The series consists of three books by Kevin J. Anderson.
- Gamearth (1989)
- Gameplay (1989)
- Game's End (1990)
Gamearth is a homebrew High Fantasy role-playing game that four teenagers, Scott, Melanie, Tyrone and David, have campaigned in continuously for two years. Unknownst to the players, the weight of the history thery've created has resulted in the creation of what amounts to a pocket dimension where the characters are alive and aware that their world is a rules-based construct dreamed up by the Runeslords and Runelady of anicent myth. When they find out that their progenitors are teenagers - at least one of whom wants to decimate the landscape, rendering it unplayable so that the 'real people' can get on with their lives - they're rather annoyed.
It was released in 2021, as "Hexworld", with the game itself renamed to match, but we're using the original names for the folders.
- Roll
- Play
- End
This series provides examples of:
General- Elemental Motifs: The 4, 6, 8, and 20 sided dice they play with have in-game representations as the Stones of Power: Air diamond, Water sapphire, Fire ruby and Earth emerald, respectively.
- Enforced Technology Levels: Played straight and Averted. The 'scientific' creations of Sitnalta, a.k.a Sdrawkcab Name of Atlantis, tend to disintegrate beyond the country's borders, but a steam engine train keeps running in the last book because there's no logical reason for it to fail...
Gamearth
- Epigraph: At the beginning of chapter 1, "Cesspools of Gairoth", there's a quotation from The Book of Rules:"RULE #1: Always have fun."
- Sonic Stunner: Anti-dragon air raid town defense in the form of a powered horn.
Gameplay
- Be Careful What You Wish For: One of the players challenges the cosmic dice to let him into the game. Of course, he rolls the highest number and teleports in. He gets killed shortly after.
Game's End
- Doomsday Device: Created by Professors Verne and Frankenstein and called 'the Weapon', the bomb gets beamed up to the players' table in the real world as a final act of defiance.
- Hidden Elf Village: Melanie sneaks into the game room at night to paint one on a single tile of the hexagonal world map, then covers it with another coat of generic forest. When the party lands on the seemingly blank space the next morning, the village is there, waiting for them.
- Mind Screw: The final scene is of Starfish Aliens rolling dice from another plane of existence to see if their 'real human player' pieces live or die.
