The Red Dragon Lord is OP, but Insists on a Pop Culture Invasion!

Chapter 275: Chapter 223: Zog’s Going to Hell

Ben sat in Ackley’s Toy Store, fiddling with his new board game design on a stack of cardboard.

After the massive success of Ferin Chronicles, he had become the Chief Tabletop Game Designer for the Zog Group.

’It sounded impressive, but in reality, there were only three tabletop game designers in the entire group.’

Besides Ben, the other two were his buddies from school who used to design games with him during recess.

They were the immovable trio from the back row of the classroom.

Now, they had all withdrawn from the elite academy and transferred to an ordinary school.

Without the intense pressure of advancing to a higher institution, they had much more time to design games.

Back then, the parents of his two buddies had even come looking for Ben’s father, Kan Ackley.

They blamed Ben for being a bad influence on their kids, claiming they could have gotten into good academies. The teachers had all said their children were quite talented, just not diligent, which was why their grades were poor—and now, everything was ruined.

’Ben really wanted to tell those parents that their kids probably had zero talent when it came to studying and exams, and that the teachers were just trying to console them.’

’She used the same formula on every parent of a poorly-performing student: "Your child is quite..., it’s just that..."’

’You only needed to listen to the second half of that sentence; that part was usually the truth.’

But in the end, those two sets of parents caved to the salary and benefits offered by the Zog Group. Now, the thing they bragged about to relatives and friends had changed from "My kid studies at Norton" to "My kid works for the Zog Group."

Both served to satisfy their parental vanity, so there was no real difference.

As for what the kids themselves thought, no one really cared that much.

’How could a child possibly have ideas of their own?’

Now, his two buddies were responsible for updating Ferin Chronicles with new hero cards. They would come up with the Skill designs and initial stats, then submit them to the art and balancing teams for refinement and implementation. Those two teams were shared by many smaller departments.

As for Ben himself, he was the type to quickly tire of the old and chase the new.

He didn’t much like updating old games and just wanted to keep designing new content.

He wanted to build up the tabletop games department on his own merits, to make it big and strong like the Magic Games Department and the Animation Department. It should at least have several hundred people and its own dedicated art team.

He had a great idea now: simulating the missions of an Adventurer Corps on a tabletop.

Each player could have their own character with different races and classes. During their adventure, they could level up, develop their characters, and acquire equipment, items, and so on.

Ultimately, they would experience a thrilling and exciting adventure over the course of the mission.

The inspiration came from *Heavy Armored Soldiers*.

Ever since that game appeared, role-playing had instantly become the hottest genre. It was just that these kinds of games were difficult to make, so a second imitator had yet to appear.

Ben was eager to get a slice of this new genre’s cake.

However, he’d been thinking about it for days, and the game was still at a stage that couldn’t even be called a prototype.

The gameplay mechanics weren’t even set. He didn’t know what to use to capture the sense of randomness in an adventure.

On top of that, he had no idea what kind of story to use.

’Even if the plot of a role-playing game is driven by the players, it still needs a fixed narrative framework.’

This really stumped him.

’This was the price he paid for his lack of cultural education.’

’In his whole life, he hadn’t managed to cram many classic legends or myths into his brain.’

’The only ones he could name were the most cliché ones.’

The most cliché classic stories might bore some players.

That wasn’t even the biggest headache. Classic stories would also attract their die-hard fans.

If any part of it didn’t align with their expectations, the backlash would be ferocious.

So, it was probably best to just make up his own story.

’What should I even make up?’ Ben wondered gloomily, poking the cardboard with his pen.

The toy store was unusually empty; everyone had gone to watch Feilin’s Best Songs.

The few clerks were also in the breakroom, binging the variety show.

Even his father and uncle were hooked. His dad had been going on and on about the Saintess lately, even cheering for her, which led to his mom giving him the cold shoulder.

Ben, on the other hand, had never been very interested in music. While video games needed music and sound effects, tabletop games had little need for them.

That’s why he was minding the store.

DING-A-LING!

The welcome bell rang.

"Hello, welcome to Ackley’s Toy Store."

Ben put down the cardboard and prepared to greet the customer.

But he quickly noticed that something was off about the customer.

His eyes were dark red, and a beast-like grunt rumbled from his throat.

"Sir?" Ben asked uncertainly. He wasn’t too scared, though. If there was one thing the toy store had, it was more than enough security.

"Why do toys have to be so expensive!"

"Uh, Ackley’s Toy Store has always been a boutique toy shop, offering you excellent designs, fine craftsmanship, and a one-of-a-kind experience."

Ben recited the standard script.

’In truth, he felt the same way.’ After being incorporated into the Zog Group, Ackley’s Toy Store now mainly sold building blocks and character figurines.

They were really, really expensive.

But compared to the new hero cards from Ferin Chronicles, the price of the building blocks was still quite conservative.

Ben never expected that the cards he designed could sell for such high prices, let alone that people would have to pull for them in a lottery.

’He didn’t even understand why.’

"Why do toys have to be so expensive!"

The unhinged customer kept repeating the same words.

"If you’re looking for more cost-effective toys, you could check out Zog’s Toy Factory District Store. They should have something that meets your needs."

"You’re looking down on me!"

"I’m not."

’Actually, he was. Ben would never look down on someone for being poor, but he definitely looked down on unreasonable weirdos.’