Currently funding over at Kickstarter is Cringe Wizard, a TTRPG-themed isekai story by Paul Matijevic, set in a long-time Dungeon Master’s first, terrible campaign. Today Paul stops by to tell a bit about the inspirations for the book and what helped fill in the tale…

When I was a teen, I ran a Dungeons & Dragons encounter so badly my players quit.

In my defense, it wasn’t on purpose. This was a long time ago, back before 3rd Edition was replaced by The Best Edition, and I misjudged how many monsters that stun you can put into one fight. They apologised and I graciously didn’t do a “well well well, look who’s come crawling back” routine, so everything worked out in the end. But I’m writing a post about the idea behind Cringe Wizard, a light novel about a man forced to relive his first-ever, terrible campaign, so I want to be clear that I speak from experience.

In Cringe Wizard, a former GM is reborn in a fantasy world based on one of his old campaigns. Unfortunately it’s the one he ran when he was a teenager, and the world reflects all the terrible ideas he had back then: major elements of the world make no sense, the PCs are just as awkward and terrible as they were at the table, and people are going around with names like “Milkcrust”. Zavier finds himself in the body of a quest NPC he based on himself, and must help the PCs if he wants to survive.

The idea came about in 2021. Like most people in the early 2020s, I was indoors doing normal things. This time it was posting fake titles for isekai anime—those stories about people from Earth being transported to/reincarnated in a fantasy world, which often have long, weird titles and weirder premises in an effort to stand out from the crowd.

Reincarnated In The D&D Homebrew Setting I Made In High School And Boy, This Is A Lot was just a quick joke, but the idea behind it stuck with me in a way that, say, Founding The International Criminal Court With My OP Elf Wifes or Reincarnated With The Classmates I Just Shot And They’re Really Making This Awkward didn’t. Unlike those two, I think the experience of beginner tabletop RPG players doing them terribly is universal.

Browse any RPG subreddit or other community for long enough, and you’ll learn that many people have a story (or sometimes, if you are on r/rpghorrorstories, a creative writing exercise) about the time they had That Player. That Player comes in many different forms, but you’ve probably heard the hits: the spotlight hog, the obvious cheater, the horny creep. I’m sure you can list more, so I won’t bother. I will say that I have heard multiple stories about players breaking into the DM’s laptop/files to look at their campaign notes though, which is wild. (What happened to looking behind the DM screen while they’re taking a leak, like a normal person?)
What you don’t hear often are people telling stories about the time they were That Player.

Hearing someone admit the terrible stuff they used to do is like glimpsing a sasquatch on a lonesome forest trail. I mean, I get it! Tales about times you met a bad player can be entertaining; tales about times you were a bad player can be embarrassing. Even if you’re grown up and willing to confront your mistakes, that doesn’t mean you want to pull them out of your closet and wave them at people. (Do you think the time I used too many mind flayers was my worst story? Hell no.)

I think almost everyone has a story like that hidden in the basement of their mind palace, though. It can be for all sorts of reasons: maybe you watched a stream and assumed your game should work like that, or you watched too much anime, or you started gaming with a veteran group that taught you their terrible habits, or you played with That Player and assumed acting like that was normal, or maybe you were just a dumbass kid. It’s a creative hobby, I’m sure you can come up with an excuse that’s right for you.

And that’s fine! Nobody plays perfectly the first time, and they learn and improve with every session they play. Mistakes are just an opportunity to learn faster. That’s how it is for me, and I wrote Cringe Wizard because I think that’s how it is for you, too.

Still not sharing the worst stories, though. You’ll just have to guess which parts of Cringe Wizard are based on them.

by Paul Matijevic

“Paul “Ettin” Matijevic is a TTRPG developer and writer based in Sydney. His works include Hard Wired Island, Breakfast Cult, and Oh, Dang! Bigfoot Stole My Car With My Friend’s Birthday Present Inside.”

Tags | comic books, dark-fantasy, kickstarter