Starting Message:

If you’re brave enough. If you’re curious enough. Enter the Maze. Find treasures. Find answers.
Achieve greatness.

>You can only enter the Infinite Dungeon once per day.
>If you stay inside the Infinite Dungeon more than 24 hours, you will be erased out of existence.
>Only things in your inventory can pass between the Infinite Dungeon and your own world.
>All wounds and afflictions gained in the Infinite Dungeon are healed upon exit.
>You have one year to reach level 50 or you will lose all your powers.

Infinite Dungeon Mechanics:

Infinite Dungeon is basically a roguelike game made real. It has exactly 100 levels, and every time a
player steps into a new level they get what is effectively a randomly generated floor full of enemies,
puzzles, traps, NPCs, and loot. The only way for players to raise their level is to clear challenges in the
Infinite Dungeon – actions performed in the real world don’t count as XP gaining mechanisms.

Infinite Dungeon comes in the form of a portal/gate seemingly integrated into the player's wall, which
will lead into the first level of the Infinite Dungeon if entered. Only people with gamer powers, and
those that formed a party with them, can enter the Infinite Dungeon. The entrance leads to a blank wall
if opened by anyone other than a Gamer, though it can be seen and interacted with no problems. Party
members cannot enter the Dungeon on their own, only in the company of their associated Gamer.

Each floor of the Dungeon has a theme, but it is different for every single person who enters it.
Meaning that three different Gamers that advance to level 5 will each encounter completely different
environments and enemies.

Upon entering through the gate, the player will start at level 1... or at the level they claimed as their
base. I'm still thinking about the exact claiming mechanics, but it basically locks the level into its
current form, prevents items in it from disappearing, and assigns it as your starting point the next time
you enter.

There are other ways to adjust how the Dungeon functions, but these options are costly and not
available to beginning players.

Gamer Power Mechanics:

Gamers have a number of supernatural powers as part of their Gamer status. These include an
extradimensional storage (Inventory), magical ablative armor (HP), a status screen that lets them see
as assessment of their skills and traits, and an accelerated growth system that makes them grow faster
in power and skill than a normal human being.

>The gamer has a level that gives him HP & MP pools, increasing with his levels. He also gets 1
ability point each level. Abilities are like feats or trait trees in games. They give minor bonuses or
(more rarely) active abilities that are not dependent on training to work, and simply become better
with user’s level.
>The gamer has an extradimensional inventory. It is fairly small, and the weight inside it doesn’t
disappear – it is distributed across the player’s body, slowing them down and burdening them, but not
getting in the way of their movement otherwise. The inventory is the only way to bring items from the
Infinite Dungeon to the real world, as well as the opposite. If it’s not in the player’s inventory when
they cross the threshold, it is left behind when they cross.

>The gamer has attributes and skills, but the numbers are just numerical abstractions/estimations by
the system. The system judges you have 20 strength and a Swordsmanship skill of 23, but a lot could
be happening behind the scenes. Skills and attributes don’t increase with levels, they must be
increased through use.

>The gamer has accelerated growth in attributes and skills, learning things and improving at a rate that
is downright supernatural. This gets more potent as one’s level gets higher.

>There is a class system, though it’s not present at the start of the story. A person must earn a class,
they aren’t granted one by default. Classes are less restrictive than it many other system, mainly
serving to give certain skill affinities. In other words, a swordsman class will make sword skills level
up faster. It’s a way to specialize oneself and direct your growth into specific niches. Classes can be
upgraded as one grows in levels and reaches certain secret conditions.

Stats & Skills:

There are 8 stats: Strength, Vitality, Dexterity, Speed, Learning, Willpower, Perception, and Charisma.

You can probably figure out what they do easily enough by their names and through known gaming
conventions, but just in case:

Strength: Allows you to exert yourself better, hit harder, tank physical damage more effectively, and
carry more things in your inventory.

Vitality: Health and stamina. Increases HP and makes it easier to resist effects like poisons and
diseases. Also tends to make one livelier and less likely to succumb to laziness.

Dexterity: Precision, agility, and skill with one’s hands. Makes it easier to aim attacks and dodge ones
launched at you.

Speed: Movement, reaction speed, and initiative. Quickness of thought and movement. Let’s you act
faster and make snap decisions.

Perception: Increases your senses, attention to detail, and alertness to danger. Gives you heightened
environmental awareness and greater chance to detect vital clues, traps, or hiding enemies.

Learning: Increases your learning speed, information retention and logical thought. Mechanically, it
improves the rate at which you improve your skills.

Willpower: Your ability to resist temptation and implement long-term plans.

Charisma: Social intuition and force of personality. Improves your ability to influence people and lets
you express yourself better.

There is no magic stat. That’s because every gamer is a mundane human at its base, and they have no
innate magic. Their magic is based on skills, instead. However, since Learning increases skill gain, it
is effectively a magic stat.

A perfectly average adult person has all stats at 10.

Neither stats nor skills automatically rise with levels. There is no stat points to assign each level, and
no skill points either. Instead, raising these depends on one’s efforts – though those efforts are
supercharged by the magic of their Gamer status, and work far faster than they realistically should.

In order for a skill to benefit from the growth boost, it must be recognized by the system and added to
the list of skills in the status screen. Each gamer can only have 50 skills on the list, unless they have a
class that specifically extends that. 50 is a large number, though, and most Gamers have no need for
more.

Level Musings:

Levels 1-10: Designed for complete beginners. Even if one has zero combat experience and isn’t in
great physical shape, they will be able to survive and eventually clear these levels. They just need
courage, determination, and clear-headedness. Powerful enemies often have clear patterns or flaws to
exploit, and very few challenges are instantly lethal or result in irreversible loss. The loot is largely
limited to mundane items, with magical loot being extremely rare (aside from consumables like
potions and scrolls).

Level 11-20: Designed for competent professionals. A person of average talents is guaranteed to
eventually clear these, provided they aren’t lazy or especially foolish. Level design expects a gamer to
retain their composure in the face of danger, to have basic competency in a chosen set of skills, and to
know better than to walk into an obvious trap or ambush. Anyone who lacks these traits could easily
end up dead – the dungeon no longer pulls its punches with the gamer. Basically, this is the section
where things ‘get serious’. Magical loot is still rare, but the gamer is basically guaranteed to
accumulate a handful of weak magical loot as they progress through this section.

Level 21-30: Designed for dedicated experts. Most people will stall in this section. A person with
average talents needs total, uncompromising dedication to clear this section… or at least a fair amount
of luck with the loot. Level design assumes a gamer has plenty of experience, a full set of matching
equipment, and is not easily discouraged. Misjudging a situation will quickly lead to gruesome death,
as the dungeon does not shy from putting a player into situations where instant death is a thing. Weak
magical loot is merely uncommon, and stronger magical loot is rare but does occur with some
regularity.

Level 31-40: Designed for masters of the craft. Only about 5% of people even have potential to clear
this section. Almost everyone who wasn’t stumped by the previous section is stopped here, often in the
very earliest levels. Level design assumes the gamer never panics, never makes any obvious mistakes,
and has skills that clearly surpass what is normal for their profession. Magic items are common here,
and more powerful ones are merely uncommon.
Level 41-50: Designed to test the very limits of human ability. Clearing this section is a legendary
feat, requiring a person to be outright superhuman in some fashion – whether it is unreal talent,
ungodly luck, and something more arcane.

Level 50+: Increasingly supernatural territory. Anyone who manages to enter into these later ranges
has basically left the limitations of common humanity and becomes increasingly superhuman.

Level 100: Ascension into a god.