A/N: Hooooo boy. So. I'm sitting there minding my own business when WHAM. I get the urge to write. And not just your standard fanfiction, oh no. I get the urge to write a Life is a Game fanfiction. I've read through many of these, and very very few are complete. They build up and get sooo good that I end up finishing them in a night. Maybe you're like me. Maybe you came here on a whim. Maybe you'll finish this whole story in a night as well. Best of luck regardless. My grammar is gonna be terrible and I use a lot of commas. If you wanna Beta for me then please PM me. I'll list out a few things but most of the options will be explained in paragraph format for this chapter to avoid too much monotony. This will eventually lead to Godlike!Harry

This game will run a lot like Skyrim in the sense of skill ranks, and a lot like D&D in the freedom of those skills and even a bit of Lore. I am also an avid LARPer and may incorporate some of that in here as well. If the system doesn't make sense, PLEASE TELL ME. Just don't flame.

And away we go.

Chapter 1: Guides to Character Creation

Our raven-haired hero had done it. He had defeated Voldemort; or at least he hoped he did. The blinding white surrounding him and the lack of any of the things that Dumbledore said would happen happening was a bit disheartening and was starting to make Harry believe that the old man was full of shite.

Then something changed. A small speck of black formed in front of Harry. His limbs that he previously could not feel began to respond to his wishes again and as if through a sludge he moved toward that speck with all his willpower. I mean, wouldn't you if you had spent what felt like a few days staring at blazing white nothingness? Repeatedly he kicked his arms and legs, urging himself toward that speck which ever so slowly grew until…

"Fuuuuuck…" Harry swore as the speck suddenly zoomed forward and the darkness consumed his surroundings, pulling at his spirit in a way that felt oddly like 3rd year with the Dementors pressing on him from all around. Just without all the cold and terrible memories. The sensation of falling he could do without though.

With a thud that sounded like it should have hurt the still-young Potter boy found himself on his back in a dimly lit room. The glow seemed to be coming from the most dizzying array of runes he had ever seen. Even Hermione's over-achieving Ancient Runes homework barely matched a single thousandth of what he was surrounded by. The floor and walls were covered as well with the multi-colored symbols, he noticed as he started to get up.

"Welcome" Harry leapt up and whirled around at the voice with his hand twitching to reach for his wand which was not there. It was here he noticed that he was not in the same clothes he had died in, but he thanked everything he could think of that he at least had some black sweatpants on as in front of him was a vaguely humanoid shape. Seemingly made of the same material as the room and with the same runes engraved all over, this was the first… thing that Harry had seen in what felt like too long. A quick look around revealed that the design seemed to center around a circle next to where the creature-thing was standing. This was the only bare patch of ground that he could see.

"Who… What… Where am I?" Harry asked, mind whirling faster than his body had a moment ago as he tried to formulate the most important question first.

"You are Harry Potter, a Wizard and Chosen, and as far as where? Why you are here" the being responded in what was now recognizable as a feminine voice. The area where there would be eyes on a regular human seemed to crinkle in amusement, but it was hard to tell in the light.

"And who are you? What is this place?" Harry said with a bit of irritation. The thing had answered his questions albeit in a very smartass way.

"I am Tyran, and this place is the Center" was the response. The Runic Construct (for Harry could think of no better classification for what he was seeing) took a few steps forward and seemed to suddenly appear next to him. Fingers that were much smoother and more delicate than might have been assumed were roaming across his chest and back as Tyran seemed to examine something unseen.

"You do seem to have the ability, but I have never seen it in one with such a young soul. I am interested to see what will occur" Tyran spoke as if to itself.

Harry attempted to grab a hand and stop the intrusion of his personal space but even with his exceptional reflexes he could not catch them, no matter how often he tried.

Tyran seemed to develop an annoyed expression, "Oh do stop thrashing about, or this will take forever" then chuckled at the joke that only it understood. The sound was oddly like a mix of all the chuckles he had ever heard overlapping.

"Not until you tell me what the fuck is going on. What is the Center? What is a Chosen? What are you? AND WILL YOU STOP GROPING ME?!" Harry Potter was officially getting annoyed. Almost a week it felt like had passed since he took an Avada Kedavra to the chest and was left floating in nothingness. Now some weird Construct was feeling him up like a doctor performing an exam. The last straw being when the creature grabbed his bits and bum at the same time in a grip that did not feel safe to jerk away from, delicate hands or not.

"Almost done" was the only reply. The hands moved lower but luckily only spent half the time on his legs and feet.

"There. Assessment complete. And a quite admirable specimen you are even by Chosen standards. If a bit scrawnier than I would have thought" Harry sputtered at the comment as even with no true facial features Tyran seemed to be sporting a smirk.

"Now to answer your endless questions" rough approximations of chairs seemed to rise from the floor and Harry sat down in frustration with Tyran mimicking the motion "This place, the Center, is the true Center of Magic. It is a Between Plane. It is neither here nor there, nor in any specific time. It simply is. With it we may access the different Planes of Existence. The title of Chosen is given to one touched by Fate and allows them access to the Center under the right circumstances. Each Center has a Guide, in this case me, that will manipulate the energies to allow the Chosen to return to the Plane that they are from"

"So you can get me home? Excellent. Let's go" Harry said as he stood up and began walking to the area in the floor that had no symbols. It made the most sense to him.

"Don't you want to find out what you're in for?" Tyran said with a hint of amusement as it followed him, the chairs reforming into the floor.

"Nope, I just want to get back and defeat Voldemort. It might already be too late" Harry said from inside the Circle, hopping from foot to foot with a sense of impatience.

"Well. I am your guide. You can always come back with questions before you delve into the Options. Now to go over this real quick. You will be going back…" Tyran began to explain to a Harry that was now tapping his foot.

"This isn't a game you know" our Hero ironically stated "People's lives are at stake"

The disconcerting laughter of Tyran echoed all around Harry as the room began to glow bright.

"Yes, it is, my Chosen" was the last he heard as the light began to spin wildly around Harry.

*****20 minutes later*****

Disbelievingly, Harry stared at the golden letters floating in front of him with his hands over his ears as a loud booming and decidedly masculine voice read them aloud.

"Welcome to the Game of Wizard's, Chosen. Fate has deemed that since you were unable to complete the Task that was assigned to you, therefore playing a game with her good grace, you would be given a second chance at life. Only this time truly as a Game!"

Further Explanation? -

"In this game you will be given advantages that the average creature of your type would not have access to. This will include a game menu with such helpful things as World Options, Character Menu, Heads Up Display, Pause Game, Save Game option, and even such minor tweaks as Character Customization! Isn't that exciting?!

Now, please press continue to reach Options"

Continue -

"What the hell? What. The. Hell. What. The. Flying. Fuck. WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK?!" Harry ranted to the open area for a few minutes, with different variations of this. "TYRAN!" He finally screamed.

"Yes, Chosen?" came that same voice as before, along with the creepy chuckle.

"What is this?" A pointed finger matched the question, but it suddenly highlighted the Further Explanation? - that was before him and before the could get an answer the letters spun rapidly and rearranged.

"Fate has smiled upon you! You were given the Task of destroying Voldemort and his horcruxes. Of this task you were able to complete eighty seven percent before ultimately failing. Why, you ask? It is simple. Despite knowing that you had to destroy all the Horcruxes, and despite knowing that you could destroy these with Basilisk venom, you decided to trust in a meddling old fool. You had already destroyed the Horcrux in your head in your 12th year of life when an incredibly large Legend level Basilisk bit you through the arm and sent the sweet Horcrux destroying liquid coursing through your tiny body. I mean honestly. And at the urging of someone who was merely present during the Prophecy and not the all-knowing Fate that wrote the damn thing, you willingly stepped in front of a Killing Curse from the one you were supposed to destroy. Thus we are here, or rather you are here, with a second chance to not fuck up. Good luck!" The voice that read this passage got decidedly snarkier and more childlike as the reading went on until at the end it returned to the same layout as before but with no disembodied voice reading it out.

"Welcome back, Chosen. I do hope the explanation was enlightening" came Tyran's voice from the darkness.

"I'm… I'm in a game? Was I always in a game?" Harry asked. His voice came out as little more than a breath as he questioned his existence.

"No, no. It is merely Fate's way of messing with you this time. There are Chosen who have had it way worse than you. This is a blessing truly. The Game option is actually quite fun from what I'm told" the Construct reassured the young man. "Do you believe me now though? That this is a game? And one that I believe will lead you to a much happier existence"

Harry simply sat as much as the out-of-body experience he was trapped in would allow and stared up at the words in front of him. His mind was both numb and hyperactive as it reassessed all of his memories. Choices he wished he had made; things he wish he had done.

"Does the story stay the same? Major events and such?" He eventually asked, as the small seed of determination planted itself within him.

"For the most part, but I do believe that at least a semi-standard rule of causality applies. As such, if you were to free Sirius early I believe all of your subsequent school years would be different. Similarly if you manipulate events in such a way that key ones do not happen it will lead to a vastly different outcome." Harry nodded his head, listening and committing to memory even if he did not quite understand.

He racked his brain a bit more, determination still growing within him, but came up short. "Is there anything else I should know?"

"Merely that you should enjoy the second chance that has been given. Not many people get them you know" Tyran stated with finality, and Harry felt his hand come up and point at Continue-

The world spun again, and Harry found himself looking at a small list in front of him aptly titled World Options.

Controls-

Game Options-

Character Selection and Customization-

Continue-

Appropriately deciding to start at the top Harry clicked controls and was prepared this time for the swirl of large golden lettering. Reading through the different options he decided on Reality as the chosen set as moving his character around via a screen and keyboard did not seem… well to be honest it seemed shitty as did the other 2 options of Auto and Controller. He remembered what it was like watching Dudley play the Playstation 1 this past summer and did not envy that as his new life.

Upon his selection, Harry was brought back to the options screen but with Controls- now giving off additional light and small golden particles. He correctly assumed this meant that his selection went through and moved on to Game Options. This screen seemed to be an On/Off selection screen with simple explanations included.

-Notifications On/Off (This will notify you of recent changes to your character).

-Heads Up Display On/Off/Customize (An overlay to your standard field of vision that will display Health, Magicka, Stamina, a Minimap and Compass, and Currently Equipped Items)

-Questing System On/Off (An additional option to your everyday tasks! This option will provide additional incentives and rewards for things you do throughout your life as a Wizard!)

-Inventory System On/Off (Wizards know Expansion Charms, but Fate knows sheer ridiculousness. No longer will you be burdened by your belongings. Instead they can be easily retrieved from a simple screen that can be accessed by thinking "Inventory" with intent)

-Skill System On/Off (A Dynamic skill system which allows you to track and more easily increase the skills you use in the world. Not all actions are within the skill system, but if you practice it hard enough it can in fact be a skill. Levelling up will provide points to this system as well beyond its usual benefits)

-Save Game On/Off (Allows for the saving of one's game. This will allow you to backtrack if you get lost or even killed)

-Autosave On/Off (Will automatically save the game before Key Events such as The Descent into the Chamber of Secrets will save in Myrtle's Bathroom)

-World Awareness On/Off (Want the world to know you're playing a game with their lives? Simply turn this option to On and the whole world will know of your recent failure to do your Task and will react accordingly!)

Harry pinched the bridge of his nose as he read the last Game Option. Quickly setting everything to On but making sure that World Awareness was firmly set to off he moved on to Character Selection and Customization- and was met with the surprising view of his previous years of school's versions of himself and a few even older than that, all naked. Seeing a side-by-side comparison of how he looked in previous years was a little weird, but he was soon distracted by the overwhelmingly long list of character options. It seemed every Wizard on earth was an option, which was kind of funny in a way and he spent a few minutes getting comfortable with the scroll feature briefly reading a few names that meant nothing to him. Seeing that there was a search option he tried a few methods to put down his name before discovering that there was a small keyboard in front of him similar to a typewriter and then had a thought. He put Albus P.W.B. Dumbledore down and very quickly deleted that as the models changed to a very naked timeline of his headmaster.

"Wait…" Harry said in a whisper and soon was grinning ear to ear as he saw that females were an option too, picking a few random names on the list. Deciding to honor his friend's privacies he did not select anyone he knew and felt that somehow the anonymity of it all made it okay. Deciding if he was going to play someone's life it might as well be his own, he quickly selected Harry J. Potter and moved on.

The next section that the letters swirled to was options such as Eye Height, Jawline, Hair Color, and quite a few other options. Quickly deducing how it all worked Harry also discovered that he could see how each option affected his future self. It took him a solid 2 hours to decide how he wanted to change himself since he was given the option to. Certain options like musculature had a description stating that this Option Menu only determined things that could not be naturally changed by hard work, and that musculature and the like simply determined how his body responded to things like workouts and bulking up. A few of the options tinged his cheeks pink but he manipulated them anyways. In the end he ended up with a better build, a few tweaks to his facial structure that helped differentiate him from his father a bit. He kept his eye color the same but opted for a deep red hair color to honor his mother. Even he admitted that he was damn good looking by the end of it.

With a swirl of letters Harry's jaw dropped as he saw just what kind of boon Fate had given him, in the form of a stats system. There was a brief description at the top that he read aloud.

"Stats are an abstract way of measuring your power and have a basic effect on the appropriate skills for every 5 Points and your chance to resist negative effects. They are rated on a scale with 10 as the average for an of-age Wizard, except for Magic where the average is 25, and there being a hard cap of 100. Factors such as age, heritage, and conditioning can adjust these. Currently there are few wizards in the 30s ranges and even less in the 50s. Below is a listing of your previous Stats before your untimely demise. In the interest of fairness we have allotted you 30 extra points to spend to help start you off, but our levelling system allows for the eventual increase of all of these except luck through levelling up at a rate and consistency that would make even Merlin jealous. The stats below are the stats you had as a young impressionable 11 year old hoodlum with the numbers of your just-before-dying-uselessly self there as a frame of reference and growth"

Below that there was a listing:

Strength- 3 (9)

Dexterity- 14 (34)

Constitution- 4 (52)

Perception- 1 (+10 with Glasses) (6)

Intelligence- 3 (14)

Willpower- 9 (70)

Magic- 2 (+15) (45)

Charisma- 3 (10)

Luck- 31

A bit confused by some of the numbers he was seeing, Harry thought for a moment before smiling. This time, he would get everything he ever wanted out of life. He brought Charisma up to 18 along with Intelligence and clicked Next before he could second guess himself. Almost immediately Harry felt like he understood more of what he had read previously, and he grinned, not realizing the grin had a distinctly more pronounced charm to it. Quickly he read the next description.

"Perks are advantages one gets through simple genetics and circumstance. Disadvantages are the same. You are given 20 Points to disperse how you please amongst the Perks which cost between 2 and 10 points with the ability to get more points through the Disadvantages" Harry read through it another time just to be sure he understood. Again they opted to apply what he had previously, and he realized this was going to be a very difficult section as the perks listed what they cost, and the Disadvantages what they awarded.

Perks:

Fated Luck (5 points): Fate has deemed your actions as "Must Happen" and therefore circumstances often go in your favor, until they don't. +10 to Luck always, -40 to Luck in certain situations.

Natural Athlete (6 Points): You have always been good at sports, and this Perk helps. +3 to Strength, Perception, Endurance, and Agility during Sports.

Magical Powerhouse (10 points): Magic flows through you easily. +10 to Magic, +5 to Willpower, +10 to Magicka Regeneration, +5 to Learning when it involves Spells. Magicka now grows at a 1.5 rate vs the standard .8 of most Wizards.

Leader (4 Points): You are a natural born leader, and your peers recognize that. +10 to Charisma when influencing others to follow you.

Flyer (4 Points): Flight comes naturally to you. +20 Broom Handling, +10 Creature Handling if creature has wings.

Parselmouth (0 Points): You had a piece of Voldemort in your skull for quite a while. You were bound to pick up something right? +35 to Parseltongue.

Disadvantages:

Poor Eyesight (+3 Points): You suffer from defects in your eyes, resulting in needing correctional lenses. -8 to Perception without glasses or similar device. +10 with them on.

Chosen One (+6 Points): Fate has made you her bitch. -20 to Luck in certain situations. +5 to Magic. Certain events are unavoidable. +25% Reputation Gains, +25% Reputation Losses.

Harry debated for a bit, and with another mental nudge to get everything he wants out of life this go around tweaked a few things. He dropped Leader, as his points spending already made his bonus higher than it would have been for the formation of the DA. He also dropped Natural Athlete as the points that it offered just weren't worth it especially if her could get those upgraded through simple training unlike before. Unfortunately neither of his disadvantages were removable as apparently the game thought those 2 were iconic to him. Or at least that's what the notification stated. Instead he picked up 4 new Perks and the connotations of these made him grin.

Family Heritage (4 Points): People say like Father like Son, but in your case its both. You come from 2 gifted parents and some of their skills have carried over. +5 to Broom Handling, +5 Transfiguration, +5 Charms, +5 Potions.

Puberty = Truck (2 Points): This Perk is for those who need a bit of a growth spurt. Puberty is going to kick your ass and put hair in so many places. I won't go into details. Affects 3rd year Summer.

Linguist (2 Points): You're good with languages. +2 to Learning when it involves Languages.

Represent (2 Points): Who needs a Public Relations Agent? Not you. +5% Reputation Gains, -5% Reputation Losses.

And with that Harry motioned to the Next button and was brought back to his original lettering layout. All the options were now glimmering except for Continue- and Harry cracked his neck in anticipation and for relief. He had spent what felt like 4 hours staring up and tall lettering. With a shiver of excitement he moved on. Above him the lettering shimmered and reformed and Harry grinned again.

"Please choose the School Year you wish to begin your journey at. Bear in mind that if you do not begin at a certain year, all previous year's events remain unaffected. The school year you choose will change your physical age" said the booming disembodied voice that Harry heard earlier. And without a trace of the childishness of before. With a bit of thought, Harry decided that 3rd year would allow for the most changes while still having the major events that cemented the beginning friendships between Harry, Ron, and Hermione. It was also his least crazy year when he thought back on it and would let him get settled in and trained up before he took the Triwizard Tournament by storm. Plus he chose the Puberty Perk for a reason, as he saw his models get an upgrade in his eyes.

And with that thought everything went black.

A/N: Not bad for a first chapter! Came out a little quick, only took me a couple hours to write. I'm sure there are errors, but I've went ahead and posted it just to see what the reactions would be to a new Life is a Game fanfic. I'll do my best to get regular updates out and I'm starting on the next few chapters immediately.

Patch 1.0.1: Changed Magic to Magicka to avoid confusion between the resource and the stat.

Patch 1.0.2: Revamped the whole freakin system. Made it more Morrowind with the stat system as I have a plan for that in Chapter 2 when Skills are fully introduced.

Thanks everyone!