The Paragamer

Tutorial 1.0

Sunday December 20th, 2009

"DING!"

"BLARGH!"

I cough up what feels like a gallon of gray-brown fetid water. Throw some up as well, then dry-heaved and dry coughed simultaneously for, I don't know how long. My ears are ringing, my vision's blurry and my body hurts all over. When my eyes finally focus a bit, I see a bright blue rectangle in front of me.

Life's a Game.​

Welcome Gamer! A new game has begun. You're in an open-ended world and your main objective is to not die. How long can you last? Oh and by the way, you're a Parahuman. A cape! Well maybe not a cape yet, until you take up that mantle, but you get the idea. Lucky you though, you're the most unique Parahuman of all! You have the power of gaming and we've hacked your body and mind to manifest this in the manner you feel most comfortable and familiar with, video games!

What you're looking at now is a standard interface window. They'll tell you everything you need to know about your progress (or lack thereof), and so on. You can close interface windows by touching the X button in the upper right corner or saying "Close".

To look at your status say "Status". To review game options say "Options". To view the Main Menu, say "Menu". You currently have 59 unread notifications. To read them, say "Notifications."

I stare at the text window with what must be a glazed, wild look in my eyes. Before I've even read it, I immediately wave my arms around trying to make it go away. This is a mistake because one of my arms is broken. I half-yell in pain and half-mumble incoherent gibberish. Then I realize I'm being hoisted in the air via some platform, which proceeds to rock from my frantic movements. I glimpse the red-headed girl strapped down next to me; she is sobbing, then screams as I rock the platform.

"Hey calm down buddy! Don't rock the medi-sled" some male figure in a white and red costume and a helmet with a visor says. He holds my arms still and injects me with some needle gun. "You nearly drowned down there, this will help you relax. You got a name?"

I could not remember my own damn name. Why can I not remember my name?

You are suffering from the status effect 'Sedated'.

What the fuck?

"Still in shock, that's ok, that's normal. You can call me Lifeline. Good news is Leviathan is gone now, Eidolon chased him back out into the sea. Y'all are gonna make it, we're taking you to a med-tent right now."

"…My sister, I saw… my sister…she… why…" I hear the red-head stuttering beside me between heaving sobs.

I turn my head to the side, the effect of the drugs kick in as my body begins to still. The platform we're on is being hoisted out of the sinkhole by a tinker-tech VTOL craft. I see a second craft and platform rising up with us. My glasses are gone, I can't make out any faces or much in the way of details. I could see some human figure strapped into the other platform, literally sparking. Arcs of electricity were jumping off of him. Some cape hovers next to the platform in a jet pack as it is rising. The sedatives have fully kicked in and my vision fades. As it does so, the stupid glowing blue rectangle hasn't gone away.

****​

I haven't even opened my eyes, yet I see the edge of the rectangle. It's off to the side of my vision. I wave my good arm around a bit, my other one seems to have been secured with a splint while I was asleep. Finally, I manage to drag the window back to the front of my vision and carefully read it.

"Close" I say after carefully digesting what I've read. There's more screens behind that one filled with notification messages.

You have slept for 5 hours in a very uncomfortable bed.

Fatigue has been fully restored.

Stamina has been fully restored.

The status effect 'Sedated' has been removed

The status effect 'Stunned' has been removed

The equipment 'Cotton Socks' has been lost

The status effect 'Chilled' has been removed

Your Gamer's Interface skill has increased by 1

I frantically read and dismiss all of those as well. What in the holy fuck is going on? I'm a Parahuman? I'm a Parahuman who can't even remember my own name or life or how I even got here.

You are suffering from the status effect 'Confused'

Another blue notification box popped up. Yeah, no shit I'm confused, "Close".

My clothes are a dirty, bloody, shredded mess, and I have no shoes. I suppose someone had cleaned me up. I have a lot of bandages in addition to my bandaged, splinted arm.

I sit up in my cot and look around. It's just one of many cots in a large tent where various souls are lying in states of agony, shock or unconsciousness. What was it that the game window had said?

"Stats," nothing. "Status?" Ah that's it. A new window appears in front of my vision. I can't help but jump a bit when it appears. Oh shit, what if other people can see this thing?

"Close!" I yell again, slightly slurred, from the lingering effects of the sedatives, and look around to see if anyone has noticed. A nurse is headed straight for me.

The woman looks me over for a moment, "Clothes aren't available yet. You'll have to wait for emergency supply drop-offs and donations later." She shines a pen-light in my eyes. I flinch. "What's your name?"

"What?

"What is your name? ¿Cómo te llamas?" The nurse says in English and Spanish.

"I uh…I don't know."

"Shock?" She asks, as she examines my head and scalp. "No obvious signs of a concussion."

"Um, could you see a blue square thing earlier?"

"A what?"

"Never mind"

"Can you stand? I want you to try and stand and take a few steps."

I comply, standing up slowly and walking a few steps. My feet hurt, someone had taken my socks, and I think someone had cut up my t-shirt even worse than it was.

-3 comfort from standing up from the 'Stained Folding Cot'

"Ahhhh! Fuck…" I curse as another small blue window appears hanging in mid-air in front of me.

"Steady now, are you feeling dizzy?" The nurse asks me as she reaches out to steady my shoulders. She put her arms right though the floating rectangle. She did not react to its presence at all.

I took the risk. "You can't see that?" I asked again.

"See what?"

"Blue squares of light…uh…at the edges of my vision. Maybe I am concussed. I also lost my glasses."

"I don't see anything; your pupils seem to have dilated just fine earlier as well." She pulls out a …lipstick tube… then writes on my arm sling. 'CON? MEM LOSS?' "I'll let a doctor know as soon as I can, but that could be a while given the circumstances."

"Don't you have charts or even markers?"

"Not in an emergency setup like this, it's only been a few hours since Leviathan left. I have to tend to other patients now." She says as she walks off.

So either my power is making these window screen things or some other cape is throwing an illusion at me that only I could see. I look around the tent again but it's the same as before, rows of cots filled with the injured. I sit back down.

+3 comfort from sitting on the 'Stained Folding Cot'

Are you kidding me? I dismiss the notification, "Status". The large blue rectangle reappears. I look around again; no-one is reacting to the appearance of a large holographic display window. Definitely something only I can see. Oh hell, if that other window wasn't dismissed when I was sedated, and people could see it, I probably wouldn't have woken up in the tent for non-capes. Might as well see what the hell the thing says.

Name: Simon Anderson

Gender: Male

Age: 15

Race: Human (Parahuman)

Class: Refugee

Faction: None

Money: $0.00

Title: Endbringer Survivor

Level: 1

XP: 0

Primary Attributes:

STR: 5 (-0.73) 4.27

AGI: 4 (-1.20) 3.80

CON: 5 (-0.30) 4.70

INT: 14 (-2.00) 13.00

PER: 9 (-1.00) 8.00

WIS: 15 (-2.00) 13.00

CHA: 10 (-2.00) 8.00

LUC: 8 (0.00) 8.00

Unspent Points: 0

Secondary Attributes:

Hit Points : 20/100

Stamina Points: 100/100

Mana Points : 150/150

Stress Points : 6/290

Attack: 5.29

Speed : 2.63

Dodge : 6.70

Armor : 0.00

Carry : 42.70

Allure: 2.5

Tertiary Attributes:

Hunger : 75/100

Thirst : 50/100

Fatigue: 100/100

Hygiene: 0/100

Comfort: 3/100

Oh yay! According to this, my name is Simon Anderson, and I'm 15 years old. That's a relief. At least I know something about myself. But it would be nice to know, where I live, who my parents are, siblings, if I have any, who my friends are, all that would be useful too.

You have recovered 2 Stress Points

Um, okay, from what, learning my name and age? Oh wow… 8 now, up from 6, from a max of 290? Fuck me. I inspect my pockets for a wallet. Nothing, fuck me sideways.

Damn, I need some help here. Is there a help menu? What the hell else did that other window say? I have to use voice commands to access stuff. "Help." No? "Help Menu? Menu?"

Ah there's something. A new window pops up.

New Game

Load Game

Options

Update

Credits

High Scores

Exit

New Game, Load Game, and Exit are all grayed out, I try pressing them anyway, but it is accompanied by a soft CLUNK sound. The button shimmies as it rejects the attempt to press it.

The lack of a "Help" button is very annoying. There isn't a lot of things to choose from otherwise.

I click the "Credits" button and a new window appears.

Worm: by John "Wildbow" McCrae.

The Gamer: by Sung Sang-Young

Derivative work: by 0100010.

Game Developer: Gaia

Well, that's rather sparse and not particularly informative. Perhaps it's useful to others, who? Not useful to me. There is a close indicator in the upper right corner of the pop-up. I press it.

Well day one patch updates are typical. I press "Update", and another pop-up appears.

Build: 1.015a

Game is currently up to date.

Okay, so that's simple, but also uninformative. Well, unless it means this Gaia developer is pretty good if they don't need a day-one patch. Or maybe pretty awful if they do, but weren't able to put one together. I dismiss the Update window like I had done to the Credits pop-up.

What else? I try the "High Scores" button. It contains a single entry called "Current Play: S. Anderson".

Lives Saved: 0

Lives Taken: 0

Epic Quests Completed: 0

Achievements: 0

I'm totally getting off track here. I'm looking for the help commands. I press the "Options" button.

A much larger and much more complicated window pops up. It has multiple tabs. The soft DING happens again. What the hell is that?

The Options window show tabbed pages as follows:

GENERAL

GRAPHICS

SOUND

NOTIFICATIONS

INTERFACE

That doesn't look too unusual as a set of option categories for a video game. General is already selected by default, and displays the following.

Difficulty: Dystopian

Subtitles: Off

Camera Mode: First Person View

Tutorial: Off

Tooltips: Off

Overhead Tags: Off

Gore Level: Real Life

Profanity Filter: Off

Language Selection: English

Ooohh! Tutorials and Tooltips! That is the exact kind of thing I'm looking for. I set both of those to "On" and heard another DING! That is starting to get really annoying. I try in vain to change the difficulty setting, but it's also grayed out. I can explore all the rest of those options and crap later. I need to know what the hell the numbers that apparently represent me as a video game character actually mean. I close the Main Menu and say 'Status" to bring it back up.

I look over the rest of the information on my status screen. Tooltips, now turned on, handily describes the primary attributes to me. But what do the numbers mean? My memories of video games tell me that generally, high numbers are good, but what is considered high and what is low? Are these fives in my physical stats abysmally bad? I do look tall and thin, not much muscle on me. I presume that the 3D model in the corner of the window represents me, even down to the shredded clothing and bare feet.

The fuck? Wasn't my WIS a 14 just a moment ago? Now it is 15. Is 15 WIS good, super high, or average? I have no idea what an average stat value is supposed to be. I have zero available stat points. This implies that at some point, I could get more. Yep, the tooltip over it says I get 4 points per level.

Uh-huh, and how do I get levels? XP I assume, if it's keeping with the RPG game feel. Though, after looking at this stat sheet more, I'm leaning more toward 'unnecessarily detailed, survivor rouge-like.' Because why the fuck else would I need to know what my Hunger, Thirst, Fatigue, and of all things, Hygiene and Comfort levels are? I'm surprised there is not a Bladder bar. Thanks, obvious values which are obvious. My hygiene value is at zero and my comfort value is at 3, presumably because I am sitting on a cot, both out of 100. The broken arm, ruined clothes, bandages, soiled underwear, still wet with salty sewage water, survivor of an Endbringer attack, isn't enough to convey that situation?

Alright what the fuck am I thinking? Right XP, yep, tooltip over 'Level' talks about that. No idea how you get XP though. Do I have to shank some dude, or would kicking a puppy suffice?

The tooltip over 'Secondary Attributes' says they are all calculated values, based on Primary attributes, skills, and perks. No idea how they are calculated, and no idea what the numbers mean. Attack is 'a calculation based on the amount of force and accuracy you can physically bring against a target.' Speed is 'a measure of your walk, jog, sprint and other movement speeds.' Dodge is 'a calculation factor of how well you can avoid getting hit by avoidable attacks.' Yes, obvious statements are obvious. Armor, duh. Carry, 'a measure of how much weight you can carry without being inflicted by severe encumbrance status effects.' Allure, 'how physically attractive you are to those who are attracted to your gender.' Wait what? 2.5, is that good or bad? Is it a cliché scale of 1 to 10? My avatar model doesn't look that bad, just a bit pimply, and skinny as a toothpick, but come on.

I take a deep breath. Why am I fretting over this? None of these numbers mean anything without any context.

The tooltip over the useless Tertiary attributes, describe them as always having a value from 0 to 100, and that the rate of recovery and loss might be altered by various skills and perks.

There are two more features on the status screen, one is a button called 'Display mode'. It's currently on 'Detailed Mode'. I toggle it and it switches to 'Summary Mode', which only shows my name, level, primary attributes, and health bars. The other is a button called 'HUD mode'. Pressing it switches to a much simpler view, which shows only the four 'Health Bars' (HP, Stamina, MP, and Stress) in a compact out of the way corner of my vision. Tapping the bars or saying "Status" brought the screen back up in 'Summary Mode'. Switching to detailed mode again, I continue to scrutinize every bit of every label, number, and tooltip on the status screen, but there is nothing else all that insightful to learn, so I put it in HUD mode again. Now what do I do?

My power must have heard my plea, because a new window popped up.

Tutorial Mode: You still have 51 unread notifications. Would you like to view them now? Y/N

Um sure. I stay seated on my cot and press the spot in the air which contained the 'Y'. It's interesting to note there is a mild resistance to the illusory interface where the buttons or selections are located, but I can otherwise see and stick my hands right through them. The other window closes and is replaced by a large scrolling list.

Installation complete

You have gained the skill 'Gamer's Body'

You have gained the skill 'Gamer's Mind'

You have gained the skill 'Gamer's Interface'

You are suffering from the Status Effect 'Mental Breakdown'

You are suffering from the Status Effect 'Teenage Acne'

You are suffering from the Status Effect 'Bruised' x11

You are suffering from the Status Effect 'Lacerations' x14

The equipment 'Tighty Whities' has been soiled.

You are suffering from the Status Effect 'Soiled'

The equipment 'Pwned T-Shirt' has been irreparably damaged

The equipment 'Blue Jeans' has been irreparably damaged.

The equipment 'Red Sneakers' has been lost

The equipment 'Cotton Socks' has been damaged

The equipment 'Black Owl-Rimmed Glasses' has been lost

You are suffering from the Status Effect 'Near-Sighted'

You are suffering from the Status Effect 'Sore'

You are suffering from the Status Effect 'Broken Arm (Left)'

The status effect 'Sore' has been upgraded to 'Severe Pain'

You are suffering from the Status Effect 'Stunned'

You are suffering from the Status Effect 'Shock'

You are suffering from the Status Effect 'Chilled'

You are suffering from the Status Effect 'Infected'

You are suffering from the Status Effect 'Drowning'

You are no longer suffering from the Status Effect 'Drowning'

You have recovered 6 Stress points

The Status Effect 'Mental Breakdown' has been downgraded to 'Near your breaking point'

You have gained a new title "Endbringer Survivor". This title has been automatically assigned.

Shard connection hack has been interrupted

For careful thought and consideration of your options you have gained 1 WIS

You have recovered 10 Stress points

Yes, obvious, obvious, more obvious… good god is this going to be happening all the time? The 'Comfort' notifications are bad enough. I take some time to digest what the hell I am looking at. No one bothers the crazy kid poking randomly at the air. It's dark, but the illusory windows sort of created their own light such that I could read them anyway, though I am not sure if that illusory light bled through to reality at all. Wait what? I gained a WIS point by just...doing stuff? That… makes things interesting.

I notice a pattern. I tally up the recovered 'Stress points' and with the two I had gained earlier, they equaled my current total. Did my power quantify every single ailment I was suffering from into some kind of game related status effect? Was the order of the notifications chronological? The recoveries in Stress points occurred right after I had gained a point in WIS.

Oh and apparently I can gain skills? Yay for me? What the hell are my skills? My power seemed to know my thoughts and was right on cue.

Tutorial Mode: You have gained three new skills. Would you like to see a list of your skills and their descriptions? To open the Skills windows, say "Skills".

Um, yeah, I dismiss the status window and say "Skills".

Skills:

Max Slots: 25

Free Skill Slots: 12

Artistry: 3 (32.75%)

Basic Academics: 8 (10.22%)

Computers: 5 (11.09%)

Empathy: 1 (0.00%)

Gamer's Body: 1 (0.00%)

Gamer's Interface: 2 (23.64%)

Gamer's Mind: 1 (0.00%)

Language-English: MAX (0.00%)

Meditation: 1 (0.00%)

Programming: 2 (67.45%)

Psychology: 1 (0.00%)

Strategy: 1 (0.00%)

Video Games: 25 (63.73%)

Unspent Skill Points: 10

I read through all the descriptions and the tooltips for each one. Some seem vaguely familiar, others seem newer, but with my lack of memory at so many other things it was hard to tell. Gamer's Body, Interface, and Mind seem really important. I find another button that toggles a detailed skills view which shows me even more information.

Artistry (PER, CHA) (Passive): Level: 3 (32.75%)

A representation of your creative talents, this skill synergizes well with other skills to imbue them with pleasing aesthetics.

Specialties acquired:

3D Textures, 3D Modeling, 3D Animations

Basic Academics (INT, WIS) (Passive): Level: 8 (10.22%)

A good way to describe the catch-all of skills learned via the primary and secondary education system of your local area. It is a common prerequisite to many advanced skills and life in general.

Specialties acquired:

Literacy, Basic Literature, Basic Science, Basic Mathematics, Basic Social Studies, Basic History

Features Unlocked:

Primary School Mastery: (+20% Homework completion speed in all specialties)

Computers (INT, WIS, PER) (Active/Passive): Level: 5 (11.09%)

Some say they are an essential in life. You know how to use computers to accomplish a variety of tasks.

Specialties acquired:

Hardware, Graphic Programs, Operating Systems, Security Programs, Hacking

Features Unlocked:

RTFM: (50% less time to learn any program or diagnose a problem)

Empathy (PER, CHA) (Passive): Level: 1 (0.00%)

This represents your ability to observe and predict the emotions of others and sense their potential motives. This skill synergizes with the Observe skill to provide additional information.

Specialties acquired:

Somatic

Gamer's Body (Passive): Level: 1 (0.00%)

Your body is increasingly treated like a video game character. Gain an increasing buffer to your Health Pool, to let you shrug off damage that would normally kill or maim. Allows you to recover Health, Mana, Stamina and other effects just by sleeping in a comfortable bed. Allows injuries and other afflictions to be treated as status effects.

+4% of your Gamer's Body HP & SP buffer per level. Currently: 4%

+4% to HP, SP and MP regen rate per level when sleeping. Currently: 4%

Automatically gain +1 skill level in Gamer's Body per character level up.

Specialties: NA

Gamer's Interface (Passive): Level: 2 (23.64%)

This allows you to interact with the Gamer's Interface in various ways. More creative uses of the interface allow gaining more XP in this skill. New interface features are unlocked as this skill levels up.

Automatically gain +1 skill level in Gamer's Interface per character level up.

Gamer's Mind (Passive): Level: 1 (0.00%)

Allows a certain level of detachment from traumatic events and as if you were watching a character in a game, movie, or story.

Immunity to skill decay from non-use.

Immunity to natural mental disorders. (This means, despite what you're thinking right now about all of this, you're not crazy)

+4% resistance to mental stress damage per level. Currently: 4%

+4% resistance to mind control based effects per level. Currently: 4%

Automatically gain +1 skill level in Gamer's Mind per level up.

Language–English (INT, CHA) (Passive): Level: MAX (0.00%)

You know how to speak, read, and write fluent English. Hooray for you.

Features unlocked:

Perfect Fluency (you speak as or like a native)

Specialties: NA

Meditation (WIS) (Active): Level: 1 (0.00%)

The ability to still one's mind, mitigate stress, and find inner peace. Some use this skill to aid in restoring mana.

+2% Mana regeneration per level when active. Currently: 2%

Specialties: NA

Programming (INT) (Active/Passive): Level: 2 (2.45%)

You know the basics of how to write code to get computers to do something.

Specialties: NA

Psychology (INT, CHA) (Passive): Level: 1 (0.00%)

This represents the clinical study of human emotions, motivations, thought processes, and mental disorders. This skill synergizes with some social interaction skills to aid in understanding and solving social and mental problems.

Strategy (INT, WIS) (Passive): Level: 1 (0.00%)

This represents the ability to plan, command, and oversee multiple courses of actions to achieve a long term goal via the efficient use of personnel and resources.

Apply all bonuses to +1 unit in your command per level. Currently: 1 units

Specialties acquired:

Small Unit Tactics (+10% attack and dodge)

Video Games (all) (Active/Passive): Level: 25 (63.73%)

You have mastered numerous genres of video games and can fall back on your knowledge of them for creative inspiration for new and unusual things.

Specialties acquired:

(numerous genres)

Features unlocked:

Items: (treat many things in the world like video game items with similar effects)

Stat Bonus Cheat: (gain +1 to each stat from playing video or arcade games related to that stat. Achieved: None)

Skill Gain Cheat: (acquire the early levels of mundane skills merely by playing related video or arcade games. Achieved: Strategy)

Some of the skills define exactly what they do mechanics wise. Others are less clear, but I still don't really know what a lot of them do. The descriptions on most are rather 'duh', almost dictionary definitions. Why do I have such a massive level in 'Video Games' of all things? Oh yes, that is why. I can remember nearly every single game I have ever played and the minutiae of lore about them, but can't remember my own name without seeing it on a character sheet? Is this why I got a god-damn video game power?

"Fuck you, alien space worm or whatever the hell did this to me! Fuck you sideways!"

You have recovered 1 Stress point.

Several people stop to stare at the crazy kid shouting obscenities into the air for no reason. I totally did not mean to say that out loud but apparently it's therapeutic.

Some other nurse saunters over to me "It's late at night; some people are trying to sleep. Keep your voice down."

"Sorry" I say, but by then she's already turned around and left.

I went back to studying my skills screen. Hmm, I have 10 unspent skill points? That's something to think about. Right now, I feel rather thirsty.

You have lost 1 Thirst point.

You are suffering from the Status Effect 'Parched'

Oh for fuck's sake. I dismiss the notifications, close the skills screen and stand up to go look for some water.

-3 comfort from standing up from the 'Stained Folding Cot'

God damn it.