Book picks similar to
Becoming the Orc Chieftain by E.M. Hardy


litrpg
fantasy
litrpg-gamelit
sci-fi-and-fantasy

The Scout of Artemis


Gregg Horlock - 2017
    An escape from reality, a place of plentiful loot and dark powers, drawing would-be heroes from across the world. After his brother's accident, Chris is holding the family together. When he runs into money troubles, he finds an answer in an unlikely place. It's a land of adventure, fighting, spells, and skills. Most importantly, somewhere fortunes can be made. Chris is going to the new island of Artemis, but it won't be simple. The developers have created Artemis with the toughest of adventurers in mind, and nobody knows what happens there at night.... He chooses a less-popular class: scout. If he's to survive, he'll need to learn new powers, battle monsters, forge alliances, and most of all, discover how to master the game. Chris will need his wits and his courage if he's to beat the game and become the Scout of Artemis.

Planet Bound


R.A. Mejia - 2018
    Unfortunately, the transport ship he chose is attacked by pirates and he ends up stranded on an unknown planet where the very air is toxic to him. Now John has to team up with the ship’s AI and the two have to survive on this hostile alien world and figure out some way to get off the planet or get a message out for help. Can they overcome their dwindling resources, alien life forms, and hostile space forces? Or will they die together, planet bound? This is a sci-fi survival story with augmented reality, a snarky AI, upgrade mechanics, resource gathering, crafting, alien creatures, and space pirates.

The Sequestered Seminary of Sawtorn (Zectas #5)


John Nest - 2016
    There, he hopes to find a miracle. As the Brotherhood of Beggars informed him that a Thaumaturge may live there, in the form of the true Magietrois. However, Smoke's quest for his friends' resurrection is on constrained time. Duke Burmistrz of Centzo City plans to attack Verbrannt within a year's time.

Civilization: Barbarians: A 4X lit novel


Tim Underwood - 2019
    It would be my job to guide them from these inauspicious beginnings to glory and greatness. Of course I signed up. Barbarians keep attacking, and they are literally cannibals, I can’t talk to anyone directly so I’m getting lonely, and I’m terrified that I’ll make a mistake, and everyone in the settlement will die horribly. But still, this is way better than any video game.

Sages Of The Underpass


Aaron Michael Ritchey - 2019
    Thanks to his damaged core and crazy family, he never stood a chance anyway. With money, fame, and untold power on the line, the corporations decide who wins. End of story.But when a mysterious group, calling themselves the Sages of the Underpass, threaten to upend the entire system with their unorthodox training and cultivation methods, Niko soon learns that what was once a handicap might be his greatest asset. The only thing standing in his way is a bitter, hard-hearted veteran, who would like nothing more than to see Niko stay in his place. Right at the bottom.Rocky meets Dragon Ball Z in this underdog redemption story from Dragon Award Finalist Aaron Michael Ritchey. Sages of the Underpass is an epic blend of Urban Fantasy, Cultivation, and Magical MMA that captures the passion, the power, and the perseverance it takes to follow your dreams—no matter what kind of artist you are.

Heroes of Last Resort


JK Galioto - 2021
    

Asgard's Fall


Robert Hinshaw - 2020
    Even the danger of the experimental full immersion technology didn’t put him off. It beat living in a nursing home and was supposed to let him feel young again, at least until modern medicine and his body gave out.But there was something wrong with Asgard’s Fall. The “gods” running the game didn’t act like AIs were supposed to most of the time. And some of the players took things too seriously, like they knew something about the game that Noah didn’t. Forced to rely on skills he abandoned a lifetime ago and new digital abilities that resemble ancient magics more than modern code, Noah has to unravel the mysteries behind Asgard’s Fall. And in doing so, discover an ancient threat that has forced a world long hidden from mankind into the light.

The Stone Tree


Thomas K. Carpenter - 2020
    Stuck in the unrelenting wilderness of the Rockleaf Forest and tracked by a dangerous Spirit Bear, Terran must find a way to survive.Realizing this world is nothing like he expected, Terran must push himself to develop new skills, find a way to reunite with his friends, and defeat the hidden forces moving quickly to destroy his new home.

Initiate


Jon Auerbach - 2018
    [Author's note: If you're visiting this page looking for Guild of Tokens, entered in SPFBO5, go here instead: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/4...Initiate was released last year and only contains the first section of the book.]

Path of the Necromancer


Deck Davis - 2019
    In an RPG-like world, he makes his magic stronger by practising his spells and using them in clever ways. When he takes his first academy assignment, he finds trouble. Cut off from the protection of the academy and in a hostile land, he'll have to improvise if he wants to survive.  He needs to level up, learn new spells, and use them in creative ways. Necromancers have the power to cheat death...but that doesn't mean they can escape it.Read Path of the Necromancer now!

Ascension


B.F. Rockriver - 2020
    For Eli Miller, it was never a choice.Most of Eli’s life has been spent running, doing everything in his power to protect his family. His world is plagued by war, wild magic, and unimaginable monsters. But none of these threats are more dangerous than the immortal beings known as Adventurers. They are players and Entarra is their game. Its citizens aren’t real. Yet, to the billions of near-sentient AI that live there, the game world is the only one they will ever know. It is where they are born, live, and die. Eli is no different. After being attacked with a strange weapon, Eli awakens as the thing he fears most: an adventurer. Struggling to cope with his new reality, he finds himself in the middle of the most nefarious plot of all: His world, and everything he loves, is about to be deleted.

The Wrathic


Jason Kucharik - 2018
    Governments have been abolished. Weapons have been systematically removed from society. Most diseases have been cured. Adam has a rare disease that will soon claim his life. Spending most of his remaining time in the VR world Asphodel, he's discovered something unbelievable. The ability to transfer human consciousness into the game. Upon choosing the Shifter Class, Adam becomes the first known character to obtain the transformative powers of a Wrathic, Asphodel's version of a Wyvern. When the word gets out to three billion users that he could be the key to living inside the game permanently, he'll need all the help he can get to survive.

Raiya: Early Game - A LitRPG Saga: Archon's Chosen, Book Two


Russell Wilbinski - 2019
    Joining the fiery Captain Fenna Lis and her no-nonsense first mate Hawkins, Skree finds plenty of opportunities to grow in skill and strength. With few options available to him, Skree must provide a haven for his friends and the last survivors of the Kobold race. Luckily, Captain Fenna knows just the right guy to solve their problem, but it won't be easy. Or cheap. Will Skree and Priestess be able to find a home of their own, and if they do, will they be able to protect it from harm in the harsh world of Raiya? Who are the mysterious servants of Abrenacht and why do they want him dead? Can Skree overcome these challenges, level up and beat the game so he can return to his own world? But a bigger question lurks at the back of his mind: Does he even want to go home?

Wrong Divinity: Oh Sh*t! I F*cking Hate Spiders!


Dustin Tigner - 2021
    Souls are durable things, you see, like kids: they bounce.And bounce he did, into the abyss between worlds, drifting until one excited soul watcher fished him out and found him a new home, a heaven for gamers and nerds and everything in between.It was all he could have ever wanted in the afterlife, down to choosing his class, killing mobs, and exploring a beautiful, fantasy world chock full of mysteries yet to be discovered.At least . . . it would have been those things if that first day had gone a little, tiny bit differently.Instead, he now finds himself locked in the middle of an eternal conflict between light and shadow—humans and monsters—potentially being the enemy to all.Wrong Divinity is the start of a new GameLit series that balances comedy with serious themes. It's an isekai, a portal fantasy, to the spirit realm. Join Dhane, our underdog, as he explores his new world, a world full of unique characters, RPG mechanics, and spiders—ugly, terrifying spiders—while he learns what it means to be an Arachnomancer.

Master of None


Shane Walker - 2019
    He's pretty much always been broke. A misspent youth led to mistakes which led to convictions and plea deals. No career, no education, no hope. Now he has a chance to make things right for him and his family when the newest immersive MMO comes with the ability to convert money earned in the game into real currency. Well, it's cryptocurrency but that's real-ish, right? Seeing an opportunity, Alex joins The Realms as Jack Alltrades, looking to make money any way he can. He may be a Master of None, but he's determined to learn every way possible to make money and turn his life around. Along the way, he'll find answers to important questions like: Can he win Employee of the Month? Do gnomes dream of electric sheep? How many kobolds does it take to swing a pickaxe? Can NPCs commit tax fraud? OK, maybe he won't answer most of those, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't come follow the high margin adventures of Jack Alltrades!