The first fictional piece of writing is thought to be the Epic of Gilgamesh, a supernatural story written about a Sumerian king with god-like powers around five thousand years ago. In the time since them, fiction writing has come a long way and has split down many different paths. Crime, fantasy, romance and horror stories have graced our bookshelves for centuries now, but the evolution of genre continues. In recent years, a new breed of fictional literature has emerged thanks to humanity’s advances in technology giving a whole new setting to explore. A novel of this new genre is known colloquially as a LitRPG.
LitRPG is a shortened form of Literary Role Playing Game. Fans of the gaming industry will know that the term RPG is thrown around for a lot of games, from Dungeons & Dragons to World of Warcraft. The premise of the term is that the player can make their own choices within the game in terms of their equipment, appearance and skills. A LitRPG follows this same premise, but follows and details the adventure of one or more characters within the system. In short, A LitRPG is a story about a video game character. This explains why they’re a more recent addition to my bookshelf, as they couldn’t exist before video games were possible and mainstream.
One of the interesting and unique features of this genre is the ability to break the fourth wall of the game. As the main character is usually aware of the fact that they are in a video game, they can draw inspiration from real life and apply it to the virtual world. A character facing an army of goblins could recall tactics from the Napoleonic War, and would know that eating random mushrooms probably isn’t a good idea even if the game does not explicitly tell them that. It is an interesting blend of non-fiction knowledge being included into an entirely fictional world.
The other interesting feature of a LitRPG, and something I am very fond of as a game developer, is the inclusion of game mechanics as part of the narrative. In a normal story, the main character might slay a dragon and feel stronger from the experience. In a LitRPG, that character would gain numerical bonuses. They might level up, gain experience points towards their skills or gain a set level of reputation that effects how other’s in the virtual world see them. It adds structure to fantastical worlds in ways that are already understood by many through the medium of video games, and uses this structure to show how the story and characters are progressing. The style of writing not only allows the reader to experience the thoughts of the main character, but also to clearly see the numbers and statistics that make them who they are.
While admittedly nerdy, I have been having a huge amount of fun exploring this genre. They provide a breath of fresh are while also allowing me to live out those high fantasy adventures I crave so much. If you’re a fan of RPG games as I am, I highly recommend checking some of these books out. As for me, I’ve written down plans for creating my own at some point, so keep an eye out for updates.
Featured image is from The Chaos Seeds series by Aleron King, as was painted by Valeriia Korzhova.
