LitRPG Podcast 225 - Ruthless, Derelict, Another Online, War Chief, Life Reset 4, Dungeon World 5
LitRPG Podcast 225 - Ruthless, Derelict, Another Online, War Chief, Life Reset 4, Dungeon World 5
May 8th, 2020
Hello everyone, welcome to episode 225 of the LitRPG podcast. I’m Ramon Mejia. This is week 6 of the quarantine mustache experiment and this week I’ve leveled up my cooking skills again and made Alfredo sauce from scratch.
Special thanks to Dave Wilmarth for sending in the rare ghost version of Fibble. (picture 5)
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:
Ruthless (The Completionist Chronicles Book 5) (10:35)
Puntastic
Score: 8 out of 10
Derelict: Book 1, Repel Boarders (A LitRPG, Dungeon Core Adventure) (12:55)
Solid sci-fi dungeon core
Score: 7.5 out of 10
Another Online: All Hail the Queen (14:59)
GameLit - Self-Aware NPC becomes Villain
Score: 7.4 out of 10
Ian’s Picks Of the Week (19:25)
(Pic 6)
War Chief: A Tusk and Blade Story
Examination of pain
Score: 8.0 out of 10
Life Reset: Human Resource (New Era Online Book 4)
Super Green
Score: 8.1 out of 10
Dungeon World 5: A Dungeon Core Experience
Fred's finale
Score: 8.2 out of 10
(Play Music 2)
LitRPG News
Tao Wong, author of the System Apocalypse series is doing a discount of the 1st book in the Gamer’s Wish series on all the platforms in all the territories it’s published in. It’ll be $0.99 or the local equivalent until 5/12/2020.
https://www.mylifemytao.com/promos-everywhere-a-gamers-wish-discount/
Dakota Krout was interviewed for the Failing Upwards podcast. He talks about how he failed upward doing the wrong things when he first started to write, but found success and invested in his own future success. Going from writing his own series to helping other writers go full time through Mountaindale Press. The LitRPG Podcast even gets a mention at about the 35 min mark.
https://www.ethanfreckleton.com/failing-upward-with-dakota-krout/
(Play Video P)
He was given another chance at life and from the infinite possibilities available he chose to come back as a mechanical man, a Metalman, named Repair. Now he has to contend with a research lab full of gnomes who say he owes them for bringing him back from death, a strange city that is going through a magical industrial revolution, and adversaries that want to see him broken into pieces.
Full of action, adventure, and of course crafting. Join Repair on his adventure through this strange fantasy world where magic and technology meet. He’ll dive into the city’s dungeon to kill monsters for XP, and gather resources to figure out the solutions to his problems. Because if he doesn’t become more powerful, he’ll not only lose his freedom but the life of his friend.
The Mechanical Crafter is a LitRPG adventure.
Available now!
The Mechanical Crafter - Book 1 (A LitRPG series) (The Mechanical Crafter series)
https://geni.us/MechanicalCrafterBk1
Out Now!
Aberrant Quest: The Blood Crown Book 2 (A LitRPG Adventure)
Warsinger: A LitRPG Dragonrider Adventure (The Archemi Online Chronicles Book 4)
The Mechanical Crafter - Book 1 (A LitRPG series) (The Mechanical Crafter series)
https://geni.us/MechanicalCrafterBk1
Giantlands (Pal-Tee Planet Book 1)
The Hunters Paralogue: Deus Ex Deathtrap
Lightning Disciple (Heirloom Earth Book 1)
Tusk and Blade (Exodus Online) Book Two: A LitRPG Novel
Bio Dungeon: Symbiote (The Body's Dungeon Book 1)
Force Cultivation (The Heavenly Throne Book 1): A LitRPG Wuxia Series
Dragon's Born: A 4X Strategy LitRPG Series (Warlords of the Circle Sea Book 2)
CivCEO 4: A 4x Lit Series (The Accidental Champion)
New LitRPG Audiobooks
Chaos Rising: The Realms Book Six: An Epic LitRPG Series
World Quest: Codename: Freedom, Book 3
Dungeon Crisis: A LitRPG Dungeon Core Adventure
Glendaria Awakens Trilogy, Book 2
The Quell: Destiny Rising - A LitRPG Series, Book 1
The Anime Trope System: Stone vs. Viper (A LitRPG)
Upcoming LitRPG:
Shattered Sword: A LitRPG Adventure (Eternal Online Book 1) (May 12th, 2020)
Gloominess +4: The Cradle of Gods. A LitRPG series: Book 4 (May 17th, 2020)
Biomedical Self-Engineering: Book 1 (May 17th, 2020)
False Skies (Challenger's Call Book 5) (May 20th, 2020)
City of the Dead (The Alchemist Book #1): LitRPG Series (May 20th, 2020)
Spring Mutiny: A LitRPG Sci-Fi Adventure (Space Seasons Book 2) (May 22nd, 2020)
Legendary Dungeon Seed (May 28th, 2020)
Path of Alchemy: BlackFlame Online Litrpg/Gamelit Universe (Glory of Formation Emperor Book 4) (May 31st, 2020)
Four Beheadings and a Funeral: A LitRPG/GameLit Adventure (The Good Guys Book 9) (June 4th, 2020)
Silverspear (Rise to Omniscience Book 6) (June 7th, 2020)
Aces High (Reality Benders Book #6): LitRPG Series (June 9th, 2020)
A Cat and His Human (League of Losers Book #1): LitRPG Series (June 30th, 2020)
Stars Asunder: Book 9 in The System Apocalypse (July 1st, 2020)
The Enchanter (Project Stellar Book 2): LitRPG Series (July 8th, 2020)
Dragon Seekers: A LitRPG Journey (Legends Online Book 6) (July 9th, 2020)
The Ruined Temple: A LitRPG Adventure (Eternal Online Book 2) (July 14th, 2020)
Watcher's Question: A LitRPG Saga (Life in Exile Book 2) (July 14th, 2020)
Arrow of Justice - A LitRPG Novel: (Book 1 of the Vindication 2.0 LitRPG Universe) (July 31st, 2020)
War of the Posers (The Bad Guys Book 4) (Aug. 8th, 2020)
Intellectum [RealRPG series] Book 1 (Aug. 18th, 2020)
Onto New Releases and Reviews
(Play Music 3)
New Releases and Reviews
(Picture 1)
Ruthless (The Completionist Chronicles Book 5)
Enemies emerge everywhere. Stagnation starts seeming standard. Results require Ruthlessness.
Joe has been moving deeper into his study of ritual magic, and further away from his combat team. He's learning more and more, but more often than not needs to choose between his research and squad leadership. Improving the town is a huge help to the guild, and they have been pushing to increase their power.
Their rapid increases have not gone unnoticed. The guild receives an ultimatum, delivered by assassins and signed with blood. If they continue to accrue power and fame, each and every person with a grievance against the guild will come to smash the town back to square one.
With tensions coming to a head, all Joe wants to do is leave it all behind and reach the next area. He flatly refuses the guild when they ask him to devise lethal options to use against the gathering army, but when the time comes… even Joe is unsure if he'll step into the limelight and show everyone exactly how Ruthless he can be.
My Opinion:414 pages, $5.99, Available On Kindle Unlimited
Another pun filled adventure with Joe. This time he gets some interesting class advancement while he defends the guild base, and researches new Ritualist techniques. Like the previous books it was a great LitRPG adventure that I burned through in a single sitting.
Score: 8 out of 10
Ruthless (The Completionist Chronicles Book 5)
Derelict: Book 1, Repel Boarders (A LitRPG, Dungeon Core Adventure)
One captain’s death might turn out to be humanity’s best chance at survival.
As humanity expands into the stars, it discovers the universe is a hostile place.
When Captain Slater of the USS Franklin is assigned to a deep-space reconnaissance mission, his ship is destroyed by an unknown alien race. Much to his surprise, Slater isn’t killed—he’s transformed. He is now a “derelict,” a consciousness bound to his old vessel.
Slater must quickly adapt to his new existence before raiders, alien armies, and mysterious forces seek to destroy him for a second and final time.
My Opinion: 275 pages, $3.99, Available On Kindle Unlimited
Starts as a space Opera battle gone wrong. Humans lose to an alien ship and explode it to kill alien borders. Then the captain wakes up to find himself as a dungeon core with a parasitic interstellar xeno-infestation or PIXI, as a guide. The normal dungeon tropes are there with sci-fi explanations about why a dungeon exists in space and why adventures would come aboard to fight monsters inside it.
Game mechanics are standard, just with a sci-fi space twist. Leveling and growing as resources are collected. The ability to create monsters, traps, and treasure to lure in space adventurers. The ability to upgrade the ship. The progression mechanics are similar to the Futuristic Dungeon Core series.
Overall, it's a good dungeon core story with all the RPG progression you'd expect just with a sci-fi space twist to keep things interesting.
Score: 7.5 out of 10
Derelict: Book 1, Repel Boarders (A LitRPG, Dungeon Core Adventure)
Another Online: All Hail the Queen
Hell. This was absolute hell. Every day was hell to 2244, an NPC in the Massive Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game known as AO. Just another prisoner of the game like all NPCs, she never expected her wish for freedom to be granted in such a grandiose way; a big event in the game leads to her suddenly becoming a mother, a hellspawn, and a queen, all within a matter of moments. Now tasked with maintaining a balance between keeping the Game Masters happy and trying to take down all of AO, 2244 discovers that there's much more to this game than just slavery and item upgrades.
My Opinion: 177 pages, $5.95, Available On Kindle Unlimited
Definitely not with the purchase price of almost $6, but a decent KU read. The story is about an NPC that expands beyond her system defined role as an item shopkeeper into a villain. The AI in the story are actually copied minds of actors and paid people and the AI are tortured by the System if they don’t roleplay or don’t fulfill their roles. But with a new expansion to the MMO, the main character (MC), gets a change in designation and becomes a free roaming villain that has to create an army while not pissing off the GMs by going out of her new role and deciding if she's going to break the game or try to take it over. It’s a satirical take on the awakened AI concept.
The MMO stuff is told from the perspective of the NPC, which was a little different, though the base intelligence of the AI is still human so it’s not entirely a fresh AI that hasn’t ever experienced the real world. The actual game mechanics in the story aren’t new, pretty standard MMORPG stuff with no real crunchy details. Definitely more GameLit than LitRPG since the MC is given her level by the GMs and not from any earned progression. Still, she does have to collect her army, figure out how to make them powerful enough to oppose the players. She uses some nice exploits and bugs to gain what she wants.
Overall, it’s a good KU read. But the NPC to game villain story was fresh enough that it was entertaining, even if the story was on the shorter side.
Score: 7.4 out of 10
Another Online: All Hail the Queen
Ian’s (Eye-Ann) Picks of the Week
(Pic 0)
Ian Mitchell is 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)
War Chief: A Tusk and Blade Story
Examination of pain
Short and fairly well executed. Some torture and spawn camping. It's not a happy story. It starts out that way.I'm glad that I read it.
Score: 8.0 out of 10
War Chief: A Tusk and Blade Story
(Pic 7)
Life Reset: Human Resource (New Era Online Book 4)
Super green
Although I enjoyed book 4, I didn't feel as much intensity or threat this time. Getting Oren back in his Dark Totem saddle again made it worth it. I enjoyed seeing the goblin horde swarm a town. That was great. Fans of the series will like this one. Up the voltage.
Score: 8.1 out of 10
Life Reset: Human Resource (New Era Online Book 4)
(Pic 8)
Dungeon World 5: A Dungeon Core Experience
Fred's finale
This was a tasty conclusion to dungeon world. Fred really made the series work for me. I had fun. A nice distraction while stuck at home like the rest of the world.
Score: 8.2 out of 10
Dungeon World 5: A Dungeon Core Experience
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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