LitRPG Podcast 234 - Beastborne, Cinnamon Bun, The Cursed Dungeon
LitRPG Podcast 234 - Beastborne, Cinnamon Bun, The Cursed Dungeon
July 10th, 2020
Hello everyone, welcome to episode 234 of the LitRPG podcast. I’m Ramon Mejia.
I’m here to bring you the latest LitRPG news, reviews, and author interviews. We have 3 new reviews just for you.
New Releases and Reviews:
Beastborne: Mark of the Founder: An Epic Portal Fantasy LitRPG Saga (Beastborne Chronicles, Book 1) (06:42)
A good action value
Score: 7.4 out of 10
Cinnamon Bun: A Wholesome LitRPG (13:26)
Lighthearted serial story
Score: 7.3 out of 10
The Cursed Dungeon: Dungeon of Curses (16:10)
Got bored
Score: 5 out of 10
(Play Music 2)
LitRPG News
DragonCon has been officially canceled. It's one of the yearly cons the podcast went to and we're super sad that we won't be able to go this year. :"(
The Arcane Kingdom Online book 6 is coming out this Friday. Book 1 will also be on sale at 99 cents.
The next book in the Mechanical Crafter series is up for pre-order. It has a release date of 07/24/2020.
Grab it here https://geni.us/MechanicalCrafterBk2
Out Now!
Mind Games: A LitRPG Apocalypse (RealRPG Book 1)
The Path of Faith: A Dystopian GameLit Adventure (Project Chrysalis Book 6)
Redemption : A LitRPG Space Adventure (The Last Enclave Book 2)
The Enchanter (Project Stellar Book 2): LitRPG Series
Dragon Seekers: A LitRPG Journey (Legends Online Book 6)
Arcane Kingdom Online: Dream Druid (A LitRPG Adventure, Book 6)
Limitless Lands Book 5: Invasion
New LitRPG Audiobooks
First Song, Book Two: Anthem of Infinity, Book 2
Sense (A Fantasy LitRPG Saga) - A Touch of Power, Book 3
Stormlands - A New LitRPG Adventure
The Realm Between: The Evil Within
Upcoming LitRPG:
Watcher's Question: A LitRPG Saga (Life in Exile Book 2) (July 14th, 2020)
Tears of Alron (The Alchemist Book #3): LitRPG Series (July 14th, 2020)
4X Four Hex: A LitRPG Strategy Series (Avila Online) (July 15th, 2020)
The Source: A LitRPG Fantasy Adventure (Enora Fireborne Book 1) (July 20th, 2020)
Blade Walker: Chronicles of StormShadow Part 1: A Fantasy LITRPG (July 21st, 2020)
The Mechanical Crafter - Book 2 (A LitRPG series) (July 24th, 2020)
https://geni.us/MechanicalCrafterBk2
The Ruined Temple: A LitRPG Adventure (Eternal Online Book 2) (July 28th, 2020)
Arrow of Justice - A LitRPG Novel: (Book 1 of the Vindication 2.0 LitRPG Universe) (July 31st, 2020)
Autumn Infernos: A LitRPG Sci-Fi Adventure (Space Seasons Book 4) (July 31st, 2020)
The Hidden Paladin (The World of the Undead Force Book 1): A LitRPG Wuxia Series (Aug. 4th, 2020)
Lord of the Dead (The Eternal Journey Book 2) (Aug. 5th, 2020)
War of the Posers (The Bad Guys Book 4) (Aug. 8th, 2020)
The Way of the Force (The Heavenly Throne Book 2): A LitRPG Wuxia Series (Aug. 11th, 2020)
Intellectum [RealRPG series] Book 1 (Aug. 18th, 2020)
The SyStem: Multiverse: Book 2 (Aug. 23rd, 2020)
Dream Stream Reality: A LitRPG Adventure (Aug. 25th, 2020)
Small Unit Tactics (Volume #1): LitRPG Series (Aug. 27th, 2020)
Holy War (Disgardium Book #5): LitRPG Series (Sept. 4th, 2020)
Dungeon Worlds: A Reborn Online LitRPG Adventure (Sept. 9th, 2020)
Stolen Lives: A LitRPG/GameLit Novel (The Underhill Chronicles Book 1) (Sept. 15th, 2020)
Sovereign (The Gods' Game, Volume IV): A LitRPG novel (Sept. 30th, 2020)
Dungeon Crawler Carl (Oct. 2nd, 2020)
Watcher’s Fate: A LitRPG Saga (Life in Exile Book 3) (Oct. 6th, 2020)
City of Goblins (In the System Book #1): LitRPG Series (Oct. 7th, 2020)
The Otherworld (Underdog Book #4): LitRPG Series (Oct. 26th, 2020)
Onto New Releases and Reviews
(Play Music 3)
New Releases and Reviews
(Picture 1)
Beastborne: Mark of the Founder (Beastborne Chronicles, Book 1)
A new Founder Marked with otherworldly power. An epic quest to build a Sanctum settlement. A fabled class that wields monstrous magics.
The Founders were the first Marked, and they used those powers to build kingdoms, subjugate the land, and enrich themselves. And they will not suffer another to join their ranks.
Lost in a world with Levels, stats, and monsters, Hal fights to survive in an unforgiving land and escape execution from its rulers.
Ingenuity and courage won’t be enough. With Marked powers he doesn’t understand, he’s easy prey for all the goblins, bandits, aberrations, and foul monsters that plague the realm.
He’ll need to abandon his humanity by embracing the beast within. To fight monsters, one has to risk becoming a monster. If he can survive long enough to Level Up.
Freedom and safety cannot be achieved alone. Only by forging bonds with fellow adventurers and monsters alike does Hal and his would-be-kingdom have any chance of surviving the hazardous realm.
Experience the start of a new isekai litRPG adventure series, full of dungeon crawling spell-slinging action, crafting, party combat, deep magic systems, Lovecraftian horrors, and a horde of combat classes alongside an intriguing cast of characters. Yes, one of those things is not like the others.
Perfect for readers of progression fantasy, Gamelit, epic fantasy, and fans of Final Fantasy, Elder Scrolls, Wheel of Time, and Dungeons and Dragons.
No harems and no profanity. Language filters don’t count, right?
My Opinion: 1068 pages, $4.99, Available On Kindle Unlimited
This is one long book and is actually a serial story with another hundred chapters online. It's a story that has a very strong opening but because it's a collected serial story, it goes through these mini arcs that don't have an overarching plot. The direction described in heads in the 1st 5% is not where it ends up in the last 15%. It feels a bit more slice of life because the main character (MC) kinda stumbles into situations where he meets new allies, has to fight off monsters, and gets quests that push the story forward.
The story starts as a chosen one portal fiction where the main character (MC) is sent to an RPG fantasy world and is branded with a special mark that gives him an edge in this world. But this mark, the Founders Mark, is also one that brings danger as the other people that have had it have used their power and virtual immortality to become dictators that don’t want to see others like them. If the MC can survive the harsh environment, monsters, and paranoid murder happy people, his abilities will grants them tremendous power progression and possibly immortality if he can reach a Manatree (respawning). But there are lots of people that want to see him dead, or use his powers for their own ends.
The game mechanics in the story are a mixed bag. There are character sheets, stats, notifications, XP, levels, classes and all that. And they have a direct effect on the MCs power. But at the same time, there are some wand wavy moments that get the MC out of sticky situations or exist just to give him some cool powers. For example, early in the story the MC wants to break a magical item. So he grabs it and a notification pops up telling he now has the ability to do so, Mana Investiture. But as he tries to use this new ability he runs out of mana. He digs deep though and pushes through and suddenly he gets a new ability, Assimilation, which let's him convert one resource ( HP, SP, or MP) to another and he succeeds in breaking the item using all his resources but just having 1 HP left. Did the MC invest a skill or ability point to get these amazing abilities? No, he willed them into existence. On the other side of things the MC starts out with 1s in all his stats and is emaciated, slow, unbalanced, and can't even speak properly. As he invests stat points there's a very clear result for it. Getting stronger, better able to communicate, not tiring after a few minutes. So the RPG stuff exists and is part of the MCs power growth but some wand wavy stuff is there though it doesn't happen much as the story goes on and he gets his class and allies to fill in a good adventuring group.
Overall, it’s an entertaining story that is a good value for its length. If you don’t mind the serial nature of the story, and a few wand wavy moments, you might enjoy the adventure the MC goes on.
Score: 7.4 out of 10
Beastborne: Mark of the Founder: An Epic Portal Fantasy LitRPG Saga (Beastborne Chronicles, Book 1)
Cinnamon Bun: A Wholesome LitRPG
The world called out for a hero to purge it of a great evil. It received Broccoli Bunch, explorer, expert cleaner, occasional ghost-buster, and full time Cinnamon Bun.
Features include:
Talking enemies into becoming friends
Hugging menu boxes
Awesome overpowered skills (such as Cleaning, and Gardening)
And more adventure than you could shake a stick at!
My Opinion: 430 pages, $3.50, Not Available On Kindle Unlimited
This is a collection of some of the chapters in light hearted ongoing serial story. It follows Broccoli, a giggly dance cause your happy person, who is sent to a fantasy RPG world. They have the quest to clean evil from the world and of course that translates into a powerful cleaning skill that is used to overpower enemies and make friends. The story has all the character sheets, XP, levels, and skill notifications of a LitRPG story, but the tone is very light hearted. You follow the main character (MC) as they make friends, explore the world, and unwillingly fight monsters they’d rather try to befriend. It’s a cute story with a good sense of humor, even making fun of itself, and is good casual reading if you are ok with the serial format which has mini arcs of adventure and not a big huge overarching plotline.
Score: 7.3 out of 10
Cinnamon Bun: A Wholesome LitRPG
The Cursed Dungeon: Dungeon of Curses
Left for dead in a dungeon full of curses, what is a fellow to do? Kincaid may be all busted up now, but it’s going to be the rest of his party that ends up feeling the burn. What do you do when the dungeon wants you dead, the party wants you dead, the fairies want you dead, and the orcs want you dead. You find a way to survive and stick it too all of them obviously. Kincaid never considered himself a particularly vengeful kind of person, but there is only so much any one man can take. Now all his enemies are going to learn that sometimes underestimating the little guy has some serious consequences. If you like dungeon core/ Fantasy Game Lit stories than you are going to enjoy this one. Full of interesting characters, rowdy fairies, and novel ideas on how to rebuild and run a down on it's luck dungeon while under pressure from powerful competitors, ex friends and mysterious adversaries.
My Opinion: 320 pages, $2.99, Available On Kindle Unlimited
The opening and first 10% is fine. But once the main character merges with the dungeon it's not as entertaining. Instead of the dungeon discovering what it can do, there's a big info dump about the kinds of monsters and loot it can summon. Most of the story is about recovering enough power to summon those monsters and new tactics to use them more effectively. Most of the problems the dungeon faced seemed to have solutions ready for them. There are very few surprises. Annoyingly, the story would sometimes switch perspectives mid chapter with no indicators. The ending was also disappointing.
Overall, it wasn't entertaining.
Score: 5 out of 10
The Cursed Dungeon: Dungeon of Curses
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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/