LitRPG

Tuco

I got Tuco'd!
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Man, if you don't like primal hunter i'd have to say litrpg just isn't for you.
Hmm, I don't agree with that. Primal Hunter reallllly focuses on Jake as a hunter and alchemist in a story that strives to be more relaxing than intense, while there's a lot of more variety in LitRPG. Someone could find the fight and alchemy scenes in Primal Hunter boring and really shouldn't read it, because those are the parts the author lives to write for. If you haven't read about alchemy for a while in that book you can rest assured Jake is about to spend a dozen chapters crafting a new poison of malefic disconcordance of the ultimate reaping poison mushroom.

I could see someone not getting through book one of Primal Hunter and loving the series I'm reading now, Chrysalis, which

is much more focused on base (or colony...) building and the non-colony adventuring parts of the MC really just play a supporting role while almost all the fight scenes are brief and the MC doesn't really craft as much as make discoveries or observations that are then delegated to side characters who might have brief chapters about it.
 
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Ritley

Bronze Baron of the Realm
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Primal Hunter and DotF are “classic” litrpgs, and I think there is a lot of variety at this point to where even not liking those there’s still plenty of other types you could like. Also, I liked both of those for the first few books and eventually dropped both. They leaned far too much into their litrpg elements for me, instead of developing, you know, a coherent plot and good characters. But I realize that some really do like leaning heavily into that, so there’s nothing wrong them just not series’ that I am a big fan of.
 
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Seananigans

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While I'm waiting for DCC 8 I decided to try some other series. Started book 1 of Ripple System, it's ... decent I guess. DCC being my only experience with the genre gives me a skewed perspective I'm sure. The Ripple characters are very one-dimensional so far, and I don't see that changing based on what I'm seeing of the author's writing. I'm about 50-60% through book 1, is it one of those that gets quite a bit better in subsequent books?

As for my next attempts at LitRPG, it seems like I should try Primal Hunter... any other good suggestions? Chrysalis I guess?
 

Void

Yeah, and?
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While I'm waiting for DCC 8 I decided to try some other series. Started book 1 of Ripple System, it's ... decent I guess. DCC being my only experience with the genre gives me a skewed perspective I'm sure. The Ripple characters are very one-dimensional so far, and I don't see that changing based on what I'm seeing of the author's writing. I'm about 50-60% through book 1, is it one of those that gets quite a bit better in subsequent books?

As for my next attempts at LitRPG, it seems like I should try Primal Hunter... any other good suggestions? Chrysalis I guess?
Ripple is good if you want to read about someone playing Everquest in immersive VR, essentially. And if you enjoy Frank. Frank is like 80% of the reason you read Ripple System. I love it, but it might not be for everyone. I feel like it gets better as it progresses, but I could be viewing it from a skewed perspective.

Primal Hunter is decent, as is Unbound, He Who Fights With Monsters, Defiance of the Fall, Path of Ascension, etc. You just need to accept that at some point one or more of those will start to bore you, and you'll just have to quit. I find Chrysalis fun and engaging so far, through like 8 books, and is enough different from those others that it deserves a try.

One I like a lot is Quest Academy, but I know others don't find it as engaging as I do. It is mainly about a guy that has a power that lets him be a super-duper crafter, so there is a ton of crafting stuff in it. And it is school stuff, which I'm a sucker for, so if you aren't into school and/or crafting it might not keep your attention. But again, I like it because it also is different than a lot of those staple series I listed.

1% Lifesteal is kind of different and more bleak. It started rough for me, but I like it a lot now. Kinda morphing into him being mega-powerful now, but then again all these series end up that way.

There are tons of others, but a lot of them fade into obscurity after reading so many similar books. There are a lot more failures than good ones, unfortunately.

Oh, if you haven't read Mother of Learning, you should. It isn't really litrpg, but close enough, and most people here really liked it. Groundhog day stuff, but that's not doing it justice.
 
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Seananigans

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Ripple is good if you want to read about someone playing Everquest in immersive VR, essentially. And if you enjoy Frank. Frank is like 80% of the reason you read Ripple System. I love it, but it might not be for everyone. I feel like it gets better as it progresses, but I could be viewing it from a skewed perspective.

Primal Hunter is decent, as is Unbound, He Who Fights With Monsters, Defiance of the Fall, Path of Ascension, etc. You just need to accept that at some point one or more of those will start to bore you, and you'll just have to quit. I find Chrysalis fun and engaging so far, through like 8 books, and is enough different from those others that it deserves a try.

One I like a lot is Quest Academy, but I know others don't find it as engaging as I do. It is mainly about a guy that has a power that lets him be a super-duper crafter, so there is a ton of crafting stuff in it. And it is school stuff, which I'm a sucker for, so if you aren't into school and/or crafting it might not keep your attention. But again, I like it because it also is different than a lot of those staple series I listed.

1% Lifesteal is kind of different and more bleak. It started rough for me, but I like it a lot now. Kinda morphing into him being mega-powerful now, but then again all these series end up that way.

There are tons of others, but a lot of them fade into obscurity after reading so many similar books. There are a lot more failures than good ones, unfortunately.

Oh, if you haven't read Mother of Learning, you should. It isn't really litrpg, but close enough, and most people here really liked it. Groundhog day stuff, but that's not doing it justice.

I mean the Frank *concept* is funny, but the execution is very one dimensional, at least so far. Does it evolve beyond him making jokes about Ned not being a fighter-type, and general murder-hobo-ness? Because it's just been that on repeat so far.

I'll look into Mother of Learning.
 

Void

Yeah, and?
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I mean the Frank *concept* is funny, but the execution is very one dimensional, at least so far. Does it evolve beyond him making jokes about Ned not being a fighter-type, and general murder-hobo-ness? Because it's just been that on repeat so far.

I'll look into Mother of Learning.
Frank is never going to stop being Frank, but he does "grow" a little as a person. The best parts of Frank are when he just can't even comprehend why other people don't think the way he does. But if you're looking for him to be a responsible grown adult...I don't see that happening.
 

Seananigans

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Frank is never going to stop being Frank, but he does "grow" a little as a person. The best parts of Frank are when he just can't even comprehend why other people don't think the way he does. But if you're looking for him to be a responsible grown adult...I don't see that happening.

Don’t think that’s what I’d be looking for, just something more than the current one dimensional childish murderer. Like there’s only so many ways you can have Frank make fun of Ned for being [insert elf/magic-user/whatever here], or have him suggest killing is more fun than [insert anything here].
 

Vuuxo

Scaphism
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Currently on Book 3 of Primal Hunter. Loving it so far.

Also an hour into The Wandering Inn and it's pretty good as well but going to finish Primal Hunter before continuing with the Inn.
 
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Chysamere

FF14 Free Company Master
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Also just started Primal Hunter. Cautiously optimistic so far. No way the writer wasn't a WoW player though.
 

velk

Blackwing Lair Raider
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Path of the Deathless is kind of the ADHD of litrpg, it's pretty much a relentless onslaught of ridiculously over the top action and progression.

Central conceit is that the MC gets stronger against whatever killed him each time he gets killed.

If you thought DotF was too slow to ramp up this might be for you.

I will note that the 'banter' is cringe-inducingly levels of complete awful.
 

Void

Yeah, and?
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I'm reading the latest Noobtown book, and aside from not remembering a lot of went on before, the amount of stupid bullshit the author is throwing in just for the fuck of it is annoying me. What I mean is, he's throwing a fuckton of references in for other series for one. Like, that guy Carlos that is too busy dungeon crawling and his Pastry Princess. Or for all you Primal Hunter newbies, that guy Jake that has an aura that lets him see shit that is hidden. He's just throwing this shit in where it doesn't even fit, just to say look, I mentioned Carl and Donut!1!

The books already had a ridiculous amount of pop culture references, which I could handle for the most part, but now with this added in, it is too much. Oh fuck, and I forgot, now his sidekick, Shart, is 4th-wall breaking with stuff like, "Well, you spent four whole books looking for your girlfriend." Shit like that. It is almost like the story doesn't really fucking matter anymore, he only cares about how many cringe references he can fit into a single book.

Kind of sad, I really liked most of the rest of the series. Maybe it will turn around, but I'm doubtful.
 

Woefully Inept

Silver Baron of the Realm
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Yeah I have the same problem with Noobtown. It really is a struggle to go through. The puma check shit got old really fast and it's still a thing in the later books. The series feels like it was written by a 40-something year old that never made it passed 13. I typed that and went to check on the author's age and yeah looks about right. He's 43.

Screenshot 2026-04-22 150248.png
 
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