After a brief black screen, I found myself in a small room. On one wall was a full length mirror and a sturdy wooden desk. On the desk sat a stack of paper and a classic metal and wood fountain pen. The rest of the room was bare and, disturbingly, lacked any windows or doors.

When I checked the paper at the top of the stack I grinned, my apprehension vanishing. On the first page, written in bold black ink was the word NAME and a large line for writing on. Looks like I get a character sheet. The game’s prologue had been a bit more intense than I had expected, but I was back on familiar territory.

After a moment’s thought I used the fountain pen to write ‘George Silver’ on the line. When in England after all... The ink dried instantly, and I was pleased to see that the developers had sacrificed some realism for basic utility.

I flipped to the next page and saw a line labeled RACE. I frowned. How was I supposed to know what my options were? Lacking any guidance, I wrote Apache Helicopter onto the line. A moment after I had finished, the ink faded into the page and I was once again left with a blank line. After trying Ork, Zombie, Werecat, and Caucasian with similar results I was starting to get frustrated. Then I noticed the two books on a small shelf. Sure enough, the first one’s title was Races of the World.

The book’s first entry read:

Human. Humans are the most prevalent species on the planet. They rely on superior numbers and technology to maintain dominance. In London the many factions of humans continuously vie for political power and status. When threatened by outside forces however, these factions unite to form a wall of steel and fire against the darkness.

Racial Traits:

Adaptable: Humans have the innate potential to use any weapon, vehicle or tool. This allows them to use equipment they are not proficient with. Equipment used this way will be less effective. Stand United: Humanity is at its best when working together for mutual benefit. When working with other humans they gain a bonus to morale and attempts to resist status effects such as sleep, poison, torpor, or blindness.

I flipped the page to check on the other race options, but the next page was blank. The rest of the book was blank too. It seemed Human was my only option. Why not just have Human filled in automatically then? Shaking my head, I wrote Human on the blank line of my character sheet. Bullet points labeled “Adaptable” and “Stand United” filled in under the line.

The next page’s line was labeled CLASS. Finally, something interesting. Learning my lesson from last time I grabbed the other book from the shelf and started flipping through it. Each class had two pages. On the left page was a beautifully illustrated picture of what the typical member of that class would look like. The right page held a class description and a barebones list of abilities.

I really felt like playing a bruiser today. Somebody that could hit and get hit without backing down. With that in mind, I skipped over the classes that would obviously not fit that role. My normal build would be some sort of glass cannon blaster, but I wanted to play something different. I could always create a glass cannon later; I am sure I would try all of the classes eventually. I would go back and read them of course, but I just wanted to figure out what I was going to play first.

The Crusader class looked pretty close to what I was looking for. The picture showed a knight in full plate with a huge two-handed sword. The description read:

Crusaders are the vanguard of the Church’s Holy Army. They are the bulwark of faith that protects humanity from the scourge of undead. In combat, the Crusader’s main role is to protect the Exorcists and Elementalists to give them enough time to prepare their magics. As a Crusader gets wounded their battle fervor grows, increasing their strength and bolstering allied moral.

Heavy Weapon and Heavy Armor focus Holy Magic to buff self and allies Battle fervor provides more bonuses and abilities the more damaged the Crusader gets.

The class looked like a fantastic tank character. Someone that could really get stuck in the meat of combat and come out laughing. But it had a rage mechanic. There is nothing inherently wrong with mechanics that give you bonuses for being damaged. I just don’t like playing them. You are either at full health and suboptimal efficiency or very effective but close to death. I can understand why people like that kind of thing, especially the daredevil types, but it is just not for me.

The next class that caught my eye was the Halberdier.

Halberdiers are Her Majesty’s Government’s answer to enemies that can get riddled with bullets and keep going. The undead cannot bleed out, but when chopped to bits, they stop moving. Despite their name, these soldiers use a variety of polearms and spears to keep their enemies at a distance. A Halberdier uses their weapon to control enemy movement, allowing them to be a one-man front line.

Heavy armor and Reach Weapon Focus Area control Area of effect debuffs

I liked the look of the Halberdier. It seemed like it would make a solid tank. The playstyle might get a bit one-dimensional after a while depending on how its abilities worked, but it could be pretty fun. I would definitely keep this one in mind as I continued on.

On the next page was the Harlequin class. The illustration displayed a figure in motley and a smiling white mask performing an acrobatic leap while throwing a knife. Harlequin looked like it could make a decent evasion tank, focusing more on dodging enemy attacks than blocking them or absorbing damage. It looked like it could be fun, but I didn't really like the idea of having to keep my head on a swivel constantly.

The Inquisitor class caught my eye next. The illustration showed a man in a breastplate and chainmail. In his right hand he held a mace off to the side, and his left was raised and projecting a barrier of purple and blue energy.

Inquisitors act as the special operations troops of the church’s Holy Army. They are specially trained agents tasked with hunting down and eliminating heretics, undead aberrations, and creatures that do not belong on this plane of existence. To that end, they use their information gathering skills to learn the whereabouts of their target, their untyped magic to counter enemy spellcasting, and their martial skills to eliminate threats. Often having to hunt alone, Inquisitors are self sufficient and can act as a one-man strike force.

Medium Armor and Melee Weapon focus Information Gathering Force Magic

The Inquisitor class looked very promising. I was not sure about the whole “Information Gathering” thing, but being self sufficient in combat is exactly what I was looking for in a bruiser, and force magic sounded pretty interesting. I tapped the words with my fountain pen absentmindedly and was surprised when a tooltip appeared on the page, superimposed over the other text.

Force Magic.

Also known as untyped or unaffiliated magic, force magic has limited damage potential, but ignores magic resistance. Objects made from force magic have limited size, shape, and duration, but are almost indestructible.

Huh, neat. I wish they had told me about the tooltips right away though. I thought as I flipped through the class book. The Inquisitor was a strong contender, but I wanted to look through the rest of the classes before I narrowed down my options. That plan changed when I got to the Loremaster class.

The illustration of the loremaster, a woman with a large book, was greyed out. Superimposed over the image and the text on the next page were two words written in bold red ink. My heart skipped a beat as I read.

CLASS TAKEN.

I did a quick count of the classes. Twenty. Twenty classes, twenty testers. The connection formed in my mind and I stared at the page. It was first come first served. I rushed to finish reading the rest of the classes. I did NOT want to get stuck playing a healer. Not that there was anything wrong with playing a healer, it's just… no time for that, read! I burned through the rest of the classes taking no more than a second to skim and dismiss each.

Smuggler looked somewhat promising, but I moved on after I read the bit about haggling. Finishing the book, I hurriedly flipped back to Halbardier.

CLASS TAKEN.

Almost in a panic I flipped back to Inquisitor. I sighed with relief when I saw the illustration still in full color. I quickly wrote “Inquisitor” in the blank on my character sheet and froze as CLASS TAKEN appeared on the book. I relaxed again when I saw that underneath the bold letters “Your currently selected class” was written in blue ink.

I took a look at my newly filled in character sheet.

NAME: George Silver_______________

RACE: Human_____________________

Adaptable Stand United

CLASS: Inquisitor__________________

Medium Armor and Melee Weapon focus Information Gathering Force Magic

CONFIRM?

I looked back at the class book. I could still read more about the classes that were left. Eh, screw it. I am sure I would know plenty about the other classes soon enough, and the Inquisitor looked pretty fun. I wrote a big X in the confirm box, and the world slowly faded to black.