LitRPG Podcast 055
LitRPG Podcast 055
June 16th, 2017
Hello everyone, welcome to episode 55 of the LitRPG podcast.
You can watch the podcast at
I’m Ramon Mejia. I’m here to bring you the latest LitRPG news, reviews, and author interviews.
New Releases and Reviews:
Reborn as a Dungeon Core (18:30)
Into the Black (A Sci-Fi LitRPG Story): Book II: Choson Ring (26:15)
(Play Music 2)
LitRPG News
Luke Chmilenko revealed the cover art for his upcoming novel Ascend Online: Legacy of the Fallen. It looks pretty cool. Though, that panther looks like he’s wielding a knife with his tail.
Magic Dome books has put the 1st three chapters of their latest novel from author Vasily Mahanenko. Dark Paladin Book 2 - The Quest
https://magicdomebooks.blogspot.ru/2017/06/dark-paladin-book-2-by-vasily-mahanenko.html
The folks over at LitWorld are holding a contest to promote the Fayroll series. The contest is open until June 20th.
FIRST place will receive a REAL axe, modeled after the northern warriors from the third book with a special PERSONAL engraving of Fayroll’s hero, which is made by professional blacksmiths specially for the contest + an electronic version of the third book.
The SECOND place is guaranteed to receive a souvenir axe, as an attribute of a new book + an electronic third part.
The THIRD place winner will also be rewarded with a poster with the author's artwork of Fayroll and the author's signature + the latest book of the series.
To take part in the contest you should:
1. Write a short review about Fayroll (all of the series or one book) on Amazon and send a copy of your review to the company (esfenero.ks@gmail.com) so that we know how to contact you.
2. Follow LITWORLD’s page and share the information about the contest with your friends. Maybe, they will want to test fate and fight for the chance to win grand prizes too.
https://www.facebook.com/Litworld-club-1872698209627289/
Even though the audiobook release for the 2nd book has been pushed back due to technical issues, there’s apparently a list on Good Read for the best audiobooks ever and our very own Aleron Kong and the 1st book in the Chaos Seed series have gotten up to 4th place (as of this recording). So, if you want to the story reach even higher on the list or vote for someone else entirely go click on the link in the shownotes
https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/130.Best_Audiobooks_Ever?page=1
Adventures on Terra - Book 2: Escape is out now. To celebrate, I’ve lowered the price on book 1 to $2.99. They’re both still on Kindle Unlimited.
Book 2 http://amzn.to/2ssXNDY
Book 1 http://amzn.to/2spgeZk
New LitRPG Audiobooks
(None)
Out Now, Will Review next week!
Restoration: The Rise of Resurgence: Book II
Raiding Jotunheim: A LitRPG Saga (Valhalla Online Book 2)
The Monster Spawn: A LitRPG Series (Adonis Rebirth #1)
Upcoming LitRPG:
Rules-Free VRMMO Life, Volume III: Wyrmwood (June 17, 2017)
Ripcord Online: (LitRPG Series Book 1) (June 20th, 2017)
Overpowered: A LitRPG Thriller (Kings and Conquests Book 1) (June 27th, 2017)
Forming the Company (Alpha World Book 2) (June 27th, 2017)
The Quest (Dark Paladin Book #2) LitRPG Series (June 29th, 2017)
SpeedRunner (Tower of Babel Book 1) (June 30th, 2017)
Fayroll, Book 3 (July 1, 2017)
Hero of Naught (July 1st, 2017)
The Curse of Rion Castle (The Neuro Book #2) LitRPG Series (July 6th, 2017)
Vengeance Over Vanaheim: A LitRPG Saga (Valhalla Online Book 3) (July 11th, 2017)
Codename: Freedom: Survive Week One (July 12th, 2017)
The First Planet: The Space Masters 1 (July 14th, 2017)
Kingdom Level Three (LitRPG: Kingdom Series Book 3) (July 15th, 2017)
Stratus Online: Awakening (Stratus Online: a LitRPG series Book 1) (July 28th, 2017)
Rapidplay: The Gamemaster's Gambit 1 (A litRPG series) (Aug. 1st, 2017)
The Glitch Fiends (LitRPG): Part 2 (Hell's Glitch Book 3) (Aug. 4th, 2017)
Fayroll, Book 4 (August 15, 2017)
SHARDS OF REALITY: A LitRPG Adventure (Enter the Realm Book 1) (Aug. 22, 2017)
Shaman's Revenge (The Way of the Shaman Book 6) (Aug. 30th, 2017)
Onto New Releases and Reviews
(Play Music 3)
New Releases and Reviews
Viridian Gate Online: The Jade Lord (VGO book 3)
November, 2042
It’s been a busy month for thirty-two-year-old Jack Mitchel:
Three weeks ago, he died.
Two weeks ago, he founded the first Faction in the ultra-immersive, fantasy-based VRMMORPG, Viridian Gate Online.
A week and a half ago the world ended, destroyed by a cataclysmic asteroid.
Seven days ago, he conquered the Imperial city of Rowanheath, bringing all of Eldgard to the brink of war.
Though Jack’s Faction, the Crimson Alliance, has a tenuous truce with tech genius and Imperial lord, Robert Osmark, Jack knows it can’t last. Osmark is devious and power hungry, and it’s only a matter of time before he sends his forces to wipe Jack and his underdog crew off the map for good.
If Jack hopes to survive another month inside of VGO, he must find a way to beat Osmark and his army of bloodthirsty thugs, and a new quest—the Path of the Jade Lord—may be just the ticket. But this quest will be far harder than anything Jack’s faced before, pushing him to his mental, physical, and moral limits. And if Jack isn’t careful, his quest to defeat Osmark and the Empire may end up turning him into the despot he’s been fighting against.
My Opinion: 274 pages, $4.99, Available on Kindle Unlimited
This is a fun action filled novel, that took some turns that were completely unexpected. The scale of the story has been knocked back a notch. With the exception of the very beginning of the story, there’s no faction vs faction fighting. Instead, it focuses on the quest for the Jade Lord, a rare quest line that asks Jack to find three artifacts scattered in the world. If he succeeds he’ll unite the entire marsh region of the game under the banner of the Crimson Alliance. Which means more cities, people, and resources for the faction.
However, this quest is so challenging that a single respawn means failure. It has a component called, Death Head. Which I thought raised the stakes of the story nicely. Features of ‘Death Head’ quest: If the quester dies, he fails and can’t repeat the quest. Additionally, the quest has a time limit, and the quester become progressively weaker as time goes on. However, this type of super hard quest has the potential to change the balance of power in the game world.
In addition to the many action scenes, there’s also a bit of kingdom building, crafting, pet raising, a even an Ocean’s Eleven style heist. However, the thing I liked the most was that Grim Jack grew a pair by the end of the story and decided what kind of man he’s going to be and just how far he’s willing to go to protect his friends and faction. It’s a good story.
Score: 7 out of 10.
Viridian Gate Online: The Jade Lord (VGO book 3) (June 8th)
Plague in the Greenwood
I’m Barcud, a Level 14 Ranger, and I thought we’d got them beat.
Our enemies were besieged behind their high city walls and everything was going very right.
Until it went very wrong.
High up from the back of my eagle, I saw the Greenwood turn black and dead. But it wasn’t just the trees that died; bears, foxes and wolves succumbed to the plague, then came back as something worse. In the villages and towns, the dead rose from their graves and went hunting fresh meat.
The zombie apocalypse was unleashed.
Our siege camp was threatened and victory was slipping through our fingers. Before all was lost, I knew I had to step up and search out the secret source of the zombie plague.
Aided by a runesmith, a thief, a bard and a wizard, I raced against time to find the mystery of the plague and defeat the wicked intelligence spreading it.
But in the end I realized victory meant taking on the gods themselves.
My Opinion: 319 pages, $2.99, Available on Kindle Unlimited
This is book 5 in the series, and it starts right after the end of War in the Greenwood. In that book, the evil city of the Horrabians was finally under siege from the allied forces and it looked like it was only a matter of time till their city was destroyed. Turns out it won’t be that easy after all. With the help of a goddess, the forces of evil have unleashed the zombie apocalypse on the Greenwood. Now Barcud, our level 13 Ranger, will have to find the source of the zombie plague before it destroys all of the game world.
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In each one of the books in the Greenwood series, author Galen Wolf tries to mix a new genre of storytelling into the series. In this one, it’s the zombie apocalypse. The story takes the shocked horror aspects of Fear the Walking Dead and mixes it with the established storyline. It does it well too.
There are those moments you expect from a zombie show where characters try to do the right thing and save some innocent looking person by bringing them into town but end up spreading the zombie plague by accident. Towns start to panic as the plague spreads and kills more NPCs permanently. There’s also plenty of moralizing and debating between characters about ‘the smart’ versus ‘the compassionate’ thing to do with the infected. So, if you really like this mix then this story is for you.
However, personally the story just wasn’t as appealing as the others in the series. Which is understandable when each book has different genre mixed into the MMORPG stuff.
The part of the I really loved was when the section of the story where the characters where dungeon diving. There was a broad range of undead to fight, traps, and regular cool loot. It also looks like that part will be expanded upon in book 6.
Overall, a fine read for me.
Score: 6 out of 10.
Plague in the Greenwood: A LitRPG Novel
Reborn as a Dungeon Core
A misanthrope receives a message from God, He's been chosen as a candidate for the position of Dungeon Core. His qualification test? Kill three entities within 60 seconds.
My Opinion: 100 pages, $2.99, Not Available on Kindle Unlimited
This has an unusually villainous start to the story. A game screen suddenly appears in front of Patrick while he’s driving and tells him he’s been chosen as a candidate for the position of a Dungeon Core. All he has to do is kill 3 entities within 60 seconds, then himself. The MC just accepts the truth of the notification and does it crashing his car into other drivers then poisoning himself.
Now he’s a green crystal, a dungeon core. He uses a limited supply of soul power to create his dungeon, make traps, and populate it with monsters. To get more soul power (SP) he must lure and kill creatures. However, anything that enters his dungeon will try to seek him out and destroy him.
His first minion? An ant.
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Besides the odd beginning, this is a pretty standard dungeon master story. Create minions, kill creatures to get SP, upgrade minions/get new ones, and repeat. It’s insect themed and follows a realistic approach to the dungeon master stuff. Starter creatures are the smallest around, their upgrades exist in nature, their behavior is not extraordinary, the invaders of the dungeon are also insects. It’s a decent read aside from the murderous beginning and ending. By the end of the story, the dungeon core has upgraded his army of insects to kill full grown people and get their SP. Like old ladies and a school bus full of children.
Score: 5 out of 10.
Euphoria Online: A LitRPG Virtual Fantasy Adventure
Tired of leveling up from in the manner of fighting monsters and dull repetitive grinding?
Welcome to Euphoria Online.
In the far future, when technology has advanced to run a full virtual immersion, the new hit sensation is the MMORPG Euphoria Online, which promises all the sensual pleasures one can ever dream of.
Gain EXP: Explicit Points merely for committing some of the hottest acts of debauchery!
Not everyone can claim to have gained the strength to slay dragons just from participating in threesomes!
Indulge in an online world that promises utter hedonism and promotes carnal desires, ranging from the familiar
busty blonde elf to the sly and saucy succubus desperate for a stuffing, stretching, slamming, filling and just waiting for a player to 'defeat' them!
Pulsing activity with lots of moist bliss overflowing from tight juicy holes!
Hard, rough and without a shred of protection!
Slay monsters, gather loot, and succumb to your
desires! All this and more in Euphoria Online!
My Opinion: 82 pages, $3.25, Not available on Kindle Unlimited
First, the story is way overpriced. But if you like erotic fiction and MMOs, this may appeal to you.
While the novel is listed as LitRPG, the author goes out of their way to warn the reader that there’s lots of sex in the story. Heck, the first 3% of the novel is big bold warnings about the adult content in this novel. Lesbian and straight sex.
This is without a doubt a special type of story. The novel is 90% sex, 10% RPG. It’s not a action- adventure story. Instead, it’s more like late night MMO sex stories. The RPG parts are full on parody. For example, in this game it seems like it’s only at levels 400-600 apparently that anyone finds the sex options because only high level players are involved in the action. Also, when the main character does have sex, he gets a ton of XP for it and great stat increases like +400 to stamina.
If you're looking for a new sex story set in an MMO, this might appeal to you. However, it just was not my particular cup of tea. To be honest I skipped the sex stuff and read the MMORPG parts which were minimal.
Score: 5 out of 10.
Euphoria Online: A LitRPG Virtual Fantasy Adventure
Into the Black (A Sci-Fi LitRPG Story): Book II: Choson Ring
After a rocky start (spawning in a black ops research lab can be such a pain, especially when you're the test subject), Mirikon is now free, but his escape 'plan' quickly unravels with a Princess literally dropping into his lap. Sure, they managed to escape, but they're still in Sol System, the heart of the Terran Empire. If he's going to get out of this, he's going to need some gear, and he's going to need a crew. Good thing both can be found on Choson Ring, one of the shadiest ports in the solar system.
Sure, it is a hive of scum and villainy, and sure, he's got a princess to protect, but what's the worst that could happen, right? Right?
Follow Mirikon's continuing adventures, as he strives to make his own path in this new game universe.
My Opinion: 95 pages, $0.99, Not available on Kindle Unlimited
Stuart Grosse has signed up to play an scifi MMORPG on the most difficult settings. In the game he’s a shapeshifting Psi user named Mirikon, who’s on the lamb from the multiple governments. Not only because of the people he’s killed, or his illegal genetics, but because of the rouge princess he’s transporting.
Now, he’s looking for a few new crew members to round out his team and take on some more challenging quests.
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The first 11% of the novel is a recap of the previous short story and an info dump of possible upgrades the ship the main character (MC) uses can get. It’s not bad info but some of it feels like filler, since there’s no way the character can get all those upgrades for the ship, nor does he intend to.
There’s lots of good action in the story, and some expanded understanding of the game world.
However, there were also a few things that just didn’t appeal to me. When the MC goes to get more crew members, he decides to buy some sexy slaves to fill the positions. Also, after one battle with a gang of thugs, instead of sending a defeated female player off for respawn, he instead slaps a special slave collar on her that will trap her in her own mind and sells her off into prostitution to make money for him. Additionally, the MC gets an upgrade that confers a power boost to him but also require that he has sex every couple days or he’ll become really weak. He fulfills that requirement with his new slaves, who can’t really say no. Especially since that same upgrade makes his ‘fluids’ addictive like a drug. So, it all feels a bit like rape by the main character.
I want to be perfectly clear. The parts of the story I had a hard time with were a small part of narrative (10%) and other people may be able to overlook it. However, it seems it’s going to be an ongoing theme for the authors stories. The authors other LitRPG series, Rules-Free VRMMO Life, has more a lot more of a darker theme and includes a lot more sex, rape, and even graphic torture.
Overall, the RPG mechanics are solid, there’s lots of good action and even some space battles. But the sex stuff and the few questionable parts of the story were so off putting for me that I’m dropping the series.
Score: 6 out of 10
Into the Black (A Sci-Fi LitRPG Story): Book II: Choson Ring
Reboot: An Epic LitRPG (Afterlife Online Book 1)
Tad Lonnerman is having a crappy day stuck in crappy traffic late to a crappy meeting. On the bright side, his game development career is the only non-crappy thing he has going for him, so life isn't all bad.
At least until he dies.
Now Tad finds himself uploaded to a beta test of Haven, an unannounced hyper-immersive MMO where the dead have a second chance at life. It's not virtual reality, it's digital reality. A true afterlife online.
Except Haven isn't exactly blissful paradise. Tad bumbles into a pagan blood feud, crosses paths with fallen angels, and gets lied to by saints. His only allies? A frat boy with a penchant for dying and a pixie who won't give him the time of day.
Second chances be damned. All Tad wants is to return to his old life, and he'll do anything for the opportunity. Even make a deal with the devil.
My Opinion: 357 pages, $4.99, Available on Kindle Unlimited
The novel does a great job of getting right into the game world of the story. By the 2% mark, the main character is in Haven, his digital afterlife.
I should note that there are a few religious undertones in the story. But you're going to get that with just about any afterlife story. In this case, the game company is represented by an employee with an avatar named Saint Peter that is introducing the main character to the closed beta afterlife. The bad guys are goblins, cyclops, ogres, trolls and other monsters referred to as the Pagans. The big bad guy and tempter is Lucifer, a rogue player that just wants to see the game world burn. That’s pretty much the extent of it though.
The first half of the story, is mostly story setup and information about how the game world works. Heck, the first 10% is just character creation and the tutorial for the main character.
However, that doesn’t mean it’s not interesting in it’s own way. You’re introduced to all the important characters, you get a feel for the world, who the bad guys are, and you get an explanation of how the game world works.
One of the places the story shines is the in potential depth of the game mechanics and the authors background as a real life game designer show through here. There are four basic character classes: Artisan, Mystic, Warrior, and Explorer. Each with their own benefits. However, the game’s mechanics also have a skill system that allows for a staggering number of customization options for the players in this world. There’s also crafting, which I love. So, if you’re a nerd for game mechanics like me, you’ll like all this stuff.
The story gets to be a real page turner after the main character is told by Lucifer that the game company has been lying to him and they’re intentionally not letting him talk to his brother in the real world. The consequences of the main character deciding to hack into the game’s servers push the story into a much faster pace. From there it’s a series of big battles, plot twists, and story revelations.
I really enjoyed the nods to other games like God of War and Shadow of the Colossus and many more. The relationships that develop between the main character, his frat bro roommate and the ice queen are a little forced at times but still genuinely interesting. I especially liked the author’s inside jokes and commentary on the gaming industry. For example: the bug report button, is featured throughout the story, and hinted at as an alternative way to get the attention of the devs. Yet, when ultimately used was totally useless. It made me laugh out loud as someone that’s beta tested MMOs before. The author nailed those inside jokes.
Overall, I had a good time reading the story. The beginning was a little challenging at times to stay interested in but I’m really glad I stuck around and the last half of the story really just flew by.
Score: 7 out of 10.
Reboot: An Epic LitRPG (Afterlife Online Book 1)
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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/