LitRPG is a relatively new genre in literature. It combines classic science fiction and fantasy with the principles of an MMO role-playing game. Survival Quest, one of the most popular book series of the LitRPG genre, has recently been released. This article is about what it is all about and what LitRPG is exactly.
LitRPG: What is it?
LitRPG is the abbreviation for "Literary Role Play Game" and means something like text role play. Novels of this type can be assigned to the fantasy or science fiction genre and the first works of this type appeared in the 80s, but not yet with the typical stats-heavy style. The stories are based on classic computer role-playing games. The big difference to normal novels is that so-called stats or properties are assigned to the main character. As the novel progresses, these stats improve, and the authors immediately let the reader know when these traits change or how leveling up affects the character.
Typical characteristics
The main feature of LitRPG novels is that the main characters are in an RPG.
The second most important are the so-called stats. These are the character's stats and the reader will always know immediately when these traits change and what effect these changes will have on the plot. For example, in a normal novel, after a sword blow, the author describes how the character was injured as a result. In a LitRPG, the reader reads instead that the sword slash did 30 points of damage, but the opponent has 12 points of armor and therefore only lost 18 points of life. This information is very concrete and strongly reminiscent of classic ones Role playing such as World of Warcraft.
In the computer role-playing games, the main characters have to complete lengthy quests in order to gain experience and thus improve their stats or advance to the next level. Often there are even daily quests that have to be repeated several times. It is similar in the LitRPG novels. Here, too, the characters know exactly what they have to do and what rewards await them at the end for their efforts.
LitRPG: An alternative to normal gaming?
Players of classic computer role-playing games particularly appreciate the constant progress that can be made over the course of the game. LitRPG novels are built on exactly this principle. Here, too, the main character constantly improves his skills and rises to the next higher level. The armor and weapons become stronger and the character deals more and more damage. Put simply, the stat numbers just keep getting bigger. RPG gamers love it when you can eventually deal 3000 damage points when it started out at just 3.
The tempting thing about it is that the character keeps getting better while you have little to no training to do it yourself. In games from other genres, players must memorize the game world through constant repetition and improve hand-eye coordination in order to be able to defeat the difficult bosses later. In a role-playing game, this is usually not necessary because the character just keeps getting stronger. The same is true of the LitRPG novels. Some players experience this happiness from constant progress even when they just watch others play or in the case of the LitRPG novels: when they read about this progress.
For some gamers, these novels can be a real alternative, since the books also convey the feeling of constant progress in a credible way.
Survival Quest: a LitRPG classic
The first part of this book series was created in 2012 and was extremely popular in Russia after a short time. Survival Quest is about a shaman stuck in a virtual world. The following is a brief introduction to the first six parts:
Volume 1: The Way of the Shaman
The main character is called Daniel Mahan. In the first part of the series he makes a big mistake. He makes a bet and tries to hack a test environment of the city's sewage treatment plant. The hack works, but with this action he paralyzed the entire sewage treatment plant and not just the harmless test environment as discussed.
In the world Daniel lives in, people have now managed to immerse people in virtual realities. One of these virtual realities is called Barliona. He was sentenced to eight years imprisonment for his crime, which he has to serve in this online game. For him this means forced labor in the mines and toil until you drop.
Daniel begins his imprisonment as a human shaman with a profession as a jeweler. His ultimate goal now is to get out of confinement and into the main game.
Volume 2: The Dark Shaman
Daniel Mahan is in a computer game that serves as a prison. While his consciousness is trapped in the online world, in the real world, survival pods power his body. At the beginning of his imprisonment, he thought that only boring quests would await him in Barliona. However, there are some surprises waiting for him in the game that he is not prepared for. In the second part he becomes the lord of a goblin team and uncovers a global conspiracy.
Volume 3: The Secret of the Dark Forest
Daniel continues to struggle to survive in the copper mines. In the third part of the series, he finally manages to get into the free world of the players, albeit with certain limitations. He could now just sit back and serve out the rest of his sentence in peace. Instead, he is soon the leader of a clan and explores the mysteries of the dark forest together with 50 other players.
Volume 4: The Phantom Castle
In the fourth part, the shaman accepts what appears to be an ordinary quest, which, however, unexpectedly sets a series of events in motion. He ends up being the player hunted by the three biggest clans in the entire game.
Volume 5: The Karmadont Chess Game
Daniel survived the events in the dark forest and is now ready for new adventures. In the fifth part, new scenarios, dungeons and monsters await the high shaman.
Volume 6: The Shaman's Revenge
The adventures continue even after Daniel has served his sentence in the virtual prison. In the end it was only 11 months instead of eight years. But the prison doesn't let go of the shaman so quickly and the boundaries between the real world and Barliona become more and more blurred. In order to escape the survival pod, he must complete the shaman's path.
Vasily Mahanenko: the author of the Survival Quest series
Author Vasily Mahanenko is now considered the inventor of the LitRPG genre. It combines fantasy, science fiction and the virtual reality of an MMO game in an extremely compelling way. In 2012, he quickly conquered the Russian literary scene with Survival Quest.
During his student days, Vasily was a hardcore gamer and gained the experience and knowledge to believably describe an MMO virtual world. To make Survival Quest a reality, he used his experience as a project manager. He wrote in a structured manner, kept to deadlines and a set budget.
Mahanenko was born in Russia in 1981. He studied mathematics and physics at Belgorod State University. Today he lives in Moscow with his family and is one of the most successful writers in the LitRPG genre.
Survival Quest Volume 7: War of the Clans
The latest part of the bestseller series is called War of the Clans and was released on September 03.09.2020rd, XNUMX. The uncut version is only available so far available from Audible.
- Mahanenko, Vasily (Author)
In War of the Clans, Daniel thinks he's finally done with all his adventures and can leave his days as a shaman behind. However, the company behind the virtual world radios him in and simply resets the game at the touch of a button. Daniel receives a tempting offer from the company that he can't possibly refuse.
