LitRPG Podcast 207 - The Trials of a Modern Paladin, Winterborn, Game Port, Light Online Book Two
LitRPG Podcast 207 - The Trials of a Modern Paladin, Winterborn, Game Port, Light Online Book Two
Jan. 2nd, 2020
Hello everyone, welcome to episode 207 of the LitRPG podcast.
I’m Ramon Mejia. I’m here to bring you the latest LitRPG news, reviews, and author interviews. We have 4 new reviews just for you.
New Releases and Reviews:
The Trials of a Modern Paladin (The Trials of a Modern Tabletop Group Book 1) (17:56)
OP MC
Score: 7.4 out of 10
Winterborn (21:36)
Good Tabletop LitRPG
Score: 7.5 out of 10
Game Port: #BlueMatterSeries v1 (Blue Matter Series) (26:30)
Mostly filler
Score: 5 out of 10
Light Online Book Two: Keeper (32:44)
Lots of crafting and town building
Score: 7.6 out of 10
(Play Music 2)
LitRPG News
LitRPG Authors Laura Hughes aka Demi Harper and Jonathan Smidt were on the Negative HP podcast. Go give them a listen talk about LitRPG, Dungeon Core novels, and how they got into writing in the genre. Oh, and why Laura thinks Dragon Age: Inquisition has the worst multiplayer.
Luke Chmilenko posted an update for his plans for 2020, including his new baby daughter, the next Ascend Online series (he’s splitting it in two), the next A Mark of Kings fantasy story, and a new project called Starfall.
https://lukechmilenko.com/welcome-to-2020/
Portal Books is putting the first book of many other their amazing LitRPG series up for sale till January 3rd 2020. So it’s a great chance to pickup some good reads on the cheap.
https://portal-books.com/new-years-sale
Happy New Year everyone. Welcome to 2020. Before we get too far into the new year, I wanted to list off our top 10 books of 2019. Some of these are contributed by Ian Mitchell, the rest from myself. *Ian’s review scores are about a point higher than my own on average, so I’ve taken that into consideration.*
This series is a mix of Wuxia and LitRPG and contributor Ian Mitchell has really liked each of these novels but gave book 4 a near perfect score and said it surpassed the Cradle series for him.
Dragon Heart: Sea of Sand. LitRPG Wuxia Series: Book 4
A great crafting story that I still think is underrated. “The world building and just stellar characters kept me entertained. Even days later, I'm thinking about the cool stuff the author could do with the story and the MCs powers.”
Rexus: Side Quest (The Completionist Chronicles Book 3)
Not even the main series, but a side story. “Probably the funniest thing that the author has written to date. This is a great side story that incorporates so many puns, awkward situations, and humorous banter that it’s a must read if you want to laugh.” Easily made the top 10 LitRPG stories of 2019 for me.
Just this epic continuation of the great series. There’s more online, but these have been just sooo good. Such good characters, and the action really picks up in Vol. 2
Kaiju: Battlefield Surgeon: A LitRPG Adventure
-I was super surprised that I even liked this one, much less thought it was great. It combines horror, with gore, and a healer, and a trapped in the game thing. The ending was twisted in that Dinniman kind of way. It did something different with LitRPG and though I skipped past the more graphis scenes when I read it, it still landed for me.
It’s the last book in the series and ties up many of the plotlines so well. One of the few amazing SciFi LitRPG stories.
Raising Allies - A LitRPG Adventure (New Game Minus Book 2)
It not only continued the good storytelling from book 1 with its unique take on being trapped in the game, it improved upon it.
Reborn: Apocalypse (A LitRPG/Wuxia Story)(Volume 1)
A wuxia LitPRG story that also has the main character fighting in tower style dungeons. There’s such good action and it was one of the first LitRPG stories to combine Wuxia with a clear progression system that was as fun to delve into as the action.
Life Reset: Hobnobbing (New Era Online Book 3)
-The last book in the series arc. One of the best Monster main character stories and it has a good bit of town building. Also, Jeff Hays, the guy that narrates the audiobook dressed up as the MC for DragonCon last year.
The Greystone Chronicles Book Five: World At War
The end of the series and boy was it a great conclusion to the series. Also, it just has the cutest cover of any LitRPG book.
Out Now!
Shroud Of The Wahrsager: A LitRPG GameLit Fantasy Adventure (Enora Book 6)
Resist: The Scourge Wars Book 3
The Land: Monsters: A LitRPG Saga (Chaos Seeds Book 8)
New LitRPG Audiobooks
The Crafter's Defense - Dungeon Crafting, Book 2
Deadman's Retinue: An NPC’s Path, Book 3
Scamps & Scoundrels - Bad Guys, Book 1
Dungeon Lord: Ancient Traditions
The Wraith's Haunt - A LitRPG Series, Book 4
Upcoming LitRPG:
No Mistakes (World of the Changed Book #1): LitRPG Series (Jan. 6th, 2020)
The Destroying Plague (Disgardium Book #3): LitRPG Series (Jan. 9th, 2020)
Dungeons of Strata (Deepest Dungeon 1) (Jan. 20th, 2019)
Quest for Dominion: A LitRPG Saga (Hero Online Book 4) (Jan. 24th, 2020)
Viridian Gate Online: Darkling Siege (The Viridian Gate Archives Book 7) (Jan. 28th, 2020)
Endless Fantasy Online: The Elk Kingdom (Jan. 31st, 2020)
Ultima : A LitRPG Journey (Legends Online Book 4) (Jan. 31st, 2019) https://amzn.to/2sl315R
Battle Master: The Blood Crown Book 1 (A LitRPG Adventure) (Feb. 4th, 2020)
Skull and Thrones: A LitRPG/GameLit Adventure (The Bad Guys Book 3) (Feb. 6th, 2020)
An Equation with One Unknown (Invasion Book #2): LitRPG Series (Feb. 10th, 2020)
Gods of Ash and Amber: A Gamelit Novel (Seeds of Chaos Book 4) (Feb. 29th, 2020)
The Incarnator (Project Stellar Book 1): LitRPG Series (March 9th, 2020)
Quest for Freedom: A LitRPG Saga (Hero Online Book 5) (March 20th, 2020)
The Dark Continent (Underdog Book #3): LitRPG Series (March 20th, 2020)
Eastbound and Town: A LitRPG/Gamelit Adventure (The Good Guys Book 8) (April 2nd, 2020)
Dragon Heart: Sea of Sorrow. LitRPG wuxia series: Book 5 (April 15th, 2020)
Onto New Releases and Reviews
(Play Music 3)
New Releases and Reviews
(Picture 1)
The Trials of a Modern Paladin (The Trials of a Modern Tabletop Group Book 1)
Have you ever wondered what it would be like to become your favorite fantasy tabletop character? Would it end up being a dream come true or a horrific nightmare? What if you were forced to play the role of that character completely and couldn't act out of character even if you wanted to? That is exactly what happens to our protagonist, William Shawcro in the first installment of The Trials of a Modern Paladin.
William is an ordinary young man living an ordinary life when out of nowhere he finds himself in the body of his long-time character Archaeus in this isekai style fantasy story. Forced to play the role of Archaeus and act within his Paladin code, he must navigate this shocking new world of magic all the while questioning whether it's just a dream. He quickly realizes the life may not be all it's cracked up to be after facing frightening conflicts and becoming entangled in this new world's politics. While he is quite overpowered having made it to level 20, brute force can't resolve some situations. Archaeus makes new friends and new enemies during his travels, but will he ever find his way back home? All he can do is keep pushing forward and discover the truth of why he is here.
My Opinion: 281 pages, $2.99, Available On Kindle Unlimited
A slice of life Over Powered LitRPG story where the main character (MC) is transported to a RPG fantasy world as his level 20 Paladin tabletop character. It’s a pretty casual story that explores what that situation would be like when the same conflicts from the game were put to the MC. On the game mechanic side, there are no shown character sheets or notifications in the story, instead MC describes them. Game mechanics are clearly described and get lots of internal thoughts from MC about them, but no notifications. Additionally, there's a kind of forced roleplaying from the System that changes the responses of the MC based on his paladin characters backstory.
Overall, a cute slice of life story with good action for an overpowered MC.
Score: 7.4 out of 10
The Trials of a Modern Paladin (The Trials of a Modern Tabletop Group Book 1)
Winterborn
There are many worlds in the cosmos. Many of them have rules and laws that are utterly alien to the world that we know. Most never leave the world they were born into, never even know or suspect that other worlds even exist. Their souls simply go through the cycle of reincarnation again and again, always forgetting their past lives, and living as they please. But some few are given the gift of Transfering after death, to live their next life in a different world, with memories of their past lives to enrich the world they go to with new concepts and new ideas, and bringing back those same from the world they visited when it is time for their next cycle in their old world.
A young woman suffers a tragic fate, and is granted the ability to Transfer. She is reincarnated into a new world, full of monsters and magic, things that would be mere myths and legends to her in her old life. This time, she promises, will be different. She doesn't have to be weak here. She doesn't have to be a victim. She can be strong, and no one will ever control her again!
My Opinion: 274 pages, $3.50, Not Available On Kindle Unlimited
A good tabletop LitRPG story. It has a female main character (MC) who is transported to a fantasy RPG world that follows DnD 3.5 rules.
Game mechanics wise, the story is pretty crunchy and the authors actually shows each roll done to determine the combat, saves, and skill checks and it was fun to see how bad rolls impacted the course of the story. One series of bad rolls almost ended the MC at one point. The MC also has a bit of a homebrew class, it was quite entertaining to see her think through her character creation choices and how she wanted to progress as she leveled.
On the story side of things, it's a fairly slice of life story that feels influenced by the Icewind Dale campaign setting. A fun action adventure oriented story with pretty good world building. Again, it helped that the setting was familiar since I'd read other novels set in a similar location.
Overall, this is a good story that pulls heavily from the tabletop DnD experience and any one that likes the 3.5 rule set or the Icewind Dale setting will enjoy the story.
Score: 7.5 out of 10
Game Port: #BlueMatterSeries v1 (Blue Matter Series)
Her last sim took everything she had. This one took what was left.
Tamsin Noonien is level 0 . . . and that's all she knows. She learns her name from a stranger who seems more confused than she is about where they are. He can't even work the user interface. Tam is the one who figures out they're in a virtual reality game--one with no exit.
Desperate for answers, she begins a series of quests to regain her memory. The more she learns, however, the more betrayed she feels. This isn't the first time she's been fooled into a virtual reality simulation, left to wonder what's real and what isn't. Last time, her own brother set her up, and it looks like he's done it again.
But this time, the project leaders have lost control of the sim. The game has been infiltrated by saboteurs--the same anti-tech religious fanatics who killed Tam's parents. They seem hell-bent on destroying the sim and everyone in it.
Tam has one chance to get her old life back. But it will mean joining forces with the people who deceived her, playing their game, and trusting everyone to get it right.
GameLit fans hungry for clever quests, exotic characters, and non-stop RPG action will devour Game Port, the first book in the Blue Matter Series. Grab your copy today!
My Opinion: 326 pages, $0.99, Available On Kindle Unlimited
The novel description is much more interesting than most of the actual story. It describes the larger cyberpunk-ish plot where people wake and find themselves without memory in a fantasy RPG. They can regain their memories by mining a higher level resource but first they have to choose a class and do starter quests and train. The ‘plot’ focuses on this aspect of why they lost their memories, the information being fed them, and if any of it is true. Not a terrible plotline, but also not what takes up most of the space in this novel.
I’d say that takes up about 40% of the novel. The rest unfortunately feels like slice of life filler. The main character and her group choose their classes, quest, and level up as they resource gather, train, and upgrade their equipment. The adventures aren’t bad, but it all feels like it’s not important.
Game mechanic wise, this is a semi-custom system that will feel familiar to table top players. Fantasy Dnd type classes, stats, skills, etc. It’s a pretty crunchy story with lots of notifications, character sheets, and loads of gamer talk and thinking as the group tries to level up and master their chosen classes. Nothing really outstanding here, but the gamer mentality does come through and the story is definitely LitRPG.
Overall, I was bored with the novel for most of the first half of the novel. While the characters have some personality and there is decent dialogue and banter between players, I never really cared about any of the characters. Part of that they’ve all lost their memories so there’s no background for anyone, and while that changes eventually by then I’d lost interest in them. Another big part is that a lot of what they do doesn’t matter to the main cyberpunk plotline. While the RPG stuff came through very clearly and showed the author’s experience as a gamer, it wasn’t different enough to carry the story. All the game stuff were things I’d read before. Combat was mediocre, so not a big draw there. The adventures the group went on weren’t bad, but they never felt important and felt like stuff the characters did until more of the plot was revealed at regular 10-15% intervals. I mean it’s literally part of the plot that all the adventuring they’re doing is just filling their time.
Score: 5 out of 10
Game Port: #BlueMatterSeries v1 (Blue Matter Series)
Light Online Book Two: Keeper
Eddie Hunter isn't stuck in the game Light Online, but if he wants to keep his job, he needs to stay there. It's not a hardship for him as he increasingly believes that his in-game life is far preferable to his out of game life.
Working on a hidden development quest that he discovered by accident has him becoming more and more entrepreneurial even while running his own inn, but between him and his party, the Meadowlands is rapidly developing.
The goblins from the Forest of Fools have noticed the Meadowlands growing stronger as well, and start attacking out of the forest. They seem to be growing stronger as the Meadowlands do. The Meadowlands themselves are changing also, offering more challenges and rewards, as Eddie completes more of his quests.
Eddie finally decides that he can't keep everything going on his own. Between running an inn, building the things necessary for his quest, adventuring, and more, he's getting to the point where important things are slipping his mind. When a dungeon is discovered in the Meadowlands, where there was never one before, he gives in and relegates himself to an assistant in running his own inn so that he and his party can test themselves against it in an attempt to grow their own power levels.
This story is approximately 130,000 words long and DRM free.
My Opinion: 527 pages, $3.99, Available On Kindle Unlimited
An entertaining sequel with all the crafting, town building, and action from the first book with some added spice when the game company starts to have employees take over the role of monsters. It's a bit slice of life with some plot being woven in from the AI and the game makers creating conflict. Those who like crafting and town building will really enjoy this story though as those are major parts of the story.
Score: 7.6 out of 10
That’s it everyone! Have a happy Holidays.
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Thanks for hanging out with me today. Until we can hangout again, remember to go read some LitRPG!
(Music 4)
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/