Grand System Vending

Self-Published

Community Rating

Description

When obelisks emerge across the globe, towering over every major city with ominous screens prophesying a stark ultimatum—adapt or perish—Tom, a software developer from Texas, finds himself thrust into a reality where the line between the digital and the physical is irrevocably blurred. In this new, treacherous world, vending machines have evolved into lifelines, serving as miniature, unmanned storefronts equipped to arm humanity's reluctant adventurers.

As dungeons surface and monsters claim dominion over Earth, Tom and his band of survivors navigate the perilous ruins of civilization. But when these critical vending machines begin to malfunction, spewing forth corrupted items under the influence of a malevolent entity, their struggle for survival takes a dire turn.

With time running out and the shadow of an even greater menace looming on the horizon—space pirates, no less—Tom and his friends must unravel the mystery of the corrupted machines. Their journey will take them through monster-infested wastelands and into the heart of dungeons unknown, where the very fabric of reality seems twisted by the whims of the System.

Grand System Vending is a gripping tale set in a post-apocalyptic world where technology and fantasy collide. Join Tom and his companions as they battle not just for their survival, but for the fate of a world teetering on the brink of an even greater cosmic confrontation.

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[participant in the Royal Road Writathon challenge]

Information

Status: Hiatus
Year: 2025
Author: maxwellauthor

Royal Road Stats

Rating: 3.9/ 5.0
Followers: 637
Views: 33,656

Chapters(10 total)

What readers say about Grand System Vending

“I'm on chapter 16 of the story so far. I've enjoyed it immensely. If you're looking for a fun litrpg story to act as a kind of palate cleanser, this is a great one. It does follow a few tropes such as only gamers really taking the most advantage of the syst…”
rhexasRoyal Road5.0 / 5
“Absolutely fabulous story! Well written and just light enough to stand in the shadows! The basis of a vending system for loot and consumables is a great idea an being able to upgrade their vehicle with more vehicular experience is unique. I havent seen the…”
Dark VoiceRoyal Road5.0 / 5

Reviews

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

Community Reviews(10)

rhexasRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
I'm on chapter 16 of the story so far. I've enjoyed it immensely. If you're looking for a fun litrpg story to act as a kind of palate cleanser, this is a great one. It does follow a few tropes such as only gamers really taking the most advantage of the system and everyone else just needs their guidance and that's pretty annoying, but not enough to rate it down because algorithms are brutal things.
The characters all have their own personalities with some overlap b/c of working in the same game studio.
What I really like about this story is that it immediately starts out with a group of characters so no lone hero's. Also, these guys can actually manage talking to people and at least have the tact of a young adult. Okay, mostly that's just Tom. But...charisma. What can you do? Additionally, the loot possibilities are looking pretty fun. The classes seem fairly straight forward so I don't think we'll see much innovation outside of their archetype, but would love to be proven wrong.
Bottom-line: I am really enjoying the book. It's humorous in places and entertaining in most parts. If the author can take the classes to some unique places and keeps the balance such that the main characters don't just steam roll everything then I think this will be a great book.
Only minor editing issues here and there. Not enough to really stop my reading stride.
Dark VoiceRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
Absolutely fabulous story! Well written and just light enough to stand in the shadows! The basis of a vending system for loot and consumables is a great idea an being able to upgrade their vehicle with more vehicular experience is unique. I havent seen the like before now. The characters are all very believable and not over the top caricatues of personalities as some authors do. Both ways work, but Ryan seems to be keeping them real. Even though that rogue character Jay is a bit weird, the rest are awesome! I'm team Jerky and Geneva! Had to wait for each chapter to post. Keep it up, Ryan, or I will have to come leave a stinky fish on your digital doorstep!
IdrasiilRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
This story has everything! Funny characters, banter, dead goblins, and a really cool system that has Vending machines as the main source of survival gear. Tom and his friends seem just like my D&D group and I'm instantly involved with them. The story has great action and a steady pace while building the world around them in a way that is familiar (because its Earth) yet strange and new. The classes are familiar but with twists such as the new take on a Warlock class and the parton is my favorite character. This is something that will be on my mind all day as I go to work. The addition of the vehicle and making it upgradeable is a fun addition. Some minor editing to be done, but the author seems involved in the comments and willing to make the story better. I can't wait to keep reading!
I have read a lot of LitRPG stories and books, many of which have taken on similar ideas or beginning to advance to more of a slow burn. This story has action around just about every corner and really keeps me involved. It reminds me a little of the older style author's writing and makes me glad that there are those out there keeping that alive.
John MickRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
"Sh*ttiest drive to work ever for the protagonists," a fun ride for the rest of us. It never occurred to me that Goblins transported to our world would immediately start in on mass murder. Like, in broad daylight. No tactics, no terms of surrender, just commuter-cide. Of course. What else would they do? Hopefully our heroes can skim pop-up instructions fast enough to stay alive. Judgement call of seat-belts broke their way, but I wonder if their luck will hold out...
Knight LightRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
I really enjoying this story so far and am excited to see where the author takes the characters next. This isn't the typical genre I read, but I was captivated by the characters when they went from a mundane day of working to the world changing, monsters appearing, and needing to band together to survive all while you get to know them and become invested in their progress and who you meet along the way.
Speaking of - I'm quite invested in the dog. I really hope he survives the entire book.
BosloeRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
This second book has continued perfectly from book 1. Still loving the content and especially the slightly darker elements.
I love the unique approach the story took, utilising vending machines, which are everywhere in today's society, as the basis for equipment and character growth.
The banter and humour may not be to everyone's tastes, but I counter this with the statement that this story is a fun-filled ride.
Whether you are after a quick snack or a more delicious meal, the vending machine offers. It is easy to read and effortless to follow the story and the characters as they combat the new apocalypse.
Roll on, Space Pirates!
RocksNPebblesRoyal Road
★★★ 3.0
I can’t do the dialogue in this one. A group of glib and childish jokes and banter fill in the dialogue and also operate as descriptive text as they’ll talk about what they are seeing. ‘Are those freaking goblins man! Woah, let’s shoot em in the face…great idea! By the way did I ever tell you, my best friend, about my impoverished childhood?’
Their class choices and casual lacksidasical attitudes during the first moments and hours of the apocalypse are just out of tune with how grim their scenario is…they just witnessed people being stabbed to death and torn apart in bloody ways and are joking around 5 minutes later ‘you better catch up and read your tutorial buttercup bro!’ These are first world tech bro gaming company employees, not veteran mercenaries fresh from some imperial colonial war zone….this is not for me. Nor are their ‘jokes’ funny, it is just banter from those annoying guys no one else likes. Teenage boys one upping each other in a dumb chimp game of geeky dominance displays.
impRoyal Road
★★★ 3.0
Grand System Vending is a take on system Apocalypse which is fairly by the numbers. It follows several game developers that read through the tutorial and get a head start on the general populace.
The system itself is, at the point of this review, more restrained than is typical of this subgenre. I got the impression the author has planned out the mechanics more than many do; however, it also feels quite restrictive and a little too gamelike, at least to me.
The story, at the point of this review, has been mostly not there. Much of the intro chapters is used for system mechanics exposition and early system apocalypse character moments that you have probably read before. While none of this is bad, I found it boring. The story has so far been very character and dialogue driven; however, the lead characters all feel quite similar and their interactions/banter didn't work for me.
This is a story that I think will improve and grow with time. How much you enjoy it will depend on how much you like this kind of apocalypse setup and how tolerant you are to the fairly generic early chapters. I found myself tiring of it very quickly and have decided to move on. I may check back in on it in a few months to see how it has progressed.
JustaknightRoyal Road
★★ 2.0
Sounded interesting so gave this a shot. Twenty chapters in and that’s far enough for me. Premise is pretty standard apocalypse system. So far characters are pretty one dimensional, dialogue quite stilted and no real interesting character development.
with some solid editing it could be okay but in current form there are better options.
i do appreciate the writing and putting yourself out there. More than I could do. Just not the one for me.
juenger1701Royal Road
★ 0.5
I tried to keep going but every. single. character in this story is so shockingly stupid that it beggers belief from the endless chapters of the exact same "introspection" am I doing the right thing (not intentionally) am I a good leader (not in the least) to being in a world where guns are proven to be a full threat against enemies but nearly every character completely ignores that they can fight at range and charges in like some Conan wannabe after getting literal "thousands of rounds" of ammo leading to 3 more chapters of introspection on how could they have prevented the 30 people from dieing (use the freaking guns on the zombies you moron put the freaking ax away) to the duel against the megalomaniac power hungry "rival" that appeared precisely 1 time before that the MC for some unfathomable reason thinks isn't going to be a fight to the death but instead will be a pleasant conversation and now into the literal enemy horde is at the literal gates and no less than 2 different characters ask why someone is killing THE LITERAL ENEMY AT THE GATES and more importantly no one is doing a single thing to I don't know drive the enemy off and conclude the last chapter I am going to waste time on with the reveal that the leader of this grand horde is someone who didn't pose a major threat to a small group halfway through book one but now I'm supposed to buy that he's a major threat to the entire fortified guild