… Dungeon World

You blink in slack jawed confusion as the world around you erupts like fricken Vesuvius into chaos. One moment you were strolling down the bustling rush hour city streets, backpack slung over your shoulder, mentally prepping for your college lecture. The next a massive rift tore open in the sky and blasting the ground at the end of the street with lighting. The lightning sparked and there stood what looked kindof like a … a dungeon?! A magic gate? You don’t know but it looks a bit like something out of a video game. The gate opens and to your utter disbelief and horror spews forth a horde of snarling monsters that rampaged out through the rush hour crowds, toppling stopped cars and shattering windows.

Why were the cars stopped?!

A translucent message flashes in your vision, like a heads-up display from your favorite RPG: “Welcome player! The great dungeon has opened. Good luck!” Below it, stats materialize: Level 0. Strength 10, Dexterity 12, Constitution 13, Charisma 11… and more, scrolling down like a character sheet. Intelligence, Wisdom, Luck—they’re all there, quantifying you in ways that feel both absurd and terrifyingly real.

You push the words away and glance around to see it happening to everyone else too—pedestrians frozen in shock, drivers swerving as they clutch their heads.

Not something you have time to consider.

Screams echo as monsters clash with the unprepared masses: goblins slashing at fleeing office commuters, massive trolls uprooting streetlights like toys.

Heart pounding, you duck into a nearby alley and fumble for your phone and pull up social media. Your feed is a nightmare scroll—videos of people running from winged horrors, posts begging for help as loved ones are torn apart, live streams cutting off mid-scream. “Monsters everywhere! Hiding in basement—pray for us!” one says. “Just watched my neighbor get eaten alive. This can’t be real!” another. Hashtags like #DungeonApocalypse and #EndTimes trend amid the panic, the world unraveling in real-time.

You bolt down the alley, dodging debris, your survival instincts kicking in. The narrow space offers a sense of brief respite, but not for long.