New Story Poll: Board & Conquest or Paypocalypse

Heya,

As you've seen, the new story choices are both humor-focused LitRPG, albeit with major differences. They're both meant to be something of a breather after more serious stories (and a way to scratch that litRPG itch that just won't stop haunting me). As forewarned, the winner will begin soon after CE concludes in November, so I'm gonna leave the poll running for some time.

I'll likely offer the losing choice as an option later for a future poll (alongside Stars of Sirius and more serious proposals) after either DW or B&F are completed, but obviously that won't be until 2025.

Without further ado, let's examine both contestants more in details. If you haven't checked the pilots, you can find them by clicking on this link and this one.

- Board & Conquest

When the multiverse came to be, the gods arose from raw mana pure and immaculate, their will alone capable of affecting reality. But then arose wild worlds and the mortals populating them, sparking a rift in the heavens. The gods of order fought against the titans of chaos, who sought to stamp out new worlds in order to preserve their mana like gardeners pruning weeds overrunning their garden. After a cataclysmic battle that nearly wiped them all out, both sides agreed to a treaty: the fate of newborn worlds would be decided not in direct battles, but through a game of civilizations and magic.

The legendary Board & Conquest!

• Wepwawet plotting world domination

This 'treaty' had held for eons and caused gods to organize accordingly, with young deities being trained in their native pantheon, then dispatched in groups to newborn worlds to manage individual civilizations; alternating between working together to fight titans or competing over mana collection opportunities.

Wepwawet, son of Set (divorced), young god of reconnaissance and exploration, is now given his first assignment: form a new pantheon with fellow young gods, guide a civilization on the newborn world of Elphion and prepare the planet against the inevitable titan incursion. Inheriting a northern, ice-covered land of barbarians, beastmen and other critters, he ends up finding his first unit and paladin in Victoire, a no-nonsense female adventurer with a checkered past trying to unify the region. The two quickly set out to improve their chosen country, both to protect it against other civilizations (not all of them friendly) and the titans.

Something easier said than done.

• Victoire, Blade of Winter

A return to my roots as a comedy LitRPG writer, Board & Conquest will probably be one of the first 'tactical' litRPGs; focusing not on one person gaining stronger, but a group bound to fight in large-scale battle. The story will heavily be influenced by tactical games like Unicorn Overlord, Fire Emblem and Warhammer, with a mix of comedy and heartfelt moments like Vainqueur the Dragon or the first volumes of Apocalypse Tamer. Some fights will be epic Yu-Gi-Oh! like satires, and others desperate gambles to save a world from destruction.

The story will follow two plotlines, one with Wepwawet in the heavens trying to navigate godly politics and guide his civilization while figuring out what it means to be a 'good' god; and the other focusing on his chosen paladin Victoire as she sets out to fight mundane threats on the 'ground' in Elphion. In short, both players and units will have their storylines that join up and diverge at different points.

The LitRPG system itself will be a mix of deckbuilding, as Wepwawet must craft 'Miracle' cards from the faith of his followers or events unfolding on Elphion to support his followers; and unit recruitment and minmaxing as Victoire tries to unify her country and recruit soldiers to fight under their banner; which will eventually culminate in long, world-altering battles against other gods and titans eager to claim Elphion's souls for themselves.

• The fate of a world can be one card away

All in all, pick Board & Conquest if you want a heartfelt, but hilarious story of a friendship between a god and a human, divine high school hijinks, and epic tactical battles.

- The Paypocalypse

An anxious, down-his-luck IT student, Martin thought nothing would come out of it when he responded to that System Operator job offer; and doubly so when he got it.

Unfortunately, it quickly became clear that the company hiring had a very different idea of what a System Operator meant. Instead of running websites, Martin must now complete tasks for overbearing gods, maintain dungeons, design quests, and make sure the blue screens pop on time.

Martin soon learns that he is now part of a big cosmic machinery called Dungeon Corp, which runs multiple systems across the multiverse from its not-so-safe interdimensional dungeon office (built on the ruins of another dungeon start-up that went under eons ago). While risky, the job pays well and offers enticing rewards: those who perform well may retire with all the powers and classes they accumulated, run their own dungeons on behalf of the system, or even ascend to join the ranks of the fabled Shareholders, masters of reality.

Many would be overwhelmed by the task and look to exit it early, but for Martin, this job is more than an opportunity; it will soon become his life.

• Dungeon Corp: a company to kill for!

A semi-satire of Isekai, LitRPGs and System Apocalypses, The Paypocalypse starts with a very simple question: who the hell runs that entire cosmic infrastructure? And as it turns out, like any things, Systems don't do things for free when they can be paid for it, cutting corners is an art form, and subcontracting is the name of the game.

Japanese students reincarnating into another world to become heroes? Dungeon Corp arranged the transportation on behalf of a god too lazy to solve their own problems. Dungeons miraculously working by themselves after hundreds of years with the loot untouched? Somebody is cleaning the slimes each week. Would-be survivors of System Apocalypses receiving op abilities that let them prevail in a tutorial area? Well, somebody had to program their unique skills, thank you very much. Martin now finds himself as one of the wizards behind the curtain expected to answer the calls and clean-up the messes, all for a fee.

• You don't mess with those security guards.

At Dungeon Corp, everything resolves around one thing: money. Instead of experience, employees can invest credits earned from their job and extra gigs into items, levels, additional classes, and stat-ups; which in turns offer more specialized job opportunities, from completing quests and acquiring power-ups to actually designing them. Classes have to be individually leveled up and can be switched around (for example, someone can have a level 50 Janitor class and a level 21 Paladin one they can switch between). Most importantly, they can hire 'buddyguards' (running from down-their-luck demons to highly paid dragon professionals) to protect them or even rent dungeons to manage.

Employees of the months may retire from the company with all their accumulated powers or assets, or ascend through the ranks to start managing the system itself; if they can survive the cutthroat dungeon office politics. And like any hopeful fresh hire desperate to pay his rent, Martin is now determined to become the best and strongest employee in the multiverse.

All in all, The Paypocalypse is an open satire of LitRPGs (and every of the unexplained mechanics required for them to work) and office sitcoms as Martin both tries to rise through the ranks of Dungeon Corp while managing what to do with his paycheck and access to a cosmic inventory of goods, dungeon delving teambuilding exercises and managing extradimensional bodyguards.

- Making Quests easy 

All in all, pick the Paypocalypse if you want a comedy-focused, satirist take on LitRPGs, Isekai, and System Apocalypses.

And that's all; it's up to you decide now which one has your favor ;) I'll be leaving the poll running until CE's conclusion in November in any case, and I hope you'll enjoy the result whatever it is!

Best regards,

Voidy.