Tokens and Towers is my return to the GameLit/LitRPG style I was writing a few years back, only elevated. It is a tower climber LitRPG series.
The story is about Randy Lionheart, a fantasy writer turned barbarian who is portaled to a new world and told to climb a mysterious tower and become an ascendant. He’s joined by a magical yet misguided spellbook named Clovis in what quickly becomes an action-packed LitRPG buddy comedy.
The story began as a true labor of love for me in the spring of 2021. I had other things to write at the time (Cowboy Necromancer, War Priest, Pilgrim), yet I couldn’t put this story in the corner. To find time to write it, I carved out an hour usually between 11 and midnight and began pecking away on my laptop while seated cross legged on a meditation pillow.
I’ve been at this for a while, and I do have an office for my writing with a standing desk and dual monitors (something set up for LitRPG with the stat sheet references, or progression fantasy, with its tiers and classifications). For some reason, I couldn’t write Tokens and Towers there, and I also couldn’t write it during the day. And for that matter, it wasn’t even called Tokens and Towers at the time, it was called Last Man Randy, a title I now hate.
Because of my schedule, I kept writing Tokens and Towers late at night, sometimes building the world during the day and doing research for the crypto side of the series (Not a spoiler: the main character Randy starts off admitting that he spent all his money on crypto and is broke). Eventually, I partnered with great guys at Jumpcut Media to actually have a crypto-side for the initial webserial launch, leading to an interesting project in which token holders were able to read chapters of the first volume before anyone else, an experiment of sorts. This also has allowed me to use the Tokens and Towers discord group to actually engage in the story, sending Clovis and Randy gifts or curses depending on their whims.
Now, Tokens and Towers is available to read on Royal Roads for free and on my Patreon (links below).
The first volume will be published in print, ebook, and audio, narrated by Daniel Wisnieski and Rebecca Woods in April 2022 and it will continue from that point forward. By this time, the second volume will be up only, so you can always read ahead for this one and see where it’s going. I’ll continue using the Discord for floor rewards and asking for enemy recommendations, among other things.
Because of the nature of the tower, each floor is completely different, allowing me to build it out with different challenges and characters. Example: you might be wondering why Randy is wearing a hamster beanie on the cover. This is because one of the floors of the first realm is a city called Hamsterdam, which is run by bipedal hamsters. To blend in, and because hamsters traditionally have poor eyesight, Randy is required to wear the beanie, which he keeps on because… well, you’ll see. He’s sort of the guy that wouldn’t remove the beanie because he’s too distracted by a number of other things, including other ascendants and various enemies.
As the book states in the beginning through a fictional prologue written by Randy: This book isn’t for everyone, but if you’ve made it this far, it’s probably for you.
That also relates to this post about Tokens and Towers, which you should totally read as soon as you finish reading this. In all honesty, I couldn’t do this without readers like you, and I appreciate the support over the years and those that continue to rave about and engage in my stories. It has changed my life.
Grab Tokens and Towers on Amazon or Audible
P.S. The cover above is the new cover! The left picture being my concept, the right side done professionally by my artist for this series, Richard Sashigane, and fontman extraordinaire, Shawn King!