Legend of the Runeforger: A Dwarven Progression Fantasy

Self-Published

Community Rating

Description

Runeforger is now available on Amazon, both in text and with an audiobook narrated by Christopher Tester.

Click here!

A dwarven progression fantasy with a strong emphasis oncrafting

I am just a miner, but I will rise. I will forge the toughest armor, the sharpest weapons. The caverns will know my name.

The life of a miner is one of drudgery. Each chunk of stone you chip away, another shard of your soul crumbles to dust. There is no enjoyment, no riches, no advancement, only pure and unadulterated hopelessness.

But I won’t be a miner forever. I will find what I’m looking for—a shard of reagent—and with it forge a weapon powerful and beautiful enough to get me into a guild and on the path to becoming a runeknight.

I will escape this drudgery. I will become a power to be reckoned with, known to all.

I will make my dead brother proud.

New chapters 4 times a week, Monday to Thursday

Cover art by the talentedFernando Granea(fernandograneaart on Instagram)

Information

Status
Ongoing
Year
2023
Author
Possumtail

Tags

ACTIONFANTASYADVENTUREMAGICMALE LEADNON-HUMAN LEADWAR AND MILITARYGRIMDARKHIGH FANTASYPROGRESSIONDYSTOPIACRAFTING

Royal Road Stats

Rating
4.2/ 5.0
Followers
2,756
Views
1,479,055

Chapters(518 total)

Reviews

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

Community Reviews(10)

  • C00l_BeansRoyal Road
    ★★★★★ 5.0
    This story makes me foam at the mouth with eagerness while i wait for more chapters. I am captivated by Posssumstails writing and this is genuinely, the best thing I have ever read.
    The people in this universe all have meaning, To see out our MC grow and develop these relationships is always impactful for the reader.
    Ive read other reviews where people have said every character is the same *insert trainer guy* But I dont feel that way, our MC has learned from trying his crazy ideas and we see as he learns from the people around him. If by chance someone does teach him something, they have a reason to.
    The pacing is always reasonable everything comes when it supposes to and nothing in the world is unbelievable
    The story compels you to see when our MC will go, what he will see and what he will become. The feelings I've felt throughout the reading of this book are unexplainable, I've cheered, boo'ed and felt the rush of battle from the authors unique style and ability to write.
    This isn't like any thing I've ever read. I've look for something to itch the urge of this story and nothing compares (many come very close ill admit) But this story will forever be in my heart. Nothing can compare to the world made in this story
    Tolkien would be proud.
  • Cassius038Royal Road
    ★★★★★ 5.0
    I love this story. This is the best read I've found on this site so far. The characters fell unique and fully fleshed out. The MC learns and grows from his mistakes. I can't wait to see how the rest of the runeforgers path works out. Keep up the great work Possumtail
  • Conman5534Royal Road
    ★★★★★ 5.0
    This story gets better and better the more you read it. The character development is some of the best I've ever experienced, it is very good. I also usually get bored of reading books around the 1000 page mark and this book has kept me intrigued for the entirety of it.
  • SilverHorseRoyal Road
    ★★★★★ 5.0
    Great and promising refreshing new writing style! this is clearly a new style based on older similar type style for the specific genre! A great as fresh approach and take on a genre style and type category we - or at least I - was fed up  with from overly used in even great stories and concept type settings of world + structural build of characters as story board and the core content - but sadly violated creatively due to "all others" using the style and basis of "Doom" mixed with Fahrenheit 911 and "A Space Odyssey" - "ill"ly" mated with Stephen King mixed with Dean R Koontz ; obviously = a blender hi-speed mind-fuck inducing ADHD-chaos wether or not one has ADHD as I do! Which is exactly HOW one fucks up an otherwise else wise GREAT creatively sound and good story!
    THIS ONE HOWEVER DOES NOT CROSS INTO BEING WRITTEN AS  ABOVE DEFINED DESCRIBED GENRE TYPE!
    Which deserves me using CAPITALS to bring this to attention!
    Thank You author for a great job writing a delightful read and for using a new SUPER CREATIVE type of style which is somewhat comparable and slightly analogues to Ralts Bloodthorne's "First Contact" and "Nova Wars" type style. BUT is yet still only that - retaining your unique type style WHICH FULLY AND WHOLLY integrates the story into its setting and world!
    Best regards, Kim SilverHorse - short story Cyberpunk author of mixed type style immersive massively desciptive detailed world society universe and environment in every situationasinteraction of heavily inspired mixed styles of 3 favourite authors, William Gibson+Bruce Sterling and Dean Koontz as Mark Brandis - CON TEMPORARILY BEING 100% ANALOGUE TO MY MOST FAVOURITE AUTHOR'S NOVELS:
    "First Contact" - "World Keeper" "The Mech Touch" and "The Death Mage Who doesn't want a Fourth Time" + "The Unwanted Undead Adventurer" - and lastly - "My Dungeon Life" and "The Oracle Paths".
    Thank You all for bearing with my ADHD + AUTISM ASPERGER'S SYNDROME!
    = when I do describe SERIOUSLY - well... I don"t omit ANYTH
  • TacomasterRoyal Road
    ★★★★★ 5.0
    I love this book. Zathar constantly is tempted and struggling. He is not a perfect protag. He is just trying to survive in a world destined to oppose him. His crafts are flawed in many ways but their strength too great to go without if he wants to survive.
    Thanks for the regular chapters!
  • TheorangeRoyal Road
    ★★★★★ 5.0
    Author is goated, releases high quality decent length chapters in a relatively short time frame with consistency, with (I believe, could be mixing up my authors here) a new baby in the house, all while responding to basically every comment and writing extra to set up for patreon.
    Every character is crafted to detail, plausible reactions, complex relationships, the author even conveys the recklessness of youth in the main character for the first part of the story, every character develops even if in some minor way.
    I haven't noticed any issues with grammar, even the ones that do appear are consistent, and I think are quirks of dwarven speech the author is incorporating. There was a present and past tense issue at the start, but it got resolved.
    Absolutely love the style of the author, love his description and dialogue, honestly, just s tier story, he evokes emotion so well when he does and is very good at leaning into his strengths.
    The plot is absolutely amazing, but I don't want to spoil it.
    Once again, love this story and can't wait to see where it goes, author is goated with the sauce fr fr.
    How is this not 200 words long? I call bullshit
  • catgymRoyal Road
    ★★★★★ 5.0
    This is single-handedly the best work of fiction I have read.
    When It starts I admit it could use a bit of polish but just you wait because the goddamn world this shapes up to become is unbelievably fascinating and interesting.
    From the runic language to the culture the world building couldn’t be any better. And the story that accompanies it makes you adore the author and lament for every cliffhanger.
    This fiction is too good for me to express in words. Please read it and support the author
  • trasen56Royal Road
    ★★★★★ 5.0
    This novel is incredibly unique, one of the few I've read that truely takes advantage of the fantastical aspects of its world. In many stories dwarves, elves, and other fantasy species will all act almost identically to humans, with only lipservice being paid to what makes them different.
    This story is at its best when it doesn't do that.
    A few of my favourite examples:
    In a normal story, the father of a acharacter will die, fueling his story forward. In one of the arcs for this, the son of a dwarf dies, but thanks to the long life span of the dwarves, despite being old enough to have a family, the father goes through a whole arc that normally can't be done with older characters.
    The culture and worldbuilding surounding smithing and runes is great. For example, no dwarf will fight with weapons and armour he didn't make himself, and its seem as a great disrespect to melt down other dwarves equipment, so the progression of the story has a very natural feel as the MC is always getting better materials to forge better equipment, but never wandering into Deus Ex Maxhina magic items to use.
    A small guild that was previously looked down on and belittled is given support and encouragement, elevating themselves to legends when chasing vengeance against a dragon that decimated them.
    Unfortunately, the story sometimes forces a more normal pacing and tropes, and this is when I feel its at its weakest.
    Overall, if you are a fan of dwarves and dark fantasy I definitely recommend this. The culture seems to lean into a slightly darker, more gritty take on dwarves that is fascinating to read about.
  • EgdodRoyal Road
    ★★★★★ 5.0
    Before reading this review: know that if I contradict myself, it is because the story has both - it's got a wide variety.
    The story has:
    Great progression
    Great characters
    Great writing
    A fleshy world that I've fallen in love with
    Consistent uploads
    Overarching character development and connectivity although there are on rare occasions:
    Parts of the story that feel too short or long: some sections could use more filler and others less.
    Overall uneven narrative pacing (though this infrequently works to the story's benefit much of the time it could use some polish)
    Parts of the story that feel either like a throwaway or loose ends barely tied - but Possumtail has continuously impressed me by gaining in skill as the story goes on and managing to fill in holes later, so I doubt most will stay that way for long.
    But it's still one of the best stories on this website, although not one of the more typical ones! It's not your average slop progression fantasy.
    Though I do wish characters more consistently recurred beyond the main cast for an arc, I'll keep reading, and if the author ever goes back for edits, revisions, or even a rewrite I still plan to stick with this amazing work.
  • JordanihowlerRoyal Road
    ★★★★★ 5.0
    This story had a relatively slow start with tension, tragedy, and overall loss being the first 100 chapters. However, this is because the author is a master at payoffs because this tragedy leads to character development, power system progression, and world building in a super unique way. The power system is actually super interesting because of how it coincides with character development. This collision makes it so the story has clear turning points for the MC without just outright saying it. This is extremely satisfying in my opinion. This story’s strongest points are its world building and character development because characters always feel alive even if they are side characters and the world always has just enough mysticism that the detective work needed feels fulfilling. This detective work is also helped along by a healthy amount of foreshadowing for genuine mysteries. These intelligent writing choices are satisfying to reread and definitely make the story something to come back to. I could go on and on in a conversation about how wonderfully made this story is but typing on a phone for this is a pain so just know this is one of my favorite stories of all time and should be more loved.