Franklyn, blinks. He thinks to himself that this is too realistic for a dream. Except for the box with text. Also, isn't "this is too realistic for a dream" something people dreaming think about.

Whatever this is it isn't being dead. Franklyn will take that.

He looks around to see if he recognizes his surroundings... he looks down to see what he is wearing. Does the box have something like a glowing icon showing an open envelope or something?

He is in slightly rolling hilly countryside, very pretty. There is a babbling brook with clear water and a dirt path running alongside it. Franklyn is wearing the clothes he was wearing when he died.

The box has no such icon, just text. But it is hovering a few feet in front of him at what could be optimum comfortable poking distance.

Time for the most basic of scientific approaches.

Poke the thing.

Does it react if he treats like a computer interface? Is it solid? Does it feel like anything?

His finger goes right through but as soon as it touches the box the text changes.


Notifications:

1/2

| Perk unlocked! |
I've got the power!: you now have the power of the Rewards Interface. Otherwise known as The Gamer Power.

2/2

| Status effect removed: Dead. |
You are no longer Dead. Full health restored.

He doesn't like this very much. 

"I might be hallucinating. I don't know if anyone can hear me, please help." Pause. "If you're out there, God, sorry for not believing you."

When he says the word "help" the textbox changes again!

HelpList...

Menu
Status
Perks
Skills
Inventory
Party
Achievements
Options
Map
Notes

Well, voice commands and poking seem to be how this thing works.

There is no response from anyone who isn't a box of text though

Does it work if he thinks really hard?

What happens if he pokes menu or status?

Thinking really hard does nothing. Poking menu brings up:

|REWARD INTERFACE OPERATING SYSTEM V1.0| Welcome to THE GAME |

Status
Perks
Skills
Inventory
Party
Achievements
Options
Map
Notes

And poking status gets him:

Current Status
Health: In good health

Stamina: Well Rested

Stats:

Strength: 12
Dexterity: 10
Constitution: 11

Intelligence: 13
Wisdom: 12
Charisma: 10

Luck: NA

(Stats are representative of your current ability. They also affect The Gamer Power.)

Status Effects: none

Character description:
An undeclared major, Franklyn's life was tragically cut short and he couldn't even go to the proper afterlife. But there's no reason to lament! Franklyn now finds himself the gamer in the fantastical land of middle earth.

PERKS:

|I've got the power!: you now have the power of the Reward Interface. Otherwise known as The Gamer Power.|

Achievements:

 

Skills:

 

...

Did he get isekai'ed?? Oh, dear.

Okay. He saw a map tab. He pokes it and checks to see if the landmasses are obviously alien.

Yup if he zooms out far enough to see the continent and coastline, totally alien. 

Map

But the map does show a town called Hobbiton quite close by. If he taps on it a red line will go from his marker to the town like a GPS navigator.

Okay. He will start making his way over there then. Is there anything in his inventory? What options and notes contain?

Inventory menu opens up a little image of Franklyn with little boxes describing his Equipped clothing. And a Window with a grid with empty boxes and some text above the box grids saying:

Weight Limit: 0.00/36.00 Kilograms

The options menu displays this:

Options:

-Graphics
-Audio
-Interface

No Save or Load buttons because that would require some time travel shenanigans and apparently the Management isn't that generous. Otherwise looks like a normal videogame options menu.

The notes page has a glowing qwerty keyboard and a blank page with the blinking | cursor showing it is ready for text input. Also a little microphone symbol to the side, And a Save file button and a Load file Button.

Seems like a basic word processor and if the microphone button does what it would seem to, a voice recorder as well. So that you can take Notes, It does what it's for.

After Franklyn walks for a while he will see a cart being slowly pulled by a pony down the dirt road. There is a little man sitting on the cart maybe only three and a half feet tall. At first someone would think it was a little person, but he notices the proportions are wrong as he walks closer. Or rather...that the proportions are not wrong. A human with dwarfism has proportionally a large head and short limbs because of a rare mutation. This man driving the cart has typical human proportions he is just three and a half feet tall. The only oversized things on him are his hairy feet dangling off the front of the cart as he holds the reins lazily.

Fantastical magical land of middle earth. He will check the different interface options later.

He will try to grab the attention from the small person first. "Hello? Can you understand me?"

"I understand you just fine Outsider." The diminutive man says in a gruff voice. "What is a manling doing in the shire? Not much here for tallfolk like you." Looking at this tall stranger suspiciously.

Subtlety, strategy and planning ahead are very important traits to deal with important situations. 

Too bad that Franklyn is not particularly possessed of any of them. More so given his current state. "I died and instead of going to the afterlife I was sent here with a weird power as compensation."

"Don't be daft mate! Are you drunk? Shame on you going around being drunk in a field. Must have been a lot of beer to get you so lost you ended up in the shire. Afterlives, what rubbish." The person's accent is very British, but small-town farmer British not London British. He is looking very disapprovingly at this clearly inebriated human.

"Okay. That sounds like a fair reaction." He checks his breath, no smell of alcohol. "Are my clothes weird? I am not from around in any case." Does he still have his phone? He should've checked to see if could make a phone call.

"I don't know what menfolk usually wear. Don't have much to do with Outsiders here in the shire. That you aren't from around here is as obvious as the sky is blue since you are obviously not a hobbit. Honestly, boy, you say the strangest things."

Franklyn does not have his phone or anything in his pockets actually.

"Okay, okay, sir." He is not actually sure he should try to convince this person of his gamer power and he isn't sure his new job is be video game hero or whatever people are willing to trust him with. "Is there somewhere around where they can help confused humans with weird stories?"

"Well....Old Bilbo Baggins went on an adventure when he was younger. Cavortin' around in goblin caves with men and dwarves findin' treasure. He's in Hobbiton, just down the road. Ask around for Bag End and that you would like to see Bilbo. He might be able to help ya boy.

Oh and I suppose Gandalf might come to Hobbiton soon. He's an alright sort of chap for a tallfolk. Makes wonderful fireworks. He's always poking his nose in things finding things out." The man sighs wistfully at memories of summer nights with shining silver dragons made of sparks dancing in the sky.

Ooh. That sounds like an obvious plot hook. "Thank you, kind sir! I will sure to proceed to Bag End!"

He wonders if these green hills are tutorial mode or level one. Regardless, he will walk at faster pace to get out of the man's sight.

Once alone, he takes another look at the map. Can he find Bag End? 

After some poking around he does! The map points to a hill on the outside edge of the little town.

Cool. Does this thing update in real time? Can he see people?

"Huh. Is there a hint option?" He asks out loud. "Help? Reward Interface help?"

The map does update in real-time! If he zooms in far enough he can see himself from a bird's eye view. If he waves his tiny arm moves in the image. He can see the cart slowly trudging down the road away from him.

Saying Help just gets him the same Helpmenu he got before.

HelpList...

Menu
Status
Perks
Skills
Inventory
Party
Achievements
Options
Map
Notes

Huh. He looks up. In case there is a drone filming him. Finding none, he instead pokes at the Notes option and writes some things down and record his voice. Then he searches for some sort of Send option  is there any? Or maybe some other communication option?

Not in Notes there isn't. Just save and load. It really is just a word processor and a voice recorder as far as he can tell.

"Interdimensional communication? Help? Any communication?"

Help gets him the helplist menu again. Nothing else happens.

He will take another look at the Perks, Skills, Party and Achievements tabs while making is way towards the possible-quest-giving NPC house.

PERKS:

|I've got the power!: you now have the power of the Reward Interface. Otherwise known as The Gamer Power.|

There's only the one perk...for now. no list of possible perks to be seen.

The Skills menu is empty, that's depressing.

Achievements list is empty of earned achievements but there is a box that says

|????|
Miles walked: 2.2/500

So apparently in progress achievements show.

The Party Interface has multiple windows.

It has what looks a lot like a modern chat client. Something like Discord or TeamSpeak or Skype. A party member bar on the left to select who to talk to which is empty. A text chat with an input field for instant messaging. A Voice chat interface as well. And what looks like a smaller version of the inventory screen with a "Whitelisted users" box next to it that is empty.


As Franklyn gets closer to the town there are more mini people out and about in the fields or walking the road. With small houses on the side of the road into town every so often as he travels. Seems like a nice peaceful town with friendly-looking folk even if some do eye up this tall stranger suspiciously from time to time.

Eventually, he gets into the town proper. lots of little houses and doors sticking out the side of hills with chimneys poking out the top of the hills. If he asks anyone how to get to bag end they will just nod and comment to themselves that of course the Outsider wants to go to bag end, and point the way for him.

Eventually, he gets to the edge of the town where bag end is located. There is what looks like a young man playing with a bunch of children outside one of those home hills Franklyn saw on the way in. While a portly old man with a friendly face sits on a rocking chair on the entranceway smoking his pipe keeping an eye on them.

Gosh, this is adorable and Franklyn will summon all his will power not to pick up the tiny adorable people. He will even nod back when they make comments about being an Outsider looking for Bilbo.

He approaches the older man, it's a lost cause to pretend he isn't a tall stranger, but he can try not to look intimidating. 

"Hello, sir. Are you Bilbo Baggins?"

"Yes, I'm Bilbo Baggins. Historian and writer." He also gives Franklyn a look up and down but his is a curious one rather than a suspicious one. "How may I be of service?" Pulling his pipe out of his mouth and putting it out to be polite.

He's got curly grey hair (in fact most of the mini people in this town have curly hair) and a twinkle in his eyes as he talks to Franklyn. One could see how he might be the sort to go adventuring when so many in this town seem to find that sort of thing distasteful.

Franklyn really wants to pet the curly hair.

"I am on a very bizarre situation, please don't call me crazy. But a short while ago," the interface really could use some watches "I found myself in a nearby field having no memory of how I got there and I am not hungover from being drunk. More importantly, there was a message in the air, saying that I died and I was sent here instead of the afterlife with compensation in the form of a... bunch weird things, but it includes a map that lets me see things from above, if you want evidence."

Okay, maybe he talked enough. 

"Well, that sounds very peculiar indeed. You don't look like an elf. Are you sure it said afterlife? Because as far as I know, men don't go anywhere when they die they just...end. Hobbits too I suppose. Only elves get to go to the halls of Mandos after they die.

Plus this is the land of the living! I certainly don't feel dead quite yet." He chuckles at his little joke at his age.

"And don't all maps show things from above? It would be a pretty odd map to show things from sideways." He scratches his chin thoughtfully. "But you don't seem mad or drunk and I've seen some odd things in my life."

"I suppose people sent you my way because you are a human and I've been known to deal with Men and Dwarves. Well It is almost time for afternoon tea, If you like you could join me and we can talk more about this mystery." He gets up out of his rocking chair and heads for his front door.

"I would love to join you for some tea." Franklyn thinks this a very nice fellow. "And, I ever seen cross sections maps, but they are not particularly use to navigate. I meant that's not a static map, things move in real time." 

If this means going inside Franklyn will endure crouching down.

There will need to be some ducking to navigate this house. For a hole in a hill, it's incredibly cozy even if the hallways are all cylindrical instead of having flat walls like Franklyn would be used to.

There are a bunch of loose books and papers in the living room that they have to travel through to get to the dining room. "Sorry for the mess. Wasn't expecting guests you see and I've been working on my book."

The dining area is kept clear though. "Take a seat and I will bring something out. I could make up some tea or bring out something a little stronger if you prefer. And I've got some lovely cheeses that need finishing." And he potters off into the kitchen.

So adorable! Franklyn is going to die (again). He is very careful to not hit head against anything. 

"Your house us lovely. Tea is fine. I don't think I should drink anything in my state."

He sits on the floor, to avoid crushing the furniture. 

There is a chair more suited for someone his size in the corner of the room if he wants to use it.

Bilbo comes out after a while with a pot of tea, some teacups, a platter of cheeses and crackers and some bread. "And I have leftover honey cake we can finish it all off with later." He says as he sets it all down and sits down. "So if the map changes to show what's happening right now it's an enchanted map? I saw an enchanted map that changed under moonlight once but the pictures didn't move at all or anything."

Oh, he will take that chair, though he will seat on it very carefully. "Ooh," he says at the food. "It's definitely... not a normal map?" Also, maps that change under moonlight are a thing, huh, "what I am experiencing is like a rectangle over my field of vision," he indicates where it is more or less, "and through it I can see things like I am watching them from right above where I am standing. It's not a drawing or anything, though it does things like displaying the name of the hobbiton town and if poke at it, it gives me a route to where I am from to where I poked."

"Never heard of anything like that at all. Mind if I test it?." Slicing cheese and placing it on crackers. He seems very calm for someone who heard such an outrageous claim. "And have you picked up anything that might be enchanted lately? Jewellery is the most common kind. In old caves or ruins and the like."

Of course, he is calm. He is probably the tutorial guide. "I don't mind at all. Until today, I would think that magic wasn't real and I have not any unusual jewelry from unusual places. There is more to the thing, but I have not explored it yet." Pause. "My last memory before the field does involve me being hit by a vehicle and possibly dying."

"You remember getting caught under the wheels of a wagon? This is very curious." Bilbo gets up and goes to the window and calls to the young man outside. "Frodo! can you go up to the roof and make shapes with your arms! This fellow says he has magic that lets him see from the sky!"

"Yes Bilbo!" Franklyn can hear a voice call back, and then dull thuds on the ceiling as presumably Frodo climbs up the hill.

"You must be from somewhere even more out of the way than we are. Even in Hobbiton, we get a Wizard passing through every decade or so. Gandalf has the most magnificent magic fireworks, He will probably bring some for my eleventy-first birthday party soon enough. If you stick around you might ask him about all this magic when he gets here."

If Franklyn checks his map he will be able to see the tiny shape of Frodo making a circle, and then a V and then a circle with his arms over and over.

Franklyn reports all these shapes, in real time even. He will even report the other children doings while this transpires for good measure.

"I would very much like to talk to the wizard then. And I don't think I am from this world? None of the landmasses are the same, and we have mapped everything."

"Well turns out you were right about having a map in your head. Very very peculiar. Useful though now you can never get lost." He calls Frodo inside and Frodo joins them for afternoon tea. 

"What? Another world? You mean like another continent?." Frodo asks when Franklyn says this.

"Gandalf will probably be here in about a week. And you look like a regular man to me. Not even a Southerling or Easternling but like a man you would meet in Bree or Gondor. I would expect someone from so far away to not even recognize the shape of the land to be very different from men we have here. Very odd this all is." Bilbo muses aloud.

"Not another continent. The entire globe is different. And I am extremely surprised that you look this similar to me too. Or speak my language for that matter." Pause. "Assuming this thing isn't also translating or something."

He thinks for a bit. "Uh, there is a job I could do to pay for my stay or something? There might be something more about this than just the map but I have not poked at it yet enough."

"Similar? We're Hobbits. Couldn't get more different we are totally different races. If you had woken up in Bree that would be a different story that town is full of men. And we are speaking Westron right now?"

"Oh and I can put you up for such a short while, It'll be a favour to Gandalf, I'm sure Gandalf will want to meet you too mister..." Expectant pause from Bilbo.

Frodo looks enamoured with the idea of a whole another world.

Frodo is adorable. He should not hug the adorable hobbit, but he really wants to.

"The name of my language is English, instead of Westron, but you sound the same." He thinks for a moment. "Do you understand when I say the word hominid? Does that come with a meaning? And when I mean different, I mean really different, like, different as dogs and fish are different instead of how dogs and wolves are different."

"Oh, sorry, my manners. I am Franklyn Grayson. And thank you so much, if there is anything I can do to help or repay your generosity, please let me know."

"Never heard of a huminid. The most different things we have to the free races are orks and they still stand on two legs and talk like you or me, just ugly as rot and as evil as you could want. More of a sheepdog and rabid warg situation." Bilbo pulls out his pipe again. It helps him think.

"Your speech sounds like Westron to me. Can you understand this? istan quetë, queta Quenya."

Frodo pipes up. "Pleased to meet you, Franklyn. You already know who my uncle is. And I'm Frodo Baggins at your service." He does a little enthusiastic bow in his chair.

Bilbo smiles at Frodo's enthusiasm at meeting new people.

Franklyn doesn't know what to make of this description. "Do you happen to have pictures of an Ork? I think I heard mentions of goblins and dwarves? Are there more? I didn't understand any of that. Either our languages happen to be identical or the thing is only translating Westron and English. How many letters are in the words one, two and three?"

"It's a pleasure to meet you Frodo Baggins." Most adorable.

"Three, three and five of course. And I suppose I might have a picture of an Orc and a Goblin around here somewhere...

Dwarves are generally like Men and Hobbits, Short like a Hobbit but slightly taller. Stockier and hardier with broad shoulders and muscular frames. And never seen one without a beard in my life. They are excellent miners and smiths of metal. They never forget a slight against them but are steadfastly loyal to their friends.

And Elves are like men but taller and thinner. With pointed ears and sharp features and a feeling of...otherworldliness to them. They don't die of old age and seem disconnected from the world a lot of the time. Mind you younger elves can be a lot closer in temperament to a mortal like you and me. You can hear them singing in the woods sometimes and it is the most beautiful thing you have ever heard in your life.

And I suppose Wizards are another kind of thing altogether. Gandalf looks and acts like a man but I have never seen him age a day in his life. And even the Elves listen to his counsel." Bilbo explains what he knows of the other free races of middle earth.

"I know where you keep the illustrations for your book! I can go find the Orc and the Goblin and the one with the three Trolls." Frodo pipes up again.

"Thank you Frodo, you can go get them if you want." Of course Frodo knows the Illustrations for my book better than I do Bilbo thought.

And off Frodo runs. He acts young and eager but he doesn't look less than early 20s going by human ages.

"If it was a different language l would expect different numbers of letters... unless the translation also affects that. Maybe I should create a crossword puzzle instead."

"That's a lot of more variation than I expected for the same world... if you don't mind me asking. Is it possible for these people to have children together? Fertile children? Also, what is Gandalf capable of?"

Frodo remains adorable. He then remembers that Bilbo mentioned a 111th birthday and... "How long hobbits live? How old is Frodo?"

"Oh goodness no! why would that even be a question." Bilbo suddenly looks very flustered at being asked about people having children together. That is not something people usually talked about in polite company.

"As far as legends go Elves and Men were made by the same god. Elves came first to middle earth with fated destiny and Men later with free will. Elves to live until the end of days or to go to the halls of Mandos. And men to fade with time and die of old age. Apparently long ago an elf gave up her immortality to be with a man and bear him sons but there was the blessing of a god involved I think. 

I don't know how much to believe of that but the Elves certainly all believe it. Never heard of a Half-Elf being known to exist today though.

Dwarves apparently were made by a different god than men and elves while they are not immortal they can live a very long time, longer than 250 years if they are of certain lines and do not die of disease or battle. And their king reincarnates? I should probably know more about the legend of Durin but it wasn't a focus of mine when picking up these legends you know. Never heard of a Half-Dwarf even in legends.

Orcs are apparently Elves that some evil god that has long since been defeated, tortured and used magic on and bred together, till he had his own terrible slave race. Goblins I assume are a related sort of thing to orcs. No clue where trolls and ogres and such come from. But I Suppose with magic you could create any sort of creature if you had no shred of goodness in you and thousands of years to do it in.

I have seen Gandalf talk to beasts, command great eagles, make fire with his staff, make light and he knows all manner of ancient lore and is a trusted friend to many of the oldest and wisest elves which would make him very old indeed. Old elves do not trust so easily.

Hobbits usually live to 100 or so, Oldest Hobbit on record made it past 130 years. I feel at least another decade in these old bones of mine myself." He chuckles and pats his knees as if to show off his old bones. He does not look that old maybe in his 70s at the oldest.

"Young Frodo is not so young anymore but Hobbits are seen as adults by 30 and he is 33. He's a Hobbit grown now I suppose...I remember when he was 20 and got caught stealing mushrooms." A very wistful sigh remembering fond memories from Bilbo.

"I found the papers!" Frodo comes in with a bundle of papers. "Here. The goblins of the mountain from your book. The trolls turned to stone. And the Orcs from the battle of five armies."

The Goblins of goblin town

An Orc Soldier

The stone Trolls

Since he just woke up in fantasy land with a gaming interface in his head, he is absolutely going to buy this worldbuilding stuff without question. Sticking around to talk to Gandalf sounds like an increasingly good idea.

He accepts the papers with gentle care. "This is fantastic art. Did you draw that yourself?" He scrutinizes the figures, all humanoids. "Does everything that talks walks upright and has two legs and two arms?"

Bilbo is very proud of the compliments to his art. Puffing out his chest proudly. "Why thank you. It has taken me 50 years to write this book and I wanted to make sure it was perfect, and it Isn't even finished.

Bilbo looks a little pensive. "Well, the Elves speak of Maiar that can take the shape of anything they want...But a lot of their claims about the gods and spirits seem...like you would notice them if they were running around. Oh, and the great eagles are said to understand human speech even if the only one I know who can speak eagle is Gandalf. Dragons I know personally can speak just as well as any hobbit or person and seem fairly intelligent in certain ways. Dragons do sort of have arms and legs of a sort even if they go on all fours... There is talk amongst elves of Spiders Intelligent enough to trick elves and men in the Murkwood but not of them speaking to anyone, but they might only talk amongst themselves being person eating spiders and all."

Frodo is loving all this talk of lore. Usually takes a bottle of farmer Darrows finest vintage to get Bilbo to talk so much about his collected lore.

He squirms uncomfortably about the spiders. Yikes. Hopefully, they are not the easiest way to obtain string for a bow. "That is a very large number of... kinds of creatures that might intelligent. Any idea if dragons and great eagles are... I don't have a better word that weird, like, they value things in a way very different from the humanoid species?"

"Also, do you have the printing press?"

"Well since I've only known Gandalf to talk to the eagles I have no idea about them. But they don't do people things like build homes or do art. Dragons at least do appreciate things like craftsmanship and monetary value. They can understand things like politics and politeness even if normally they are solitary creatures. Smaug the dragon seemed like a person to me, even if all he cared about was his horde of gold." Expositions Biilo.

"What's a printing press?" Pipes up Frodo.

"I probably would need more time to think the right questions to ask," he tells Bilbo, to Frodo say he replies. "A printing press is a mechanical device for a faster and more convenient manufacturing of books. The basic principle is having a movable set of stamp letters that you can form the text of a page, then you put ink on them and press the entire thing on paper. And then you can ink it again and press the next page and do it as many times you need. Then you rearrange the thing into the text of the next page. And so on and on."

Frodo is visibly thinking about how you would actually make a printing press. "So you have the letter imprints in backwards...so when they stamp they are the right way around...they would have to be very small and fit in a page-sized frame together...Wouldnt be faster for just a few copies of a book but for a pamphlet or something that you need dozens of, it could be very helpful. Bilbo this would save so much time for writing out the party invites! I already have a sore wrist just thinking about helping write over a hundred invites." Frodo is a very clever hobbit indeed.

So clever. "That's right. You can even have for pretty symbols to decorate your invitations. And the printing press allowed for newspapers which are these... well, multi page pamphlets with recent events and useful information."

"Oh we just have a board in the town centre people pin things on, only have to write it once then. Not sure there would be enough people interested to make it worth setting and printing the news for them." Frodo says.

"What a clever idea. Never heard of anything like that being invented recently and I make the trip to Bree every few years to catch up on news. And if the dwarves invented something like this then I never heard of it. Where did you say you were from again?" Bilbo looks rather impressed with the idea of printing.

"My world is called Earth. I really don't think it's the same as this one." Franklyn tells Bilbo.

To Frodo. "It might be the case that's not worth for your town. Even in my world a place like this rarely gets their own newspaper. But there are ones that cover very wide areas. I suppose one could print them in a central location and then distribute throughout the continent?"

Bilbo puffs on his pipe while mulling over the word for another world. "Earth, the word for dirt. Seems like something a hobbit would name a world, I quite like it as a name. The elves call this world Arda."

"Sending papers across the continent seems impractical. Travel is dangerous these days. Not that it was ever very safe mind you. If a king needed to get some news out he would just send a messenger to tell the town ealdormen and they would tell the people? faster than printing and delivering a news-paper to every person who could read. Plus most folk are unconcerned about anything further away than a few days ride you know, I am an oddity in that I like to travel and learn of the world. Besides young Frodo, of course, he also picked up my spark of curiosity." He chuckles and looks fondly at his ward.

Frodo looks mildly embarrassed to be talked about fondly like that. "I don't think I will ever go on such adventures as you have Bilbo."

"Thank you, Arda is a pretty name."

"Aww." Franklyn says at the display of affection, before he can stop himself. "Sorry. I guess newspapers are long way. But they did catch on in my world when populations centers and literacy were widespread enough. Still, absolutely valid for books. Books are great."

"Books are great, I have quite the collection myself, one of the biggest in Hobbiton and certainly bigger than anything in Bree." Bilbo proudly brags, puffing out his chest.

Frodo just rolls his eyes.

Bilbo is proud as he should. "Awesome."

"If you would like to stay here with us until Gandalf gets here you are welcome to. You could help Frodo bodge together a Print for the birthday invitations that would also be wonderful if you wanted?" Very expecting look from Bilbo. He would have let the man stay here for free but now there is some work he can do that is useful he should help contribute while staying.

Franklyn is obviously happy about the prospect. "I would love to! Any help that I can give, really. It's good to not worry about having a roof while I figured things out."

"Oh, folk are nice around here. Even the meanest folk would let you sleep in the barn if you helped collect the eggs in the morning or somesuch chore."

Franklyn manages not to aww. "That's great. Is there any chore or job that I should be doing now. There are still bits of the thing I haven't poked yet."

"Go ahead and poke at the strange magic, but nothing dangerous inside so if you learn to start fires with a word or call forth the beasts of the forest do it outside thank you very much." Bilbo gathers up the plates and cups they snacked on and brings them to the kitchen.

Frodo is still very curious about this newcomer so he stays at the table and does hope that Franklyn suddenly makes flashy magic appear.

Since he has a helper... he will poke the Party part of the menu and try to figure out if there are ways to add people to his Party.

There is a little + icon in a circle on the party member bar! That seems a likely candidate.

"Ooh, I will try something that won't set anything on fire, but might be visible to you." Poke.

A microphone symbol appears in the middle of the "screen", seems to be asking for a voice input.

Frodo looks hopeful that something interesting will happen.

Franklyn whispers. "Testing?"

[No nearby player named "Testing" found.] Pops up, and it goes back to the microphone icon. There is a red X if there is a need to exit the add party member menu as well.

"Oh. Frodo Baggins." He tries. He will try variants of that doesn't work.

[Frodo Baggins found. Adding to party.]

"Great Jumping Jackrabbits!" Frodo falls out of his chair and thumps onto the ground. "There's words floating in front of me!"

"Oh. Sorry. I didn't know what was going to happen, but I should have explained. What are you seeing?" He helps Frodo to stand up.

"Your name in a long vertical rectangle that goes down the side of my vision. And inside a circle there is a blob with three little curved lines next to it." Frodo still looks shocked but he is peering very curiously at the empty space in front of him, presumably where the interface was for him. "BILBO COME SEE THE MAGIC WORK!" Frodo yells down the hallways and then grins at Franklyn. "Bilbo has got to see this."

"I can't see your... window? I guess it's a window. Though, I can add him to the group as well. I think this thing is meant as a communication feature? There might be other mechanical aspects." Franklyn tries to figure out how to send a message. Maybe he can send a voice message to Frodo?

If Franklyn taps Frodos name on the party bar there will be a text box for text input and a microphone symbol beside it as well. Seems it has text and voice chat! How modern.

"I think I can send you a text or audio message. Do you want me to try?"

"Sure!" Frodo seems very excited by this strange magic, unlike anything he has heard of in Bilbo's stories.

"Testing." He speaks and sends.

Testing

He sends via text. 

"Wow It's like hearing you right in my ear, and the letters are all...blocky and straight-edged but It's very readable. Says 'testing'." Frodo claps his hands together in excitement.

Bilbo comes in. "What is all this commotion then?"

"Franklyn can speak to you via the magic and send letters that show up floating in front of you!" Frodo says. "Try it out! If it works from anywhere you could have a conversation from anywhere or send letters that arrive instantly!"

"I can add you to the thing if you want."

"I would love to be added to the 'thing' " Bilbo smirks at all the fuss being made, but it does sound like a mighty useful piece of magic to him. Gandalf will be very very interested when he arrives he is sure.

Franklyn will add Bilbo.

Even the unflappable Bilbo look surprised at this appearance of the chat bar UI that he has no previous context for. "Goodness, sure takes up a lot of your view, doesn't it? any way to make it go away while still retaining the function? also, try doing the things you did with Frodo at me."

"Okay... I will try to make it go away completely before making it more... view-friendly, because that sounds easier. I am still figuring out how this interface works."

He tries the things he did with Bilbo and then to kick Frodo out of the thing. Then add him back.

Bilbo is very surprised by hearing Franklyn's voice right beside his ear like that and seeing the text pop up. "Goodness me this would have been useful during my adventures. I would at least have been able to know how my companions were faring instead of worrying they had all died every time we got split up."

Frodo is kicked and added back just fine.

"Indeed. Back in my world, long distance communication is a huge convenience, at least there is a version of it here. What are you two seeing exactly? Do you see the words Help or Options anywhere?"

Both shake their head. "Just a box down the side of my vision with your name and Frodo's name in it, and a circle with a symbol inside it" Says Bilbo.

"Same thing I see!" Exclaims Frodo.

"Okay. There is a graphics option... it should change how it looks, but I am not sure. Do you mind if I remove one of you while I fiddle with it? I don't want to find out that it can cause blinding flashes or something and have everyone helpless on the floor."

Bilbo looks a little worried that there was a prospect of blinding flashes. "I don't mind at all." 

Frodo still looks enamoured at having what he thinks is actual magic in front of him, moving his head around to have it follow his view. "Change away! I'm not scared."

Alright. What options does he have to tamper with the display?

Opening the Graphics menu gets him this:

Graphics:

FOV: |=======[]=======| 
Depth of Field: OFF/ON
Motion Blur: OFF/ON
Saturation: |=======[]=======| 
Contrast: |=======[]=======| 
Brightness: |=======[]=======| 

Maybe he should try the interface Menu if he wants to customize the interface?

Oh, right. That's silly of him. Interface menu then?

Interface:

The Interface menu has a ton of options. He can choose window size, window colour, text font, if notifications should display in combat or not, where the popups appear instead of right in the center of his vision, how transparent the windows can be. He can change the vocal commands to open Menus, he can set the commands to be activated via hand signal instead. He can set them to be activated via eye movements if he wants.

Pretty much any way he can think to customize how things display or are activated he can do it, ease of use and customization so he can get it exactly the way he wants seems to be the theme of the interface menu.
 

Ooh. How user friendly. He starts fiddling with the thing and asking for the hobbit input. And he would rather not have notification happen in combat. Popups can appear at the corner left of his vision. Can he make them only show up an exclamation mark until poked to expand?

All of that is possible and more with the interface menu being designed by someone competent! Can have popups remain minimized with only the number of popups waiting to be read as a small number in a circle showing until accessed.

The Hobbits have no real context for User Interfaces this being the first they have ever seen, but Frodo likes the windows being semi-transparent so he can look through them to what is behind them. He is apparently good at just ignoring the windows as long as he can still see past them.

When Bilbo gets added back in he finds he is less good at looking past them even when the transparency is set fairly high, He has to be taught how to minimize and bring windows back up for it to be something he would be comfortable having on all the time.

Frodo takes to moving windows around and tapping on things like a fish to water, he is a very adaptable Hobbit. Bilbo, however, takes a few tries to get the hang of the controls since this is so different from any frame of reference he has ever had in his life.

Hey, even old people back home have trouble with this sort of thing. After fiddling a bit he finally settles with something that it's not too intrusive and adds a variety of commands so he has every avenue available to get access.

After all that's done. He will go back to the graphics menu and very carefully fiddles with things. While the hobbits are temporarily disconnected. 

Fiddling with the FOV more than a few percentage points in either direction Immediately makes him nauseous, the brain is not used to suddenly dealing with more input or having everything look distorted like that.

Depth of field blurs things he isn't focusing at like a fancy camera, really has no practical use unless he wants to take fancy screenshots with the notes menu.

Motion blur is the most sickening Option of the bunch, why does this even exist except for that most games have it as an option? everything blurring is nauseating to the extreme.

Saturation makes everything have more or less colour, turning it all the way up is very trippy but not actually nausea-inducing, turning it all the way down has Franklyn seeing in greyscale.

Contrast makes everything more contrasty, more contrast has a bit of a worse effect on the eyes than over-saturation but it does seem like Franklyn can see deeper detail into shadowy areas of the room. Less contrast just makes everything harder to make out.


Brightness makes everything brighter, not in a lighting sense just actually shifts the tone of the image whiter, combined with added contrast this could make for a decent low light vision option. Brightness all the way up or down just blinds him in either pitch-black darkness or blinding white. You could use lower brightness as a kind of sunglasses effect maybe?

Well, those are sure some interesting sensory experiences. He tries not to get too sick and to keep the experimentation restrained.

The experiment with Contrast and Brightness makes Franklyn realize that he is not sure if the interface is somewhat visual. Is it affected by him closing his eyes? Going somewhere darker or brighter?

Closing his eyes blocks the interface, if he tries covering his eyes though the interface remains. If he is focusing on the interface and closes his eyes it remains. Seems it blocks when you blink or are closing your eyes to block visual stimulus, but if you are trying to continue using it it stays up.

Going somewhere darker does not reduce the visibility of the interface at all, in fact, it seems to be giving off light if he sets the interface colour to something bright. If he asks the hobbits if they can see the light it is giving off when he stands in a dark corner they will shake their heads. So it isn't true light shining on things but illusory and related to the interface.

Huh... can he use the illusory light to read things? Or at least notice details enough that he can tell it is a realistic illusion?

The light acts like normal light, except only he can see it.
Put something close to the glowing interface and he can see detail and read whatever. If he set the interface colour in the RGB sliders to bright white with full opacity it could be used as a weak flashlight. But it wouldn't reveal his position to anyone else.

Neat. He makes a mental... no, an actual note to the fact on the note function.

"It sounds like a good idea to test other limits. But I am not sure. Distance? See if I can add people that are very far away?"

Bilbo looks pensive. "Well Gandalf will be showing up soon and he travels all over, can ask him if you can send him the magic once he leaves town and travels a fair distance away."

Frodo looks eager. "If it's far enough, I can run to the other side of Hobbiton and you can try!"

Awww. Must. Resist. The. Urge. To. Pick. Up. Adorable. Person.

"Both of those things work and would be useful."

Frodo runs off as fast as his short legs will carry him, out the door and down the road to the other side of Hobbiton. Hobbits he passes by shaking their heads at this already an Adult running like a child. "Acting like a darned Took he is." a grumpy old lady says as he runs by.

Bilbo just smiles fondly at Frodo's eagerness.

"So Franklyn, how about we finish off some of that honey cake in the meantime, it'll take young Frodo maybe 20 minutes to get to the other side of town at that rate." Pulling out plates and cutlery from cupboards.

"I would love to." Franklyn helps sets things up. When he is not distracted, he checks the map to see if Frodo shows up in it.

Yup! Party members have their name highlighted on the map, makes them easy to keep track of. It is what you would expect from a modern memo interface. The option for highlighting party members could have been turned off in the interface menu, the way almost everything else in the interface can be customized.

If Franklyn zooms in far enough he can see that Frodo’s sillhoute outline is also highlighted, even when he runs underneath tree canopies.

Bilbo brings out the honey cake and cuts it into generous slices, a man-sized slice for Franklyn even, though Bilbo’s is not much smaller. It is less sweet cake than someone from 21st-century earth would be used to, but the honey flavour is deep and complicated and the quality of the ingredients is noticeable, the crumb is also quite dense compared to the fluffy cakes you would get in a supermarket. It's sort of like a very good banana bread but tasting of honey instead.

Bilbo sighs in contentment after having a few forkfuls of his slice. “Just the way my mother would make it. Tooks make some of the best beekeepers and they know their honey cakes, never found a recipe for it that I liked better.” 

"Family recipes are the bests," Franklyns says in the tones of some deep wisdom, though meant completely seriously. Nom. "Still seeing Frodo on my mental map," he reports. "He is quick on his feet."

“It’s all the practice he got running from farmer Maggot and his dogs every time he would get caught stealing mushrooms, Frodo and his friends have had the luck of fools escaping those terrifyingly large hounds.” He relays the story fondly even as he calls them foolish. “To you the dogs might not even seem that large however.” He chuckles at the friendly jest over this mans height.

Bilbo strokes his chin thoughtfully. “Though... I suppose... For our stature Hobbits in general are quite quick ln our feet, able to keep pace with longer-legged folk like dwarves and men if they aren't sprinting.”

"Being tall doesn't make bites hurt less. I hope the hounds are not that dangerous. I guess being light-weight would help some with speed. Fewer bones to weight you down." He appreciates the jest with a chuckle of his own.

“Oh the dogs are well trained, they might bite to trap a limb but they don't crunch down. That doesn't make the barking of animals as tall as I am any less scary. Maggot got them as pups from a man up in Bree, our dogs are usually more appropriately sized.” Bilbo has finished his cake and is sipping his tea, enjoying the company of this stranger that might be from another world, though he still had doubts about that.

Franklin gets a party chat message from Frodo, who figured out how to send messages on his own. [Does it still work? Can you still see me on the map?]

Franklin can in fact see Frodo on the map, waving his arms to the sky while Hobbits around him stare at his strange behaviour. It seems that over the length of the entire town the party system still works.

Franklin, however, might not be observant enough to notice that in that area only the map around Frodo is being updated in real time, Hobbits and animals over 100 metres away from Frodo are not moving on the map.

"Ah, that makes sense," he sips the tea. "Though, I bet that if you train one to be delicate it must be appropriately more adorable," he muses like it's a deeply philosophical question.

[Yes! I am seeing you in the map. Waving your arms. And around you.]

He catches the lack of real time update if there are some obvious inconsistencies? Like a hobbit appearing at two places at once or apparently teleporting (from walk in and out of view). He reports this to Bilbo.

If Franklyn is paying close enough attention he might notice as someone who was elsewhere walks into “frame” as it were and suddenly appears. But only if zoomed out far enough to see the “edge” of where the image updates around frodo.

Bilbo gets out his pipe and starts to pack it full of pipe-weed. “Things keep getting curiouser and curiouser. But, I suppose there is no reason the magic would have a distance limit anyway, or if it has a limit it is wider than the village at least.” Bilbo gets a small flint and lights his pipe, giving it a few big puffs to get the embers blazing.

[I’m coming back now.] Frodo messages through the party chat, and on the map he can be seen sprinting back to Bag End.

[Noted. Going to take a look at the map from farther out.] 

Franklyn shrugs. "I could see having limits, but I mostly don't know anything about magic." He looks curiously at the pipe's smoke. "And Frodo is on the way back. Also, I noticed the map only shows a updating picture if I or Frodo is nearby."

Franklyn’s map updating radius is much further than Frodo’s, a full kilometre.

Bilbo notices Franklyn watching him smoke and decides to show off, blowing fancy smoke rings. “If it showed everyones position no matter where in the world that would be the kind of artifact that would rival any from elvish legend. Though even now it seems very useful, could see who was coming to your house before they even knocked on the door.“ Bilbo sighs at the pleasant thought, it would be so useful for avoiding those grubbing Sackville-Bagginses.

"You could say 'Ah Mr. Hobbitperson, I was expecting you.' before opening the door. I should test how many people I can add or what else we can do as a party."

“Well how many people would you trust with knowledge of this magic? Hobbiton is one of thew few places you could safely tell strangers about it, and  you won’t find many hobbits willing to test it.” He shakes his head ruefully at the attitudes of most Hobbits, even though he was much the same before Gandalf dragged him into an adventure.

”I am practically the exception for hobbits when it comes to curiosity, and Frodo who I made my heir because I could see he was like me. Maybe a few of his young friends might be adventurous enough to help but that will result in less than a half dozen people including us.” Bilbo puffs thoughtfully at his pipe, making more smoke rings. “Well, you have a while before Gandalf comes into town so you will have time to test your magic map and instant letters.

"Also, other powers it might grant ? There was a thing about stats, perks and skills. It might be useful to learn something new to see if changes my skills," he muses. "And a half a dozen people still sounds useful to test. Too bad about the uncuriosity, but the place looks lovely otherwise." He checks his stats again, maybe there is something about being well-fed? Or maybe foods here grant some video-game boosts.

He hasn’t done much that a game would reward you for. His status reads thusly.

Current Status
Health: In good health

Stamina: Well Rested, Well Fed

Stats:

Strength: 12
Dexterity: 10
Constitution: 11

Intelligence: 13
Wisdom: 12
Charisma: 10

Luck: NA

(Stats are representative of your current ability. They also affect The Gamer Power.)

Status Effects: none

Character description:
An undeclared major, Franklyn's life was tragically cut short and he couldn't even go to the proper afterlife. But there's no reason to lament! Franklyn now finds himself the gamer in the fantastical land of middle earth.

PERKS:

|I've got the power!: you now have the power of the Reward Interface. Otherwise known as The Gamer Power.|

Achievements:

 

Skills:

“The place is lovely, I haven't gone on further adventures since my first one for a reason. But you can enjoy the comforts of Hobbiton without being completely incurious and distrustful of things new and strange. Most hobbits never leave the Shire or go travelling further than Bree, and if there are any elsewhere they probably also stay put where they grew up.”

Bilbo furrows his brow at the next thought. “During my travels it seemed most people had never even seen a hobbit before.”

Even though Bilbo had been just the same as most hobbits before his adventure, happy to avoid any adventure or trouble from outside the shire, he did think maybe Hobbits as a people should be a little less isolated.

"Huh, in my world, it was rather common for humans not to travel much. But it sounds like hobbits are more so. And you never heard of hobbits in farther away lands? That is even stranger. Also, hold on a second. I want to try something."

To the screen he says. "Help? The Gamer Power?"

Saying Help just gets him the same Helpmenu he got twice before.

HelpList...

Menu
Status
Perks
Skills
Inventory
Party
Achievements
Options
Map
Notes

He pokes at Perks. And try to poke at the gamer perk. Or maybe he missed something, an "expand" option maybe?

Going to the perk menu gets him the same thing he saw last time he did that.

PERKS:

|I've got the power!: you now have the power of the Reward Interface. Otherwise known as The Gamer Power.|

Tapping the |I’ve got the power!| perk shows him this pop up:

This perk cannot be toggled off. The reward Interface requires it to function.

He guesses this means some perks can be turned off."Okay, sorry. I was just trying to figure this out," he tells Bilbo. "I can make guesses, but I am not sure how to easily test them."

Bilbo was looking at him curiously, seeing him poke things in mid air only he could see was always very strange, but he assumes he looked silly like that when poking at the magic when testing it for Franklyn before.

”You have plenty of time before Gandalf gets here, plenty of time to test the magic. You can take your time, and if you feel stuck you can always make the thing for those party invitations.”

"True. There might be some other limits that we are not aware of to the party invitations. Oh, and I haven't done much poking around the inventory section. I should do that."

He investigates inventory.

Like before, the Inventory menu opens up a little image of Franklyn with little boxes describing his Equipped clothing. And a Window with a grid with empty boxes and some text above the box grids saying:

Weight Limit: 0.00/36.00 Kilograms

Why those boxes seem so empty and are practically begging for some loot to be placed in them. That equipment screen is so very ripe for investigation.

Franklyn asks permission to test something with Bilbo's teacups and (if allowed) will try to put one in an empty box.

If Bilbo is likely to get it back he doesn’t see a problem. He jumps a bit in his seat when he sees the teacup vanish when Franklyn pushes it forward into the air.

As Franklyn pushes the teacup against the inventory screen it disappears. One of the empty boxes now has an icon of a teacup, and the weight counter slightly ticked up.

Weight Limit: 0.23/36.00 Kilograms

"Cool! Can I try with more items?" He says, retrieving the teacup.

The teacup is easily retrieved! Just reach into the box and it’s already in your hand. 

Bilbo gestures to the random things around his house. “Go ahead! How much can you fit in there? Do you feel the weight of them? How big of an item can you put away? Oh to be able to travel without a bulky pack!” He seems very enthused by the idea of being able to store things away. Unless Franklyn was just making the teacup invisible, but he talked of inventory and that made him think of a shop or storehouse.

"It gives a weight limit of 36 kilograms... which a weight unit in my world. The teacup was just 0.23, which isn't easy to feel. Let's try and see if the weight is felt when I have more to carry?"

Presumably, they do that, and Franklyn figures out how big of an item he can put there or, for that matter, if multiples of the same thing can be put in the same box. Or if he can do something like putting a shoe while still wearing it? Might require some contortionism...

Multiples of reasonably identical items stack in the inventory, though any individual characteristics of said items like pattern differences on the teacups stay on the item when they come out, and in the order they were put in when retrieving items from a stack. If Franklyn can carry it, it'll go into the inventory, if he tries a whole chair it will work.

Shoe that is currently being worn doesn’t go into the inventory, they are equipped right now so that might be the reason. Probably to prevent the inventory stripping your gauntlets or gloves every time you reached for something in it. 

He doesn’t feel the weight of those items until the weight limit is reached. Once it goes over the weight limit a popup comes up with:

| Over-Encumbered |

But 36 kilos isn’t too much weight to carry, like giving a ten year old a piggy back ride.

Bilbo looks at Franklyn with a raised eyebrow when he is kicking at the air trying to get his shoe into the inventory window.

"It's all for the sake of science!"

That is a bit much when it comes all of a sudden, but he doesn't fall over.

"Ooff," he says."And removes an item to remove the Over-Encumbered. Then checks to see if that is a status or something by putting the item back. "Only felt anything after the weight limit has been reached.

Can he add more after the weight limit at all?

“You are using a lot of words I’ve never heard before, keel-oh grems and scye ants, but you seem to be having fun.” Bilbo enjoys the spectacle as he refills his pipe.

Over encumbered is in fact shown as a status effect when checking his status screen.

Status Effects: |Over-Encumbered|

He can keep adding items just fine, but he keeps feeling heavier all over, even his limbs and head share the weight. It’s a different sensation from carrying a heavy hiking pack.

"Sorry, but if it helps. It is fun."

He takes a break from accumulating items and checks the map to see Frodo's progress.

Frodo is almost back right now! He rushes up to the door before slowing down to a pace Bilbo won’t chastise him for and opens the door, he sees the living room in more of a disarray than it was before he left. “Whats been happening here?”

"Frodo. I discovered a new trick."

And he makes objects vanish and appear out of thin air.