Three Episodes In- Token

Token by Desmo is a story about four college kids who enjoy playing games. After a round of Axis and Allies turns sour they all discover a mysterious card in their hands. These cards are list of increasingly poor behavior with a set of points next to them.  Each card is tailored to the individual.

None of the boys can figure out where they came from and they magical appearance gets starker as they discover that when they do one of the actions on the card, or fail at them, the card is updated. By the end of the third episodes, the boys have realized the situation they are in has gone from weird to serious. Any attempts to reach for help are stymied.

So far this is a pretty mesmerizing piece. The concept feels fresh if not entirely original. People sucked into a deadly game without realizing it isn’t new. But mysterious cards with point values appearing in your hand stands out.

The characters reaction feels realistic so far. The narrator finds it strange but assumes some kind of prank at first. He gets into it as a form of competition, focusing only on the levels of the card that are relatively free of consequence. It’s not until unexplainable events, such as the card being updated before their eyes and a voice speaking in his head, that he starts to freak out.

If I have any criticism so far it’s with the author’s website. I have no idea who the author is as the website doesn’t say. The Web Fiction post lists the author as Desmos. It’s only digging into a blurb about another piece of fiction listed on the site, that I found the authors name, Desmond Rossignoli. But that really doesn’t have anything to do with the story. 

What does have to do with the story is a real lack of navigation. There’s no table of contents for the story. So I have no idea how many episodes are available so far. But the first three episodes are worth reading and I am curious to learn more.