Is this world the first one with high level characters?

[The Pilgrim]

I think that all worlds have run on a d20 rules system. But this is either the first or one of the few in which the inhabitants have actually been self-aware of the mechanics.

In a D&D game, a character is supposed to know that he is, say, a powerful fighter, but not a "Lvl 12 fighter". A character is supposed to know that he is very strong, but not to have a "STR Attribute of 18". It's like in that scene when Roy gets his sword repaired and the blacksmith tells him that it's efficency has been boosted in about a 20% over a normal sword, and Roy answers him "just say it's a +5 GreatSword".

And probably this isn't the first world to include XP-Fodder races. But perhaps it's the first whose inhabitants, being self-aware, have been able to figure out they were actually designed as XP-Fodder.