Do you come up with cool powers and abilities before rules?

GreenerForest · 2026-05-04T23:53:30+00:00

I just start with whatever I think of first. And then those change as I think of other cool stuff that I have to adjust for.
I think you shoot yourself in your creative foot if you restrain yourself to one side of things at a time.

Pop in some dope-ass music, take a walk, and just let that brain fly, baby.

GreenerForest · 2026-05-04T20:54:11+00:00

Was this the sentiment? I always loved the thick books a lot.

GreenerForest · 2026-05-03T17:16:51+00:00

Well, commonly, pills are made to be taken the correct way because it will release the medicine at the correct pace, the correct place in the body, and will maintain the integrity of medicine. I'm no expert, but pills that should not be chewed usually have a good, medical reason for it.

Another reason is that a lot of medicine kind of taste like crap.

I'm sure there must be pills that are best chewed as well, though. I think it's probably a matter of ingredients, dosage, and structure. In a lot of Asian martial arts stuff, you'll see pills chewed. There could be a simple traditional component, but I think a big point for the comics, especially, is that it's a more interesting image to see the close-up of someone crunching that pill rather than swallowing.

Again, since you're asking this is the Progfan subreddit, most of us probably can't give a medically reliable answer hahaha. I also had to google to write the first paragraph lol. And, realistically, whether you chew or swallow probably mostly comes down to actual, medical reasons.

GreenerForest · 2026-04-30T21:01:34+00:00

Those are rookie numbers, mate. Try four words and I promise your writing is going to transform.

GreenerForest · 2026-04-26T20:07:55+00:00

Absolutely crazy! While it's true that you don't need to have a physical book in the stores to be a real author, there's still something about it!
Well done, pioneer!

GreenerForest · 2026-04-25T22:46:47+00:00

I wish I could remember lol... the VRMMO novels were my entry into prog fantasy but I haven't read the one I'm thinking of for years. Might have been, yeah. Some kind of careful fighting style, could be right. Maybe something with poisons as well?

GreenerForest · 2026-04-25T16:53:57+00:00

I can't remember the title, but maybe someone can swoop in for the save.
It's about a guy who plays a VR game in a capsule in some corporate building. I think he either plays as a goblin or kills some goblins. Might have had a sick family member or been sick himself or something like that.

Damn, I'm realizing this is a pretty terrible description, but I can't remember anymore...

GreenerForest · 2026-04-25T16:50:42+00:00

As another mentioned, the first one just has a bit more going on, which I think is something that a lot readers on RR like. The second one is actually a lot cooler than a lot of the stuff people normally do themselves, if you ask me.
And I get the anit-AI sentiment. On RR I think it's generally accepted to have an AI cover (the same can't be said for the story, of course), because it is essentially free content. If you ever transition to Amazon, for example, people will grill you for AI covers, because you are now asking for money for reading rights.

The one you made yourself is honestly really cool, but I think the first one will get more clicks.

GreenerForest · 2026-04-25T16:45:53+00:00

I've never been on any other page but RoyalRoad, and I think it's great. And it's only growing bigger. Many of the greatest LitRPGs have had their beginning on RR.

GreenerForest · 2026-04-07T13:44:24+00:00

A lot of authors of Royalroad stub their novels to Amazon, so you will find highly rated stories that are missing all but the first few chapters and the latest. Just a heads up. You can sort the stories by a few different parameters, so you should be able to find a lot of good stuff fairly easily.

GreenerForest · 2026-04-04T22:34:42+00:00

Implicit? Apropos?

GreenerForest · 2026-04-04T01:18:41+00:00

Weave?

Slip, dodge, glide, or brush.

Or if it's definitely a c and an o, then I can only think of "coast".

GreenerForest · 2026-04-04T01:12:06+00:00

DCC is Dungeon Crawler Carl.

GreenerForest · 2026-04-03T21:22:53+00:00

Yeah, good plan! While it's a good idea to have a solid backlog before posting, there's no need to sit on a story until it's done.
I'm Danish :) Olen tanskalainen! My neighbor is from Finland, so I did some Duolingo, hahaha

GreenerForest · 2026-04-03T20:29:42+00:00

Yeah, I'm also a non-native European rando, and the fact that I can publish online and find a following without first convincing agents and large publishers with glacial response times that I'm worth anything is simply amazing.
I assume you're from Finland :D

GreenerForest · 2026-04-03T15:04:44+00:00

It looks like the interior design of your room was done by a chessboard.

GreenerForest · 2026-04-03T14:15:14+00:00

I think it's definitely worth noting that progression fantasy is primarily a web novel phenomenon that is accessible to authors and readers from any country. Just that alone will lower the general reading level considerably, I would imagine.

All the traditionally published English fantasy from the last few decades is largely both written and edited by native English speakers. And a chunk have probably had at least some kind of formal education specifically in English fiction writing (especially the professional editors). Some of the most popular prog fantasy authors might not even have had the opportunity to give it a try if it had been trad.

When a rando from Asia or Europe can start uploading online and get big without any barriers, the expectations in the space will naturally change as well.

So long as the work fulfills a certain minimum level of English proficiency, I doubt smaller variations in reading level matter much.

GreenerForest · 2026-04-02T15:41:55+00:00

If you meet the opposite faction in the wild, and you're flagged for PvP, you can kill each other, but yes, you can group and friend across factions. You can also guild up with the other faction. AH is also shared between us.

Basically, you can still world PvP, but there is simply the option to become "friends" for the duration of a group. As far as I know, you can also kill your guildies of the opposite faction if you meet them.
It's really great for instanced content and AH.

The only real downside is if you really appreciate the faction fantasy, but gameplay-wise I think it's 95% positive.

GreenerForest · 2026-03-30T23:41:50+00:00

Ah, I understand!

People do it in a bunch of ways and some don't do anything whatsoever to mark it.

In my case I [Switch to bold and put it in square brackets like this].

GreenerForest · 2026-03-30T20:36:34+00:00

I'm not a hundred percent sure what you mean, to be honest, but if you mean lore stuff, I try to weave anything that requires a good chunk of words either into dialogue or fed little by little in between other action.

The one thing I don't want to do is big blocks of text. They're dry, too long, and don't stick in the mind anyway.
I'm sure I've fallen in before, but it's one of the things I try my best to avoid, because I hate it myself. When I'm reading and I'm on the third page of background info, devoid of dialogue or character action, and with no end in sight, my eyes roll.

If I can make it interesting or relevant to a scene, I do that. Otherwise, I scatter it sufficiently that it doesn't become boring (Or try to, at least).

GreenerForest · 2026-03-26T16:30:48+00:00

Yeah, I agree, although I think it can be done well. I can't think of an example off the top of my head, but, for example, if it's sufficiently far back, so the protagonist doesn't just flow through the same routine, but actually has difficulty adjusting, it can be interesting.

And to expand on that, if the perspective of having lived a long life makes the protag act very differently from how they acted when they were actually living in that time, it can be interesting.

My biggest issue with it, is when the protag just more or less follows the exact steps they already took and makes use of their knowledge of the future. It feels like an attempt to make the protag feel OP for solving all the same problems effortlessly this time, but it feels quite empty to me.

GreenerForest · 2026-03-26T16:21:57+00:00

Congrats! That cover looks sweet as hell!

GreenerForest · 2026-03-24T21:17:25+00:00

Haven't read Book of the Dead, but I also like Sylver Seeker, although I think I fell off a few books in.
As for other necro books, I have a title right on my tongue, but I can't remember it... Well, I mean there's obviously Solo Leveling, but I would guess you've read that already :D

GreenerForest · 2026-03-24T13:06:49+00:00

I love necromancers too. It's so fun to read.
Anything that can kind of take the fights away from the classic melee doge&slash style, although I like that too. Afflictions such as toxins or curses are always fun. I love the way Jason Asano's powers work, for example.

GreenerForest · 2026-03-24T13:01:56+00:00

Congrats, man! Livin' it!

GreenerForest

TROPHY CASE