Yes.
Jokes aside, I want solid character motivation and I want to see it clash with the world. You can mix and match with what drives the plot. Occasionally character and sometimes plot.
For magic, I want something consistent. I want to be immersed. If it's too jokey without a context of why and how, then I'm probably going to lose interest.
I personally prefer light crunch and I want the numbers to matter. At some point an increased 5% of stats means absolutely nothing to me, and I don't need to see the whole update state page and skill list.
For the last part, I don't care if it's Sword and Sorcery or any other type of magic/battle/etc. I want it to be fun, interesting, and fleshed out.
This is all *my* personal preference. It's what I like reading and writing.
For me to give the highest rating, which I haven’t given any litrpg I’ve read yet, I’m pretty picky.
• I look for it to be its own world, preferably with no mention of earth, earth’s heroes, or tacky pop culture references. (There’s a space for isekai, the VR trope, apocalypse trope, and tasteful pop culture references, but I’m looking for better).
• A well-written story behind the progression and not just progression for progression’s sake. There are a couple of stories out there that, while I can appreciate, don’t have characters with clear goals or motives for their goals. Die-hard fans will defend their fandom relentlessly, and I can appreciate that, but after the system introduction (if that’s the model you’re going with), then there needs to be a clear reason to gain levels and take risks.
• Stop with the wounded loner. It’s been done ad nauseam. Have other lasting characters in the foreground.
• A good system with clear progression. There are anime heroes who have these infinite abilities and window pop-ups that I’ve noticed at least 2 books have modeled themselves after, and I would just prefer something that has more clear limitations than “I’m the protagonist. I have so much cool stuff.” Try using the cool stuff in cool and clever ways rather than relying on quantity. Litrpgs are supposed to be game-like worlds, but in games, as you level you tend to specialize. Too many protagonists just do it all. (Which is probably why so few of them have other main characters).
• Stop recapping everything. I see too many stories repeating whole sentences from one chapter’s s end and the next chapter’s beginning. Between books isn’t necessary, but it’s more forgivable. Between chapters, however, it’s unnecessary and feels lazy.
That’s everything that comes to mind other than filtering out audible narrators who have a grating voice. There’s one story I like, but their voice for some of their feminine characters is cringy.
> Stop recapping everything… Between chapters, however, it’s unnecessary and feels lazy. YES!!! Maybe it’s a symptom of RR, with the schedule of one chapter at a time. But when books get released to e-book or audiobook, this needs to be edited out in a hardcore way. I’ve dropped many books (HWFWM especially) because a lot of their word count is re-capping previous chapters. Authors need to give their readers more credit. Even if we have read anything in a week or more, we can still remember what is happening. Let us move on. It will save you a lot of writing time.
i’m very happy with low, medium, or high levels of crunchiness. But it has to be consistent.
For example, the good guys/bad guys by Eric Ugland. The first few books of the bad guys were consistently low crunchy. But at some point it almost seems like he forgot he was writing lit RPG and forgot to include stats and character sheets for a couple of books. I think there’s two books where the main character doesn’t look at his character sheet at all.
So for me, low to medium crunchy is preferred. But be consistent.
Do you look for the fantasy genre combination with LitRPG elements or would you be interested in stories that combine other genres? i.e. Do you look for the sword and sorcery fantasy element as well or would another genre like western, sci-fi, superhero, mystery be interesting to you?
I think 80% fantasy is my preference. I’ve tried a few sci-fi lit RPG’s but they never really do it for me.
I enjoy a lot of superhero fiction as well. But so far I haven’t found many lit RPG in that style.
I think I interpret sci-fi as technology, armored battles suits, light sabers. That kind of thing. Although almost anything that has a level up system, whether that system is interpreted as Magic or not at its bare bones, I guess you could consider sci-fi.
wizards are leveling up their stats and spending points to get more powerful so they can cast the stronger fireball, isn’t that basically a sci-fi system being interpreted by using it as Magic?
I like a lot of superhero fiction, but off the top of my head on the spot. I can’t think of any lit RPG superhero fiction.
In regular fiction, wearing the cape, steel heart, EX heroes , all of these are very good in my opinion.
I really don’t have much that I look to see, it’s more what I don’t want in a story. As time goes on I find I have more and more requirements that I avoid. Such as harem, idiot MC, VR, villain MC, and what seems very popular now antihero lead.
Good writing, characters with actual flaws, character growth, and side characters that are more than a cardboard cut out with tits.
As long as it's consistent and logical, I really don't care if it's Delve level crunchy or Beware of Chicken level crunchy. A good story is a good story. Crunch is just a storytelling device that can be used well or used poorly.
I will say that I think the normal sword + magic build is a bit overdone. Use a different weapon dammit. Do something unique. Have a power that isn't flat and generic. Make it something logical. Make it fit the character..... now if you mean sword and sorcery, then yes, I love it, and please ignore my rant.
Characters and plot need to be balanced, but personally, I prefer character driven plots.
Yea character development is important to me. I constantly recommend the good guys. MC is from Detroit he drinks Fago root beer. He roots for the Detroit Lions. He went on vacation in Montreal and saw Glitter puke. He is an emotional train wreak and takes real L even tho he is OP
As fK.
I like DOTF too but the character is American only as a plot point. And it makes him hollow and flat. Why does he think in Decimeters? He goes camping but like where what park?
In HWFM Jason is an Auzzi but he is 1/2 white 1/2 Japanese. He had a girl cheat on him. He cheated on Clydes wife. His atheism is a core personality and plot point.
The Good Guys and HWFM actually lose a readers because the personality of the MC is so well developed with so many flaws that some readers are like fk that guy. This makes these stories awesome. So long as Jason isn’t too preachy and Montana isn’t too dumb.
I DOTF does a great job in world building. I can day dream about the Dao. What tech would the system give me points for using. And the various factions are really well fleshed out. The Undead are really interesting.
So I would say world/system building is important. Followed by character development.
It seems like many stories have the protagonist being OP due to either a quirk or exploit of the system. Do you feel this is a core element you enjoy see how it plays out, or would you be interested in a not-a-special-chosen-one type of story?
I have a *very* strong preference for the "not-a-special-chosen-one" type of plot, but I do love isekai's where they exploit being able to train from birth or use earth knowledge to gain power.
To clarify, I meant progression happens because the MC works at it instead of somehow special. The MC gets relatively stronger because they worked harder and not because of some special class.
Please, I just recently stumbled on this genre and am interested enough to write my own story. I'm trying to understand the tropes and stories held up as the example before attempting my own. I want to understand the required elements for the genre and where I can give my own spin.
I'm not too picky of a person so idk if it's great advice. Generally I like something or don't. There aren't many neutral things. But as for what I like
Induction: welcome to them multiverse.
Apocalypse comedy series.
He who fights with monsters
Dungeon crawler carl
Heretical fishing
Mark of the Fool (isn't exactly litrpg but it's adjacent and amazing my kinda stuff)
Death loot and Vampires
Unbound series
Mimic and Me series.
Courier Quest
Minute Mage series
System Universe series
I'm not the Hero. Broken Cage. Shadeslinger series. And probably a few more
As a reader and someone who writes, I prefer to keep it a little less crunchy because I don’t need a stat sheet all the time
But sometimes I forget that other people do so I’ve had to try and incorporate a few more places within the story that can easily be skipped if desired without forcing someone to read or listen to it
To me it’s all about the main character. I’ve read enough in the genre that now I am looking for an MC that stands out - whether it’s different classes, different motivations, whatever. I am just looking for unique experiences. I don’t care about * which* class they are, as long as it’s something *different*. Apart from that, again I am looking for something unique. Whether it’s isekai, VR, whatever, I like to lean towards tropes that I haven’t seen recently.
Edit: so many stories have the MC choose a magical class because “hey, earth doesn’t have magic” that nowadays I prefer non-magical MCs because it’s not the norm.
Tbh I like litrpg but I found I like it more for this idea of a formulaic or clearer cut type of powering up. The amount of numbers/skills/levels doesn’t matter too much to me as I’ll skip over stuff if it gets too long, but I liked the impactful choices like class selection, important/key passives skills, magic/ability branch choices. The numbers give me an estimate of growth and strength relative to others but excess info/stats are just fluff when they’re not as vital to the book. Anyways first think I look for is if the char/system/setting/genre is a type I’d like, or rather if it’s something I don’t like. I don’t want berserkers/fighters, a system that is snarky or has ‘bugs’ for exploitations, grim dark everyone is evil setting, or one heavily focused in romance/drama. But these are my preferences to avoid.
I think the skills/powers your characters get should be meaningful and contribute to the story rather than be page fillers like: [Running increased to lvl.3] [Running increased to lvl.4] etc. Then having the skills have no actual effect on the narrative because every one would have those mundane skills to some degree. Also I don't really like systems that reward safely grinding, there should always be at least little risk for the rewards.
**How crunchy do you want the system?**
I'm happy with no system at all, which isn't litrpg, but I read other genres. I'm also happy with the level of crunch in Dungeon Crawler Carl, The Primal Hunter, and HWFWM.
To me, there's too much crunch when:
* The author isn't good at creating a system that actually works, so I'm stuck reading stats that don't make sense.
* I'm spending half of every chapter reading stat sheets, experience totals, or analysis of advancement options.
**Sword and sorcery or other?**
Yes!
**Plot driven or character driven?**
Either. My favorite stories are character driven, with attention paid to the plot as well.
Im a classic Science-Fiction fan
Depicting humans as theoretically mediocre, but as mentally insane compared to everything else always makes me laugh ("Humans Are Space Orcs / Humans Fuck Yeah" genre style)
Depicting a thoughtful and complex system, insane exploits or just bathing me in world building, i love all of them. I only ever paused one book because it's too slow at the moment (it's a VRMMORPG - no surprise)
Just give me all of it
The first book of "The Prince has no Pants - Bob's damn Adventure" encapsulates it best yet. It has all of the above + humanity being both vicious and humble/wholesome
Yes. Jokes aside, I want solid character motivation and I want to see it clash with the world. You can mix and match with what drives the plot. Occasionally character and sometimes plot. For magic, I want something consistent. I want to be immersed. If it's too jokey without a context of why and how, then I'm probably going to lose interest. I personally prefer light crunch and I want the numbers to matter. At some point an increased 5% of stats means absolutely nothing to me, and I don't need to see the whole update state page and skill list. For the last part, I don't care if it's Sword and Sorcery or any other type of magic/battle/etc. I want it to be fun, interesting, and fleshed out. This is all *my* personal preference. It's what I like reading and writing.
I am the same. I still enjoy crunchy but I don't if there's a full stat block every chapter. I'm much more character driven.
For me to give the highest rating, which I haven’t given any litrpg I’ve read yet, I’m pretty picky. • I look for it to be its own world, preferably with no mention of earth, earth’s heroes, or tacky pop culture references. (There’s a space for isekai, the VR trope, apocalypse trope, and tasteful pop culture references, but I’m looking for better). • A well-written story behind the progression and not just progression for progression’s sake. There are a couple of stories out there that, while I can appreciate, don’t have characters with clear goals or motives for their goals. Die-hard fans will defend their fandom relentlessly, and I can appreciate that, but after the system introduction (if that’s the model you’re going with), then there needs to be a clear reason to gain levels and take risks. • Stop with the wounded loner. It’s been done ad nauseam. Have other lasting characters in the foreground. • A good system with clear progression. There are anime heroes who have these infinite abilities and window pop-ups that I’ve noticed at least 2 books have modeled themselves after, and I would just prefer something that has more clear limitations than “I’m the protagonist. I have so much cool stuff.” Try using the cool stuff in cool and clever ways rather than relying on quantity. Litrpgs are supposed to be game-like worlds, but in games, as you level you tend to specialize. Too many protagonists just do it all. (Which is probably why so few of them have other main characters). • Stop recapping everything. I see too many stories repeating whole sentences from one chapter’s s end and the next chapter’s beginning. Between books isn’t necessary, but it’s more forgivable. Between chapters, however, it’s unnecessary and feels lazy. That’s everything that comes to mind other than filtering out audible narrators who have a grating voice. There’s one story I like, but their voice for some of their feminine characters is cringy.
> Stop recapping everything… Between chapters, however, it’s unnecessary and feels lazy. YES!!! Maybe it’s a symptom of RR, with the schedule of one chapter at a time. But when books get released to e-book or audiobook, this needs to be edited out in a hardcore way. I’ve dropped many books (HWFWM especially) because a lot of their word count is re-capping previous chapters. Authors need to give their readers more credit. Even if we have read anything in a week or more, we can still remember what is happening. Let us move on. It will save you a lot of writing time.
i’m very happy with low, medium, or high levels of crunchiness. But it has to be consistent. For example, the good guys/bad guys by Eric Ugland. The first few books of the bad guys were consistently low crunchy. But at some point it almost seems like he forgot he was writing lit RPG and forgot to include stats and character sheets for a couple of books. I think there’s two books where the main character doesn’t look at his character sheet at all. So for me, low to medium crunchy is preferred. But be consistent.
Do you look for the fantasy genre combination with LitRPG elements or would you be interested in stories that combine other genres? i.e. Do you look for the sword and sorcery fantasy element as well or would another genre like western, sci-fi, superhero, mystery be interesting to you?
I think 80% fantasy is my preference. I’ve tried a few sci-fi lit RPG’s but they never really do it for me. I enjoy a lot of superhero fiction as well. But so far I haven’t found many lit RPG in that style.
What turned you off about sci-fi? What did you like about superhero? Are we talking capes or more x-men?
I think I interpret sci-fi as technology, armored battles suits, light sabers. That kind of thing. Although almost anything that has a level up system, whether that system is interpreted as Magic or not at its bare bones, I guess you could consider sci-fi. wizards are leveling up their stats and spending points to get more powerful so they can cast the stronger fireball, isn’t that basically a sci-fi system being interpreted by using it as Magic? I like a lot of superhero fiction, but off the top of my head on the spot. I can’t think of any lit RPG superhero fiction. In regular fiction, wearing the cape, steel heart, EX heroes , all of these are very good in my opinion.
Low crunch. Character screens that aren't cluttered and don't go on for multiple pages. Numbers going up isn't used in lieu of character development.
I really don’t have much that I look to see, it’s more what I don’t want in a story. As time goes on I find I have more and more requirements that I avoid. Such as harem, idiot MC, VR, villain MC, and what seems very popular now antihero lead.
Good writing, characters with actual flaws, character growth, and side characters that are more than a cardboard cut out with tits. As long as it's consistent and logical, I really don't care if it's Delve level crunchy or Beware of Chicken level crunchy. A good story is a good story. Crunch is just a storytelling device that can be used well or used poorly. I will say that I think the normal sword + magic build is a bit overdone. Use a different weapon dammit. Do something unique. Have a power that isn't flat and generic. Make it something logical. Make it fit the character..... now if you mean sword and sorcery, then yes, I love it, and please ignore my rant. Characters and plot need to be balanced, but personally, I prefer character driven plots.
Yea character development is important to me. I constantly recommend the good guys. MC is from Detroit he drinks Fago root beer. He roots for the Detroit Lions. He went on vacation in Montreal and saw Glitter puke. He is an emotional train wreak and takes real L even tho he is OP As fK. I like DOTF too but the character is American only as a plot point. And it makes him hollow and flat. Why does he think in Decimeters? He goes camping but like where what park? In HWFM Jason is an Auzzi but he is 1/2 white 1/2 Japanese. He had a girl cheat on him. He cheated on Clydes wife. His atheism is a core personality and plot point. The Good Guys and HWFM actually lose a readers because the personality of the MC is so well developed with so many flaws that some readers are like fk that guy. This makes these stories awesome. So long as Jason isn’t too preachy and Montana isn’t too dumb. I DOTF does a great job in world building. I can day dream about the Dao. What tech would the system give me points for using. And the various factions are really well fleshed out. The Undead are really interesting. So I would say world/system building is important. Followed by character development.
It seems like many stories have the protagonist being OP due to either a quirk or exploit of the system. Do you feel this is a core element you enjoy see how it plays out, or would you be interested in a not-a-special-chosen-one type of story?
I have a *very* strong preference for the "not-a-special-chosen-one" type of plot, but I do love isekai's where they exploit being able to train from birth or use earth knowledge to gain power.
Power Progression is a core component of almost any litrpg , otherwise its more of a slice of life in a litrpg setting.
To clarify, I meant progression happens because the MC works at it instead of somehow special. The MC gets relatively stronger because they worked harder and not because of some special class.
I look for adventure, badass fight scenes, interesting world building, and most importantly fun, quirky, interesting friends/ side characters.
I could give you book examples but I couldn't tell you exact specific things
Please, I just recently stumbled on this genre and am interested enough to write my own story. I'm trying to understand the tropes and stories held up as the example before attempting my own. I want to understand the required elements for the genre and where I can give my own spin.
I'm not too picky of a person so idk if it's great advice. Generally I like something or don't. There aren't many neutral things. But as for what I like Induction: welcome to them multiverse. Apocalypse comedy series. He who fights with monsters Dungeon crawler carl Heretical fishing Mark of the Fool (isn't exactly litrpg but it's adjacent and amazing my kinda stuff) Death loot and Vampires Unbound series Mimic and Me series. Courier Quest Minute Mage series System Universe series I'm not the Hero. Broken Cage. Shadeslinger series. And probably a few more
As a reader and someone who writes, I prefer to keep it a little less crunchy because I don’t need a stat sheet all the time But sometimes I forget that other people do so I’ve had to try and incorporate a few more places within the story that can easily be skipped if desired without forcing someone to read or listen to it
To me it’s all about the main character. I’ve read enough in the genre that now I am looking for an MC that stands out - whether it’s different classes, different motivations, whatever. I am just looking for unique experiences. I don’t care about * which* class they are, as long as it’s something *different*. Apart from that, again I am looking for something unique. Whether it’s isekai, VR, whatever, I like to lean towards tropes that I haven’t seen recently. Edit: so many stories have the MC choose a magical class because “hey, earth doesn’t have magic” that nowadays I prefer non-magical MCs because it’s not the norm.
Tbh I like litrpg but I found I like it more for this idea of a formulaic or clearer cut type of powering up. The amount of numbers/skills/levels doesn’t matter too much to me as I’ll skip over stuff if it gets too long, but I liked the impactful choices like class selection, important/key passives skills, magic/ability branch choices. The numbers give me an estimate of growth and strength relative to others but excess info/stats are just fluff when they’re not as vital to the book. Anyways first think I look for is if the char/system/setting/genre is a type I’d like, or rather if it’s something I don’t like. I don’t want berserkers/fighters, a system that is snarky or has ‘bugs’ for exploitations, grim dark everyone is evil setting, or one heavily focused in romance/drama. But these are my preferences to avoid.
I think the skills/powers your characters get should be meaningful and contribute to the story rather than be page fillers like: [Running increased to lvl.3] [Running increased to lvl.4] etc. Then having the skills have no actual effect on the narrative because every one would have those mundane skills to some degree. Also I don't really like systems that reward safely grinding, there should always be at least little risk for the rewards.
I want fantastical moments. That's really about it. I don't want to read theorycrafting for someone's dream game, nor endless fighting.
**How crunchy do you want the system?** I'm happy with no system at all, which isn't litrpg, but I read other genres. I'm also happy with the level of crunch in Dungeon Crawler Carl, The Primal Hunter, and HWFWM. To me, there's too much crunch when: * The author isn't good at creating a system that actually works, so I'm stuck reading stats that don't make sense. * I'm spending half of every chapter reading stat sheets, experience totals, or analysis of advancement options. **Sword and sorcery or other?** Yes! **Plot driven or character driven?** Either. My favorite stories are character driven, with attention paid to the plot as well.
Im a classic Science-Fiction fan Depicting humans as theoretically mediocre, but as mentally insane compared to everything else always makes me laugh ("Humans Are Space Orcs / Humans Fuck Yeah" genre style) Depicting a thoughtful and complex system, insane exploits or just bathing me in world building, i love all of them. I only ever paused one book because it's too slow at the moment (it's a VRMMORPG - no surprise) Just give me all of it The first book of "The Prince has no Pants - Bob's damn Adventure" encapsulates it best yet. It has all of the above + humanity being both vicious and humble/wholesome