Hello everyone! First time poster to this sub. I just wanted to share this Dungeons and Dragons campaign i have been running for a good few months now after playing around with the concept for over a year and a half.

Just beyond the veil of the mondain world, lies the secrets of the arcane. The true world. A world where every myth, legend, and piece of folklore is real and every historical event involved monsters and mages just out of site.

The story takes place in modern day Boston, with a party of adventures working for an organization know as "Four Leaf". A contract company that works for globe spanning magical government know as "The Ordo Magiki", specializing in the recovery of lost artifacts and arcane investigation.

The party conisist of...

Amber- a Fire Genasi Cleric of the the Goddess Hestia. Her day job is that of a line cook at a upscale restaurant near the harbor

Clair- a Tabaxi Bard from Salem who works for a secret society who provide funeral rights for people of all cultures and faiths and protects the spirit world from the living and vice versa.

Ronan- a Harengon Fighter who serves as an enforcer for an Irish crime family. Who's ties reach back to the times of The Great Famine.

The party has fought against undead red coats, the hag known as "Johney Appleseed", black market smugglers, and even a shadowy entity in the US government threatening to upend the arcane world as they know it.

I am happy to share more late! Don't want to risk any of the players stumbling on this post.

If you have any interest in dnd, I highly encourage you try this kind of game for yourself! It is an absolute blast to run.

(Character art done by my girlfriend, who plays Ronan in the campaign)

I have a hate-hate relationship at r/fantasy when it comes to UF, which always rears its head when someone recommends Green Bone or Lamora when UF requests come up (why not just say Malazan!). But recently someone said of Dresden that it starts off as detective stories then becomes MORE urban fantasy-esque when it becomes focused on the politics between the factions, and that's got me thinking about the subgenre.

So many of the characters are detectives, or at least are hired for a case/ mystery each book to drive the story. This clearly comes from the noir influence and makes sense since it gives a clear goal each time. These cases also allow the audience to explore the world by using the protag as proxy as they hunt for clues. We also get to meet the reoccurring characters and factions this way.

And it makes sense that the reoccurring characters and factions become more layered as the series continues, with the audience accruing more information about the worldbuilding through complexity creep. And as the world becomes more vibrant and detailed, it starts generating its own story prompts that weren't available prior: You can try and stop a potential war between the fairy enclave and vampire gang without first establishing and exploring both enclave and gang in previous stories.

Anyways, so I'm wondering if this is the natural progression within the subgenre, where the cases originally introduce the worldbuilding until the world reaches critical mass and then takes over as the main driver of the story.

Essea: all fictional universes are real, and accepting your true self gives you powers.

Essea Kingdom is my first story within this fictional philosophy. After an event that makes the real world fantastic, the main character, Epsil, strives to obtain the greatest essea (which is existence, goodness, and beauty) both over the course of multiversal adventures and in his relationships with others.

Episode 1 is out now, and Episode 2 is in progress!

https://newmanhyacinth.substack.com/p/essea-kingdom-episode-1?r=50faru&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true

Et si la magie servait aussi à se rebeller contre le pouvoir ?

Bonjour à tous !

Je suis Seryndor Lombre, auteur indépendant, et je souhaite vous faire découvrir mon roman de fantasy : Nexus – Les Arches d’Or, Tome 1 : Elindra.

L'histoire :

Elindra est une jeune étudiante en magie qui ne correspond pas vraiment aux attentes de son Académie. Passionnée par les anciennes runes elfiques, elle se retrouve confrontée à un monde où le pouvoir, les apparences et les secrets politiques façonnent le quotidien.

Mais derrière les murs de son Académie se cache une vérité bien plus inquiétante.

Entre magie ancienne, rébellion, mystères politiques et musique métal, Elindra va progressivement découvrir que le monde dans lequel elle vit n'est pas celui qu'on lui a présenté.

Ce qui rend cet univers particulier :

• Une Académie de magie et des runes anciennes.
• Un pouvoir mystérieux qui semble contrôler la société.
• Une scène musicale métal associée à la contestation.
• Une héroïne qui commence à remettre en question tout ce qu'elle croyait savoir.

J'ai voulu créer un univers où la fantasy rencontre la rébellion et où la musique devient bien plus qu'un simple divertissement.

Je serais heureux de discuter avec des lecteurs qui aiment la fantasy, les univers originaux et les histoires où les secrets finissent par remonter à la surface.

Petite question aux amateurs de fantasy : aimez-vous les histoires qui mêlent magie, intrigues politiques et rébellion, ou préférez-vous les aventures davantage centrées sur l'exploration et les combats ?

Au plaisir de vous lire !

Hey everyone!

Issue #3 of my independent comic series, Campaign Serbia, is out!

I write the story, develop the characters and world, and direct the artwork using AI-assisted illustration.

Campaign Serbia is a supernatural action-comedy set in modern-day Serbia, where every myth, conspiracy theory, forgotten gods, aliens and urban legend is real. All at the same time.

It's never dull in the madhouse of Europe.

Several issues are made, more are on the way and I'm releasing them weekly.

The gallery contains the cover and opening pages of Issue #3.

I'd love to hear what you think of Armie and the comic convention setting!

All feedback is welcome!

Free preview and complete issues:
https://www.patreon.com/c/CampaignSerbia

One campaign at a time!

Remember when someone microwaved fish in the office? An unforgettable experience. For all the wrong damn reasons.

That's the spirit of the humor I love writing. People can survive something horrifying together and still want to murder each other over lunch.

I'm Daniel Propst, Ryujin2xd on Royal Road. My ongoing serial, I Fell In Love With A Girl Who Died Before I Was Even Born, mixes anime-inspired isekai with urban fantasy, Japanese folklore, supernatural horror, romance, and slice of life.

The setting is Shin'yume and Crescent Moon Academy. Expect ghosts, vampires, yōkai, gross humor, and messy people whose feelings don't become any easier just because they're supernatural.

IFIL is gross, funny, and full of heart. I want you laughing at these idiots, then realizing you'd be upset if anything happened to them. Rude of them to get under your skin like that.

It's ongoing, with 250+ chapters on Royal Road. If that sounds like your kind of trouble, start here: https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/106458/i-fell-in-love-with-a-girl-who-died-before-i-was

Hi everyone—I’m Emil Buchman, author of Redemption Post Mortem, a supernatural thriller blending urban fantasy, dark humor, and a slow-burn romance.
A recently deceased soul gets an offer from Heaven: find the lost Book of Remedies before Hell weaponizes it. Think Constantine meets Indiana Jones, with a bureaucratic afterlife inspired by Kafka.
Wrote a Book recently featured an interview with me about the novel, its research, and the question at its heart: what can human free will accomplish that angels and demons cannot?
Here’s the interview:
https://wroteabook.org/author-spotlight-emil-buchman-about-redemption-post-mortem/

Can anyone recommend some good urban fantasy novels with a 'buddy cop' dynamic at the centre?

A while back, I posted here about my debut urban fantasy novel, Code & Stone: Phantom Signals, featuring a grumpy middle-aged IT contractor, ancient London magic and two women considerably more competent than him.

Everyone was very nice about it too. ❤️

Since then I’ve been hard at work on Book Two, mostly writing on the train into London Waterloo, slowly exchanging my soul for a wage.

Then I discovered that indie authors are apparently supposed to have something called a "reader magnet".

I just needed an idea, and then I remembered someone in r/urbanfantasy mentioning they’d love to read more about one of the female characters, DC Jinx Evans. At the time, I said I probably ought to finish Book Two first.

Well, apparently I don’t listen to my own advice.

Anyway, one thing led to another, and somehow I’ve ended up writing an 8,000-word Halloween short story about Jinx's early days in the police.

It’s called The Last Passenger and involves three missing teenagers, an abandoned London tram tunnel and a young police constable Janie Evans having a particularly unpleasant Halloween evening.

It's set four years before Phantom Signals, but you don't need to have read the novel first. And if you have, I hope you'll enjoy getting to know Jinx a little better.

You can get it free by signing up for my rather irregular newsletter: https://codeandstone.com/free-story/

And if you're curious about the real London location and how I ended up writing this instead of Book Two, I've written a behind-the-scenes post: https://codeandstone.com/the-last-passenger-origin-story/

Meanwhile, Book Two is now three weeks behind schedule.

Which is quite an achievement, considering I don’t actually have a schedule.

This book just came out and I quite literally read it in 24 hours, it was THAT GOOD!!

Don’t know if anyone has seen it but it’s been all over TikTok and Instagram and has a lot of hype and can confirm absolutley was worth it!!!!

If you want like TRUE female rage done well (not snarky strong girl), THIS IS THAT BOOK. Ironically written by a man 😂

This story took me on a freaking RIDE I literally couldn’t put it down and as someone who doesn’t gravitate to love triangles this ACTUALLY worked for me because of how completely stark different the two MMCs were. Big ol red flag and super sweet green flag.

Plot wise I have never read a story like this, the premise is so cool. Basically Evelyn is killed by a super douche in Seattle (takes place in the PNW) and he dumps her into the Puget sound, but instead of dying Layne (he’s the red flag hot shadow daddy) turns her into a siren with a cursed bargain. She has to feed on the darkness in shitty men’s hearts to survive now and she can never fall in love or it will kill them (he’s immune to it because OF COURSE)..

She meets Ethan the sweet yearning hottie who ends up working with the man who killed her and she is caught in the middle of a whole mess.

And the ending?????? Straight up stared at a wall for like 15 minutes 😂😭

BEGGGGINNNNINGGG you to go check this out because it truly scratched an itch that I’ve needed if you like dark romantasy with an actually cool plot! Also the character art absolutley sold me!

{The Undertow of Evelyn Graymore}

Hi, I'm Cătălin from Transylvania, Romania. Until 3 months ago I never wrote or read Fantasy. Then, the idea came to me out of the blue.

I started writing, then posting serialized chapters, then narrating them myself and finally bringing the chapters to life through cinematic images and music. Bare in mind that I don't have any budget to pay artists to help me.

As I am a newborn in the literary world, if any of you would be kind enough to check my latest (very short) chapter and offer some feedback/tips on the writing/narration (here or on yt), I would be forever grateful.

https://youtu.be/8G_grw3Y3Cw

Hello, dear readers, writers, and UF enjoyers. I'm here to share my urban fantasy based in a noir diesel-steampunk world full of horrors and political intrigue.

The story follows Lance Klint, a caring brother and a delivery guy searching for his sister who disappeared mysteriously. During a failed delivery, he found himself torn between his old world and the new reality built by horrors beyond comprehension, a forgotten pantheon, and the very madness that consumed the archipelago he once called his home. Lance will understand that nothing is quite what it really is and that his family tragedy was something far greater than what he thought it had been. 

What awaits you?

• A grim, steamdieselpunk world populated by diverse cultures and ethnicities.
• A protagonist whose resolve is constantly tested.
• A sprawling cast of characters with their own stories and struggles.
• Dark, intricate lore filled with mysteries waiting to be uncovered.
• A distinctive, scientifically grounded power system built around Trauma and Relics.
• A romantic subplot with no harem.
• Traditional prose and character-driven progression.

The story is free to read, currently sitting at 560,000 words, with plenty more planned.

Read here: https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/70901/stillore-shard-and-canvas-action-thriller-fantasy

Come for the dieselpunk atmosphere. Stay for the mysteries. And perhaps question your sanity along the way.

Non-monetized author

L.W

I'm serializing my first Urban Fantasy story called INK on Substack. It's free in serial form and will be collected into an ebook and POD short novel once I finish the first book (7 of 20 chapters up so far).

INK is about a man, Cassius Beton, who has the power to transfer anything (skills, injuries, memories, even years of life), from one person to another using mystical tattoos.

It's 100% human written and I've hired an illustrator for the cover art (see image) and I'm working on hiring human VO talent to do the audio drama.

Would really love feedback on the story and the cover art from anyone who's interested in indie UF. Thank you!

https://inferencestories.com/p/ink

Hey all — I'm R. Herbeck, author of Gloaming, a dark progression fantasy and Book 1 of The Shattered Sky.

Tav was born unable to use magic in a world where that's a death sentence. When the choosing ceremony marks him anyway, he gets pulled into a dying world's power struggle — ancient Aspects waking up, a market that trades in memories, and a gift that lets him steal light from things that should not be touched.

Book 1 is complete on Amazon (Kindle + paperback, also on Kindle Unlimited). Book 2, The Pale Market, is serializing free on Royal Road with new chapters every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.

Royal Road: https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/195160/gloaming

Amazon: https://a.co/d/0a48noDW

COVER ARTIST: AI-generated cover art, created by the author.

AI USAGE: The story is written by the author; AI tools are used for editing assistance and cover art.

Happy to answer questions about the series or the writing process.

(Kate Daniels = swordswoman with blood magic.)

The Crossbreed series, about a vampire mage with other magic teammates wasn't too bad.

I love adult urban fantasy but I'll venture a little out if it means a good magic MC. Prefer female, will take male.

Hello fellow uf enthusiasts!

We all know what the Met deals with in London, or the crazy stuff that happens in Chicago. But have you ever wondered what's going on in Rome?

My debut novel, All Roads Lead to Hell (out Jan 4th, 2027), is set in a world where the Holy Inquisition banned mythological creatures at the end of the Middle Ages and it has been secretly cleaning up whatever slips through the cracks ever since.

It's basically what you'd get if Harry Dresden had a baby with Robert Langdon.

****
The best exorcist in Rome has a few demons of his own.
One of them is quite literal.

Dante di Dio was born during the exorcism of his mother, which left strands of a demon entangled with his soul.
The Church took Dante in, turning him into the most effective (and least trusted) asset of the Order of St. George, the armed wing of the Vatican quietly protecting the world from supernatural threats.
When a member of the Order shows up dead inside the Pope's cathedral, Dante is called to track the killer above and below Rome, to thwart a conspiracy that could set off Judgment Day.
And when all else fails, the demon inside him is always up for a bargain.
****

I know what you are thinking: "Luca, if the book comes out next January, why are you spamming us now?"

The answer to that question is twofold:

1. I will totally spam you again in January
2. In the meantime, if you head to www.donatoluca.com you'll find the short story A Fox in Sheep's Clothing. It's set right before the novel and it introduces my take on Rome and some of the characters that inhabit it. It's free upon email signup. I'd love to hear what you think.

So, to recap:

• Fast-paced action
• A supernatural investigation
• Creatures from world-wide folklore
• A belief-based magic system
• Vatican intrigue
• Found family
• NO ROMANCE

Enjoy :)

I've recently published my debut novel River and The Cycle of Death on Amazon. It's an urban fantasy YA novel with elements inspired by shonen animes like JJK and CSM. It follows a young girl named River who, after undergoing a near-death experience at the hands of her father, awakens her sixth sense to the dead, as well as newfound powers from a spirit known as Vashira. Now with these new abilities, she seeks out further power to change the world in her image, and to find the whereabouts of her missing mother.

Tags: Urban Fantasy, Dark Fiction, Young Adult, Found Family.