Book picks similar to
Game Start by Justin Miller
litrpg
fantasy
lit-rpg
sci-fi
Welcome to Ludus
Blaise Corvin - 2016
Their kidnapper, the vain, self-styled god Dolos refuses to send them back unless they can accomplish an impossible task. Oddly, Dolos doesn’t seem to care if they succeed or not.Luckily, Henry and Jason studied Historical European Martial Arts (HEMA) on Earth. Unfortunately, a Japanese American EMT and a geeky IT programmer don’t have many other useful skills on a sword and sorcery world like Ludus.Stranded in the middle of nowhere on an alien world, the friends have no real direction and only a few possessions including magic-granting orbs from an apathetic god. Undaunted, the two begin their insane adventure to return home, but basic survival and eventually paying rent will have to take priority.
You're Not Allowed to Die
Kip Terrington - 2017
In order to make his last weeks of life more palatable, he goes into full digital immersion. This new process will allow him to play in a virtual environment with a fake, but healthy and strong virtual body. As soon as he steps into this new environment he meets his virtual assistant, an Evolving Intelligence (E.I.), who takes the form of someone close to him and goes by the name, Spooky. After explaining how the game will function, she gives him his first items. Before Joe and Spooky can begin playing the game, they are both summoned to a reality where magic is real. Due to the coincidental timing of this event, Joe believes this is all just part of the digital immersion. He is unaware that the summoning has healed his real body, making him now truly young and powerful. As he still believes that he's dying, he lives every moment to the fullest, unaware that he is now a near immortal. What will happen to his assistant, the E.I., once placed in this new reality? Will they survive their new environment or will the myriad of dangers swallow them up?
The Reborn
Edward Brody - 2017
No more 9-to-5 job. No more studio apartment. No more reality TV. Finally, he's in a place where he can call home, a place with people he can call friends. But as more people want to trade their real world lives to get inside Eden's Gate, the government of the outside world wants the "game" shut down at all costs. Gunnar must learn to survive, grow in power and find a way to send a message back to his old home. "We're fine. We're alive. Eden's Gate is real." Eden's Gate is a LitRPG adventure.
Desire, Volume 1
Cameron Milan - 2018
With it, anything becomes possible. The world is changing... and it has yet to be determined if it is for better or worse. Two friends who grew up together, Ace and Vincent, decide to use the tattoo to do what they always dreamed of.
More Than a Game
Andrey Vasilyev - 2014
Tasked with a new assignment, journalist Harriton is given explicit orders to write a series of articles on the Virtual Gaming World of Fayroll and its developers. Harriton grudgingly accepts the assignment but soon finds himself enthralled by the virtual fantasy world and its amazing quests, unpredictable challenges and nearly endless possibilities. As 'Hagen the Warrior', he skeptically enters the fantasy world where the thirst for success and vanity of high-level players in pursuit of legendary objects spills into the real world. Here, high-stakes bets are made on the success of the virtual characters. Events and decisions that Harriton makes in the virtual space as Hagen now start to affect his own reality. More Than a Game will exceed all expectations of fans of epic fantasy fiction and online gaming. His unpredictable character, perseverance and excitement draw the attention of powerful gamers and influential Moscow elite with a devouring interest in Fayroll's outcome. It is not long before he realizes that this fantastic world conceals many dangers. Will he be able to pass all the tests? Start reading now! ****** Andrey Vasilyev is a prominent and acclaimed author that writes intricately crafted, action-packed heroic fantasy and adult epic adventure. Moreover, he is one of the founding fathers of the relatively new, yet insanely popular, LitRPG and Gamelit genres that blends cyberpunk, classic sci-fi and fantasy. His debut novel More Than a Game was chosen the "Best Book of the Year" in 2014 in Russia, the birthplace of LitRPG!
Sigil Online: Paragons
Jeff Sproul - 2016
But when the online persona he'd spent years building, was ripped away by a monster with unbelievable power, everything changed. As a gamer who made a living from Sigil Online, losing his character meant losing his job and any means he had of paying his bills. Now, he had to start from the beginning just like any other player joining Sigil Online for the first time. All the fame and fortune of a high-level character, was gone. Experience the harrowing quest that will leave Riley changed forever, as he's molded by the pursuit of the monster that took everything from him.
The Way of the Clan Book 1
Dem Mikhaylov - 2015
A world where anyone can achieve their greatest dream, and become who they wish – a successful trader, a wise anchorite, a brave warrior or a battle mage who can control disastrous elemental powers. But don’t expect that the path to your dream will be simple! The path to the top is long, if ever you can reach it.
The City and the Dungeon: And Those who Dwell and Delve Within
Matthew P. Schmidt - 2017
Beneath is the Dungeon, a vast underground world, and a source of endless treasure guarded by grotesque and deadly monsters. No one knows where the Dungeon came from, or why.Any who would dare face the dangers and riches of the Dungeon must first be transformed into a delver, a quasi-immortal creature whose every attribute is defined by numbers. Yet, the "immortality" offered is but illusory, for without consuming the crystal found only within the Dungeon, a delver will inevitably die.One young immigrant braves the Dungeon to remit money to his family, only to find much, much more. Friends, power, and secrets of the Dungeon.Perhaps even love.
The Luckless
A.M. Sohma - 2017
Unfortunately for Kit, it only takes one moment to turn the game into a nightmare.When Chronicles of Retha experiences a software malfunction, Kit—a disenchanted veteran player—is stuck in the game without a way to log off. Even worse, she’s trapped playing as the most defective character possible, an elf dancer that was meant to be a prank.Thankfully, she receives word that there is a way out. But the only escape route is to defeat the game’s ultimate villain. Kit, in her joke character, must fight her way through some of the worst Retha has to offer. Her only help is a party of low-leveled players just as powerless as she is, and the occasional act of mercy from one of the best players in the game, the taciturn (and aloof) Solus Miles.Can Kit and her new friends finish the quest, or will Retha be their end?
Sentenced to Troll
S.L. Rowland - 2021
Green. Barbaric. Who says a troll can’t be the hero?You are what you choose to be. And after years of online trolling, Chad has become just that.A troll. A rager. An entertaining asshat.When his online persona finally catches up to him, he's sentenced to thirty days of full-immersion therapy designed to improve his anger issues.In order to experience what it's like on the other side, he's forced to play as a forest troll, a long-hated race in Isle of Mythos.To make matters worse, there are other “heroes” sent to rid the world of evil, each one on their own path of twisted redemption.As Chad embraces the mantle of Chod the Barbarian Forest Troll, he quickly discovers that there's more to troll society than meets the eye, and his rage might be all that stands between them and extinction.Trolling is easy, but being a hero…
The First Player
Andrew Novak - 2017
or a field hand on a farm.And this is Jack, who wants to make his way to a different continent, hidden in the virtual mist.And this is an ancient quest line, buried under new versions of the game.Jack's goal: create his own guild. Buy a ship. And set off on the Great Journey. The journey of his life. The dangerous Gravediggers are not the only ones opposing him. Necromancers from sinister Nightmare, elite alpha-citizens, and relic hunters are only a small fraction of the enemies that the First Player will have to face.In the perilous Wasteland, the drifter Jack finds an abandoned truck, where an old-world game console is hidden. This moment marks the beginning of Jack's path to the lost continent, hidden in the virtual depths of the colossal Alterra. He still isn't aware of the enemies standing in his way. Not only are the guild of Gravediggers and the sinister necromancers of Nightmare against him, but also the secret masters of the game world themselves. The discoveries of ancient quest lines, long buried under new versions of the game, give Jack access to the Dark Service. This is a special branch of character development, which is no longer available in the modern version of the game. Now Jack, the messenger of a great Goddess, possesses a Night Weapon, and is venerated by an entire race of NPCs.Just how will this road end? And it does indeed have an end...
True Smithing
Jared Mandani - 2020
Unfortunately, after one accident too many that leaves the old blacksmith completely disabled, it would seem he has no other choice but to hang up his hammer.However, that would be underestimating the stubbornness of the self-made man. Fearing he’s not going to stop until he ends up dead in his forge, Angus’ children offer him a virtual rig that connects to Imperium Games’ many universes.After choosing a fantasy-based world called Alterwelt, Angus—now known as Hephaestus—quickly learns that he can make use of his lifetime of experience by disabling the Auto function and playing on Manual. His skills allow him to create unique items that beat everything sold on the market. But Hephaestus has a long way to go before he can afford his own in-game forge. Moreover, he only ever learned to work with steel while here he has access to metals as strange and exotic as azuraneum, veridium, orichalcum…Still, that might be the least of his problems. After he’s made a few sales and starts to get some recognition, Hephaestus realizes that there’s a reason the market is oversaturated with crappy items. As it turns out, a greedy guild enforces a monopoly on the crafting and they’re ready to do anything to keep anyone—lest of all a lone blacksmith—from digging into their profits…
First Login
Kevin Murphy - 2017
People seek out escapes through countless avenues, but when the product is extra time to live—within an emerging digital world—everyone’s a customer. Game capsules transport players to a new world where time is perceived far more slowly. Why study for eight hours in the real world when you could get it all done in a single hour? Why work slowly? Why relax that way? Following this mentality, Chronicle has become more than a game for governments, businesses, and players alike. When Corbin Landrick, an unlucky but hardworking guy, finally gets his hands on a ChronPod, he jumps headfirst into his second life. While he struggles to plant both feet firmly on the ground in a world of magic and monsters, he finds out that virtual reality is what you make of it.
Memories
Stephan Morse - 2015
All he wishes for is a distraction from the thoughts plaguing his waking hours. He dives in headfirst, unknowing of the AIs intentions. They offer him the chance to play as one of their own, a NPC deserving of a proper send off. What he discovers during the journey shakes Grant to his very core.