"GOL'BURGER - Brighten up your day!"

Franchise restaurants are hard to maintain, especially when they become one of the most popular fast-food services in the country! Thomas Alden grew up enjoying Gol'Burger's delicious hamburgers and fries growing up. Now, he's an adult in his thirties that has inherited a seat at the Board of Directors and a significant amount of shares in the company. With this comes great responsibility as his decisions will affect the company's future.

As Al Ray, the Chief Executive Officer of Gol'Burger, gets older, the world begins to change drastically. The FDA is beginning to implement and enforce new standards of practices regarding quality of fast-food chains around the country, putting the company's future at risk. The Members of the Board need to think of new ways to adapt.

What will you do in this privileged position of power? Will you flounder, find a way to rise above the noise, or become a victim to the strange forces in the background of the company?

Submitted for EndMaster's Crisis Contest 

Original Publishing Date: August 1, 2024

Corruption, complacency and conflict has eroded the once great Roman Empire. Split into two, and then diminished to the Italian Peninsula, Roman citizens, Christian and pagan, believe that the world as they know it is about end. His Holiness, Pope Leo, previously drove back Attila the Hun, called the Scourge of God by most west of the Danube River. The world believed that was the end of the Hun Invasion. They were wrong.

Eight years later, Attila still continues his conquest of the world, now having subdued all of Africa and the Eastern World. With the sacking of Constantinople, the Byzantine Empire has collapsed into anarchy as the Huns and their subordinate tribes pillage and plunder the countryside. With no other obstacles in his path, Attila is once again free to attack the Western Roman Empire.

The alarming speed of the Huns' conquests and reports of new total war tactics terrify the west. Strange tales of hordes of vicious animals, warriors with the strength of ten men and demonic sorcery plague the imaginations of the Roman forces charged to protect what remains of the Empire. Before, reports of the Huns' savagery were already running rampant. Now, all forms of apocryphal tales are accepted as fact.

In a final desperate stand against the forces of darkness, the leader of the Christians, Pope Leo, has organized what remains of the bravest and most cunning soldiers of the Roman army to launch a covert mission to save the people of the West. There is no other way; Attila must be destroyed! Possessing otherworldly insight, Leo has been given he knowledge necessary to guide his chosen men, and you among them, to fight to the threat that seeks to end not only Rome, but the entire world. Will you defeat Attila's ambition to destroy the world, or will you be just another victim?

Update Notes:

Addressed the variable glitches that led to some of the content being blocked off. Fixed the issue and made some other edits.

France - Summer 1415 AD

The country of France faces a point of crisis. King Henry of England, fifth of his name and hope of the House of Lancaster, declares his intention to conquer France, stating it is the will of God. Charles, sixth of his name and known as the Mad King, is poorly suited to deal with the rising threat and relies on the strength of better men. To the shock of the French court, Henry and his army arrive safely in Normandy despite coastal defenses, leaving Henry to freely begin his siege of the port of Harfleur. Charles, furious and frothing at the mouth, threatens his lords into compliance to answer English aggression.

Command the destiny of Jean the Younger, heir to the Valois-Alençon dynasty. His father Jean the Elder, named the "Wise" and Duke of Alençon, is ordered by his liege to lead a portion of the French army to counter the English invasion. Little Jean wants to his father in action, drawn by the romantic, medieval desire to see the glory of battle. But, there is one problem: Jean is only a six-year-old boy! Nevertheless, he dreams of glory, being the son of one of the most powerful men in France.

Will you bind Jean's actions to history, guide him to a greater future or doom him to obscurity? His fate lies in your hands.

I missed a lot in the past couple of days.

What she said, but yes I have. Finished two of them, and one is just a part of a larger story that I want to tell.

Hey guys, I'm sorry for my recent online absence. I definitely would have used the obliterate spell, and possibly have burned myself and died anyway (lol). Life has been difficult on the other end for me recently, but that's no excuse for forgetting to participate. My bad. Still, thank you End for organizing this. It was neat to try this out with you all.

I really appreciate this detailed response. Admittedly, I was a bit hesitant to put this one out because it's very much in medias res, but it's what I could think of in the moment to share.

Great, constructive feedback! I need to give some of my own to the others when I get the chance.

"We appreciate your courage, Abbot," said the cowardly Fletcher.

I'm slapping my head for not catching that spelling mistake, and that repetitive first line.

Also, thank you for the feedback :)

Excerpt from a future storygame:

You wake to the sound of raucous sound and shouting from the floor below. Moonlight seeps through the slits in the windows, faintly illuminating the room. No one else is here; all the others must be downstairs arguing about who knows what.

You're inclined to investigate. The makeshift straw bedding wasn't comfortable anyway.

Creeping across the floorboards to reach the stairs, you're close enough to hear clearly.

"You can't be serious!" Sir Poton. "Go north?"

"The English believe they've had their fill." It's a gruff, thick voice. It must be that Étienne person. "They'll be bound for Calais."

"You want this group, with an old man and two children, to chase them down?" Even after all you've seen, you've never heard the knight sound so vexed. You round the corner, keen on not being noticed. The room is lit by two candles, one on top of a table between the two soldiers, and the other carried by young Gilles and flanked by Blaise in the corner.

"If they get there," Étienne says, "they win."

"They already won," Poton points out. "Decisely."

"Only if he lives," the other man rumbles ominously.

"I don't enjoy admitting defeat just as much as you do, but we have to prioritize their lives now!" The knight waves to the others in the room. "And him!" He points upwards, still thinking you're asleep.

Sorry, just an intrusive thought. Ignore me.

Are we as players empowered to try to kill the Plague Doctor for what she's got?

"What on earth is a gorilla?" Fletcher asks himself, having his life contained to a small village with no books.