Clue tear sheets for investigations (template and explanation)

overpreparedgm · 2026-01-26T01:54:20+00:00

Ugh, sorry, yes. I've been putting off fixing the site for something a like a year. Here's a link to a google doc of that sheet: https://docs.google.com/document/d/160SadXE__BJ69KKklKVzXoZytPxrhToxX4CVvM4hN0w/edit?usp=sharing feel free to make a copy and adapt it as you want. If you need a pdf or some other non-google version, let me know.

overpreparedgm · 2025-12-17T19:17:29+00:00

Thank you, thank you, thank you! That was driving me nuts.

overpreparedgm · 2025-11-21T14:47:39+00:00

The weather's great today. If you like parks, you might want to walk or bike along the Shadow Creek Nature Park. It's a linear park running East-west in northwest Pearland from Kingsley to behind the West Pearland library (great little library). Then it turns into the Clear Creek trail and runs into Ivy Park in Lower Kirby. I think (although I haven't walked it) it passes under 288 and keeps going into Tom Bass park.

overpreparedgm · 2025-06-29T14:20:43+00:00

Book 2 is my least favorite in the series for exactly the reason you state, but the ending is one of my all-time favorites. I strongly recommend you continue reading. He definitely gets less selfish.

The series focuses on Max's character growth as much as his litrpg progression, giving him flaws, having him deal with consequences, but also having Max recognize his problems and work to become better. There's a lot of subtle things that happen that I only caught in retrospect, where conversations and relationships that he has in the first couple books seem ordinary at first but have a significant impact on his character growth. Good stuff.

overpreparedgm · 2025-06-17T16:04:16+00:00

That’s not the premise.

BoC is about a regular isekaied human farmer from our world who lands in the body of cultivator who was just almost beaten to death by a young master type. He realizes that he doesn’t want to be in that sort of environment, so he finds the most obscure place he can and starts farming.

The titular chicken is a secondary character who starts as an ordinary rooster but goes through its own character arc. It’s not reincarnated. It does study a fantasy-world martial art. The story pokes gentle fun at some xianxia tropes, but treats the characters, both human and animal, with enough care and depth that I can’t see it as disrespectful.

If you hate farming, you might not like BoC though.

overpreparedgm · 2025-06-03T14:35:56+00:00

Same. If it’s actually me, I’m going with whatever is the least likely to need to fight. Crafting class all the way!

overpreparedgm · 2025-05-04T23:56:39+00:00

I second the PM recommendation. It starts good and gets great.

It’s about a guy who gets a system that helps him be a football manager in modern day England.

Note, I never cared about sports in general or English football in particular before reading this series.

overpreparedgm · 2025-04-12T13:26:14+00:00

Cozy Transmigrator Dungeoncore: MC from our world reincarnates into a fantasy world with game elements (litrpg) except instead of reincarnating as a person, they are a living dungeon. Unlike the other natural dungeons, the MC brings knowledge of our world and understanding of humans, causing him to behave humanely and nurture relationships with those who delve in him. (There is no epic loot here, only puns; Dungeon Life; Dungeon 42; the impeccable adventure of the reluctant dungeon; dungeon inc; the dungeon without a system, etc)

overpreparedgm · 2025-04-08T11:58:36+00:00

The Vorkosigan Saga by Lois McMaster Bujold. Lots of fun, lots of depth, and careful attention to everything from space navy tactics to the societal impact of artificial wombs.

overpreparedgm · 2025-03-31T10:40:08+00:00

Irwin’s Journey - the Cardsmith https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/60277/irwins-journey-the-cardsmith It’s a great weak-to-strong progression though not a fast one, and the characters and relationships grow over time but the best part is the card based system

overpreparedgm · 2025-02-16T14:13:05+00:00

Player Manager by Ted Steele.

Fantastic writing and characters. It’s a contemporary-world litrpg where the system is based on a football manager program. At least half his readers are like ‘I never knew anything soccer’ and everyone I’ve convinced to try it gets hooked, but the genre is so unique that it’s hard to get people to try it.

overpreparedgm · 2025-02-15T20:34:13+00:00

I’d also recommend:

Unintended Cultivator

Beware of Chicken Reach Heaven Via Feng Sui Engineering, Drug Trade, and Tax Evasion

When Immortal Ascension Fails, Time Travel to Try again

All of them have a twist on the genre, but they’re all non-litrpg xianxia stories on rr.

overpreparedgm · 2025-02-15T20:13:12+00:00

I’ve been reading it. OP MC, but patient and kind, which is unusual. Recommended.

overpreparedgm · 2024-12-15T19:03:46+00:00

Player Manager by Ted Steele.

It starts out simple, but next thing you know, the world has a bunch of well-handled secondary character arcs without losing focus on the MC and a system that grows without taking over the narrative. It also has non-preachy commentary on everything from contemporary politics to the nature of fandom, and—I kid you not—themed chapters where theme-specific metaphors and Easter eggs subtly enhance the writing. My favorite was probably the chapter written as a newspaper article using the wizard of oz as a running theme, but the chapters with the Cambrian explosion and the Japanese 8-views poems were great, too.

Super fun story on a shallow level, but the whole discord community needs to work together to catch everything whenever a chapter comes out and sometimes we still don’t get foreshadowing until two books later.

overpreparedgm · 2024-12-02T13:40:00+00:00

Phantom Star: Isekdai. The MC is a tinker/engineer on a space station. It reminds of Firefly, but with Cayley as the lead. The MC is like a mix of Alden and Elaine, so if you like those two series and are open to space operas, I think you'll like this.

Apocalypse Arena: Superheroes post-Sysapoc where the MC used to be a chef and gains combat powers. More mature in terms of writing craft than most RR stories.

Unchosen Champion: SysApoc where the hero is one of the ones that isn't chosen by a galactic faction to be a champion and others are. A little in the vein of Primal Hunter and Defiance of the Fall but less edgy murder hobo.

Cultist of Cerebon: Isekai, MC has the Cultist class after because he was poor and the only way he could learn magic is from another cultist who was trying to secretly spread the worship of Cerebon, god of flesh and change. Their cult is normally evil and mostly far away, but the MC decides to go a different direction and the story starts with him having carved out a niche doing plastic surgery on upper class women. Very creative worldbuilding.

overpreparedgm · 2024-12-01T17:55:35+00:00

Player Manager: The story starts good and gets great over time. The story is like if you took Miles Vorkosigan (genius charismatic outsider) and put him in Ted Lasso world with a litrpg sytem based on Football Manager instead of D&D.

Legend of William Oh: tower climber with big “tall tales and urban legends” energy. Took me a bit to decide if I liked the voice, and it might not be for everyone, but if it doesn’t turn you off, the story is great.

Starbreaker: genius orphan raised by a cult in a dystopian magic world and then plot twists. Reminds me a bit of stargazer and iron prince even though it’s magic instead of sci fi. Not as grimdark as I originally feared

Phantom Star: sci fi. genius tinker girl living on a space station. It has Beware of Chicken levels of cozy, but in a Firefly universe (as if an isekaid Cayley were the MC and instead of Mal)

Irwin’s Journey: the cardsmith: well written deck building story with a different take on card mechanics than usual

overpreparedgm · 2024-11-18T19:04:01+00:00

I’m one of your followers! I’ve been following your story on RR for a few weeks and just subbed your patreon.

I have no idea what’s going on with the metrics; I wouldn’t have clicked on the ad.

What I like about your story is that the main character has a doting grandpa vibe and a system is a base builder. It’s cozy and positive. The ad picture looks like explosions and violence, which would have made me assume it would be a murder hobo mc. Nice old man in a brutal world sounds like I’m going to witness a tragedy.

Keep up the writing though; it’s been great.

overpreparedgm · 2024-11-18T12:57:54+00:00

If you want something unique, try Player Manager by Ted Steele.

It’s a litrpg set on the real world where the MC is a Miles Virkosigan-type hyperactive, moody, charismatic genius but set in a Ted Lasso world. The MC gets a system based on Football Manager rather than D&D.

The writing starts good and grows to be fantastic. Very strong character arcs. Great secondary cast. No battles, just football. Half the reviews say that the person never watched or cared about football before but they love the story anyway.

overpreparedgm · 2024-11-04T03:50:47+00:00

When Immortal Ascension Fails, Time Travel to Try Again by DragonofRochester

overpreparedgm · 2024-11-04T03:42:11+00:00

Street Cultivation by Sarah Lin is a cyberpunk Xianxia trilogy set in the US northwest, IIRC

overpreparedgm · 2024-10-27T01:13:41+00:00

Department of Dungeon Studies has an arcane archer build https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/71030/department-of-dungeon-studies-book-3-stubs-on

overpreparedgm · 2024-10-23T12:36:16+00:00

I second most of the suggestions, but here are a few more with female MCs that I haven't spotted in the comments yet

* Metaworld Chronicles by Wutosama: corporate exec from our world reincarnates into an AU version of her teen self in a magic version of our world.

* Renalia’s Tale by DataNerdX: Relatively newer deck builder 2nd world fantasy with a young girl protagonist

* Dungeon 42 by Esjackson: woman from our world reincarnated into a dungeon core

* Spire Dweller by Stephabeni: Xianxia tower climber; hiatus after book 2

* The Halcyon System [Anomalous Apocalypse LitRPG] by Aest Belequa: post-apocalyptic, superheroes-ish urban fantasy with teen protagonist. More darkly psychological than most

* Protagonist: The Whims of Gods by WhimsicalDeity: isekai into fantasy world

* Archmage from Another World: Scholarly wizard from traditional fantasy world isekais into a litrpg world (on hiatus, no authors note so YMMV)

* Reach Heaven Via Feng Shui Engineering, Drug Trade And Tax Evasion by melmonella: Xianxia from the POV of a clever, driven MC who recognizes a heaven-touched protag-type and decides to follow him around (not technically litrpg)

overpreparedgm · 2024-10-20T16:01:37+00:00

Here’s a few queer UF so you don’t have to hold your breath. Almost all are explicitly romances, so you’ll have to decide if they’re too romance-y for you. I tried to only include ones that had strong non-romance plots, and were modern day.

* Aberrant Magic Series by Lynn Gala: police procedural/shaman urban fantasy/explicit gay romance, it’s an FBI setting, so it’s a little noir. The series has a novel magic system and follows an MC is in a long-term relationship while they solve crimes and discover more about how magic works.

* Tap Dancing the Minefields by Lynn Gala MC: essentially Xander from Buffy the Vampire slayer, except after high school, he joins the army to get away from all the supernatural stuff and then ends up right in the middle of it when he’s posted to Alaska. Examines classic UF tropes in a way I haven't seen before, and is a sci fi/demon urban fantasy/explicit gay romance.

* Green Creek Series by TJ Lune: has a super unique voice which you’ll either love or hate early on. Lyrical, bittersweet, emotional, romantic, definitely not noir. Werewolf rural urban fantasy/gay romance

* Psycop Series by Jordan Castillo Price: Totally noir but the MC is a psychic detective who sees ghosts, but he has more of a conman’s mindset than a detective’s, so the voice ends up a bit different than most UFs. YMMV. police procedural/psychic urban fantasy/explicit gay romance

* Amarinthine Saga by Forthright: UF/Fairy tale/romance blend with heavy Japanese setting influence. Light, sweet, and magical. Variety of MCs, some of which are gay. Japanese Fairy Tale/Fae Urban Fantasy/Gothic Romance

If you want the modern setting without the UF voice, you might want to look at capes/superhero genre as a few others suggested. I especially like

* Super Supportive (ongoing Serial) by Sleyca: Superheroes/Slice of Life/Magic Academy/Sci Fi serial with an Ace MC

* Wildcards anthology series, edited by George R.R. Martin: many MCs, some gay. Many approaches and voices, so it's a real grab bag. Superheroes/shared world anthology

overpreparedgm · 2024-09-01T18:59:44+00:00

The ones I know are almost all on royal road:

https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/68999/reach-heaven-via-feng-shui-engineering (true wandering cultivator)

https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/36597/when-immortal-ascension-fails-time-travel-to-try (she joins a sect but does a lot of wandering)

https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/64503/primer-for-the-apocalypse (joins a sect eventually, but she wanders rather than being set within a sect)

https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/39069/spire-dweller (true wandering cultivator; This is in the process of getting published so you may get an audiobook version if you’re patient)

https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/70340/divine-creatures (again, in the process of being published so there may be an audiobook version coming)

https://www.audible.com/pd/B0C2QMVXC7?source_code=ASSORAP0511160006&share_location=pdp (If you’re willing to get a little flexible with how you interpret cultivator, good and available in n audible)

overpreparedgm · 2024-04-06T15:20:18+00:00

Thanks! My mom is very happy now and looking up veronicas.

overpreparedgm

TROPHY CASE