The Dungeon Plague

Self-Published

Community Rating

Description

Failed actors usually get the sort end of the stick don't they? With a lack of job prospects in the field he actually wants to be in Thomas' life isn't going anywhere. Working as a bellhop for a nice hotel serving rude guests that he's not paid enough to deal with is the worst. At least that's what he thought until the world ended and the Dungeon Plague began. Now he's struggling for his life as the machinations of powerful beings come to a close all around him.

Dungeon infestation has begun. Paths have begun integrating. Beware The Dungeons.

My take on the dungeon phenomena and the multiverse through the lens of uninformed Earthlings.

Inspired by Dawn of the Void, Randidly Ghosthound, 12 Miles Below, The Wandering Inn, and Delve.

Information

Status: Hiatus
Year: 2022
Author: Justtryingtofindaway

Royal Road Stats

Rating: 4.5/ 5.0
Followers: 87
Views: 14,102

Chapters(12 total)

Reviews

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

Community Reviews(10)

EverseasRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
Right away I have to admit that I enjoy dungeon stories a lot. And this one delivers on all levels.
The story starts fast and in the first chapter, MC is already inside the dungeon, faced with having to make a lot of tough decisions. It is easy to follow because of a very clear writing style and the absence of grammatical mistakes. Also, the characters are portrayed with enough information that it’s easy to relate and follow them.
Also, there are enough new and different ideas to make this an interesting read. I love the concept of telekinesis and telepathy as a system feature and wish more writers were using them.
So, the bottom line is that I hope the story continues and that soon we all get to enjoy reading more it.
Good luck!
OVDCRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
Style: This has a pretty much normal style. Nothing new, but it is good. 4/5.
Grammar: Didn't see any errors. 5/5.
Story: This is a great take on a tried-and-true plot. It's basically system apocalypse where the main character spawns in a dungeon, with paths and points to put in them. It's normal, but this is definitely a great take on that. Better than books that make many thousands of dollars a month with this plot. 5/5.
Character: The main character acts rationally, without making any desicions that didn't seem like the best, given the information he has. All characters act normally. Well, normally enough, considering that most other characters (at this point) have less then 100 words dedicated to them. A hotel manager wanting high company work time. A hungry person wanting food. In this fantasy setting in real life, this character could definitely exist. 5/5.
So, overall, a really good story. It has a style that kind of feels old, but otherwise, it's the best take on this plot I've ever seen. For the overall score, I'll take the mean. 4+5+5+5=19. 19/4=4.75. 4.75 rounds up to 5. 5/5 overall score.
Definitely a very good story, that I will keep reading. If the author changed his release schedule from once a week with 5k chapters, to 1.5k chapters 5 times a week, I can definitely see this turning into a 20k/month book on Patreon. If the RR community liked this sort of slow release, long chapter, type of book, this would probably be near the top of risig stars.
Eric VanderlipRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
The Dungeon Plague follows the struggles of a man, Thomas, when he walks off an elevator into a deadly swamp. Beware The Dungeon infestation.
Style: a consistent perspective and smooth writing. However, there is an issue with how verbose the text can be. At times, way too much tangential detail is spelled out and information is occationally repeated with different wording. There is also this tendency to overuse some words ("mud" comes to mind). (Hopefully this review is out of date and a round of editing has elevated the story to its true potential.)
Story: events flow flow naturally (also conversations to the extent there is any). Serious thought has been given to the worldbuilding and how things would realistically play out. The pace moves well despite occational wordiness.
Grammar: Easily readable. The minor mistakes do not detract from the story.
Character: Thomas is the cast of The Dungeon Plague, so it's a good thing he's a believable, sympathetic. Great care has gone into this protagonist, his background and motivation. Thomas's reactions, his pain and confusion, to his strange new circumstances drive the narrative.
Conclusion: I recommend The Dungeon Plague for the simple reason that it's a fun read. Thomas's deperate fight for survival makes for a gripping tale.
TharsultRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
This is a starting as a "tower climber" style book, with a focus for the first ten thousand and change words on the first two "rooms" of a dungeon that appears. The dungeon is a bit different than I've seen before, it feels a bit like a mud delta area with brids and crabs and such, perhaps a mangrove forest type biome, with a single safe zone afterwards. The zone itself is nearly as dangerous as the animals.
New ideas here is very much a pro of the story.
I gave this book a 5 on style and grammer, because nothing is cionsistenyl wrong, but I will note the story could benefit from a professional editor. But I also know those are very expensive, and this isn't partucalry worse than stuff you can find on amazon kindle in the dungeon core genre, so I didn't dock points for it. I read all those stories and enjoyed them so I don't want to be a jackass now.
The story is very detailed, but also slow. In ten k words, we have picked basic powers, had two fights, movede through two dungeon rooms. So, if you're looking for detailed, this is the sotory for you, if you're looking for fast paced, not the story.
Speaking of good detail, the author presents a very open-ended, very complete system of powers that can be picked. The number of possible combinations (and therefor, the number of builds we'll presumably encounter later) are staggering. This is probably the part of the story I liked the most, hoenstly. You very much get that desirable "What would I have done in that situation?" feeling of fantasizing about cool builds. What is missing at ten k, when I reviewed this, is how you gain more abiltiies or level them up, so looking forward to that.
As to the character, there is almost zedro dialogue. Most of the story so far is one man's jounrey of surviving, learning his powers, and becoming tougher. The Mc already has a clear arc of "zero to hero" as a bellhop that likes low-key drugs and free time but has little desire to excel in the world that has to learn to survive and grow
greylyRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
This story is one of those rare gems that's truly addicting to read. It manages to be both fresh and realistic; definitely give this one a look!
Style: The author is excellent at conveying emotions in the narration, and the descriptions of the environment are beautiful and never feel excessive. The writer has a really good sense of "prose pacing," wherein the paragraphs flow at the right speed to give events the needed amount of weight without ever feeling like they're dragging on for too long. This is really hard to do, and the author is a natural at it! It makes the story very easy and immersive to read.
Grammar: This is probably the weakest category, and even then the grammar issues are no where near bad enough to make the story unreadable. There's a few fragments here and there and some punctuation problems that can sometimes obscure the excellent writing style. But, as said before, these issues are minor enough that one more editing pass would solve them.
Story: The story is just in its beginning stages, but I aleady love what we've seen so far. The dungeon Thomas ends up in feels unique and like a real, breathing place. I mentioned the pacing in the style section, but it also holds true for the story as well. Thomas learns about the world at a speed that feels realistic, and we get a clear sense of where the story is going (for this first arc, at least!).
Characters: So far the only character I've properly met is Thomas, and he's great. We have a clear sense of the kind of person he is and what drives and motivates him. His thought processes make sense, and it's really easy to sympathize with him because of how likeable he is and how well the author writes his emotions and reactions; the beginning showing his life before the dungeon was already enough for me to root for him. He's very well fleshed out already, and I can't wait to see what sort of growth and development he goes through!
Flying TomatoRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
The Dungeon Plague is an interesting take on both Dungeon and Progression Fantasy web novels. Using a game like system to open paths for people without the ability to use mana in their world to fight off what I presume to be a plague of sort being the namesake of the book.
It is clearly legible and understandable, some things in the story I must take contextually or assume that I will be enlightened later as a sort of promise from the auther which has not been broken. It provides the story in the perspective of the main character Thomas, which allows you to connect better with him as a character as it progresses.
I find it's very easy to differentiate the 'System' narritive of sorts as all paths are shown to the reader in bold making it much easier to understand as you read. Grammatical mistakes are minor and they do not occur often so I typically assume it to be a typo or intentionally left to be explained later.
I feel pleased as the story feels to be going in a very satisfactory and unique way so far, introducing a tense scene from the get go and then quickly allowing you to understand the concept of the dungeons without affecting the story narrative in a negative way.
Overall I suggest this if you're interested in an ongoing Dungeon/Progression fantasy novel and I am excited to see where it goes!
strigidae713Royal Road
★★★★★ 4.5
I mean, I'm following the story, so it's good enough.
Another take on LitRPG genre without many info dumps. Basically we choose something and stick with it without any information of what is it we chose.
I expect the MC is human enough to somehow choose a skill that is totally useless and regretting his choice.
I can see how everyone was pulled into a sudden emergence of dungeon infestation. A kid choosing becoming what he want just because he can. It makes the characters human enough.
A note from me, it seems Thomas accepting his reality without a second thought. A little bit weird. I will probably do the same thing, but I will figure out stuff first like the side character you introduce in then interlude.
Dylan KingRoyal Road
★★★★★ 4.5
Story: The Dungeon Plague is a LitRPG focusing on Thomas as he is thrust from his regular life as an failed actor in a dead end job and into a dungeon world filled with peril. The story begins at a fair clip, with our MC stumbling into the new dungeon world almost immediately. I loved the fast pace intro and immediate sense of danger, and I love that the introduction of the system is utterly bewildering to the MC, leaving him and the reader scrambling for a foothold in this new world.
Characters: Thomas has a touch of blank slate syndrome, especially at the start, but that is beginning to resolve itself as the author pushes the story forward. This is not unusual for the LitRPG genre as many authors like to leave a lot of room for readers to self insert. However, this becomes a problem once the pace has to drop off so that the new world can be reflected on. This is a necessary plot beat, but without looming danger to pull us through the story, we're left alone in a room with Thomas without any side characters for him to bounce off of and keep a hold of the reader's interest.
Style: Clear, solid prose that's easy to read and follow, no complaints here.
Grammar: Same as above.
Overall: The Dungeon Plague is an enjoyable read, with some real promise. The author has created a really interesting world, that really feels dangerous and exciting, and despite some flaws, at this point in the story, I'm excited to see where this one goes and just how much Thomas, and the author, will grow as the story progresses.
FlossinduneRoyal Road
★★★★★ 4.5
This is the first time that I've read a story with Paths, and admittedly I haven't read the stories that the author has stated were inspiration, but I may have to after this jaunt into a dungeon.
Story: Up to where I read, the story is basically be transported, gain powers, and then get information. It's classic for a reason, and it's well executed here. The story doesn't take any time getting into the nitty gritty of dungeon survival, giving you just enough to get to know the character before bad things happen to him. While there's no one for Thomas to interact with, having him find out information from the world around him does a good job of getting his perspective out to the reader.
Style: The style is fun overall, and tries its best to get as much relevant information to its readers as it can without giving away too much of what's to come.
I really enjoyed the use of pre-chapter quotes to give us a few more juicy tidbits into what's going on or who's keeping track of these kind of things, and I'll always advocate that more authors do that.
Grammar: Grammar is where I was starting to slip up in reading, as there were sentences that run on, or stopped in the middle and picked up after a period. Most of these were caught by previous commenters, though, so I'm going to score this with the assumption that they'll be fixed.
Characters: Thomas, the main character, is a snarky delight. He feels like a real person who has real hopes, goals, and aspirations. Unfortunately, now all three of those are "figure out what's happening and don't die," which bounces him between pessimism and optimisim as his mood tries to stabilize, which is something I don't think a lot of writers pay attention to. If anything, it makes me empathize with him even more.
All in all, I think The Dungeon Plague has a solid premise, a lot of promise, and I'm looking forward to seeing where it's going from here.
Maou RazonicaRoyal Road
★★★★★ 4.5
Story: World building bits are sprinkled in at the start of every chapter, the mystery is decently gripping as Thomas figures out how the world works along with the audience.
Expect a lot of focus on survival, and on discovery.
As for the combat, the MC becomes quite OP very fast, honestly, however he is left with a few glaring weaknesses that does allow the story to retain a good amount of tension.
Character: Thomas is introduced with some distinct habits that immediately sets him apart. Good characterization from the start, that is immediately broken down, for him to rebuild himself from the pieces. I won't spoil it, but it is also nice to see how his earlier characterization plays in to his Skill choices. And also what he didn't choose, which I didn't quite expect.
Style Score: Comes off as a bit dry and methodical. But I do appreciate the detail it gives which serves to really color the world.
Grammar: Has some mistakes, and flow problems, but otherwise pretty solid and does its job.
Overall: I'd recommend this to anyone looking for an immediately disorienting story, following the story of a man as he fumbles around and finds hhis bearings in a new world wih new rules. Compared to other simillar sories, I found Thomas to be far more cautious, so if you want a story where the MC is very smart about their build and how they go about fight, then this fiction is for you!