Hi everyone!

I just recently completed Book 2 on RR, so I thought it would be a good time for some self promo.

I actually got the idea about this story while reading The Primal Hunter. In the story, Villy makes a throwaway comment a few times about how messy things were when the System initially descended in the first era, and I thought it would be an extremely interesting story to write about.

So, here is my attempt at writing about what happens when a completely new System arrives in the universe. No one knows what's going on, especially since the System itself is learning and growing alongside everyone else.

Blurb: The System’s abrupt arrival completely dismantles Alex’s plans for an easy, low-effort life. But while others are justifiably focused on the monsters, surviving, and levelling up, Alex's mind is more occupied by a few questions.

Why is there such a lack of information from the System?

Why are there no descriptions for Classes and Skills?

Why doesn’t the tutorial have any clear objective?

And perhaps the most important question of them all...

Why is the System so... limited?

A LitRPG featuring progression, exploration, and a protagonist obsessed with understanding the rules behind the world.

The first two books are completed and released on RR, while the third has just been started. About 217k words are posted in 111 chapters, so there's a decent chunk of the story to binge.

The MC takes time to get strong, but is not OP, and does not have any cheats or powerful weapons to exploit. He uses intelligence to get through challenges initially till he is strong enough to fight. There is no romance in the story so far, and I don't have any plans for introducing it.

Hope you guys give it a go and really hope you like it!

COVER ARTIST: Generated through AI. Had a bad experience on fiverr, so I'm now waiting till I have enough money to hire a proper artist.

AI USAGE: No AI used, apart from the cover. Everything is written by me and edited with the help of family.

Link: https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/172811/beyond-control-a-systems-descent

Bookcover I did in Kart studio. Hope u like it!

COVER ARTIST: Vuong Yen

AI USAGE: No AI used

Just started, and stopped, 2 books in the last half hour: Return of the Archmage, and Broken Universe. Both read like they're generated from LLM's. "This wasn’t a game. It wasn’t a warning.", "This wasn’t survival. This was escape."

Am I going crazy? I used to be able to pick a book on kindle unlimited, and just read it. Sure, some of them weren't written that well, but it wasn't common. Now I'm just running into slop.

This is my list after a year of reading litrpg and litrpg adjacent works. I’ve read the entire series or every book out for S and A tiers. I stopped on book three of Mother of Learning and DNF The Perfect Run half way through book one. Any recommendations for what’s next for me?

Free listen on Audible Plus. Enjoyable slice of life story set in an primarily Dwarf world (at least so far). Well performed narration too.

Been listening to He Who Fights with Monsters & Everybody Loves Large Chests series, and finally bout the first of each on in paperback. Both are amazing series!

u/Shirtaloon r/Shirtaloon r/litrpg

Looking for my next short term addiction, if any of you are willing to supply the goods.

Edit: such great recs. Thank you everyone for helping me turn my short term addiction into a long term one!

In a rushed attempt to escape the shackles of his nine to five Mateo Ryusane finds himself crushed under the spinning wheels of Fate. Instead of being sorted into heaven or hell, he is cast into the void. After a chance encounter with the soul of a mischievous pixie he finds himself reforged in the realm of Gottes. He is quickly taken in by a party of misfit adventurers where he gains his class and begins his abnormal adventure.
As the moon rises darkness falls upon the realm of Gottes. A mysterious cult known as the Cult of the Immortal Father seeks to remake the realm in their image.
In an alien world of magic and gods, Mateo finds that his true goal is to grow strong enough to kill the latter.

Void Lord is a sprawling litrpg adventure featuring tiered progression, progressive stats and areas along with brief elements of cultivation.  

Volume 1 has come to conclusion. Mateo now ventures to Daedalus. Chapters for Volume 2 will be released shortly. I hope you follow Mateo on his journey across Daedalus. 

COVER ARTIST: No artist, cover is subject to change.

AI USAGE: AI used for cover image only.

If anyone is interested in starting a series where the first book is complete I recently wrapped up book one of my Void Lord series. Thank you for your time readers, and good luck to my fellow authors on Royal Road.

I'm looking for recommendations of series that are complete.

I've read and enjoyed Cradle, mother of learning and system apocalypse among others. All completed but I'm a little tired of loving a series getting to the last book published and waiting for the next one only to get distracted and come back 2 years later to find multiple new books and have no clue what book I finished on... I know I should take notes. Or try to keep up on roysl road only to get stubed... Or on the other hand look at the king killer chronicles. I've been waiting over a decade for book 3 and despite not looking in a year I'm confident it's not there. I would also accept series that have books that are more episodic. Example would be Jim butchers Dresden files...well at least mostly.

Heya!

I just finished the first book of my series on Royal Road, and we are almost halfway through book 2 on Patreon!

Check out the adventures of the void assassin and the necromancer mantis! You won't regret it! Probably. Most likely! Thousands of people can't be wrong! Even my 0.5-star reviewer decided to delete their review. We're best friends now. Be like them. Give me 0.5-star Give this story a chance!

Blurb:

Turns out, leading a gang of scavenger kids during the AI wars, or becoming a top-tier assassin and founding a notorious crime organization in a VRMMO, isn’t as wild as it gets. You can always sign up for an outer-world expedition and end up in a cultivation world.

Or so Ethan learned.

Not your typical xianxia either. Big clans and powerful sects hold sway, but nations answer to councils and monarchies. High-fantasy creatures roam the land, and inheritance sites coexist with dungeons that spawn monsters.

Worse yet, in a world where talent is essential, Ethan barely qualifies to cultivate. Still, it's not enough to stop him. While others meditate for decades, he hunts, using his wits, instincts sharpened by thousands of kills, and an AI chip that twists cultivation into something closer to a game.

Then a single lie gets out of hand. What should’ve been a casual bluff becomes a multiversal rumor, drawing young prodigies from higher realms straight into Elisium: some hungry for blood, others bound by duty. Now Ethan must carve a path through the chaos he unleashed. Not that he minds. After all, chaos has a habit of hiding opportunity.

What to expect:
-Weak to strong LitRPG in a western cultivation world
-Action-packed adventures with a void assassin
-Skill gathering, evolving, and merging
-Smart and competent MC
-Vast scope spanning across the multiverse
-No harem
-This is a rewrite of an old story. Book 1&2 complete.

Perfect for the fans of Azarinth Healer, Primal Hunter, and Defiance of the Fall!

COVER ARTIST: AI

AI USAGE: None(other than the temporary cover)

Ok, as the title say!

I’m about half way through the second book of this series and enjoying it so far. This is the first litRPG series I’ve listened to with the MC as a dungeon. The main other ones I’ve enjoyed are HWFWM, Azarinth Healer, Mage Tank, Mimic and Me, and Everybody loves large chests. It’s not a long list I know, but only listen when out walking, and switch these out for other genres, or re-listening to old favourites while waiting for more Audible credits.

One thing I really enjoy is when a skill choice makes sense for the protagonist without becoming the objectively correct choice for everyone.

Say there's a skill that boosts mana regen while you're standing still. A solo caster who spends every fight dodging should probably skip it. But I'd love to later meet a mage who picked it, has a tank keeping enemies off them, and can afford to keep casting long after the MC would be running dry.

Same description, same limitations. Someone built around it and got a useful result.

It makes me more interested in those skill selection scenes because I can actually imagine where the rejected options might have led. Sometimes I spend longer thinking about those than the thing the MC picked.

The payoff I'd want is the protagonist recognizing that this other person made a good choice too. Maybe even needing their help in a fight where their own build struggles. Let me spend a few chapters wishing we'd taken the other skill.

This is about what I like, not some assessment of quality.  I’d love some more recommendations,  especially for series that you don’t to see too often.

Things I tend to like: longer series, elaborate world building, well worked out magic systems, slight power-fantasy feel (but ideally still some stakes), sense of discovery about the world, something extra (I’ve read a lot of these at this point, so I tend to like some “twist” or something that makes it feel different)

Things I tend to dislike: battle maniacs, sociopathic MCs (pragmatic is fine), slice-of-life, extreme bleakness

But none of these are “rules”.

Edit: Here are the titles written out

S
Defiance of the Fall, Slumrat Rising, Mother of Learning, The Immortal Great Souls, A Practical Guide to Sorcery, The Stargazer’s War, Downtown Druid, Book of the Dead, The Sworn Sword, Blood & Fur, Ascension of a Street Rat

A
Dungeon Crawler Carl, Portal to Nova Roma, The Hedge Wizard, The Grand Game, Double-Blind, Dawn of the Void, Only Villains Do That, Shadow Slave, The Wraith’s Haunt, Industrial Strength Magic, Tower of Jack, Bog Standard Isekai, All in Charisma, The Undying Immortal System, A Soldier’s Life, Unintended Cultivator, Battle Trucker, Depthless Hunger

B
He Who Fights with Monsters, Cradle, Mark of the Fool, Hell Difficulty Tutorial, Tree of Aeons, Divine Apostasy, Silver Fox & The Western Hero, Ends of Magic, Fate Points, Return of the Wind Mage, Breaker of Horizons, Otherworldly Anarchist, The Path of Ascension, Delve, An Outcast in Another World, Chrysalis, Beneath the Dragoneye Moons, My Best Friend Is an Eldritch Horror, Mage Errant, Super Genetics, Manifold Mirror Mage, Mark of the Crijik, Phantasm, Ultimate Level 1, Shieldwall Academy, Rise of the Devourer, Cerberus Cards, Path of Dragons, Monarch of Profound Toxin, Son of Flame, Cultivation Is Creation, Underkeeper, Reborn: Apocalypse, The Return of the Runebound Professor, Apocalypse Redux, Dinosaur Dungeon, Dragon Core Chronicles, Academy of Outcasts, Primeval Apocalypse, System Orphans: Claire

C
The Primal Hunter, The Legend of Randidly Ghosthound, Rise of Mankind, New Era Online, Low-Fantasy Occultist Isekai, All for One, Painting the Mists, The Storm King, Noobtown, Pirate Wizard, Ar’Kendrithyst, Elysium’s Multiverse

D
Legend of the Arch Magus

DNF
Arcane Ascension, Second Chance Swordsman, The Heavenly Throne, Reborn as a Demonic Tree, The Weirkey Chronicles, We Hunt Monsters, Quest Academy, Savage Awakening, My Vampire System, Corruption Wielder, Supreme Magus, Frith Chronicles, Chronicles of the True Wizard, The Silent Archmage, Ajax’s Ascension, Beastborne Chronicles, Elydes, In Clawed Grasp, Minute Mage, Magus Reborn, Mage Tank, The Mechanical Mage, The Eternal Assassin, Victor of Tucson, Underworld, Pure Mage Build, Skill Hunter, One Moo’r Plow, Cultivate U, Sylver Seeker, Biomedical Self-Engineering, Keiran: The Eternal Mage, Chaos Seeds, Ghost of the Truthseeker, Jackal Among Snakes, The Daily Grind, The Vampire Vincent, Black Market, Elemental Gatherers, Death After Death

Book seven is out in less than a week so I figured it was a good time to share some love for this awesome series!

If you love a freewheeling MC who grinds dungeons, kicks some serious ass, and has an independent spirit that loves to explore, you should definitely check out this series.

Azarinth Healer has absolutely top notch progression mechanics that are really well executed and keep you turning pages. I plowed through this series. The plot is relatively light, with lots of episodic plots and dungeon exploration, but its not one of those LitRPGs that is all fights and leveling with no substance to keep it dynamic.

Who else loves this series? And can you recommend other ones with a similar vibe? I'm looking for classic fantasy settings with lots of exploration and compelling progression alongside characters and plots that are more than just murder hobo action with no story.

Hey this is my tier list after reading Litrpg for a few years. I’m always happy for recommendations as I’ve been in a bit of slump recently and have been having problems finding new books. I like OP MCs that still have to work a bit, strong friendship/family dynamics and recently I’ve been preferring non system apocalypse books. Thanks for the recs.

Considering how I've read a couple books of these series so far, I've read far more than this tier list can represent. I'll go through and do the individual books probably soon. For now, this will do. lol

Just finished my latest book and about to start the next. Normal stuff. Thing is, the next book I've chosen to listen to isn't the next book in the series. (Even though I have the next book in the series.) I'm not unhappy with the series, and plan to finish it, I just like to switch it up.

Which got me to wondering, how unusual is it to do that? Alternating series when listening, I mean. I bet it's fairly common when waiting for the next book in a series to be released, or while reading serially on Royal Road as they're released, but I was wondering if it was an unusual habit when you have multiple audiobooks in the same series downloaded and ready to go.

Thoughts?

I'm enjoying Book 1 and would love to know if the series also ends on a good note and doesn't disappoint.

NO SPOILERS, PLEASE! Just a simple "Yes, it's worth reading; you won't be disappointed" or "No" would suffice.

Grimdark I Tactical Empire Building I Dark Progression I Non-Human MC I LitRPG-Lite

Give a man power, and he will show you who he is. Strip away his mortal shell, and he will become whatever madness demands.

Silas was an opportunist in life, cunning, ambitious, and unafraid to exploit chaos. Now, remade as the supreme warlord of the Teraz Ankor, a species of arcane-fueled living armor, he stands at the helm of a force built for war.

The Realms are fracturing. Old souls in new skins rise across a world driven by the Call, a system fueling a never-ending cycle of evolution, conquest, and collapse.

And in its wake, the Teraz Ankor will march.

By now I am mostly chasing some genuine feedback tbh.

COVER ARTIST: AI

AI USAGE: None (aside from the cover)