to join the ladies."

And the hotel room door appears. The one with the 2x4 sized deadbolt and the Do Not Disturb sign. He opens the door and you catch a glimpse of female flesh before he disappears inside. Right before the door closes, you hear him shout "Ladies, I hath returneth!!!!!!"
This message was last edited by the player at 06:21, Fri 27 Mar 2015.

I shake my head, and walk away.  I head out into the main concourse, its time to stomp some cybugs, I think as I go hunting for some escapees...

If I don't find them after a while, I'll go practice in a race game.

No reported Cybug escapes. It's all calm on the home front.

But going into Tadeusz Racing you do find one competitor who is willing to race against you. He says "What the hey? I got nothing better to do."

And so you race. He does insist on racing motorcycles a few times. But mostly you do the cars. He beats you soundly four out of eleven races. Three go to a draw, and you win the other four.

At this point, game opening is in an hour. Are you staying here or are you going to a different game?

"Good races, man." I nod, and walk out.  I feel a weariness, and for a time, I just wander, a ghost. Finally, after many hours, near sapped of willpower, I go into my Beach World, and in a flicker of whimsy, that brings a smile to my face, I transport to the Z.

There I recreate Treehouse Point as a human land, and just beyond it Lothlorien, the land of Galadriel from LOTR.  This takes up a third of the downward slash.

And i climb into a treehouse, find a bed, and rest. Even if I can't sleep, I can lay my burdens down for a bit, rest, pray, daydream, drift....

It's not that you can't sleep, you just don't need to. But if sleep is what you want, you can have that. So you drift off into a nice relaxing nap. You dream pleasant dreams.

When you wake up, Eric 2 is standing over you. He says "I really like this world you built. Too late for you to join in any games for today, but you don't really need to. You never did tell me though, do you want to become a Prime?"

I jump.

"Whoa dude. Personal space."  I sit up more slowly.  "Yeah, thanks man, I appreciate that."  I wander over to the kitchen, and get out orange juice, and some sausages which I begin to fry on the grill.  Hashbrowns, frozen, come from the freezer, and eggs go on the counter to wait a bit.

I start making coffee.

"Some things, part of th epleasure in them is in the preparation. and in the expectation. the scent of cooking sausage, is well, nice."

"Sit."  I wave at a chair at the counter.

"I surely would not mind some help.  If you want to add something...to the world, I mean."

Now, I crack the eggs, and toss them into the garbage can that never overflows.

"There is a bit of logic to that. Explains why you're not doing it my way."

And with a wave of his hand he's got a plate on the table with exactly the same breakfast on it.

"Pass me the ketchup, would you?"



"I think you're doing just fine. How do you feel, being a virtual god?"

But then he says "I need to know if you would like to become a Prime."

He's insisting that you tell him.

I take a bite, and for the first time seriously think about it, at least for a second.

"OK. We were planning a tournameant for the other Prime's position. I still want to go with that.  As to being a Prime, I'd want something, well, small.  Responsibilities could be good.  And I don't want to steal from some other guy.  If you can meet those two points, then yeah, I'll do it."

I pass him the ketchup.

"As to being a minor god...yeah, its pretty cool."

He laughs. "Steal from some other....... *GUY*" HAHAHAHAHA

When he's finished laughing, he says:

"I don't know how it was on your world, but here men lost their jobs to machines. Now a man has the chance to take a job from a machine, and he won't take it. That's just too funny."

But then he says "Which game would you want to Prime in?"



"Pretty cool? That's all you can say? Pitiful. I think it's FREAKING AWESOME!!!!!!!!"

"It was headed that way in ours, but I think it was more cheating by the elite than the machines that did the working man in.  A man can learn to use, or buy a machine.  Its hard to do so when the supposed friends and leaders are out messing you over every way they can get away with."

========

"Racing." I say.

======

"You're right.  I'm ...over cautious.  It is aweseome."

"I see your point. The problem comes when the machines try to take over. There's a game in here called Terminator. It's not a Tadeusz game, but you could still go in and observe. The game is based on a sci fi movie where machines took over the world. That scares me. Sometimes I'm afraid the Tadei might rise up in revolt against me. I don't know if I could shut them all down."



OOC) I'm moderately surprised. I would have thought you'd want Ninja Tadeusz. Learn to use the Order staff and Chaos Katana. So you want to learn to be a Transporter. Nothing wrong with that.

IC) Eric 2 says "To be clear, I'm not going to try to force it on you. You do what you want. Including never playing again. It's just it is the goal of every other secondary avatar to become a Prime. But if you want to spend all of your time in this world you created, I'd have no problem with that."

He was more wondering which game you would want to Prime in if you wanted to Prime at all. But you don't have to Prime in any. You're his new best friend. You can do pretty much anything you want as far as he's concerned.



At this he kind of cheers a little and says "Absolutely right!!! I'm still surprised you've not enjoyed the company of any of the ladies yet." But then he considers for a moment. "How would you like to spend a night with your wife? I would assume we had the same taste in women, married the same girl. Let's see here."

And he waves his hand, and you're looking at a computer generated version of your Ladyfaire. She's wearing whatever clothes you would expect her to be wearing on a normal day.

"Is that her?"

He's just trying to make this as comfortable for you as he can.

OOC) And I'm really hoping it's not completely offensive to you that I just conjured up a version of your wife. I'm not even going to try to play her. It will just fade to black and your imagination can fill in the blanks.
This message was last edited by the player at 20:29, Tue 07 Apr 2015.

"In my world, you occasionally had people talking about how others were useless, and doomed to be displaced by machines.  My thought is that this is less about use, and more about status.  And then these status seekers cheat.  They offload their risks onto the poor and middle class.  If they win, its all Free Enterprise! and big bonuses, and we deserve it.  If they lose, its Taxpayers must help us!  And so either way, the normal guy loses out, and when he loses, partically because the machine, he gets blamed for not being good enough."

I snarl and lightning leaps from my hands to flash over the horizon, and a hurricane brews in a second, but as the rain comes down in sheets....I let the weather go.  I'm still furious, but I have no desire to destroy my beautiful world in my wrath.

"AI's are a different thing.  We did not have that where I was from.  So, I don't know how that would work."

I look sad.

"Not the same thing." I wave the image away.

Eric 2 says "I can see you need some alone time. So I'll be going now."

And his hotel room door appears and he enters. No sign of the ladies this time. He's just leaving you in peace to do your thing.

I go to the S, and on the back side, create cliffs of varying sorts, and long beaches on the front side.  On the cliff side, I create a pearl bed under the water, and then a Mediterranean village, like something off the Travel Channel overlooking the turbulent water.

In there, an Italian restaraunt, with a similar setup to Burger Time, but instead, spaghetti and raviolo and alfredo fettucine are served along with salads and breadsticks and soups.

Inside a sea cave, put a pirate ship that has been wrecked and a hundred gold in a treasure chest.

Leave the white cobblestoned walkways behind...

And it is done.

OOC) I don't know what else I'm supposed to say in response there.

OOC: Indeed.

Once the security protocols are set up, I open the world to all comers.

After a bit, I go racing in my game.  I try to stretch my skills at night so that I can do a barrel roll.  I also practise leaping from car to car in motion.

Only in my game, tho'.

There's not very many off duty avatars at the moment, but you do get several hundred that come in. From what you can tell, it's a rousing success. Avatars enjoy what you've created.

That's several hundred compared to upwards of tens of thousands when it's off duty.



I would assume you mean after hours.

Imagining a corkscrew ramp into existence, you drive a Ferrari at it. The car twists through the ramp and comes back down on its wheels. You're jarred and shaken. If you were a human being, you might decide to go to the hospital for a spinal injury, but you landed the jump.

You get a racing avatar to help you drive another car to practice leaping from one to the other. Your first attempt is a failure. The car you're leaping from swerves out of control and you fall underneath the back wheels. Both of your legs are crushed underneath them. Thankfully you don't feel pain or need medical attention. Your nickname might be Stumpy otherwise.

On the second attempt though, you succeed in leaping from one car to the other. It's exhilarating to make the jump at 60 MPH. But it wouldn't take a genius to know you should never, ever, ever do that in real life.

Third attempt you just barely make it. Your legs get caught halfway and you have to jerk them around. But you finally make the transition.

The other driver just shakes his head. The expression on his face is saying "This guy's nuts."



Yeah, so you can't get killed.

Go in, and look for what's most popular, and create some more stuff along that line.

Also, create the Mount Midoriyama competition site for finding the next Prime.  Do the test myself, fail miserably.  Get up, and try it again.  Fail again.  Succeed partially.

Make test more difficult.

Create turtle in car with message in mouth, and send to other Eric.  "Test site now ready to open.  You might want to look it over, amke sure it good."

============

"You've seen nothing yet." I tell the guy who thinks I'm nuts.  Then I practise diving out of a moving car and rolling, which according to movies seems a useful skill.  I start at five miles per hour, and work my up.

Food. Restaurants are the most popular. When your only choice for food is Burger Time, you want some variety.



Tell me about it.



Whatever you say chief......



One comes back "I don't need to look it over. You're a smart guy. I'm sure it's perfect. Enjoy it!!!"



Failure the first time. You fall out and again get your legs crushed.

And the second time. Except this time it crushes your legs a lot higher up. Yeah, there. Thank the gods you don't feel pain.......

Third time though, you clear the car and roll to safety.

Fourth time you get the hang out it. You're clear by a mile. Things are starting to look up.

On the northermost bar of the 'E' for 'eats', I create a BBQ joint under a palm frond pavillion that covers a couple acres.  In the center is a massive firepit, and on the menu is sausage links, and piles of shredded pork with or without sauce atop baked potatoes, and ribs.

Next to it is Wingtastic, where the wings are juicy, vinegary, a touch sweet, and the blue cheese dressing is heavy on the cheese, and the fries are cajun fried spicy.

A yoghurt shop goes next.
Its a ride in the shape of a scoop of youghurt.  Get your treat, get on a chair, ride around and up a few times, finish your treat, and get off.

=============

We start with a vertical wall that you have to jump five feet over water to climb over and then leap to the next wall, and down.  Next obstacle is a spinning log that you run the length of.  After that its a slide down a rope by hanging on a curtain, and dropping off on a square target.  Then a run and jump for hanging chain that spins on a carousel to a landing on the far side.  And an arch of twenty door handles that must be traversed by hanging o nthem, with finally a fourteen foot tall slopped wall to surmount by running up it.

==============

It takes several minutes of recovering my nerve after turn two...

A cheer goes up from the crowd at the new restaurants. You've made them happy there.

Suddenly a piece of paper appears in front of you. It's from Eric 2. On it is written:

"How about a hot wing sauce making contest? Give them a bunch of ingredients and see which avatar can come up with the best hot wing sauce? That's about as close to creation as they could come."

========

For your obstacle course, a Tadeusz in biker shorts and a tank top steps up. He's got the number 01 on his shirt. He gets a running start, hurdles your wall, runs across the spinning log like it's nothing, slides the rope, drops off the square target, jumps for the hanging chain, spins, lands, and then monkey bars the doorknobs with ease. The fourteen foot wall he scales like he's running up a flight of stairs. Then he takes a tumbling leap off the top, and lands on his feet perfectly. When he gets to the end of the course, he takes a bow, to the cheering of everyone who watched.

Another piece of paper appears out of nowhere. It's from Eric 2. It reads:

"That was Track and Field Tadeusz. See how easily he went through it? Racer Tadeusz wouldn't stand a chance in there. You gotta make one that's fair for all of them. Stretch those brain muscles."

Seems he was watching it after all.

=========




Understood, but it didn't hurt. You felt pressure but no pain. I want to make that clear. Nothing hurt but your ego.
This message was last edited by the player at 05:29, Sun 19 Apr 2015.

Arrange a hot wing making sauce/bbq types street festival there for once a month. Victor gets his recipe, if he wants it, incorporated in either the local restaraunt, or in a street vendor at a new city, I'm trying to grow up on 'V'.

This city is a large scale 'run the place' type game, with a port and railroads and a zoo.  It also has a lot of places to live and factories that make replacement parts for all the crashed RR engines, and for the transported goods.  Its called 'Engineer City'.

======================

I go up to shake T&F's hand.  "Man, that was amazing!"

Eric2 has a definite point.  I'll have to think more on that.

=========================

He shakes your hand. "It's what I was programmed for."

He's not impressed by it. Just another day at the office to him.



While you're thinking on it, another letter from Eric 2 arrives.

"How about give the reward to the Tadeusz who makes the best hot wing sauce? That's fair for all of them."

I grin.  Then I send a message back.

"That will work. Not bad."

Then I set up the contest, and publicize it by putting up announcements at the entrance to Beach and in Burger Time (with the owner's permission.)

Your message goes through. In response, you see a :) floating in front of your face for a few seconds. Then it disappears.



At Burger Time though, when you ask the primary avatar about putting up posters advertising, the primary avatar, a short, pudgy Italian chef looking dude says:

"You Tadei, you think you own the place!! No, you can't put up no advertisements. I'll lose all my business!!"

He's got a pepper shaker in his hand and you know he can use it to blind you.

"OK." I think for a moment.  "Look when you get a break, I want to show something to you...."

If he agrees, I will take him to Tadeuse: Beach, and to the 'T', and quickly build a five star burger place with elegant warm orangish marble tilted over the edge of a cliff, with a road to the nearest city.

I then change it to large stones (baseball size) in more the 1930's CCC style, but more friendly, while leaving him a house in Mediterranean around back.

While I'm at it, I create a beautiful small harbor below the cliffs, add a few small rocky islands near the coast, add a staircase down to the beach which is accessible at low tide, and put a ruined monastery (small) on one of the tiny islands.  Then I add a cruise ship anchored in the harbor.  I make sure the water is deep enough to dive into, and add  sponge, urchin, and pearl oyster beds on the bottom.  Behind the restaraunt, I make a pasture with a red barn, and a herd of cows.

Then I hand him the key.

"I love your place, signor.  You should have another one."

OOC) I'm sorry, the dice don't like you.

When you show all of this to Burger Boy, he becomes enraged. You have seriously offended him with your fancy magic. He throws a handful of pepper into your eyes, which blinds you for a few minutes. He shrieks "Don't you ever set foot in Burger Time again!!!"

Then you hear him as he stomps away.

Aarr.  For a moment, I'm tempted to send a lightning bolt after him, but the more power one has, the more likely perhaps to forbear.

Instead I run down to the ocean, and dunk my head in the water, several times.

After that, I get out the big eraser of doom, with a sigh, and erase the place.

Then I go find some cybugs to kill, if I can.

It is now after game closure.

While you're out, you run into Lieutenant Calhoun from Hero's Duty. That's the game the Cybugs come from. When you tell her you want to fight Cybugs, she says very curtly:

"Soldier, Cybugs escaping is a very bad thing. Nobody wants that to happen. Nobody do you hear me? But if you're itching to kill you some bugs, go into Hero's Duty. I think it's a suicidal move personally. But who am I to stand in the way of an all-mighty Tadeusz?"

The last said dripping with sarcasm.

I stare. Start to say something. Realize I have no clue what to say. Stop. Take a step. Start to speak...stop.  Shrug my shoulders and walk on.

Various sarcastic responses boil up in my head in the minutes following.

I decide after a bit of hiking where I find myself already a long way down the way I know to hike some further.  Find new lands I've not see already.  A good five mile hike one way seems a good idea...

In the look on her face, you can almost hear her say "That's right Tadeusz. Walk away." She doesn't say it, but the look does.


OOC) I was wondering when you were going to do that.

IC)  So you're walking along. Avatars are staying out of your way. You pass by game after game. You pass by Search and Rescue Tadeusz, Hunter Tadeusz, Tadeusz Football, Tadeusz Baseball, Soldier of Fortune Tadeusz, Track and Field Tadeusz, you also pass by different versions of games you've already seen. Ninja Tadeusz, Tadeusz Racing, Tadeusz Supersoldier Extraordinaire (Which was the first game you played) And you come to Tadeusz Ultimate. There's a line of Tadei just waiting to enter that game.

A piece of paper appears in front of you. It's a letter from Eric 2.  "That's the game Tadeusz Prime plays in. How would you like to move to the front of the line?"

"No." I scrawl back.  "But this is where I should put the announcement of the test to replace the Tadei from this game with that wing contest right?"

If he agrees, and I can out here, I image up a large poster, and tape in reds, and oranges, and black letters.

"Wing Contest. On the new Beach Resort center. Start: One week, midnight.  Judging. five hours later.  Prize...to run the Ultimate Tadei game as the Tadei.

Basic ingredients, grills and skillets provided."

Then I walk up to near the front, and tape it up on a clearly visible wall.  Answer any questions, and walk away.

After that, I track down Calhoun, Sheng Mi (kung fu girl from Street Fighter), Ralph, and one of the guides from a hunting game.

"I need judges for a contest."

Eric 2 writes back "Good idea."



Conjuring up the poster gets a great deal of looks from the Tadei standing around. You hear a lot of murmured "What game do you learn that in?" but none of them want to lose their place in line to ask you.



It was not to run Ultimate Tadeusz. It was to run Ninja Tadeusz as the Prime. That Prime was having problems with Magehammer. So the idea was the replace that Tadeusz with one that was better suited for it. It would take quite a bit of convincing to get the Prime from Tadeusz Ultimate to relinquish the throne.





The only question you get is "What game do you learn that in?"


The Street Fighter girl is Chun Li. Unless you're talking about a game I've never heard of.

Ralph is all for it. He wants to try the wings.

The others, not so much.

The poster says the correct game, ok?

I grin and wink at the Tadei.

Chun Li it is.

When Lt. Calhoun appears non-interested, I nod.

"Of course. Too much for you.  I understand.  Most girls have sensitive taste buds.  Can't handle wings.  Its okay."  I act very sympathetic to her 'weakness', and start to walk away.  Heh.

To Ralph...'all right, man.  I figure you're a good choice cause among other things, no one among the tadei is going to hassle you. And it will be good food, and also..." I remember his back story.  "Its quite an honor to be chosen as a judge.  You'll stand up in front of everyone and give your vote since you'll be the announcer for the judges."

If you say so. You're the Tadeusz.



Lt. Calhoun is pissed. "Soldier, I can take anything you Tadei can dish up. Sure, I'll judge your stupid contest. Then I'll show you how real wings are made."



Ralph brightens up "Will I get a medal?"

I grin.

"Certainly Ralph." I'd forgotten that, but giving all the judges medals is a good idea anyways.  "Do you know anyone else who's tough and likes wings?  What about Qbert? or Pacman?"

Ralph is not the brightest bulb on the chandelier, but he says friendly enough "I get a medal?!!" (Pause) "Aw, you know Pacman, that guy will eat anything. I wonder if Vanellope would like to try it. She's always eating sweets. Maybe something spicy would do her good for a change. I'll go tell Vanellope."

He says it with all the logic and wonder of a child. Then he ambles away. And he's muttering "I get a medal!!!"
This message was last edited by the player at 13:50, Thu 30 Apr 2015.

Works for me.  I'll check with the two of them later.

In the meantime, I go create a park with short grass, giant oaks, and smaller hickories (the latter are climbing suitable), add in picnic tables of concrete, and plentiful water fountains, swings, a baseball field, a bubbling spring that goes down a winding creek and out to a waterfall over the sea.

Set up a place for wingmaking, and a miniature (human ridable) eight foot long box cars with seats on top for the riders railroad system of a half mile with a station that winds around the exterior of the park.  The entrance will have a tunnel under it for the train, and the exit will have a bridge with a long ramp over it for the train.

OOC: A nearby park has a mini railroad maintained by a private club.  Its pretty neat.

OOC) You might be wondering why I've not replied to this today. I've noticed you have a tendency to verse me out when the world starts becoming boring to you. One of my other players told me where she's from, a popular gamer expression is "A cathedral may fall from the sky at any moment ya know." So, without further ado......

IC) While you're standing there creating your park, a letter from Eric 2 arrives. It says "Fabulous work. Just fabulous. But what you really need here is a nice church."

And with that, a cathedral falls from the sky and flattens you like a pancake.

In your last moments in this world, you hear Eric 2 say "Oops, sorry about that."

Thou art dead.

Heh. I like it.  A most imaginative doom, and one to boast of....