S4E10 - LitRPG and GameLit Books - “When you get punched by a skeleton you feel it”

Support this Podcast in 3 Clicks!
In This Episode:

We talk about the LitRPG genre of books in a listener-sponsored
episode from Patreon!  Thanks for the idea and the support
of the podcast Ken Murray!


If you've never heard of the genre, that's okay! We dig into what
makes up the LitRPG genre, and how it's kind of a subgenre of the
GameLit category that's popped up over the past few years.


In general, it is a little hard for us to define the genre
in specific terms. The best we can really lay out
(aside from the books that we talk about in this episode)
are Sword Art Online, .hack, and maybe Ready Player
One. 


After we stopped recording, Beej thought about potentially
For the Win by Cory Doctorow, but still...that's a little
different. And so is REAMDE by Neal Stephenson. They're at the
very least LitRPG-adjacent.
General Thoughts on LitRPG

We both generally like the genre, and the books Ken got to us
were chosen specifically for our tastes. Void got Dungeon Born by
Dakota Krout, and Beej read Ascend Online by Luke Chmilenko.


Both books are different from the other, with Void's being more
geared toward tabletop RPGs, while Beej's is video
game-based. 


In Dungeon Born, the conceit is the story being told from a
dungeon's perspective (I know!), and how it grows and tries to
balance itself with risk-vs-reward for the adventurers who come
in.


Ascend Online, though, is about a fully immersive VR MMO where
folks stay in a sensory deprivation dormitory and essentially
live in a game world that's the ideal sandbox for online
gaming. 


We go through what works for us with these books in the LitRPG
genre, and we also talk about what doesn't. The positives far
outweigh the negatives, though, and Beej is totally on board for
reading the rest of the series, and Void has already dug in and
listened to all but the last half-book in his series on audio.


We really have to thank Ken for turning us onto both the
series and the books themselves. Listener support is always
great, and this time, it broadened our horizons, too. So
double score!
Weekly Geekery

Beej has been making his own RPG in RPG Maker MV (which can be
played at https://bit.ly/beejrpg), and he saw Captain Marvel
twice over opening weekend. It was better the second time, though
he did really like it on the first one. No matter what those
review bombers say, Carol Danvers is freaking awesome.


Void has some thoughts on Anthem, too. He's mentioned before that
his feelings are mixed, but he's still having a hard time finding
the fun. They don't let him fly enough, and the game is too
on-rails for the way it was advertised. The BioWare component
seems completely at war with the core gameplay, and he is having
a hard time making himself finish the story. He wants to care,
but really doesn't.
Thanks, Geeks!

That's it for this week, geeks. Make sure to tell your friends
about us! We'll be back next week with some more juicy, geeky
goodness. (That sounds gross, but whatever. You get it.)
Support the Podcast on Patreon

You can go to https://patreon.com/geektogeekcast to support the
podcast, and you can get some cool stuff, too. You can be a
Patron Saint of Geekery and get some neato Reddit flair.


You can also be an Executive Produce