From what I remember of the bit I read, Paul, it seems like your books are based a lot around tabletop RPGs. That's a pretty common metagaming prohibition at tables I've played at - the GM won't tell you how hurt a monster looks, but if you ask whether or not it's "bloodied" they'll tell you that (bloodied meaning at or below half health).
Yeah, I def have more of a D&D rather than WoW vibe going on. Maybe that's my problem. Or I just suck as a writer. Haha.
Nah, it's just a different base game for your book. I remember reading a series out there awhile back that had a ton of gaming conventions, like classes and such, that were just a part of the regular world. I can't for the life of me remember the names though. Oh, it was a series titled "The Adventurer's Guild". It's available free or PWYW on Smashwords, and I remember enjoying the entire thing - I read it before I even knew litRPG was a genre. Actually think it might even predate the genre entirely.
Checked out the LitRPG wiki to see if a time line had been added and the dates in my head were way off... 07 is Legendary Moonlight Sculptor and 09 is Sword Art Online, Conor who posts around here got published in 08 but his story didn't have a ton of game prompt stuff so he got hosed at the LitRPG reader groups. If The Adventurer's Guild is in that sweet spot and features more UI effects like Status Windows / Character Sheets & Combat Logs then it could be a new contender for the first recognized English LitRPG story. 2001 is when Yureka came out and thats the first Korean comic based on a game (that I know of), and that isn't Literary enough to be LitRPG, which is fair. There are a bunch of multi-verse / game hub type set ups that qualify as Cyber-punk but even I don't want to tackle and justify those as part of the genre because its really pushing the limits of the definition and I don't think the authors have any interest in LitRPG. If anyone wants a laugh, here is the LitRPG wiki description for "American LitRPG" as a totally stand alone description without any equally developed break down of other nations LitRPG authors and stories. "While there are a number of American authors dabbling in LitRPG, the field appears to be dominated by the following top tier author, Aleron Kong, Michael Chattfield, Travis Bagwell, James Hunter, Dakota Krout; according to Goodreads reviews and Amazon ratings." Congratulations to all you other self published dabbling dabblers, you may have dabbled your way to the minors but if you want to make it to the big leagues you better start dominating the field and get to the top tier! Anyone want to hijack the wiki and add second tier and third tier authors? Turn the wiki into a "hot topic" / "rising" barometer of the genre for shits and giggles? Which would be fair at least. Make the American LitRPG section larger than the rest of the article combined just with author names who want equal billing within their own "tier" beneath the situationally alphabetical list of dominant persons... If that quote is a verbatim copy paste from good reads then it definitely needs a link and some quotations otherwise its as good as advertising.
Kindle says March 2009. There's no UI/etc, but there's definitely a solid game mechanics vibe to the series. It's basically a giant MMO universe, where they go on weekly raids (that even reset!) and such. It mentions different class abilities and all, even if the mechanics themselves are hidden. It's only 68k words and you can pick up a free copy from the publisher here: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/1424 Edit to add: I'd put the LN isekai genre also in the precursor category. There's a lot of trapped-in-game-world LNs that predate SAO, I believe.
Kong started that up, I think. From all accounts his communities trend toward toxic hero worship so I've stayed away from them despite reading his books.
The irony is using open-source user-generated-content software to promote yourself. Heh. Anyone have a link? I noticed on his forum he changed points to xp... What a good idea. We should do that too! Oh, wait... hahah
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/LitRPG Eh, I just don't go there. No real need to, and why would I if it was just gonna stir up drama or negativity? The internet is big enough for everyone.
My dungeons reset due to temporal anomalies. They are the bomb. And yeah, no drama. All fun in games until an ogre pokes your eye out. Paul, can you start taking away my money whenever i comment this weekend. Seriously.
Meant the regular wikipedia. ~_~ Given that the LitRPG definition from the crunchy side is 2 sentences, I don't think a dedicated LitRPG wiki would get too far with a war of edits. But I didn't even realize the quote that I put up had "author" and not "authors" before that list of author names, and considering just today I debated about whether to edit simulacra vs simulacrums... I'm beginning to think I put too much effort into things.
Well, simulacra is the plural of simulacrum. But I'd bet dollars to donuts that if anyone edits the section on American litRPG it'd be edited back within minutes.
Yeah I was choosing between which plural form to go with, went with simulacra because even if latin is more pretentious its fun ~_~ It was a real issue for me as I misremembered simulacrum for a moment as "fulcrum"... while looking directly at the word itself and my brain just stopped and went, "No, thats definitely wrong." My brain is actively sabotaging me at this point, and if my domain of editing was a single paragraph on a wiki I would hope I wouldn't half ass it. As far as it getting edited back, I'm not taking that action. Looking at the history shows multiple advert flags lmfao.
There's no other word that describes the same thing as a simulacrum though. You could use homunculus (homunculi) or automaton (automata) but neither of them have the same connotation. Simulacrum implies it was brought to life by magic, like a golem. A homunculus is demonic and summoned (usually refers to a very specific form of demon), and an automaton is manufactured like a robot. Still, the proper plural for simulacrum is simulacra. And sounds like you're getting a case of word fatigue there. Yeah, I read the edit history on that wiki article too. It was rather silly, but I did learn that Vasily Mahanenko is apparently an American litRPG author!
I was looking right at "simulacrums" and my brain kept trying to tell me that it was wrong and "fulcrum" was the right word. Going with simulacra hopefully gets rid of whatever memory I have that is insistent that anything with "crum" in it is a golem / apparition or what have you. I use simulcrum, homunculi, clockworks, and a bunch of other examples when dealing with "animated" NPC allies in a game versus those same characters in a LitRPG fantasy setting. To show a contrast with Sci-Fi LitRPG games with AI/Robots/Androids compared to a portal world or future based LitRPG Sci-Fi story that is "flesh and blood"... the whole section is playing around with consequences for players (resurrection) versus consequences for NPCs (who don't get resurrection), and how having people play as robots or androids that are brought back to life is a plausible resurrection system in a Sci-Fi game that aims for realism. The basic point being that certain game themes and character types or protagonist types decide the type of game world and what role-playing requirements there are for players/protagonists; unless the character doesn't know they are playing a role and then the game or story has a meta-theme and might not be classified as LitRPG except as a twist ending. Altogether the above took me about 9k words to explain and ease into, so that single paragraph doesn't do the idea justice or cover how the audience reacts to "real" characters and simulated characters with Life & Death stakes in exactly the same way if they care about the characters. Whether a realistic but simulated human non-player character, automaton, or accessory "helper" AI in Sci-Fi. The main point of the whole chapter is that you can have virtual "Life & Death" stakes in any type of LitRPG story, but that it can't be pulled off unless readers care and the possible outcomes are meaningful to the reader and characters affected. Which is true of any characters meaningful death in a story, but it takes extra work with "simulated" meaningless ones in Games and requires certain game mechanics. TLDR: Those last 2 paragraphs were the TLDR of a 9k word chapter (in editing) TLDR 2: The type of summoning or animation doesn't really matter except in how it affects the personality or disposition of the character type, as to readers the "real" characters and "brought to life" ones in fantasy or sci-fi can be equally well liked and cared about when they face exactly the same stakes. Changing what stakes one character type faces changes how people react to them.
So is the whole game "Era" locked? Thats one of the game lore explanations I considered early on (not your specific example, but just the idea of a reset due to "reasons"), sounds cool!
Huh? I don't think so? Someone using his name? The plot thickens. Meta: Online Game Life of Grisly Grizzly Online.
Nah. It's on Wikipedia so you know it's true. And not only is it on Wikipedia, but it was put there by His Nibs, the lord and all-father of merkin litRPG. Edit: I can spellz gud I sware.
Continue Online uses too many stock photos. The book on book 1 and 5? It's the cover for like 5 facebook goups. Ngh. Awaken Online is far better (damn you Travis) in terms of minimalist covers that are unique.
