The Mad Rat’s Lab - Chapter 1

The bizarrest one

 “Everything’s ready! VR equipment prepared and game installed. It’s time to start playing DMA!”

DMA - full name Dungeon Masters Arena - is a VRRPG that has been gaining popularity recently, especially since they implemented the option to stream the Dungeon Battles. At least this is what my college friend, Ricard, says… because I didn’t know about the game until a few days ago. It’s true though that the DMA streams I watched were very entertaining.

After loading the game and connecting to the server, a message pops in front of me asking for my DMA account, so I fill in the information. Then the game starts reproducing a small trailer followed by an introduction to the game. I skip both because I already know about the game.

“Finally inside the game. This must be the main menu, let’s see… It is all darkened except for this ‘Create New Dungeon’ button."

"Aaahh, can you stop blinking so much, pleeease!? I’ve already seen you!”

I press on the annoyingly blinking button and everything turns dark as the menu disappears. Then, five translucent figures materialize in front of me. Four look like humans and another looks like a mix between an eagle and a lion. On top of their heads there are labels: [Farmer], [Soldier], [Paladin], [Mage] and [Griffin]. There are more translucent figures at the right and left of the current ones, separated by some space. A screen pops up in front of me.

From what I can read here, the faction selection is the most important decision you make when creating a dungeon. This means I shouldn't pick randomly. 

“I suppose these translucent figures are some of the units available in each faction.” I say to myself while closing the screen.

By swiping left and right I can change the selected faction. I see elves, dwarves, orcs, fairies… even one faction that reminds me of cthulhu-style horrors.

“Well, let’s return to the first faction, the humans… and slowly read each faction’s details.”

I return to the first faction, the humans, and select them. A window opens in front of me with information about the human faction.

As expected, humans are the most vanilla faction. They are the jack of all trades but master of none of this game. Still, this doesn’t make them useless. In competitive environments like this game’s Dungeon Battles, not having any weak points that the enemy can use against you can be a huge boon. You can play to the enemy's disadvantages while not having to worry about your own.

“This is definitely not a faction for me. They look too bland for my liking. And they don’t even have innate skills!! Innate skills are skills that can only be obtained if that unit or race starts with them, so this means that the Iron Shield can’t have anything truly unique…”

“There’s a button here to read more detailed info about the faction. But no thanks, next faction!!” I mutter as I close the faction screen.

I keep reading all the factions and find a few I like, but only two that I really want to play as. The first one is called Wild Ferals, a faction with heavy animal vibes. They have werewolves, werebears, wereboars… almost every 'were-something' you can think of. All werebeasts have the innate skill to turn into the beast that gives them their name. I really like the absurd amount of utility and unpredictability that the werebeasts can give. Also, since they are mixed with normal beasts, enemies can never know which ones are normal beasts and which ones are werebeasts.

The second one is called Magic Engineers. As its name suggests, they specialize in producing everything that can combine magic and machines. They start with little options, but can research new components and combine them in any way they want. Golems are their main battle force, together with traps, contraptions and even magical equipment. They are one of those factions that you can never know what to expect when facing them. I like the ability to modify and create units with my own preferences the most.

Now I am reaching the end of the faction list, and this section is packed with the more bizarre factions: slimes, cthulhu horrors, demons, etc. Nothing here interests me until…

“The hell is this!? This faction only has one unit? And it looks ultra gross!”

The only unit looks like a bunch of humanoid parts from different races that are stitched together in a vaguely humanoid shape. It reminds of Frankenstein's monster… but a LOT more gross. Not even the zombies were this repugnant. [Stitched] is written on the label on top of its head.

“This must be the bizarrest one of all the factions. And how can you defend your dungeon with only a single type unit? That is… unless it is the strongest unit in the game…”

Full of curiosity, I open the faction’s information screen.

“This looks promising…” I say as I open the detailed info screen about the faction. There, a lot more information on the faction is displayed.

“Fufufu… Hahaha!” I chuckle darkly.

“No waaaay…! This is too good! How can they put something like THIS in a game!?!?”

The Flesh Monstrosities start with a single unit: the Stitched. They are masses of flesh and body parts stitched together and reanimated using electric currents. They are the most horrendous and the weakest basic unit of all factions. The only resource needed to produce them are corpses of any other humanoid unit.

The fun part of the Flesh Monstrosities starts with the other unit they can create from the start: the Hybrid. As its name implies, they are a mix of two other units. To create a Hybrid, you need a body of each unit you want to use to create it. All Hybrid have stats equal to the sum of the two original units, and inherit all of their innate skills.

The game says it is difficult to obtain the bodies to create the Hybrids and any more advanced unit. How difficult, I don’t know… yet! Also, when it says they are expensive, it is no exaggeration. They are EXPENSIVE with capital letters. They literally cost the sum of all of the units that have been used to create them. So this might be why the game is balanced with this kind of faction in it.

“And later on you can even unlock advanced units that are the fusion of more than two other units… This is it! I don’t need to keep looking through more factions!”

I pause for a moment before pressing the button to accept.

“The Flesh Monstrosities have the things I liked from both the Wild Ferals and Magic Engineers. They can surprise and do multiple things, like the werebeasts, and I am able to customize them as I want, like with the golems.”

“Yes, it’s decided! I will play as the Flesh Monstrosities! It sounds like lots of fun. I hope I won’t regret it later!”

As I press the button to confirm the selection a window pops in front of me.

“Yeah, yeah… I already assumed so. And you know what? I will play them anyway.” Without waiting anymore, I press Yes.

Faction selected: Flesh Monstrosities

The bizarrest oneEverything's ready! VR equipment prepared and game installed. It's time to start playing DMA!DMA - full name Dungeon Masters Arena - is a VRRPG that has been gaining popularity recently, especially since they implemented the option to stream the Dungeon Battles. At least this is what my college friend, Ricard, says because I didn't know about the game until a few days ago. It's true though that the DMA streams I watched were very entertaining.After loading the game and connecting to the server, a message pops in front of me asking for my DMA account, so I fill in the information. Then the game starts reproducing a small trailer followed by an introduction to the game. I skip both because I already know about the game.Finally inside the game. This must be the main menu, let's see It is all darkened except for this Create New Dungeon' button.""Aaahh, can you stop blinking so much, pleeease!? I've already seen you!I press on the annoyingly blinking button and everything turns dark as the menu disappears. Then, five translucent figures materialize in front of me. Four look like humans and another looks like a mix between an eagle and a lion. On top of their heads there are labels: Farmer, Soldier, Paladin, Mage and Griffin. There are more translucent figures at the right and left of the current ones, separated by some space. A screen pops up in front of me.Faction SelectionThe first step in creating a dungeon is choosing a faction. Each faction has its own unit roster that no other faction can use, and a theme that represents them. They also have good and bad aspects that you can see in the faction screen.Each faction uses aspecial resource.It is unique to each faction and complements the faction's gameplay. A special resource is the most important resource needed to develop the dungeon for that faction.This is an RPG game, and the Champion you will be playing as is going to be one of the faction's units. We recommend choosing the faction by the units and theme and not by its advantages and disadvantages, but the decision is up to you.Once selected, the faction cannot be changed. If you want to change to another faction you will need to create a new dungeon. Choose wisely!From what I can read here, the faction selection is the most important decision you make when creating a dungeon. This means I shouldn't pick randomly.I suppose these translucent figures are some of the units available in each faction. I say to myself while closing the screen.By swiping left and right I can change the selected faction. I see elves, dwarves, orcs, fairies even one faction that reminds me of cthulhu-style horrors.Well, let's return to the first faction, the humans and slowly read each faction's details.I return to the first faction, the humans, and select them. A window opens in front of me with information about the human faction.Iron ShieldComposed basically by human units, the Iron Shield is a very balanced faction, with units that range from weak to strong and with a wide variety of abilities. Humans are versatile but don't have innate skills like a lot of other units have.Usesciviliansas the special resource.Civiliansare needed for almost everything, they are the working force of the faction.Civilianscan be automatically obtained over time as long as you have enough food to feed them and they have a place to live.ProsConsNo specific exploitable weaknessesBalanced range of unitsIt's easy to obtainciviliansDoesn't excel at anythingNo innate skillsTrainingciviliansis expensiveAs expected, humans are the most vanilla faction. They are the jack of all trades but master of none of this game. Still, this doesn't make them useless. In competitive environments like this game's Dungeon Battles, not having any weak points that the enemy can use against you can be a huge boon. You can play to the enemy's disadvantages while not having to worry about your own.This is definitely not a faction for me. They look too bland for my liking. And they don't even have innate skills!! Innate skills are skills that can only be obtained if that unit or race starts with them, so this means that the Iron Shield can't have anything truly uniqueThere's a button here to read more detailed info about the faction. But no thanks, next faction!! I mutter as I close the faction screen.I keep reading all the factions and find a few I like, but only two that I really want to play as. The first one is called Wild Ferals, a faction with heavy animal vibes. They have werewolves, werebears, wereboars almost every 'were-something' you can think of. All werebeasts have the innate skill to turn into the beast that gives them their name. I really like the absurd amount of utility and unpredictability that the werebeasts can give. Also, since they are mixed with normal beasts, enemies can never know which ones are normal beasts and which ones are werebeasts.The second one is called Magic Engineers. As its name suggests, they specialize in producing everything that can combine magic and machines. They start with little options, but can research new components and combine them in any way they want. Golems are their main battle force, together with traps, contraptions and even magical equipment. They are one of those factions that you can never know what to expect when facing them. I like the ability to modify and create units with my own preferences the most.Now I am reaching the end of the faction list, and this section is packed with the more bizarre factions: slimes, cthulhu horrors, demons, etc. Nothing here interests me untilThe hell is this!? This faction only has one unit? And it looks ultra gross!The only unit looks like a bunch of humanoid parts from different races that are stitched together in a vaguely humanoid shape. It reminds of Frankenstein's monster but a LOT more gross. Not even the zombies were this repugnant. Stitched is written on the label on top of its head.This must be the bizarrest one of all the factions. And how can you defend your dungeon with only a single type unit? That is unless it is the strongest unit in the gameFull of curiosity, I open the faction's information screen.Flesh MonstrositiesSuccessful and failed experiments are one and the same for the Flesh Monstrosities. Composed of a living amalgamation of one creature and parts of one or more other creatures, the Flesh Monstrosities inherit the characteristics of all of its donors.Usesbodiesas the special resource.Bodiesare needed to create new units and research new unit types. They can only be obtained by capturing other factions' units alive. In invasions to other players' dungeons, the number ofbodiesyou can bring back is very limited.ProsConsHigh versatility and personalizationCan create units using other factions' unitsObtainbodies' innate traits and statsCan only have living unitsNon-basic units are very expensiveBodiesare hard to obtainThis looks promising I say as I open the detailed info screen about the faction. There, a lot more information on the faction is displayed.Fufufu Hahaha! I chuckle darkly.No waaaay! This is too good! How can they put something like THIS in a game!?!?The Flesh Monstrosities start with a single unit: the Stitched. They are masses of flesh and body parts stitched together and reanimated using electric currents. They are the most horrendous and the weakest basic unit of all factions. The only resource needed to produce them are corpses of any other humanoid unit.The fun part of the Flesh Monstrosities starts with the other unit they can create from the start: the Hybrid. As its name implies, they are a mix of two other units. To create a Hybrid, you need a body of each unit you want to use to create it. All Hybrid have stats equal to the sum of the two original units, and inherit all of their innate skills.The game says it is difficult to obtain the bodies to create the Hybrids and any more advanced unit. How difficult, I don't know yet! Also, when it says they are expensive, it is no exaggeration. They are EXPENSIVE with capital letters. They literally cost the sum of all of the units that have been used to create them. So this might be why the game is balanced with this kind of faction in it.And later on you can even unlock advanced units that are the fusion of more than two other units This is it! I don't need to keep looking through more factions!I pause for a moment before pressing the button to accept.The Flesh Monstrosities have the things I liked from both the Wild Ferals and Magic Engineers. They can surprise and do multiple things, like the werebeasts, and I am able to customize them as I want, like with the golems.Yes, it's decided! I will play as the Flesh Monstrosities! It sounds like lots of fun. I hope I won't regret it later!As I press the button to confirm the selection a window pops in front of me.Warning!The Flesh Monstrosities is a highly difficult faction to play and is not recommended for new players! Are you sure you want to pick this faction?YesNoYeah, yeah I already assumed so. And you know what? I will play them anyway. Without waiting anymore, I press Yes.Faction selected:Flesh Monstrosities