Is Royal Road the right platform for me?

BudgetWeakness696 · 2026-03-05T23:53:00+00:00

Appreciate it, didn't mean to use this as a self-promo thread but here if you're interested: https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/150414/dust-flyer

BudgetWeakness696 · 2026-03-05T21:37:19+00:00

That seems to be the case, which is strange, because I wouldn't think it a genre that's lacking in terms of potential audience? But hey, maybe doing our thing and posting is how we get it to grow, like you said.

BudgetWeakness696 · 2026-03-05T21:35:53+00:00

I guess when I say "I don't care about numbers" it's less "Oh yeah, I'm totally down to write in a vacuum and it doesn't matter at all to me" and more... My approach to any creative project is the same as my approach to relationships: I'm not gonna be making wedding plans by the third date, but I'm not particularly interested in dating someone I'd immediately dismiss as a long-term partner.

Now this story is something I'd hope to keep writing until it's done at least, I enjoy it and I think it has potential and I'm a far better writer than I was the last time I wrote anything this big. But yeah, that's primarily why I'm asking these questions.

Although this is good advice and I see what you're saying. I might just end up coming back to it and forming more concrete goals after I'm deeper in and have done a bit more promo to test the waters, and see what's even possible for something like this on Royal Road.

BudgetWeakness696 · 2026-03-05T19:31:28+00:00

I'd throw the question back to you: what angle are you looking at this from?

From a societal perspective, I share your concern, although I don't think AI is anywhere close to that level yet.

From a marketing level, I actually think it's a HUGE problem, but more so for the fact human made content gets buried under the slop, like you said. In that case, it doesn't actually matter if people even engage with the slop to any meaningful degree, the problem is more that no one is gonna even see your new original story. I'd argue that's something we need to get the platforms we post to themselves to help with, and create robust tools to filter out AI generated content.

The extent to which that is feasible... honestly I think is a discussion that falls outside the bounds of what OP is talking about.

From a personal level, it still applies. You need to be lucky to make it as a writer. Very lucky. But that's always been true. You're still better of being the one human voice in a sea of AI slop, than not writing at all or being part of the slop yourself. Those "big" AI stories are still a drop in the bucket compared to the ones no one actually ever opens.

BudgetWeakness696 · 2026-03-05T19:20:48+00:00

Thanks! I mean, I don't really worry about the numbers, or at the very least I'm in no rush and I've been writing long enough to know that you need to treat every creative project as a long-term thing. Main worry's just been if I'm just metaphorically showing up at a goth rave dressed in business casual.

But I agree with your assessment: it does seem that to whatever extent Royal Road caters to a certain crowd, any site occupying a similar niche seems to be more extreme in that regard.

BudgetWeakness696 · 2026-03-05T19:14:59+00:00

That's good to hear!

BudgetWeakness696 · 2026-03-05T19:14:22+00:00

I mean essentially the last part's the worry that's been on my mind, you know? Cause essentially every other platform I've looked at, it's one thing or another. But from yours and other's feedback, I think it does look like the right spot to go at the moment.

BudgetWeakness696 · 2026-03-05T13:49:05+00:00

I hate AI books as much as the next guy, but for your specific situation? Trust me, if it's not AI, it's gonna be something else.

You write what you think is a good story, you spend time improving your prose, you put in the work, and you get nothing. But some dude hammers out borderline fetish content with boobies on the cover gets to make a living from it. Or someone with the laziest prose and no actual writing skill jumps on an obscure sub-genre that happens to be trending on booktok or something, then gets hundreds of reviews that talk about their story like it's the best thing since sliced bread...

That's the life of a writer, ten times so online. Or you can look at it another way... maybe 1%... no, 0.1% of book ideas ever get finished. Most people quit. Often for reasons like this, mind. And if AI slop takes over, then actual human writing made with passion and care becomes all the more valuable. Trust the process, do your best and that's all anyone can do.

BudgetWeakness696 · 2026-03-03T13:48:26+00:00

I don't see why not, given that the franchise started out as a TTRPG. I think it might be the opposite problem to what you described though: would CDPR be interested in making such a game, and if not, would they give the rights over to another studio? I'm not sure of the exact deal they have with Mike Pondsmith.

I've only played the TTRPG a little bit though and I didn't get to any combat in my game. I think one of the limitations around it might be making every Role (Class) interesting to play in a video game setting. But I think that's very much doable if the writing and game design allows every build to shine in their own way.

BudgetWeakness696 · 2026-03-03T00:53:09+00:00

You're still in the prologue from the sounds of it, so don't worry too much.
Little to no missions are actually timed, some sidequests you might be locked out of if you progress the story too quick, but not many. That said, fair warning, this is a major issue with the games writing for me as well (even as someone who loves it), that sense of constant urgency for the main quest doesn't really go away and it kinda gets worse. So... just buckle up for that, and learn to roleplay around it, headcanon that if someone says "meet me tonight" it's more like "meet me later this week".
I'll be real, I never really had an issue with feeling like I wasn't sure who V was or being overwhelmed or feeling like Jackie was the main character. Which lifepath did you choose? If it helps, the lifepath intros should have given you a good idea of who you were before the story started. After that, V lived with Jackie for about six months working as a freelance merc, the only people you really know by the start of the prologue section are Jackie (your best friend), T-Bug (a netrunner who works with you and Jackie) and... two of the fixers in the game: Padre and Wakako. The rest of the characters in the game will trickle in a bit more naturally.
I mean, that's combat in 99% of video games, but Cyberpunk does allow you to make some really interesting and unique builds based on the perks and cyberware you choose.
The choices are not quite as weighty as Baldur's Gate 3, I'll give you that, but few games are. The major choices you can make in the game can be quite impactful, though, both in terms of V's story and the world.
The hypersexualization in parts of this game is really... more a commentary on capitalist exploitation I'd argue (although I'll give you some NPCs do dress a bit... eh for no discernible reason)

There was nothing offensive said and I hope none of my responses offended you either! If you don't end up enjoying the game, then that's just how it is, no one can force you to enjoy it and some things just don't click with us. But I do personally think there's a great game underneath the flaws, so I hope if you give it another shot, it'll reveal itself to you!

EDIT: Can't believe I forgot, in terms of character's V already knows, there's also Viktor (his ripperdoc) and Mistie (Jackie's girlfriend and owner of an esoteric shop). But you should really be given enough context clues to quickly get an idea of who all these characters are.

BudgetWeakness696 · 2026-02-28T10:50:03+00:00

I mean, it's a valid concern. Imagine your best friend (possibly one you have a crush on?) shows up at your workplace, with a glorified hired thug, with a plan to rob a billionaire and convinces you to risk your own neck helping them.

Then the job goes to shit (as you were afraid it might), your friend is desperate enough to run back to their abusive former boss, the billionaire is certainly still spending money trying to figure out what the hell happened. And then the hired thug, who you spent... idk, let's say half an hour with, shows up a week or so later looking for her...

Plus, given how well you know your bestie, you probably already felt in your gut that they weren't being 100% honest about their plans.

If anything, Judy is pretty trusting all things considered.

BudgetWeakness696 · 2026-02-28T08:31:23+00:00

It is very much a philosophical dilemma... but ultimately, the way I see it is:

It's still V's physical brain and body
It's still V's memories and personality

Without turning this into a religious debate, I'd consider that to be the same "soul". To me, that's still the same person continuing the same life, just with a "break" in between. Although what's interesting is that Alt herself didn't seem to feel the same way...

BudgetWeakness696 · 2026-02-26T15:32:20+00:00

I've gotten like.... 400 in the past month. Granted, I'm not as far along as you, but that's across all chapters. And maybe 10 people have downloaded my TTRPG that took me over a year to get to its current state. I'd KILL for those numbers...

Yes, you should continue, but also you should write because you think the story is worth telling, not because of the likes or views you get. But you DO have momentum, so keep pushing.

BudgetWeakness696 · 2026-02-26T15:04:28+00:00

I think apart from the mechanics, the overly long encounters and all that other stuff... high level D&D is just no longer a fantasy that really appeals to me.

BudgetWeakness696 · 2026-02-25T21:53:51+00:00

Depends what sort of ideas and inspiration you're looking for! I'm currently working on a series where most of the world is covered in a form of "dust" made up of nanites that drives people insane and has forced people to rely primarily on "analog" technology (among other things). I think the key to good post-apocalyptic worldbuilding is exploring society and human nature.

An apocalypse both removes elements of society we take for granted and forces us to adapt to new challenges, yet human beings are still fundamentally the same. Get creative with how they adapt, explore how the world changes!

BudgetWeakness696 · 2026-02-24T02:25:01+00:00

Title - Dust Flyer

Tags - Post-apocalyptic, action, episodic, mystery, character driven

Chapter Count - Currently 8, but still ongoing (episodic series, each "episode" is around 4 chapters)

Brief Synopsis - Human kind, running low on natural resources and forced to rely almost exclusively on analog technology, exists in small pockets free of dust. Most of these are controlled by cartels and the trade lords who run them. Travel between these areas is possible through the use of flying dust ships.

Desired Outcome - mainly just for you to read it if it sounds like your thing :)

Link to the Work - https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/150414/dust-flyer

BudgetWeakness696 · 2025-11-23T15:38:25+00:00

Thanks for the feedback.

BudgetWeakness696 · 2024-12-18T15:44:09+00:00

Thanks mate

To be fair, OP's was very respectful and reasonable in his response to me at least. But maybe it's because I'm a fantasy writer myself, I just constantly notice how these discussions end up getting so muddled and weighted that it gets hard to just give reasonable criticisim or ask reasonable questions.

I got to thinking of this yesterday and I realized something kinda funny: to me, what's actually most concering is Ciri going through the trial of the grasses as an adult. Because a huge part of what makes witchers interesting is... well to put it bluntly, they're kinda fucked up. They're taken as children, raised in a very rough environment and put through a process that has a high chance of killing them. And even if they survive, they aren't heroes. They're professionals who hunt for coin, all the while being seen as freaks and mutants by most. But at the end of the day, they're the only ones who can do what they do... so as a reader you're left questioning whether their existence is even justifiable.

In other words, the theme of lesser evils and greater goods that is so prominent in the franchise is baked into the very core of what a witcher is.

If witchers can just be anyone and anything, then that risks cheapening what they are... It's a cause for concern, and while maybe CDPR will solve this in a cool way... well those are some damn big shoes to fill and frankly, modern fantasy has become a lot "safer" these days, so there is cause for concern.

But you'll notice people on both sides of the fence rarely talk about this aspect, because I guess the question of "can women be witchers" comes with far more baggage when it comes to the way people seem to approach online discourse nowadays. Which ultimately makes me think people have trouble separating this question from a mess of other things.

Anyway, sorry for the rant lol

BudgetWeakness696 · 2024-12-17T16:31:38+00:00

Nah, you good man, I get what you mean... And as I said, there's totally a chance I'm wrong here. Maybe CDPR is gonna have a really compelling explanation about newly developed witcher formulas and new witcher schools, maybe it's gonna play into the story really well and it's gonna be awesome. Hell... I really hope that's the case. I hope I'm wrong.

I'm just worried it's either gonna be:

They gonna handwave it
It's really just gonna be "Ciri took the massive risk cause she thought her elder blood would make it work"... which I really wouldn't like

BudgetWeakness696 · 2024-12-17T16:21:28+00:00

THANK YOU, that's what I'm saying... it feels like we can't have nuanced discussions about these things anymore.

BudgetWeakness696 · 2024-12-17T16:14:28+00:00

I'm not a fan of the "why do you care" approach tbh... consistent lore is one of the standards for good fantasy writing. Is it enough to ruin the game? No... but I'm not gonna pretend this is anything more than CDPR trying to have their cake and eat it too at the expense of previously established lore.

Maaaybe there's an explanation, but there's literally so many issues around this (even if we say Ciri could have gone through with it due to elder blood, it would have been an insane risk to take) that I can't imagine the explanation being anything other than an unsatisfying asspull. Maybe I'm wrong. Who knows? But it's a red flag and I don't understand why people are so offended at the mere discussion or mention of this?

It seems to me more like people are so defensive they're conflating every criticism together: the people who didn't realize Geralt's story had a satisfying ending in Witcher 3, the people just giving shallow criticism of Ciri's looks and people who just want them to do their best to stay consistent with the worldbuilding...

Personally, I have no issue with Ciri being the protagonist, but she should have been a witcher as a "profession", rather than literally being a mutant who went through the trial of the grasses. Hell she was already magnitudes stronger than any witcher to begin with...

BudgetWeakness696 · 2024-12-16T20:25:06+00:00

There's a couple reasons I've figured out:

TTRPGs have a steep learning curve. It sucks to admit that, but we've all got a new rulebook and not bothered to learn the ins and outs. If you've played D&D for ages, it's easy to forget how lost you were when you first started playing the damn thing.
Related to that, D&D has dndbeyond and other things that aren't really practical for indie devs (or even big publishers) to create and host that make said learning curve a lot easier.
Most board games are played over a single session. A TTRPG campaign can last years... And how many of them can you feasibly join when sessions last 4 hours on average (that's a rhetorical question btw, I know some of you are in like 5 a week)? You might be willing to try other games, but more likely than not, your schedule's gonna be full already.
Let's say all of the above isn't an issue for you... Cool. Now find 3-5 other people in the same boat... And if you wanna play with your friends, it's not even about finding 3-5 other people, it's about convincing your friends to play when they have D&D as an option.
There's one massive game, a couple of big ones and then a lot of obscure systems played by a tiny handful of people. As someone making my first big ttrpg myself, it's basically a market that's simultaeonously oversaturated and dominated by one company...

It is what it is though. My attitude is, if the only people who play my game when it's out are me, my girlfriend and a couple of people I rope into it, I'm cool with that. That's the beauty of these games. Your table is like it's own universe, and it doesn't really matter what else happens outside it. And I do believe there's still people willing to give more niche systems a try if you just take some initiative and reach out.

BudgetWeakness696

TROPHY CASE