LitRPG Podcast 009
Welcome to Episode 9 of the LitRPG Podcast. The only podcast dedicated to LitRPG.
I’m Ramon Mejia. I’m here to bring you the latest LitRPG news, reviews, and author interviews.
Before we start the show I wanted to give a big shoutout to Heath Prather and Jay Taylor for supporting the podcast on Patreon. Thanks guys. It makes me feel all tingly to have your support. If anyone else wants to support the podcast on patreon and get exclusive rewards you can find us at www.patreon.com/geekbytespodcast
In our News section I’ll be telling you about the latest LitRPG News and LitRPG pre-orders coming up.
New Releases and Reviews:
Going Rogue (Spells, Swords, & Stealth Book 3)
Alternative Reality Vol 1; Part 3
Death by Cliche
Press Start to Play (A Vintage original)
Dungeon Born (The Divine Dungeon Book 1)
(Play Music 2)
News
Awaken Online: Catharsis is on sale for $0.99 until 10/21. It’s the winner of the coveted LitRPG Noob and Warrior awards and one of my favorite LitRPG stories about exploding zombies.
I recently had a chance to talk to Aleron Kong, author of the Chaos Seeds series. We had a great time talking about his fifth book, The Land: Swarm. You can watch/listen to the interview in Episode 8 of this podcast.
Aleron also mentioned that he is starting a LitRPG newsletter geared to getting his readers a weekly list of the latest LitRPG releases. You can sign up for the newsletter at www.litrpg.com or by clicking the link in our shownotes.
To encourage people to sign up he’s giving away a ton of prizes to people who sign up including physical and digital copies of LitRPG books, Beta reader spots, and the ability to name characters. You can get all the details at litrpg.com or on the LitRPG facebook group.
Upcoming LitRPG:
Dungeon Crawl: A LitRPG Adventure (The Crucible Shard Book 1) (Nov. 17th)
Homeland: Ingame 2 (Nov. 19th)
The Phantom Castle (The Way of the Shaman: Book #4) (Nov. 28th)
The Way of the Outcast (Mirror World Book #3) (Dec. 19th)
(Play Music 3)
New Releases and Reviews
Going Rogue (Spells, Swords, & Stealth Book 3)
Adventuring is a costly affair, and while the tolls are often paid in blood, gold can drain away just as quickly. The party’s trek out of Solium and across the lands of Alcatham has left them with only a handful of gold between them. Fortunately, they have drawn near Camnarael, Alcatham’s capital, where all manner of quests--and rewards--await.
But all is not as expected in the capital. Unusual occurrences have been happening throughout Camnarael: figures in the shadows making unsavory bargains, attackers harassing innocent parishioners, and adventurers from all over the land gathering to partake in a Grand Quest offered by the royal family. Most curious of all are the rumors that speak of a strange artifact serving as the reward for this rare and legendary quest... an artifact that sounds just a bit too familiar to the former NPCs.
Going Rogue (Spells, Swords, & Stealth Book 3)
Related Titles
NPCs (Spells, Swords, & Stealth Book 1)
Split the Party (Spells, Swords, & Stealth Book 2)
Alternative Reality Vol 1; Part 3
Wail continues on with his deranged, egotistical antics – continuing down the road of pointless revenge. One directed at an obscured enemy, as he lashes out at the innocent – excuses thrown about at every turn. While dragging all those close and under him together towards an unknown destination. With real life all but pushed to the recess of his list of priorities, discarded as more of a chore than a commitment, a responsibility or simply – a pleasure. An occasional unpleasant outing drowned out by the events that seem to be swiftly developing towards something a self-destructive individual such as Wail would enjoy. Consequences looming ever closer as his actions are bound to draw unpleasant attention. A result of selfish actions that are bound to wound those around him more, than the warlock himself.
My Opinion: This series is one of the more unique LitRPG series available. The main character Wail, is a fire slinging warlock with the ability to raise the dead. He’s not a very nice person. He’s actually a jerk and he’s ok with that. Wail constantly fights against the VR game’s code of morality and intentionally gains negative reputation. This opens up a whole slew of villainous quest opportunities that other ‘good’ players never get.
If you like stories about necromancers, raising the undead or characters that that don’t play by everyone else’s moral code, you might like this series. Oh and it’s $0.99 to buy!
Updates chapter by chapter or any announcements regarding the series and related material can be found on the author's webpage http://www.alternativerealitybook.com/
Related Titles
Alternative Reality Vol 1; Part 1
Alternative Reality Vol 1; Part 2
Death by Cliche
"Where are you taking me, and why can't I open this door?" -Kevin J. Anderson, New York Times bestselling author of Blood of the Cosmos.
"I totally didn't just make up this quote without reading the book." -Dan Wells, Author of The Devils Only Friend
"I told Bob I would heartily recommend this book, and he said I could have Mister Whiskers back." -Dan Willis, Coauthor of Dragons of the Confederacy
To Sartre, Hell was other people. To the game designer, Hell is the game.
My Opinion: At first I wasn’t sure if this was LitRPG or just a satirical trapped in a game novel. Turns out it’s both!
The main character is a game designer that gets shot in the head by an angry fan and wakes up trapped in that fan’s crappy table top adventure. The main character, Bob Damico, has to brave the perils of a cliche story to finish the game and possibly escape.
Overall I really enjoyed the story. There are a few places where the author breaks the fourth wall and talks to the reader that broke immersion in the story. However, that doesn’t happen very often after chapter 10. Additionally, after chapter 10 the game world the main character is trapped in starts to become more ‘real’ as NPCs start to gain sentience. The first few chapters might put off some people because of all the cliches described but that’s a reflection of the amature storytelling of the character running the tabletop game. I encourage you to push past that till at least after chapter 10 and you may find yourself really enjoying the story.
Press Start to Play (A Vintage original)
IT’S DANGEROUS TO GO ALONE! TAKE THIS.
You are standing in a room filled with books, faced with a difficult decision. Suddenly, one with a distinctive cover catches your eye. It is a groundbreaking anthology of short stories from award-winning writers and game-industry titans who have embarked on a quest to explore what happens when video games and science fiction collide.
From text-based adventures to first-person shooters, dungeon crawlers to horror games, these twenty-six stories play with our notion of what video games can be—and what they can become—in smart and singular ways.
With a foreword from Ernest Cline, bestselling author of Ready Player One, Press Start to Play includes work from: Daniel H. Wilson, Charles Yu, Hiroshi Sakurazaka, S.R. Mastrantone, Charlie Jane Anders, Holly Black, Seanan McGuire, Django Wexler, Nicole Feldringer, Chris Avellone, David Barr Kirtley,T.C. Boyle, Marc Laidlaw, Robin Wasserman, Micky Neilson, Cory Doctorow, Jessica Barber, Chris Kluwe, Marguerite K. Bennett, Rhianna Pratchett, Austin Grossman, Yoon Ha Lee, Ken Liu, Catherynne M. Valente, Andy Weir, and Hugh Howey.
Your inventory includes keys, a cell phone, and a wallet. What would you like to do?
My Opinion: An anthology collection of short stories related to video games. I don’t think any of the stories are intentionally LitRPG but enough of them are accidentally LitRPG that I can give it a recommendation. As with all short story collections, you’re going to love some and hate others. Quiet a few of the stories made me stop and think, “That would be a great LitRPG story.”
Unfortunately, as of this writing, it is not available on Kindle Unlimited but it is available as an ebook and audiobook.
Press Start to Play (A Vintage original)
Dungeon Born (The Divine Dungeon Book 1)
For eons, conquering dungeons has been the most efficient way to become a strong adventurer. Although, not everything is as straightforward as it seems. Several questions have always plagued the mind of those that enter these mythical places of power: Why are there so many monsters? Where does the amazing weaponry and heavy gold coins come from? Why does the very air fill with life-giving energies?!
Cal has all of the answers to these age old questions, for a very simple reason. He is a Dungeon Heart, a soul forced against his will into a magical stone. After several lonely years, Cal was able to regain sentience, allowing him to form new memories while slowly growing a dungeon around himself. With help from a friend, Cal learned how to create monsters and traps, increasing his power and size quickly.
When a threat to his existence rears its head, Cal decides that he will do anything to stay alive and become stronger. Unfortunately for treasure-seekers, the fastest way for Cal to achieve his goal... is to eat anyone that enters his depths.
My Opinion: Written by Dakota Krout, this is a fantastic example of a dungeon master/core story. Many of the reviews compare it to the Slime Dungeon by Jeffrey "Falcon" Logue, one of my favorite LitRPG stories.
Dungeon Born (The Divine Dungeon Book 1)
That’s it for the podcast.
This podcast only exists because of your support, so thank you. If you want to learn how you can support us you can find all the ways to do so at www.litrpgpodcast.com/support
Go read some LitRPG!
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/