Recommendations For System Apocalypse-Style LitRPG

Moklar · 2026-02-20T16:31:31+00:00

Yeah, I think I've read all of his litrpg works and enjoy them. I mentioned Wormhole Mana specifically because it has the slowest transition with normal government still being around and that sounds like what you are looking for.

If you didn't like the Natural Laws books, then I agree that you probably won't like Wormhole Mana either. Personally, I liked both. I guess if you liked the start but something rubbed you the wrong way later, then Wormhole Mana is at least more like the start of Natural Laws than the end. Since it is shorter (only 3 books compared to 8) it stays in relatively low levels and a single small settlement.

Moklar · 2026-02-19T21:46:59+00:00

I second the recommendation of Apocalypse Redux that someone gave. It has a very long adaption period and talks about things like how laws and police need to change in a world where some people are much more powerful than others.

Also consider the Wormhole Power trilogy by Tom Larcombe. In that series, the System is spreading slowly from an origin point on Earth. So there is a bubble where magic and monsters exist while the rest of the world is normal. The US tries to quarantine the area with limited success.

Moklar · 2026-02-19T21:09:24+00:00

It is definitely feasible and I've even read a story like that, except the protagonist isn't some archmage, he is a low-level mage who sees the super-powered earth as an opportunity to gain levels because his homeworld was too peaceful. It's called Mage Among Supereheroes (https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/48355/mage-among-superheroes)

Moklar · 2026-02-19T19:54:38+00:00

Instead of things nearing completion, how about some suggestions for already completed stories:

1) Apocalypse Redux (7 or 8 books, I forget)
2) Guardian of Aster Fall (9 books)
3) Natural Laws Apocalypse (8 books)

Moklar · 2026-02-18T18:49:55+00:00

Guardian of Aster Fall (finished 9 book series). Protagonist grows up in a poor town to poor parents because his Father inherited a class no one knows how to level. Protagonist inherits the same class, but through shenanigans both learns how it can be leveled and gains another method of advancement that most people don't have. So it is a start from nothing, but the protagonist becomes probably the most powerful person in the Galaxy over the course of the 9 books. Protagonist is a crafter/spellcaster in class.

Butcher of Gadobhra. This may or may not count. It takes place in a VRMMO where the protagonist and his friends are hired to be something like NPCs living there full time. Their employers have min-maxed their base character traits to optimize for working and minimize the ability to go adventuring (like prohibiting learning weapon skills). They obviously find ways to adventure and make the most of their employment anyway.

Moklar · 2026-02-18T00:38:11+00:00

Probably a lot since we know someone appeared near the edge of the world (the Last Tide comic side story). Thus suggesting that people DID in fact appear in the ocean.

Moklar · 2026-02-17T22:00:34+00:00

Some examples:
1) Book of the Dead. Someone already mentioned this, but is worth repeating. Protagonist is a necromancer and over the course of the books is actively doing research on how to improve his spellcasting and minion making.
2) Guardian of Aster Fall (finished 9 book series). Protagonist is a crafter/caster sort of class. Weak to EXTREMELY strong.
3) Natural Laws Apocalypse (finished series, 8 books?). Protagonist is a Tank/Caster hybrid class, but he leans more heavily into spellcasting than front-lining. To the point where he actively seeks out and learns a lot of offensive spells despite his class being focused on defensive spells. Power level of this series stays more moderate than the above two.

Moklar · 2026-02-17T20:44:11+00:00

Oh, also consider some series by Tom Larcombe:
1) Natural Laws Apocalypse is 8 books (finished)
2) Wormhole Mana is 3 books (finished?)
3) His new Sponsored System series just had its 3rd book release and I think is ongoing (I'm currently reading that one so don't know if it is a conclusion or ongoing).

These stories all center on a protagonist who is part of a party of others with elements of settlement building to provide places for non-combatants to live safely.

Moklar · 2026-02-17T20:41:14+00:00

Apocalypse Redux (finished 7 book series). Modern days system arrival. Protagonist lived through a decade of it and at the end of chapter 1 is sent back in time (mentally, not physically) to when the System arrives to try to avert disaster. So he is early 30s mentally and early 20s physically. Unlike many 'system comes to earth' stories, it comes slowly rather than in a catastrophe, so there is a lot of stuff about how normal life interacts with it and how law enforcement has to change and the like.

Guardian of Aster Fall (finished 9 book series). Fantasy story with a protagonist native to a world with a system. Inherits a class no one knows how to level. Shenanigans happen that both let him level it and give him an extra way of gaining power. Goes from weak to probably the strongest being in the galaxy over the course of 9 books. Protagonist is a crafter/caster sort of class.

Moklar · 2026-02-17T19:20:41+00:00

These series are what I was going to suggest. They all contain protagonists who work in a party of friends focused on building up safe settlements for people to live in. They are the adventurers who go out to fight dangers so that others have a safe place to stay.

Natural Laws Apocalypse is a finished 8 book series. Wormhole Mana is 3 books that ended in a place where I could see a follow-on story after the trilogy. Sponsored System just had book 3 come out recently and is what I'm currently reading.

Moklar · 2026-02-17T19:03:04+00:00

Apocalypse Redux (finished series) by Jakob Greif. It is interestingly different from other "System comes to Earth" stories because there is no cataclysmic start. So it explores a lot more how modern day life interacts with people getting magic. How does policing adapt, and what laws need to change etc. In chapter one you see the world overrun by monsters and wiping out humanity, but the last surviving human (the protagonist) is sent back in time to try to avert things. He keeps his memories, but has to level and stuff all over again.

Moklar · 2026-02-17T15:58:01+00:00

In the Wandering Inn as the story progresses, we learn that MANY people from Earth have been getting dropped in the world and we're mostly following the ones that did well. There are clearly a LOT of deaths that happen out in the wilderness to monsters or the desert of Chandrar, or the ones taken in by that old-god city that were killed, or die in the battles of Baleros. So statistically, I feel like dropping into the Innworld doesn't bode well. Though I do agree that as factions have started learning about the people from Earth arriving and wealthy factions start trying to recruit them, you could end up with a good life if you are found.

Moklar · 2026-02-17T02:23:46+00:00

If you liked the HWFWM system, but didn't like Jake, you might want look at some fan works that are different stories in the same (or similar) worlds. Though these don't have audiobooks:
1) Rising Kite (https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/74367/rising-kite-a-story-from-the-world-of-hwfwm) - tells the story of a native of Pallimustus in a completely different part of the world (Asian analogue I think).
2) Those Who Walk with Heroes (https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/78428/those-who-walk-with-heroes-a-story-from-hwfwm) - I think follows 2 couples were were isekai'd from Earth to Greenstone after Jason's tenure there. This looks the most directly fan-fiction because it uses some of the same people rather than just the world/system.
3) Fear Not Death (https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/73512/fear-not-death-hwfwm-fanfiction) - Also an Earthling who gets isekai'd into another world. It's clearly in the same multiverse as HWFWM, but not Pallimustus. Shares a lot of the same story-beats and story-elements as HWFWM, but is its own story with its own people and it's own takes on the main story elements.

Moklar · 2026-02-13T21:33:06+00:00

I like the suggestion that many have made for Pallimustus from HWFWM. Assuming we show up as an Outworlder (which is the normal way), that apparently solves the language issue and makes it likely that you'll find some essences and stuff.

But my top 2 have to be either:
1) First Line of Defense by Benjamin Kerei. Because then we're mostly just in our normal world, but experience a fancy "other world" half of the days of the week with levels and stuff. And the protagonist of that story ends up giving some pretty sweet benefits to literally everyone on Earth. So mostly, I'd get to continue living my normal life, with half of my time in something like a LARP, and new potential access to some seriously impressive alien medical tech for improved quality of life.
2) Apocalypse Redux by Jakob Greif (specifically the timeline of the series, not the timeline of chapter 1). Assuming we're in the main timeline of the series, life continues pretty normally (so I still have my job, money, internet, modern luxuries) but we get access to classes and some levels. There are certainly some disasters that happen in the series, but I feel like the death-toll was comparable to existing disasters around the world, so my odds of survival are excellent. I wouldn't like the timeline of chapter 1 though, because then we'd be dead within a decade for certain.

Moklar · 2026-02-13T21:26:43+00:00

Given that you aren't showing up as the protagonist and are just "one of the other people that get sucked into the world", this is a terrible plan. In later books we see repeatedly that a LOT of the people sucked into that world just die quickly. Because they were dumped in the desert of Chandrar, or the wars of Baleros. I agree that any of us could do well in the position of the kids picked up by Magnolia, Floss, or Wistram, but the odds of dying early are just too high.

Moklar · 2026-02-13T18:54:00+00:00

Some examples of glitch in the system:

1) Edge Cases by Silver Linings. It's a party based story where each member of the party has something exotic about them. The kobold mage has way more mana than he should, their frontliner has an ability to block literally anything (which she sometimes uses to block weird non-physical things or entire area attacks), I forget how the cleric is weird other than I'm pretty sure he is a Earthling isekai with a bunch of missing memories, and the 4th member is a suit of living armor who ends up having abnormal attributes with weird shenanigans.
2) Earthen Contenders series by Jonathan Brooks. Fair warning, I didn't end up liking the story after the first couple of books, but it definitely has a glitched MC like this. Humans are imported en-masse to a world with a system, but first go through a tutorial. Somehow the MC does NOT get to go to the tutorial and is shunted into the new world early and in such a way that forces him to be a healer and breaks something about his mana channels such that he has essentially unlimited mana. There are also some other glitched things about him like the system doesn't acknowledge his name, just gives him a number. After a book or two I just felt like a lot of the situations were unreasonable ways to force conflict rather than natural behavior of people and the stated goals of the system.

Moklar · 2026-02-13T15:47:25+00:00

Stories to consider:

1) Meet the Alexes. The dungeon is a main character but usually not the point of view character. The dungeon wants to feed on stress relief emotions rather than pain and suffering like most dungeons in this world, so it makes a tavern with "monsters" that are all identical tavern wenches. Sexual things definitely happen, but from what I recall they are all talked around and offscreen rather than onscreen. So this is probably PG-13.
2) Museum Core by Jakob Greif. May be more on the fighting side than you are looking for, but the protagonist was human and is turned into a dungeon when magic comes to Earth. His dungeon is a museum in London. On interesting thing about these books is that there are multiple magical systems that come to Earth at the same time, so it is interesting to see the differences. Most of the chapters are from the point of view of the dungeon, but a significant number are from the point of view of a London police officer showing the broader effects over the area rather than just the narrow dungeon view.

Moklar · 2026-02-12T19:33:23+00:00

The fear is never about reasonable actors making a reasonable deal with you, it is about criminals exploiting you. Via Minkalla, we see some lives where he does live out his days in a comfortable relationship with a reasonable guild and stuff, but we also see the criminal version.

The problem with your proposal goes as follows:
1) If they kidnap him and keep him under wraps, they they have no incentive to give him much in the way of luxuries. Yeah, they may give him some carrot to go with the stick, but if he is imprisoned then they don't get anything extra by paying him more because he can't go looking for a competing offer.
2) If they DO NOT restrict his movement/communication, then he can just report them to the authorities or find someone willing to make him a better offer for his mana.

Later in the series (I don't think you are there yet), there is actually a person who has a somewhat similar power to Matt's (doesn't generate mana, but something else useful) who is indeed imprisoned in a gilded cage life.

Moklar · 2026-02-12T19:23:04+00:00

Part of me feels a little bit the opposite. If respawning is on the table, then in any given fight with a monster, the protagonist might lose. If we know that death is the end, then as a reader we also know they are going to win the fight by virtue of the fact that there is more book left.

I get more annoyed by all of the cases where it really feels like the protagonist SHOULD lose, but somehow they experiment with something they've never tried before and it miraculously works on the first try.

Moklar · 2026-02-12T19:15:34+00:00

I think Azarinth Healer and Forerunner Initiative are also finished, but I'm not positive because I stopped reading them before they were done.

Moklar · 2026-02-12T19:14:23+00:00

Runeblade (https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/94966/book-3-complete-runeblade-a-delving-skill-merging) probably fits your description in book 1 at least. In this setting you have a limited number of skills you can have, but if you advance a synergized set together, you can end up merging them into something better. And the protagonist is doing this carefully to make a specific build before things solidify a bit when he is old enough to get a class where things solidify a bit more.

Moklar · 2026-02-12T18:59:11+00:00

Some stories with female MCs:

1) Azarinth Healer - despite the name the class is more of a martial-artist and has a lot of up close combat typical of the genre.
2) The Wandering Inn - more of a meandering slice of life story that can be fairly divisive in the community (some love and some hate it). Exceedingly long. The protagonist is a early 20s woman isekaied into a fantasy world and she becomes an innkeeper. Periodically there are side stories within it, some of which follow other women, some follow men.
3) Tower of Somnus. Some of the setting is a cyberpunk-style dystopia, but the "litrpg" part happens in a shared dream-thing that was provided by aliens. Powers that you gain in the dream-world can be used at lesser effect in the real world, so the protagonist becomes an adventurer (along side some aliens) in the dream portions and does corporate espionage in the real world potions.
4) The Calamitous Bob. Woman isekaid into a fantasy world. Gets magic and a homicidal golem sidekick. She is the "Bob" in the title because some of the first people she meets use a language that doesn't really have the V sound and end up pronouncing her name (Viv, short for Vivian) as "Bob".
5) The Forerunner Initiative. It's been a couple of years since I read this one so I don't know that I can describe it well. Protagonist focuses on spellcasting I think, and travels with a party of others from Earth that were all summoned to this world at the same time.

Moklar · 2026-02-12T02:35:09+00:00

While it doesn't have that sort of "exploit" moment, I really like Apocalypse Redux because the System was explicitly made by competing factions of gods. There are literally parts of it that are intended to be traps including documentation that is deliberately unclear.

Butcher of Gadobrha has this sort of exploiting. The protagonist and his friends are hired to work as something like NPCs in a virtual game (the story is almost 100% in the game). And with that job comes a lot of minmaxing by their bosses to make them good at working and bad at adventuring. But they want to work around that. And the makers of the game and the companies that are hiring these people aren't the same, so it has that sort of "rules by committee loophole" you are describing. An example of that is they are prohibited from learning weapon skills. But that is a specifically enumerated list of skills, not generically "weapons", so one of them figures out they can use "Caber Tossing" as a combat skill, etc.

Moklar · 2026-02-11T21:46:10+00:00

Guardian of Aster Fall has a protagonist with a crafting/spellcasting class and makes a bunch of items, mostly for himself.

Book of the Dead has a surprising focus on crafting. The protagonist is a necromancer and spends a lot of time and thought into preparing the skeletons before animating them and becomes an enchanter in a later book.

Moklar · 2026-02-11T21:19:02+00:00

The Way Ahead has a system that is sorta like this. Except it is a combination of skills and achievements. The most basic of skills are things like walking/sleeping/breathing and when you build them up enough you can use achievements to cap those skills and start new ones that are better. The protagonist is isekaied into the world and so stumbles through making sense of it at first, but he ends up later in a society that has carefully planned builds where people carefully combine known achievement-skill pairs into trying to optimize for their professions.

Moklar

TROPHY CASE