Sep. 9th, 2016
Welcome to Episode 1 of the LitRPG Podcast. I’m Ramon Mejia.
On this first episode of the podcast I’ll be describing what LitRPG is, the format of the podcast, the LitRPG gala in Atlanta, The winners of the first annual Wizards and Warriors awards, the new releases and my reviews of them.
This is the podcast that talks about a genre of fiction called LitRPG.
What is LitRPG you may ask?
That is a great question. LitRPG, or Literary RPG. is an amazing new genre of fiction that sets has stories in game worlds that explicitly describe the game mechanics of the world. So when a character in the story gets stronger in a LitRPG story you’ll actually see text that says “Level Up” or “Increase skill” or XP gained. Just like you would if you were playing a video game or a tabletop RPG (Role Playing Game).
They’re usually fun, addictive, adventures stories where characters level up or gain skills. I personally love that these stories make me feel like I’m in a game world where I get to understand the rules of the world. I personally can not get enough of them and have read over hundred LitRPG series and I still want more.
On the podcast I plan to bring you the latest news on the LitRPG world including: Reviews of LitRPG stories, Probable release dates for your favorite series, Author Interviews, and more.
The format is still new so if there is anything you’d like to see on the podcast or have suggestions please feel free to e-mail me at: litrpgpodcast@gmail.com
The Top stories in LitRPG
The LitRPG Gala
LitRPG Gala is happening right now in Atlanta, Ga - The first ever LitRPG meetup that coincides with DragonCon. Organized by the Father of American LitRPG, Aleron Kong, author of the Chaos Seeds series. He set up a kickstarter and raised over $3,000 to throw what looks to be the best party of DragonCon.
If you're in the area of, SIDEBAR ATLANTA (79 Poplar St, ATL 30303). please stop by and tell Aleron high and talk to some of the LitRPG authors I know are going to be there.
First Annual Wizards and Warriors Choice Awards!-LitRPG awards
Aspirant Award (Best Online Only or Non Published novel): Luke Chmilenko for Ascend Online
NOOB (Best new Novel) and Warrior Awards (Best Novel): Travis Bagwell, Awaken Online
Wizard Award (Best series): Vasily Mahanenko, for his series The Way of the Shaman
New Releases
Making the Grade (Omnia Online Series Book 2) -just hit Amazon today
Manmade Monsters (The Permadeath Legacy Book 5) - Detective story set in VR. Didn’t really feel like LitRPG this time. Can’t recommend it.
Probing the Annis (Caverns and Creatures) - Short story set in the Creatures and Caverns universe. Great short story and buy it if you have Kindle Unlimited.
Resurgence: The Rise of Resurgence Book 1- Alex gets a paid beta testing position playing a new revolutionary realistic full immersion VR game called Resurgence. Only not everything is as it seems.
My Opinion: I almost didn’t read this book. It has a very slow start. The story doesn’t even get to the game world until Chapter 7. However, once the story does get to the game world it’s amazing. While the story revolves around the main character Alex it feels more like it’s about a group of VR gamers adventuring. That’s great. I really loved the banter between members of the gaming group and it felt like I was hanging out with my own buddies while reading it.
Spinward: An Artificial Dream State Novel - Su plays the latest VR MMO set in outer space.
My Opinion: A fine LitRPG story set in VR Sci fi world. Susan, the main character, is funny and adventuresome. She explores the most realistic VR world she’s ever seen but still runs into the same tropes we see in today’s MMOs. The story does a great job of balancing adventure with humor and building relationships with other players. There really aren’t enough LitRPG stories with female protagonists.
Challenge-Unbound Deathlord - One of our Online Only stories. You can find this on the Royal Road. Jack’s had pretty bad and tragic life. So he opts to play a new full immersion VR game and enter a contest that will require him stay in game and not die once to win.
My Opinion: A fine piece of writing that has enough action and excitement to keep you reading till the wee hours of the morning. The main character is a bit overpowered but it’s still a good story that takes place in a VR world where players can play the undead races. This book has been nominated for the Aspirant Award, a LitRPG award.
That’s it for the first episode of the podcast. Episode two will be the first interview I did with Aleron Kong all the way back in April of this year. We have a lot of interviews at litrpgpodcast.com that we recorded for our sister podcast geek bytes podcast.
Thank you for listening/watching. We don’t have a catch phrase yet for the podcast, if you have one you’d like to suggest please e-mail me at litrpgpodcast@gmail.com
Music Credits
"Blip Stream" "Mighty Like Us" "Big Shift" "Vivacity"
Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/