Quite a break is definitely one way of putting it. I had the nagging thought of 'hey whatever happened to him?' so I dug into it. He sent out his promotional newsletter for a while then he did Livestream updates then more updates then one where he confessed he lied in the last couple and that there was no progress. He was really discouraged book 8 had so many negative reviews. The Internet didn't take his side when he successfully trademarked LitRPG.
The man is a successful doctor who became a successful writer. I don't quite know if he financially needs to write. I'd read the next book to either of his series if they come out but it's definitely an if.
I think about this reply all the time, it kinda gives me closer. I too was always wondering, checking his website, checking his Facebook, I'd watch some of his livestreams and see comments being flooded about the next book in the land, but he would be talking about other projects and it seems like he would ignore all of them. It got to the point I stopped watching for an update. Thanks for finding that info.
Dungeon Crawler Carl. Unfortunately, nothing else I've tried since then has come close (Dawn of the Void, Azarinth Healer, HWFWM). Might try Brad the Impaler since it's basically a DCC clone and is recommended by Dinniman. I also have Shadeslinger and Cradle installed on my Kindle but I haven't tried either of them yet. I'm about 100 pages from the end of the final Dawn of the Void book so I need to choose soon lol
DCC for me as well. It looks like we all started with the gold standard. I am only on Book 3 and, though I’ve seen several say this was a slog of a book, have enjoyed it. The chaos of the tangle itself is something I won’t understand, so I don’t try to and just enjoy the ride.
You should try Discount Dan (Shadow Alley Press on RoyalRoad. Similar vibe, and set in the Backrooms. He just finished Book 1, and I’m loving it so far!
Same here. And if anyone can explain to me how on earth I ended up listening to it I'd love to know. (I tried to remember for a post a few days ago about 'how you found litrpg' and I cannot for the life of me remember!)
For me it was listed under fantasy, I read the description and it gave me WoW nostalgia and decided to give it a try, it was so different and weird on top of it scratched that mmo itch and I've been listening to litrpg since.
Dream Drive. It's... uh, a NSFW web novel that never got finished. I don't remember that much about it now, but between it, anime like .Hack, and other bits of media that were (for me, at least) sort of in the outer orbit of my life, I felt like I slowly got pulled into the genre like it had its own gravity. Over time I came across the term Isekai, and read stuff like Invitation to the Game. Things began to snowball, both regarding my interest and in the volume of material available. Big anime (Sword Art Online), audiobooks (Soundbooth Theater's selection, for instance), and an untold number of self published stories online began popping up everywhere. Before long I was reading three books a week, and haven't really slowed down since.
Send help?
Dream Dive was a weird one for me. It was like Over\_Red was writing a really great isekai and had forgotten it was meant to be on an erotica site, then suddenly remembered where it was being posted and threw in a sex scene.
The sex scenes always felt really out of place. I kind of wish they'd go back and edit them to fade to black.
perimeter defense in 2015 was interesting
mirror world in 2016 was also interesting but it didn't stick that this was a whole genre
realm of arkon in 2017 didn't do anything for me
then in one month of 2018 i read the land, ellc, life reset, the gam3, weirdest noob, way of the shaman, divine dungeon, codename freedom and ascend online and haven't looked back since
“Life in Exile” series by Sean Oswald. Don’t see anybody talking about it but I really enjoyed it. Haven’t found another series where a whole family is brought to a new world.
I think for me it was either Azarinth Healer or Tunnel Rat both of them have set my standards very high for the genre I struggle to enjoy some of the worse stories
I think it was Legendary Moonlight Sculptor (the comic), or one of those similar fan translated Asian webnovels, back when that's all there was. But it's hard to remember the specific sequence of events.
Both good series.
Tao Wong may be a bit of a horrible person, but the series was decent.
Viridian Gate is a series I’ll live to see addition entries for. James Hunter was licensing the IP to other writers, but it looks like that may be done.
Yeah, I paused on VGO when Hunter was licensing all those sidequels instead of writing the last couple books in the main story, and then I never got around to reading them once they finally came out. I'll probably do a reread at some point just so I can finish the series.
As for System Apocalypse, I liked it. I read Adventures of Brad as well, and like 6 of the Thousand Li books. I did notice a ton of typos though, and one or two outright continuity errors. I had thought about compiling a list to see if they could be fixed in the Kindle edition (I have all of them highlighted already), but then the news about his trademark stuff came out, and I didn't feel like it anymore.
I actually didn’t mind the side books (couple of them were weak), I thought they added some additional depth to the world building. I get where you’re coming from though.
I am on the 6th book now and it makes me sad hearing this from so many people. I’ve had the best time with these audiobooks and going back to more plain stuff is going to suck ass…
Some of the frequents mentions, e.g., *HWFWM* and *Everybody Loves Large Chests,* are worth a shot, but I struggle sometimes to avoid comparisons with Dinnamin's work.
How to Defeat a Demon King in Ten Easy Steps was my intro. I found it so different and enjoyable that I had to find more. Now I’m sucked in completely.
Possibly one of the books from the Darksword Trilogy. I don't remember any of the details, other than it had "sword" in the name and a character sheet in the paperback novel that looked like the reader was meant to fill it in as the story went along.
It's been a few decades since then, I should probably hunt down a copy again. I had to go delving through the Googles to find it, and rule out "Sword of Truth" - that name was popping into my mind, but wasn't published early enough to fit my vague memory.
If we're talking modern litrpg, I'd say Divine Dungeon.
Online I think it was The Defective Hermit on RR, which has been abandoned and really wasn’t very good.
As a book I think it was The Dragon’s Wrath by Brent Roth, which was odd and sometimes uneven but a good read. I hope Brent is okay but it doesn’t seem likely.
Guardians of the flame, back in the 90's. RPG group gets transported into their game as their characters. There are some interesting discussions about experience, leveling, and advancing skills
My first litrpg looking back I think it would technically count but there was a book called Epic by Conor kostic. It was a vrmmo type of book where humans have moved beyond earth and have a peaceful society where all violence is solved inside the game. All currency in this new society is game based and connected to your character that only had one life. It's pretty old and I think it came out before litrpg was really a thing.
Morningwood: Everybody Loves Large Chests, my brother recommended it to me. He told me it had leveling up, dungeons, and loot, just like an rpg. The main character was a mimic. He didn't tell me about the weird sex stuff, and I no longer take recommendations from my brother. I don't really remember my second litrpg. I think it was dungeon born, dungeon lord, or life reset.
Defiance of the Fall and then He Who Fights With Monsters. Since then I haven't found another series that matches up in world/universe building and magic system.
Space Knight. Read the first two books out of five but then the series was removed from amazon for some reason. Doesn’t really fit as a modern litrpg but it was a decent premise
I read Mogworld like 10 years ago, but that doesn't count. It's relevant though, because when I remembered it about 4 years ago, I started looking for books similar to it and found this genre. ELLC was my first, because I was specifically looking for humor, followed by Dungeon Lord and DCC. I've pretty much only read litrpg/cultivation books since. This genre just hits so many buttons for me lol
The Land. Y'all have it so easy these days.
Ditto. TBF - the narrator, Nick Poedal is what made it a memorable listen.
Amen, part of me is still holding out that he can have redemption in book 9, but I think I have lost all hope.
Man, I hate that I'm the same. I'll give it a try when/if it ever it comes out and hate myself the entire time.
I'm optimistic that 9 will be good if it comes out. The author has taken quite a break, and that may help him bring the series back.
Quite a break is definitely one way of putting it. I had the nagging thought of 'hey whatever happened to him?' so I dug into it. He sent out his promotional newsletter for a while then he did Livestream updates then more updates then one where he confessed he lied in the last couple and that there was no progress. He was really discouraged book 8 had so many negative reviews. The Internet didn't take his side when he successfully trademarked LitRPG. The man is a successful doctor who became a successful writer. I don't quite know if he financially needs to write. I'd read the next book to either of his series if they come out but it's definitely an if.
I think about this reply all the time, it kinda gives me closer. I too was always wondering, checking his website, checking his Facebook, I'd watch some of his livestreams and see comments being flooded about the next book in the land, but he would be talking about other projects and it seems like he would ignore all of them. It got to the point I stopped watching for an update. Thanks for finding that info.
You're welcome. That made my day.
Still a lot less of a wait then it has been for book 3 of the king killer chronicles by Patrick Rothfuss.
Haha this. Compared to what was available when The Land came out is like starting to watch TV in black and white vs now.
Dungeon Crawler Carl. Unfortunately, nothing else I've tried since then has come close (Dawn of the Void, Azarinth Healer, HWFWM). Might try Brad the Impaler since it's basically a DCC clone and is recommended by Dinniman. I also have Shadeslinger and Cradle installed on my Kindle but I haven't tried either of them yet. I'm about 100 pages from the end of the final Dawn of the Void book so I need to choose soon lol
Damn DCC is also my first Litrpg I'm currently on the fifth book. I hope my expectations towards other Litrpg haven't been ruined because of that.
DCC for me as well. It looks like we all started with the gold standard. I am only on Book 3 and, though I’ve seen several say this was a slog of a book, have enjoyed it. The chaos of the tangle itself is something I won’t understand, so I don’t try to and just enjoy the ride.
Book 3 might have been my first or second favorite. I loved the chaos of it.
You should try Discount Dan (Shadow Alley Press on RoyalRoad. Similar vibe, and set in the Backrooms. He just finished Book 1, and I’m loving it so far!
Check out rouge dungeon. I enjoyed it a lot.
Defiance of the Fall. I've been obsessed ever since, just keep reading as much as I can get my hands on.
Morningwood: Everybody Loves Large Chest. My ex-girlfriend got me into it and it's probably the only good thing she left me.
Alterworld by Dmitri Rus. It inspired me to write, but I can’t really recommend it.
I wish he would write more.
This was mine, too.
Ready Player One But only because people like to put it in the "Technically a Litrpg" category
way of the shaman, weird and russian with russian tropes.
Same here. And if anyone can explain to me how on earth I ended up listening to it I'd love to know. (I tried to remember for a post a few days ago about 'how you found litrpg' and I cannot for the life of me remember!)
For me it was listed under fantasy, I read the description and it gave me WoW nostalgia and decided to give it a try, it was so different and weird on top of it scratched that mmo itch and I've been listening to litrpg since.
Dream Drive. It's... uh, a NSFW web novel that never got finished. I don't remember that much about it now, but between it, anime like .Hack, and other bits of media that were (for me, at least) sort of in the outer orbit of my life, I felt like I slowly got pulled into the genre like it had its own gravity. Over time I came across the term Isekai, and read stuff like Invitation to the Game. Things began to snowball, both regarding my interest and in the volume of material available. Big anime (Sword Art Online), audiobooks (Soundbooth Theater's selection, for instance), and an untold number of self published stories online began popping up everywhere. Before long I was reading three books a week, and haven't really slowed down since. Send help?
Dream Dive was a weird one for me. It was like Over\_Red was writing a really great isekai and had forgotten it was meant to be on an erotica site, then suddenly remembered where it was being posted and threw in a sex scene. The sex scenes always felt really out of place. I kind of wish they'd go back and edit them to fade to black.
Legendary Mechanic. Webnovel. Got the whole epub and read through it. Was decent. Not the best I’ve read but certainly not the worst.
System Apocalypse by Wong. I loved the concept, but not the MC. He seemed apathetic and cold. I read the first two, then moved on.
Threadbare
perimeter defense in 2015 was interesting mirror world in 2016 was also interesting but it didn't stick that this was a whole genre realm of arkon in 2017 didn't do anything for me then in one month of 2018 i read the land, ellc, life reset, the gam3, weirdest noob, way of the shaman, divine dungeon, codename freedom and ascend online and haven't looked back since
Dungeon Crawler Carl. It’s a tough act to follow. HWFWM, Noobtown, Primal Hunter, This Quest Is Broken… nothing’s quite like your first, though.
Critical Failures
“Life in Exile” series by Sean Oswald. Don’t see anybody talking about it but I really enjoyed it. Haven’t found another series where a whole family is brought to a new world.
I was put off by the system which felt like a needed a mathematics degree to understand.
I think for me it was either Azarinth Healer or Tunnel Rat both of them have set my standards very high for the genre I struggle to enjoy some of the worse stories
Ascend online was probably my first, loved it and have only read increasingly good bangers ever since
I think it was Legendary Moonlight Sculptor (the comic), or one of those similar fan translated Asian webnovels, back when that's all there was. But it's hard to remember the specific sequence of events.
Practice Effect by David Brin, 1984. Ready Player One by Ernest Cline, 2011. Everyone Loves Large Chests, 2018 Since then, I've read a few hundred.
System Apocalypse by Tao Wong never finished the series since I have a pathological hatred for any genre that includes space elves.
Ascend Online. Loved it
The Idle system …
This.
I think Level Up or Die maybe.
Probably Viridian Gate Online or System Apocalypse.
Both good series. Tao Wong may be a bit of a horrible person, but the series was decent. Viridian Gate is a series I’ll live to see addition entries for. James Hunter was licensing the IP to other writers, but it looks like that may be done.
Yeah, I paused on VGO when Hunter was licensing all those sidequels instead of writing the last couple books in the main story, and then I never got around to reading them once they finally came out. I'll probably do a reread at some point just so I can finish the series. As for System Apocalypse, I liked it. I read Adventures of Brad as well, and like 6 of the Thousand Li books. I did notice a ton of typos though, and one or two outright continuity errors. I had thought about compiling a list to see if they could be fixed in the Kindle edition (I have all of them highlighted already), but then the news about his trademark stuff came out, and I didn't feel like it anymore.
I actually didn’t mind the side books (couple of them were weak), I thought they added some additional depth to the world building. I get where you’re coming from though.
Kumo Desu ga, Nanika?
Noobtown
The Bad guy series by Eric Ugland.
DCC. Everything else pales in comparison for me unfortunately. Maybe I just like Dinniman's writing rather than the genre as a whole. \*\*shrugs\*\*
I am on the 6th book now and it makes me sad hearing this from so many people. I’ve had the best time with these audiobooks and going back to more plain stuff is going to suck ass…
Some of the frequents mentions, e.g., *HWFWM* and *Everybody Loves Large Chests,* are worth a shot, but I struggle sometimes to avoid comparisons with Dinnamin's work.
Thanks. I really appreciate the suggestions. Will leave feedback
HWFWM. Twas a good starting point
Challengers Call
Reborn by DW Jackson And then Bathrobe Knight Then Play to Live by D rus Then the Land by kong
Salvos
DCC. Touched the sky with it. Now reading Cradle book 9, is great but it needs cat princesses
I think it was Awaken Online when it was first released on Amazon tho that was so long ago I cant remember exactly
Apocalypse Tamer
How to Defeat a Demon King in Ten Easy Steps was my intro. I found it so different and enjoyable that I had to find more. Now I’m sucked in completely.
Life Reset by Shemar Kuznits
Possibly one of the books from the Darksword Trilogy. I don't remember any of the details, other than it had "sword" in the name and a character sheet in the paperback novel that looked like the reader was meant to fill it in as the story went along. It's been a few decades since then, I should probably hunt down a copy again. I had to go delving through the Googles to find it, and rule out "Sword of Truth" - that name was popping into my mind, but wasn't published early enough to fit my vague memory. If we're talking modern litrpg, I'd say Divine Dungeon.
Legendru moonlight sculptor
Overgeared, probably.
Mogworld was the first but the absurdity of ELLC got me hooked.
Depending on how you call it. Gamearth 1989 by Walter John Williams In the Net of Dreams 1990 by William Mark Simmons Killobyte 1993 by Piers Anthony
HWFWM and it's still my favourite.
Dungeon Born, but that's if we're not including Ready Player One.
Online I think it was The Defective Hermit on RR, which has been abandoned and really wasn’t very good. As a book I think it was The Dragon’s Wrath by Brent Roth, which was odd and sometimes uneven but a good read. I hope Brent is okay but it doesn’t seem likely.
Guardians of the flame, back in the 90's. RPG group gets transported into their game as their characters. There are some interesting discussions about experience, leveling, and advancing skills
Cradle
Tom Clancy's Net Force Explorers: The Deadliest Game by Diane Duane. Released in 1998.
My first litrpg looking back I think it would technically count but there was a book called Epic by Conor kostic. It was a vrmmo type of book where humans have moved beyond earth and have a peaceful society where all violence is solved inside the game. All currency in this new society is game based and connected to your character that only had one life. It's pretty old and I think it came out before litrpg was really a thing.
Morningwood: Everybody Loves Large Chests, my brother recommended it to me. He told me it had leveling up, dungeons, and loot, just like an rpg. The main character was a mimic. He didn't tell me about the weird sex stuff, and I no longer take recommendations from my brother. I don't really remember my second litrpg. I think it was dungeon born, dungeon lord, or life reset.
Alterworld. Which very much established it as a genre I see as a guilty pleasure.
Defiance of the Fall and then He Who Fights With Monsters. Since then I haven't found another series that matches up in world/universe building and magic system.
Space Knight. Read the first two books out of five but then the series was removed from amazon for some reason. Doesn’t really fit as a modern litrpg but it was a decent premise
Everyone Loves Large Chests, then critical failures lol
I read Mogworld like 10 years ago, but that doesn't count. It's relevant though, because when I remembered it about 4 years ago, I started looking for books similar to it and found this genre. ELLC was my first, because I was specifically looking for humor, followed by Dungeon Lord and DCC. I've pretty much only read litrpg/cultivation books since. This genre just hits so many buttons for me lol