The Village of Noobtown

by Ryan Rimmel

Jim and his shoulder demon, Shart, return in the second installment of Ryan Rimmel's acclaimed LitRPG series Noobtown, battling not just monsters this time, but also villagers who want little things like food, shelter, and clean water. Well, it could be better. Jim and his literal shoulder demon have survived in this new fantasy world--so far--by the skin of their teeth. After finding a long-abandoned starter village in this gamified land, Jim has begun the process of rebuilding his town. He's even renamed it Windfall, which feels like a pretty big accomplishment. Unfortunately for our favorite adventurer, the threats he now faces are far more complicated than bands of monsters assaulting his gates. No, now the poor Noob has to deal with angry townsfolk lined outside his office demanding everything under the sun, trade negotiations with towns disinclined to dealing with this low-level mayor...and a talking badger. He's not sure if he'd rather fight off the mob of dissatisfied (and, he might say, pretty ungrateful) villagers or the goblins and bandits always sniffing around. The truth is, if Noobtown Windfall is to survive, he's going to have to do both, and his only advice is going to come from a demon that needs him alive--for now--but wouldn't be too sad to see him die.