Legends:Craft Your Own Legend: Before the Hero

Craft Your Own Legend: Before the Hero

Author(s)	Cristina Anderca Sophie Austin Sofia Dankis Per Landin
Language	English
Genre(s)	Choose Your Own Adventure
Set in	Minecraft Legends
Release date	April 6, 2023

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    "title": "Craft Your Own Legend: Before the Hero",
    "rows": [
        {
            "field": "\n* (link to Cristina Anderca article, displayed as Cristina Anderca)\n* (link to Sophie Austin article, displayed as Sophie Austin)\n* (link to Sofia Dankis article, displayed as Sofia Dankis)\n* (link to Per Landin article, displayed as Per Landin)",
            "label": "Author(s)"
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        {
            "field": "English",
            "label": "Language"
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        {
            "field": "Choose Your Own Adventure",
            "label": "Genre(s)"
        },
        {
            "field": "''(link to Minecraft Legends article, displayed as Minecraft Legends)''",
            "label": "Set in"
        },
        {
            "field": "April 6, 2023",
            "label": "Release date"
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    ],
    "invimages": [],
    "images": [
        "CYOL_hero1.jpg"
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Craft Your Own Legend: Before the Hero is a free Minecraft choose-your-own-adventure story promoting Minecraft Legends. It is authored by Cristina Anderca, Sophie Austin, Sofia Dankis, and Per Landin. The story was published on April 6, 2023 and promoted through Twitter.^[1]

Plot

A hard-working villager

If the reader chooses "A hard-working villager" they start as the "most-hard-working of all hard-working villagers" in the village. The village runs out of resources, and the villager chooses between gathering wood, looking for a coal deposit, or investigating the "red dirt".

Gathering wood

If the villager chose to gather wood, it heads to the forest to gather the wood, and it spots a llama being attacked by a group of piglins, after which it decides to fight back the piglins, intimidate them, or distract them. If it chose to attack, the piglins raise their maces and trap the villager in a cage, ending the story. If it chose to intimidate them, it gathers bushes and imitates a scarecrow to scare away the piglins. If it chose to distract them, it imitates a bird to distract the piglins, after which it has the option to run away out of fear and end up in the dry savanna in which it falls into a mud puddle. There, it chooses to stay there, struggling or coming out slowly. If it chose to stay there, it either end the story or come out and return to the village empty-handed, ending the story. If it chose to come out slowly, or after it chose intimidating the piglins, they will encounter a llama, after which they will either skip to collecting wood or pet the llama and gather wood. Afterwards, the villager either chooses to gather enough wood, or most of the wood, meeting a wolf along the way, and gets greeted by the villagers as it fills their chest with wood, ending the story. However, if it chose to bring the most of wood, it drops it along the way, only ending up with three wood blocks, ending the story.

Gathering coal

If the villager chose to look for a coal deposit, it has the option to go to the badlands. There, it spots a vein of coal inside a ravine, and it chooses whether to get there quickly or slowly.

Going down slowly

If it chose to walk down slowly, it spots a blaze runt aiming a blaze rod at it. It has the option to catch the rod, dodge it, or scream loudly. If it caught the rod, the shot gets it in a coma where it ends up in a cage alongside a llama, ending the story. If it chose to dodge it, the piglin gets annoyed and throws another blaze rod and the villager has the option to either run away or run toward the piglin. If it chose to run toward it, it will scare it away and have the option to mine a gold vein. However, the noise the villager makes causes the piglin to seek revenge by teaming up with two other piglins to attack the villager. There, it chooses to either take all the ore and run away, or share it with the piglins. If it chose to take all the ore, it will come back to its village, dropping gold along the way and seeing the other villagers unhappy, ending the story. If it chose to share the ore, one mace runt will hit the villager with its mace, sending it to a coma and inside a cage within an outpost, ending the story. If it decides to scream at the piglin, it will manage to scare it away, and it spots a gold vein, leaving it with the sole option of mining it, which has the same results as in dodging the blaze rod.

Running down quickly

At the sight of the ravine, if the villager chose to descend quickly, it encounters a mace runt, and it either hides behind a bush or startles it. If it chose to hide behind a bush, it will either chose to wait or to pretend being a piglin. If it chose to wait, it will fall asleep to the sound of the clanking, waking up in a cage alongside a llama, ending the story. If it chose to pretend to be a piglin, it ties a rock at the end of a stick and imitates the piglin's actions. There, it either oinks or hits the piglin with the stick. If it chose to hit it, it either mines some ore or all of it. If it chose the latter, it ends up locked up, ending the story. If it chose the former, it has to either run away or distract the piglin. If it chose the former, it comes back to the village having to tell an embarrassing story, ending it. If it chose the latter, it will distract the piglin and then runs away, impressing the entire village with all the gold it collected and ending the story. If it chose to oink, the piglin gets confused and thinks the villager is a piglin. In this case, it either gathers the gold and run away, which ends the story with a lot of gold in the village, or staring at the piglin. There, it either keeps staring or hit the piglin, which ends the story by being locked up in a cage. If it chose the former, it either keeps staring or blinks. If it kept staring, it either keeps staring again or blinks. If it kept staring, it gets distracted and ends up in a cage, ending the story. If it ever chose to blink, the villager loses the contest and either mines some or all the ore. In the first place, if it chose to startle the piglin, this scares it and causes it to run away, leading to the choice of mining the gold.

Investigating the red dirt

If the villager chose to investigate the red dirt, it spots towering structures and hear "chaotic squeals", nearing a piglin outpost. In this case, it has the choice of looking for a forest, a coal deposit, or to keep investigating. If it made the third choice, it encounters a horde of piglins who spot it. It then has the option to run away, which leads it to a forest or the coal deposit, to fight back, or to hide behind a bush. If it chose to fight back, it tries to hit the piglins using headbutts, only to fall to the ground due to the small size of the piglins who lock it up inside a cage, ending the story. If it chose to hide in a bush, this provides it with both "a sound barrier and a shelter", until it realizes that the bush was actually a patch of poison vines. Trying to run away from the bush, it spots an oncoming horde of piglins. It faces a dilemma, trapped between poisoning itself or becoming a victim of the piglins. It falls in a coma to the sound of the piglin invasion horn, and ends up locked up in a cage, ending the story.

A rowdy piglin

If the reader chooses "A rowdy piglin", they start as a mace runt in an outpost who left the Nether to look for gold; the main goal of invading the Overworld. Night falls, and the piglin leaves its outpost to attack mobs, finding a zombie along the way. It either chooses to attack the zombie sneakily or to let out a violent squeal. If the piglin chose to squeal loudly, the zombie persists to the sound of squealing and keeps on attacking, giving the piglin the option of either running away or squealing for help. If it chose the latter, it squeals loudly for backup to no avail and the zombie succeeds at killing the piglin, ending the story. If it chose to run away, it tumbles down a hill and ends up on "dry, sandy ground". If the piglin chose to attack the zombie sneakily, it succeeds at killing the zombie, and decides to kill more mobs. It encounters a wolf along the way, and chooses to either attack it or looking around first before attacking. If it chose to attack, the wolf will call its pack to attack the piglin, ending the story. If it chose to look around, it notices a pack of wolves and feel relieved about not attacking the wolf, who keeps staring at the piglin, and then retreats from the wolf pack to find something else to destroy.

The village

It comes across a village to plunder the contents of the village chest in search for gold, and notices a piglin patrol tormenting a group of llamas. There, it has the choice to attack the village, joining the patrol or asking the patrol to help it. If it decided to charge, it raises its mace and attacks, choosing between attacking the fountain or village houses. If it chose the houses, it becomes so distracted destroying the houses that it recieves an arrow from an army of skeletons defending the village, in which it chooses to either ask the patrol for help or attacking the skeletons. If it chose to attack the skeletons, it charges boldly at them but ends up defeated by one, ending the story. If it chose attacking the fountain, the villagers panic even more and the piglin hits the fountain harder. Then, something sends it flying and causes it to land near the piglin patrol hitting the llamas, choosing between asking the patrol for help or joining it. After any choice made related to asking the patrol for help, the patrol is too busy attacking the llamas and the piglin either chooses to insist the help or join the patrol. If it insisted for help, one of the piglins hits it with a mace and causes it to roll down a hill, ending up in a badlands biome.

The outpost

If the piglin chose to join the patrol, it follows the patrol carrying a cage of llamas and waves its mace, dodging the llama spits to no avail. It chooses to either leave the outpost, ending up in a badlands biome, or keep taunting the llamas. If it chose to taunt, it hits its mace at the cage, causing the other piglins to get annoyed at first, then amused, and the llamas to be always terrified. It then notices a group of skeletons attacking the outpost, especially the barracks. There, it has to choose whether to flee out of the outpost and into the badlands, or defend the outpost. If it chose the latter, it has the choice of either protect the barracks or fighting the skeletons. If it chose to protect the barracks, the piglins succeed at outnumbering the skeletons, and the piglin chooses between taking a rest, teasing the llamas, or keeping exploring. If it chose to rest, it wakes up to the sound of battle horns as the hero approaches the outpost to destroy it. The piglin gets defeated by "a small creature made of cobblestone" punching it in the snout, ending the story. If it chose to tease the llamas, these llamas spit at the piglin who gets ridiculed and has to keep exploring. If it chose to attack the skeletons, these skeletons manage to destroy all the barracks, stopping the spawning of piglin runts. There, it chooses whether to fall back or to keep fighting the skeletons. If it chose the latter, it has the options of getting out of the outpost or keeping fighting. If it chose the former, it has the sole option of going to a piglin base, and if it chose the latter, it gets overwhelmed by the skeletons, ending the story. If it chose to fall back, only one barrack remains, and the piglins desparately fight the skeletons, giving it the option of standing its ground or grabbing some gold and leave. If the piglin chose to stand its ground, the piglins manage to defeat the skeletons, but the outpost is destroyed and being repaired by a group of piglin builders, giving the piglin the option to keep exploring. If it chose to grab the gold, it feels reluctant to defend the base and instead has the option of hitting the ore, eating it, or taking it to a piglin base. If it chose to hit it, it has the option to either eat it or bring it to a base. If it decided to eat it, it becomes hungry and eats some of the Nether wart it brought to use its spores to breathe, and falls unconscious due to the lack of spores, ending the story.

The piglin base

If the piglin chose to bring its gold to a piglin base, it comes across a Horde of the Hunt piglin base where it shows off its gold. There, the piglins throughout the base get attracted to the gold and start to gather at it, giving the piglin the option of squealing loudly, rushing into the Nether portal of the base, or throw the gold into the portal. If it chose to squeal, the other piglins mock at it. If it chose to rush into the portal, the army of piglins coming out knocks it back. If it chose to throw the gold into the portal, the piglins stop chasing it. All three options lead to the hero using their sword to defeat the piglin, ending the story.

The creeper homestead

The piglin will end up in a badlands biome if they chose to run away after letting out a violent squeal, insisting the piglin patrol to help it, or choosing the options "Keep exploring" and "Not my outpost, not my problem!" upon joining the patrol, all causing it to roll down a hill. There, if the "Keep exploring" option has been chosen, the piglin will feel the sand and become nostalgic about the soul sand valley back in the Nether. In all cases, it encounters a creeper homestead. There, it sees tall sulphur rocks and a lot of hissing sounds emitted by creepers. There, it has the option of either entering the homestead or exploring the surroundings. If it chose the former, it feels like an intruder and either enters the homestead or exploring the surroundings. If it chose the former, a creeper approaches and explodes at the piglin, ending the story. If it chose to explore the surroundings, the piglin notices more rock pillars and more hissing, encountering a creeper and having the option of hitting it, squealing at it, or running away. If it chose to squeal at it, nothing happens and it is left with the two remaining choices. If it chose to hit it, the creeper explodes, ending the story.

The frost tower and rabbits

In the creeper homestead, if the piglin chose to run away, it flees from the badlands biome as the ground turns to grass and to snow, entering a tundra. The creeper it encountered already scared it, so it doesn't feel cold there. Along the way, it encounters a frost tower and a group of rabbits. In this case, it either chooses to hit the tower or the rabbits. If it chose the former, it becomes afraid of the sound emitted by the tower and either hits it anyway or switch to the rabbits. If it hit the tower, this tower will shoot an ice cube that the piglin barely dodges and gets hit, freezing in place and ending the story. If it hit the rabbits, these rabbits try to flee but get hit by the piglin, who resumes its adventure.

The warboar

If the piglin chose rabbits as its target, it kills them all and goes to a Horde of the Hunt base where it breathes in the sporadic air caused by Nether wart and nether spreaders. There, it encounters a warboar and wants to pet it, but a blaze runt reached the warboar first, causing the piglin to either hit it or asking to play together. If it chose the former, the blaze runt runs away and then the piglin plays fetch with the warboar. Suddenly, the hero arrives and the piglin gets hit by a skeleton's arrow, ending the story. If it chose to ask to play together, the blaze runt shoots at the piglin, ending the story.

An easy-going zombie

If the reader chooses "An easy-going zombie", they start as a peaceful zombie with the habit of visiting a meadow to smell flowers. This time, it finds that the meadow it used to go to has been taken over by a piglin outpost. Shocked by this, it investigates the outpost, finds out that there are llamas trapped in a cage and has to free them somehow. It hides behind a pile of dirt, scanning the area, then decides to infiltrate the outpost. It decides whether to be sneaky or to cover itself in Nether wart.

Covering itself in Nether wart

If the zombie decided to cover itself in Nether wart, they move into the outpost, realizing that it hasn't hidden well due to the red and green in the camouflage. One piglin notices, and the zombie chooses between not moving or oinking. If it chose to not move, the piglin checks the shrubbery and sniffs it. There, the zombie has the option to either sniff back or not breathe. If it chose the former, the piglin pokes the zombie, who either has the choice of not breathing or poking the piglin. If it chose the latter, then the piglin will find out and reveal the zombie, calling other piglins to attack it and ending the story. If it made any choice related to not breathing, the piglin snorts and walks away, leaving to the zombie a way towards the cage of llamas. If the zombie chose to oink, the piglin gets surprised but then goes away, making way for the zombie to go towards the llama cage.

Being sneaky

If the zombie chose being sneaky, it passes through piglins, and after a few close calls, it reaches the llama cage.

The llama cage

Once the zombie made any decision resulting in it moving on, it finally reaches the llama cage. If it reached the cage by being sneaky, it has the choice of slipping through the bars of the cage, asking the llamas if they ever saw the key or punching the lock. If it reached the cage using shrubbery, the camouflage falls over and it either plucks a piece of Nether wart and use it as a key or punches the lock. If it chose to use Nether wart as a key, the zombie tries hard as the wart turns to mush until it somehow succeeds and opens the cage, freeing the llamas and triggering the piglins' agression. If it decided to talk to the llamas, it groans at them and they stare and then spit, requiring the zombie with the choices of slipping through the bars or punching the lock. It tries punching the lock three times, and in the first two times, it has the choice of punching even more or slipping through the bars. At the third time, the lock gets damaged and a piglin notices. If the zombie made any decision related to slipping through the bars, it tries barely, almost dropping its sunhat. There, it has the option of either twisting itself to go in or to pull harder. If it chose the latter, its sunhat falls, setting it on fire and leaving it with the choice of stopping, dropping and rolling or flailing around. If it chose to stop, drop and roll, it rolls on the ground, catching its sunhat in the process, but it gets caught by a mace runt who drags it into the cage. If it decided to flail around, it runs around, with the other piglins doing the same, and jumps into a nearby pond, using a lilypad as a new sunhat. It hides in front of the outpost with a rock on its hand, sneaks in, and hits the lock, freeing the llamas. If it chose to twist between the bars, it ends up inside the cage.

The piglin

If the zombie ever made any decisions getting the attention of a piglin who soon tries to carry it into the cage, it has the decision of biting the piglin or going inside the cage. If it ever bit it, it either hits the piglin or the lock. If it hit the piglin, it steals its mace and sends it flying. Soon after, other piglins overwhelm the zombie, ending the story. If it hit the lock, this destroys the cage and frees the llamas locked inside.

In the cage

If the zombie managed to slip into the cage, or chose the option "Go along with it" after getting caught by a piglin, it ends up inside the cage, with the choice of petting the llamas or trying to slip back out. Petting the llamas causes them to spit at the zombie gently, leaving it with the sole option of trying to slip out. If it did so, it checks if the coast is clear and escapes, only to encounter a blaze runt aiming its rod at the zombie. The zombie chooses to either catch or dodge the rod. If it caught it, it spins it around to hit the piglin, but it instead hits itself, launching itself in the air and ending the story. If it dodged it, the rod hits the lock, destroying the cage.

The llamas' freedom

If the zombie made any decision causing the lock of the cage to break, the llamas break free and the piglins chase it and the llamas, leaving it with the choice of running with the llamas or distracting the piglins. If it chose the latter, it sacrifies itself to save the llamas, ending up inside a cage and ending the story. If it chose the former, it runs alongside the llamas out of the outpost but the piglins chase them, leaving the zombie with the choice of playing dead or fighting back. If it chose the former, piglins check it and leave, and it leaves the outpost to enjoy its freedom, ending the story. If it chose to fight back, the piglins lock it inside a cage, ending the story.

A sassy llama

If the reader chooses "A sassy llama", they start as a solitary llama who looks for solitude in a tundra. There, it has the choice of "unwinding in the sunshine" or looking for a shaded tree. If it chose the latter, it rushes towards the tree to protect itself from the cold wind, avoiding a geyser in the process. There, it notices a group of skeletons and its solitude gets ruined, choosing whether to look for the perfect spot or to go to the dry savanna. If it chose unwinding in the sun, it looks for the warmest spot in the tundra and notices a rumble under its feet, choosing whether to ignore it or to leap away. If it chose the former, it finds itself in a mud puddle in the dry savanna alongside a pig.^{[note 1]} If it chose the latter, it flees away from the geyser and decides whether to go to the perfect spot or to the dry savanna. If it chose the former, it searches for the spot until it spoys a group of llamas tormented by a horde of piglins. There, it has the sole option of fighting back, resulting in it being locked in a cage, ending the story.

The dry savanna

If the llama ever chose to go to the dry savanna, it feels too hot and looks for a mud puddle to cool off, only to find some bubbles coming out of the puddle. There, it has the option of spitting at the bubbles or looking closer.

Spitting at the bubbles

If it chose to spit at the bubbles, a pig comes out of the puddle and the llama decides to come out, only to soon find out that the pig is being tormented by a piglin. There, it decides whether to spit at the piglin or to lure it away. If it chose the former, the piglin runs away and the pig disappears, leaving the llama with the choice of taking over the mud puddle or looking for the pig. If it chose the former, it takes over the mud puddle, ending the story. If it chose the latter, the pig's mud dries out and the llama either leads it back to the mud puddle or spits at it to moisten the dried mud. If it chose the latter, nothing happens, leading to the choice of leading the pig to the mud puddle. Once this decision has been made, the llama's solitude becomes ruined because of the pig's presence, leaving it with the choice of going to the swamp. If the llama ever chose to lure the piglin away, it spits at the piglin, who starts chasing it, leaving the llama with the choice of running through speed wheat or running back to the tundra. If it chose the former, it loses the piglin but finds itself in a swamp.

Looking closer

If it chose to look closer, the llama investigates the bubbles and chooses to flee away or to keep investigating. If it chose the former, it looks somewhere to clean itself up, heading to the swamp. If it chose the latter, it ends up meeting a pig.

The swamp

Once the llama made any decision leading it to the swamp, it washes itself and finds out that the swamp is more populated. There, it finds a patch of bouncecaps and decides to eat them or jump on them. If it chose the former, it tries hard to take a piece to no avail, leaving it with the choice of jumping on the bouncecaps. Once this decision is made, it jumps from tree to tree, feeling finally alone, ignoring the red cloud on the horizon and ending the story.

Back in the tundra

If the llama chose to run away to the tundra, it sees that the piglin persisted and finally catches up to it, leaving it with the decision of running to the skeletons or the geyser. If it chose the former, the skeletons shoot at the piglin, defeating it and ending the story. If it chose the latter, it passes over the geyser as it is erupting, right after it erupts, or a few seconds after it erupted. If it chose the first, it gets launched into the air, ending the story. If it chose the second, the piglin gets launched into the air and the llama decides to go to the swamp. If it chose the third, the piglin avoids the eruption, leaving the llama with the sole choice of running to the skeletons.

Quotes

Gallery

Character choices

• 
  Artwork of a villager
• 
  Artwork of a piglin runt
• 
  Artwork of a zombie
• 
  Artwork of a llama

A hard-working villager

• 
  Artwork of a villager
• 
  Two happy villagers by a village fountain
• 
  A piglin outpost
• 
  An idle llama
• 
  A villager's head popping up halfway from a mud puddle
• 
  A lone wolf
• 
  A villager locked inside a cage
• 

A rowdy piglin

• 
  Artwork of a piglin mace runt
• 
  Piglins in an outpost at sunset
• 
  A lone wolf
• 
  A piglin fighting a zombie
• 
  A pack of wolves
• 
  Scared villagers running around the village fountain
• 
  A creeper homestead
• 
  Several llamas locked in a cage and spitting outside the cage
• 
  A creeper
• 
  A warboar standing in front of a Nether portal, inside a piglin base.
• 
  A wolf howling, as other wolves gather around
• 

An easy-going zombie

• 
  Artwork of a zombie
• 
  A zombie in a meadow
• 
  A zombie facing a piglin outpost
• 
  Several llamas locked in a cage
• 

A sassy llama

• 
  Artwork of a llama
• 
  A llama in the tundra
• 
  A geyser erupting
• 
  A pig in mud
• 
  A bunch of bouncecaps
• 
  Top view of an erupting geyser
• 
  Several llamas locked in a cage
• 

Notes

References

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