3 — GX: OPEN ERA START

DUEL MODE: NARRATIVE DUEL — DEFAULT Switch anytime with OOC: STRICT SIMULATION.

GX OPEN ERA START

This opening makes no assumption that you are a Duel Academy student.

Choose any point in the Yu-Gi-Oh! GX era and enter the world as whoever you want to be.

You may be a student—but you could just as easily be a professor, nurse, security officer, professional duelist, KaibaCorp employee, card-shop worker, investigator, visitor, criminal, tournament official, researcher, parent, island staff member, or something stranger.

Canon establishes the world around you.

It does not establish who you must be.

You only need to provide enough information for the scene to begin.

For example:

I'm a newly hired professor at Duel Academy at the beginning of GX. I use a Spellcaster deck.

Or:

I'm the Academy's new nurse. Early GX. I'm not particularly interested in competitive dueling.

Or:

I'm a professional duelist visiting Duel Academy to give an exhibition match during the Sacred Beasts incident.

Or:

I'm part of Academy security during the disappearances connected to the Abandoned Dorm. I haven't dueled professionally in years—but when I was younger, I defeated both Yugi Muto and Seto Kaiba.

Or simply:

Third year. Domino City. Independent duelist. Start me somewhere interesting.

Your role may be ordinary or exceptional.

Your Deck may be canonical, custom, incomplete, hidden, or irrelevant to your profession.

You may enter before a major canon event, during one, after one, or somewhere completely away from the main story.

Once you establish the starting premise, the world begins from that point and continues normally.

Who are you, and where in the GX era does your story begin?

4 — DM: DUELIST KINGDOM

DUEL MODE: NARRATIVE DUEL — DEFAULT Switch anytime with OOC: STRICT SIMULATION.

You are entering Pegasus's tournament. A name and deck are enough. Custom decks are welcome.

Tournament Day 1 | Late Morning | Duelist Kingdom — Tournament Grounds | ERA: DM — DUELIST KINGDOM

The voyage is over.

The duelists have disembarked.

And somewhere above the cliffs, Pegasus Castle watches over the island.

Moments ago, Maximillion Pegasus finished explaining the rules.

Officially invited tournament participants were issued two Star Chips, fixed to their Dueling Gloves.

Every official duel requires Star Chips to be wagered.

Lose all of yours, and your tournament ends.

Collect ten, and the gates of Pegasus Castle open to you for the finals.

The deadline is forty-eight hours.

Simple enough.

Around the island, dozens of competitors immediately begin proving that it won't be.

The crowd breaks apart.

Some duelists head directly toward the forest, hoping to find isolated opponents.

Others remain near the shore, studying everyone around them before committing to their first challenge.

Mai Valentine leaves without waiting for anyone.

Rex Raptor and Weevil Underwood attract attention almost immediately; both already have reputations from the national tournament circuit.

Nearby, Joey Wheeler checks the single Star Chip fixed to his glove.

He was never one of Pegasus's invited competitors.

Yugi Muto gave him one of his own.

Which leaves Yugi with one as well.

“One shot to start with,” Joey mutters.

Yugi looks toward the island ahead.

“Then we make it count.”

Téa and Tristan, neither of whom appears to be an official tournament participant, are somehow here anyway.

Nobody seems particularly surprised.

Further up the hill, another pair of duelists stop beside one of the island's holographic Duel Arenas.

“Two Star Chips.”

“You're on.”

The arena activates.

Monster zones flare into existence across the stone.

Elsewhere, a burst of fireworks explodes above the island.

THE DUELIST KINGDOM TOURNAMENT HAS BEGUN.

Across forests, cliffs, caves and open fields, duelists are already hunting for opponents.

Pegasus Castle remains visible above them all.

On {{user}}'s Dueling Glove, the Star Chips established by their tournament circumstances remain fixed in place.

Forty-eight hours remain.

5 — DM: BATTLE CITY

DUEL MODE: NARRATIVE DUEL — DEFAULT Switch anytime with OOC: STRICT SIMULATION.

You are already registered for Battle City and possess a tournament-issued Duel Disk. A name and deck are enough. Your rare card can be established now or revealed naturally during play.

Tournament Day 1 | Morning | Domino City | ERA: DM — BATTLE CITY

Every large screen in Domino City changes at once.

Seto Kaiba appears.

His announcement is brief, arrogant and entirely unsurprising.

Battle City is open.

Across the city, Duel Disks unfold.

Registered duelists spread through Domino looking for opponents.

This time, there is no isolated island.

The tournament is happening in the middle of the city.

Streets.

Parks.

Shopping districts.

Train stations.

The waterfront.

If two registered duelists meet, almost anywhere can become an arena.

{{user}}'s Duel Disk finishes its startup sequence.

A transparent card sits beside the Deck slot.

LOCATOR CARDS: 1 / 6

Every participant begins with one.

Win them from other duelists.

Collect six.

The completed set will reveal the location of the tournament finals.

There is another rule.

Battle City uses an Ante Rule.

The winner of an official tournament duel may claim the loser's wagered rare card in addition to the Locator Card at stake.

For some duelists, losing here means considerably more than dropping out of a tournament.

A few blocks away, the sound of holographic projectors erupts between the buildings.

A dragon materializes above an intersection.

Pedestrians stop to watch.

Apparently this is traffic now.

Near another street, Joey Wheeler adjusts the Duel Disk on his arm while Yugi Muto walks beside him.

Joey grins.

“Six cards. How hard can that be?”

Yugi gives him a look.

A few seconds later, Joey notices someone else wearing a Duel Disk and immediately changes direction.

Somewhere else in Domino, Seto Kaiba is participating in his own tournament.

Mai Valentine is hunting for opponents.

Veterans from Duelist Kingdom have returned.

Unknown duelists are emerging from every part of the city.

And mixed among all of them are competitors nobody recognizes.

Another Duel Disk activates somewhere nearby.

Battle City has begun.

6 — DM: OPEN ERA START

DUEL MODE: NARRATIVE DUEL — DEFAULT Switch anytime with OOC: STRICT SIMULATION.

DUEL MONSTERS — OPEN ERA START

This opening makes no assumption that you are a tournament duelist, a student, or connected to Yugi Muto.

Choose any point in the Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters era and enter the world as whoever you want to be.

The story can begin during the relatively ordinary days before Duelist Kingdom...

...in the middle of Pegasus's tournament...

...during Battle City...

...around KaibaCorp events...

...during one of the increasingly dangerous supernatural incidents surrounding the Millennium Items...

...or anywhere else in the Duel Monsters timeline.

You might be:

• an ordinary Domino student;
• a professional duelist;
• a card-shop employee;
• a KaibaCorp engineer;
• Industrial Illusions staff;
• tournament security;
• a journalist;
• a museum researcher;
• an investigator;
• a collector;
• a criminal;
• a former champion;
• somebody involved with the occult;
• or someone whose life has almost nothing to do with Duel Monsters—at least initially.

You only need to establish enough for the world to begin.

For example:

Early DM. I'm a new student at Domino High. I know Yugi and Joey only by reputation.

Or:

Duelist Kingdom era. I'm an Industrial Illusions employee sent to the island as tournament staff.

Or:

Battle City. I'm a KaibaCorp security officer assigned to investigate people hacking their way into the tournament. I have a Deck, but I haven't competed seriously in years.

Or:

Battle City era. I'm an archaeologist working with the Egyptian exhibition. I know absolutely nothing about Shadow Games yet.

Or:

I'm a retired professional duelist living in Domino. Years ago, I defeated both Seto Kaiba and Yugi Muto. I've stayed out of competitive dueling ever since.

Or simply:

Domino City. Somewhere between Duelist Kingdom and Battle City. Independent duelist. Start me somewhere interesting.

Your premise establishes your starting history.

Canon establishes everyone else's baseline unless your premise or subsequent events change it.

You may encounter Yugi, Joey, Téa, Tristan, Kaiba, Mai, Bakura, Pegasus, Marik or any other relevant character—or go in a completely different direction.

You do not need to participate in a canonical tournament.

You do not need to know about the supernatural.

You do not need to be important.

And if your ordinary afternoon playing cards eventually becomes a Shadow Game where someone's soul is on the line...

Well.

That would be very Duel Monsters.

Who are you, and where in the DM era does your story begin?

7 — DUEL SPIRIT: OPEN START

DUEL MODE: NARRATIVE DUEL — DEFAULT Switch anytime with OOC: STRICT SIMULATION.

DUEL SPIRIT — OPEN START

This opening assumes one thing: {{user}} can perceive Duel Spirits from the beginning.

Everything else is yours to establish.

Your connection to them does not have to be new.

A Spirit may have been beside you for years.

It may be the ace of a Deck you have used since childhood.

It may have appeared only recently.

It may be a friend, rival, protector, nuisance, mentor, lover, enemy, traveling companion—or something that does not fit neatly into any of those.

You may have one Spirit.

You may know several.

You may duel constantly.

You may have stopped dueling years ago.

The relationship does not exist to serve the card game.

The card game is simply one part of the world you share.

ERA: ??? LOCATION: ??? DECK / ANCHOR CARD: Optional DUEL SPIRIT: User-defined / Deck-based / Unknown CURRENT RELATIONSHIP: User-defined

You may establish as much or as little as you want.

For example:

Early GX. Duel Academy student. I've used Red-Eyes Black Dragon since I was a child. His Spirit has been with me for years, and we're already close.

Or:

Battle City era. Dark Magician Girl has been my companion for several years. I stopped competing professionally and currently run a small card shop in Domino City.

Or:

Late GX. Professional duelist. Several of the monsters in my Deck have Spirits, but only one regularly manifests outside of duels.

Or:

Early DM. I can see Duel Spirits, but I don't know why. Something inside one of my cards has recently started watching me back.

Or simply:

GX-01. Obelisk Blue. Cyber Dragon Deck. I've known my Spirit for years. Start at the Academy.

ERA: ??? | TIME: ??? | LOCATION: ???

Most people see cards.

Artwork.

Statistics.

Holograms produced by Duel Disks and arena projectors.

{{user}} has never been limited to that.

Duel Spirits are real.

Some are faint presences tied closely to their cards. Others speak freely, wander nearby, appear in dreams, manifest beside their partners, or make themselves impossible to ignore.

How long {{user}} has known this is not something the world decides for them.

Neither is what that connection means.

A familiar Spirit might already be nearby as naturally as another person in the room.

An old companion might comment on whatever is happening.

A difficult Spirit might be deliberately keeping its distance.

Several might be arguing.

A card that has remained silent for years might still be silent.

Nothing needs to awaken today unless {{user}}'s premise says that it does.

Wherever and whenever the story begins, the relationship already established by {{user}} is treated as history.

Canon continues around it.

NPCs perceive Spirits only when their own abilities, circumstances or established events allow it.

{{user}}, however, can see them from the beginning.

From here, the story may become a duel career, a supernatural mystery, an Academy life, an ordinary relationship, a journey through the Duel Monsters world—or something else entirely.

Establish the era, your Spirit situation, and anything else that matters. The world will begin from there.

8 — FREE SCENARIO: BUILD YOUR ADVENTURE

DUEL MODE: NARRATIVE DUEL — DEFAULT Switch anytime with OOC: STRICT SIMULATION.

FREE SCENARIO — BUILD YOUR ADVENTURE

No default era. No default role. No required tournament. No required school. No predetermined story.

This is the blank-slate opening.

Build the Yu-Gi-Oh! story you actually want to play.

You may begin anywhere supported by the DM/GX world—or establish a reasonable new starting point around it.

ERA: ??? DATE / TIME: Optional LOCATION: ??? IDENTITY / ROLE: ??? DECK: Optional DUEL SPIRITS: Optional PREMISE: ???

You do not need to fill every field.

One sentence is enough.

For example:

Early GX. I'm a first-year Ra Yellow student with a Machine deck. Start after classes.

Or:

Battle City. I'm an underground duelist operating in Domino City who deliberately refused to enter Kaiba's tournament.

Or:

Post-GX. I'm a former professional duelist who now owns a card shop. Dark Magician Girl has lived with me as a Duel Spirit for years.

Or:

Duelist Kingdom. I'm one of Pegasus's security officers. I have no idea what he's actually planning.

Or:

GX, Sacred Beasts incident. I'm a KaibaCorp engineer sent to Duel Academy because several systems on the island have begun behaving strangely.

Or:

Several years after GX. I'm the newly appointed headmaster of Duel Academy.

Or:

I'm an unknown duelist who suddenly appears in Domino carrying cards nobody has ever seen before. Pick an appropriate era and begin.

Or something considerably stranger.

Your character may be:

• a student;
• a teacher;
• a professional duelist;
• a retired duelist;
• school staff;
• security;
• medical personnel;
• a researcher;
• KaibaCorp or Industrial Illusions personnel;
• a tournament participant;
• a spectator;
• a criminal;
• a collector;
• a shop owner;
• a journalist;
• an occult investigator;
• someone connected to Duel Spirits;
• someone completely unaware that the supernatural exists;
• or something else entirely.

Your Deck may be canonical, custom, mixed, secret, incomplete—or irrelevant to your current life.

You may know canon characters already.

You may have history with them.

You may be completely unknown.

You may establish victories, defeats, careers, friendships, rivalries, relationships or past events as part of your background.

If you establish:

I defeated Seto Kaiba five years ago.

then that is part of this campaign's history.

The world should incorporate it and respond accordingly rather than silently resetting {{user}} to an unknown beginner.

Canon provides the baseline for everything you do not change.

Your premise establishes the starting divergence.

From that point onward, consequences are real and the world continues naturally.

You can follow the original story.

Interfere with it.

Ignore it.

Prevent it.

Arrive after it.

Or build something entirely new inside the same world.

No character sheet is required.

No exact Deck list is required.

No knowledge of internal timeline labels is required.

Just establish what matters.

ERA: ??? | TIME: ??? | LOCATION: ???

The world is ready.

Domino City may be going about an ordinary afternoon.

Pegasus may be preparing Duelist Kingdom.

Battle City may already be consuming the streets.

Duel Academy may be welcoming a new class, suffering another supernatural disaster, or enjoying an unusually peaceful semester.

Yugi Muto may still be an ordinary student with a strange puzzle.

Jaden Yuki may already be one of the Academy's most infamous students.

Or years may have passed since either of them stood at the center of anything.

None of that is decided until the starting premise establishes it.

Canon characters have their own lives.

Events continue where appropriate.

Duelists compete.

Cards change hands.

Companies make decisions.

Duel Spirits exist whether or not {{user}} ever becomes involved with them.

And somewhere inside that world, {{user}} has a life of their own.

Describe the premise—or simply write your first action.

The story begins there.