
The Power of Ten: Sama Rantha, The Tip of the Spear
by RE Druin
- Profanity
Participant in the Royal Road Writathon Challenge. RR should hook up with Nanowrimo! (Finished with 24 chapters/excerpts posted)
The cover is here! The Mick is on the job, in an old school Erol Otus style original!
This is the original set of stories where Sama Rantha came about. It's never been posted online, but I'm cleaning it up, editing it, and posting it now!
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Magic comes to the world, and it is a Day of Reckoning unlike anything anyone expected. But if there's one thing a Gamer is good at doing, it's taking advantage of the rules, and letting the creatures coming know what for!
Adventure, magic, swords, crafting, and a Hagchild who is the Tip of the Spear against the very unfriendly new world!
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All the required Shameless add-ons, here to follow...
For those who would like to support me, my Patreon Link is at: Contribute Goldweight to Save the World!
Books One and Two for Sama Rantha are at: Rantha Hags Forever!
The Human Race Link, Book Three: Time for Powered to Show Their Stuff
The permanent Discord Link is: Your Friendly Allegiance LInk is active!
I always have Discord up if I'm online, although I may be busy writing and not see it right away...
Courtesy of the Dread Fluffy Goblyn, I even have a Facebook page! Markspace is active!
And join the Power of Ten Fan page! Tremble We Come!
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- Total Views :
- 62,750
- Average Views :
- 2,615
- Followers :
- 327
- Favorites :
- 105
- Ratings :
- 100
- Pages :
- 211
Leave a review

A nice complement
Reviewed at: The Tip of the Spear Ch. 24 – Using Them Marks Properly
By themselves, the chapters posted do not make a story and thus are better left until after at least book 1, to shed light into the origins of the characters.
Still, to try for some constructive criticism I would like to point the lack of care for her situation and that of others by the main character, alone in the Apocalypse, even if she is dauntless, is particularlly jarring. Because she isn't just a template of Sama Rantha, trying to survive against the odds (B1) or expecting a grimdark setting (B2): she is she person behind her game character in the remnants of her reality, and not totally rewritten.
In this situation, griding for months, eschewing all (non hostile) social contact and playing the long game before seeeking information presents her more like a robot than an examplary human. To adress this, perhaps a few snippets of interaction with sentient animals she helped make so would be beneficial?

Being able to read about where it all started!
Reviewed at: The Tip of the Spear Ch. 21 – Coming to an Agreement on Time
As expected from this author!(Excellent story telling) This story delivers the details of the beginning of Sama's story. It also touches on many of the mindsets from gamers and how they transition to real life(in the story). Oh no a monster! vs oh! loot! comps!
tl;dr ---fun story, lots of action and min/max ideology

Finally the Beginning is Here
Reviewed at: The Tip of the Spear Ch. 1 - The Beginning Follows the End
A reader of all of Sam's other tales, in super interested in how the original becomes the Tip of the Spear. It's also going to be interesting how she builds out considering she doesn't know all the tips and tricks to strength her alternates discover.
I eagerly await seeing RED's original take of Sama and hope it continues in its spiritual successors success.

And Here. We. Go.
Reviewed at: The Tip of the Spear Ch.3 – A Walk Around the House
Over a thousand pages of Butt-kicking for Good, and we finally see where it all began.
In an infinite multiverse there are an infinite number of possible stories and incarnations of Sama Rantha, Briggs, Aelrynth and other familiar faces. This is the original.
RE Druin creates intricate, thoroughly proofread stories, usually told from the perspective of the main character (with occasional diversions).
Expect lots of references to his level 10 capped (with a level 6 soft cap) homebrew mix of 1st, 2nd, and 3rd edition D&D with a splash of Pathfinder, the source of the "Power of Ten" in the title. Only the truly epic can break through the level 10 cap, and those who break the Eternal cap at 20 must do it through deeds worthy of demigods.
Naturally, that's where we're going on this ride.
Alignments are played straight, and everyone can make the choice of which path to follow. Good is good, but not stupid. Evil is evil, and doesn't hold back.
And Sama Rantha always has some butt to kick for Good and Karma to level up.

Great world building
Reviewed at: The Tip of the Spear Ch. 24 – Using Them Marks Properly
Probably the strongest story by this author on the site. Taking D&D rules and using them as the rules of the world and the characters being aware of them is fascinating. It does definitely help to be at least passingly familiar with the basic rules and conventions of D&D.
I find some of the other entries in the series are a bit drawn out but this one feels tight and the perfect length.

Come and read a full immerse dnd novel
Reviewed at: The Tip of the Spear Ch. 24 – Using Them Marks Properly
Don't believe the low ratings they are trolls just trying to lower the reader reviews.
RED goes above and beyond when writing a dnd worldbuilding story. Where most stories only show a character's level ups and statuses once and a while, RED shows what those stats do and how they affect the character and the world around them.
STORY
While short for his normal work, thus book bridges his works together while still being stand alone. I do wish it continued on for longer but the whole arc of the story is complete and would start switching point of views to keep up with the other main characters. So while most of this Sama's story is done for now I can't wait to see more
GRAMMAR
RED has given us an other masterful piece of work. Any grammar issues that get brought up that he misses he fixes immediately unless they were intentionally. And you have to love his battle song prose.
CHARACTER
RED always makes sure to flesh out all of his characters making them almost seem like real people. He doesn't want two dimensional characters in his stories (unless he writing about Amazon's, but even they are well developed), his characters resonate with his audience to drag them in, making them wish to be a part of his story.
OVERALL
It's well worth the read to get readers into the swing of RED's writing before you move into his more beefy story arcs.

A bad ass is born.
Reviewed at: The Tip of the Spear Ch. 10 – Tools Making Tools
In the same vein as Azerith healer it’s a bad ass doing bad ass stuff getting ever stronger. Also making bad ass gear. Wouldn’t mind a more in-depth explanation on how playing the game gave made her a 10 ten the mage who made the game must of been a insane high level.