LitRPG Podcast 040
LitRPG Podcast 040
March 17th, 2017
Hello everyone, welcome to episode 40 of the LitRPG podcast.
I’m Ramon Mejia. I’m here to bring you the latest LitRPG news, reviews, and author interviews.
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I know i said I’d review The Way of the Clan 6 and Zectas Vol. 6, but honestly, I haven’t read anything in those series since book 3 or 4 of each. So I’d have to read books 4, 5, and 6 just to catch up.
I just stopped reading these series, 1) The World of Valdira because the esoteric slant the story was taking and the recurring translation issues. 2) Zectas ?? Nothing wrong with the series. I think I just got distracted by other stories and forgot about it. I may catch up at some point but that’s not this week.
New Releases and Reviews:
I'm a WHAAAT?! (I was reincarnated as a Magic Academy! Book 1)
Dragons can be cute too! (100 Luck and the Dragon Tamer Skill!)
(Play Music 2)
LitRPG News
Apollo Thorne, author of Codename: Freedom submitted a short story Scifan Magazine’s all LitRPG edition that is going to be published in April. It’s a wonderful short story that first appeared on the Royal Road, re-titled How the Goblin Stole Christmas. Congrats Apollo.
Ihab Laachir, friend of the podcast, has posted on his YouTube page the an amature reading of Sword Art Online Progressive.
He explains that because he’s almost blind that ebooks aren't really a good option for him. A friend of his has decided to help him by recording some light novels that don't have official audiobook. He readily acknowledges the doesn’t have the copyrights to these stories and if the publishers ever ask him to he’ll take the readings down. But for now he’s posted these to help others like him.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GL7dUp3rnnI&feature=youtu.be
Blaise Corvin announced this week that Delvers LLC: Obligations Incurred is all done. Release date will be the first week of April.
Travis Bagwell has released Chapter 4 of Awaken Online: Precipice to his patreon supporters this week, up to Chapter 3 is free to anyone. Additionally he has released a sample of the audiobook version of Precipice for you to enjoy.
https://www.patreon.com/user?u=3431433
https://soundcloud.com/travis-bagwell-637941683/aoprecipice-audio-sample
Start the Game: Galactogon Series, Book 1, Vasily Mahanenko’s scifi LitRPG story is available as an audiobook now.
Critical Failures IV: The Phantom Pinas: Caverns and Creatures, Book 4 is also out as an audiobook.
Out Now, Will Review next week!
Never knew what hit him! (I was reincarnated as a Magic Academy! Book 2)
The Eternal: Awakening - A LitRPG Saga (World of Ga'em Book 1)
Upcoming LitRPG:
Dragon Mastery: Daybreak: A LitRPG Adventure (March 21st, 2017)
New Horizons (Emerilia Book 4) (March 28th)
Awaken Online: Precipice (March 31st, 2017)
Earth Tactics Advance Vol. 1 (March 2017)
The Karmadont Chess Set (The Way of the Shaman: Book #5) (April 2nd, 2017)
Dominion of Blades: A LitRPG Adventure (April 11, 2017)
This is Our Land (Emerilia Book 5) (April 25th, 2017)
Delvers LLC: Obligations Incurred (April 2017)
The First Player (AlterGame Book #1) (May 9th 2017)
Stuck in an RPG (Sucked into an RPG, Book 2) (May 27th 2017).
The Eternal: Dragonborn - A LitRPG Saga (World of Ga'em Book 2) (May 31st, 2017)
Hero of Thera (June 1st, 2017) No Pre-Order
Stay on the Wing (The Dark Herbalist Book #2) (June 2nd, 2017).
Onto New Releases and Reviews
(Play Music 3)
New Releases and Reviews
I'm a WHAAAT?! (I was reincarnated as a Magic Academy! Book 1)
DragomirCM, the writer of the popular Web Novel: "I was reincarnated as a Magic Academy!" brings you the e-book version of the same story! Enjoy the first two Arcs on your Kindle, Mobile, or Tablet!
85500 words of edited and revised content!
Synopsis:
After an untimely death, a rather average Romanian is reincarnated in a new body in a new world filled with Magic and Adventure! The only problem is that he isn't exactly humanoid or has any hands for that matter. As the Dungeon Core installed in a Magic Academy, his role in this world has already been set by his creator, a bearded old wizard, that of a janitor and a repairman. Still, will he obediently stick to his 'job' when he holds the memory of his past life, has access to incredible magic, and most importantly, feels the need to build himself a good ol' labyrinth?
My Opinion: 261 pages, $2.99, Not available on Kindle Unlimited
The comedic story of a poor soul that’s reincarnated as an OP dungeon core that’s also turned into a magical academy.
Funny, makes fun of the genre, satirical,
Meanders a bit. Feels like a creative writing project. Not much of a plot but rather a series of events. Like a serial that’s been collected together.
Still fun, but not ‘I can’t put this book down fun’. Some chapters are hit and miss.
6 out of 10.
I'm a WHAAAT?! (I was reincarnated as a Magic Academy! Book 1)
Dragons can be cute too! (100 Luck and the Dragon Tamer Skill!)
An ominous message puts everyone on Earth into a state of panic, and not long afterwards millions are kidnapped from their homes by a God-like entity. After being gifted with powers and abilities beyond their wildest dreams, they were left to fend for themselves in a strange and dangerous new world.
Unlike the others, Alkelios Yatagai is one of the few who find themselves alone and separated from everyone else. With only a ridiculous amount of Luck and a unique skill to help him survive, he travels through a land teeming with dangerous monsters and... dragons.
My Opinion: About 260 pages (no page count), $3.99, Not available on Kindle Unlimited
More traditional format, lose love story, transported to another world, Luck build combined with unique skill of dragon taming. Most powerful skill, treating others fairly.
Slow start but some great action scenes later in the story. Finished the whole thing in one sitting.
Good story, nice pacing, 8 out of 10.
Dragons can be cute too! (100 Luck and the Dragon Tamer Skill!)
Tactical Phantasia: Episode 1
Drawn forth from Earth by forces most bodacious, a young man must learn to fight for survival against ridiculous opponents while navigating a bizarre landscape of gaming tropes, JRPG oddness, and epic boobery.
Can a normal man from Earth survive the machinations of those who summoned him, and find his place in the world? Only time will tell...
This story is part of an ongoing multiversal project known as Project Scott. It features a main protagonist with a similar name in each story, Scott, and is part of a vast tapestry of stories that intersect and intertwine in the strangest of ways.
My Opinion: 57 pages, $0.99, Available on Kindle Unlimited
A buxom half woman half snake (Lamia) summons Scott to a world that runs like it’s a Turn Based Strategy Game. She tells him he’s been summoned as her husband and dark lord so that they can expand her territory and gain power over the land. Only things are never what they appear.
Cool turn based strategy game mechanics. The author is never afraid to take on the challenge of writing stories with unique or hard to describe mechanics. The story is very funny and took a turn I truly didn’t expect. I appreciate the unusual and interesting game mechanics.
Short but sweet. 8 out of 10.
The Runesmith: A LitRPG Short Story (The Greenwood Book 2)
At the time of this recording it’s disappeared from Amazon but I liked it so much that I still want to review it.
From the author of the A Player in the Greenwood is a short story (about 30 pages) about a chaotic evil player that specializes in making magical runes. He’s cruel and a big meany! He helps rob some druids and then he slips on a ring of empathy and irony ensues.
Good story. Light on game mechanics but because it’s set in the same game as A Player in Greenwood there isn’t a need to explain a ton of game mechanics. Interesting to learn how runes and their crafting work in the game though. LIked it a lot more than A Player in the Greenwood and I found myself chuckling a bit as I read it.
Gets a 8 out of 10.
Ravenscroft Conspiracy: A LitRPG Thriller
Immigrant. Orphan. Criminal. Genius.
Abandoned as a child and fostered around a foreign city, Nicolay Somov had little hope of a successful life. Then he was wrongly convicted of a heinous crime and all hope was dashed.
Imprisoned and awaiting execution, Nicolay receives an offer: Become a beta-tester of the secret, government-controlled virtual world known as Territoria or die.
Within the virtual world, Nicolay enrolls in the mysterious Ravenscroft Academy alongside humans, ogres, faeries and gargoyles. As he continues to explore his new home, Nicolay discovers a conspiracy wrought with inhumane actions, driven by his captors’ boundless lust for power.
What he thought was a school for the gifted turns out to be something else altogether. Surrounded by avatars, under constant surveillance, and fearing his mind has been infiltrated, Nicolay must escape or never see the real world again.
My Opinion: 364 pages, $3.99, available on Kindle Unlimited
A fantasy magical academy story masquerading as LitRPG. The first 20% is pure tedium. A 16 year old troubled kid is on death row after being wrongly convicted of murdering his parents. Turns out he’s actually a super genius, his parents are demigods in a full immersion VR game and that he’s being sponsored to go to Ravenscroft Academy, an academy in this game, if he agrees to try and break the game from within.
For the first 30% of the novel (120 pages) I just kept wishing the story would get to the game world and even when it technically was there it never really felt like it. It felt like a regular magical academy story with occasional game references. The game mechanics felt superficial and not important to the story at all.
The handful of game mechanic references: Health Bar, Mana bar, Stamina Bar and Inventory. They seem to be inserted only to give the story a vague video game feel and don’t really mean anything. If i removed those few words the story would be almost exactly the same. It almost feels like this was a repurposed story.
Nothing technically wrong with the story. Good visual descriptions, a flawed main character aching for redemption, no spelling or grammar errors. This type of story just isn’t for me.
For now, 4 out of 10.
Back in the Game (Dream State Saga Book 2)
Back in the game is the sequel to Stuck in the Game, a LitRPG adventure.
Noah has survived his time trapped in the virtual reality of the Dream State game and his body is on the road to recovery. His mind, however, cannot put the past behind him, knowing the company that ruined his life has escaped justice. With the evidence he needs to convict them held on a Transfer Orb hidden in the Dream State, Noah returns to help his friends reclaim it. However, someone has already beaten him to the punch.
FranktheTank is a newbie. When he happens across the Transfer Orb, he sees it as a big payday, something to boost his skills to the next level. As he tries to sell it off to the highest bidder, he begins to realize that something more than his avatar’s status is at stake.
In order to push the evidence to the public, Noah and his allies race to find Frank before Wona does. Empowered by new weapons and magic, Noah and his friends fight through dungeons, monsters, and dragon nests, though only Noah knows what lengths Wona will resort to in order to keep its good name clean and its dark past a secret.
Can Noah fight the pull of the game to protect Wona’s victims?
My Opinion: 217 pages, $2.99, Available on Kindle Unlimited
If you like the first book in the series, Stuck in the Game, you’ll like this one. The story jumps right into the dream game world after a very brief explanation about what happened at the end of the last book and up to the moment the main character is broken out of a mental institute.
The main character upgrades his abilities a bit as he and his friends hunt down the orb that has all the video files that can prove that the game creators are bad people and hopefully get them arrested.
Biggest improvement over book 1 is how quick the story gets into the game world. Even through the beginning of the story feels like an extension of book 1, it quickly becomes it’s own entity. New weapons and lands are revealed some with a steampunk or gunpowder themes.
There are some pretty decent plot twists that will be controversial to some people but they definitely bump the story above book 1.
7 out of 10.
The Glitch Fiends (LitRPG): Part 1 (Hell's Glitch Book 2)
The virtual nightmare continues as Fulton Milner continues the dreaded life or death game known as Project DH. Milner has overhauled the systems of his death game right before opening a new area, the Stone Valley. In the Stone Valley there are vicious new enemies to face and a myriad of mysteries to uncover, but a new development has put game creator and player alike on edge, for something unnatural seems to have infiltrated Heimfall and brought a little hell into Milner's nightmarish game world.
Sam must fight his way through the valley and beyond if he ever wants to see his family again. Will his desire to survive lead him to his highly coveted freedom?
My Opinion: 313, $3.99, Available on Kindle Unlimited
Sam continues his journey through the dark fantasy full immersion game known as Project DH. Only now there is a game patch that makes things more realistic and difficult. Not only that but a mysterious glitch in the system is spawning some almost unbeatable monsters.
Good story, still based on game Dark Souls, now with this update to the game more realism is brought to the game. Action oriented story that makes combat rather difficult. With a die in the game die in real life aspect. There are more secrets to be revealed about the game.
The game seems to changing all on its own creating monsters that seem to be cheating the system, glitch fiends.
If you like Dark Souls, you’ll like this, 7 out of 10.
Soul Linked: Origin: A LitRPG Epic
Elle Kirkland wakes up to find herself trapped in a strange new world alongside a hundred-thousand others, with no memory of how she got there. Dumped into an isolated valley with few resources at their disposal, the newcomers must quickly find a way to survive this harsh new reality that mimics so many games they have played before.
But survival is not the only thing that will confront them. The world they have come to is old, with a long history. All manner of dark secrets may be hidden away, waiting to be discovered...
My Opinion: 443 pages, $4.99, Available on Kindle Unlimited
From the author of the A World at War series is a fantasy LitRPG novel.
100,000 people from earth are transported to a RPG world created by a maniacal god who thinks he’s a great DM. They’re dropped into a lush valley with limited resources. When the amount of food available starts to dwindle they must move out of the valley into the more dangerous world of risk starvation. 12 people who’ve done most of the monster fighting go out to scout for a new place to everyone to live.
Survival aspects, big game mechanic is “Soul Link” which gives bonuses to stats but also shares damage between two people linked.
Bit of a slow start but it gets more action oriented about the 35% mark when the 12 primary fighters go scout out the mountain looking for a way through and a place to build a new settlement and end up on a quest defeat a horde of goblins.
Hints at a more complex crafting system. Start with stone crafting but lack resources for any metal working or complex crafting.
Would have liked to get more information about the game system in the world. Some 50 skills but we only get the titles for a handful and with the exception of a few special abilities for a couple people, there are never any real descriptions of most of them.
Hints at not everything in the world being as presented by the god-like being that brought them all there. Possibly other powers that exist or existed in the world.
Went on a little too long. There’s a big fantastic battle that’s the climax of the story then another 100 pages and another smaller less impressive battles. There’s nothing wrong the last 25% of the story but after the climax, I kind of want to cuddle or take a nap.
Felt like that last 100
pages could have been the beginning of the next book.
Next story
I hope to get a better understanding of all the game mechanics in the world and a better insight into the larger social structures that exist.
100,000 people anywhere are going to create their own groups and clicks.
Will classes of people develop?: Warriors, Crafters, Farmers, Laborers, Hunters.
How will they deal with the division of resources and distribution of labor?
Gets a 7 out of 10.
That’s it everyone!
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Thanks for hanging out with me today. Until we can hangout again, remember to 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/