Braza the Architect - Magical Crafter, Builder, and Adventurer!

Self-Published

Community Rating

Description

This is the story of an older man who lived a hard but full life, being reincarnated into a fantasy world as a human-lizard hybrid. The new world is violent, magic is real, a game-like development system crushes physics and natural law under its ambivalent thumb, and myth and legend don't just meet, they chase you down to eat you.Follow Braza as he tries to make a very different life for himself in a familiar but ultimately alien world. In this story the protaginist will not just be a muscle bound monster. He is not a proper hero, willing to sacrifice himself for the good of a stranger, but neither is he a maniacal villain. He is trying to survive, and he is trying to give himself and those he deems himself responsible for a seat at the table of the"goodly", the "civilized" races. He is trying to create a secure home for his people, to arrange beneficial trade agreements, explore ancient ruins, decipher ancient runes, push the boundaries of magic to create a better life for everyone around him, to learn about the history of the world and the multiverse, and ultimately attempt to become powerful enough to take on a being that even the gods themselves fear.This is my first story and it blends many different elements and styles. It's a bit darker than most of what I have read on Royal Road, but even with that, I hope you give it a try, and I hope you like it!

Information

Status: Hiatus
Year: 2021
Author: Saurian

Royal Road Stats

Rating: 3.7/ 5.0
Followers: 479
Views: 190,426

Chapters(53 total)

Reviews

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

Community Reviews(10)

GruRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
Those first few chapters were pretty ugly and strange, but as I've been reading this story just keeps growing on me. It’s long winded and slow, but it’s different, and in a good way.
Story:
The story is hard to explain; it’s an isekai where a guy from earth who says he used to be some special forces bad*** but then goes on to talk about how now he’s old and fat and bald gets reincarnated into a lizardman, gets beat up a lot, and tries to find a place for himself. I thought it would be action and adventure, and it has some action, but it’s more detached and it feels more like a slice of life to me. There’s a lot of crafting and exploring and there is some humor but it’s usually pretty subtle, but what is leaving the biggest impression this story makes on me is that it is very, very dark. The fights that get described are vivid and gory and disturbing, and it doesn’t go the same route as most of these novels where all these harrowing near death experiences are happy go lucky and you’re safe because you’ve got half of a plan. This is one of the first novels I’ve read on RR where the place really does seem dangerous and brutal. It’s way darker than I’m used to, but it’s good.
Style:
The weakest category imo. I know it’s a first novel, but stylistically it could really use some work, especially those first chapters. The story thus far is a first-person point of view litRPG that clear plans on following the old weak to strong progression, but where I’m at the main character is still weak. I don’t care for the system being used, it feels clunky and restrictive rather than flexible and organic, but as the story has progressed it does seem more consistent and better balanced than is normal for RR.
Beyond that, the author tends to ramble a lot. The entire story is delivered in a 4th wall breaking conversational format, like he’s just telling you the story, sometimes past tense, sometimes present tense, but he acts like you’re a voice in his head and he’s just talking to you.
IFuNI05Royal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
Reviewed at chapter 36.
It's definitely a slow burn, but that's what makes it so awesome is the author took the time to do the world/character building and lay the stage for an immersive story.
I also love how the story feels like the MC telling you his story and you get to listen along to his train of thoughts or when he's theorycrafting. I think this is great compared to following along a story thinking what an idiot or random spaz the MC is. Or when he's crafting it doesn't zoom into the details of what material it is or how hard he hammers or focuses or how the MC gets a sudden epitany and everything is different afterwards.
And of course, the realism, it feels realistic to me, like the actions and thoughts of the MC feel like something a real person would go through rather than having a MC isekai and then suddenly start munchkinning the crap out of their new world starting the instant they're pushed out of their mom. Currently at chapter 36 I believe
we're right at the point where the MC begins the ramp up to power, this is where Saurian is going to make or break the story for me based on the power creep (Pressure's on!). Also people die, like in a life-threatening situation, people die, because THAT'S WHAT HAPPENS IN A LIFE-THREATENING SITUATION.
I'll still enjoy the story regardless of how it'll turn out from this point, but I think this is the inflection point of a great or a good story.
Keeping an eye on this one!
Oh yeah, constructive criticism... it gets kind of wordy at times. Sorry, not too great at giving reviews, but hey if you can try writing a story, I can try writing a review.
King FritoRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
Style - The author writes the story in a different way than one would expect and it's something I find interesting, the story is written first person with the mc basically commenting to a voice in his head (at least that's how I would explain it).
Story - Good but not much actual plot, the mc seems to have no real goal except level which isn't bad but having some. long and short term goals would be very nice.
Grammar - Great with no issues that I have noticed.
Character - Very good, these characters seem like they are actually people and not just a 2D cutout of one.
Misc - I like that the system isn't perfect and has depth to it, instead of being default all powerful and perfect system #3000. It's also nice that the mc is getting a good power boost now. Hopefully the author keeps up with the interesting ideas. One idea would be for the mc to make schematics of unique class spells (that may of been from extinct monsters or monster exclusive classes)instead of just using his ability to get discounts (and anybody who knows where the spell blueprint from a heart attack).
Notes -the story gets much better the further in you go.
Overall a great novel that has bad reviews because people didn't stick with it.
LilleneRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
The system is very similar to a D20 campaign - not quite identical, but with many of the same oddities. As someone who has played the crafter in a few campaigns (and GM'd for others as well), a lot of this is familiar complaints (especially nonmagical items taking forever to make - it's realistic but doesn't line up well with magical items). The way HP works .... yeah.
I like the idea of the Architect class, but I'd probably tweak the power curve before I used it in a game; the curve as it stands works well for the story, though.
The one thing that doesn't feel like a D&D campaign is the number of character deaths. They work for the story.
Style: This honestly feels like a tabletop roleplaying session in a lot of ways, with a couple of players that are good about having the characters roleplay together.
Story: I'm having fun. It's not a huge quest to Fix Things, it's about a guy in a fairly unfortunate situation trying to figure out a way to get ahead, and managing it (with some serious bumps).
Grammar: It's fine. Occasionally grandiloquent, but deliberately so and in character.
Characters: By far the two most well developed characters are the main character and the one who survives to the end. The mage and priest both gave a feeling that there were depths to explore, but never got there. The fighter doesn't have much of a character, but I suppose that's reasonable.
Side characters aren't developed much at all, but that seems to fit the main character's personality. They have enough to know who's talking and are consistent.
Overall, decent character development for as long as the story is so far.
Overall: It's an enjoyable story. It's not fast, but it does get to the crafting promised in the title in a reasonable time frame. It requires pretty much exactly the same suspension of disbelief as playing a tabletop game, so expect that. It's worth checking out to see if you like it.
NilsyRoyal Road
★★★★★ 4.5
Like the long distance runner mentality of the main character.
There is non of that overblown reaction to small things its a struggle to survive and its just take one step of at the time.
It has a fairly "zoomed out" narration which to me is very relaxing and meditative.
There are bad things about the story but if your having a good time reading does it matter?
ItkovanRoyal Road
★★★★★ 4.5
The story starts off with the MC having been a military man, no longer in his prime having spent the last few years working in the office rather than the field.
While the story starts off slow, we're being introduced to the lizardfolk that he has been reborn to and given an idea on how they as a people "function".
We get to see the "discrimination" of the "system" where it "witholds" information about classes that one have not been exposed to, so you can't have had no interaction with a mage and expect to have a magic class be available to you when it's time to choose your class...
Also, the MC does not appear to be getting "OP" any time soon.
While if it took about 30 chapters for the MC to reach level 3, i believe that the readers should now have a good idea on what kind of personality the MC has, even if the MC at times interact with humans using far to advanced/complicated phrases, sometimes even appearing as a "tryhard noble".
While the "overly eloquent lizard" routine to me personally is annoying, i'm sure some might find it funny.
Outside of "lizard eloquence", the buildup of characters and world have so far been satisfactory for me and i'll put the story in my followed faves.
Story-flow have been consistent and i've not had any issues with grammar or spelling that would make me pause my reading.
Pirate-CaptainRoyal Road
★★★★ 4.0
You know what it's ok although I would like it to be more about lizard people and have some more overt racism because still it's a hated species but it's an ok book if you want a monster story it's really up to you to decide if you like this kind of book
Granz TacRoyal Road
★★★★ 3.5
Honestly, the story starts interesting but mellows out pretty quickly, Worldbuilding is good but don't overdo it. overall it's good but not very smooth. I did try to keep reading until chapter 41, I give up, it kinda reminds me of a game X3 where I expect an awesome space battle and space kingdom-building, not Excel sheet,
Style: The writing style almost changed multiple times but keep turning back multiple times. A blocky wall of text is common, sometime I need to outline certain text as an anchor to read the rest of the paragraph. also, the text changed style multiple times, I need an active override to keep text not soring my eye.
Grammar: it's smooth, with no awkward wording or snag but some paragraph needs a breakdown.
Story: it's interesting honestly nonhuman mc with not very intact human mind in the beginning but quickly disappear, race change turned to quirk not feature. later it becomes a weird-looking Homan trope. the story is a really slow burn. in fact, I skipping chapters because feeling too dry.
My main interest is in the nonhuman community, I thought the story going to be kingdom-building, where our mc try to bring primitive or tribal culture to a more advanced one while dealing with culture clash or shock, but I was disappointed when mc going on the adventurer route, also dialogue is barebone until our mc met human.
Character: There is some interesting scene but most of it feels like a rant... MC is weak almost like plot or maybe feature? well, it's nice at the beginning but quickly became old.
He set sight really far away future not on the present, as he keeps trying 'how to become strong in the late game' not 'What I can do now' or 'Can I use it for advantages'
IldoradoRoyal Road
★★★★ 3.5
This novel had serious potential, the idea is really nice. but I think it fell short.
The issue comes with world building, author made so that it does looks like virtual reality game rather than like reincarnation in other world, because the world you painted is quite absurd.
This world has the most invasive system I ever seen, beyond reality breaking health mechanics, ressurection and reincarnation system and list can go on and on. I can't in any way immerse in this world because of that.
librarysmilesRoyal Road
★★★★ 3.5
The main character decides to be an architect, which in this story means that, once he meets various requirements, he can replicate any magic and any crafting.
Now, as a former human, the main character has a goal of interacting with more humans.
I think this works as a short story. It completed a story line and has an open ending with the main character setting out to travel once more.