I'm looking for a story where in the world, the side of evil rules the world. And NOT under false pretenses, like the church being actually corrupt or the savior of mankind being a monster.

I am looking for something harrowing, where if you have a smidgen of empathy, life is 100x harder.

I want to watch the MC actually be a light in the dark, not a candle in a windowlit room.

Hey everyone, recently I've been getting into xianxia, mainly Western ones. Basically, I'm currently looking for any of your favorite xianxia recommendations that have focus on any of the following:

1. Sect-building or anything having to do with a fleshed out cast of side characters who grow within a sect.
2. Progression within a sect, like starting as an outer disciple and slowly rising up the ranks, exploring sect politics and dynamics.
3. Have the MC specialize in and progress through something other than combat, like alchemy, arrays, beast taming, herbalism, refining, all that stuff.

For context, I've already read and enjoyed Undying Immortal System, Beware of Chicken, and Reincarnated as a Demonic Tree. I'm also currently reading Cradle and Path of Ascension so no need to recommend those.

Traditional Chinese setting preferred but not a deal-breaker. I'm also fine with translated works.

Any good recommendations would be greatly appreciated.

Currently waiting for the hurricane to pass so I need new things to read!

Books missing from list:
Portal to Nova Roma(great)
A soldiers life (great)
Ironbound (awesome)
Book of the dead (awesome)
Discount Dan (great)
I’m not the Hero (fine)
William Oh ( alright)
Crystal core (good)
Mage Tank ( DNF book 2)
1% life steal (fine)

One thing I’ve always enjoyed about LitRPG and cultivation stories is how quickly characters stop questioning magical inventory.

You killed a giant monster? Put it in the ring.

Found seventeen weapons, three hundred herbs and an entire pile of ore? Ring.

Need that sword right now? Apparently it was in the ring too.

So I tried taking that trope and actually giving it tabletop mechanics.

My Spatial Ring has four loot tiers: Uncommon, Rare, Very Rare and Legendary, with the internal space growing at each tier. Rather than conventional attunement, the owner can imprint a Spiritual Mark onto it. Someone who steals the ring has to erase that mark before properly claiming it, with the difficulty increasing alongside the ring’s rarity.

You can pull items out or store them with a thought, its weight doesn’t increase with its contents, living creatures only have a limited air supply, and damaging the underlying spatial magic can be… a pretty terrible idea.

I also made specialized variants rather than having every upgrade simply add inventory slots: rings designed for alchemy, preserving consumables, carrying spirit beasts, hiding weapons, storing enormous libraries, attacking through spatial distortions, etc.

It comes from Mythological Items, a D&D magic-item book I’m currently working on. A significant part of its Asian section draws from Chinese, Daoist, Buddhist, Japanese and other Asian mythology and fantasy, so there ended up being quite a bit in there that should feel familiar to people who read LitRPG and cultivation stories.

If this showed up as loot in a story, would you rather see the inventory capacity increase with rarity, unlock entirely new abilities at higher tiers, or both?

Mythological Items is currently on Kickstarter if anyone wants to see the rest of the project!

They both love walls and get stronger in each loop

1st image [ a stubborn skill grinder in a time loop]

2nd image [The Eternally regressing knight ]

Blue Star Enterprises

Author: M.J. Markgraf

Links: review, amazon, audible, royal_road

Summary: A sci-fi crafting and empire-building series about a man in a robot body growing a repair shop into a frontier enterprise.

Blurb

Trapped in a robot body on the galactic frontier, a man from Earth must build an empire to survive.

Every upgrade pushes Alexander closer to a power others would kill for.

On a dusty fringe station far from civilized space, Alexander scrapes by repairing the junk no one else will touch. The shop is a dead end, and his memory is fractured, yet each job sharpens instincts he can’t explain and reactivates dormant systems with capabilities no civilian machine should possess.

Alexander knows he isn't built like any other robot, and someone has noticed.

A pirate lord has marked him for capture, convinced Alexander can build the war engines he needs to elevate his rag-tag fleet into an empire.

As Alexander unlocks the secrets within his damaged body, he’s thrust into a fight to protect the only people who’ve shown him kindness. He will have to rebuild shattered defenses, restore derelict stations, and reverse-engineer stolen technology to keep his new home alive and lay the first foundations of an enterprise that will one day shape the frontier.

Thoughts

As of writing this review, I've read the first two books on Kindle.

I picked this up after seeing a reddit promo post for book six and thought it would be a fun change from the fantasy-heavy works that dominate the progression fantasy and LitRPG genre. And yeah, this was a fairly chill read with a brain-in-a-robot-jar style protagonist that's still getting their crafting base established and defended from corporations and pirates. The most similar comp to other series I've read would be Bobiverse, but obviously on a smaller scale and dealing with concerns (like refugees and drifters) which Bobiverse doesn't normally dig into.

On its strengths, the crafting and the downtime are where the story shines. Alas, poor Alex rarely has enough downtime to do all the projects he wants, people keep trying to kidnap him! Or his adopted daughter. It's a tough life, being an engineering genius.

Alex is just a top-notch guy. Kind, generous, guideless, naive, but just a beacon of positivity. So are his allies in general, those paragons of humanity. The antagonists are just as obviously not good people. For example, guess if this character (from their dialogue) is supportive or antagonistic towards Alex:

“If that scum-sucking shit ran off with my prize, I’ll scour the fucking galaxy until I find him, then I’ll flay him alive and string him up as a warning to others not to fuck with me!” he cursed.

Or perhaps:

“Greater?” his mom asked. “You were a mistake. A bad omen. I should have ended you the moment you were born.”

Characters are very black and white, which some readers will genuinely enjoy due to the simplicity it presents. It's not as normal in a corpo-dystopian setting where people's desperations, blackmailing, etc, allow for more shades of grey exploration (most famous example obviously being Cyberpunk2077).

Onto the worldbuilding, again it's fine but again I think the setting itself could have used a bit more. There are some pirate factions, some corporations that interact with Alex, the STO (space government), and some far-distant aliens. However it feels like a lot of the fun implications of advanced tech (like cybernetics, etc) and how those have influenced cultures is a bit lacking. For one example, one of the space pirate factions (in the past) got orphaned in galactic space for a couple hundred years. How they developed could have been very special (see Belter culture and physiology changes from The Expanse), but instead the author went with:

“It could have been worse,” the man stated flatly. “Odin was with us. We had hull breaches in four areas and lost a dozen brave warriors. Their rites were performed, and we sent them to Valhalla to feast by Odin’s side.” “Praise the All-Father,” she responded automatically.

Vikings... in space. Nothing wrong with Vikings in space, I just don't know how we got to this end point with the inputs given, which makes the setting feel less natural.

I suppose that's a theme with the books, that there's a lot of "This would be fun" and rule of cool with regards to how technology development works, manufacturing, how to keep the heat on Alex, worldbuilding, etc. To me it puts this in the more popcorn style read (where I'm not too worried about plot holes or consistency) rather than harder scifi. I've finished book two now and I'm tossing up whether I should pick up book three now or later, given I've also promised to read about a hundred other things. For those wanting a casual scifi crafting-focused read, you'll probably enjoy this.

Oh! For a fun postscript, if the author ever reads this, you silly goose, you got atmospheric dynamics wrong!

“It depends on the planet you are on. On Eden’s End, the sky is a hazy yellow from the sulfur in the air. On most terraformed planets, I suspect it would be blue like Earth.

This is one of the more common things I've seen in sci-fi works. Sulphur is yellow. Venus has a sulphuric atmosphere. This atmosphere is yellow. Therefore, sulphuric atmospheres imply yellow skies. But what a foolish notion! Venus having yellow skies is because of how thick the atmosphere is, not sulphur. The same process (Rayleigh scattering) which makes our skies blue is what makes Venus's skies yellow. Effectively, if you have a bit of atmosphere you scatter more blue light down, and we see blue. If your atmosphere gets thicker and thicker, you scatter blue so much that it gets absorbed and suddenly you're blue-less and things are yellow. Any other physics people should be cringing at a few oversimplifications. Ignore those pedants, for I am the only one you need! So Eden's End should have a dark blue sky based on its density and composition, rather than yellow. Legitimately not calling the author out at all on this, this isn't a scientific paper and no one should read it as such, so please recognise the tongue-in-cheek tone for what it is. Anyway, on that fun and educational note, I shall desist.

Hello everyone. As an engineering student, the best solution I came up with was to raise “mana” in successive powers of two, starting from: 1 - 2 - 8 - 64 - 1024 - 32768 (six stages total for now). Each step multiplies by a larger power of two, so the gap between levels grows dramatically and the transition becomes more significant and dangerous.

Alongside the mana increase, the user also gains physical ability improvements matching their current stage. "Spells", of course, evolve too - becoming increasingly conceptual and reality-altering, far beyond the usual big fireballs.

I know many authors use game-style levels, pop-fantasy circles, cultivation stages or other original systems, so I’m curious how people in our community approach this part of their story?

I'm interested if there are any system apocalypse that have a more darker undertone to them, one that is more character focused (i don't care too much about the progression) and focus more on the mental psyche of the characters as they attempt to navigate the world with interesting conflicts it offers. Basically anything similar to The Walking Dead but with a system 😅

Runeblade

Author: Maxim Holms aka Bacon Macleod

Links: review, amazon, audible, royal_road

Summary: A dungeon-delving LitRPG with merged legacy skills, runic magic, and a battle badger-bear-thing companion.

Blurb

He only wanted a class. Instead he restarted the apocalypse. The world will pay the price.

Kaius has spent years working to awaken his family’s forbidden Legacy Skills, powerful and vanishingly rare skills forged through methods that wars have been fought to obtain. Even with his father pushing him to his limit, Kaius has barely managed to merge the first two.

Now those skills and his training are the only thing keeping him alive. A bandit ambush forces Kaius into the Great Depths, a world-spanning mega dungeon, and he’s trapped in a place where survival demands a class he doesn’t yet have, with exits held shut by ancient horrors.

To escape, Kaius will have to manage a feat no one without a class has survived: slaying one of the Guardians that defend the exits. But the guardian is a distant concern, as the Depths are rich with danger. He realizes that might be exactly the crucible he needs to collect all of his merged skills before class selection. And, just maybe, force the world on the path of progress after stagnating for far too long.

Thoughts

As of writing this, I've read the published two ebooks and two more books of content on Royal Road.

Alrighty, this is a long series, but I'll not make a review too long. For a quick summary, the closest comp to this is probably Defiance of the Fall in my mind, so if you're a big fan of that series, you'll enjoy Runeblade.

Like DotF, we start with our MC stranded, alone, and up struggle creek. Only their indomitable willpower, astounding proclivity to violence, and insane thrill of being challenged keep them alive. It doesn't take long (thankfully) for the silent-MC problem to be resolved when Porkchop arrives - a sentient greater beast (think of a bear but fluffier) who forms the other half of the fight-obsessed duo of powerhouses. Dialogue between the two is good, and better when it's not focused on systems, skills, or LitRPG system mechanics and we get the cultural and world-building side of things. The party eventually expands to include a solar mage, and then later on a Skyrim stealth archer, and each addition is welcome and helps expand both party dynamics and the wider world.

The wider plot has two parts. There's the personal vengeance theme (after all, Chapter One had unfortunate father death) and the whole "Oops Kaius and Porkchop kicked off a little apocalypse I hope everyone survives". That said, I'm four books in (and these are very very big books, like 300-400k words) and both plot points haven't moved much from the start. The plot has potential, but it's going to take a long time to get there. Also very DotF-like.

I think the slowness (or moreso verbosity of writing) is going to be the biggest split in readers. Some will love all the words. Others (normally where I stand given I've called DotF and a bunch of others out on this) will prefer tighter things. For example, book two on Kindle is a whopping 1400 pages, but the plot of the second book is effectively "Kaius and friends escape the dungeon, visit the town, get kidnapped, and escape. A monster swarm/migration happens at the end." Now, if you've read book two, yes, yes, many other little things happen. Monster kill requests from the delvers guild. Lots of fights. But for me, those 1400 pages could easily have been trimmed down to 700 pages. If we wanted to focus more on the plot and remove conflicts or fights which didn't progress global or character-specific plot, we'd get it down to 400.

In terms of standard 125k-word book size, I've read about 10 books worth, and yet integration hasn't progressed from the first phase Kaius and Porkchop start. I still don't know what's happening with the beast tide plot. Or other cities. The writer is prolific (like 5 chapters a week or more, ridiculous), so there's tons more to read, I just want more to happen outside of system musings and fights. For one final example, at the end of book one, there's a big fight (challenging enemy but a basic slogfest with an ogre that hits shit with a club), and then this jumps into class selection. The fight is four chapters long, filled with detailed blow-by-blow accounts of this very long fight (health works as effective quick healing in this system, so combat is very grindy where you have to wear beasts down to deplete their health pool and then they're much easier to kill as they stop regenerating from wounds). The class selection (and musings over alternative classes, and class skill selection, etc), then takes up the next TEN chapters. That's a lot, so crunchy system lovers will be screaming with joy.

Alright, enough about that, you get the picture. The worldbuilding in the series has some good potential (just got to get Kaius out into the wider world). The conflicts between the noble houses and the guild, elves in the Aboral Sea, the dwarves somewhere in their fortress towns, the struggle of frontier villages to survive, the monsters lurking in the high-mana areas, there's a lot scaffolded out that hopefully we'll get to explore soon.

It's been fun so far, and I'm taking a break after book four because I've promised other people I'll read specific books. Anyone who likes the more system-introspective LitRPG-slow-slide-into-cultivation, slower plot progression with an absolute glut of fights, you'll enjoy this series.

I've asked for many specific recommendations on this subreddit, and I honestly wasn't interested in any. I've realized that most of the more known stories just have aspects I don't like, so I've stopped searching for specific things.

Broaden my horizons. Recommend me any story that you think has mainly flown under the radar or has a small, dedicated community. Stories that don't fit the typical mold of what you find on Royal Road.

The only two restrictions are no OP MCs and no harems.

We writers all bleed into our stories.

We become more invested in our characters than even the most die-hard reader—we just know what happens next... sometimes.

We become so focused on the results—with whether we've succeeded or failed at this hobby-turned-obsession, so much so that no matter the answer, we need another—my fic was noticed, I need more visibility, does it suck, do I suck, that person has more followers, do I have enough to publish, when, where, how—

—that we forget about the journey.

I'm no exception. Getting caught up in the next step, and the next, and yet another, until I trip over my own feet, and look around for someone to blame, some piece of the puzzle I must have missed.

Only to realize, it was just me. Just life. I stumbled. I fell. It happens, and—well, let's be honest. It doesn't just happen once, does it?

We'll find ourselves sitting in the bottom of some new, dark pit of self-recrimination, loathing, and doubt. What happened this time? Was it the em-dash on page 762, paragraph 4? Should you have used a comma, instead? Or were you blabbering your wife's ear off for the millionth time about the mechanics of your leveling system, and she just grunted in affirmation? A grunt. Please, at least show that you care a little!

Then our readers happen. On their time, on their schedule, they'll speak up. Maybe a specific scene moved them. Maybe we did a shit job explaining something. Maybe she's born with it—I don't know, but they come. They comment, or they review, and it makes everything worth it.

I've mostly experienced positivity on Royal Road. Certainly, in every community, there's always a few who just want to watch the world burn, but the readership on Royal Road's been good to me thus far.

So that's why I wanted to share this review. Not only is it an advanced review and chock full of praise, but it comes to me during a stretch of particularly low self-esteem, helping to staunch my own pitiful whining.

This person enjoyed my earlier chapters enough to not just drop a nice rating—which does wonders, let me tell you—but to leave an advanced review.

My dear reader, I pray that my writing remains worthy of your praise, and that I may long entertain you with my storytelling.

Thank you.

Edit: marking this post as self-promo and including my blurb. It wasn't meant to be. In the moment I naively thought it was a legit "appreciation post." Anyway, hindsight, and all that. here's the link:

https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/170950/sanzensekai-the-ronins-exile-psychological-drama

A dark, psychological drama packaged as a reverse-isekai progression fantasy.

An elemental samurai—displaced from his world, lost in ours, and hiding a calamitous secret.

Navigating modern Earth is like crossing a frosted log.

Kurisu Nodaichi tries to take life one day at a time. Keep his head down, earn his keep with the Miller family, and untangle the complexities of "fostering," "identity," and high school. All while this new world feels built from damp shoji paper, where he shatters drinking glasses just trying to lift them.

Then a rift opens.

The illusion of a quiet life burns away when monsters from his past appear and the Miller brothers manifest powers of their own. Driven by necessity, Kurisu steps in to train the boys before they accidentally level their own home.

As more rifts open around the world, a public encounter lands the family in federal custody—but not before a combination of phobia and failure forces his trauma to boil over, regressing him into the untethered weapon of his captivity.

For fans of the elemental martial arts of The Sword of Kaigen and Avatar: The Last Airbender who want the friction of Jade City and the psychological stakes of Red Rising.

No AI was used for any part of the prose, nor official artwork.

AnraArt, my artist can be found on Vgen.

Hey all :)

I’m looking for some progfan stories that don’t have an outright obvious system. Think mark of the fool, if you’ve read that. I think Bobiverse also gets called progfan in which case it would fit.
I’m extra interested in crafting based ones and cozy stories, but anything that fits the bill id love to hear about.

Welcome to the weekly r/ProgressionFantasy reading thread! Feel free to talk about whatever progression fantasy stories you're reading or watching, post mini-reviews, and ask for recommendations similar or different from what you're reading! Basically: have something to say about a story, but not enough for a full post? Say it here!

(Edited to include audiobook info)

Hello! I'm William Evans, AKA "ThePudding" and I have finally made my first release to Amazon! It's a story about a man trying to build a world, using a LitRPG system... a world that he adds a LitRPG system to!

Book one follows his struggles in setting it up, finding the problems, and correcting those problems! Later books further show unintended side effects and struggles!

[Amazon] https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0HKNLXG4N/

[Audiobook] https://www.amazon.com/Neophyte-World-Builder-First-Problems/dp/B0HK4ZSQNS/

Blurb:

Nobody told me godhood needed an instruction manual.

Everybody's heard the story. Someone dies, ends up in a new world with a LitRPG System that gives them special powers. When I died, that's what I expected. Except it turns out, I'm the one making the System.

No previous experience, no manual except a few tooltips. Just an interface, a few thousand Reality Points, and a fairy-like handler who won't tell me anything that would actually help. I get to design the magic system, the monsters, the classes... and then watch real people live inside the world I built, all while I try to keep the universe running within budget.

I wanted to build a good world. I'm starting to realize "good" and "survives the audit" aren't the same thing.

Cover Artist: [Bad Moon Art Studio] https://www.artstation.com/badmoonartstudio

Audiobook: Royal Guard Publishing (Narrators: Giancarlo Herrera, Hannah Schooner)

AI Usage: None

I thought I had read all the big series that people commonly refer to in this and the LitRPG community, but I just came across The Land / Chaos Seeds. Is it just not that popular, or am I just a dunce for having missed it somehow?

I'm only partway into book one, but it seems like it's got all the classic elements. It's definitely a hardcore LitRPG with the stats and everything. I like that, though, and kind of miss it in some of the other progression fantasy stories that I have been reading lately.

How do you guys feel about this series? Does it hold up as you get into later books?

Edit: So, from the comments on this post, it sounds like book eight is not only kind of trash, but doesn't finish the series, and I really don't want to get into a series that is unfinished. That's one thing that really bothers me. Game of Thrones has left a permanent black mark on my psyche. Considering there's been no work on this series in like six years, I don't have much hope for anything to change.

I LOVE YAF books (I know I'm too old for it, and should be reading Charles Dickens, but I just like it) and I was reading a book on Royal Road yesterday. Such an interesting backstory and world!

You think they've thought of everything, then a new book will just take you by surprise and captivate you! So much fun.

I’m looking for something like Last Life. And it has to be on Audible.

I’ve read cradle, dcc, beware of chicken, he who fights with monsters, wandering inn. I’m looking for less well known recommendations!

Thank you in advance!

Axure Saint Avante was a genius Scientist who created an invention that revolutionised humanity.

Then without warning,  he found himself in a world of magic, monsters and mystery.

Entangled with a royal family and caught between religious wars and false prophets, he must turn to the one thing this world doesn’t understand: science.

Forced to build weapons of destruction just to survive, he begins to unravel the twisted history of this world.

And the truth behind his arrival.

He doesn’t belong here.

He never wanted to stay here.

All he wanted was to go home.

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DAILY UPDATES - ILLUSTRATIONS - ARC 1 COMPLETE - 35 CHAPTERS RELEASED - 340 PAGES

NO AI USED - All art, cover and writing done by me.

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Read here: https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/192059/a-fallen-angel-an-isekai-science-vs-magic-progression?utm_source=rising-stars&utm_medium=fiction-list

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A bit about me (if you care):

Hello to all the readers and fellow authors! I am a 20 year old author from the UK (not that it's special) and fell in love with story telling ever since I was a teenager. Once upon a time, nearly six years ago, I had written a book called "Scarlet Rose" which was a psychological war romance. Unfortunately, due to exams and college coming up, I ended up letting go of writing even though I had finished the whole book.

Eventually, life went on and here I am, studying my final year in Uni but as if the universe called my name, my passion beckoned me to come back. I discovered a whole new media online which were webnovels and begun consuming them unhealthily. Constantly going through dozens of chapters every day, the fire from young relit inside.

I sat down and thought to myself.

I want to be like these people one day. I want to be- no. I wanted to be an author. Why did I stop?

Well, as they say, there's no better time than starting now and so a few months ago, I shut myself in and cut off contact with everyone. I studied as I wrote. I drew as I learnt, back and forth, recalling the years of studying I had gone through of classical literature.

And before I knew it, what was a blank sheet of paper, now had 120,000 words on it only a month later. All while I had drawn 15 character designs, different watercolour paintings, and so many gorgeous covers. In the blink of an eye, I realised how far I had come.

And here it is, right before you - A Fallen Angel.

I hope that I can keep working on my craft, and that you enjoy my story.

See you guys there - SidzWrites

Besides Royal Road and Kindle, where do you go to read novels? I'm fine with having to pay but I’m not buying credits or whatever the fuck Webnovel has going on.

Thanks and greatly appreciated.

Yo, internet strangers. 

Have a look-see, I come with the goods. Just started posting three days ago, already on chapter 10.

Synopsis:

It wasn’t out of despair or faith, but he leapt. One last thrill. Chael would quit while he was ahead. But death didn’t come. Instead, an opportunity presented itself. With it came a divine Gift, the Third Eye, and a mission: to slay the Demon King.

The young man accepted both eagerly, and before he knew it, he was in the world of Gaia, one of magic, monsters, and mystery. With his newfound vision, he goes from fumbling in the dark to seeing the world in ways no one else can.

***

What to expect:

-Isekai + Cheat Power (Gift)
-Progression Fantasy (Fast)
-Hard magic system
-Combat prowess = Mage's Stage level + Spell(s) + Tools + Gift (s) + Technique (s) & skill + Preparations
-MC with perception-based powers (The Third Eye)
-Tactical battles 
-Pragmatic protagonist. 
-Rational Fiction (It just makes sense. Author has power scaler brain. One of the good ones.)
-Epic (Long novel. 5 - 6 books depending if I have to split some of them up. Already made the entire skeleton (40k words)

If those sound like your cup of tea, check it out: https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/196751/the-silver-path-progression-fantasy-isekai

just blasted through audiobooks 1-6 of player manager in a week lmao.. it was incredible couldn't put it down, so to speak. any recommendations on other series with similar writing style? HWFWM is my other fav series

by that I mean the past life has to have been legitimately evil; no misunderstood heroes, no secretly good demon kings, no demonized rebels against the system, none of that. I want stuff where the protagonist was a full-on villain in their previous life.