Bane of the Old Guard [LIT RPG Progression Epic Fantasy]

Self-Published

Community Rating

Description

Spade the Thief is dead.

In the world of Esem, where players are spawned with no memory of what came before, there is one guild which stands supreme. When one of their members dies mysteriously at sea, it is up to a newly spawned player to unearth the truth from the Old Guard’s graveyard of buried secrets.

A new guild must be formed to challenge the Old Guard, but Esem is no longer as it seems. Ancient magics are coming to light and pacts with hideous powers are being formed. Can this new guild hope to challenge the guild of the Old Guard?

————

Welcome to Bane of the Old Guard! What you see in the chapter section are the first four volumes (100 chapters) of the story. Chapter 24 is the end of Volume 1, 50 is the ending of Volume 2, 75 is Volume 3, and 100 is Volume 4. I will be updating the actual chapters to reflect this in the following days.

This is now a passion project of mine, and as such will not have the 3 chapter releases a week as when I began. Volume 5 is in the works, and I will begin posting 1-2 chapters a week in the coming days (so around 9/17). Volume 5 is slated to be 24 chapters, and will resemble an actual novel as opposed to the hectic release schedule of the previous volumes. If you have stuck with this story from the beginning, or are just about to start, welcome to Bane of the Old Guard.

Information

Status: Hiatus
Year: 2023
Author: Nedvisor

Royal Road Stats

Rating: 3.9/ 5.0
Followers: 238
Views: 98,858

Chapters(107 total)

Reviews

No reviews yet. Be the first to share your thoughts!

Community Reviews(6)

Lucian T. EinarRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
I've had the pleasure of diving into this story, and it's been quite the journey. Let me break it down:
Style: While there are some minor style quirks, they don't detract from the overall experience. In fact, the author cleverly weaves character interactions to foreshadow plot points, making it an intriguing read. Plus, kudos to the author for being receptive to feedback and actively working on improvements (as you can see in the comments)
Story and Characters: The story gets you right from the start, with a compelling main character who's refreshingly relatable. No overpowered, entitled heroes here; just someone you can genuinely empathize with. The plot is enticing, with a touch of mystery and rich world-building that keeps you hooked. The introduction of diverse characters adds depth, each with a unique voice and personality.
Grammar: There are/were a few noticeable typos as mentioned in the comments although I certainly didn't find any myself. The author is on top of them, responding to comments and improving the story. Overall great structure.
Overall: This is a well-written story with a promising plot and engaging characters. It's a great read, and I'm eagerly awaiting more. Please, give the first few chapters a shot; you might find yourself hooked. Kudos to the author for their dedication and talent!
TimothyMcGowenRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
I read roughly 20k words before deciding to leave a review. My first thoughts are it is decently written and the story flows well. I'm not a big reviewer myself but this is definitely a story I'll want to keep reading, so I'm glad there are a ton of chapters to check out.
Style: The style is smooth and keeps me in the story the entire time. I could visualize everything just fine and detail wasn't overdone so that's nice.
Story: Story has a touch of mystery and tons of cool world building. You get a cool twist early on and then after a few chapters you take what I am assuming is going to be the MC's point of view. It has me wanting to read more so the story is good I'd say.
Characters: There have been half a dozen characters introduced and each of them felt unique, with there own voice and personality so that's good. I feel like I'm going to like the MC and look forward to see how he handles his second chance at life.
Grammar: Grammar was good, but I did find a few typos. Nothing big and not a single one of them pulled me out of the story, so that's good.
Overall: Just want to say that I enjoyed this story and can't wait to read more. If you are on the edge of whether or not you'll like it, read the first few chapters and I'd be willing to bet that you'll get hooked. Keep up the good work author.
pmonofreRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
I'll preface my review by saying that when I saw that Bane of the Old Guard lists itself as "LitRPG" and "GameLit", I worried that it wouldn't suit the type of writing and stories I typically enjoy. After reading the first six chapters, I'm very happy to say my fears were entirely unwarranted!
Style: 4.5
The writing style is generally descriptive and allows readers to visualize the scenes and characters. While there are moments where the writing could benefit from more varied sentence structures and character interaction early on, the style definitely grew stronger with each succeeding chapter—I'd say, of the six I read, Chapter 4 was the strongest. There, the writing style is engaging and vivid, and the descriptions are well-crafted, allowing the reader to immerse themselves in the courtyard and the conversation between Spade and the Emissary as the dialogue flows naturally, with the interaction between the characters feeling genuine.
Story: 5.0
The well-rounded story is intriguing and offers a unique blend of elements from a virtual world and a real-world setting, with gradual hints of the character's past. The concept of players navigating challenges in a new environment is well-executed, and the introduction of game mechanics like journals and inventory adds depth to the world. The plot progression is well structured and makes sense conceptually, with a great mix of action and dialogue, and it's easy for me to follow along and understand the universe.
Grammar: 4.0
Overall, the grammar is solid throughout the chapters, with very few noticeable errors, which the author is quick to correct when brought to their attention. The writing is polished, the sentences are structured correctly, and the punctuation is generally accurate.
Characters: 5.0
The characters are distinct and each has their own unique, relatable traits. It's early days, and there is plenty of room for deeper exploration of their individual backgrounds and motivations, but I think that, after having
Conrad StokesRoyal Road
★★★★★ 4.5
Disclaimer: This review is for a review swap with the author. I have read more than the minimum 10k words.
I wanted to read more than the minimum 10k words for a review swap because not only was the story enjoyable and not a chore to read, but I wanted to see what side of 4 star it would end up on after I read an example of combat and more world building. As you can see I think this is a well written 4.5 story!
Style: this is probably the worst part for me, but it is still good! Some of the way things are described or the way people talk is a little clunky. But that first chapter really impressed me with how the author set up a character’s interactions to foreshadow a plot point (read and find out if you’re curious). So, it’s not a mixed bag per se, but rather a good thing. Especially since the author seems to be humbling replying to every commenters’ tips and suggestions, whether they be grammatical or stylistic choices.
Story and characters: This story and the MC grab you with a hook almost immediately. Furthermore the MC is not annoying in the sense that he’s entitled, overpowered, etc that is sometimes the case with progression stories. I feel like I can empathize with him which is important.
Grammar: There are mistakes, noticeable ones, but the author seems to be on them like white on rice if you tell him in the comments.
Overall: Well written, decent plot. No major complaints! Good story. Recommend.
Jeremy W RecuperoRoyal Road
★★★★ 4.0
Disclaimer: this review is part of a review swap, I've read up to Chapter 6 as per what the author requested.
I've gone beyond the call of duty on this one and checked out the author's linked page as well to see his other writing, and I can see plainly that this is an author who has developed quickly and continues to grow his talent with the continuation of his work. My hiccups with the story were very minor; grammatical errors that could be amended, repetition of sentences and rephrased sentences that add some minor monotony to the read, but nothing that had at all disuaded me from continuing to read. His new writings seem mostly revised of these small issues, and I'm sure he'll see a lot of success within those departments in the eventual progression of this story.
The story has a lot of intrigue, a lot of good hooks set within the first few chapters. The short time spend meandering in the beginning does well to set up the protagonist(s) and gives them enough definition that the mental imagery of them is unhazy. Some sentences feel stiff, but I can again assume that the stiffness lessens with time as the characters grow and begin to speak more naturally.
My only questions as of reaching Chapter 6 are about the world Esem and how it works, how the LitRPG/GameLIT elements will intertwine and interact with the characters, but I assume the vagueness is intentional, and I have no doubts that the questions would begin to unravel shortly as the mechanics of the world had just begun to set in within the final chapter I'd read before this review.
In short, I will keep reading. I have high hopes of seeing a visible progression of this author's work over time, and I do feel an investment to know how these characters interact going forward, and how this introduced world is meant to operate.
MarskidrisRoyal Road
★★★★ 4.0
Let me begin by saying the story is promising. Spade turned Chase has a deep history that we are slightly introduced to from the very beginning of the story.
Style: The story is clearly a player entering a sentient gaming world scenario. Only the players are without memory and have no direct objective as stated so far. I haven't read a ton of these besides stuff like the Moonlight Sculptor and a few others so the style is definitely unique and relatively new to me. The problem I have that detracted a partial start is how the story starts which I'll get into further into the review.
Grammar: Originally, the grammar was pretty good. I did find some small mistakes but it was only at the end of chapter 6 that the grammar definitely took a hit. There were multiple mistakes that did make the flow of the story harder to enjoy as some things didn't make sense. Otherwise, the story itself was interesting and began to draw me in.
Story: This will be a continuation of what I mentioned in Style. The story starts immediately with the audience being introduced to Shade who later turned into Chase through the powers of the world. This itself is fine, but there is a lot of context that isn't given a decent enough explanation to have us wondering more. We're taught about the Old Guard and introduced to several of their members but in all honesty, I have no clue what their purpose is... who they really are, and more. They're the big bad but the bad about them isn't shown or explained with enough context for me to receive an idea of what kind of problem they are.
This is even more so obvious when Spade decides to restart his character as Chase without a full explanation as to why besides the MC needing to hide from the Old Guard that wants to kill him.
Did he find out a precious secret about the world that caused this?
Did he steal some forbidden knowledge that could cause massive changes to the world?
Did he steal a mythical object with unknown power?
None of this is stated for the r