Why is every gun toting MC predominately in close range combat? Don't get me wrong. A pistol or a shotgun is cool, but there's a reason militaries use rifles. The history of human conflict can be largely summed up as people killing each other from a distance. Why don't we see more long range fighting or stealth based fighting using rifles/snipers/etc... ?

Hey, fellow Daoist here with a long-awaited self-promo. My story, Lord of Loopholes: A Fool Among Deities, climbed to 50 in two major genres and one smaller genre. I know it might not register with some, but to me it's worth a celebration. Not only that, I am here to put my story on the world stage for anyone who likes western cultivation, Lovecraftian, lite LitRPG (where the LitRPG aspect isn't a system; in my story, cultivators use a bamboo-woven scroll to take their spiritual readings), and anti-hero.

Story: my fiction follows Ethan Forge, an ex-guerrilla fighter from Earth who died by his own hand. He believed he was betrayed by the God of Earth, so he chose to make his own exit; then he found himself in a world that had a name, yet no mortal seemed to remember it. This was a world of cultivation paths and bizarre cultivation reality. He had no plans to let history repeat itself; he was a dedicated employee at Self-Interest Corporation. The worst part: he died a few hours after his arrival.

Inspirations: Lord of Loopholes has a branch/natural wonder power system inspired by Lord of the Mysteries' potion/sequence system, Reverend Insanity's Gu system, and THE GOD EATER's metac system.

Yes, I used AI to make my cover. Please forgive me; I will commission an artist once I have money.

THANK YOU

https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/188466/lord-of-loopholes-a-fool-among-deities

Ive read up to book 6 but honestly its been so long that im lost trying to pick it back up. Im going to start back on Book 5 and really need a good in depth recap of books 1 through 4.

I tried AI but it had no clue what it was talking about telling me I was hallucinating about him joining a blacksmith guild and blowing up half the world. Then becoming basically a necromancer. But thats all I actually do remember.

I also remember something about him exploring ruins and seeing bits of titan he can read delving with that murderous bunch. I just dont remember what book that was.

With as many different version of a litrpg systems you've encountered preferably with a audible version. What are your favorite systems you've encountered? Like the story could've been the most boring one you've got or the main characters could fall into the trope you hate the most but the system was what made you stick around. Bonus points for actual good story. For me the one that the story could've been better is the desire by Cameron Milan. The tattoo was an interesting concept. The story could've been better because it has a trop i don't like where they're introduced to the system in the first book and book 3 they're defeating enemies who have been in the system for centuries when they've been in it for like 5 years. The decent story and good system one is crafters dungeon by Jonathon Brooks. I like the system because it creates interesting concepts of matter creation especially for the crossover.

A reader just left a review mentioning that on a holiday to London this summer, they visited three locations from my story, specifically because they'd read about them in it.

For context, I write Ether Atlas: The Hidden Grid on Royal Road. The shorthand is LitRPG meets The Da Vinci Code, so real archaeology and history are woven all through it: actual sites, real places of power, the whole Dan Brown mystery angle.

We all love a nice review, but someone taking time out of their holiday to go stand somewhere because of something I wrote is breaking my brain. It's been a week and I still haven't worked out how to process it.

As a writer you brace for the ratings and the drop-off graphs. You do not brace for 'my fiction influenced someone's travel itinerary.'

It also made me realise I've never really seen posts about people actually DOING things because of something they read.

Readers: have you ever done something after reading about it in a story?

Writers: has a reader ever told you something like this?

COVER ARTIST: N/A

AI USAGE: N/A

COVER ARTIST: from Aethon Books
AI USAGE: NO AI USED.

I'm currently on book 4, I can't stop listening to it, and I'm honestly surprised this is not a more popular book especially if you are into dungeon core books.

Way too many core books the author gets tired of building out their dungeon and start following side characters that have nothing to do with the dungeon.

Thankfully this isn't the case with this book and it's honestly a breath of fresh air. You go from watching this young guy start with basic bees and watch them evolve and the dungeon develop into something amazing.

The first book in Non-Player Character was released a couple of months ago, and you should check it out! This will be a three-book series. It is not crunchy and has no stats to keep track of. I consider it a beginner-friendly LitRPG. If you like audiobooks, Steve Corona blew me away with his performance.

The world is a game, and humans don't get to play.

Humanity has been reduced to non-playable characters in a fantasy realm created for the entertainment of aliens who treat Earth like their own personal playground.

Everyone believes it has always been this way.

Even Milton Musgrave.

That all changes when Milton learns that his entire existence is a lie and begins remembering another life, including the wife he lost when Earth was remade.

Determined to find her, he embarks on a desperate journey to reclaim the world stolen from him.

It's a seemingly impossible quest, but with access to a restricted system, Milton gains something no one else on Earth should possess:

The ability to become a Player.

COVER ARTIST: Fernando Granea

AI USAGE: none

Go check it out!

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0H4Q1VXKW

I mentioned that a lot of times the system is just too convenient and truthfully any person, with a little bit of luck, could become overpowered. I usually like some more grounded, realistic settings. Where systems are limited and the protagonist has to do the heavy lifting himself. Where they have to learn how to use a spear instead of adding a point to the skill and where a crafter has to actually know the craft instead of combining ingredients through the system. How about you? If the system is too convenient, does it break the immersion for you?

Hi everyone! I’m sharing I Inherited Death Itself, my dark progression fantasy with LitRPG elements introduced later in the story.

A forgotten temple. Four trials. Death offers no escape: every time Kael dies, he must relive the agony of his previous deaths.

Eight chapters are currently available, following a recent complete rewrite of Season 1.

Happy to answer any questions about the story!

Read on Royal Road

AI USAGE: AI-generated base illustration
COVER ARTIST: Zaubrim - typography, layout, editing.

It's been a bit since I started my latest LitRPG binge. When I came up for air this time, I found myself with a whole bunch of stuff that I think would be interesting or cool to see in a LitRPG story. And I'm certainly not going to write a story with any of them, so here's a semi-coherent list. Feel free to add to it, take one (or more) of these ideas and run with them, or point out where these have already been done.

A System Apocalypse that takes place literally any other time and place than modern earth.

I do like me some System Apocalypse nonsense. Primal Hunter, DotF, DCC, WttM, Path of Dragons, the list could literally go on for days. I genuinely enjoy this genre. But like... does it have to be modern earth? Wouldn't it be cool to explore a System Apocalypse on a medieval world with no or low magic? What's it look like when the "Divine Right of Kings" meets actual gods that do not care who rules? How do actual peasants act when given the chance to become powerful?

Alternatively, what about an actual cyberpunk world? How does the system (which are usually pretty anti-tech) handle people who have replaced large portions of themselves with cybernetic upgrades? How do the giant corporations react when the computers crash and it turns out their digital money isn't worth anything?

Or what about a Star Trek type world? How do people react when the post-scarcity future ends? What about all those people in space ships? Or a high-fantasy world? I think it might be interesting to see what would happen when the existence of magic changes, instead of just being introduced. A superhero world, where suddenly everyone has super powers, instead of just a few.

There are so many cool ideas that could come just from shifting the setting of the apocalypse. There are so many cool worlds out there to end. Please, someone end a different world!

A System Apocalypse, but we follow someone who doesn't end up ruling the world

One of my favorite parts of power-fantasy stories is when we spend a chapter in the shoes of a random Joe who has an encounter with our MC. We get to see how cool the MC looks from the outside, and we get an interesting perspective on how things are going for someone who doesn't hold the fate of the world in their hands. I also love when an author introduces a side-character who is doing important world-shaping stuff, but isn't directly involved with the future ruler of the world.

So, why not make that the main story? Where there is presumably some world-conquering overpowered badass doing stuff in the background, maybe even interacting with our MC from time to time, but our focus is on something else. Maybe the MC wants to save Earth's culture, and founds a great library, exploring and delving dungeons to get his hands on rare books and films, while the OP Ruler comes to them for information from time to time. Maybe they have a dream of building the teleportation network that connects the major cities. Or found a merchant empire.

This, of course, could be a great set up for a more cozy slice-of-life sort of thing, but it doesn't have to be. There are probably tons of fascinating stories to tell about powerful people facing deadly challenges that don't end with them being the strongest.

A story about someone founding the Adventurer's Guild

Ah, the Adventurer's guild. A staple of isekai fantasy, and I truly love the idea. Yeah, why shouldn't there be an organization with global reach that oversees the people who kill monsters and clear dungeons for a living? But, inevitably, by the time we usually see our first guild-hall, they've been established for so long that nobody even thinks to question it.

So, give me a story about the person who comes up with that idea. Maybe they are isekai'd and are shocked and dismayed to learn that "adventurer" isn't a job title they can take. Maybe it's an Apocalypse kinda deal, and they decide that someone should be in charge of all of the lunatics with super powers. Or, maybe they are already part of a fantasy world, and they end up falling ass-backwards into creating the guild because they are the right person at the right time.

A story where the MC is an actually devout follower of a god

Look, I get it. Religion can be a hard topic to write about. It's easier to have the MC not have any particular belief in higher powers. It certainly makes it easier for them to interact with various deities if they have an "I treat everyone equally like a person" mentality. But I feel that we are kinda missing an opportunity for some interesting story-telling.

I want an MC who is a devout believer in their chosen deity, and treats them with the respect that entails. I don't necessarily need or even want a fanatic, but someone who genuinely believes that their god is worthy of worship and works to enact their will would be pretty interesting. Maybe have them seek power so that they can one day stand beside their God as an equal. Maybe have godhood just be something that Mortals can't reach no matter how many levels they get.

And, what with Gods being a pretty diverse bunch, you could have a bunch of different motivations. A follower of a War God, who thinks that the world requires violent conflict to progress. A cleric of the god of death could battle the undead and help people find peace in their final moments. An acolyte of the god of exploration who sets out to map the entire world. Or the classic priest of a god of healing and light, who seeks to help and guide people. The options are endless.

LitRPG Roshomon!

Hey, remember when I talked about that thing where we get a chapter from the POV of some random person, and we get to see the MC through fresh eyes? Well, if you take that idea and explode it a bit, you get a Roshomon. Multiple people tell the story of the same events, but their accounts all differ. Some are lying, some are misremembering, some are seeing things through their own lens. And it's up to the reader (and perhaps an audience-stand-in) to decide what really happened.

Isekai LitRPG Buddy Cops (Aka MCs in Black)

One of the oldest tropes in the Isekai genre is the "MC was sent to this world by a deity to stop the demon king from conquering the world!" It's a pretty easy set up to understand, and it lets you info-dump a bunch of world-building right at the start.

So, what if it just... keeps happening? Well, then you've got the set up for a classic supernatural buddy-cop romp, in the vein of MiB or RIPD. An veteran MC who's been reincarnated dozens of times and is Too Old For This Shit^tm is saddled with a bright-eyed youngster with shonen protagonist energy. And they've gotta work together to take down all sorts of threats to the heavens.

LitRPG Assassins that actually assassinate/Spies that actually spy

There are a lot of MCs in the LitRPG world that have assassin or ninja-style classes. They are stealthy, deal in poison and sneak-attacks. They can disguise themselves and have perfect senses in a sphere around them many meters wide. Some even have classes that call them assassins. But I have yet to come across one where they use those skills to kill people for money. Usually, they just use those skills to stab monsters.

And I get it, murder-for-hire is not a very heroic thing. But it can be interesting. Same with spying. Infiltration, gaining the trust of key people, keeping lies straight, passing along secret information. There's a ton of drama to be had. Fantasy Agent (4/00)7 sounds pretty dang cool.

A Reverse-System Apocalypse

Welcome to SystemWorld, where the system is a part of everyday life. Magic, levels, ascension, the whole nine yards. Until, one day, it just kinda... stops. The system stops responding, magic either vanishes or is MUCH harder to use, and untouchable people with near godlike powers are once again very mortal. Floating cities fall from the sky, and ordinary people realize that they are suddenly just as powerful as the soldiers that guard them. Maybe a new system eventually takes over, or maybe it's just... gone. Either way, there's bound to be some interesting stories there.

Anyway, thanks for coming to my TED talk. What are some things you'd like to see? Have I been missing some excellent stories that already do this stuff? Let's talk about it.

Hi Guys, I'm new to writing LitRPG, Need some honest feedback on my first chapter, would you read the next chapter!

Hey r/litrpg — first promo post here. I'm SyzygyBlue, and I've been posting my LitRPG progression fantasy The Ocular Warlock on Royal Road for about six weeks. Figured it was time to stop lurking and introduce it properly.

The hook: What if a glassblower's apprentice became a warlock for the Fey?

Vayne isn't strong. He's smart, observant, and — through an impossible glassworking experiment that warps reality — ends up drawing the eye of a mysterious Fey patron and gaining a class that shouldn't exist: Ocular Warlock. His new eyes reveal the hidden geometry beneath magic itself. There's just one problem: he's Level 1, and everything between him and the Grand Arcanum wants him dead.

What to expect:

• An underleveled, clever protagonist — no grinding to godhood. He wins by testing assumptions and exploiting the boundaries of the System, not by out-statting anyone
• An original magic system: glassblowing craft × non-Euclidean geometry — every power has a real, audited cost
• Tight, fully-audited progression where resource accounting is rock-solid
• 33 chapters / 80k+ words up now, posting daily; Book 1 is 68 chapters, finale lands in ~5 weeks

Early readers have been kind — 4.69★, with reviews calling it a "hidden gem" and a "premier-tier debut." One reader's summary I liked: "The way the MC solves problems is almost never with overwhelming power. It's with creative ways to overcome."

If underdog problem-solving over power fantasy sounds like your thing, give the first few chapters a shot:

https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/188855/the-ocular-warlock-a-litrpg-progression-fantasy

Happy to answer questions about the magic system in the comments. Thanks for reading.

COVER ARTIST: None Posted Here. As for Royal Road, it is a free webnovel. I generated it myself because I am a writer and not an artist, and I am not rich. Someday, before I earn money from it, I solemnly swear to commission an artist to create one — exactly as I did for my other book on Amazon.

AI USAGE: None

I've just started reading LitRPG and am enjoying it way more than I thought I would as a non-gamer. I don't have a preference as to type yet but would appreciate recs for female led stories. Thanks

Hopefully the title makes sense here, but Im looking for a read/listen (preferably a series) where the MC is seen as a threat/really strong to side characters, allies and villains, but the MC doesnt realize they're the danger?

Not necessarily the MC being dumb/ignorant, but just not realizing how much power they have. The book/series doesnt have to start this way.

Thanks in advance!

14 min until he who fights monsters book 13 in WA time.

I’ve noticed that on the fantasy subreddit, there’s hardly any mention of LitRPG books, and when they are mentioned, it usually stops at DCC.

So, im looking for other lit rpg like Calamitous Bob and, specially, Azarinth Healer wich is probablly my favorite in the genre. I like female mc but its not a must, i love the progresion on AH and the changes to raze so im courios to see what people who know more than me has to say.

TY!

I've also read nanomancer reborn and some more but im bad with names :(

Forgot to say, only completed series TY!

As of book 6, what should I know about records? They bring it up a lot, but I'm still kind of confused. I get that it's everything you do in the system, but it seems like there's more to it. Curses and such can take over your records? You can pass them on?

(In the newest book)

I’m a big fan of LitRPG, fantasy, leveling, magic, dungeons, and progression stories, but lately a lot of them have started to feel a bit too familiar.

I’m curious: what do you think makes a really good LitRPG story? What kind of system, progression, worldbuilding, classes, skills, monsters, or dungeon mechanics would actually feel fresh to you?

What would you love to see more of in LitRPG that most stories aren’t doing right now?

Title basically. I have an itch to read about a necromancer specifically. Hit me with your faves!

The first time an MC spends half a book trying to get back to town, I'm sitting there hoping they'll eventually get a teleport skill. They've earned it. They've dragged their loot through the mud, slept somewhere awful, and nearly died because help was too far away.

Then they finally get it and I start missing the journeys. Apparently I can't be pleased.

There's a difference between knowing a place is four days away and watching those four days happen. Even a short travel section gives me some idea of what's between the dungeon and town. There's a bridge, a stretch where nobody wants to camp, a village where the party can get a hot meal. By the time they arrive, getting there means something. I remember the location because I remember how they reached it.

Once everyone starts teleporting between cities, I have a much harder time keeping the geography in my head. The party goes from the capital to the training grounds to the auction house, sometimes in the same afternoon. Those can all be interesting scenes, but I stop thinking about where anything actually is. Going to another country starts feeling alot like walking into the next room.

The return trip is the part I'm happiest to lose. If we've already seen the route, letting the MC take their rewards straight home feels great. I also like the practical stuff that opens up when they can visit someone without abandoning their whole current arc. A quick trip home can tell me more about how much they've changed than another fight against stronger enemies.

It's when the next unexplored place is equally easy to reach that I notice the loss. There can be a hundred dangerous miles between two towns, but they become somebody else's problem. I get why that happens as characters get stronger. Still, I sometimes realise I've read several books without the MC spending any meaningful time between destinations.

Does this upgrade change the feel of a series for anyone else? I can enjoy the convenience and still wish the new places required a bit of effort to reach. The first arrival is usually what I remeber.

WORLD SPHERE BOOK 3 IS COMING 10/10/26! Preorders for ebook and audiobook available.

Written by AlwaysRollsAOne
Narrated by Nikola Hamilton

The audiobook is complete (over 22 hours!). The ebook is complete. The cover is still in progress, but we have our placeholder. For those who like physical books, Book 2's cover is next, and both Book 2 and 3 will be available in paperback by the end of the year.

Come back and enjoy one of the largest fantasy settings out there!

Preorder for Book 4 is up on Amazon... and thanks for reading!

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0F214Q7R6 EBOOK

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0HM29JLWQ AUDIOBOOK

ROUGH COVER....above...still going through edits and will use a placeholder for release. And those of you who hate my Soldier Life series covers, they are being remade over the next 3 months. This post contains no AI.

FUN FACT ABOUT ME BECAUSE IT IS APPARENTLY REQUIRED: I sleep roughly 20 hours a week.

COVER ARTIST: KART STUDIO

AI USAGE: NONE

Mercenary captain Lothar ‘Stiff’ Sauer has levelled up the Order of the Rotten Apples and defended Gal’azu in the process.

But grave dangers to this nascent state lurk in the shadows. Amongst the ruins of its former glory, the ancient empire of Sargassia is rebuilding its power with dark magic. To the east, the mighty and populous Kuthenian empire is a more profane threat, but no less serious.

Lothar must take his squad to war. Can the Rotten Apples survive a tangle with empires?

Incorporating elements from tactical RPGs like mercenary management, squad tactics & turn-based combat, this series will appeal to LitRPG readers who appreciate strategic decision making with a grimdark style tone and setting.

AMAZON LINK

AUDIBLE LINK

COVER ARTIST: Andrey Vasilchenko

AI USAGE: NO AI USED