If your career feels stale... it could be worse

Douglas Moore didn’t expect anything more than a good gaming evening when he settled down to play the latest early access ARPG.

But the world had different plans. Something like an apocalypse and the end of all civilization. Which he missed out, on the account of being dead.

Generations after the Fall, Mankind tenaciously clings to its old world. People making their lives. Small communities thriving or failing, settled away from where the reality bends regularly to the scourge of the Manastorms, and the terrifying whims of unseen magic.

However, for those who aren’t in direct line to inherit the farm, store, business, there are not that many prospects left if you don’t want to be a menial farmhand forever. The armies in distant counties are always recruiting. Or you can be salvaging adventurers, delving in the most dangerous mana-filled places to get some Ancient goods, miracle clothes and metals, and other stuff that still sells well, even after a century and a half.

They know the risks. It’s not Johanna Milton and her friends’ first round, and it won’t be their last one, hopefully. But this time, the four of them run into trouble and they awaken an Ancient Power.

He has waited in timeless eternity in the Beyond, but now, He has four vistas into reality. Four people through which to experience reality. And He will use everything at His disposal to help them. He has access to the System behind the world. He can give them abilities, raise their stats, force their levels.

This is something He knows how to do well. After all, He has played that kind of game often enough… when Douglas Moore was alive. Too bad it’s Ironman mode and you can’t save and escape the consequences of your choices. You have to play it to the end as it goes.

The Changed Ones is a LitRPG trilogy (Ancient Bones, Ancient Books, Ancient Bonds) set on Earth, 150 years after the RPG Apocalypse... which mostly failed. It is an homage to the venerable ancient RPGs of the Golden Box era, the Baldur's Gates, and many others, offering adventure where You must gather your party before venturing forth.

Trigger warnings: casual swearing, adult innuendo (no explicit scenes whatsoever, though). Oh, and potentially a bit of politics.

Bonus content: a Litrpg Easter Egg hunt. With lots of eggs across the book, some easy, some hard to find.

Publication schedule: There will be an initial burst of chapters for the first week, then it should settle on bi-weekly Monday/Friday releases (hour not entirely fixed).