Wayfinder

Self-Published

Community Rating

Description

When fate is left in the hands of dice rolls can an average person find their way?

El, a field hand who spends his days dreaming of being an adventurer, works to save up so that he can chase his life's true ambition. In addition to his daily duties, he hunts, trains, and explores to prepare for his own adventure.

But when the Adventurers who control the world's system brand him as a Ratcatcher and turn against him, what will he do? Join El as fate takes the reins down dangerous paths, against monsters and adventurers, allying with commoners and gods alike. Life will never be the same again.

Can El rise against a world that would swallow him whole?

Information

Status: Cancelled
Year: 2021
Author: TheRottingBard

Royal Road Stats

Rating: 3.9/ 5.0
Followers: 218
Views: 75,152

Chapters(39 total)

Reviews

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

Community Reviews(6)

ArkzenirRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
Wayfinder is the second ever proper dice rpg that i have read, and boy is it a treat!
Let me start off by saying that the character and plot work in this story is phenomenal. You would probably expect a dice driven story to focus on its system work and eschew prominent character backstory or growth. Most people would be willing to "leave it up to the dice" so to speak for their characters to be fleshed out.
But instead of trying to make the story run using just the rolls and throwing his hands in the air when the characters turn out badly, Mr.Bard here has put in the necessary work to flesh out his plotlines and character development. Do not get it twisted, there is still a fair amount of improv here. As the story and the characters live and die by their dicerolls (As you will see soon enough when you decide read it)
I must commend the author on is immaculate moment to moment storytelling skills and his well executed plot progression that takes into mind the choiches that his characters make.
I know for sure that many others would not put as much tought into such matters and it would surely show with a story like this one that relies so much on its dice rolled outcomes.
My only pet peeve is that i find the blue box formatting confusing at times, almost as if the info in there has been squished too much and could use some more extra info and readability. The rest however, is excellent.
B.C. FaJohnRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
I will preface this by saying as a friend, I picked this story up without promise of reviewing or even interacting. I often do not pick up slice-of-life, as they do not fit in to the styles I prefer (super detailed, thorough epic fantasy with systems that are almost too complex to understand if I tried).
That said, I am so glad I did.
The story is fun to read, and with the harmony of bite-sized chapters and thorough, epic scenes that truly bring the story together. Mind you, I am only 8 chapters in (unfortunately due to my snail-pace reading habits), but I have full intention to read this story to its fullest extent.
That's what makes the story so good! I can leave for a few days, and come back to a daily upload schedule that is still easy to catch up with. Isn't that the true purpose of Slice of Life? Let's get into it...
Style
This is the only thing I could even moderately critique. Bard has a style that is unique, and some will love it while others will find it so-so. I enjoyed this story's style, as it matches the vibes needed to create a successful slice-of-life vibes. This author knows when to give detail, however I hoped he would expand on the mundaneness of the chapters where our MC is not doing much at all. I crave the nothingness that makes it slice-of-life!
Grammar
Pretty flawless here! I only pointed out one thing throughout my readthrough so far.
Story
This is what shocked me. I rarely find myself enjoying these slower-paced fiction, specifically the versions that encompass slice-of-life. That said, I found myself genuinely craving to know what our MC did on their off time. When they were not prepping to go off on their own prophetic adventure, with Gods and newfound friends, what were they doing? What were they farming? How did they do it? How did they find the energy within themselves to make it happen?
Bard does this well. El is seemingly a fieldhand that has less of the qualifications needed to become the next great adventurer, and more of the skil
BullerRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
Gonna write an advanced review now. Don't wanna delete the old one tho, so press the spoiler to read it
Ignore title.
Anyway, I don't have much to say about this one. Chapter length varies over time. Some are a bit longer than the others, but not to the point where you have to spend ten minutes skimming to reach 'next chapter.'
Writing style feels like more of a list of facts. 'He does this. He gets hurt. He takes three damage. He meets Person. He stares at Person.' That kind of stuff. You do get conversation at some points but the amount changes with the chapters.
Good enough for me. 4.5/5
Style:
I cannot stress a fact about this story's style enough. It is not set up in the normal top-ranking stories of this website. Look at it as more of a retelling of somebody who only remembers the key details of an adventure long ago. "They did all kinds of stuff but at the end, they drank a jug of piss. Was great fun." That kind of stuff to say. The author only shows off what they think is important. The rest is either told once and left dead or is left to the reader to make up in their mind. This was meant as a story inspired by a board game. You can't really ask for more from this. And, there is a chance you have to get into that mindset before you truly start realising how this style might be. Had to read to about chapter 14 before it clicked for me. Might take more for others. Whatever 4.5/5 for the style,
Grammar:
That long rant from the style part isn't going to be repeated here because there is no need for it. While the style of the story might lead one to mistakenly find some form of errors, most of the basic bases have already been accounted for. Words are where they are supposed to be, commas arent put in randomly, and the character's names are spelt right most of the time. What else can you really want? 5/5
Story:
The story... a bit of a cluster-frick. Had to blink twice when the Kobold came into the picture(figuratively. Not that surprised but still). I would say
JahxRoyal Road
★★★★★ 4.5
I'll lead with the story's grammar. In short, I can't complain. There are a few instances where I needed to pull from context, but overall, and especially for RR, the grammar is outstanding.
As for style, writing in present tense is an interesting choice. I haven't seen it done often, and it's rarely done well. In this instance, while it can be jarring, it's working out for the author. I will pan the author for occasionally beginning a scene with someone speaking, but not identifying the speaker for several lines. That is more than a bit disconcerting, and while it can be used literary effect, when the speaker is someone known to the character to whom they speaking, there is no need to build any tension regarding the identity of the speaker.
The characters presented thus far all either have depth, or the promise of it. The author is gradually revealing background information, allowing each character to grow organically.
The story itself is probably the weakest link. The system being used isn't entirely familiar to me, and it took a few minutes to determine exactly how the blue boxes effected each other. Further, there appears to be quite a bit of information being fed into the system to produce the results, which isn't shared with the reader.
Overall, it's a fairly engaging slice of life story, told day by day, which is another stylistic choice I haven't seen before. Characters are believable, and their actions are well described and written. I'll keep this on my follow list.
eric_riverRoyal Road
★★★★★ 4.5
My overall impression is that this is weirdly good
the pacing is unique and works much better than it should
the characters are sweet and fun, the writing style is nice
each chapter, whether long or short, contains a little spice
The style is present tense third person, and it works alright
for the pace the story goes, the writing feels just write
it does have a DnD vibe going pretty strong
if you don’t like dice games though, you still can read along
It really feels like gameplay, but it has contrasting stuff
there is action but there’s also nice slice of life fluff
I have not played DnD but I enjoyed this tale
from chapter 12 is where i think the book really sets sail
The grammar is just fine, and it continues to improve
no mistakes will ever interrupt the stories groove
for a royal road fiction, the writing is quite tight
dialogue is strong, and he can well describe a fight
The characters surprised me, they’re the selling point of this
they’re diverse and really suit the novel’s whole premise
I expected NPCs, but they were well fleshed out
the author breathes some life into them all without a doubt
In conclusion, this is worth a read, it has some heart
it’s not perfect but it’s captivating from the start
the author doesn’t waste a page on non essential scenes
it’s light and fun, an epic slice of life, very cool beans
LyetRoyal Road
★★★ 2.5
The story seems off. The MC acts with little regard to consequences. No flow to the story: this happened and that happened and then the other thing, ha-ha-ha, hearty laugh.
Side characters don't react in a believable and consistent way.
I like the idea of the dice mechanics but it doesn't really contribute much to the story. At times the dice mechanics seem separate and isolated from the actual story.
Dropped the story at chapter 28.