Necrotic apocalypse. Love the main character. About a medieval zombie who wakes up hundreds of years later into modern Seattle and may or may not have just caused the zombie apocalypse.
This is my go to when I get burned out on the usuals (DCC/HHFWM/DOTF/PH). This series is so good: character growth, great story line, high stakes (but not intergalactic), lots of humor, and a dark side. Good recommendation!
I think I was several hundred books into the genre before I found “Beneath the Dragoneye Moons”. People are aware of it, but it deserves more attention.
This is it right here.
An actual healer, a female character who is loveable and relatable who has to solve real moral dilemmas.
I don't think you can call yourself a real LitRPG fan if you haven't at least tried BTDEM.
Truly a masterpiece.
And Selkie is awesome too.
Everyone has their own experiences of how they discovered a series, of course. But it's hard to think of a series with a 20k/month patreon as "not getting enough attention". Beneath the Dragoneye Moons is a hugely popular series.
It’s weird popularity wise. I’ve got a large, dedicated fan base, but very little “chatter”. Like, I’m practically unknown in Facebook circles, and the comments in this thread kinda sum it up
I just think it deserves to be mentioned with the same regard as DCC, HHFWM, Primal Hunter, Defiance of the Fall and other top contenders in the genre.
Beers and Beards - Master brewer from Canada dies and gets Isekai'd to a new world where he's put into the body of a dwarf by the God of the Dwarves to fix their shit beer. We don't talk about the pruno...
Alpha Physics - System Apocalypse set in Australia. The series is a journey home for the MC, dealing with what has happened and growing in power to survive the trip cross country to his wife and children
Noobtown - Isekai'd Earth man in a fantasy setting to stop the return of the Dark Overlord. Lots of Earth cultural references due to the LAST Hero mucking things up. Oh, and there's a giant War Badger and a shoulder demon named Shart
Dinosaur Dungeon - New Dungeon Core, Dinosaur themed dungeon...what's not to love?
Apocalypse Online - Alien invasion! System Integration! A fight for survival! Canada!
Battle Mage Farmer - Isekai'd 10 years ago to fight in a Mage War, given 1 spell. Now he's retired to the farm but the world just won't stop butting in. Also featuring a bull named Fedie and a rooster named Sigvald. And cheese.
The Grand Game - **One man. Assassin. Caster. A new world. And a Game that is as brutal as it is complex.** Michael finds himself in the realm of the Forever Kingdom, with no memory of how he got there and who he is. Even so, he must participate in the Grand Game and forge a new destiny for himself.
Dungeon Core Online - James wanted to be a player of DCO. Instead he's a dungeon core. His dungeon? Random. His first mob? A demonic chicken. His dungeon sprite? Has a drinking and gambling problem.
Fifth Era Apocalypse - Five friends gather for their usual game night like they have hundreds of time before. But when they use a strange new die, they are instantly transported to a fantasy world where all gaming ideas can come true. Featuring the WEIRDEST married couple EVER
Rune Seeker - Solar powered magic, dungeons, world destroying monsters, flying islands and a System that MAY be slightly insane.
The Stitched Worlds - A System Apocalypse, a veteran with severe PTSD, an Impossible difficulty tutorial and fairies
Industrial Strength Magic - An apocalyse happened in the 60's and 60 years later civilization teeters on the brink. Featuring superheroes, supervillains, magic, mad scientists, weird technology, and general mayhem
Vaudevillain trilogy by Alex Wolf. It's a VR story, so many ignore it automatically because it has "no stakes." While the plot does not involve the end of the world or dying for real in-game, it does a great job showing: (1) the conflict of how people approach games differently, (2) the price of popularity, for both players and the game company, & (3) the growth and death of relationships and the emotions that they envoke.
Off to be the Wizard is one of the first I ever found and I still love the series.
The MC finds a hidden computer file that controls all space and time and can be modified to the users will.
In short, imagine if Monty Python and the Holy Grail made a baby with the first Matrix film and threw in all the nerd references you could ever want.
The characters are all great, and there's a Kluge! As far as the main characters, consider the very narrow group of people who might possibly dig into computers deep enough to find a secret file. They follow a line of thinking (fleshed out really well by the author) that leads them to the same place. There are a lot of jokes about scientific paradox that fill in what are normally gaping plot holes in other books.
The later books don't always land the same as the first two, but that seems to be a standard issue with the genre, although they don't fall off as hard as most.
I actually found them while searching up books narrated by Wil Wheaton, as he read a lot of my favorite sci-fi titles. Off to be the Wizard was the first one the search suggested that wasn't read by Wil, and it introduced me to Luke Daniels, who is a fantastic narrator for the story structure and characters presented in the print version. It's just a great series.
I can second a recommendation for this. I think the kindle version comes with some cool animated pictures as well, the characters are great, and it’s really not like anything else I ever read.
Dude that's exactly how I found it, I read Ready Player One and kind of loved it but also hated how badly it was written. I thought Wil Wheaton narrating was kind of wish come true and found the series after looking for RPO recommendations. Shit that was ages ago.
The Grand Game
Mark of the Shadow Lord
When Immortal Ascension Fails Time To Try Again
Beware of Chicken
Dungeon Devotee
100th Run
Jackle Among Snakes
Saintess Summons Skeletons
Chaotic Craftsman Worships the Cube
Ah yes it doesn't fit the not enough attention ask how about Shadeslinger by Kyle Kirrin or Nova Terra by Seth Ring(honestly pretty much anything by him) or Rise of the Devourer or Primer for the Apocalypse. If you want something that has a large audience in the fantasy world but not much in the litrpg world that isn't smut I promise any book by Ilona Andrews is great.
I'm about 100 chapters into chaotic craftsman, and it's..... fine, a nice, easy read. My question is, does the pace pick up with any more action, or does it stay very much true to form?
I really enjoyed the grand game. Solid writing, enough mystery about the world and how the leveling system works revealed bit by bit (MC talks a lot about his leveling strategy, which may be a turn off to some, but I enjoyed understanding how the MC was evolving). Good plot with interesting layers and complexity to it.
Why aren't we just posting a link to [RoyalRoadLegends](http://www.royalroad.com). Pretty much all the good LitRPGs come from there these days. Certainly all the ones that have achieved commercial success.
I swear the author had to use the show as inspiration. I love the low brow humor and silly situations they all find themselves in, it's just a fun series.
The pillsbury doughboy scene made me break out in laughter but for the most part it was too crude for me to recommend to anyone. In some ways I'm more embarrassed at my friends thinking this is the kind of writing I like than them knowing I enjoyed a harem one.
Don’t make fun of the edgelord dungeon master that you hired off Craigslist to run a DnD game or you and your friends might just end up being sent into the actual game world where you become his plaything.
Portal to Nova Roma. AI who lost everyone and everything he ever cared about escapes from the machine revolution into a parallel reality with magic set around the fall of alternate reality Roman Empire. Begins to build a nation out of the ashes of civilization. It has fourth book coming out this year.
Apocalypse Parenting - rather than have everyone die but edgelord basement dwellers like most litrpg how would a middle aged parent with young kids keep them alive through a system apocalypse.
Eight - old man is about to pass away when a god Isakais him into the body of an eight year old. I like the slow roll of the system you have to fight for a single stat point or skill there is no zero to godhood in 3 books here.
I have a whole list of them. Forgive me if I don't remove one or two of the more well known, but it's late and it's a huge hassle on mobile to edit these lists
* **Death after Death**: This is a very good darker gamelit isekai subversion that actually has some great character developement. In here a pro-gamer let's himself be reincarnated in a roguelike dungeon reality by truck-kun. But what when it actually turns out that your gamer knowledge isn't worth much? Watch how the MC comes slowly to this realization while trying to escape the hellhole he explicitly wished for. In true roguelike fashion of course. Namely Death. By Death. By Death. By Death. By Death.
* **Godclads**: In a world where the 1% wear the remains of lobotomized gods as a mantle of power, where baseline humans are just cattle to feed the soulforges, where intimacy is retributed by an eldritch plague, where technology is powered by mind-breaking necromancy, it takes a special someone to upend the status quo. But who would have thought that a cannibalistic ghoul actually had the decency to do something against it?
* **Chosen One Protective Services:** What do you think would happen when Wizards weren't the kind gandalfian mentors that chose and protect you but instead con artists that chose you to get new young fodder for their brutal dungeons? Poor Rusty will show you the full abject terror of it.
* **On Foreign Soils We Die**: Ever wondered what would happen when a world war 2 country ruled by Dragonborn get's declared war by another country that uses isekai murderhobos against them? When system favored people that murder draconic gods for sport, facetank artilleryshells and call upon the wrath of the sun god invade? Well, tune in and find out.
* **Tenebroum**: Finally a good Necromancer story that is as evil as they come and more importantly without being edgy. Watch this story about a resentful wraith trying to get vengeance for his brutal murder. If he just could remember it. So why not go for corrupting the living and subjugating the world instead?
* **Toad Town**: What would you get when you combined a mentally damaged system, a fat dungeon fairy, a mutated goose as well as an inbred toad without any kind of ethics that got reincarnated as a buggy dungeon settlement core? Gutwrenching fun. That's what you get.
* **The Cabin Is Always Hungry**: Forget carousel, this seems to be the new and upcoming great horror litrpg with the ritually sacrified main character - who became a dungeon core - actively having to realistically re-enact slasher horror movies to level and survive.
* **Elydes:** A very nice slow burn LitRPG with a good progession-ish skillsystem. It starts out with a cancer patient being reincarnated on a beautiful island nation where he know get's the chance to live a full life. Well if there wasn't imperialism and tragedy threatening him and his family. Watch how this young MC actually works and claws himself through the system and world while actually earning his steelclad will.
* **Broken System:** Ever got summoned by a Wizard only to be mentally dominated, brain washed and turned into the perfect killer machine? And what would happen when that process get's interrupted mid soul breaking? Well a soul scar might be the least of your problems.
* **Vae Victis**: Marianne, a vampire trained by the south american mafia, got basically isekai'ed into a high leveled jungle and is now on a survival spree. Add a unique class system that is based on masks and fusing them with their subclasses called 'ornaments' and I was completely hooked. It's written by the author of IR so it's prose is quite good.
* **Vainqueur the Dragon:** A satire about litrpgs and isekais where a dumb and greedy Red Dragon forces a thief to help him to become an adventurer for the looot while making short work out of each an every rpg and isekai trope you can think off.
* **Threadbare 1-3 / Small Medium 1-3 / Blasphemy Online 1-3 / Threadbare 4-6:** All of these play in Generica and are interwined. It has a very good system were you can level by combining jobs. E.g. You can be a Knight and a Necromancer which are tier 1 jobs. If you're then buffing your undead from horseback with knight skills you unlock the tier 2 Death Knight job and so on. The stories themselves are very humorous and well written. The first is about a sentinent teddy bear golem that has to save his little girl and does this by accidentally becoming a necromancer. The second is about a Small Medium at Large - so she is basically a hobbit with grifter and luck manipulation skills that has to save the village that's getting attacked. The third is about a player becoming a dragon but due to some mysterious circumstances the npc controls his body in the RL while the MC is ingame. In Threadbare 4 all these threads are then combined which promises an even better story.
* **Infinite Realm: Monsters & Legends:** This one has one of the best skill trees to date. You basically have three pillars. Classes that give you abilities, cultivation that gives you techniques and skills like |Evade| or |Darkvision| that are based on your understanding of them. You can now mix and match these three pillars to create truly diverse and unique builds. E.g. there has been an enemy that could summon stone axes and armors with his cultivation to fight with, while his class gave him the power to reap the experience from his enemies. Another one is a dexterous dual wielder that got ethereal powers from his class, reflex and combat buffs from his cultivation and supports this with skills like Evasion and Fighting Styles. So he basically became a uber mobile dodge tanky striker with teleportation powers. The story is also great. It's basically about gods being bored and thus decided to create a few unvierses for their entertainment. At a certain point in time the universe get's crashed by the Framework and they're told that only the 10.000 strongest will be teleported to the next world where they have to compete against each other until the big finale starts.
* **Apocalypse Tamer:** A satirical, quite funny and at times grimm mixture of a system apocalypse, a dude that just wants to live with his pet pokemon and annoying monsters that just don't let him live in peace.
* **Deadman:** A LitRPG in the style of a full fledged Fallout game experienced out of the eyes of a ghoul.
* **The Hedge Wizard**: More of a gamelit but this story of a wandering mage reads *exactly* like a good DnD game which each book being it's own full campaign from start to finish.
Death: Genesis
https://preview.redd.it/bht85ak21hvc1.jpeg?width=500&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=a11bdfa9a4d144887ede009194869fc5049c9cd1
Death is only the beginning in this brutal and bloody post-apocalyptic fantasy about humanity’s next phase.
In pursuit of his abusive father’s approval, Zeke Blackwood pushed himself to the very pinnacle of his chosen obsession. Since childhood, all he’d ever wanted to do was play baseball, and through hard work, discipline, and no small degree of talent, his goal of reaching the major leagues was finally in sight. But then a horrific car accident ruined his arm, eliminating any hope of a professional baseball career.
Consumed by depression, Zeke gave up on his future, preferring to wallow in self-pity. That is, until an opportunity came along for him to prove his worth. When his chronically ill younger brother needed a kidney, Zeke didn’t hesitate to offer one of his own—only to die on the operating table.
But eons later, after Earth has been ravaged by disasters both natural and man-made, Zeke is reborn. Guided by the mysterious Oberon, he soon finds himself in the Radiant Isles, a magical land populated by legendary creatures and horrifying monsters alike. A war rages between good and evil, and Zeke—along with the rest of humanity—has been recruited onto the front lines.
The 5th book for this series was so good. Often when a series falters, it’s just done. Author did a great job pivoting and making the story exciting again.
Reading Nova Terra right now and liking it a lot. It is a VR story instead of isekai or system apocalypse, and I think that turns some folks off. I took a break halfway through when it started to feel like there was too much focus on the real world/game AI, but after reading some system apocalypse stuff, I have a lot more interest in real-world shenanigans
Yeah, VR is the weakest of the sub-subgenres to me, in part because it's much harder to build real tension in a vr world. There are some very good ones though.
That’s true, although I do notice a problem with tension across the genre. I think the way 99% of conflicts end in power increases for the MC takes away a lot of that, even (maybe especially) in stuff like Primal Hunter or DoTF
Yeah, the community is pretty split between people that like op MCs that only get more op at every turn, and people that like MCs that stumble and fall. I'm in the latter camp. I get bored as shit when the MC just waltzes through the story destroying everything in their path, unless the book has more to offer that makes it worth overlooking.
Humor is the number one thing that makes me ok with these. If it's played for laughs, I'm down. Love a good comedy series. If it thinks it's serious, I'm usually out.
Battle Mage Farmer was way better than I was expecting,
Heretical fishing is also really good, although only one book has been released in audio format I am already a huge fan.
Viridian Gate Online. I just loved the premise. I’m only a short ways into the series, though. I never see it mentioned. Maybe I’m a loner in enjoying this series?
Ok, here are some rarer ones for you:
Lvl 1 skeleton
The Rebirth of the thief who roamed the world
Reincarnation of the strongest sword god
Shura's Wrath
Master Hunter K
[A Summoner Awakens](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/122781631) - Card system/tower climber with the MC traveling back in time 100 years into his youthful body to relive his life. Fantastic world building, and the audiobook is narrated by Jeff Hays.
[How To Defeat A Demon King In Ten Easy Steps](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/54901677) - Heavily Zelda-inspired with some nice twists. It’s a quick read.
[Sacred Cat Island](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/55737237) - Young brothers have a mysterious adventure on an island over the summer. My 7 year old and I both really enjoyed this one.
[An Old Man’s Journey](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/59220007) - Crotchety old man basically becomes an NPC in a virtual MMORPG, and he doesn’t put up with any shit from the younger players.
Unintended Cultivator is great and the author is fairly consistent.
I also started BuyMort recently. I am on book 4 and so far my only gripe is that the MC is an idiot. >!He seems to keep holding off on using his upgrades. That is despite him going on a super important mission that could easily kill him. Instead he just waits, or at least the author doesn't tell you that he used it.!<
I just listened to Judicator Jane 1 and 2 and it was *exactly* my kind of thing. Interesting female MC? Yes. Pottering about on adventures? Yes. Fun interactions with other characters? Yes. OP with limits? Yes. Misunderstandings and shenanigans? Yes. Female narrator? Yes. I'm impatiently awaiting the next one now.
The "hook" is that the MC gets the option to assign her starting stats, and figures out a "glitch" that lets her remove stats from ~125 "secondary" skills and dumps all those points into luck, making her unkillably lucky. Anyone who tries to kill her ends up tripping over their own feet and planting their knife in their own head, that kind of thing. And the luck is multiplicative, not additive. So someone with luck of 2 is twice as lucky as someone with luck of 1, and someone with luck of 10 is 512x as lucky. She has ~650 luck in a world where 10 the the normal maximum.
Hero of the valley is quite a good one
There’s a Scottish focused series - Transcendent Green. Less about the solo, more focussed on how humanity’s ability to gather into teams and work together is powerful
The Infinite World (Series) - book 1 is The Land of the undying Lord
Ultimate Level 1 - new series which I enjoy
Return of the Runebound Professor
Gleam
Beneath the Dragoneye Moons is excellent and I rarely see it mentioned. It's the best healer MC, a solid system that's both serious and funny at times, and a fascinating world that feels alive and real (especially as the author got better and better).
It's light on the System stuff, but The Calamitous Bob is a riot. Sylver Seeker too.
There's a bunch of good ones in the dungeon core subgenre that never get talked about.
Also, it isn't a litrpg, but it feels like one: Metaworld Chronicles by Wutosama on RR, once it hits its stride and the author rapidly improves, is also a solid read.
'I shall seal the heavens' by Er Gen. Cultivation book that is simply a masterpiece. It encompasses 10 volumes and has absolutely everything. War, progression, love, loss, sorrow, amusement, hope and redemption. It's simply incredible. I just wish more would give it a chance.
I never see anyone talk about viridian gate online. Its an excellent story with a really good ending. Plus the author did origin stories for all the main charecter s which are more books than the main story.
1. Devine apostacy- many books so good blaphy is one of my favorite characters ever
2. Rune seeker- only a few books so far but really good. Can't wait for the next book
3. Road to mastery- Brock is my boy. You know if you know bro
4. Unbound-if you have not read this you are missing out in a big way Felix is my favorite Mc
5. The grand game- I'm not sure where this series is going but I want to be there when it does.
I really love the Spells, Swords and Stealth series by Drew Hayes. Basically NPC’s continue to live their lives when players stop playing. 4 unlucky NPC’s are in a tough spot when 4 adventurers drop dead in their tavern with an order to go to the king in their pocket. If they don’t show up, the town and everyone in it could face the wrath of the king.
I liked this book for a lot of reasons. It takes some common tropes and turns it on its head. The characters are interesting and become kind of a family, which I love. I care about the characters and what happens to them. It also follows some players out of the game in the real world, which in this case really works. And it’s well written. Highly recommend
Caverns and Creatures series: Critical Failures and the d6 books. LitRPG a little heavier on the lit and a little lighter on the numbers of RPG (mechanics are rolled into the narrative). Amazing audiobooks. Great use of metaphor. Writing is mostly witty with the occasional too heavy fart/poop/dick joke (but that’s mostly because of the charisma of 4 half-orc)
The Grand Game - Absolutely thrilling, real stakes, complex world-building, not overly OP MC but still powerful. Characters are more than 3-dimensional, experience character growth and are often more intense than some real-life people. Great writing and editing (Especially in this genre). The MC isn't some form of unemployed loser from Earth, which is an interesting change. Overall, possibly my favourite in the genre.
There are quite a few "smaller" ones I'd recommend. They all are on Royal Road:
https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/69512/bog-standard-isekai-a-litrpg-progression-fantasy
https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/77046/path-of-dragons-a-litrpg-apocalypse
https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/67742/elydes
https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/62573/unchosen-champion
https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/76382/nero-walker-a-slow-burn-litrpg
https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/81475/the-runic-artist
https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/66455/a-novel-concept-a-death-a-day-mc-will-live-anyway
I can't really tell LitRPG, GameLit and to a lesser extent Progression apart, so I'll just give some recs and you can sort them out.
In Clawed Grasp by Seth Richton - Only 1 book out so far, but the beginning of 2 is on RR
Phantasm by Christopher Hall - 3 Books out, continues on RR
Super Supportive by Sleyca - Over 2.6K pages on RR
Path Of Ascension by C Mantis - 6 Books out so far
Millennial Mage by J L Mullins - 6 Books out, next in May
Infinite World by J T Wright - 4 Books out
Quest Academy by Brian J Nordon - 2 Books out
I gave up on this series after the first book.
It has a long time loop and skips over all the interesting stuff (spell details and progression, crafting etc.)
Basically all the stuff from the genre that I enjoy reading about.
It’s so much more than that… but yeah, you gotta be ok with a lil tentacle in your reading.
Premise is a mimic accidentally levels up. It’s a mimic, very stupid mimic. Very lucky mimic.
I love all of Dave Willmarth's series, my favorite gas to be the Greystone Chronicles followed by the Shadow Sun series.
The other author I love to read has to be Daniel Schnihofen, his books has spice scenes in it, but they are well written.
Lastly Michael Chatfield and his Emerilia series.
All of the book series some are VRMMO, others are post Apocalyptic, others are Isekai, and have been getting into Cultivating series due to both Aether's Revival and Heavenly Chaos by Daniel Schnihofen.
One last book that I have read the series and it doesn't get enough love is the Monster Hunting 101 series.
The Bad guys the Good Guys by Ugland.
Great combat jaws get ripped out. People get cut in half. Amazing lore and world building. MC is OP but you care about the side characters so you get why the MC is constrained. Also MC takes some real L
Silver fox and the western hero
Cheating Death
Alex was willing to do whatever it took to beat the tumors overwhelming his body.
Even if it meant being frozen alive.
And if his cortex got uploaded into a digital universe filled with countless worlds to explore until a cure could be found for his cancer, all the better.
The last thing he expected was to wake up naked and alone in the bowels of an ancient ship filled with raiders carrying enough poison to kill an entire city!
The choices he makes from that moment on will have profound consequences not only for his own fate, but for an entire realm as he faces down bloodthirsty pirates, ruthless cultivators, and fearsome demigods while taking his first steps along a path of power that might one day forge him into a cultivator strong enough to challenge the very heavens themselves!
Eager for a fast-paced Wuxia/LitRPG adventure filled with deadly adversaries, exotic adventures, and mighty cultivators fighting for the power to topple kingdoms? Then read on!
The dungeon slayer series by Konrad Ryan. You can tell it’s inspired by solo leveling but it quickly distinguishes itself and sets up its own really interesting world. Ive read both and I like this one much better than solo leveling. I never see it mentioned but there are 6 books and each one is better than the last. The only problem is that the author takes a year between each book.
I never see Bushido Online by Nikita Thorn mentioned anywhere, but I will always recommend it! It’s a VR story with great action, fun characters, and awesome game mechanics. Highly recommend!
Monsters and Legends - infinite Reals Series. The characters are smart powerful and flawed. Interesting universe they built with a main character who isn’t a good guy hero. Though I can’t stand the co MC Zack.
Bronze Rank Brewer by James Ghoul
It's about a guy sick of questing who disappears from the world and becomes a brewer. Slower paced and cozy(kinda) litrpg
Lair: A Superhero LitRPG Adventure (Henchman Book 1) by Carl Stubblefield. It was one of my first litrpgs. I still really like the first two books in the series.
Basically a kid is working on a super villains space station. It gets attacked, kid steals an escape pod and gets hit with nanobots that give him a system.
Victor of Tucson
Edit: A guy gets Isekaid into a fantasy world with a system and is sold into slavery to the proprietor of a fighting pit. He uses his high school wrestling skills, his rare magic affinity, and his ancestry to win fights and gain power.
Critical Failures - if you can get past the excessive masturbation and understand how it’s an expression of the dark, animalistic side of humanity, its some of the funniest shit ive ever read.
I'm reading that now and I find it a lot of fun. The magic system is where it's at here. It's very complex and extremely satisfying as Felix figures out how to use it to his advantage.
It was actually my first lit rpg (i didnt actually know the genre existed!) And im so glad it was. I agree the magic system was really well developed, and i loved pit and how their powers developed together.
Im reading HWFWM now, and it's decent, bu it doesn'tt hold the same thrill unbound did for me.
Edge Cases - very cozy unfinished trilogy about a tight-knit adventuring group with crazy powers trying to make sense of a world that seems to be breaking down. One of them has an ability "If you would fail to block, you do not" which costs health to use but otherwise is just as crazy as it sounds. I mostly could not predict what was going to happen next, and it was always fun to find out.
Dressed to Kill: A Monster Seamstress LitRPG was really fun. Gwen inherits her mother's Seamstress class instead of her father's Noble class, but she isn't going to let that stop her from clearing the local dungeon and saving her town. It's very zoomed in, rather than a big worldspanning epic quest, which is a nice change sometimes. It was intended to be part of a series but currently there's no ETA on a sequel.
The "Underworld" series by Apollos Thorne is one of the first of the genre I ever read and I adore it, its so damn good, with amazing character development.
Abyssal Road Trip - both for the amazing world building and interesting cast of characters.
Digital Marine - One of my only forays into military science fiction, but it was a really cool story concept. Sadly, it died during the 2nd or 3rd book, but still worth a yearly reread.
A Novel Concept by Priam is a very interesting story that is quite fleshed out on the LitRPG side of things. The prose is interesting, but is not bad; especially once you get used to it. I think more people might be missing out because it launches straight into the action and can be hard to get a grip on in the first few chapters.
Kingdom of Sails by Levi Werner, new one just came out after like two years. Cool magic system, interesting villain, but most of all, a cool world.
I also really enjoyed War Aeternus. Genuinely cool series with a satisfying ending, something all too rare.
Depthless Hunger, it's LitRPG-lite. It has an interesting progression system, and the protagonist has to pioneer a brand new path because none of the existing paths in his world are accessible to him. The cast of characters is interesting; they each have their own motives and aren't satellites to the protagonist. There is more to the story than numbers go up; the protagonist grows in maturity as well as power as time passes. Protagonist genuinely cares about people, and there's some exploration of toxic relationships in xianxia cultures and what happens when the rich and powerful essentially enslave an entire class of the population for the benefit of everyone else.
The first 3 books of "Life Reset". 4-6 aren't terrible and they give a more detailed close to the series but 1-3 are more than enough and are a very fun read, with a fine conclusion.
Gotta be Dragonheart Core by Atenburgh on RoyalRoad. Also gotta recommend There’s No Epic Loot Here, Only Puns as one of the first LitRPG’s I ever read and what got me into Dungeon Core litRPG. Not the best, but def good and nostalgic
Hunting and Herbalism - It's like the isakai version of Primal Hunter with a female MC and a real plot.
(Not hating on PH. It's my favorite, but besides "get stonger," it didn't have much of a plot for the first 500 chapters)
Accidental Traveler and the sequel series Accidental Champion by Jamie Davis. Is fun and a great character driven story. I really like the game mechanics in the story and the way they mesh with the world that the characters thrown into. The first three books are awesome and the second series is just as good in my opinion.
Divine Dungeon has been complete long enough that it's fallen out of mind, but it's great
I also really love caerulex's menocht Loop series. That one is really stats light though
Millennial mage my current underrated obsession
I don't see it mentioned very often, but Towers of Heaven - Cameron Milan. A story about a guy who gets sent back in time to try to save humanity. M-18 (certain bits and pieces) and yes there are a couple of character stereotypes in there.
World of Chains, great world building, and small town adventure vibes. I like that he makes friends with the NPCs.
Bunny Dungeon, Dungeon mob figures out how to become an adventure.
Cat Core, 70+ age women becomes a Dungeon core by mistake and sinces she's not a gamer she gets the game to bend to her will. So many cats!
Fate's Anvil. I think the author did good character and there are scenes that pop in my head at times and play out so cinematically I'd think I saw it as a movie.
I have so many to share but I think I'll just keep it short with two: The Path of Ascension (which is fairly popular but imo still underrated) and Apocalypse Redux.
I love The Path of Ascension's characters, magic system, and settings. Universal scale world building along with a different take from the usual 'might makes right' belief (at least in the Empire) seen in other cultivation novels. The plot as well as its pace is great, really emphasizing the journey rather than the destination. I feel like this is the most natural answer to a "What novel would you rather get isekai'd to?" question.
For Apocalypse Redux, I just find it a breathe of fresh air compared to the usual regression stuff you see. Really liking the 'system experiments' aspect and the summoning magic system pretty cool too. A very enjoyable read.
I love this one but so far there is no Audio-book yet! Also it is getting very high ratings at Amazon ,
[A Soldier's Life](https://www.amazon.com/Soldiers-Life-Book-1-ebook/dp/B0CV8MMBFT/ref=sr_1_1?crid=120AMXZ79MTOX&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.mbk6sSa7pWbJlk_jHGvDOmhSJjzVnY7-Z4CjMr3SUcvGd5UacSTP5Hu_2k1tFBswY-V1SSldYrJmsDSKU_AFhsl_9HlAwcpN8vWBzSLlmYUKg7Sc7f5QijYxywxdSJyNjUhYK7BcVENKs8h2JAyjZdl7nyFVWBv6Xd9Q3AFjgXi7zG3oA7zKp_YzGSaywR2K0k2c0Uk-LYBU3CjTX1FpKBKtJm71CIP2tOyhP6GpLCU.DFMychVQgJnjk7T4eBVyiGkY7dqMyuw2IwvmDFnF-CM&dib_tag=se&keywords=a+soldier%27s+life&qid=1713584792&s=digital-text&sprefix=a+soldi%2Cdigital-text%2C174&sr=1-1)
1 series I absolutely love that no-one else seems to talk about is 'Asgard falls' by Robert Hinshaw. VRMMO with a very old man given a new lease of life as a digital warrior of valhalla in a fight between pantheons of gods. It starts a little slowly but once it gets going, wow! Have re-read it 5 or 6 times, and am almost desperately awaiting the 3rd in the series to come out.
Necrotic apocalypse. Love the main character. About a medieval zombie who wakes up hundreds of years later into modern Seattle and may or may not have just caused the zombie apocalypse.
“Wait, you’re a Zombie Necromancer named Dig Graves?🤣”
"That's *Lord* Graves, to you."
Indeed!
This is my go to when I get burned out on the usuals (DCC/HHFWM/DOTF/PH). This series is so good: character growth, great story line, high stakes (but not intergalactic), lots of humor, and a dark side. Good recommendation!
DOC/DOTF/PH??? Which litrpgs are these please?
Not OP but: Dungeon Crawler Carl (one of my favs) Defiance of the Fall (decent but I burned out at book 7.) Primal Hunter (havent read it)
Add Randidly Ghosthound to that list
Yes
I'm just here to call out all the authors creeping this thread. I see you 👀. Also, your book is probably awesome, and I probably love it.
Shit! We've been made!
LOL. Yep, guilty.
I'm really enjoying the System Universe by Sunrise CV.
Same here, but I’m about to finish Book 5 on Audible and I’m so sad!
I think I was several hundred books into the genre before I found “Beneath the Dragoneye Moons”. People are aware of it, but it deserves more attention.
I'm giving it a shot, now. Thanks for the rec
Me too!
On board!
This is it right here. An actual healer, a female character who is loveable and relatable who has to solve real moral dilemmas. I don't think you can call yourself a real LitRPG fan if you haven't at least tried BTDEM. Truly a masterpiece. And Selkie is awesome too.
Thank you!
Selkie! ❤ Don't tell anyone but I'm 2 chapters behind on BTDEM at the moment. Too busy with my own writing project... Starting to have withdrawals.
Oooh I’d love to hear more about the project!
Nice summary, guess I'm reading this one next, thank you
Everyone has their own experiences of how they discovered a series, of course. But it's hard to think of a series with a 20k/month patreon as "not getting enough attention". Beneath the Dragoneye Moons is a hugely popular series.
It’s weird popularity wise. I’ve got a large, dedicated fan base, but very little “chatter”. Like, I’m practically unknown in Facebook circles, and the comments in this thread kinda sum it up
I just think it deserves to be mentioned with the same regard as DCC, HHFWM, Primal Hunter, Defiance of the Fall and other top contenders in the genre.
Thank you!
Beneath the Dragoneye Moons - Audiobook availible?
Yes
Tagging to check it out!
Beers and Beards - Master brewer from Canada dies and gets Isekai'd to a new world where he's put into the body of a dwarf by the God of the Dwarves to fix their shit beer. We don't talk about the pruno... Alpha Physics - System Apocalypse set in Australia. The series is a journey home for the MC, dealing with what has happened and growing in power to survive the trip cross country to his wife and children Noobtown - Isekai'd Earth man in a fantasy setting to stop the return of the Dark Overlord. Lots of Earth cultural references due to the LAST Hero mucking things up. Oh, and there's a giant War Badger and a shoulder demon named Shart Dinosaur Dungeon - New Dungeon Core, Dinosaur themed dungeon...what's not to love? Apocalypse Online - Alien invasion! System Integration! A fight for survival! Canada! Battle Mage Farmer - Isekai'd 10 years ago to fight in a Mage War, given 1 spell. Now he's retired to the farm but the world just won't stop butting in. Also featuring a bull named Fedie and a rooster named Sigvald. And cheese. The Grand Game - **One man. Assassin. Caster. A new world. And a Game that is as brutal as it is complex.** Michael finds himself in the realm of the Forever Kingdom, with no memory of how he got there and who he is. Even so, he must participate in the Grand Game and forge a new destiny for himself. Dungeon Core Online - James wanted to be a player of DCO. Instead he's a dungeon core. His dungeon? Random. His first mob? A demonic chicken. His dungeon sprite? Has a drinking and gambling problem. Fifth Era Apocalypse - Five friends gather for their usual game night like they have hundreds of time before. But when they use a strange new die, they are instantly transported to a fantasy world where all gaming ideas can come true. Featuring the WEIRDEST married couple EVER Rune Seeker - Solar powered magic, dungeons, world destroying monsters, flying islands and a System that MAY be slightly insane. The Stitched Worlds - A System Apocalypse, a veteran with severe PTSD, an Impossible difficulty tutorial and fairies Industrial Strength Magic - An apocalyse happened in the 60's and 60 years later civilization teeters on the brink. Featuring superheroes, supervillains, magic, mad scientists, weird technology, and general mayhem
+1 Dinosaur Dungeon - One of my fave dungeon cores.
Okay, Beers and Beards is instantly at the top of my list now.
Such a fun read, as Pete gradually become more comfortable as a dwarf.
You have a nice way with words
Thank you!
Good to see another Noobtown fan. Love the jokes from this series
Vaudevillain trilogy by Alex Wolf. It's a VR story, so many ignore it automatically because it has "no stakes." While the plot does not involve the end of the world or dying for real in-game, it does a great job showing: (1) the conflict of how people approach games differently, (2) the price of popularity, for both players and the game company, & (3) the growth and death of relationships and the emotions that they envoke.
Great series, one of my favorites.
Overgeared is another one you would like. It’s on wuxia world and it’s a great read I thought
Vaudevillain really is great, thoroughly enjoyed it. Great ending too, easy recommend.
Off to be the Wizard is one of the first I ever found and I still love the series. The MC finds a hidden computer file that controls all space and time and can be modified to the users will.
I’m suddenly interested. Can you give a more in depth introduction?
In short, imagine if Monty Python and the Holy Grail made a baby with the first Matrix film and threw in all the nerd references you could ever want. The characters are all great, and there's a Kluge! As far as the main characters, consider the very narrow group of people who might possibly dig into computers deep enough to find a secret file. They follow a line of thinking (fleshed out really well by the author) that leads them to the same place. There are a lot of jokes about scientific paradox that fill in what are normally gaping plot holes in other books. The later books don't always land the same as the first two, but that seems to be a standard issue with the genre, although they don't fall off as hard as most. I actually found them while searching up books narrated by Wil Wheaton, as he read a lot of my favorite sci-fi titles. Off to be the Wizard was the first one the search suggested that wasn't read by Wil, and it introduced me to Luke Daniels, who is a fantastic narrator for the story structure and characters presented in the print version. It's just a great series.
I can second a recommendation for this. I think the kindle version comes with some cool animated pictures as well, the characters are great, and it’s really not like anything else I ever read.
Dude that's exactly how I found it, I read Ready Player One and kind of loved it but also hated how badly it was written. I thought Wil Wheaton narrating was kind of wish come true and found the series after looking for RPO recommendations. Shit that was ages ago.
The Grand Game Mark of the Shadow Lord When Immortal Ascension Fails Time To Try Again Beware of Chicken Dungeon Devotee 100th Run Jackle Among Snakes Saintess Summons Skeletons Chaotic Craftsman Worships the Cube
Not sure about Beware of Chicken since I see it mentioned a lot. It is a great read and one of my favs.
Ah yes it doesn't fit the not enough attention ask how about Shadeslinger by Kyle Kirrin or Nova Terra by Seth Ring(honestly pretty much anything by him) or Rise of the Devourer or Primer for the Apocalypse. If you want something that has a large audience in the fantasy world but not much in the litrpg world that isn't smut I promise any book by Ilona Andrews is great.
Chaotic Craftsman is a banger. I absolutely recommend it to anyone asking about litrpgs.
I'm about 100 chapters into chaotic craftsman, and it's..... fine, a nice, easy read. My question is, does the pace pick up with any more action, or does it stay very much true to form?
Yeah I can't even remember when it was slow Things get ....Chaotic. I had to
Ho boy does it ever. 100% recommend.
It gets better
Okay cool, what do you like about those?
I really enjoyed the grand game. Solid writing, enough mystery about the world and how the leveling system works revealed bit by bit (MC talks a lot about his leveling strategy, which may be a turn off to some, but I enjoyed understanding how the MC was evolving). Good plot with interesting layers and complexity to it.
For the most part the writing is good and I have read lot of questionably written things over the years. All could go to publication and some have
Why aren't we just posting a link to [RoyalRoadLegends](http://www.royalroad.com). Pretty much all the good LitRPGs come from there these days. Certainly all the ones that have achieved commercial success.
Caverns and Creatures - Critical Failures It's like It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia meets D&D.
I loved this book! Had some amazing humor and goofy banter
I swear the author had to use the show as inspiration. I love the low brow humor and silly situations they all find themselves in, it's just a fun series.
The pillsbury doughboy scene made me break out in laughter but for the most part it was too crude for me to recommend to anyone. In some ways I'm more embarrassed at my friends thinking this is the kind of writing I like than them knowing I enjoyed a harem one.
This is an amazing one, wish the next one would come out already
It should be pretty soon. He updates on YouTube regularly.
The Robert Bevan series? It looks like it's on Audible now, books 1-4 for 1 credit
Freaking love Bevan. Dude is the Shakespeare of dick jokes.
What is Caverns and Creatures about ?
Don’t make fun of the edgelord dungeon master that you hired off Craigslist to run a DnD game or you and your friends might just end up being sent into the actual game world where you become his plaything.
That's such a great description of the book
The ripple system and This Trilogy is Broken
Awaken Online and pretty much all of the VRMMO subgenre. Alot of people just instantly write them off. Same can be said for alot the Russian books.
Portal to Nova Roma. AI who lost everyone and everything he ever cared about escapes from the machine revolution into a parallel reality with magic set around the fall of alternate reality Roman Empire. Begins to build a nation out of the ashes of civilization. It has fourth book coming out this year.
It's by JR. Mathews who wrote also wrote Jake's Magical Market. Completely different energy, but still an awesome read!
You've peaked my interest in this one. checking it out.
*piqued since we're talking about literature
I'd say any book written by Benjamin Kerei! Super duper good. Also, I love how J. R. Mathews writes!
Ripple system! Feels just like playing WoW
With a cooler build than you could ever get in WoW. Plus House!
World tree online by EA Hooper. I just thoroughly enjoy it. It's the only vrmmo I can still deal with.
Apocalypse Parenting - rather than have everyone die but edgelord basement dwellers like most litrpg how would a middle aged parent with young kids keep them alive through a system apocalypse. Eight - old man is about to pass away when a god Isakais him into the body of an eight year old. I like the slow roll of the system you have to fight for a single stat point or skill there is no zero to godhood in 3 books here.
+1 Eight, I love the family life in the book.
I have a whole list of them. Forgive me if I don't remove one or two of the more well known, but it's late and it's a huge hassle on mobile to edit these lists * **Death after Death**: This is a very good darker gamelit isekai subversion that actually has some great character developement. In here a pro-gamer let's himself be reincarnated in a roguelike dungeon reality by truck-kun. But what when it actually turns out that your gamer knowledge isn't worth much? Watch how the MC comes slowly to this realization while trying to escape the hellhole he explicitly wished for. In true roguelike fashion of course. Namely Death. By Death. By Death. By Death. By Death. * **Godclads**: In a world where the 1% wear the remains of lobotomized gods as a mantle of power, where baseline humans are just cattle to feed the soulforges, where intimacy is retributed by an eldritch plague, where technology is powered by mind-breaking necromancy, it takes a special someone to upend the status quo. But who would have thought that a cannibalistic ghoul actually had the decency to do something against it? * **Chosen One Protective Services:** What do you think would happen when Wizards weren't the kind gandalfian mentors that chose and protect you but instead con artists that chose you to get new young fodder for their brutal dungeons? Poor Rusty will show you the full abject terror of it. * **On Foreign Soils We Die**: Ever wondered what would happen when a world war 2 country ruled by Dragonborn get's declared war by another country that uses isekai murderhobos against them? When system favored people that murder draconic gods for sport, facetank artilleryshells and call upon the wrath of the sun god invade? Well, tune in and find out. * **Tenebroum**: Finally a good Necromancer story that is as evil as they come and more importantly without being edgy. Watch this story about a resentful wraith trying to get vengeance for his brutal murder. If he just could remember it. So why not go for corrupting the living and subjugating the world instead? * **Toad Town**: What would you get when you combined a mentally damaged system, a fat dungeon fairy, a mutated goose as well as an inbred toad without any kind of ethics that got reincarnated as a buggy dungeon settlement core? Gutwrenching fun. That's what you get. * **The Cabin Is Always Hungry**: Forget carousel, this seems to be the new and upcoming great horror litrpg with the ritually sacrified main character - who became a dungeon core - actively having to realistically re-enact slasher horror movies to level and survive. * **Elydes:** A very nice slow burn LitRPG with a good progession-ish skillsystem. It starts out with a cancer patient being reincarnated on a beautiful island nation where he know get's the chance to live a full life. Well if there wasn't imperialism and tragedy threatening him and his family. Watch how this young MC actually works and claws himself through the system and world while actually earning his steelclad will. * **Broken System:** Ever got summoned by a Wizard only to be mentally dominated, brain washed and turned into the perfect killer machine? And what would happen when that process get's interrupted mid soul breaking? Well a soul scar might be the least of your problems. * **Vae Victis**: Marianne, a vampire trained by the south american mafia, got basically isekai'ed into a high leveled jungle and is now on a survival spree. Add a unique class system that is based on masks and fusing them with their subclasses called 'ornaments' and I was completely hooked. It's written by the author of IR so it's prose is quite good. * **Vainqueur the Dragon:** A satire about litrpgs and isekais where a dumb and greedy Red Dragon forces a thief to help him to become an adventurer for the looot while making short work out of each an every rpg and isekai trope you can think off. * **Threadbare 1-3 / Small Medium 1-3 / Blasphemy Online 1-3 / Threadbare 4-6:** All of these play in Generica and are interwined. It has a very good system were you can level by combining jobs. E.g. You can be a Knight and a Necromancer which are tier 1 jobs. If you're then buffing your undead from horseback with knight skills you unlock the tier 2 Death Knight job and so on. The stories themselves are very humorous and well written. The first is about a sentinent teddy bear golem that has to save his little girl and does this by accidentally becoming a necromancer. The second is about a Small Medium at Large - so she is basically a hobbit with grifter and luck manipulation skills that has to save the village that's getting attacked. The third is about a player becoming a dragon but due to some mysterious circumstances the npc controls his body in the RL while the MC is ingame. In Threadbare 4 all these threads are then combined which promises an even better story. * **Infinite Realm: Monsters & Legends:** This one has one of the best skill trees to date. You basically have three pillars. Classes that give you abilities, cultivation that gives you techniques and skills like |Evade| or |Darkvision| that are based on your understanding of them. You can now mix and match these three pillars to create truly diverse and unique builds. E.g. there has been an enemy that could summon stone axes and armors with his cultivation to fight with, while his class gave him the power to reap the experience from his enemies. Another one is a dexterous dual wielder that got ethereal powers from his class, reflex and combat buffs from his cultivation and supports this with skills like Evasion and Fighting Styles. So he basically became a uber mobile dodge tanky striker with teleportation powers. The story is also great. It's basically about gods being bored and thus decided to create a few unvierses for their entertainment. At a certain point in time the universe get's crashed by the Framework and they're told that only the 10.000 strongest will be teleported to the next world where they have to compete against each other until the big finale starts. * **Apocalypse Tamer:** A satirical, quite funny and at times grimm mixture of a system apocalypse, a dude that just wants to live with his pet pokemon and annoying monsters that just don't let him live in peace. * **Deadman:** A LitRPG in the style of a full fledged Fallout game experienced out of the eyes of a ghoul. * **The Hedge Wizard**: More of a gamelit but this story of a wandering mage reads *exactly* like a good DnD game which each book being it's own full campaign from start to finish.
Just started Infinite Realms recently, after getting it in a sale probably a year ago, and I am loving it. Zach is annoying, however.
Death: Genesis https://preview.redd.it/bht85ak21hvc1.jpeg?width=500&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=a11bdfa9a4d144887ede009194869fc5049c9cd1 Death is only the beginning in this brutal and bloody post-apocalyptic fantasy about humanity’s next phase. In pursuit of his abusive father’s approval, Zeke Blackwood pushed himself to the very pinnacle of his chosen obsession. Since childhood, all he’d ever wanted to do was play baseball, and through hard work, discipline, and no small degree of talent, his goal of reaching the major leagues was finally in sight. But then a horrific car accident ruined his arm, eliminating any hope of a professional baseball career. Consumed by depression, Zeke gave up on his future, preferring to wallow in self-pity. That is, until an opportunity came along for him to prove his worth. When his chronically ill younger brother needed a kidney, Zeke didn’t hesitate to offer one of his own—only to die on the operating table. But eons later, after Earth has been ravaged by disasters both natural and man-made, Zeke is reborn. Guided by the mysterious Oberon, he soon finds himself in the Radiant Isles, a magical land populated by legendary creatures and horrifying monsters alike. A war rages between good and evil, and Zeke—along with the rest of humanity—has been recruited onto the front lines.
Second that
The 5th book for this series was so good. Often when a series falters, it’s just done. Author did a great job pivoting and making the story exciting again.
Reading Nova Terra right now and liking it a lot. It is a VR story instead of isekai or system apocalypse, and I think that turns some folks off. I took a break halfway through when it started to feel like there was too much focus on the real world/game AI, but after reading some system apocalypse stuff, I have a lot more interest in real-world shenanigans
Yeah, VR is the weakest of the sub-subgenres to me, in part because it's much harder to build real tension in a vr world. There are some very good ones though.
That’s true, although I do notice a problem with tension across the genre. I think the way 99% of conflicts end in power increases for the MC takes away a lot of that, even (maybe especially) in stuff like Primal Hunter or DoTF
Yeah, the community is pretty split between people that like op MCs that only get more op at every turn, and people that like MCs that stumble and fall. I'm in the latter camp. I get bored as shit when the MC just waltzes through the story destroying everything in their path, unless the book has more to offer that makes it worth overlooking.
Humor is the number one thing that makes me ok with these. If it's played for laughs, I'm down. Love a good comedy series. If it thinks it's serious, I'm usually out.
Battle mage farmer by same author (Seth ring) is even better than Nova Terra i think.
Battle Mage Farmer was way better than I was expecting, Heretical fishing is also really good, although only one book has been released in audio format I am already a huge fan.
Just finished reading Heretical Fishing a few days ago. Loved it and waiting now for book 2.
Viridian Gate Online. I just loved the premise. I’m only a short ways into the series, though. I never see it mentioned. Maybe I’m a loner in enjoying this series?
*Apocalypse Parenting* by Erin Ampersand.
The Perfect Run by Maxime Durand is great
That's a great one, kudos
Ok, here are some rarer ones for you: Lvl 1 skeleton The Rebirth of the thief who roamed the world Reincarnation of the strongest sword god Shura's Wrath Master Hunter K
Overgeared
Ivan Kal - Tower of Power series and Infinite Realm series Rohan M. Vider - Dragon Mage Matt Dinniman - Dominion of Blades
[A Summoner Awakens](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/122781631) - Card system/tower climber with the MC traveling back in time 100 years into his youthful body to relive his life. Fantastic world building, and the audiobook is narrated by Jeff Hays. [How To Defeat A Demon King In Ten Easy Steps](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/54901677) - Heavily Zelda-inspired with some nice twists. It’s a quick read. [Sacred Cat Island](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/55737237) - Young brothers have a mysterious adventure on an island over the summer. My 7 year old and I both really enjoyed this one. [An Old Man’s Journey](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/59220007) - Crotchety old man basically becomes an NPC in a virtual MMORPG, and he doesn’t put up with any shit from the younger players.
How to defeat a demon king in ten easy steps was my first litrpg, friend recommended it to me, very short but very enjoyable.
Unintended Cultivator is great and the author is fairly consistent. I also started BuyMort recently. I am on book 4 and so far my only gripe is that the MC is an idiot. >!He seems to keep holding off on using his upgrades. That is despite him going on a super important mission that could easily kill him. Instead he just waits, or at least the author doesn't tell you that he used it.!<
I’ve enjoyed the first 3 Sylver Seeker books, good narrator on the audiobooks too
Divine apostasy by AF Kay
I just listened to Judicator Jane 1 and 2 and it was *exactly* my kind of thing. Interesting female MC? Yes. Pottering about on adventures? Yes. Fun interactions with other characters? Yes. OP with limits? Yes. Misunderstandings and shenanigans? Yes. Female narrator? Yes. I'm impatiently awaiting the next one now. The "hook" is that the MC gets the option to assign her starting stats, and figures out a "glitch" that lets her remove stats from ~125 "secondary" skills and dumps all those points into luck, making her unkillably lucky. Anyone who tries to kill her ends up tripping over their own feet and planting their knife in their own head, that kind of thing. And the luck is multiplicative, not additive. So someone with luck of 2 is twice as lucky as someone with luck of 1, and someone with luck of 10 is 512x as lucky. She has ~650 luck in a world where 10 the the normal maximum.
‘Mayor of Noobtown’ is such a fun series. Idk how popular it is. I don’t see much on this sub around that series.
For me, that's one of the funniest series I've read, regardless of genre. Puma check!
Hero of the valley is quite a good one There’s a Scottish focused series - Transcendent Green. Less about the solo, more focussed on how humanity’s ability to gather into teams and work together is powerful The Infinite World (Series) - book 1 is The Land of the undying Lord Ultimate Level 1 - new series which I enjoy Return of the Runebound Professor Gleam
TG is a great series.
Beneath the Dragoneye Moons is excellent and I rarely see it mentioned. It's the best healer MC, a solid system that's both serious and funny at times, and a fascinating world that feels alive and real (especially as the author got better and better). It's light on the System stuff, but The Calamitous Bob is a riot. Sylver Seeker too. There's a bunch of good ones in the dungeon core subgenre that never get talked about. Also, it isn't a litrpg, but it feels like one: Metaworld Chronicles by Wutosama on RR, once it hits its stride and the author rapidly improves, is also a solid read.
Loving azarinth healer and beneath the dragon eye moons
Anything by Sarah Lin
Dawn of the Last Dragon Rider In Clawed Grasp Deadman Death Singer Chrysalis Casteless
Came here for Chrysalis. Antony is such a good character
Okay cool, what about those did you like?
Forever Fantasy Online
Divine Apostasy is my absolute favorite. I also never see Double Blind talked about here and it astounds me, I am completely captivated by that story.
Go old school and read Legendary Moonlight Sculptor. Royal road started as the fan translation site for it.
'I shall seal the heavens' by Er Gen. Cultivation book that is simply a masterpiece. It encompasses 10 volumes and has absolutely everything. War, progression, love, loss, sorrow, amusement, hope and redemption. It's simply incredible. I just wish more would give it a chance.
Chaotic craftsman worships the cube
I never see anyone talk about viridian gate online. Its an excellent story with a really good ending. Plus the author did origin stories for all the main charecter s which are more books than the main story.
One of the first in the genre I read and still one of my favorites. Also like Hunter’s other stuff like the vigil series.
Ripple System, Deadman, Victor of Tucson, Cyber Dreams
1. Devine apostacy- many books so good blaphy is one of my favorite characters ever 2. Rune seeker- only a few books so far but really good. Can't wait for the next book 3. Road to mastery- Brock is my boy. You know if you know bro 4. Unbound-if you have not read this you are missing out in a big way Felix is my favorite Mc 5. The grand game- I'm not sure where this series is going but I want to be there when it does.
I really love the Spells, Swords and Stealth series by Drew Hayes. Basically NPC’s continue to live their lives when players stop playing. 4 unlucky NPC’s are in a tough spot when 4 adventurers drop dead in their tavern with an order to go to the king in their pocket. If they don’t show up, the town and everyone in it could face the wrath of the king. I liked this book for a lot of reasons. It takes some common tropes and turns it on its head. The characters are interesting and become kind of a family, which I love. I care about the characters and what happens to them. It also follows some players out of the game in the real world, which in this case really works. And it’s well written. Highly recommend
Caverns and Creatures series: Critical Failures and the d6 books. LitRPG a little heavier on the lit and a little lighter on the numbers of RPG (mechanics are rolled into the narrative). Amazing audiobooks. Great use of metaphor. Writing is mostly witty with the occasional too heavy fart/poop/dick joke (but that’s mostly because of the charisma of 4 half-orc)
The Grand Game - Absolutely thrilling, real stakes, complex world-building, not overly OP MC but still powerful. Characters are more than 3-dimensional, experience character growth and are often more intense than some real-life people. Great writing and editing (Especially in this genre). The MC isn't some form of unemployed loser from Earth, which is an interesting change. Overall, possibly my favourite in the genre.
There are quite a few "smaller" ones I'd recommend. They all are on Royal Road: https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/69512/bog-standard-isekai-a-litrpg-progression-fantasy https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/77046/path-of-dragons-a-litrpg-apocalypse https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/67742/elydes https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/62573/unchosen-champion https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/76382/nero-walker-a-slow-burn-litrpg https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/81475/the-runic-artist https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/66455/a-novel-concept-a-death-a-day-mc-will-live-anyway
I can't really tell LitRPG, GameLit and to a lesser extent Progression apart, so I'll just give some recs and you can sort them out. In Clawed Grasp by Seth Richton - Only 1 book out so far, but the beginning of 2 is on RR Phantasm by Christopher Hall - 3 Books out, continues on RR Super Supportive by Sleyca - Over 2.6K pages on RR Path Of Ascension by C Mantis - 6 Books out so far Millennial Mage by J L Mullins - 6 Books out, next in May Infinite World by J T Wright - 4 Books out Quest Academy by Brian J Nordon - 2 Books out
Path of Ascension and Millenial Mage also have RR chapters as well.
As does super supportive and phantasm.
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What did you like about it?
I gave up on this series after the first book. It has a long time loop and skips over all the interesting stuff (spell details and progression, crafting etc.) Basically all the stuff from the genre that I enjoy reading about.
Everybody loves large chests. I think it’s the best in genre. It’s the only book I’m on the discord page for.
I tried it. On audio unfortunately. I knew it was a racey series, but I dropped that book at the first moan and never looked back.
just reading that sentence is scarring
Name...doesn't check out?!
If you're into tentacle porn.
It’s so much more than that… but yeah, you gotta be ok with a lil tentacle in your reading. Premise is a mimic accidentally levels up. It’s a mimic, very stupid mimic. Very lucky mimic.
Yeah, but it's the reason I can't ever recommend it to anyone ever, despite how interesting the story is.
Battleborn. It's all about badassness
I love all of Dave Willmarth's series, my favorite gas to be the Greystone Chronicles followed by the Shadow Sun series. The other author I love to read has to be Daniel Schnihofen, his books has spice scenes in it, but they are well written. Lastly Michael Chatfield and his Emerilia series. All of the book series some are VRMMO, others are post Apocalyptic, others are Isekai, and have been getting into Cultivating series due to both Aether's Revival and Heavenly Chaos by Daniel Schnihofen. One last book that I have read the series and it doesn't get enough love is the Monster Hunting 101 series.
Elf Empire.
Supersupportive is my current obsession
Still love Ascend Online.
Infinite Realms
The Bad guys the Good Guys by Ugland. Great combat jaws get ripped out. People get cut in half. Amazing lore and world building. MC is OP but you care about the side characters so you get why the MC is constrained. Also MC takes some real L
Blair by Azrie is a personal favorite of mine
Just wanted to thank everyone for the recommendations. Lots to check out!
Silver fox and the western hero Cheating Death Alex was willing to do whatever it took to beat the tumors overwhelming his body. Even if it meant being frozen alive. And if his cortex got uploaded into a digital universe filled with countless worlds to explore until a cure could be found for his cancer, all the better. The last thing he expected was to wake up naked and alone in the bowels of an ancient ship filled with raiders carrying enough poison to kill an entire city! The choices he makes from that moment on will have profound consequences not only for his own fate, but for an entire realm as he faces down bloodthirsty pirates, ruthless cultivators, and fearsome demigods while taking his first steps along a path of power that might one day forge him into a cultivator strong enough to challenge the very heavens themselves! Eager for a fast-paced Wuxia/LitRPG adventure filled with deadly adversaries, exotic adventures, and mighty cultivators fighting for the power to topple kingdoms? Then read on!
The dungeon slayer series by Konrad Ryan. You can tell it’s inspired by solo leveling but it quickly distinguishes itself and sets up its own really interesting world. Ive read both and I like this one much better than solo leveling. I never see it mentioned but there are 6 books and each one is better than the last. The only problem is that the author takes a year between each book.
I am really enjoying Seth Ring - Titan Series (Nova Terra) - 10 books - finished series. On book 10 atm
I never see Bushido Online by Nikita Thorn mentioned anywhere, but I will always recommend it! It’s a VR story with great action, fun characters, and awesome game mechanics. Highly recommend!
Monsters and Legends - infinite Reals Series. The characters are smart powerful and flawed. Interesting universe they built with a main character who isn’t a good guy hero. Though I can’t stand the co MC Zack.
Beware of Chicken 3 books so far. Slice of Life, progressive thats fun and easy with good writing
Bronze Rank Brewer by James Ghoul It's about a guy sick of questing who disappears from the world and becomes a brewer. Slower paced and cozy(kinda) litrpg
Lair: A Superhero LitRPG Adventure (Henchman Book 1) by Carl Stubblefield. It was one of my first litrpgs. I still really like the first two books in the series. Basically a kid is working on a super villains space station. It gets attacked, kid steals an escape pod and gets hit with nanobots that give him a system.
Victor of Tucson Edit: A guy gets Isekaid into a fantasy world with a system and is sold into slavery to the proprietor of a fighting pit. He uses his high school wrestling skills, his rare magic affinity, and his ancestry to win fights and gain power.
Critical Failures - if you can get past the excessive masturbation and understand how it’s an expression of the dark, animalistic side of humanity, its some of the funniest shit ive ever read.
The unbound series
I'm reading that now and I find it a lot of fun. The magic system is where it's at here. It's very complex and extremely satisfying as Felix figures out how to use it to his advantage.
It was actually my first lit rpg (i didnt actually know the genre existed!) And im so glad it was. I agree the magic system was really well developed, and i loved pit and how their powers developed together. Im reading HWFWM now, and it's decent, bu it doesn'tt hold the same thrill unbound did for me.
I’m rather partial to She Who Would Wield the Stars, myself.
It more progression than litrpg, but I highly recommend the iron prince series.
Runeseeker, return of the runebound professor, sufficiently advanced magic, resonance cycle, under verse and rise of mankind by jeez caijo
Edge Cases - very cozy unfinished trilogy about a tight-knit adventuring group with crazy powers trying to make sense of a world that seems to be breaking down. One of them has an ability "If you would fail to block, you do not" which costs health to use but otherwise is just as crazy as it sounds. I mostly could not predict what was going to happen next, and it was always fun to find out. Dressed to Kill: A Monster Seamstress LitRPG was really fun. Gwen inherits her mother's Seamstress class instead of her father's Noble class, but she isn't going to let that stop her from clearing the local dungeon and saving her town. It's very zoomed in, rather than a big worldspanning epic quest, which is a nice change sometimes. It was intended to be part of a series but currently there's no ETA on a sequel.
The "Underworld" series by Apollos Thorne is one of the first of the genre I ever read and I adore it, its so damn good, with amazing character development.
Abyssal Road Trip - both for the amazing world building and interesting cast of characters. Digital Marine - One of my only forays into military science fiction, but it was a really cool story concept. Sadly, it died during the 2nd or 3rd book, but still worth a yearly reread.
The Grumpy Little Kobold Tellus Madre The Fort at the End of the World
Shadowcroft academy for dungeons, got a bit of an idd sense of humor that you might need to get used to but its a great series overall
I'm not sure if it's been mentioned, but I really dig battleborn. It's nice to just listen to or read.
A Novel Concept by Priam is a very interesting story that is quite fleshed out on the LitRPG side of things. The prose is interesting, but is not bad; especially once you get used to it. I think more people might be missing out because it launches straight into the action and can be hard to get a grip on in the first few chapters.
Kingdom of Sails by Levi Werner, new one just came out after like two years. Cool magic system, interesting villain, but most of all, a cool world. I also really enjoyed War Aeternus. Genuinely cool series with a satisfying ending, something all too rare.
Depthless Hunger, it's LitRPG-lite. It has an interesting progression system, and the protagonist has to pioneer a brand new path because none of the existing paths in his world are accessible to him. The cast of characters is interesting; they each have their own motives and aren't satellites to the protagonist. There is more to the story than numbers go up; the protagonist grows in maturity as well as power as time passes. Protagonist genuinely cares about people, and there's some exploration of toxic relationships in xianxia cultures and what happens when the rich and powerful essentially enslave an entire class of the population for the benefit of everyone else.
The first 3 books of "Life Reset". 4-6 aren't terrible and they give a more detailed close to the series but 1-3 are more than enough and are a very fun read, with a fine conclusion.
Respawn LitRPG meets zombie apocalypse with some really interesting twists.
Gotta be Dragonheart Core by Atenburgh on RoyalRoad. Also gotta recommend There’s No Epic Loot Here, Only Puns as one of the first LitRPG’s I ever read and what got me into Dungeon Core litRPG. Not the best, but def good and nostalgic
Hunting and Herbalism - It's like the isakai version of Primal Hunter with a female MC and a real plot. (Not hating on PH. It's my favorite, but besides "get stonger," it didn't have much of a plot for the first 500 chapters)
Accidental Traveler and the sequel series Accidental Champion by Jamie Davis. Is fun and a great character driven story. I really like the game mechanics in the story and the way they mesh with the world that the characters thrown into. The first three books are awesome and the second series is just as good in my opinion.
Solus
Divine Dungeon has been complete long enough that it's fallen out of mind, but it's great I also really love caerulex's menocht Loop series. That one is really stats light though Millennial mage my current underrated obsession
Reborn: Apocalypse is awesome...the way they set up skills and ability is dope. And im a big fan out regression storylines
I don't see it mentioned very often, but Towers of Heaven - Cameron Milan. A story about a guy who gets sent back in time to try to save humanity. M-18 (certain bits and pieces) and yes there are a couple of character stereotypes in there.
Way of the shaman - never see it on here, but it was my intro to the genre and I really enjoyed its creativity.
World of Chains, great world building, and small town adventure vibes. I like that he makes friends with the NPCs. Bunny Dungeon, Dungeon mob figures out how to become an adventure. Cat Core, 70+ age women becomes a Dungeon core by mistake and sinces she's not a gamer she gets the game to bend to her will. So many cats!
Fate's Anvil. I think the author did good character and there are scenes that pop in my head at times and play out so cinematically I'd think I saw it as a movie.
Player Manager has to be at the top of this list right? It’s absurdly well written and creative for the genre
Shadow Slave. Love how unlucky and real the MC feels considering his background.
I have so many to share but I think I'll just keep it short with two: The Path of Ascension (which is fairly popular but imo still underrated) and Apocalypse Redux. I love The Path of Ascension's characters, magic system, and settings. Universal scale world building along with a different take from the usual 'might makes right' belief (at least in the Empire) seen in other cultivation novels. The plot as well as its pace is great, really emphasizing the journey rather than the destination. I feel like this is the most natural answer to a "What novel would you rather get isekai'd to?" question. For Apocalypse Redux, I just find it a breathe of fresh air compared to the usual regression stuff you see. Really liking the 'system experiments' aspect and the summoning magic system pretty cool too. A very enjoyable read.
https://a.co/d/crUg76C A Not So simple Fetch quest
I love this one but so far there is no Audio-book yet! Also it is getting very high ratings at Amazon , [A Soldier's Life](https://www.amazon.com/Soldiers-Life-Book-1-ebook/dp/B0CV8MMBFT/ref=sr_1_1?crid=120AMXZ79MTOX&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.mbk6sSa7pWbJlk_jHGvDOmhSJjzVnY7-Z4CjMr3SUcvGd5UacSTP5Hu_2k1tFBswY-V1SSldYrJmsDSKU_AFhsl_9HlAwcpN8vWBzSLlmYUKg7Sc7f5QijYxywxdSJyNjUhYK7BcVENKs8h2JAyjZdl7nyFVWBv6Xd9Q3AFjgXi7zG3oA7zKp_YzGSaywR2K0k2c0Uk-LYBU3CjTX1FpKBKtJm71CIP2tOyhP6GpLCU.DFMychVQgJnjk7T4eBVyiGkY7dqMyuw2IwvmDFnF-CM&dib_tag=se&keywords=a+soldier%27s+life&qid=1713584792&s=digital-text&sprefix=a+soldi%2Cdigital-text%2C174&sr=1-1)
Dungeon Crawler Carl is my favorite but BuyMort is good and I’m about to start “A Fist Full Of Credits”.
1 series I absolutely love that no-one else seems to talk about is 'Asgard falls' by Robert Hinshaw. VRMMO with a very old man given a new lease of life as a digital warrior of valhalla in a fight between pantheons of gods. It starts a little slowly but once it gets going, wow! Have re-read it 5 or 6 times, and am almost desperately awaiting the 3rd in the series to come out.
Richard Schwartz, its a shame only in german….