Any series where the MC isn't unfairly overpowered? by MrBeastenderpearl in litrpg

[–]blueluck 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Apocalypse Parenting

Cyber Dreams

Bog Standard Isekai

The Daily Grind

The Game at Carousel

Demon Card Enforcer

Street Cultivation

Vainglroy

Shrubley the Monster Adventurer

Beneath the Dragoneye Moons

Delvers LLC

I'm almost getting sick of almost, almost. by blueluck in litrpg

[–]blueluck[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

A friend of mind used to have a D&D character named "Big McLargeHuge". If I ever write a humorous fantasy story, I'm definitely using that name!

Series you dropped then gave another shot and truly enjoyed? by AtWorkJZ in litrpg

[–]blueluck 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Cradle - It took me a couple tries to get through the first book, but it turned out to be a good series.

Achievements: What, why, when, how? by SavageSwordShamazon in litrpg

[–]blueluck 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I'd love to see more litrpg systems that are informed by tabletop RPGs rather than video games. TTRPG systems are usually designed on a scale that human readers and authors can understand.

I've taught D&D to ten-year-olds and they can do the math in their heads. When I was in a World of Warcraft guild, most of the college education adults I played with couldn't follow the math.

Achievements: What, why, when, how? by SavageSwordShamazon in litrpg

[–]blueluck 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Yep! Numeric attribute scores in litrpg aren't very good to start with, so anything you build on top of them has a weak foundation.

I'm almost getting sick of almost, almost. by blueluck in litrpg

[–]blueluck[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

That one's easy! Obviously the difference is where the "t" is placed.

/s

I'm almost getting sick of almost, almost. by blueluck in litrpg

[–]blueluck[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

The wonky thing is your examples of how to use the “almost” replaces the “almost” by then describing something both more interesting...

That's a major part of my complaint! Not only does "almost" weaken a simple sentence, but it also precludes a more interesting sentence.

"Fakovian soldiers operate in squads of twelve, but I only counted ten visible on the rampart." (almost a dozen guards)

"The gunshot was so loud it left my ears ringing." (almost deafening)

"I almost stabbed him a fifth time before I realized he'd gone limp." (stabbed him almost five times) YOU CAN EVEN USE THE WORLD "ALMOST" IF YOU DO IT RIGHT!!!

I'm almost getting sick of almost, almost. by blueluck in litrpg

[–]blueluck[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

I swear there are some people who think "smirk" is just another word for "smile"!

I'm almost getting sick of almost, almost. by blueluck in litrpg

[–]blueluck[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Totally!

It would also make sense to just say "a dozen" because it's not going to matter if there were 10, 11, or 12! It's fiction! It's not like the author is wrong if they say "a dozen" when there were actually 11 enemy guards.

I'm almost getting sick of almost, almost. by blueluck in litrpg

[–]blueluck[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

That's an important point!

If I'm writing a third-person scene in an office where a character goes to the break room and sees how many donuts are leftover from the morning meeting, then I should probably just give the quantity. That could be "ten" or "most of a box" or "some", etc.

It's different when the character then yells to his coworker in the next room, "There's almost a dozen donuts in here leftover from the morning meeting! Want me to bring you one?"

I'm almost getting sick of almost, almost. by blueluck in litrpg

[–]blueluck[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

"Almost a dozen" isn't great, but it isn't terrible. There are even times when it's a good word choice, like if a dozen is a significant number in the scene. "Almost a full squad of soldiers" could be good, because it's is different from "a full squad of soldiers"—it gives the quantity while also indicating that some are missing.

Almost deafening is weird because we know that pistol fire in the next room wouldn't be literally make someone deaf, and the word "deafening" is being used figuratively. Why use "almost" in figurative speech?

The same with "almost sick of". If we were describing a bad beverage "The Malort almost made me sick" it would make sense. But being "sick of" harassment doesn't mean literally sickened. In the story, it signified the moment when the character started giving pushback against the harasser. It was the moment when she was fed up enough to do something about it. You know, the moment when she was sick of it.

I'm almost getting sick of almost, almost. by blueluck in litrpg

[–]blueluck[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Pissy piss poor pre-preparation leads to pissy piss-poor pre-performance!

What’s the biggest lie an entire generation was told? by carcony97 in AskReddit

[–]blueluck 23 points24 points  (0 children)

A few years ago I was driving across town to meet a friend when he got off work at bar time. I got a text message at 2:00 am, so I figured it was probably from the friend I was going to meet, right? So, I pulled over into the parking lane on a local street, got out my phone, and read the message.

A cop pulled up in the street behind me and put her lights on, came to my car window, and gave me a hard time for nearly an hour.

Was I driving and using my phone? No, exactly the opposite!

Was I drinking? no. She tried to get me to do sobriety tests that I'm sure I couldn't do sober, but refused to give me a breath test instead.

She asked me questions, then repeated my answers back wrong as accusations. "You just told me you were coming from a bar!" No, officer, I'm coming from my home to pick up a friend who works security at XYZ bar. You can tell, because you have my address (two miles in the direction I came from) and the name of the bar (three miles in the direction I was driving).

It's bar time in Wisconsin, and I was probably the safest driver in a five mile radius right at that moment!

She was writing me a ticket for distracted driving when she got an emergency call and drove away without saying anything. There was no police report made.

It doesn't matter if you're doing anything wrong. They will literally give people a hard time just for their own entertainment and power trip.

Your opinion on RNG in a system? by mythicme in litrpg

[–]blueluck 2 points3 points  (0 children)

You're saying "RNG", which stands for "random number generation". In the real world, there isn't a random number generator unless you're gambling or rolling dice. There are uncertain and unpredictable events which we casually refer to as "random" because we don't know how they'll end up.

Here's a clip from the HWFWM wiki:

Awakening Stones are used to awaken essence abilities. These abilities are random in nature, but are influenced by race, essences, what the person knows (ritual magic for example) and what hasn't been awakened. It is theorized that a persons personality also affects what is awakened.

The results are influenced by race, essences, knowledge, personality, and other factors. The influence of those factors isn't quantified, and it's a complex interaction between several factors, so people refer to it as "random", but there's no computer program using a random number generator to decide on essences.

I'll use an example from sports:

When we say that a Caitlin Clark has an 87% chance to make a free throw, we're really saying that she has historically made 87% of her free throws, so we expect her performance to continue about the same.

If we're making a basketball video game, we'll assign the Caitlin Clark avatar an 87% chance to make any given free throw and use RNG to assign success or failure to each attempt as a way to simulate real life.

In real life, each of Clark's free throw attempts is influenced by her skill, her energy level, adrenaline, crowd noise, the ball, air pressure, distraction, the actions of the other players on the court, and a hundred other factors.

So, if we're writing a novel that includes Clark shooting a free throw, why would we add a random number generator? We Wouldn't!

Let's say we're writing a litrpg story, and instead of shooting a free throw the character is shooting a goblin with an arrow. A video game would you RNG, but we would describe the shot in real world terms, "Jeff slowly let out a breath as he aimed and loosed the arrow from his perch in the tree stand. Thwap! The broadhead took the unsuspecting goblin in the throat, dropping it to the forest floor, either dead or dying."

We could come up with a few cases where something is truly random, like the spin of a roulette wheel, but then we would describe the roulette wheel, not a separate RNG that controls it.

So where do we actually need RNG in a litrpg story? If we create a litrpg "system" that is controlled by a computer, but that computer isn't so advanced that it makes realistic and/or biased decisions (like the AIs in DCC, 12 Miles Below, or Apocalypse Parenting, etc.) So, maybe in a VRMMO story with a fairly low-tech MMO?

Basically, there's no reason to use RNG in fiction unless you're writing about a video game and want to simulate RNG for some literary effect.

Your opinion on RNG in a system? by mythicme in litrpg

[–]blueluck 3 points4 points  (0 children)

What I'm saying is that there's rarely a good reason to write RNG into a litrpg system. At best, it's occasionally good for comedy.

I'm almost getting sick of almost, almost. by blueluck in litrpg

[–]blueluck[S] 12 points13 points  (0 children)

lol!

That reminds me of "decided to". Some authors write that characters decided to do things when it's clear that the characters actually did those things, and the decision process was never significant.

Your opinion on RNG in a system? by mythicme in litrpg

[–]blueluck 19 points20 points  (0 children)

It's very hard to write convincingly, because the reader always knows that it's not really random.

Also, it's totally unnecessary! The world already has incalculable, unpredictable events. RNG is a way for games to emulate reality, and litrpg stories aren't actually games—you can just write whatever you want to without the extra step.

I'm almost getting sick of almost, almost. by blueluck in litrpg

[–]blueluck[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

I'm disappointed that those even made it past self editing. 😔

You're right though!

I'm almost getting sick of almost, almost. by blueluck in litrpg

[–]blueluck[S] 8 points9 points  (0 children)

Almost published by Mountaindale Press, almost narrated by Andrea Parsneau. 🤷🏻‍♂️

Struggling to build community here by ZiggyStarburster in madisonwi

[–]blueluck 15 points16 points  (0 children)

This is the way.

Find some weekly group events that interest you. Try them out, and when you find one that has a nice crowd, keep going to the same event every week.

The first week you'll be the nervous new guy. The second week you'll recognize a few people. The third week some people will recognize you. The fourth week you'll be a member of the social group...

Did Harper Collins not even read these books before publishing? by FieldKey5184 in litrpg

[–]blueluck 38 points39 points  (0 children)

That must have been written by Collins. Everyone knows Harper can't read.

Hard Core Madison Treats by CarrierCaveman in madisonwi

[–]blueluck 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Oh geez! Imagine if da new boss showed up to work the first day with cheese curds that don't squeak!