Empirical Gnollage

Self-Published

Community Rating

Description

Murderous bands of gnolls slaughter and vanish! Demons conspire with mortals! The restless dead walk the land of the living! Who can save the Monarchy of Casusia?

Some stories of heroic adventure are noble works of literary art, some are trashy stories of violence and looting, but all of them gloss over a lot of the practical realities of the profession. Our protagonists (a traditional, if "unoptimized", ensemble of characters) realize this, but they take up the profession anyway.

Empirical GnollagebyEpicanis (pseud.)is licensed underCC BY-SA 4.0

Updates at least once per week!

Okay, are they gone?

TTRPG Players and DMs: this is a simulated "sandbox" campaign, and the "system" is the well-known Dungeons and Dragons 5th edition SRD. My challenge here is to create a coherent, logically-consistent, and entertaining story within the constraints of the rules as I would want to run them in a "live" game. I'll be exploring how to interpret the rules of the official SRD in ways that make a good story while avoiding "exploits" and the rules intruding into the narrative. Our protagonists are starting as level 1 characters of classes defined in theCreative-Commons licensed SRD. The setting will try to stick to the same tropes, themes, and interpretations that are common to the commercial materials as much as it can without trespassing on anyone's Intellectual Precious.

Brief explanations of where the "system" fits into the narrative will be provided assubtle "hovertext" tooltips, with more details to be posted separately elsewhere.

Everything I publish around "Empirical Gnollage" is offered under theCreative Commons Attribution ShareAlikelicense, including custom subclasses, spells, items, locations, characters, creatures, and plothooks that show up in the story, and in supplemental material. This story will not be "stubbed" and put behind a paywall anywhere.

And, if you don't care about any of that, you can still enjoy the story all by itself. Thanks for reading!

Information

Status: Ongoing
Year: 2023
Author: Epicanis

Royal Road Stats

Rating: 4.6/ 5.0
Followers: 125
Views: 102,012

Chapters(167 total)

Reviews

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

Community Reviews(5)

Alec LownesRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
...you'll like this!
Epicanis brings a delightfully realistic cast to their fantasy story with a steadfast adherence to DnD rules and descriptions, along with helpful explainers along the way! Fans of the Adventure Zone or Critical Role will enjoy!
Style: This story has an incredible amount of scene-setting, which does the work justice. Everything has its place from the wooden tables to the fire-engulfed candles, and many objects that are described have direct implications on the scene or characters they're in. Not only the objects, but each character is also described beautifully and in such a way that I wish my own spartan style would be more like theirs. You won't leave a scene wondering what the setting looked like, I'll tell you that right now.
Grammar: Nothing out of the ordinary. I didn't notice anything awkward or incorrect.
Story: At chapter 7 we're just ramping up into the story, getting the party together so to speak. The meeting between this junior adventurer group and the retired group gives a sense of future progression to the party, almost like a little spoiler. If they continue using DnD rules, and I have no doubt they will, then we're going to see some truly epic characters rise out of this.
Character: Man oh man, the characters! Each member of the party has their own personality, own quirks, and style of speaking in line with their lore-accurate backstory/race/class. It's so clear who is speaking at every line I hardly need to read the speaker attribution. The quirks are hilarious, and everyone acts just how you would expect in this world of dragons and gnolls.
Overall, I highly recommend! As someone who has played DnD a few times over the years and who has listened to a fair amount of realplay podcasts, this tickled my fancy immediately. I can't wait to see how the party and their newfound member/mascot will fare in the future!
Kameron HaleRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
This is the kind of light-hearted, witty, charming story which I would love to write, but I’m just not clever enough. There are plays on words and little details and references, especially related to D&D, which I catch and grin madly about. This makes me simultaneously delighted and envious because I feel smart for noticing them, but I know I’d never in a million years have come up with them myself. (The story’s title is in itself an example of this.)
Empirical Gnollage is written with precise attention to every detail, from 5e game rules to the logic (or lack thereof) underlying them to the words with which the story is painted. Grammar errors are nonexistent. At the same time, there is a sense of joy threaded into every line that is almost child-like in its purity.
Every character is based on one you’d find in your typical D&D game, and yet there’s just enough of a twist on the stereotype to make each one unique. And each one is infused with oodles of personality which shines through in their dialogue and behavior.
You can tell the author is having a blast writing this. The enthusiasm is highly contagious and nigh impossible to resist. (But who’d want to resist?) If you’re looking for something super-serious and depressing, this is not it. If you’re looking for something that just makes you happy—especially if you’re a D&D fan, although I don’t think that’s required—then look no further. Al, Bote, Wikwocket, and company have got you covered.
R. C. VettaRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
Have you ever read something so good you wish you'd written it? That how I feel with this story. To hell with these restrictions this gets 6 out of 5 stars. That's how good it is! It magically conjures an extra star into existence.
Style- This story is a finely tuned Rube Goldberg machine that I could watch do its thing for hours. I expected D&D, and I was gifted the experience of D&D through third person narrative. This is pure unadulterated creativity.
Grammar- The author is the most diligent error comment fixer I've ever seen. The grammar was already good to begin with so now this thing is polished and all the more beautiful to read.
Story- There is no weakness in this story. It does everything well. I don't see how anyone could read through chapter 5 and not love Gruntle. Every D&D party needs a Gruntle.
Character- This is a master class in developing a party of distinct characters simultaneously. They have inside jokes! They have outside jokes! They don't always agree on things, but they work together like a dysfunctional band of misfits should! Then put that on top of a gnoll and watch the magic happen!
(I think I mixed up the words in that last sentence 🤔)
On a serious note, read this. It is criminal this isn't more popular. This is worth paying for and somehow its free.🤯
TaxmanPiRoyal Road
★★★★★ 4.5
I prefer humorous books that also have good plots and action, such as the Discworld series or Spellsinger series. This story may not be at quite that level, but is a good step on the way. Lots of oddball humor, a plot that flows well, and a good storyteller combine to make this a story well worth reading. The characters are nicely presented. There is not much background but I do not feel it is needed here; sufficient knowledge of the characters is provided as the story develops. Each character has their own role; a nerd wanting to be a warrior (also the straitman to the comedy duo), a serious combat cleric, a goofball rogue (part 1 of the comedy duo), and the final member of the party, whom I will not describe to avoid spoiling the surprise (part 2 of the comedy duo, being a character who is unknowingly funny). I hope this eventually gets published (following some serious editing to catch numerous typos) as this is a book I would like to read multiple times; I am actually on my second read-through of what's available (about 160 chapters so far). Looking forward to continuing my enjoyment.
the_Enn_GeeRoyal Road
★★★ 3.0
Style: The style is plain with little outstanding features. It reads very similar to what is currently in the popular demand.
Story: The story is incredibly slow to start. As of this point (10k words) nothing has *really* happened. Most of it is talk with the first few pages going to characterisation but after that is done, serving little purpose. Overall, the story seems to follow the recorded script of a session of D&D among friends with little unexpected or special happening. The world itself is also lifted straight from D&D as it seems, including the titular Gnolls, created specifically for the Forgotten Realms roleplaying world.
Grammar: The language is mostly spotless, has very little mistakes and a normal vocabulary that is properly put to use.
Character: The characters are minutely detailed in their intricate relations to one another with much emphasis on their shared history and their unique personalities. Sadly, they all talk exactly the same way and have the same sense of humour. Individual characteristics appear little and at best only in what they say, not how they say it or how they act.
Overall: The story is not bad by any stretch of the word but does little to distinguish itself. A medium experience worthy of a look if one wishes to spend an idle afternoon.