LitRPG Podcast 210 - Dungeons of Strata, Tusk and Blade, Outpost 7
LitRPG Podcast 210 - Dungeons of Strata, Tusk and Blade, Outpost 7
Jan. 24th, 2020
Hello everyone, welcome to episode 210 of the LitRPG podcast.
I’m Ramon Mejia. I’m here to bring you the latest LitRPG news, reviews, and author interviews. We have 6 new reviews just for you.
New Releases and Reviews:
Dungeons of Strata (Deepest Dungeon 1) (07:26)
A really good dungeon dive
Score: 7.7 out of 10
Tusk and Blade (Exodus Online) Book One: A LitRPG Novel (10:46)
Decent read
Score: 7.2 out of 10
Outpost 7 a Gamelit LitRPG dungeon core adventure: Book Two The Dark Exchange (16:48)
Not really dungeon core, more Gamelit Base Building, but weird enough story to keep me interested
Score: 7.3 out of 10
Ian’s (Eye-Ann) Picks of the Week (22:45)
(Pic 0)
New Segment from Ian Mitchell a long time LitRPG community member who reads and reviews as much as me. He was nice enough to agree to join the LitRPG Podcast family as a new reviewer.
CivCEO 2: A 4x Lit Series (The Accidental Champion)
Diplomacy
Score: 7.5 out of 10
Villainess Life: A LitRPG Supervillain Novel
Slow start, satisfying ending
Score: 8.0 out of 10
Dungeon Calamity (The Divine Dungeon Book 3)
Even better the third time
Score: 8.8 out of 10
(Play Music 2)
LitRPG News
This is a reminder that the Fantasy Book Fest in Anaheim, Ca is still selling tickets and that a number of LitRPG and GameLit authors are attending. The event takes place only a few blocks from Disneyland and offers discounted tickets to the theme park for attendees to the convention.
There is tiered pricing for the Fantasy Book Fest: $15 for the signing only, $75 to attend all reader events, and $150 to attend the entire event including panels and educational workshops. There is also a D&D game night, the S’mores and Stories event, and of course, the Fantasy Ren Faire cosplay signing!
Some of the LitRPG/GameLit authors include: Domino Finn, Apollos Thorne, James Hunter, and R.A. Mejia.
https://www.facebook.com/events/411882156047605/
Spectrum Audiobooks, run by narrator Anneliese Rennie and her group, is expanding into print and ebook publishing. They’ve already signed a few LitRPG and GameLit authors and published some works. Dungeon Configure, Outpost 7,
However, they are still taking submissions from new or established LitRPG/GameLit authors and are signing authors that meet certain thresholds for book length, genre, rank (if previously published), etc. There’s a link below where you can submit your stuff.
https://spectrumaudiobooks.com/submissions/
Out Now!
7 Days Later 2: A Post Apocalyptic Gamelit Survival Horror
Quest for Dominion: A LitRPG Saga (Hero Online Book 4)
New LitRPG Audiobooks
Fresh Blood: Survival World, Book 1
The System Apocalypse Short Story Anthology, Volume 1
Hero GO! Champion Is Playing, Book 3
Upcoming LitRPG:
Viridian Gate Online: Darkling Siege (The Viridian Gate Archives Book 7) (Jan. 28th, 2020)
GUARD [Web of Worlds: Empire] A LitRPG Series (Jan. 29th, 2020)
The Crafter's Dilemma: A Dungeon Core Novel (Dungeon Crafting Book 3) (Jan. 30th, 2020)
Endless Fantasy Online: The Elk Kingdom (Jan. 31st, 2020)
Ultima : A LitRPG Journey (Legends Online Book 4) (Jan. 31st, 2020) https://amzn.to/2sl315R
Thousand Tales: Side Quests (Feb. 1st, 2020)
Infernal Bones (Elemental Dungeon - Book 2) (Feb. 3rd, 2020)
Battle Master: The Blood Crown Book 1 (A LitRPG Adventure) (Feb. 4th, 2020)
The Last Time Loop: Max of the Rebellion (Volume 2): A Time Travel LitRPG Series (Feb. 4th, 2020)
Tales of a Northblood: Winter's Breath: A LitRPG Saga (Feb 4th, 2020)
Skull and Thrones: A LitRPG/GameLit Adventure (The Bad Guys Book 3) (Feb. 6th, 2020)
Dark Academy [Transformation. Book IV] LitRPG series (Feb. 7th, 2020)
An Equation with One Unknown (Invasion Book #2): LitRPG Series (Feb. 10th, 2020)
The Art of Deception (World of Karik Book 2 Part 2): LitRPG Series (Feb. 13th, 2019)
Pearl of the South (World of the Changed Book #2): LitRPG Series (Feb. 14th, 2020)
The Second Betrayal: A Fantasy LitRPG Adventure (Divine Apostasy Book 2) (Feb. 14th, 2019)
*Sequel to Shade’s 1st rule*
Axestorm: (Sky Realms Online Book 3): A LitRPG Series (Feb. 18th, 2020)
Gods of Ash and Amber: A Gamelit Novel (Seeds of Chaos Book 4) (Feb. 29th, 2020)
Path of Soul: BlackFlame Online Litrpg/Gamelit Universe (Glory of Formation Emperor Book 3) (Feb. 29th, 2020)
Neon Dark: A LitRPG Adventure (Zero.Hero Book 1) (March 3rd, 2020)
The Incarnator (Project Stellar Book 1): LitRPG Series (March 9th, 2020)
Viridian Gate Online: Insurrection (The Alchemic Weaponeer Book 3) (March 10th, 2020)
The Dark Continent (Underdog Book #3): LitRPG Series (March 20th, 2020)
Quest for Freedom: A LitRPG Saga (Hero Online Book 5) (March 30th, 2020)
Sentenced to Troll 3 (April 1st, 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)
Warsinger: A LitRPG Dragonrider Adventure (The Archemi Online Chronicles Book 4) (May 1st, 2020)
Onto New Releases and Reviews
(Play Music 3)
New Releases and Reviews
(Picture 1)
Dungeon of Strata
When Martin's raiding guild join the latest virtual reality MMO, they discover a challenge like no other. Strata Online is a hundred floor mega-dungeon, filled with an ever-shifting ecosystem of monsters.
Martin's team soon find themselves in a race against the world’s strongest guilds, all competing to be the first to reach the unbeatable game's lowest depths. Stranger still, they must now contend with Sin, a twisted morality meter which can transform a players’ class into its dark counterpart.
With eternal fame and prizes on the line, Martin risks playing as a rarely chosen race; a Murovan rat-man, combined with the unusual exorcist class.
But unlike other games, he will need as much courage as skill to progress. Because the deeper he goes, the darker Strata gets.
My Opinion: 368 pages, $4.99, Available On Kindle Unlimited
This is a solid VR dungeon crawl story that has a thread of Old One type horror that might be developed more in future books. There's good action, decent RPG progression, a good amount of notifications and other crunchy stuff, and good group banter after about 38% when players joined the main character’s group. Evern the drudgery of the IRL job was a nice counterpoint to the excitement of the game. I also liked that the races in the game were non-human, it added a little flare to the story.
Score: 7.7 out of 10
Dungeons of Strata (Deepest Dungeon 1)
Tusk and Blade (Exodus Online) Book One: A LitRPG Novel
Grab your ax.
Charge your core.
Bash some skulls.
Logan Sharpe’s life has been a disaster, but that’s finally going to change. As soon as Incessant Technologies heard about his situation, they knew he would be the perfect fit for their new game. Only catch? Once he goes in, there’s no coming back. Without hesitation, he signs the paper and enters the new VRMMORPG world of Exodus Online as a Star Child. As an extra incentive, Logan is given a chance to become what he’s never been before. Something unique, something powerful.
Abandoning his old name to go with one that suits his new body, Necro is ready to start over. To face his new reality, Necro must learn to survive in a dangerous, unforgiving world. Even with the help of two daring women at his side, how will he fare while exploring deadly dungeons, facing power-hungry leaders, and leveling his new body?
The only certainty is this: Logan is dead, but Necro has risen.
My Opinion: 351 pages, $3.99, Available On Kindle Unlimited
A decent read that has good combat, an overpowered main character (MC), a few dark places, and slice of life pacing. The MC is uploaded to a RPG fantasy world as an orc with some major bonuses. He mostly goes on quests, beats up bullies, and fights monsters. Nothing too plot heavy. Though I’ll warn that in the last part of the story things do get a bit darker in regards to what the villains do and there's a justifiably brutal ending.
Game mechanic wise, there are quests finished, xp gained, powers and stats increase. Though stat wise he doesn’t increase more than what he’s initially given as a 20 stat point bonus, he does at least show progression in regards to his class, the Chaos Butcher. There’s at least some justification for the MC being overpowered.
One of the noticeable breaks for me was the dialogue. Everytime a native NPC in the medieval fantasy world used modern slang or talked just like the MC it distracted me from the story and made every character’s voice too similar. Other readers have also found the slice of life pacing where the MC goes from quest to quest not to their taste.
Overall, it's a decent read if you're in the mood for a story with an overpowered main character, good action, and a few dark story moments.
Score: 7.2 out of 10
Tusk and Blade (Exodus Online) Book One: A LitRPG Novel
Outpost 7 a Gamelit LitRPG dungeon core adventure: Book Two The Dark Exchange
Help Wanted!
The Dark Exchange seeks to fill multiple positions for a once-in-a-lifetime job opportunity. Farmers, soldiers, gamers, slackers - put your life experience to work confronting new species and exploiting… er… exploring alien worlds.*
Four brave applicants heed this call to action, and find themselves facing a dungeon so dastardly that they will need every ounce of their combined experience to survive.
But survival isn’t the only goal. The new hires must band together and create a base of operations where they can muster the forces to defeat the hordes of enemies that the dungeon will throw against them. A base where they can unlock the mysteries contained within the dungeon’s depths.
Welcome to Outpost 7.
*Hostile work environment guaranteed.
My Opinion: 303 pages, $3.99, Available On Kindle Unlimited
This is a fairly decent story. It starts out as a transported to an alien world story with thousands of people finding themselves without their memories and told they must somehow survive on alien worlds they’re sent to. Then it transitions into a small group base building story and then into something weirder. I don’t want to spoil any of the story twists but there are some weird ones that kept me reading.
There are some storytelling decisions that I found confusing, like shifting main characters early in the story or adding new characters with little explanation or some jumping around on game stuff. Yet I found the story engaging, not just because of the fights with monsters but the social conflicts among the survivors who don’t know each other or trust one another, yet have to work together and decide how to advance their base if they’re going to survive. There’s good banter humor among survivors and a darker sense of humor to the story, and the weird story twists kept things interesting enough.
On the game mechanic side of things, it’s pretty light. Part of the title of the story is ‘Gamelit LitRPG dungeon core adventure’ but while there are some base building mechanics, there are little RPG aspects aside from the few times rooms or buildings are leveled up. The characters themselves complete quests and are rewarded with cash or special D-Coins that can be used to decrease build times, instant deliver items, and a variety of other things. There are other game aspects touched on like researching collected alien items, lootable monsters, but nothing like XP for killing or character levels. It’s also not really a dungeon core story as the story isn’t told from a dungeon perspective and there isn’t a dungeon that’s built, but rather a base that uses a ‘dungeon core’ to power it.
Overall, the story was a mixed bag for me. The game stuff wasn’t really deep enough or consistent enough to be interesting, but there was enough social conflict, combat, and just plain weird story twists to keep me reading. Overall, I liked the story but not because of the game elements, those were just part of the slice of life storytelling.
Score: 7.3 out of 10
Outpost 7 a Gamelit LitRPG dungeon core adventure: Book Two The Dark Exchange
Ian’s (Eye-Ann) Picks of the Week
(Pic 0)
New Segment from Ian Mitchell a long time LitRPG community member who reads and reviews as much as me. He was nice enough to agree to join the LitRPG Podcast family as a new reviewer.
(Pic 6)
CivCEO 2: A 4x Lit Series (The Accidental Champion)
Diplomacy
It was smart. A story that had the CEO running all over the place making deals while managing his own village. A lot of negotiations. Fairly easy reading. And well, a bit dull. I liked the care and craftsmanship in the construction of this edition. No boom though.
Score: 7.5 out of 10
CivCEO 2: A 4x Lit Series (The Accidental Champion)
Villainess Life: A LitRPG Supervillain Novel
Slow start, satisfying ending
The beginning felt clunky. Not enough Bam! Pow! I didn't have as much fun with the beginning. Good but not great. I'd give the four chapters 4 stars. Supers aren't as much fun by themselves. In chapter 5 (30%) Miranda is working with Grind (a coffee powered villain group). She blossoms once she starts interacting with Gadgix (a gadget based villain). I liked the story more and more as it progressed and she interacted with her team. By the end, her villain group had some solid characters that I care about. The writing feels a bit like a group of people playing a tabletop RPG, my personal preference are stories that have a more first-person feel instead of watching from above the table. I used to play superhero games and the book definitely reminds me of them. The action improved as things went on. Levels actually mattered as well as level up choices. Perhaps a few too many full character sheets for my taste. I enjoyed the story and was pleased with the finish - books with well-executed endings get bonuses from me. I'd really like to see where this goes from here.
Score: 8.0 out of 10
Villainess Life: A LitRPG Supervillain Novel
Dungeon Calamity (The Divine Dungeon Book 3)
Even better the third time
I've read and listened to the dungeon born series multiple times. Such a great mix of Dungeon Core, cultivating, LitRPG, and other genres. Cal and Dani, Dale and his party are all strong characters. Book 3 continues the adventure and has the reveal we'd been expecting. Strong writing and the smaller world (the mountain) make a great environment for adventure. I really like all of Cal's interesting advances. The whole series is worth the acclaim as one of the strongest in the genre.
Score: 8.8 out of 10
Dungeon Calamity (The Divine Dungeon Book 3)
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(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/