Web Serials

TJT

Mr. Poopybutthole
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Magic Smithing is really hit or miss. I like where it's going but it's definitely a slow burn.
 

Ritley

Karazhan Raider
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Caught up to current on wake of the ravager, it’s pretty good but definitely not what I would consider a serious series. He just recently started yet another series so it wouldn’t surprise me if he ends up dropping WotR like he has done with many other series.
 
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Ukerric

Bearded Ape
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Aaand, for our weekly cliffhanger of He Who Fights with Monsters...
Jason sees the picture of the captured outworlder, but we don't.
See you next week, same bat-time, same bat-channel!
 
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Ritley

Karazhan Raider
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Reading macronomicon’s new series and so far I like it better than WotR.


So far at least it’s a bit lighter on the stats/skills/level bloat that most of the genre seems to love.
 

Gask

Bronze Baron of the Realm
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I've read many stories on Royal Road and 98% of them are garbage or turn into in as time goes on. Most are just lazy copies of other web fictions and those that aren't tend to prove too difficult for the author to continue without abandoning the effort. The most successful and longest running novels seem to be coasting along due to Patreon funding and little else and it shows; Randidly Ghosthound, Savage Divinity and Azarinth Healer are prime examples of this. Though there are some exceptions as well.

Anyway, Carl@fire is a decent story around 65% of the time if you don't mind skimming past the tediously repetitive parts (which is a skill that you'll be in desperate need of for most of the works on RR). It's a slice of life about an IT director who enters into another world through a VR headset at his MMO company. But he can't figure out what's really going on because his personality prevents it. So the main draw is seeing how the denizens of this other world respond to Carl as he blunders about with his dev mode powers.

Chrysalis is fun if you don't mind reading about some goofball who reincarnates into a giant dungeon ant who turns his colony sentient. Things become more interesting as the rest of the world realizes what's going on but as this is a web fiction these plot developments occur quite slowly.

The Snake Report is another decent one with two books completed. It's a lighthearted story with another goofball for a main character who turns into a snake and evolves into a demigod like being. The author does a good job of keeping things light and amusing.
 
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Ukerric

Bearded Ape
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Menocht Loop is better at this point.
Should check that one at one point. But I'm at a stage where I'm probably following too many serials simultaneously.

The Infinite Realm: Monsters & Legends added a nice little bit of cosmology, and Ryun is back to the stage at least for a while. I wonder if Zach is going to show up at the Centennial tournament... or merely hear about "that cultivator champion" later...
 

TJT

Mr. Poopybutthole
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Should check that one at one point. But I'm at a stage where I'm probably following too many serials simultaneously.

The Infinite Realm: Monsters & Legends added a nice little bit of cosmology, and Ryun is back to the stage at least for a while. I wonder if Zach is going to show up at the Centennial tournament... or merely hear about "that cultivator champion" later...
Menocht loop doesn't have much filler and just continuously progresses a good story. I actually like how it all fits together and never any cliffhangers or dragging shit out.

Story is:
  1. The world has practitioners of various affinities. The author never actually explains any of this so you just need to kind of infer how it works but it's fine.
    1. Affinities are like Water, Fire, Earth, Death. But also weird shit like Regret, Remorse, End, Beginning.
  2. Our boi gets put into a hyperbolic time chamber as an experiment. He has no affinity so they wanted to see how it would work. It instead gives him 99.9% Death affinity. In a really terrible way. Like you wouldn't want to go into the time chamber. It would fucking suck.
  3. He flees the nation this was in because they would blood bind him to a Geas type slave collar once they realized what he had. Goes to another nation and joins with them because he met them within the time chamber (sorta).
  4. Peak affinity people are really rare in general and Death is verboten because death practitioners can kill you with a passing thought and casually reorganize your bodies into flesh golems and shit. He has a limited range but if he is in range you just die. No fanfare no magic just yer dead sucks to be you.
So far it's more about the political impact of a random superweapon with no national allegiance appearing on the global stage. Who then chooses to back a nation and changes the overall balance of superweapons. This causes a great deal of fallout because in the whole world there's only a handful of peak practitioners. Death is the most destructive or at least equal to a peak Fire practitioner (living nuclear bomb). And going from 99.7% to 99.9% is an impassable gulf is how it's described.
 
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TJT

Mr. Poopybutthole
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Korean casual racism is pretty hilarious and extreme. Koreans sure do hate Mongolians.

"Mongolians won't play VR because they can't stand not living in yurts and being nomadic." This is made a plot point multiple times. Also that Mongols are dirty people.
 

Ukerric

Bearded Ape
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Korean casual racism is pretty hilarious and extreme. Koreans sure do hate Mongolians.
Koreans hate Japanese, Mongolians, Chinese... pretty much all of Asia.

But you have the choice between K-Pop and this:
What would you take (well, what? walking on popcorn? Maybe the koreans are right).
 
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TJT

Mr. Poopybutthole
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He Who Fight's With Monsters needs to ease up on constant faggoty cliffhangers.

Srs.
 
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TJT

Mr. Poopybutthole
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How far into it are you? The critical reviews it's received tell the truth.
I'm caught up to Royal Road but not to the private Patreon content which is Royal Road + 20 or so chapters.

Don't get me wrong I dig it. But we've had two massive major cliffhangers in literally two days here.
 
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Gask

Bronze Baron of the Realm
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I'm caught up to Royal Road but not to the private Patreon content which is Royal Road + 20 or so chapters.

Don't get me wrong I dig it. But we've had two massive major cliffhangers in literally two days here.
Ah, by critical I meant negative reviews. I just don't like the main character and how everything and everyone is bent to facilitate what he does. The magic system and the beginning of the story were pretty good though.
 

Ukerric

Bearded Ape
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It is good, but the pacing has been slow at times, and now, he's sprinkling cliffhangers to artificially feel like the pacing is faster.

A good remark from the comments - is terminal velocity enough to kill bronze rankers? It's only 120mph, and even normal people start surviving this as soon as they don't hit a direct flat surface. The security detail, notably, should have had training for this, if not the two international committee members.
 

TJT

Mr. Poopybutthole
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It is good, but the pacing has been slow at times, and now, he's sprinkling cliffhangers to artificially feel like the pacing is faster.

A good remark from the comments - is terminal velocity enough to kill bronze rankers? It's only 120mph, and even normal people start surviving this as soon as they don't hit a direct flat surface. The security detail, notably, should have had training for this, if not the two international committee members.
They're also above the ocean right now I think? I guarantee you that Shade will become a hot air balloon or some shit but Jason's abilities are not really suited for passenger collection. Maybe one of the other guys has some better abilities to do that.

Someone will most likely die though. There are a few redshirts onboard. I don't think Annabeth or Asya kick the bucket.

There's also some EOA agents waiting for them at the crash site to kill them off or something.
 

Ukerric

Bearded Ape
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They're also above the ocean right now I think? I guarantee you that Shade will become a hot air balloon or some shit but Jason's abilities are not really suited for passenger collection. Maybe one of the other guys has some better abilities to do that.

Someone will most likely die though. There are a few redshirts onboard. I don't think Annabeth or Asya kick the bucket.

There's also some EOA agents waiting for them at the crash site to kill them off or something.
Annabeth isn't aboard. She complained that she wasn't going and instead her second in command was getting the trip. So, R.I.P. Mr or Ms Second in command.