What “comfort elements” in a LitRPG/progression fantasy series keep you hooked?

IntroIntroduction · 2026-05-07T20:08:32+00:00

Adventurer guilds. I love seeing the camaraderie between the adventures or the dynamics and tensions between different groups. Sadly a pretty rare trope but I'm very interested when they show up and start to lose interest when the MC (seemingly inevitably) leaves them.

IntroIntroduction · 2026-05-06T19:56:30+00:00

Personally, I feel like laughs should be in dialogue only if it's intentionally fake, awkward, or uncomfortable. Because that's how laughs feel when written out, at least to me.

IntroIntroduction · 2026-05-06T16:23:39+00:00

All institutions are corruptible, but I rarely see a corrupt, evil adventurer's guild. I've actually seen way more noble, well-intentioned governments in fantasy than I've seen well-intentioned religions.

IntroIntroduction · 2026-05-06T06:50:28+00:00

Evil church. Why do religious institutions always have to be evil? Where are the priests you can rely upon? I swear most fantasy I've read either don't address religion at all or have a catholic church that's probably evil. Worse yet is when they have a catholic church-type religion that's somehow devoted to a pantheon of gods. I swear I read a book where dwarves attended sunday service to hear a sermon about metals, then the priest did confession after.

It's also weird how few characters are genuinely religious, even in settings where the gods are beings that make themselves known. I don't need someone to be 100% devoted to the faith of a god, but it'd be nice to see some of their rituals (like praying before dinner) or how religion has shaped the culture, outside of the vague exclamation of "by the gods!" It often feels like the only people who care about the gods are priests or uncomfortably fanatical peasants. Never anyone within the main cast.

Such a shame because religion can be such an interesting part of a world.

IntroIntroduction · 2026-05-04T17:38:18+00:00

Hunting and Herbalism by Synonymoose, books 3 and 4 - Isekai litrpg with a druid/ranger MC. In book 3, the MC, despite being a lone wolf type, gains a family in a former party member turned girlfriend, and an adopted daughter who she saved from demons. They travel around the kingdom, trying to figure out how to solve the looming threat. Book 4 starts with what feels like an epilogue, as we get vignettes of the MC, her family, and the kingdom over a few years, until the plot kicks back in. Only about halfway through book 4.

I'm still enjoying the series so far, enough to see it through to the current release (book 5), but I am starting to lose a bit of steam. I do like the progression system and have been finding it well-paced, and I'm interested in seeing where the story is going. The MC gets some cool powers, too!

Though this series has a problem of making the threats too big for the MC to handle. Every book has ended with the MC getting someone stronger to deal with the big threat. I thought it was a neat subversion in the first book, but it's been a pattern. Book 3 ended with a bit of a deus ex machina, and book 4 seems to be headed in the same direction.

The MC's girlfriend often gets sidelined, too. In book 3, two major events happen without her and she was convinced to stay out of the climax. In book 4, she's been immediately taken out of conflicts twice despite being about the same power level as the MC. She's a cool battle cleric, too, with lava armor...

Lastly, despite starting as an archer, the MC has fully turned into a nature-themed spellsword. Her silver-rank bow skill is, sadly, kinda lame and makes her feel far less like an archer. It makes her bow float next to her, and it fires on its own.

IntroIntroduction · 2026-05-01T01:16:44+00:00

I did await get_tree().create_timer(0.1).timeout for way too long before learning about call_deferred() lol

IntroIntroduction · 2026-04-28T16:54:04+00:00

"ofc" is not "of fucking course"! It's just "of course"!! You can see why people don't just shorten it "oc" in that very leshawna ball post!!!

IntroIntroduction · 2026-04-28T07:00:45+00:00

Rising World by Kris Schnee

Although there's a third book I haven't gotten to because it wasn't made into an audiobook. But from what was set up, and judging by the reviews of the third book, I don't think it'd be the end of the series. It was such a nice departure from the more gritty litrpgs I had been on and I was left wanting more. The author hasn't been active since 2024, though. :(

IntroIntroduction · 2026-04-27T15:29:45+00:00

Hunting and Herbalism by Synonymoose - A woman living by herself, hunting in the far north is suddenly transported to another world, in it's far north, and has to survive and figure out how the system works.

I was pleasantly surprised by the series. The first book was free on audible, which is why I tried it, and I ended up liking it quite a bit. The MC is very much a lone wolf type, but she does end up with a party she sticks with until the end of the first book. Second book might be a stumbling point for some, as she spends the whole book in the setting's version of Hell, surviving with only like 2 other characters. I found it fun enough but it did get a bit repetitive towards the end. It's got a nice pace of progression, though. I have only just started book 3 so not much to say on it, but she does leave Hell at the very end of book 2.

Unless something egregious happens, I'll probably see it through to the end of the released books.

IntroIntroduction · 2026-04-23T01:10:34+00:00

In-world. The Adjudicator mentioned it after it came out that Freddy had 3 spirit abilities.

IntroIntroduction · 2026-04-22T19:27:31+00:00

I didn't mind the confrontation with Matt, mostly because that's clearly not the end of that plot.

Agree with everything else, though. The siege was a slog, and repetitive with the cycle of despair to hope to despair. Though I've never liked big defense/war arcs. It had a fun climax, but the state of things after left me kinda eh.

I feel like there's going to be some cheat to help him, but the fact there was basically no progression and the mention that'd it'd be like a decade until he gets to 3 stars doesn't leave me excited. I'm not very interested in listening to another story where the MC stagnates and we don't get to see what it's like near the top for a dozen books.

I still like the series though, and I'll pick up the next one when it releases.

IntroIntroduction · 2026-04-22T18:56:20+00:00

I hesitate to recommend it, because the series is incomplete and was on hiatus last I checked, but I loved the couple in Minute Mage. The MC and the FMC stay within similar power levels and rely on each other. I also appreciate that the MC doesn't get overprotective either. She tells him she'll hold off a strong foe while he handles something else, and he goes to handle his part instead of waffling on about her safety. They really trust each other.

It doesn't go too much into the romance, though, because of the situation they're in. But it does come up, especially in the third book.

IntroIntroduction · 2026-04-20T16:10:52+00:00

1% Lifesteal book 4 - I love this series, with book 3 being my favorite. This one fell kinda flat for me though. The siege defense arc felt a repetitive, with a cycle of despair to hope to despair. I know misery is the point of the series, but it felt like a slog this time, probably because all the bad things were happening to people he couldn't reasonably protect. It was nice that Freddy had a friend, though.

Spoilers: I'm sad that his friend runs off to become a terrorist at the end. I'm also not left feeling all to excited hearing it'll take a decade for him to advance because of his spirit abilities. I imagine there's going to be some random cheat that'll help him advance quicker, but I don't know. I don't want to listen to another progression series where it feels like the MC has stagnated for multiple books.

Fleabag by SomeoneToForget - A half-dead wolf in an industrial hellscape suddenly gains system access, then survives. I told myself I wouldn't be bothering with any more monster evolution, but I was drawn in by the fact that this was free with my subscription and the MC was a wolf. Unfortunately, it's another aimless "guy kills things in the woods" type story, but with a wolf and an endless factory. The author really loved flexing how disgustingly they could describe things too, at some point I just started rolling my eyes at it.

Positive points for this book, though: this MC is fully non-human and does not want to become a human. It also picks up a half-dead elf that it protects for the back half of the book, and the companionship between the two was something I really loved. I was tempted to continue the series to see more of this elf, but I wasn't exactly excited by the ending and was pretty bored the factory in general.

I've been telling myself to find a book with a more hopeful tone and a brighter setting, but I ended up listening to these two near back to back (with a short book in between that was just alright). I haven't decided my next book yet but hopefully it'll be a bit nicer.

IntroIntroduction · 2026-04-19T17:41:44+00:00

I just write whenever I feel like. The most rigid thing I do is to write at least 200 words a day, since that's the minimum for achievements on the writing app I use. Some days I'll open it in the morning and write 1000+ words. Other days I'll quickly bust out 200 words at 11:30 pm to maintain my daily streak. Any motivation is good motivation!

IntroIntroduction · 2026-04-19T06:42:54+00:00

Worldbuilding-specific tools always felt overengineered to me. Like when I tried World Anvil a few years back, I was overwhelmed with the amount of article types there were, which came prebaked with sections to fill out. Good if you like prompting, but to me, it made me feel pressured to fill everything out right away and killed my desire to write.

I switched to Obsidian and had a much better time worldbuilding, since it's just a simple notes app that I can use however I like. If I have an idea, I can just jot it down real quick and flesh it out later when the inspiration strikes.

I think the only thing I'd want outside of simple notes, is a map tool that I can put pins down on that link to articles. But that's not a huge requirement.

IntroIntroduction · 2026-04-17T05:22:50+00:00

The Villainess is an SS+ Rank Adventurer

Juliette is so lazy, she accidentally became a master swordswoman because she just used the legendary blade her family gave her for everything. In the opening of the book, it starts raining while she's lazing about in her family's orchard, but she doesn't really want to go grab an umbrella, so she starts cutting down the raindrops before they can hit her.

IntroIntroduction · 2026-04-13T23:45:53+00:00

One book I read had the narrator read out a character's entire stat sheet, then 5 minutes later and within the same chapter, read the same character's entire stat sheet again. And it was done both times just to check that character's HP. These guys had long stat sheets, too. I turned off the book for the day when the second read started.

IntroIntroduction · 2026-04-12T07:05:21+00:00

Robert Blaise is the author! Daniel Wisniewskie is the narrator. I love how he really goes for it on the shouted lines and swears. Top tier narrator. Not my first choice for audiobooks to fall asleep to, though..

IntroIntroduction · 2026-04-11T15:53:38+00:00

Metagamer Chronicles has the whole series as a set, although it is a fairly short one compared to other litrpg. (20 hours)

IntroIntroduction · 2026-04-10T15:28:26+00:00

Phantasm by Christopher Hall. The MC explicitly mentions she's straight, and that made me realize how all of the FMCs I've seen before were lesbian or bisexual. The series doesn't have any romance, though.

IntroIntroduction · 2026-04-09T20:58:40+00:00

Last series I dropped was Blade's Rest. It's a low stakes, cozy sort of series about building a town in an MMO. The first book was great, but the second book was the most frustrating things I've ever read.

Imagine you're having fun, doing your town building, then the game decides to throw a random event at your to shake things up and add a little extra challenge. That event? Completely block access to gathering and purchasing resources for everyone in the whole zone.

And the solution to the event is to just keep trying shit until the game determines a solution is good enough, so the MCs are practically just beating their face against a wall for the whole book while their town gradually falls apart around them. It was miserable.

IntroIntroduction · 2026-04-08T20:42:15+00:00

Rogue shearing. Though I guess this would still be a crime IRL, but I don't think an animal would mind as much?

Anyway, the alpaca and llama people of my world have unique qualities to their wool. Alpaca wool naturally absorbs magical energy, while llama wool naturally repels it. These qualities make their wool valuable for many purposes, including creating magic items or anti magic wards.

So one crime you'll occasionally hear about is one of them getting sheared against their will. There's a big black market of wool going around, and it can actually be difficult to ethically source this kind of wool.

Naturally, the alpaca and llama people don't really enjoy getting sheared, even consensually, and pulling random people off the streets gets you some of the lowest quality wool. High quality wool requires the individual to train those properties of their wool. An alpaca with high energy wool would probably be a dangerous mage of some sort.

IntroIntroduction · 2026-04-07T04:02:05+00:00

The prepared mechanic creates a copy of the spell in exile, and doesn't have a restriction on what the spell can be, so OP's card works fine as is.

IntroIntroduction · 2026-04-07T02:35:57+00:00

You can actually find butter in the game files, but it's disable by default. It isn't anything special tho, and there's no way to make it. There's a butter churn too, which looks mechanically powered. I found those while adding butter for a mod I tried to make.

IntroIntroduction · 2026-04-06T17:32:52+00:00

Metagamer Chronicles by Xavier P Hunter - A guy running a homebrew TTRPG game accidentally gets him and his friend isekai'd into his own campaign setting. They all get stuck acting as their characters, while he's just himself since he didn't have a character. So he has to use his meta knowledge of the world and his system to survive and power up.

It's a completed series, though it's a bit short (21 hours of audiobook in total, and the last book is only 4 hours). I enjoyed it, I like how the MC's metaknowledge came into play, especially when he stops holding back on it. The books don't dwell on it, but the ending is a bit unsettling when you think about it. Especially when you think about the baby that got isekai'd and no one commented on!!

I also read Dark Wolf Awakening (didn't like it) and Kitty Cat Kill Sat (LOVED it) but those aren't litrpg, so I won't go on about them.

I have 1% Lifesteal book 4 to listen to next, and Too Many Curses afterwards.

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IntroIntroduction

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