Armored Souls

Metagamer Chronicles

Gary Burns thought he’d created a masterpiece. Instead, he’d created a prison for his friends—and himself.

Gary Burns just wanted to create the greatest RPG campaign of his gaming career. But a freak magical accident sucks him into the very world he created—as himself.

Surrounded by heroes who look and sound like his friends, Gary is forced to play out the story he wrote. Worthless in a fight, Gary must prove himself valuable even if it means feeding the team insider knowledge.

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Praise for Metagamer Chronicles

This story really settled inside my heart in a special way. The characters who are observations the main character has about his friends, the side thoughts he has about how people interact in a world he created – the emotional resonance that comes with the characters plight in the world… it fits together brilliantly. * * * * *

amazon reviewer

If Gary had known he’d get trapped in an RPG with his real-life stats, he’d have tried harder in gym class.

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Games were made to be broken.

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The difference between a hero and a tyrant is charisma.

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Armored Souls

100 tons of walking steel. One human heart.

Sgt. Reggie King wakes up from a battlefield injury to find himself physically intact. But the hospital staff insist he’s not fit to return to duty. As part of his psychological recovery, they introduce him to a game.

Armored Souls is a tank game on steroids. Giant, walking mechs called juggernauts engage in interplanetary wars as noble houses and mercenary factions wage endless battles for supremacy. For the pilots of these juggernauts, the rewards are glory, cash, and XP.

What follows is an epic struggle against the forces arrayed against him, from rival gamers to entire factions looking to crush Reggie underfoot. To survive will take all his military leadership, perseverance, and maybe a little help from some new friends.

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Praise for Armored Souls

I was genuinely surprised by this novel. I went in expecting something sci-fi but the author did a really good job incorporating the mechanics of a mech game.

amazon reviewer

100 tons of walking steel. One human heart.

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It’s time for our sergeant to become a general.

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A dying game. A tournament for the ages. One last chance for glory.

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X.P. Facts
X.P. Hunter considers quad damage to be a debuff.
X.P. Facts
X.P. Hunter grew up on a loot farm, milking XP cows, harvesting crops of noobs, and doing side quests as they came up.
X.P. Facts
After a 4-year-long LAN party, X.P. Hunter was awarded his MS in RTS.
X.P. Facts
The pixelated red phone in the Oval Office goes to X.P. Hunter’s cell phone.
X.P. Facts
X.P. Hunter has gained more 1-UPs than the entire country of Italy.
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X.P. Facts

X.P. Hunter considers quad damage to be a debuff.

X.P. Facts

X.P. Hunter grew up on a loot farm, milking XP cows, harvesting crops of noobs, and doing side quests as they came up.

X.P. Facts

After a 4-year-long LAN party, X.P. Hunter was awarded his MS in RTS.

X.P. Facts

The pixelated red phone in the Oval Office goes to X.P. Hunter’s cell phone.

X.P. Facts

X.P. Hunter has gained more 1-UPs than the entire country of Italy.

X.P. Facts

X.P. Hunter doesn’t quit, he gives the game a rest.

X.P. Facts

Random number generators ask X.P. Hunter what loot he’d like.

X.P. Facts

X.P. Hunter once beat Guitar Hero… while playing Dance Dance Revolution.

X.P. Facts

X.P. Hunter learned Japanese by playing JRPGs that never came out in North America.

X.P. Facts

X.P. Hunter is one of five gamers who makes a living being paid to stay out of esports.

X.P. Facts

Duke Nukem took fifteen years to recover after X.P. Hunter beat it.

X.P. Facts

X.P. Hunter doesn’t sleep, he logs out.

X.P. Facts

X.P. Hunter pays his taxes in gold.

X.P. Facts

X.P. Hunter has never loaded from a save file.

X.P. Facts

Games that require always-on internet connections will accept a Bluetooth connection to X.P. Hunter’s phone.

X.P. Facts

X.P. Hunter speaks fluent binary, hexadecimal, and fargle. Never heard of fargle? That’s because it hasn’t been invented yet. X.P. Hunter still speaks it.

X.P. Facts

The critical hit sound was sampled from X.P. Hunter cracking his knuckles.

X.P. Facts

The directions to X.P. Hunter’s house are up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right.

X.P. Facts

End bosses have cheat codes to skip X.P. Hunter.

X.P. Facts

X.P. Hunter can zerg rush an enemy base solo.

X.P. Facts

Whichever way X.P. Hunter plugs in a USB cable, it goes in.

X.P. Facts

X.P. Hunter took 1337speak to meet his college language requirement.

Xavier P. Hunter was born at the dawn of the video game age. He grew up with a game controller in his hand, moving from Atari joystick through PS4 controller the way a hermit crab outgrows its shell. His little league was RBI Baseball, his first date was Princess Zelda, and his first unpaid internship was leading raids in World of Warcraft. He lives in a world of pixels and frame rates, coming out infrequently to eat and that sort of thing. Most of his writing is done while patches download or when servers are down for maintenance. Like most superheroes, he operates in meat space under an assumed name.