LitRPG and GameLit, short for Literary Roleplaying Game and Game Literature, are two sides of a very young genre of literature that takes cues from the conventions of tabletop and computer roleplaying games, such as dungeon crawling and character classes. In LitRPG, statistics and and character progression are explicitly part of the narrative; the explanations for this vary: it may be taken for granted, the setting may be a literal game, or comedy comes from contrasting the game rules with reality. In GameLit, that is not the case and any concept of level progression may be implicit or vague at most if not absent altogether.
Although most of it descends from D&D, the largest output of LitRPG/GameLit fiction comes from China and Japan due to a larger population of writers with RPG experience.
It is possible for a given work to straddle the boundary. The Japanese novel series Overlord depicts literal video game characters being inexplicably transported into a GameLit setting.
It just another form of speculative fiction. I hope they do well and have a lot of success. But I don't see it impacting tabletop roleplaying more than say the Expanse coming out a few years ago. It still very much literature, and like a literature it could have a setting that could be adapted for a RPG.
A thing that may be different is that it will come with it owns rule prepackaged for the game company to use. And it may get a bit meta* if the what been adapted is about a transition between a "real" world and the world where the RPG rules hold sway. But RPGs can handle this like they did with Cyberpunk/Cyberspace.
*A roleplaying game that has part of it rules, the rules for the "in-game" roleplaying game.
If it gets people to read, then great.
I actually has a co-worker tell me about one of these just this week. "The Land" series, which apparently is also so popular it has an audiobook version.
Amazon just sent me a recommendation for some LitRPG stuff.
I half-assed Google'd, and what I walked away with was LitRPG seems like Choose Your Own Adventure, and GameLit seems like, I dunno, the Forgotten Realms novels.
I'm assuming that I'm a bit off on both?
Quote from: kythri;1089431I half-assed Google'd, and what I walked away with was LitRPG seems like Choose Your Own Adventure, and GameLit seems like, I dunno, the Forgotten Realms novels.
LitRPG is when the characters know they're in a RPG style world. The stories generally have the hero going from a nobody to building up a great amount of power. Sometimes that power may just be personal, or it might be an empire they're building up like in a RTS. The main character is mostly focused on gaining power and manipulating the game mechanics to achieve that. Sort of how like gamers would power level in a MMO.
Some ones I like are The Land series, Super Sale on Super Heroes, and I'm currently in Awaken Online which is also really good. Ready Player One could also be considered LitRPG, but I haven't read the book yet myself. I personally like the genre because I enjoy that sort of wide character growth and I find how some of characters solve in game problems to be pretty unique from standard fiction. For example in a MMO style world you might farm a local dungeon that respawns for specific resources. Or when the main character dies he just respawns at his bind point rather than really dying and knowing this changes how he approaches things in the world.
Which is Goblin Slayer? GameLit?
Quote from: JeremyR;1089388If it gets people to read, then great.
Agreed. New genres are always welcome. Who knows what it will produce over time?
Quote from: Dracones;1089482LitRPG is when the characters know they're in a RPG style world. The stories generally have the hero going from a nobody to building up a great amount of power. Sometimes that power may just be personal, or it might be an empire they're building up like in a RTS. The main character is mostly focused on gaining power and manipulating the game mechanics to achieve that. Sort of how like gamers would power level in a MMO.
Some ones I like are The Land series, Super Sale on Super Heroes, and I'm currently in Awaken Online which is also really good. Ready Player One could also be considered LitRPG, but I haven't read the book yet myself. I personally like the genre because I enjoy that sort of wide character growth and I find how some of characters solve in game problems to be pretty unique from standard fiction. For example in a MMO style world you might farm a local dungeon that respawns for specific resources. Or when the main character dies he just respawns at his bind point rather than really dying and knowing this changes how he approaches things in the world.
I prefer GameLit myself. LitRPG just destroys my immersion whenever characters reference their own character sheets, unless it's a comedy like
Order of the Stick or
Harry Potter and the Natural 20.
Sounds like its inspired by older novels like the GameEarth series or Quag Keep. In both of those the characters are aware there are game rules in place. Especially in GameEarth where they are aware they are characters in a large board game. Aware of the game mechanics and how it limits them and even aware of the players as their effective gods indistinctly visible sometimes above. Really weird series.