"Hey! I know!" shouts Rick, the one who rubbed your lamp. "We could actually go visit our game world! That'd be way cool, wouldn't it?! You can do that, can't you?!"
You are a little caught off guard by the question. Parallel universes? You really hadn't considered that possibility. Now that you think about it, you realize that, yes, it is within your power, even if you have to create the universe in order to grant Rick's wish. You open your mouth to answer when Alvin suddenly speaks up.
"Wait! We need to think about this," he cautions. "What are six guys like us going to do in a world like I came up with?"
"Why would it be like us?" counters Rick. He gestures toward the character sheets. "Why can't we be our characters?"
"Well, that's the first problem," replied Alvin, taking a seat behind the Dungeon Master's screen and folding his arms. "As D.M., *I* don't have a character!"
"Yeah, but you can be any of the non-player characters you've come up with," counters Rick, turning toward you. "Can't he, genie?"
Non-player characters? You pause for a moment to process the term. Oh, that's right, the ones played by the dungeon master, not the other players.
"Yes--" you begin, and are almost immediately cut off.
"Hey, wait a minute!" interjects the blond guy, finally snapping out of his state of shock. "Isn't, like, a MEDIEVAL world, with low technology, plagues, monsters, and stuff? Dirty, smelly, and lots and lots of poor, peasant people? And no indoor plumbing?"
"Well, yeah, I guess," replies Rick, a little sheepishly.
"And didn't our entire party die last week, killed by a-- what was that giant, slug like thing called we found in the bottom of the sewer system?" continues the guy you decide to call "Blondie."
"You weren't supposed to just jump right to the bottom of Aeorlorn's sewer system!" objects Alvin, evidently defending killing off all of his player's characters in one session. "I kept giving you guys all kinds of hints, and you kept ignoring them! For cryin' out loud! I had a GOLD DRAGON tell you not to go down there!"
"But our CHARACTERS didn't know Marcus was a gold dragon!" objects Rick, apparently momentarily forgetting he has been the one arguing to go to the world.
"Wait a minute!" Dan practically yelps, sitting up straight. "If we go as our characters, we won't remember anything about who we are now! We'll just be regular folk in that world."
"So says the guy who rolled four 18s, and whose lowest roll was a 14," grumbles a scrawny, pale guy with shoulder length black hair, dressed like a goth. You sneak a peek at his character sheet, and see he is working on a female elf... a very pretty, female elf. You wonder if his character would consider a three way with you and Dan. Hm..., Dan's character is a dwarf... You are about to read over the dwarf's character sheet when Rick addresses you.
"Hey, genie!" he shouts. You wonder how many cans of Mountain Dew he has drank so far, since he seems to shout so much. "Can't we somehow go as our characters, but still remember everything we know now?!"
"Yes, if you wish to," you answer. Darn-- you had been considering sending them there as their characters, and adding yourself and your lamp to their belongings. Being a genie in a magical world certainly has possibilities...
"See?!" Rick states, triumphant.
"News bulletin!" Alvin shoots back. "You've only got your characters about half finished! And are you certain you want to be THESE characters?! How about it, Chad, do you really want to be a FEMALE elf?!"
Chad, the goth guy, rubs his chin thoughtfully.
"Probably not, I'll have to think about it," he says slowly. "Are we certain it isn't a one way trip? I am kind of curious what being a woman would be like, just as long as I didn't have to stay that way."
Blondie then speaks up.
"Do we really want to use this game system? We could do a science fiction setting, or a super hero one, or just about any of them!"
Then, just as you thought they might make up their minds, everything is being negotiated again. And once again they debate everything, and, as soon as they seem to be in danger of deciding, talk themselves out of a decision. After reading through all their game books, notes on the game world, and even all of Alvin's textbooks (he doesn't seem to have settled on a major), you finally ask if you can go back into your lamp, just to get away from their endless discussing of what to wish for! Back in your bottle, you finally magic-up a big bowl of popcorn, some beer, and call up a "My Name Is Earl" marathon on your television, and find yourself lusting after all of the characters. The fact that you seem to keep fantasizing about Randy and Darnell is a bit disturbing...
You don't know how many hours pass before they summon you out of the bottle, but the sky is pink with immanent dawn. All six young men look tired.
"Have you decided on your first wish?" you ask, trying to keep exasperation out of your voice.
"Yeah, I think we have," Alvin states, glancing at the others.
"Then what is it you wish?" you ask.
They answer: