Action RPG In a Book (Wyrmshard)
Wyrmshard is the second novel in Luke Chmilenko and G.D. Penman's series, Savage Dominion. It's described as a LitRPG novel which, for those not in the know, is a book that includes elements you'd find in a game like quests, stats, and skills. As the story progresses, the characters progress in the same way you'd level up while playing a game. Fun idea, but also prone to feeling awkward and contrived. Wyrmshard avoids both of those problems for the most part and delivers on the promise of the first book, Savage Dominion.
The story takes place on the world of Amaranth. Amaranth is the core world that all other worlds reflect. Eternals can't permanently die, and become more powerful over time by gaining experience (XP) and glory that they can spend on skills and Pillars of Divinity. If they do get killed, Eternals lose their unspent XP, glory , and equipment. They also find themselves buried somewhere on the world. Inconvenient, but given enough time Eternals become
The series follows the adventures of Maulkin, a former human who through the process of dying in a questionably heroic fashion gets brought to Amaranth and resurrected as an Eternal. After being reborn he teams up with a couple of other new Eternals; Mercy, a human archer, and Asher, an Inyoka (humanoid wyrmspawn) mage; to chase down the pieces of a sword used to defeat the void god Araphel.
Wymrshard picks up after Maulkin and friends have made some big strides in completing their quest and are taking some time to rest, rearm, and train. Unlike the first book, Wyrmshard takes a more nuanced approach to character growth and simply awarding experience and buying skills. At this point, actions are beginning to have consequences for the development of the characters as people instead of a collection of numbers. By and large, Chmilenko and Penman let the characters grow as a natural part of what they're doing. Maulkin is the focus of this growth because the story is told from his perspective. The other characters are more slowly revealed in an organic way. Aside from one or two parts that feel contrived, it works out pretty well.
Just like most RPGs, the story is told via a series of adventures that are part of the entire campaign. Every adventure has at least one fight that gamers would label a "boss fight." At the end of that, the characters get together to figure out what happened, explore any intraparty conflict, and determine where to go next. All the normal stuff. It works though. The writing is entertaining enough, and while the overall tone is more humorous than dramatic, there's enough serious content to make things work.
Overall, I liked Wyrmshard. I liked it more than I liked Savage Dominion. It feels like the authors have figured out how they want the characters to develop, and the final scenes of Wymrshard promise some thrilling adventures to come. If you're interested in reading the book, you can find it on Amazon* in paperback or Kindle.
* - This is an affiliate link. If you decide to purchase Wyrmshard via this link, I may receive a commission on the sale which I thank you for.
Comments
Post a Comment