You find yourself suddenly transported to a cold, dark stone-brick chamber.
Purple mist circles around you, blocking most of your surroundings from sight, but you're mostly concerned with what's directly in front of you at the moment.
A tall, thin figure dressed in elaborate purple robes and a golden skull mask stands before you.
"Greetings, and welcome to Demon Conquest." it speaks in a a soft yet menacing gender-neutral voice.
Instinctively, you recoil in fear, throwing your arms up in front of you in a defensive stance. This is when you notice that your limbs are smoky and transparent, and looking down to examine yourself, you find that your body is now intangible, featureless and ghost-like in appearance.
"Before we assign you a character, I shall introduce you to the basic mechanics. First, look directly at me. Try to "examine" me."
Still dazed and incredibly confused, you decide to co-operate. You stare at the robed figure for a while and nothing happens. Is there something specific you're supposed be be noticing?
You narrow your eyes and try to mentally will yourself to examine the figure harder, and suddenly a text box appears above the figure's head.
[Demon Overseer - Level 100]
"Very good. This basic ability will allow you to assess other characters at a glance, and will prove essential in your quest. Now, open your left palm and try to "check" your status."
One again, you follow the overseer's instructions as best you can. You open your hand and try to will yourself to somehow check your status.
A sheet of parchment appears directly above your open hand.
A collection of words are listed at the side of the parchment. Many of them are crossed out, but you can make out things like QUEST, STATUS, SKILLS, MAGIC and more.
"Excellent. Please navigate to the "Quest" tab by touching the "Quest" label"
You touch the letters with your smoky right hand and the parchment is suddenly filled with new words:
MAIN QUEST - DEMON CONQUEST
"Touch the quest to reveal more information."
You touch the text and once again the parchment is filled with new information:
MAIN QUEST - DEMON CONQUEST
VICTORY CONDITIONS: Demon Empire conquers the world.
LOSS CONDITIONS: Demon empire falls.
"This is - as should be obvious - the main quest. Completion of the main quest is your end goal, and the only way for the game to properly end.
Of course, for now you will have to start at the beginning. Navigate back to the quests menu. I have assigned you your first quest."
navigating back to the previous menu as if you were using a touch screen, you see a new Quest label, underlined in red:
FIRST QUEST - CAPTURE HUMANS
you tap the text to reveal more details:
VICTORY CONDITIONS: Capture two or more humans from the farming village of Elrad
LOSS CONDITIONS: Party defeated
PARTY LEADER: [Player]
MINIONS: [Imp, Level 1] x3, [Slime, Level 1] x2
EQUIPMENT PROVIDED: Capture Net x 3
REWARDS: 100 xp, 200Z
It all looks pretty standard RPG fare, except for one thing you don't quite understand.
"What does 200Z mean?" you ask.
"Z is a currency that can be used to purchase goods and services within the demon empire." the overseer replies, "The Demon King prefers to allocate resources to his most reliable minions, hence the introduction of a reward currency."
You nod in acknowledgemnet. Seems simple enough, as crazy as all of this is.
"You will notice that much of your status is currently inaccessible. This is because you have not been assigned a character yet. As this is your first campaign, you will be given a randomly selected standard character class. On future campaigns, you may be given more challenging options."
Darkness pools on the stone brick floor beneath you, and an ornate full-body mirror rises up, showing you your smoky, indeterminate form in all of its featureless glory.
You watch as it begins to change into...