Dungeons & Gangsters

Self-Published

Community Rating

Description

A note from the author:Esteemed readers, Dungeons & Gangsters has been years in development. Your humble bard along with an amazing team of illustrators now present it to you in its final form. Listen then, brethren, to its introduction:In a worlddominated by magical corporations an ex-con takes to the streets to regain his former glory. But will the Heavens give him his redemption or will he embrace the powers of Hell to reach the pinnacle of power?What you won't see in this novel:-A stereotypical protagonist who is out to save the world-Instant love and romance-Villains who are evil for no reasonWhat you will see:-A protagonist with realistic pursuits: money, respect, love-World building that is detailed but not distracting-Realistic characters and social dynamics-Professional illustrations-Adrenaline spiking fight scenes-An immersive cinematic writing style-Coke and succubus strippers-Orc gym brosVisitdungeonsandgangsters.comorPatreonfor info on the TTRPG and to support the author and artists behind this work

Information

Status: Hiatus
Year: 2025
Author: MarcoElBardo

Royal Road Stats

Rating: 4.6/ 5.0
Followers: 141
Views: 8,103

Chapters(15 total)

Reviews

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

Community Reviews(6)

ElAlexCatRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
I am loving the story so far. I follow it on its website and Patreon too. It’s a very unique twist on tropes that are fairly familiar in fantasy and especially in urban fantasy. If you like antiheroes borderline villains (think Tony Montana or Tony soprano or even Walter White) then you’re gonna love this. It has a really detailed story and world. The world is particularly exciting because we haven’t even seen most of the criminal organizations or gangs, or even how the cops work though we definitely do see a bit of it. Can’t recommend it enough. And the art just puts it over the top. One more thing is that there is progression in the story, but not with screens or stats or anything like that. What progresses is the gold and the rank within the gang of the main character. That might be a dealbreaker for a lot of people here, but I don’t think it has to be. It’s a good change of pace, and still gives you that sense of progression that a lot of stories do. The character is an alchemist as well, and he progresses with potions and weapons and things like that.
LazadoreyRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
This story really took me by surprise. It's not like anything on RR tbh. Now that also means that it's not gonna be as popular as a litrpg (though it does have some progression elements). You have to enjoy some experimental type of writing to really get into it. But the right audience will absolutely love it. It's just overall an amazing story and a great main character especially. You get the sense that the author has really fleshed out the MC's backstory, like... a lot. So you almost feel like this could be some HBO drama where everything is really well thought out and realistic, all the character interactions all the fight scenes even. And it seems like this is the conclusion of the first "episode" and I was totally surprised that I actually got emotionally invested in the outcome... I don't want to give too much away by describing it but basically what happens between the MC and this old lady that he's helping out is wild stuff. Totally recommend it to readers that enjoy urban fantasy and an antihero and super descriptive writing.
MaxSabbaticalRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
In this story we’re plunged into a crime story featuring a main character, a hobgoblin named Teek, who is ruthless, resourceful, a criminal through and through, but he’s got a complicated past that the first episode hints at (The story is broken up into episodes and this first one was about a 2 hour read.) The story opens with Teek in a dingy secret basement trying to use a machine called a “dream chamber.” What does the dream chamber do? It’s a mystery. We’re given hints that it has some ability to let the user experience an alternate reality. But Teek is using it for some unique purpose, as it’s suggested that most people use the dream chamber to experience a night of bliss, but Teek adamantly states that this is not why he wants to use it. In any case it’s very expensive to use the machine (6000 gold) So, instead of paying in coin, our MC will pay carrying out a job. His assignment is to collect a 12,000 gold debt for the chamber’s owner, by any means necessary. The story takes off from there, but Even from this brief set up, you can see that it hits the notes of a crime story, as well as a DND session (getting a task with a promised reward, collecting a debt, classic stuff). But slowly the story broadens to include things that are fresh to both genres. We get hints of Teek’s past and foreshadowing of possible future events. The story makes a lot of promises in everything it’s setting up (the main outer conflict involving gangs and cops, Teek’s past and his current inner conflict, the nuanced world building), and normally it might even be too many, but based on how well written this first episode is, I would bet that it will deliver on all the promises with a bang (pun intended).
MortonsonsRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
So just like it claims it’s like dnd mixed with gta but as you read it you realize it has a lot more to it. I’ve read ahead on the author’s website too and the story is only getting deeper. There’s a lot of background lore that’s slowly unpacked, but at the forefront there’s always a more immediate faster paced plot too. The art is really top notch as well. Surprising that more stories don’t use illustrations like that. If you want to see a recognizable fantasy elements portrayed in a totally fresh way I would definitely recommend D&G.
P.S. Just wait until Teek starts revealing how he learned about the book of the Red Prince. Epic stuff.
SandLotRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
Wow, what a fun story! This is an incredibly imaginative fantasy world, full of characters that are all different in what kind of species or powers they have.
Teek is a really interesting character – tough guy with a mysterious background, but also has heart. Wahira is a hoot! These two make for a hilariously wacky duo.
The action is really well written – there were times when I couldn’t put this down, it was that good. Loved all the surprises too.
So glad I found this story, can’t wait for more!
XoloRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
I found this story through the author’s email list and I’m so glad I did. It takes a lot of urban fantasy and noir tropes but takes a fresh approach at them. Basically it’s a shady criminal type, Teek, who’s trying to earn gold to use this mysterious sort of machine, a dream chamber, which has some kind of magical abilities. So he takes on a job to earn the gold to use it. From there it takes some surprising turns. Overall the pacing and the style were great. I can really get into an antihero/villanous MC when done right, so I was onboard from the beginning. Additionally, there is a lot of nuance to the characters and their interactions. For example there is an ex lover or girlfriend of the MC’s that he runs into and the way it’s portrayed really captures that awkward feeling of running into an ex with unresolved feelings. Plus the action scenes are great. Really feels like a movie, an anime in this case based on the art. Oh, the art, it’s awesome!
However, all that being said there are some caveats. The author takes some experimental approaches like creating a slang vocabulary and switching from present to past tense. But these things are used in the right places and amounts imho. It’s not distracting but add a unique feel to the story. You can tell the author really put a lot of thought into how the story would be told. But yeah you have to be open to “literary” sort of language and style in some places and a morally gray MC to really enjoy this story.
Overall I can’t wait to see what happens next!