"Gamer" fanfiction.

[Traab]

Has anyone run into these? I stumbled over one or two awhile back and recently found several more. For those not aware, the basic gist is, the main character, who can either be a self insert or any protagonist you want, wakes up at a new game menu. They find that they are about to become an rpg character basically. They get to learn skills, go on quests, gain power through all sorts of video game exploits, things like that. The most common version seems to be self inserts where they get to crib from all sorts of anime, games, or films, and give themselves all sorts of interesting skills and gear to play with while they, for example, run through high school of the dead, or harry potter, or rwby. Basically its a power fantasy story where "you" (the author) get to be the fancy magic blasting sword master champion of everything and solve all of the problems of whatever world you are in. So its easy to do right, but just as easy to make incredibly lame.

Its an interesting setup but it has at least one major issue. Balancing stats and skill tracking with keeping the story from grinding to a halt. Its neat to keep track of how strong the main character is getting, but its easy to basically start creating massive walls of text as 90 skills and your stat list get posted three times a chapter or more as you get stronger. On the one hand, these skills and such are what makes this genre its own thing, so you have to have them. On the other hand, doing too much will make a readers eyes glaze over and they will lose track of what the character can do. And on top of that, it keeps the story from getting anywhere chapter to chapter. Ive seen examples of it being done right and wrong. Some authors try to do too much at once. "Im going to level up 5 sword skills, my passive regeneration abilities, my spells, and my stats all at once." Then you get the long wall of text and nothing makes much sense. If I had to give any advice to someone writing these it would be to keep it simple. Dont have too many open ended limitless skills so we have to deal with "HP Regen Lvl 9876976907308 now grants 90870689750873067830598370% more hp per minute!" Skills that can be maxxed out then put aside to focus on new ones is ideal imo. Take the hp regen example, have it max out at level 100, then unlock the next skill which is ADVANCED hp regen. Something like that. Also, post the template of the character once per chapter. Like at the end of each chapter to show what the new totals are while during the chapter you only list the skills currently being worked on. That would cut down on the clutter a lot and allow the story to progress better I think. I dont need to see your full character sheet every time your sword mastery skill goes up a level.

Went on a bit of a rant there. I think one of the more enjoyable tropes in this genre is the snarky interface. What do I mean? I mean things like [Walked and Chewed Bubblegum!] "You have shown the ability to not trip over your own feet! +1 to dexterity!" I love it when the main character has a bit of an adversarial relationship with his UI because of stuff like that. Humiliating achievement names, descriptions that make you seem stupid. [That Wall Is Real!] "Congratulations! You have just discovered that things exist by walking into a wall. +1 to perception!" I like the power fantasy stories too, but the ones where harry has to relive his school years but as a gamer this time while dealing with a pita help menu are just a lot of fun. Anyone else like these? or want to share their favorites? I honestly feel like the biggest problem is these seem to be finished so rarely. They almost all are either still in progress or abandoned long ago.

[Vinyadan]

Would DM of the Rings count?

[Forum Explorer]

Would DM of the Rings count?

No, that's the story being told as if it was being played as a game by normal people. Completely different thing.


Anyways, I've read one or two of these, and than just sort of labeled them as 'power fantasy' and have pretty much ignored them from that point on. And while Power Fantasy stories can be fun in small doses, I find I need them to actually be small doses, and be quick stories. While Gamer stories drag on, and just become incredibly boring. So yeah, not a fan.

[Traab]

Would DM of the Rings count?

No, because thats a D&D campaign, these are people who are actually placed in that universe and have to figure out how the new rules work as they go. Think of it like an isekai anime. Our normal salaryman from japan gets hit by a truck and wakes up in a new world where he has to go through a character selection screen, get quests, and try to survive the storyline of whatever world he has been placed in. The main difference being he isnt restricted to just what is available in that setting. So if he woke up in naruto he isnt restricted to only being able to learn nin/gen/tai jutsu. Maybe he could get lucky and pick up skills from fate/stay night. Or learn harry potter style magic. Or get gear/skills from shield hero.

[tomandtish]

Don't know about fanfiction, but if you have a Kindle Unlimited subscription there are literally hundreds of them available.

[The Glyphstone]

Don't know about fanfiction, but if you have a Kindle Unlimited subscription there are literally hundreds of them available.

Yeah. The 'official' name for this subgenre is "LitRPG", 'literary RPG". It's almost always a sub-sub-genre of Isekai, but I've read at least one series where it takes place in the real world instead. But the unifying theme is a main character or characters learning that they have abilities/powers/magic that functions just like an RPG video game, with levels and stats, etc.

And Kindle Unlimited does, indeed, have hundreds of them. The average quality is exactly what you expect, and that's excluding the ones that are actually harem erotica in a cheap rubber mask.

[Traab]

Yeah. The 'official' name for this subgenre is "LitRPG", 'literary RPG". It's almost always a sub-sub-genre of Isekai, but I've read at least one series where it takes place in the real world instead. But the unifying theme is a main character or characters learning that they have abilities/powers/magic that functions just like an RPG video game, with levels and stats, etc.

And Kindle Unlimited does, indeed, have hundreds of them. The average quality is exactly what you expect, and that's excluding the ones that are actually harem erotica in a cheap rubber mask.

Is there any way to sort through them for the better quality options? I have a kindle, never used kindle unlimited.

[The Glyphstone]

Is there any way to sort through them for the better quality options? I have a kindle, never used kindle unlimited.

Ratings, maybe? I've only read a few, and they ranged from mediocre guilty pleasure to one series I nicknamed Wish Fulfillment Fantasy Train Wreck Theater.

[Traab]

Ratings, maybe? I've only read a few, and they ranged from mediocre guilty pleasure to one series I nicknamed Wish Fulfillment Fantasy Train Wreck Theater.

Heh I read a story series like that once. It was basically a self insert version of harry potter who quickly becomes a reality hopping literal sex god jumping from movie/game/book universe to universe sleeping with everything female and roflstomping the storyline with his amazing amazingness. I read it because I honestly found it hilarious how over the top terrible it was. There was a sfw version that erased all the smut, it was like half the length of the original. It had all the tropes, sex master, dozens of women who want him and dont mind sharing, he has no flaws as a character, and solves every problem with such ease he even handicaps himself to make it more interesting when he still walks all over the opposition. Oh yeah, and soul bonds. He is soul bonded to over 100 women by the end of the series. At least if you count the multiple versions of the same person. Sometimes you find a book thats just a glorious version of a b movie where its so terrible its entertaining.

[warty goblin]

I feel like my clumsy mud-brain is missing something here, but what does this offer that just playing an RPG doesn't?

[Traab]

I feel like my clumsy mud-brain is missing something here, but what does this offer that just playing an RPG doesn't?

Well the ones I read are fanfiction stories, so its like playing the harry potter books like an rpg. One where the player has all sorts of random abilities they can learn. Being fanfic they can use all these licensed properties without legal issue which an actual rpg wouldnt be able to do. Especially not when its a universe hopping game that goes through multiple fiction universes and draws skills and items from several more. As an example, the story im currently reading has a new player pop up in the high school of the dead anime. He managed to get the byakugan from naruto which combined with another skill he got called The End is letting him passively learn tons of random skills by watching what everyone else is doing in a wide radius. He just looted a couple of the weapons from RWBY due to the gatcha system thats in the story. You arent going to play an actual game like that. :p

[Lethologica]

The Gamer, Solo Leveling, and So I'm A Spider, So What? are the only such stories that have kept me entertained. The first one took a while to make the protagonist OP, the second one has great art and a nicely antagonistic game system, and the third one is wacky enough to avoid boredom.

I haven't even tried reading a fanfiction in the genre. Winning one lottery at a time is hard enough.

[Rynjin]

LitRPG and Xianxia/Cultivation tales are two genres that sadly squander their potential more often than not.

The Wandering Inn is a good example of the former, and Forge of Destiny is a good example of the latter, if anyone's taking suggestions.

[druid91]

I feel like my clumsy mud-brain is missing something here, but what does this offer that just playing an RPG doesn't?

Well, the ones I've read have features that no real RPG could match. The two I've followed were....

Awaken Online by Travis Bagwell.

Ascend Online by Luke Chmilenko.

The first is interesting to begin with but IMO loses out on quality quickly. With the main character being a person who joins a big VR MMO and finds an alternate character creation path that lets him play a villain rather than a Hero.

The latter has still kept it's steam IMO, and has a similar VR MMO concept to the first, but instead basically follows a guild of friends as they accidentally make it big and turn into a massive guild with a full on town under their control.

In both cases crafting is waaaay more versatile than it could be in any actual game, even to the point where the few times I've tried to come up with a system to emulate it it gets too complicated even for tabletop games.

[Xyril]

Well, the ones I've read have features that no real RPG could match. The two I've followed were....

I think that's an advantage for a lot of fiction (even some professional series) uses to excellent effect. The idea of either playing some game, or entering a game world, can be a great narrative device that can be exploited without having to flesh out everything that doesn't appear on screen. Erfworld for example did a pretty decent job of making the explicitly revealed ruleset consistent and interesting, but if anyone actually attempted to build up a coherent system to fill in everything that was left out then it would be a monumental, if not impossible task. Still, it told a decent story, and audiences had to vicarious experience of (kind of) playing the tabletop wargame you wish existed.

[GloatingSwine]

There are about four hundred squillion of them, most of them are in Japanese, none of them are original since they keep copying each other and very slightly changing the waifu/slave waifu character, and they're basically all terrible in exactly the same way.

Except Bofuri.

Read/watch Bofuri

[BeerMug Paladin]

The only one I ever read like these was a comic. Called "The Gamer" I haven't checked on it in years, so I don't know if it's complete or not. But I do remember being entertained by it pretty adequately as far along as it was translated at the time I found it originally.

[Traab]

There are about four hundred squillion of them, most of them are in Japanese, none of them are original since they keep copying each other and very slightly changing the waifu/slave waifu character, and they're basically all terrible in exactly the same way.

Except Bofuri.

Read/watch Bofuri

Thats the "I didnt want to get hurt so put all my points in defense" story right? Ive been meaning to look into light novels for that

[Anonymouswizard]

Oh, this genre. Out of roughly two squillion published stories I've seen maybe four good ideas, none of which seemed to be carried out efficiently.

Honestly, for most of them they'd likely have been improved by dropping the RPG elements, and the ones that wouldn't generally have them intrude as much as they do in OotS (and so you would have to determine the MC's sheet via deduction). Sword Art Online, which seems to have been one catalyst for the popularity explosion of the 'genre', IIRC went this way and occasionally mentioned levels and skill ranks but never full character sheets and ability lists.

[GloatingSwine]

Thats the "I didnt want to get hurt so put all my points in defense" story right? Ive been meaning to look into light novels for that

Yeah, the things that make it work are that it's actually just people playing a videogame, and the main character is charmingly clueless because it's her first time playing any game at all, and she does things that the experienced players don't think of because she doesn't expect that they won't work (or by just going afk because she fell asleep in real life) and they work because the game is basically about as well balanced as Skyrim and Cyberpunk 2077 drunk at a party.

[Forum Explorer]

If we're now just talking about stories with game-like elements in them, then I recommend Konosuba. The standard Isekai sort of plot except everyone is useless and more interested in relaxing and having fun than actually achieving anything.

[druid91]

Honestly, the two I read, Ascend is blatantly cribbing notes from Awaken, but also genereally does it better. while not falling into the the latter's.... Personal Drama thing? Ascend is more about telling awesome fantasy stories with a thinnish veneer of RPG over the top. Both show full character sheets, but where Awaken shows them almost every time the character updates it, Ascend shows it once or twice per book, if that. The MC of Awaken is an angsty teenager and his friends, and the MC's of Ascend are a bunch of 20-something college graduates who are jobless and decide to become youtubers for the VR game.

It gives the whole thing a very different tone in both books.

[Brother Oni]

If we're now just talking about stories with game-like elements in them, then I recommend Konosuba. The standard Isekai sort of plot except everyone is useless and more interested in relaxing and having fun than actually achieving anything.

There's also very entertaining plot twists that elevate it from your standard Isekai. My favourite:

Spoiler

Show

The mage character has plenty of power but very little control, so the protagonist gets her to practice blasting a distant abandoned castle as many times a day as she can cast her spells.

Later on in the series, there's a monster invasion, led by a massive evil skeleton knight. The protagonist, in an effort to stave off a massive fight, asks him what the knight wants in return for him and his army not to attack this village - it turns out that the the villain is nocturnal and sleeps during the day but recently, he keeps on getting woken up and disturbed by somebody who's been using his castle for target practice. It's been going on for days now and all he wants is some peace and quiet for a decent day's sleep.

I know I've got some details wrong, but that was the gist of it.

[GrayDeath]

The by FAR best I ahve read of this genre is The Games We Play. https://www.fanfiction.net/s/1211978...Play-By-Ryuugi
Absolutely fantastic. Its a RWBY Crossover to boot. ^^


Although you could probably look at Mother of Learning as a similar one just without the (often jarring) Things like menus etc. https://www.fictionpress.com/s/29618...er-of-Learning


Sadly for me, I read The Games we Play FIRST.
So all the others?

Garbage to me, Genre is more or less dead to me enjoymentwise. :(

[Traab]

I really liked this story. The Adventures of Harry Potter the Video Game Exploited It had a lot of what I liked that I mentioned. It had the rpg elements that make this a gamer fic, it doesnt go over the top on spamming his character sheet or a dozen+ skills being worked on at the same time. I find the "tutorial" messages entertaining, and the way harry is slowly figuring out how to exploit the system for fun and profit is perfect. Its just too bad that, like so many others in this genre, it basically got abandoned. Also, it isnt really going for god harry, he gets his butt kicked on a regular basis, then has to figure out how to adapt and overcome. As an example, at one point he has to fight "Two Weak Teenager Goons" And the first time he attacks them he manages to get the initiative and land some critical hits wiping them out easy. He then realizes he can farm them for exp and loot. When they reset they beat the ever loving heck out of him and he realizes he NEEDS that opening initiative round and some special attacks to trigger to win against them. So he works on making it happen, then is slowly able to gear up and grow tough enough to handle them that he no longer needs special tricks to do it.

[JDMSJR]

Ok, since I have been reading stories like these recently, I will throw is some that I have enjoyed. First I would like to agree with Traab about "The Adventures of Harry Potter the Video Game Exploited". This was the first "Gamer" fanfic that I read and I thought it was very funny and entertaining. Too bad the author doesn't seem to be updating it, but it is at about 100,000 words, so at least you have that much.

The first recommendation is from Naruto. "SHINOBI: The RPG - Act 1" https://www.fanfiction.net/s/1243363...-The-RPG-Act-1 . It is complete and has a sequel. It clocks in at 70 chapters and 375,000 words. It is a self-insert as an original character who starts as a baby. In a twist he ends up screwing himself right at the beginning with his stat allocation because he is thinking of it as a game and doesn't consider how using Charisma as a dump stat will effect him in real life situations. I enjoyed this story and thought it was well written.

My second recommendation is from Worm called "Kill Them All" https://forums.spacebattles.com/thre...-gamer.830187/ and has just been finished. It is very long and very well done. It's thread on Space Battles is 1155 pages . It ends up going multi-universal and to my surprise, handled it very well. Basically Taylor has the Gamer power, which in addition to letting her have an Inventory space, etc., also gives her a weaker version of the powers of whoever she defeats and gets a sample of their blood. She can then level those powers up and make them stronger. I highly enjoyed this fic.

My third recommendation is also from the Wormverse called A Bad Name https://forums.spacebattles.com/thre...-gamer.500626/ which is unfortunately unfinished, however, it is about 77 chapters long and the Space Battles thread about it clocks in at 410 pages. It has an OC who is an early 20's homeless person in Brockton Bay who is shot (and seemingly dies) and wakes up with the Gamer abilities.

Hope you enjoy these as much as I did. Sturgeon's Law definitely applies to Gamer fics, but you can find the occasional diamond.


JDMSJR

[CharonsHelper]

I randomly stumbled upon one pretty decent one when I was playing with a Kindle Unlimited free trial to get some reading material for international flights. I didn't want to read something too deep on the plane, and the name (Dungeon Lord) reminded me of D&D actually.

I tried a few others, and they were all terrible. So - I stopped looking. Though I still kinda follow The Dungeon Lord series (The MC doesn't really have cheat powers - the fantasy-ish world he's transported to works with skills/talents for everybody.).

Don't know about fanfiction, but if you have a Kindle Unlimited subscription there are literally hundreds of them available.

I can see why - it's a stupidly easy premise to let you justify an OP main character and jump straight into the action with no build-up. Neither of which actually make for interesting stories - just easy premises.

[GeoffWatson]

Here's a fanfic with a similar idea:

https://www.fanfiction.net/s/8096183...the-Natural-20

A D&D Wizard ends up the Harry Potter setting.

[JDMSJR]

I'll second that. I don't think "Harry Potter and the Natural 20" falls into the "Gamer" fic stories this thread is talking about, but it is extremely entertaining and fun to read.

JDMSJR

[GrayDeath]

I'll second that. I don't think "Harry Potter and the Natural 20" falls into the "Gamer" fic stories this thread is talking about, but it is extremely entertaining and fun to read.

JDMSJR

Thirded, forgot to mention that one.

To sum it up, regarding fics where "§there is a Game logic in play" is an important part but not ALL thats going on, I remain at this top 3:

The Games we Play (best overall)
HP and the Nat 20 (most humorous)
A Bad Name (best written/"real" Main Character and very different)

If you read no other Gamer fics, read these 3.

If you still dont like them, you wont like any in the Genre, methinks.