Sorry for posting so late this week, y'all. We've had a bout of extremely nasty storms here and my kids are in Spring Break for most of this week and next, so it's been a handful taking care of everything. But, I've got two chapters for you (they sort of bleed over into each other and I didn't want to split them). Hope you enjoy!
One minor edit - I went back and had Dan immediately upgrade both Synthia and Drumbo to Necromarshal Commanders, meaning both now hav...
2025-04-07 01:23:45 +0000 UTC
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Hey everyone! I've got two more chapters of Discount Dan coming this week.
In the meantime, I whipped up three chapters this weekend for a new series. Currently, I'm in talks about potentially selling the rights to the Rogue Dungeon series to a Big Trad Publisher -- which means books on bookshelves and all that jazz. The catch is, they want a brand new project that they get an All Rights Deal on. These are the first three chapters for a Regressor/Tower Climber inspired modern Cultivat...
2025-03-31 18:01:02 +0000 UTC
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Chapter Eleven – Suburban Grind
“More incoming!” Jakob shouted, his Faulty Smoke Alarm Relic shrieking as he backpedaled toward us, both shields up and ready.
We were grinding our way through the suburban paradise-turned-nightmare, inching ever closer to the fireworks kiosk that would drop us down to the forty-ninth floor.
“This is the most fun I’ve ever had in my entire life,” Harper beamed as a fresh wave of shambling Sunnysiders lurched toward...
2025-03-27 04:26:42 +0000 UTC
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Hey everyone! Sorry I posted this so late in the week. I've been at yet another Con and it's tough to find time to work. It also took me a while to build out Harper's class. Creating a pure healer was trickier than I anticipated--let me know what you think.
Chapter Ten – New Addition
After a solid ten hours of sleep, I peeled my ass out of bed, brushed my teeth, then grabbed a bottle of blue power drink—HydroRage, “Hydrate or DIE!”
2025-03-22 04:34:44 +0000 UTC
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Chapter Nine – A Helping Hand
I left Sinclair to man the bar, then swung by the Spin Cycle to pick up my freshly laundered gear before heading up to my hotel room. There was more to do around the store—always more to do—but I needed to get a bit of rest. Now that the last of the search and rescue missions were complete, I also needed to make preparations for the next leg of my dive. I had a long-overdue appointment with the Franchisor down on the 99th floor.
2025-03-15 00:09:58 +0000 UTC
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Okay, it is officially launch day (and I swear this is the last time I'll mention it). If you have a chance to leave a short honest review, please consider doing so. Now, as promised, here is Jakob's SBR for all of you to look at. This is up to date and has Jakob's Kaiju Killer title in place along with the +10 to all Stats he got for taking down the HOA. ...
2025-03-11 13:48:41 +0000 UTC
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Hey everyone, hope y'all are having a wonderful day! HERE IS A LINK for your free copy of Discount Dan book 1! Just click and download to your preferred reading device! Thanks again for all your help and support!
Best,
James
2025-03-10 18:19:40 +0000 UTC
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To celebrate the upcoming launch of Discount Dan on Tuesday March 11th, I took Croc to go get a picture with the cast of the Twilight Movie series. Now, this isn't Robert Pattison or Kristen Stewart, but it is the rest of the Cullen family. It was glorious and hilarious in equal measure.
It was, in a word, amazing. I don't think I have ever seen four more confused actors. An entire line of middled aged woman, and then me, a 6'2" dude in a bathrobe and toolbelt with the weirdest most hor...
2025-03-09 21:54:34 +0000 UTC
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Chapter Eight – Sinclair
I closed out of the upgrade section and immediately noticed there was a new tab labeled Interior Terraformer.
Opening it revealed a comprehensive list of available rooms within my storefront, and when I selected the Arcade, a 3D model materialized, along with a whole new set of possible design options. Along the right-hand side was a catalog of material components currently in use throughout my base—everything from stone and m...
2025-03-06 17:41:33 +0000 UTC
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Chapter Seven – Blanket Fort Upgrades
Naturally, Camo Joe had already gathered the necessary materials to fabricate the two guards, along with a list of potentially useful Relics—all of them Common-Grade and plentiful. Camo Joe insisted the lower grade Relics would make the new security golems “more manageable underlings.”
His words, not mine.
Thanks to the skill’s lengthy cooldown, crafting both golems took about twenty minutes.
By the time ...
2025-03-05 19:55:03 +0000 UTC
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Hey everyone. Several readers on RoyalRoad mentioned that the final Kaiju battle (when Dan is in Mech Form) felt a little rushed, and after rereading the chapter, I could totally see their point. I went ahead and rewrote the chapter. The outcome doesn't change but it does fill the fight out a little and it also explains where Dan got the parts for little Timmy, his newest Horror. Feel free to read or skip--just wanted to make sure you guys had this first.
Fifty-...
2025-03-04 15:33:59 +0000 UTC
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Hey everyone, I'm working on new chapters and should post either today or tomorrow, but I wanted to share this stupid little project I've been working on. In honor of Dan, I worked with one of our artists to make these printable paper crowns. The gold side is the exterior and the silver side will be interior crown art -- you'll notice there are a bunch of different Relics and Artifacts that Dan uses. The plan is to print a thousand of them, then give them out at various cons, sort of a low co...
2025-03-04 15:12:24 +0000 UTC
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Chapter Six – Major Renovations
Despite all the elixirs, every inch of my body ached. Not from injuries, but sheer bone-weary exhaustion. I’d been pushing myself too hard for too long and I needed to take a break. Needed a full night of uninterrupted rest. Unfortunately, that wasn’t an option. Not yet. I had a whole lot of shit to do before I could even think about crashing. Thankfully, Jakob had provided me with a specialty potion, Eine gute Nachtruhe, w...
2025-03-02 17:49:57 +0000 UTC
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Chapter Five – Death Warmed Over
Croc, Drumbo, and Synthia, had managed to cut the cocoons down from the ceiling and now Croc was carefully using metal claws to delicately slice through the silken casings.
After seeing the first Delver, I didn’t have high hopes.
The Howler was decked out in a possum fursuit with a shock of purple hair, but when I pulled the mask off, the scent of rotting flesh hit me in the nose like a fist. A woman, late thirties or ear...
2025-02-28 15:06:19 +0000 UTC
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As promised, here is the working SBR I have for Temperance. It is up to date with where she is currently, as of the start of book 3--though it doesn't have any new Relics that she may have added after the battle with the HOA and the Sunnysiders. She will be getting some upgraded Relics this book, though. If you have questions, let me know. Happy to answer. [UPDATED]
Goodie Temperance
Specimen Biotag ID #03A - 04 - B07J1R7885...
2025-02-25 22:31:15 +0000 UTC
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Sorry guys, meant to post this last week, but then I got busy at a con. I'll have chapter 5 ready to go by Wednesday (though maybe tomorrow). And I'll try to post Temps load out and Spatial Core Build tomorrow if I can swing it.
***
Chapter Four – Sponge Golem
The Matriarch tried to stop me, tentacles flailing madly in defense, an icy rime spreading across the surface of her body, but there was no stopping me. Being entirely intangible, I ph...
2025-02-24 22:30:51 +0000 UTC
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Chapter Three – Brood Matriarch
The spa was the epitome of luxury and class.
My heavy footfalls reverted off the marble floors. The smell of eucalyptus was almost overpowering here and cloyingly sweet, as though it were attempting to mask something rancid. Soft, recessed lighting bounced off the vaulted ceiling overhead and cast strange reflections on the perfectly placid surface of an enormous pool, which dominated the center of the room. Padded lounge chairs, ...
2025-02-20 14:36:45 +0000 UTC
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Chapter Two – The Reserve Lounge
A narrow beam of burning water blasted a hole the size of my fist right through the Dweller’s emaciated torso. The creature let out a last garbled squawk of surprise, then toppled over with one last feeble protest, “But you don’t have status…” With those final words the creature spasmed once then died in a puddle of gore and ichor. Very anticlimactic. The creature was so low level I didn’t even earn any experience ...
2025-02-18 16:25:09 +0000 UTC
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Alright everyone, we're back at it with Discount Dan Book 3, Chapter 1. Sorry, I haven't posted before this. Starting a new book, especially in new book in a series is always hard for me. I've tried about six different openings and hated them all. This one I hate the least and think it could work, but please let me know what you think.
Just a couple of things to keep in mind as you read these first couple of chapters. 1. A few days have pasted since the ending o...
2025-02-18 16:13:25 +0000 UTC
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Fifty-Four – The Real Prize
By the time I finished sorting through my notifications, the vampiric Cullens family had started playing supernatural baseball for reasons I couldn’t quite seem to understand. I watched for a moment as some douchey dude bro in a track suit scampered up a tree like a spider monkey, before snagging the baseball from the air with his bare hand. What the fuck even is this movie, I thought before shaking my head and turning my attenti...
2025-01-31 02:11:39 +0000 UTC
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Fifty-Three – Braindead
“Guys, hey, guys, I think he’s waking up,” said a familiar voice, though for some reason I couldn’t quite place it. My thoughts were hazy and heavy. Clouded by pain. My head pounded like a drum and every inch of my body hurt. Even my hair hurt. It felt like I’d spent a night sleeping in a churning cement mixer filled with rusty nails and rebar. “Yep, he’s definitely alive. I told you guys he’d make it. Nothing can kill my best f...
2025-01-31 02:09:38 +0000 UTC
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Fifty-Two – Form FleshTron, Go!
The engine sputtered and squealed as the truck limped toward the cornfields, picking up speed at a snail’s pace. By the time we hit thirty, the engine was popping and groaning, and a plume of acrid black smoke trailed up from the front of the truck. We were so close to the cornfields now, maybe a quarter mile left to go, but there was no way we were going to be able to outrun the HOA. If I had twenty minutes, maybe I could patch the t...
2025-01-19 01:21:40 +0000 UTC
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Hey everyone, little update. So, as you might've guessed, book 2 is almost done. We are in the home stretch, but I plan to roll right into book three, which will focus on completing the quest to kill the Franchisor and claim the Kiosk Network. Expect chapters to keep rolling.
In other Discount Dan related news, BOOK 1 is officially up for preorder on Amazon. It'll...
2025-01-10 17:48:40 +0000 UTC
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Fifty – Ice Cream for All
With the Super Slammer of Shielding back in my pocket, Croc and I piled into my newest Horror—the monstrously disgusting ice cream truck, which the mimic had insisted I take with us. Not for the first time, I was glad I’d listened to the dog.
“You’re just going to turn the key over to start the engine,” I instructed Croc, gesturing toward the ignition. “Use the wheel to steer. The pedal on the right is for gas, the pedal on ...
2025-01-03 02:36:15 +0000 UTC
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Hey everyone, Merry (belated) Christmas for all those who celebrate, and Happy Holidays for all those who don't. I've got some new Backrooms Art coming at you, which is going to end up as the new cover art for Book 2 -- title still to be determined.
So, originally, Book 2 was going to be Kiosk Kingdom, but the 24th floor ended up growing and expanding SO much that it seems like I'll have to split the book. The end of book 2 will clock in at just over 160K (which is a LONG book), and we ...
2024-12-29 16:23:48 +0000 UTC
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Forty-Nine – The HOA
As I fell, temporarily stranded in slow motion, I stared up at the monstrosity and my brain scrambled to make sense of what exactly I was seeing. The Dweller was huge, looming three or maybe even four stories tall, its shadow stretching long over the houses spread out on the street below. It was as if someone had sculpted the colossus from the remnants of every house in the neighborhood—a grotesque patchwork of flesh and meat, the shapes of subu...
2024-12-29 16:09:17 +0000 UTC
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Forty-Eight – Community Radio
We continued to follow the barren concrete hallway which lazily zigzagged back and forth—though it never branched or split. With the community radio station fixed firmly in mind, I cast Unerring Arrow more than once to make sure we were headed in the right direction. Each time, though, the blue beam ushered us deeper into the underground corridor. There were no rooms, no windows, doors, exit signs, or even a single Dweller in sight.
...
2024-12-22 19:15:33 +0000 UTC
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Forty-Seven – Community Garage Sale
We stepped out of the elevator and into the cramped cement stairwell of the Sunnyside Tiny Tots Preschool facility. Harsh lighting buzzed overhead and after spending a couple of hours away, the tight confines of the walls felt claustrophobic, while the oppressive atmosphere of the floor itself seemed to press down on me like a giant hand. It hadn’t been twenty-four hours yet, so I couldn’t remove the door plate—not that I want...
2024-12-22 18:15:26 +0000 UTC
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Forty-Six – Remy
With Jakob, Ed, and Woodstock in tow, we collectively meandered over to the breakroom, where Temp was having a rather loud and animated conversation with Ajax.
“You should’ve seen his face,” Ajax said. Unlike the last time I saw him, Ajax wasn’t wearing his fur-suit, and instead was sporting a pair of pleather pants, white Doc Martens, and a white crop top with a picture of a Possum that said Too Pretty for a Job in hot pink let...
2024-12-10 14:49:48 +0000 UTC
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Forty-Five – Mana Optimization
When I finally couldn’t stand the heat any longer, I killed the water, toweled off, then tossed on a fluffy, run-of-the-mill white bathrobe and padded over to the kitchen. I fished a cold beer out of the fridge, then plopped my ass back down at the table to tinker with the Relics in my spatial core.
Despite all the new gear I’d acquired while battling my way through Eternal Suburbia, there wasn’t anything that warranted a spo...
2024-12-10 14:48:48 +0000 UTC
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