1. Conquer: Conquering the Kingdom

What is a LitRPG?

LitRPGs, or literature RPGs are short serial novels where the characters advance through literal game worlds, to the point where they can consult magic charts, or screens to see their accomplishments registered in numeric fashion. Fundamentally they are a more hard game/numbers based version of the isekai genre, the stranger in a strange land. The typical protagonist is a lawful heroic stoic man who knows little or less about the new realm he's been dumped in, be it a virtual game simulation, being abducted by cosmic beings, or whatever, and then unleashed. From what I understand, this genre was founded or heavily influenced by Russian authors.

It is important to note that these books are not particularly good. The characters are frequently little more than two dimension cut-outs, deus ex machina is common, the stories are straightforward, and there are no deep or profound topics or even references. It has more in common with pulp fiction from the 50s and 60s than with anything being made by progressive media today.

What they are is entertaining, and most are free through the Audible Plus Catalog and Podium Publishing.

2. Dungeon Core

Base-building is an integral part of mobile gaming, from upgrading buildings, fortifications, and training troops, to discovering new weapons and magic abilities. Many LitRPGs have this element, but there is a difference between the literary version and the handheld game version. There are no microtransactions, no timers, and when something is being upgraded there is a sense of accomplishment or urgency, as whatever has been improved is in some way important to the story itself. Building the base is a sort of character-building exercise and many stories use it to show a connection between the often isekai new commander and the world-weary men, women, and monsters that inhabit the world.

3. Level Up or Die! Underworld

The protagonist in a LitRPG usually ends up commanding some sort of stronghold, a cult of personality, or an army. These require soldiers, magic casters, monsters, magic weapons, elite heroes, and special spells. To this end, the protagonist spends some time actively rescuing elite heroes, recruiting soldier forces, taming monsters, and undertaking side quests to find special weapons and magic spells to ensure their success in the coming battle. Often the elite heroes have to be rescued from themselves, their own self-doubts and such, a task accomplished by the protagonist, their charisma, and 'speaking from the heart' about being another good person, and not like the previous players in whatever the game system is. The same applies to the soldiering forces. The protagonist will more often than not find broken, rag-tag, remnants of former soldiering forces and through the course of the story restore their numbers, equipment, and morale while learning the names of some and their backstories. Because, the protagonist is just another man of the people, regardless of who he was before.

There are some fundamental differences between the Russian-sourced material and western-based material. In the Western LitRPGs, the protagonist is the rising hero and will win through the day because that was the plan all along. In the Russian versions, the protagonist rejects the hero title and has more of a focus on surviving the events of the story and preserving as many lives as possible. When they win through at the end of the day, it is as much a surprise to them as to anyone else. Or, they've won not because they desired the prize, but because winning was the only way to not be wiped out.

4. How to Defeat a Demon King in 10 East Steps

While the LitRPG has its share of AwesomeGuy McCool winning through being an Alpha Chad, it is much more common for the protagonist of the LitRPG to be very specifically not that person. As an isekai escapist fantasy, the protagonist is much more likely to be overlooked, underestimated, or have a unique and special ability that they use as their primary tool to advance the plot and defeat the villain. Sometimes this unique skill and ability is treating others with respect and friendship, it might be having a tool that breaks magical control, a magic weapon that is effective against whatever monster, or being a magic user where magic users are X and the protagonist is the opposite of X.

In the story How to Defeat a Demon King in 10 Easy Steps, the protagonist (who is not Link) has the Inventory spell, which allows them to pick up and store things, it's very meta. They increase and expand this skill, and start picking up and storing things like lakes, large pieces of dungeons, and even monsters, and unleashing them at the right time. Thus, the hero doesn't defeat the villain by swordplay and sorcery, they defeat them with 80,000 gallons of water, a dungeon column, and a hyper-undead monster that was bound to a specific point in a dungeon, and after befriending the monster, put that part of the dungeon in the inventory to pull out later.

5. Branded: Master of All

Collecting, I mean, rescuing female side characters is common in the genre. Depending on the book, this can be pretty tame, similar to collecting Pokemon or filling out the ranks of lieutenants and henchmen, but they are all attractive females. Alternately, there are more female-friendly or written-by-women versions where instead of busty babes, the hero collects friendships, converts baddies to allies, and rather than banging their newfound buddies, the hero is after something more ephemeral. In more hentai/erotic adventure stories, the hero will seduce his new allies, often explicitly, and then deal with having multiple supernatural girlfriends who probably don't get along all that well, so the hero can play peacemaker and layout timesharing plans, and how the different aggressive and man-hungry she-beasts can share the one commodity that he has, himself.

It is at times incredibly juvenile, and rarely done well, but after listening to the news, or reading through hostile and aggressive social media, listening to a generic hero rescue and seduce an Ice Fairy and squeeze her blue nipples is a nice change of pace. Reader/listener, beware, some of the material is cringeworthy.

6. Djinn Unleashed

Another hallmark of the LitRPG genre is that these are not stand-alone books. While the story is generally wrapped in the first book, they are almost always open-ended and it is not uncommon for a series to span a half dozen volumes or more. The nice part about this is that if you like a series, its pretty likely there are plenty of books there, and many LitRPG authors are prolific and have more than one series of books.

7. Super Sale on SuperHeroes

LitRPGs tend to be shallow, superficial and don't delve into contemporary events, and none of them are 'ripped from the headlines' so tend to be relatively safe from inane levels of social fiction. Superheroes, vampires, trapped in a video game, and the rest are the main tropes. Heroes are heroes, damsels are damsels, monsters and monsters, and villains are villains. 


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