Which would make a better LitRPG?

Discussion in 'All Things LitRPG' started by Gryphon, Mar 19, 2018.

?

Which seems more interesting?

  1. Half-Light: Apotheosis

    16.7%
  2. Gas Light Chronicle

    50.0%
  3. Hybrid - Please Explain

    33.3%
  1. Gryphon

    Gryphon Level 18 (Magician) LitRPG Author Citizen

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    So, I'm working through two ideas right now and I can't decide on what to work on in the break between Hacked and Fragment. What's a writer to do? Well, I'm coming here! Which one sounds like a more interesting story to read?

    Idea One:
    Half-Light: Apotheosis - The idea here is that the world is naturally RPG like with levels, stats, and classes the characters are born into or apprentice. However, war and the like can only be settled by the Scions, champions who have challenged their city's Pantheon challenge, defended their title of Scion, and undergone the polymorph to become their city's champion who will represent them in the conflicts between the followers of Sol and Lune.
    Genre of LitRPG: DOTA Combat/Dungeon Diving with light city building elements.

    Idea Two:
    Gas Light Chronicle - This is a more traditional LitRPG where the players choose from Steam driven classes and explore a steampunk world of magic and technology. The first story would follow a group of friends in and out of the world as they deal with one of the character's tormentor in the real world discovering their steampunk LARPs at a festival and who they are in game. This leads to the characters learning to deal with the world at large a bit better.
    Genre of LitRPG: Basic MMO/Dungeon Diving/Real world Lessons
     
  2. Kidlike101

    Kidlike101 Level 18 (Magician) Citizen

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    Can I vote for a hybrid of the two?

    I like idea one where the world itself is a game but the superman will defend metropolis in the end is a bit.... limiting.

    Trials and magical dungeons where the winner/s are the survivors that go on as public defenders (or raiders, lets not forget I'm evil.) after some intense indoctrination by the government would be cool.

    You get to see them go from the wide eyed innocent that only want to do good to either tools of the machine or a monkey wrench!

    I....er.... might have gotten carried away there...

    A, I'll just pick choice A
     
  3. Gryphon

    Gryphon Level 18 (Magician) LitRPG Author Citizen

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    That's what I'm trying to work past. The idea has a natural limitation, but I was thinking of maybe adding in the fact the champions become similar to celebrities/head cases because of how the polymorph affects them. A timid girl becoming a buxom embodiment of beauty and dealing with the fans, a clever delver become muscle bound knight, an idiot becomming the embodiment of tricks and magic? Throw in that once divers turn to scions become celebrities, taking on the higher tier dungeons to get stronger, having throngs of fans attempt to become them, keeping the cycle going...

    I just need some plothook for it to work. Once I have the details, I think I'd like to create an open world for other writers to use in the LitRPG world.
     
  4. Kidlike101

    Kidlike101 Level 18 (Magician) Citizen

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    Oh so you're going with the (My hero academia) idea?

    That the super hero front is just that, a front. Once they really wanted to help but then slowly they shifted their focus to promoting their image instead. Yes they do good deeds but only if it gives good exposure and publicity.

    In that one the anagonist wants to expose them as the fakes they are... ofcourse he doesn't really care about harming civilians or even minor heroes so long as his targets are exposed. Fake idols.

    Not a bad premise but you will need to create a world similar to this one that promote idol worship and even PR firms that manage the hero's image.

    If I was you I'd even make that the goal. The most popular heroes each say.... every week according to the polls are the ones that appear as player proxies in the game and players world wide can only use their image meaning the hero gets even more popularity and royalties.

    good motivations for the following =

    Wide eyed innocent
    grew up penniless
    always in the shadow of his parents/older sibling that's a hero
    social climber from a prestigious background
     
  5. Gryphon

    Gryphon Level 18 (Magician) LitRPG Author Citizen

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    What's that?
     
  6. Kidlike101

    Kidlike101 Level 18 (Magician) Citizen

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    An hit anime. I think you can view it on crunchy roll. My brother is a big fan.

    I've only caught clips of the show but that seemed to be the plot.

    People who manifest powers go to an academe for hero training. Individuality is a big theme as no two are alike be it in power, personality or character design.

    The MC is the runt of the litter as he didn't manifest any powers and there for couldn't apply. He wanted so badly to follow in his hero's footsteps (top hero in the world) that the hero gave him a single hair of his head. a drop of DNA that gave him a drop of his powers.

    Still the runt but hey technically he qualifies now and with training he can do better.

    In season two (or maybe three.) they do practical runs as minor heroes when the fakeness of the more popular heroes is spot lighted.

    People he knew as seniors. They were Studious and polite but are now blonde with perfect teeth that spend all their time posing for the cameras.

    The MC see's the villain's point of view, of scaring the heroes away from this nonsense and back to being pure heroes again. (purist)

    But he doesn't agree with the deplorable way the villain goes about it. Also there are good and pure heroes out there. His idol is one.... right? right?

     
  7. Viergacht

    Viergacht Thunderdragon LitRPG Author Roleplaying Beta Reader Citizen Aspiring Writer

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    Sounds like Mystery Men, as well. The main superhero was basically only in it for the money he made from sponsorships and when he realized he'd already taken out all the really impressive villains and therefore threatened his earning potential, he got his greatest foe released from jail . . . and promptly got slaughtered, and a bunch of wanna-bes and weirdos with lame powers had to step up & beat him.
     
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  8. Gryphon

    Gryphon Level 18 (Magician) LitRPG Author Citizen

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    I loved that movie. I'm invisible, but only when you're not looking!
     
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  9. Gryphon

    Gryphon Level 18 (Magician) LitRPG Author Citizen

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    Alright! I think I've got my arcs! Tell me how this sounds?

    Part One/Book One: The crew is competing in an instanced dungeon for recognition by the gods that be to be giving scion powers for various reasons. This part ends when the crew completes the dungeon, is recognized by four of the Pantheon, and receive their 'gifts.'

    Part Two/Book Two: The crew is taken to an academy for new Scions where they are taught how to deal with the public, how to fight other scions, and delve weekly to boost exposure, increase skills, get use to their new forms, and level up to be useful during conflicts.

    Part Three/Book Three: Our scions go rogue and become the villains to expose the puppet government run by other Scions.
     
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  10. RandomFan

    RandomFan Level 6 (Footpad) Citizen Aspiring Writer

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    A slice-of-life, the-game-doesn't-matter-that-much-in-real-life game is interesting. It might be hard to do right, though? The other one sounds like a more interesting world, though.
     
  11. Gryphon

    Gryphon Level 18 (Magician) LitRPG Author Citizen

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    I've got write ups for both, so they will both more than likely get written once I finish The Incipere Online Saga. Might even pitch the ideas to Portal Books to see what they think. Thanks for the input.
     
  12. Kidlike101

    Kidlike101 Level 18 (Magician) Citizen

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    The book idea sounds interesting but since it's planned as a slow burn it'll come down to the characters.

    Maybe throw some small obstacles their way that would trip some of them. The "what if I failed at so and so step of the way" the invokes empathy in the MC is always nice.

    It's why I like Neville longbottom more than Harry and his crew :D
     
  13. MrPotatoMan

    MrPotatoMan Level 13 (Assassin) Citizen

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    I really like the idea of them dealing with this all unprepared the idea of the MCs handling sudden fame all the other stuff without aid sounds fun perhaps instead of a school the get an agent who does all the teaching
     
  14. CheshirePhoenix

    CheshirePhoenix Crazy Hermit on the Hill LitRPG Author Beta Reader Citizen Editor Aspiring Writer

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    A villain story set in the first universe but instead of building and protecting a city, they’re building and protecting their lair while attacking the city, because Scions aren’t necessarily heroes - or even very heroic at all. Sure, they stand up to the big threats, but they don’t care about the little people, so the villain is taking on the role of a big threat with the motivation of making the little people safer by eliminating the Scions. And ultimately, taking on the gods themselves as the source of the problem.

    And make it steampunk, because we need more steampunk litrpg (and the idea of a clockwork dungeon is just REALLY appealing).

    So it’s a hybrid steampunk dungeon POV/Byronic hero/superhero tale with fantasy elements.
     
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  15. Kidlike101

    Kidlike101 Level 18 (Magician) Citizen

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    Question.

    How is one villain supposed to take down an entire organization? Or is it a group of them forming an alliance of convenience backstabbing each other the minute they get the opportunity?

    Cause I'd pre-order that one!
     
  16. CheshirePhoenix

    CheshirePhoenix Crazy Hermit on the Hill LitRPG Author Beta Reader Citizen Editor Aspiring Writer

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    With his lair, of course. Remember - the premise is built around people going dungeon diving to become Scions. What better way for one person to defeat all of the Scions in that world than to build his own dungeon, aka his lair?
     
  17. Alexis Keane

    Alexis Keane Level 14 (Defender) Roleplaying Beta Reader Citizen Aspiring Writer

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    Haha, I was already aiming to do this in my current fic once my MC absorbs a mechanized race lol (at which point things start to go very mortal engines-esque) :) I actually have a partially started fic (that's absolute trash and sort of got absorbed into my current fic) on my desktop called "The Clockwork Dungeon"
     
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  18. CheshirePhoenix

    CheshirePhoenix Crazy Hermit on the Hill LitRPG Author Beta Reader Citizen Editor Aspiring Writer

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    Just a brief précis of a possible trilogy:

    Book one

    Prologue of the MC getting yanked into another world or uploaded into a game world or some other genre convention of why he’s there and can’t leave. Bring this thread back throughout the series in dream sequences that get clearer as the story progresses.

    Time skip, now MC is a normal college grad with a degree in steamworks engineering or magitech. He’s at a job interview at his adopted family’s company when a scion and an enemy tangle outside the building and collapse the entire thing on him with him being the sole survivor (of his family anyway, there’d obviously be others) thanks to how deep in the sub-basement the mailroom is. So he decides that he’s going to become a scion. First half of book one would be an academy story, where he learns the ins and outs of being a proto-scion before getting released to do Dungeon delves on his own.

    Insert something showing how the Scions are not all so good, probably a slow trip during his scion academy days, culminating with him being rejected by the gods for service as a scion.

    Second half of the book would be the beginning of the lair building element and the decision to become a villain if that’s what it takes to protect the little people. Climax would be him fighting and barely defeating a team of Scions from his academy class, while still trying to maintain his cover.

    Book two

    Turns out he failed and one of his targets escaped with the knowledge of who he is. Now that his identity is public and he’s topping the wanted lists he retreats and begins frantically stacking up UIs defenses and hiring mercenaries, henchmen, and minions. First half of the book would continue the lair development angle at a frantic pace. He resolved the thread with his old academy buddy/possible LI, by bringing them over to his side. Basically, the Vader Maneuver, except successful.

    Midway through the book, he gets a tempting offer from a Big Bad to join up with them to bring down the Scions and unleash hell on earth.

    Second half of the book is him fighting off the big bad while still trying to keep a low profile, with some sort of stolen superweapon plans being worked on. End the book with an encounter with the pantheon where the good deities are like “no we were totally wrong and you totally deserve to be a scion” but he tells them to go stick it where the sun shines out of (they’re gods, after all - I’d imagine that the gods of light would have sunny buttholes).

    Book three

    Everything collides. The Scions know where he is now and what he’s trying to do (build a machine that wipes out ALL gods and Scions, turning them into normal mortals). The first half is him fending off the pantheon and their Scions, the second half is him rushing to complete the superweapon and it culminates in another meeting with the entire pantheon where they offer to send him home to Earth. The decision he makes isn’t clear, but show brief vignettes about how his lair is being overrun, his minions (the non-clockwork ones) are abandoning him and even his academy buddy is betraying him. His plans crumbling around him, the whole thing fades to black.

    Epilogue, showing him either waking up back on earth or getting killed in steampunk land, depending on which decision you want him to make when the temptation was offered. For that final bit of pathos though, if he sticks around and hits his Doomsday Button(tm), the person who kills him is his best friend/love interest via a knife in the back, and he presses the button with his corpse.
     
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  19. MrPotatoMan

    MrPotatoMan Level 13 (Assassin) Citizen

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    why have the scene at all it just seems a bit.. petty if the idea was the gods offered knowing he would reject it and he was pained as a bitter person for rejecting it that would add to the story but as you describe it serves no purpose in the story

    It just seems your paining this character in two opposite lights one hes a bitter person who turns to villany to be a more bitter person and two hes a misunderstood good guy with this scene you paint him as a good guy winning in petty revenge way which dosent fit with the good guy part.
     
  20. CheshirePhoenix

    CheshirePhoenix Crazy Hermit on the Hill LitRPG Author Beta Reader Citizen Editor Aspiring Writer

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    People are complex and nobody does anything for purely good or purely bad motives.
     




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