Ancient Battles: The Changed Ones book 3 ongoing (Post-Post Apocalypse LitRPG trilogy)

Self-Published

Community Rating

Description

Is it truly an RPG Apocalypse... if no one can see the RPG?

Generations after the Fall, Mankind has achieved a balance in a world it is no longer the master of. But your prospects in this Malthusian world are limited. Johanna Milton and her friends have an answer: delve into Ancient ruins, avoid Changed beasts and mana pockets, and salvage Ancient materials, collectibles, and trinkets to sell. It pays well if you avoid the perils of the Ancient world.

But when they find the skeleton of an Ancient, their lives take a strange turn. Suddenly, Talents straight out of fantasy novels become theirs. While they try to make sense of what happens, eyes turn to them, to the four who seem to break all rules.

Or are they merely following them? Because, in the Beyond where he's spent 150 years waiting, one dead Ancient knows the truth. Douglas Moore has played those games often enough when he was alive to make sense of the System that rules the Changed world. He can no longer act on his own, but he has access to the Interface. And four people for which he can bring whatever it takes to face the world.

Change is coming.

The Changed Ones is a slow-burn litrpg fantasy trilogy (Ancient Bones, Ancient Books, Ancient Bonds) set on Earth, 150 years after the RPG Apocalypse... which mostly failed. It is an homage to the venerable ancient RPGs of the Golden Box era, the Baldur's Gates, and many others, offering adventure whereYou must gather your party before venturing forth.

Keywords: LitRPG, realistic setting, low-leveling, post-post-apocalypse, fantasy earth, slow-burn, secondary POVs, female primary MC, team adventure, worldbuilding.

Trigger warnings: casual swearing, adult innuendo (no explicit scenes whatsoever, though). Oh, and potentially a bit of politics.

Publication schedule: Tuesdays/Thursdays around 6 PM CEST/5 PM BST/noon EDT/9 AM PDT + Weekends (variable)

Information

Status: Hiatus
Year: 2022
Author: Vincent Archer

Royal Road Stats

Rating: 4.6/ 5.0
Followers: 1,108
Views: 791,887

Reviews

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Community Reviews(10)

moredreadRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
While its very early for a review, with an established author i think its warranted.
The story is very original. I dont want to give away its plot. You wont see it coming at all. It will have 2 main POV. Im not sure which of them im looking forward to reading. Both look fun.
Endless PavingRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
I would say this story is turning out to be some well written adventure fantasy. The LitRPG aspect is done in an angle I haven't exactly seen before and in a small way might be compared more to stories where the protagonist creates the "System" for the "Players" to use rather than the usual Apocalyptic System GameLit stories you see (and there aren't much of those, let alone good ones).
The setting is very interesting primarily being Post-Apocalyptic in style with Mana being feared as a sort of toxic nuclear waste that creates mutated monsters. The only perspective on the world that is pre-apocalypse is actually sort of a background character even though they get enough of a focus in the story to be a main character and their actions are crucial to the plot.
I do like the amount of character focus the story has with some romance between the primary main characters and a larger focus on how events and choices will effect them and their lives and their place in society rather than being focused on fighting and action so much. It's got the same mix of character drama and adventure that Mark of the Fool has as far as it feels like to me. The personality of the people in the story and how they treat one another is probably a bigger plot point than survivong mutant animals and gaining magic powers most of the time.
A criticism I could imagine this story facing might be that the role of the "Gamemaster" character who determines the LitRPG stat allocations for the main characters could potentially be unecessary for the story, but I would counter that the characters not having direct access to their pwn blue boxes is both interesting and not truly unprecedented. Additionally the Gamemaster's perspective grants insight into what is happening regarding the LitRPG system power progression that the main characters do not have, which is useful for their powers to make sense to the audience as it might potentially be more confusing without that information. Also his lonesome ghost
Jester641Royal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
Interesting take on LitRPG. Little stiff during the prologue. Pace picked up after that and flowed really well. Plot devices fit together excellently. So far the story is drawing me in. Enjoying the premise and presentation. Hoping the story keeps going at the same pace. Characters are not stiff/cardboard. Good fight descriptions and interesting.
ShadoCat2Royal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
There is a system but most people don't know it or can see it.
The story is told from multiple viewpoints but mainly from two sets of viewpoints. The author avoids some of the pitfalls I've seen with this by making it clear whose viewpoint we are seeing.
One character has the system interface and could be considered a GM/Player. He controls EX allocations and skill picks. The other four characters are like the characters a player controls except that they are completely independent of the "main" character. There is no communication to them to the point they have to figure out what new skills they get and how (they aren't always right in their assumptions). It is an odd mix that works really well.
I look forward to future chapters.
ShinenerRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
This fiction takes place in a post apocolypse. But even Tho it is titles litrpg- not everyone knows the system. Literally only 1 guy in the story knows it. And he is basically a cameo character untill author gives him powers or body or something.
This is the first time i read this kind of novel. And i support you spiritially . And only spiritially as im underage and cannot support to maternally
VeivisurterRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
It's still a bit early and I usually wait for 30 chapters or so before reviewing but this one is well enough done that I feel safe in going ahead with the review.
Style: solid low-magic post-apocalyptic setting and world-building. Nothing truly outstanding here but it feels like the author took an idea (in this case how characters in an apocalyptic game setting would be affected by someone gaming them) that hasn't really been explored much, and then REALLY thought through the implications of that.
Story: not a ton to say here. It's been mostly setup and setting exploration so far, but no red flags there and no sign of sudden left turns into wtf territory. All in all mostly adventuring with a bit of slice of life.
Grammar: I have to commend the author. For not being a native English speaker (think they indicated French in a comment) they do a great job. Mostly it's just an odd turn of phrase here and there, but it is a bit of an informal tone with lots of ands and buts at the beginning of sentences. There are also quite a few run on sentences, but they are surprisingly readable so don't let that stop you from reading.
Characters: Again not a ton to say here since it's still mostly in the setup phase of, but we are getting a steady dribble of backstory and motivations on our 4 (+1) main characters. Although for those worried about too many point of views don't worry it's mostly told from Jo's pov with a few paragraphs here and there to fill in.
luda305Royal Road
★★★★★ 4.5
I don't care much for apocalyptic or post-apocalyptic stories. Post-post? Sure thing.
The premise is a LitRPG in a post-post apocalyptic America where people can't see their stats (nor are they really aware of it). The worldbuilding is really well done, and the characters are awesomely fleshed out. It's magical fantasy, but on the low-key side.
The conceit is that this group of four are being looked over their shoulder by a man who died right at the beginning of the apocalypse when he was about to start playing an ARPG where you controlled a group of characters, flipping specific control between them when needed. So basically, the game he was about to play became his post-post apocalyptic afterlife. Now, as of Chapter 16... other than a few odd jokes and some general observations, I'm not sure why he's a character. He's empowered the group of four, but insomuch as he can't interact with them, from their perspective, it would be no different than an RPG where you have choices (i.e., the choices are made for you). If you cut his perspective entirely from the story, no changes would have to be made to the other characters' perspective in order to jive it. So he's literally not important (so far). And he's not that interesting given that he's an eyeball in a box (or something) (also, a voyeur 🚱). So in that sense, all the stuff in the synopsis about Douglas Moore is misleading: he's not the protagonist; Johanna is.
On another note, the RPG system is super-crunchy.
KoboldPatrolRoyal Road
★★★★★ 4.5
(as of chapter 16)
150 years ago, the apocalypse happened and gamer Douglas died at his computer. Nowadays, society is in a medieval state and daring adventurers enter the ruins of the former cities, braving dangerous beasts and deadly mana storms to find ancient materials to sell. A group of four young scavengers encounters something very strange and soon they notice that they have unusual powers. Douglas on the other hand suddenly found himself alive(?) again, and now he is not only watching out of the eyes of four young people, but he is also able to upgrade their LitRPG character screens! While Douglas tries to understand his new existence, the four try to find out what their new abilities are and why that happened. There is the additional problem that nobody else has unusual powers except for the feared and hated "Changed" (basically mutants).
Style/Grammar: The story is told in third-person style by an omniscient narrator following multiple points of views. The main focus are the four young adventurers, although one of them is seen more often so far. The second focus is on Douglas. Some shorter scenes show other people and what they do in the background regarding the main group. Descriptions are fine and word choice is good. The LitRPG system is only shown in Douglas' POV, nobody else knows about it. It has classes, levels, stats and abilities. All of those can be upgraded by spending experience points and this is the only active power which Douglas has. Grammar is very good, there are only very few tiny errors.
Story: This is an interesting combination of a fantasy adventure story (the group of four) and a LitRPG climb (Douglas). Each is done well and they are combining well. The pacing is very good, there are exciting scenes (fights, but not dragged out; interaction with suspicious strangers) as well as calm ones in good proportions.
Characters: Douglas is unable to do anything beyond watching the group and spending experience points. He was an avid gamer an
OwlishRoyal Road
★★★★★ 4.5
So, ok, good stuff: English is fine, rare grammar errors and that's about it. The rpg stats work in a "ok, I get the idea," kind of way, not a "hey, I can predict what might happen next" kind of way. The world building is interesting, and people act like people. Stupid people, sometimes, especially the villain.
I had read the first book, I think, then dropped it at a hiatus. Read up to the current chapter over a long weekend. A little worried that a lot of the questions inherent in the setting won't get resolved, in spite of the various spoilery individual chapters.
Good luck.
BestcoasterRoyal Road
★★★★ 4.0
This story is well written and unlike a lot of litrpg the story keeps moving at a decent pace. There is no getting acquainted for the party members- they all know eachother already, so even that bit of introductory story is skipped. I enjoy both the character and action scenes, and the world building is of good quality without being obtrusive.
However the main gimmick of the story seems to have lost relevance after the initial chapters. Its just an occasional cutaway to a fifth character noone can talk to. He either needs to start interacting with someone or risk becoming a pointless albatross.