The Promise of Runes (A LitRPG Progression Apocalypse)

Self-Published

Community Rating

Description

Follow Zed as he wakes up in a post apocalyptic world with little memory of the past.

Time teaches him that the world is not what it's supposed to be. He will face monsters, meet people with the power to call on fire and light with the sound of their voice and simple gestures, and sieve through memories he isn't certain even belong to him.

In the end, he must regain the memories that belong to him and find a new purpose, all while showing no affinity for magic. At least not in the fashion everyone commands.

This story has weak to strong MC elements.

Information

Status: Hiatus
Year: 2023
Author: The First Observer

Royal Road Stats

Rating: 4.1/ 5.0
Followers: 1,792
Views: 1,059,306

Reviews

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Community Reviews(10)

sjnRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
before I go on, I'll just like to point out that I've been reading this work for a while now and only now decided to make an account because of how good it is. I mean it's just that good.
I'll start with the story. The concept of an amnesiac main character is a trope I tend to enjoy but the concierge has taken it and beautified it. The memory loss is not complete and leaves him with enough to patch together a beautiful character which is nothing short of amazing. The main character is quirky and fun and I just love him.
then there are other characters who do not have the best attitude towards him and he puts up with it because, in my opinion, what else can he do? They're the only people he knows. However, if you don't like them just keep trudging on, he's interaction with them gets better and he meets new people.
for style, I say it's amazing switching between fun and serious quite appropriately.
grammar is top notch. Definitely up there with the best of RR
Story remains beautiful and I hope it will never disappoint.
if this had a price tag, I'd pay.
FiniteVoidRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
In Promise of Runes, the story unfolds around Zed, a man who wakes up in an unfamiliar world with only fragments of his past. But this is not the usual lost memory trope we've gone through a million times. This blends those lost memories into the progression!
The narrative is immersive, pulling me in right from the start. I found myself sharing Zed's confusion, curiosity, and determination to reclaim his lost memories. The author has done a commendable job of crafting Zed's character - he's intriguing, complex, and keeps you guessing about his past and future.
A system of quests and notifications, is well-executed in this novel. It guides Zed's actions and adds an extra layer of intrigue, keeping the pace of the story moving forward. One quest to demonstrate what I mentioned about memory as progression was: "A Breath of Fresh Air," where Zed is tasked with leaving the woods and ensuring his safety. The reward? A "Pocket Memory" that could hold the key to his lost memories.
The world-building in this novel is top-notch. The landscape is filled with towering trees, uneven terrain, and an air of magic that permeates everything. The story also introduces a mana system, which adds another layer of complexity to Zed's journey.
Being a new story in the genre, The Promise of Runes has already made a strong impression on me. It's a captivating blend of action, adventure, and mystery. I'm eagerly looking forward to seeing how the story unfolds and where Zed's journey takes him next. It's a novel that keeps you on your toes, constantly engaged with its intricate plot, well-developed characters, and thought-provoking themes. As an ongoing series, it promises more thrilling developments in the future.
Chapter 16 update: Stays just as solid!
PierceGreyRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
A very intriguing, super system/game heavy story thus far. I really like the hook of holes in Zed's memory and his attempt to fill them in. He's also rather funny in his self-dialogue and steady stream of consciousness as he tries to understand literally what the f reality even is. A bear? A tiger? A lion? Oh my!
Style - a big focus on the technical aspect of gamelit, with lots of abilities and unknown variables as they concern the story's reality. I suspect this is going to be a really big part of the story so if that's your thing (and if you're reading this, I assume it is), buckle up.
Grammar - no major issues that I saw. Nice and easy prose.
Story - I enjoyed it, especially the memory flashbacks and once we got to meet some new characters. The dialogue was good (whether self or with the others), and though not a terrible amount has happened yet (the focus is internal), it's clear there's plenty to come.
Character - Zed seems pretty great already, so I'm looking forward to how he grows. I predict witty one-liner snapping monster who crushes all in his path. OK maybe that's just what I'm hoping for...
All around really enjoyable read, looking forward to see how it progresses. Looks like it has tons of room to grow and should be running awhile.
Dreamheart_DragonRoyal Road
★★★★★ 4.5
This is a great story with a lot of potential. Unfortunately, trolls who can't separate internal story world-building from real world political hysteria and have sticks so far up their butts that they couldn't understand a joke if it crawled up there with the stick are ruining things for everyone as usual. The character is a semi-amnesiac who uses jokes and irreverance to handle stress with spotty knowledge of politics he often misinterprets in amusing ways because of lack of context and makes fun of everything. If you can separate fiction from personal opinion, can make fun of how ridiculous the political climate has gotten, and love mischievous but endearing and amiable main characters who aren't afraid to fight but also aren't murderhobos and can see the joy and fun in life in the worst of circumstances, this is the story for you. Everyone else? Either leave our cinnamon rool Zed alone and be gone, political correctness obsessed trolls, or try to learn something from him!
Style Score: Third person pov, pretty narrow focus on the mc usually. I can't say the style or language is particularly distinctive, but that's way better than being too distinctive. You can focus on the actual content of the story without getting distracted.
Story: Really interesting. There's a lot of mystery about the main character even to the MC himself, but there's none of that annoying teasing or leading you on to build tension you sometimes get with that kind of story, and in the meantime there's plenty of action and interesting world and character building to draw you in.
Grammar: Smooth for the most part. Haven't noticed anything that jarred me out of the story like a lot of grammar mistakes, run-on sentences, too long descriptions or awkward transitions or abrupt tense changes. Probably among the top 95% on the site so far.
Charater: I both love and hate Zed, but in a good, 'must protect this sweet cinnamon roll from all these apocalypse hardened assholes' way. He's got this happy-go-
KelseaRoyal Road
★★★★★ 4.5
I really like the story and the character of Zed is very interesting - it would be great to read more and learn more about him. MC seems jovial and happy-go-lucky kind of guy but there is much more to him that any1 can guess and the author for sure didn't finish all the character building and the surprises - that's the feeling I have got so far from reading the story.
Hope we will someday seenit finished and be satisfied a d happy with it and the journey it brought us for;)
It's still not finished and maybe not finished ever (personal reasons of the author) but it's worthy read and I sisncerelly reccomend it;)
PreCursive (J.D. Campbell)Royal Road
★★★★★ 4.5
The Promise of Runes strikes me as a pretty promising new LitRPG. If you're looking for another to add to your follow list, you should try this one out!
Style: This story has an interesting style, to my eyes. It really does feel unique to the author. In a good way, I'd say. The story flows well enough, with some flavorful grammar to light the way. The author has an interesting take on his System, as well. It looks to be one of the kinds that meticulously provides all kinds of details. I know that type has it's fans, and I doubt they'll be disappointed here.
Story: Our hero wakes up naked, alone and amnesiac, in the middle of magic forest with mutated monsters trying to kill him. A pretty classic intro for the fantasy and LitRPG genre, I'd say. There are hints of an intriguing story here, though. One of the most compelling parts of any amnesiac hero is the search for who they are, and I don't think this one will disappoint. Just from an event in this story, I can tell that there are some odd thing going on with Zed. Very promising, I'd say.
Grammar: Some odd word choice here, I have to say. Nothing bad, and nothing that makes me want to drop the story, but it did stand out to me. That could just be part of the specific writing style this author is going for though, like I said earlier. Otherwise, I'd say that the grammar in this story is fine.
Character: This story features an amnesiac main character, but that doesn't mean he doesn't have any character. I actually like that, because it seems like the type of amnesia he has didn't completely wipe away everything about him. Our hero still has a distinct personality, and that comes through clear in the writing. No issues with the characterization here.
Overall, I'd say that this one is worth a shot. If you're looking for a LitRPG with a classic case of amnesiac protagonist, look no further. This one has what you're looking for.
CurlyGreekRoyal Road
★★★★ 4.0
So, it`s like this:
Grammar: Mostly alright, nothing burns the eye or throws of the pace, although some late chapters need editing. More than passable overall and doesn`t impede the reading nor does it drag down the experience.
Style: Not sure. I`m under the impression that the author is unsure as well. Nothing bad yet, maybe a bit bland, although the dialogue is snappy... if a bit too familiar. Maybe the author should work on his own voice more, or maybe it`s just an Australian thing. But there is one bad habit already shines through - most characters sound like one another. It`s not enough saying they from different places - they probably should have their own accents and, especially if English is the second language to them, the sentence structure will reflect it. Not that reading isn`t enjoyable so far, but those things can sneak up on ya.
Character: We`ll see. Not far enough in the story to say either way but nothing bad jumped out yet. Hopefully author will avoid the usual mistakes and troupes. If MC is a fighting man in a cruel, dangerous world - he should probably have clear picture of what`s his motivations in life that make him actively seek danger and that probably what should dictate his development. It would be especially tricky with whole multiple people`s memories thing. It will be interesting to see what will become of Zed with his Frankenstein`s mind.
Story: world setup is interesting enough. It`s nice to see author avoid whole "snap-and-apocalypse". I like realism of it coming in stages over a long time with people adopting and using it like people would. Not as...childish as most apocalypses stories. I hope there will not be any world saving and hero porn. That`s just for lazy writers who can`t write proper character arcs. Nothing kills the story faster for me than when MC is "chosen" to save the world and that`s why his nerd self can slaughter mountains of living beings and not be considered a maniac or at least bloodthirsty warmonger. It`s never
SteveabaileyRoyal Road
★★★★ 4.0
The story is interesting. I read it in two sittings until I reached chap 41. I was about to give up on reading anymore because the MC dialog is so annoying and rambling. However, I might be able to keep reading since I won't be reading one chapter right after the other of the annoying dialog (the story is interesting... constant rambling dialog, not so much).
hg2bRoyal Road
★★★★ 3.5
The overall story and the world it's taking place in are fairly unique and interesting.
While the main character is too shrouded in uncertainty to be judged, the majority of the side characters are either (willfully ignorant) horrible people or shrewd schemers, if not both.
The overall style seems alright, although it seemingly unnecessarily indulges in the more tortureous aspects of the plot.
Overall, it's a quite captivating work, though in good part due to morbid curiosity about how the wreck that is the main character's situation is going to shape/pile up in the future.
NycterelisRoyal Road
★★★ 3.0
I'll start by saying the author isn't a bad writer. In fact, a good portion of the prose is pretty good, especially when compared to its peers. However that's about all that's good. The rest falls into a "needs work" category.
The elephant in the room here is the characters and their interactions with each other. I get it's a grim dark story, but this isn't that. Someone like Chris would not be on Jason's team, or even in the village, *precisely because* it's a grim dark story. You cannot be that mean, cruel, and generally disruptive to the extreme detriment of the group in a grim dark setting. Someone would knife you in an alley.
Further, zed's willingness to just put up with the chronic abuse is beyond moronic. I get he needs answers, but by chapter 30ish, he has enough of them for him to be able to strike out on his own and more or less risk it. Maybe he'll die. It's grim dark after all. But someone with his past lives, such as they are presented, wouldn't just stomach the abuse.
The next major issue is the extreme lack of exposition. 30 chapters is a long time for the world at large, the village more immediately, and zed's system interface to all *still* be a mystery.
For my part, I've marked this as "read later" because there are good ideas here. The runes versus spellforms is quite fascinating. The ranks/levels are a breath of fresh air for a pretty stagnant genre. The author has good ideas, and despite my grievances with the characters *they are all unique*, which again for the genre is impressive in its own right. Each character, hated as they are, feel very individual rather than just a mouth piece for plot. I think the author has their work cut out for them, and i look forward to checking back in a few months.