Brenda's Boardgame: Special Edition

Lenny was ringing up a customer, a guy who had told him about how he’d played some game at his brother-in-law’s and now wanted to play it with his friends at home. His pronunciation of Catan had made Lenny’s skin crawl, and no matter how many times Lenny said Catan the customer continued to call it Kate-Anne. He was glad to see him go, and hoped to never see him again, if it meant losing a customer for his game shop.

But the headache was worth it, because tonight was Dungeons & Dragons night with his friends. The first of who was entering the shop now. Bug was dressed in their usual baggy hoodie and sweats. The brunette’s hair was oily, tied back in a low loose pony. Most of Bug’s appearance was an attempt to avoid attention, only really ever speaking up or drawing attention amongst their friends.

Even now they only gave Lenny a slight wave, not wanting to be noticed by the handful of customers around the store. They walked over to the used game section, waiting for the others to arrive, or more importantly for the last of Lenny’s customers to leave. Bug liked to add to their collection but as a broke college student, they could only really afford the used section even with the ‘friends and family’ discount Lenny gave them.

Nothing too exciting this week. There was a copy of Everdell that was labeled as missing a few meeple, their own copy they’d bought a few months ago had a broken tree. Bug wondered if Lenny would be willing to let them buy just the tree or trade out their broken piece. They were about to bring the game up to the counter when another box caught their eye. Transformation: Special Edition

Bug turned the box over to read the back. There wasn’t a lot written on the back, although it was a holographic picture so the image shifted as they twisted the box left and right. The man on the back replaced by a woman, the pieces on the board progressing along the path, and a card in the corner that was hard to make out but they were pretty sure said ‘Would You Rather?’ The changing picture seemed apt for a game named Transformation. The words “Ever wished to change your life?” Bug sighed, with their gender dysphoria they’d wished to change their life more times than they could count.

Bug started towards the counter with both games, they set them down not wanting to interrupt Lenny as he looked through some Magic cards the teen boy was trying to sell. Before the transaction finished, the bell above the door tinkled and in walked Fayez.

Fayez was a quite striking Middle Eastern man. Of the 5 of them in the D&D group, he was the only one in the group not to be single. With his pregnant wife at home, he’d canceled on many recent game nights, but he managed to make it this time. Being in his early 30’s he was also the second oldest of the group, only beat by Lenny’s 43.

Bug had a crush on Fayez when he first joined the group, but they’d never acted on it since he was married, and also because flirting was beyond the scope of Bug’s social capabilities.

“Who’s ready for some D and motherfreakin’ D!?!” he played up his entrance, making his way to the counter. He leaned against it with a big smile that always managed to make Bug smile too. They loved the intoxicating positivity Fayez always seemed to ooze.

“D&D?” the guy selling Magic cards asked. “Can I join?”

“It’s a private game, sorry,” Lenny answered, “We run games for the public on Tuesdays if you want to stop by sometime, we can find a table for you. Although I think we only have one D&D table right now, two of our GMs are running Call of Cthulu and Apocalypse World.”

He seemed excited, Lenny knew by next week he’d be selling him a slew of dice and rulebooks. To really hook him, he decided to buy the cards he was trying to sell for a little more than he’d normally be willing to pay.

Lenny was a fat white man who owned his own gaming shop, ‘Lenny’s Lair.’ He had bad knees from both age and his weight. His hair was mostly gone, a horseshoe of his natural black hair. And his glasses for his terrible vision as well. He played up the social connection with all his customers, friendly to everyone, and it was easy most of the time since he shared an interest with his customers. But his dearest friends were the 4 members of his D&D group.

Lenny groaned as he stood, his knees creaking. He followed the last customer to the door to turn the open sign to closed. They were still waiting on Ben and Eichi, but they knew the door was still open to them. Speaking of, the bell above the door tinkled as Ben entered.

Whereas Fayez was fit, Lenny was fat, Bug was an amorphous anomaly hidden beneath their baggy clothes, Ben was scrawny as could be. He would’ve been away at college as a freshman this year, except he’d programmed an app that went viral last year and he managed to capitalize and set himself up to get his startup off the ground.

He wore a loose fitting graphic tee of Nami from One Piece wearing a bikini. He pushed his glasses up his nose as he entered the shop. “Did my figure come in?” he asked, ruffling his messy mop of blonde hair.

Lenny pulled a box out from under the counter. Ben opened it pulling out a figure of Dragonball’s Bulma wearing a bunny suit. He had spent an ungodly amount of money to procure it through Lenny’s network of contacts. Ben’s company was doing well, but with how he spends money he wouldn’t last long if something were to happen. “Awesome, she’s sitting by me tonight. Should we come up with a plan for the Beholder before Eichi gets here?”

At the mention of his name, all 4 of their phones dinged in unison. They all read the incoming message from Eichi, “I’m so so so sorry. I have to cancel tonight. D: I know it’s last minute, but a family thing came up. Please forgive me!!!”

“Damn,” Ben said, flopping down in one of the nearby chairs. “I was ready to finish the dungeon tonight, we’ve got to level up after the Beholder for sure.”

They were all bummed that their D&D night was canceled without their Dungeon Master. Fayez spoke up, “We could always play something else.” They all took a second to think up a suggestion for a game.

Lenny offered, “Ticket to Ride?”

Ben immediately jumped to, “Munchkin?”

Fayez suggested, “Betrayal at House on the Hill?”

Bug’s mind blanked until they saw the mystery game from before sitting on the counter, “Wait, have any of you heard of this?” They pushed the box down the counter towards the other three.

They all looked over the box. “No, where’d you get it?” Fayez inquired.

“Over on the used shelf,” Bug gestured behind them.

“Wait, you found this in my store?” Lenny said looking at the box again. “But, I’ve never seen it before.”

“Oooh spooky,” Ben laughed, “A magically appearing board game, that none of us have heard of? I’m in.”

Fayez took the box to open it, “Are you sure Obi? You can’t look up youtube strategy guides if you’ve never heard of it.”

“Don’t call me Obi,” Ben growled, “And I’ll let you know, I’m more than capable of wiping the floor with all of you, without any guides.”

“Who’s wants to read the rules?” Bug asked, as they turned to Fayez knowing that he would volunteer.