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Drew Hayes

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NPCs (Spells, Swords, Stealth Book 1) Kindle Edition

by Drew Hayes (Author) Format: Kindle Edition

4.5 4,027 ratings

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Book 1 of 5: Spells, Swords, Stealth

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What happens when the haggling is done and the shops are closed? When the quest has been given, the steeds saddled, and the adventurers are off to their next encounter? They keep the world running, the food cooked, and the horses shoed, yet what adventurer has ever spared a thought or concern for the Non-Player Characters?

In the town of Maplebark, four such NPCs settle in for a night of actively ignoring the adventurers drinking in the tavern when things go quickly and fatally awry. Once the dust settles, these four find themselves faced with an impossible choice: pretend to be adventurers undertaking a task of near-certain death or see their town and loved ones destroyed. Armed only with salvaged equipment, second-hand knowledge, and a secret that could get them killed, it will take all manner of miracles if they hope to pull off their charade.

And even if they succeed, the deadliest part of their journey may well be what awaits them at its end.

About the Author

Drew Hayes graduated from Texas Tech with a degree in English. He is the author of many books, including NPCs and The Utterly Uninteresting and Unadventurous Tales of Fred, the Vampire Accountant. He lives in Texas.

--This text refers to the audioCD edition.

Book 1 of 5

Spells, Swords, Stealth
Print length

289 pages
Language

English
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On Kindle Scribe
Publication date

May 12, 2014
File size

1052 KB
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Adventurers, however, were under no such moral obligations, and rushed into battle with the sort of enthusiasm one only finds in idiots, champions, and the unapologetically suicidal.
Highlighted by 378 Kindle readers
“As someone who has traveled with a barbarian before, I assure you, the capacity to turn fury into blood is almost the entire prerequisite checklist,” Thistle told her.
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The training area was set up where the tournament would actually be held, since putting together two structures to serve the same purpose would be at the level of idiotic redundancy reserved for the highest halls of government.
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Product details

ASIN ‏ : ‎ B00KB2RLKO
Publisher ‏ : ‎ Thunder Pear Publishing (May 12, 2014)
Publication date ‏ : ‎ May 12, 2014
Language ‏ : ‎ English
File size ‏ : ‎ 1052 KB
Simultaneous device usage ‏ : ‎ Unlimited
Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
Print length ‏ : ‎ 289 pages

Best Sellers Rank: #102,319 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- #597 in Humorous Fantasy (Books)
- #681 in General Humorous Fiction
- #856 in Humorous Fiction

Customer Reviews:
4.5 4,027 ratings

About the author

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Drew Hayes

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Drew Hayes is an author from Texas who has written several books and found the gumption to publish a few (so far). He graduated from Texas Tech with a B.A. in English, because evidently he's not familiar with what the term "employable" means. You can read more of his growing work at his website, www.drewhayesnovels.com, send him mail and movie offers at Novelistdrew@gmail.com, or just follow his twitter: DrewHayesNovels. Drew has been called one of the most profound, prolific, and talented authors of his generation, but a table full of drunks will say almost anything when offered a round of free shots. Drew feels kind of like a D-bag writing about himself in the third person like this. He does appreciate that you're still reading, though.

Drew would like to sit down and have a beer with you. Or a cocktail. He's not here to judge your preferences. Drew is terrible at being serious, and has no real idea what a snippet biography is meant to convey anyway. Drew thinks you are awesome just the way you are. That part, he meant. Drew is off to go high-five random people, because who doesn't love a good high-five? No one, that's who.

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4.5 out of 5

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kmurphy

Fun read

Reviewed in the United States on January 5, 2024

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Reminded me of several other stories with a similar premise but the characters were unique and the dialog clever. Looking forward to the next one in the series

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Christopher M. Padgett

what a great idea.

Reviewed in the United States on November 23, 2023

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This book was such a unique experience. I loved the concept and enjoyed the story. The ending was satisfying and left you interested in what was yet to come in future contributions. Looking forward to more.

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M.

Outstanding comic fantasy...and probably not just for gamers

Reviewed in the United States on September 25, 2014

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You know, I thought the premise sounded amusing, but I was truly not prepared for how delightful this book was!

I've never played a pen-and-paper role playing game; I thought they sounded like fun as a kid, but didn't know anyone else who was into that kind of thing. A little older and I was too ashamed to admit to liking something so nerdy...and then I discovered video games. Even though I'm not the stereotypical gamer, I like a game with a good strong storyline for the same reason I like reading well-written fantasy: it's a chance to immerse myself in a magical world, and the best games do it like a Choose Your Own Adventure. (Remember those?)

Sadly, many of the books I've tried that are based on a D&D-style storyline just don't cut it. The "rules" that make a lot of sense in a game get cumbersome in a book, and things like characters and the depth of the plot are sometimes less developed than they should be. Too often they just sound like something that would be better if you could play it, like a you-had-to-have-been-there moment.

Not sadly, this was not one of those.

The author was completely transparent about basing this on an RPG; the whole story is built on a real-world frame of five obnoxious kids playing a pen-and-paper game, and the author frequently pokes lighthearted fun at the game structure that any of us who've played them for any real length of time probably don't even notice anymore. It really was a very funny book. One of those jabs was at the traditional party structure - a standard RPG party of adventurers contains a fighter, a rogue, a magic-user, and a healer because those four classes cover the bases. It's both an interesting look at stereotypes and a mockery of the way character races gravitate toward certain classes.

I was a little nervous about the writing going in. I hadn't heard of this author before, and there are SO many e-books written by people who never really grasped the mechanics of telling a story well. I needn't have been; I thought the book was very well-written and I enjoyed the author's style enormously. It wouldn't have surprised me if the author's voice and sense of humor had started to grow old - again, it happens a little too often, and what starts out charming starts to grate before too long - but it never did. And I KNOW I don't need to mention the epidemic of editing fails going around lately. This book was definitely edited. I think I caught two mistakes.

This was a very quick read. (Too quick? Only 'cause it was so good.) The plot itself was impressively well-paced, with a perfect scope for the length, and a terrific balance of action, discussion, and exposition. The main storyline is tied up neatly - I do so hate cliffhangers - but instead of a happily ever after, the author leaves plenty of room for the continuing adventures of the NPCs. I really, really hope we get to continue their adventures!

I've been trying to decide whether people who aren't into role playing games would enjoy this, or even get it, and I'm inclined to think they would. While the universe is along the lines of Drizzt's or Elminster's (though to be clear, this is not set in the Forgotten Realms) or the Dragonlance books, it probably reminded me most of the comedic fantasy of Jig the goblin in Goblin Quest, with flavors of Robert Asprin and Xanth without the puns.

I'm either off to see what else this author has written - he's seriously got some chops - or maybe I'll dust off Baldur's Gate or Neverwinter Nights; NPCs really reminded me why I liked those games so much. As for you, I say you should try it...and if you're not a "gamer" but find you like it, then maybe that's a suggestion that you ought to give an RPG a try and find out for yourself what it's like to be an adventurer.

3 people found this helpful

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Tucker Ramey

a fun take on an already fun genre of entertainment.

Reviewed in the United States on October 30, 2023

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I’m a big fan of fantasy, superheros, DnD, all the stuff like that and this was a very pleasant experience to read. Drew seems to be pretty consistently good at crafting characters and a story and I hope to keep reading such creations.

Reviewed in the United States on August 28, 2015

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I picked up this book a while back either free or cheap and it turned out to be a very pleasant surprise. In it we enter a world of table top role playing games in which characters drawn up by the gamers enter an actual alternative world inhabited by real people. NPCs are Non-Player Characters in RPGs. They're the unnamed bartenders, shopkeepers and townspeople in the background who occasionally interact with the players. In movies and TV they are the extras. In a clever twist the extras here find themselves the stars of the show when four adventurers enter a tavern in the village of Maplebark and drop dead, victims of bad mushrooms combined with alcohol. In our world the gamers simply re-roll some new characters for themselves, but in the alternate world things are not that simple. The four townspeople in the bar, Gabrielle, the mayor's daughter; Eric, a town guard; Grumph, a half-orc bartender; and Thistle, a gnome merchant are unconcerned until they find on the bodies a summons from the mad king to come to his castle and receive a quest. If he learned that his emissaries had died from poison in Maplebark the mad king would destroy the town and kill everyone in it as punishment. The only way to save their friends and families is for the four to assume the roles of the four adventurers and fulfill their quest, or die trying. Either way, the town would be saved. So the untrained and inexperienced four friends assume the roles of paladin, barbarian, rogue and mage to begin what looks to be a suicide mission. The four characters are very likable and their adventures entertaining and often amusing. There is a follow up story due out later this year and I look forward to reading it.

3 people found this helpful

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Darkwave Fan

Drew Hayes does it again ! Another winner.

Reviewed in the United States on September 10, 2023

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Drew Hayes mixes the fantastic and the mundane to create stories that are grounded and magical at the same time.

The tales blend humor and suspense, and never lose the sense that there are real stakes riding on the outcomes of the characters actions. I look forward to each novel.

2 people found this helpful

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Haley

Fan fiction

Reviewed in the United States on September 30, 2021

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Okay so there is nothing terrible about this book. The idea is pretty original and the plot is entertaining, but it just… it reads like fan fiction. It reads like well edited, but unpolished fan fiction. The writing is just somewhat clumsy and stilted. For example, Hayes doesn’t seem to trust his readers to remember the species of his characters, and he isn’t skilled enough in description to imply that so and so is a half-orc without repeatedly saying stuff like “the half-orc got up off the ground” or “the half-orc swung his arm”, etc. There are a lot of small things like that that just make it obvious that this book did not undergo rigorous editing by a publishing house. You will enjoy this book, but only if you approach it as a cool story written by an acquaintance in his basement. If you are looking for highly polished, skillful writing then look elsewhere.

5 people found this helpful

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Andrew Petalik

A briilliant story about the people most D&D players never even think of.

Reviewed in Canada on September 4, 2021

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The story stars out with the death of the player characters, forcing 4 NPCs (Non-Player Characters) to step out of their scripted background roles.

On top of the main story, there is a cool the meta-story that keeps peeking up, letting you know that the NPCs aren't nearly as unaware of what's going as most players would think.

On top of all that, the story does a great job of throwing a lot of tropes on their head, which I really appreciated.

Totally worth my time and I will read this one again.

Silvio Martins

Pra quem curte RPG. Um prato cheio

Reviewed in Brazil on May 20, 2021

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muito divertido para quem gosta de jogos de RPG.

várias referências bacanas, leitura rápida e leve.

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Gem

So good I brought extra copies for friends

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on March 6, 2023

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Reading this book is just like your playing an rpg. Can’t get enough. I wish the author was my real life dm as it’s just that amazing. So good Iv brought 3 more copies to gift to friends who now love it also. I wasn’t going to give them mine!

Lesur

Bien

Reviewed in France on April 8, 2021

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Histoire sympa et immersive

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Joanne Murphy

A lot of fun

Reviewed in Australia on December 31, 2019

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Husband and I listened to this book as an audiobook and absolutely loved it. The characters are well rounded. I was very impressed with the writing style. Recommend for anyone in to DnD in particular but anyone interested in fantasy would enjoy it.

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NPCs (Spells, Swords, Stealth Book 1) Kindle Edition

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Drew Hayes

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