I Read over 300 LitRPG books... here are my top picks

[@JasonOfWolves]

No primal hunter though???

[@philliprporter]

Primal hunter was great.

[@sammigs34]

​@@philliprporter still great.

[@mr.blizzy4101]

right!!!

[@josephmangan1052]

Primal hunter is top 3 in my opinion

[@batsofthemans7698]

Fully agree feels like he just picked the top picks on Google. Tho dungeon crawler Carl should of been number one. But he's new with odd standards.

[@CtrlAltDUST]

It seems like our lives have been running in parallel. I took up the LitRPG genre when my second child was born and consumed them with a passion. I would REALLY recommend the Primal Hunter, The Completionist Chronicles, and System Universe. I concur that The Path of Ascension is a great series along with all the ones you mentioned. Out of all the mentions, He Who Fights With Monsters is my Top recommendation.

[@michaels5217]

Hwfwm is in a class by itself.

[@brianmisenar8956]

Primal hunter, mark of the fool and all the skills are my top three, defiance of the fall is a contender

[@comokazijeff]

I've tried Primal Hunter and Mark of the Fool and they just haven't hit for me. Mark of the Fool just moves so slowly once he gets to the college.

[@CtrlAltDUST]

@@comokazijeff Primal Hunter's world building and magic system really resonated with me, but the initial "Tutorial" is nearly a tutorial for the reader as well. It gets so much better as the tutorial progresses and really opens up after said tutorial.

[@AwesomeXavy]

@@comokazijeff In the last two books there are several moments with several week timeskips. It's probably important to lay the foundation of why he can do what he can do to explain the later stuff. Also.. the revelation at the very end of the last book is spicy AF.

[@legendthorne2085]

I liked the first few All the Skills but as it got more clear it was more a young teen's book where the MC had the whole..Try to make Peace and no killing mentality. I got disgusted with it. I hate books where it tries to appeal to young teens so they don't 'kill' the bad guys or other humans. At most they beat them up to teach them a lessson. Then let the bad guys go back to killing and making other suffer because they wanted to be 'moral' and not kill. Can't stand that. The Instant the 'hero' starts to act like killing bad guys who will go on causing more harm, to be bad rather than the main character being the horrible person by not taking on that guilt of killing to protect others from the bad guys actions. Thats when I just toss the book away. You want to be the hero? Good then take the weight of killing on your shoulders so others don't have to. Don't be selfish and care more about your own morals and conscious and if you're a good person than the people who's lives you're trying to protect. The real hero is the one who will darken their soul to protect others so that the others won't have to and they will be safe.

[@gamingrambles]

Dude, listen to the Primal Hunter. The fight scene in book five, gave me chills

[@xSNAKE2423x]

He who fights with monsters is epic I cant wait for the next book! Just started dungeon crawler carl so far it is funny and great listen!

[@Mohakdoesstuff]

it goes much further in royalroad( but its chapter by chapter)

[@dennisboushele5349]

If you like dungeon crawler carl, you will also like noobtown!

[@bladddeesa]

Thanks for the recs- it's nice to find recommendations that go beyond just the listicle format and actually get into the details of the books and their strong points, also nice to hear from a fellow audiobook enjoyer lol. Will be checking out a couple of these- He Who Fights with Monsters, All the Skills, and Defiance of the Fall for sure.

[@user-ih7pc8xg2t]

My first introduction to LitRLG was primal hunter and I have been hooked I binge read all nine books and am waiting to the 14th for book 10 to drop. Highly recommend it

[@Xgya2000]

He Who Fights and Dungeon Crawler Carl are definitely somewhere at the top of my own list. I really liked Necrotic Apocalypse for the zombie humor parts and the feeding system it introduced, though it peters out. Another one I liked for the very memorable characters is the Ripple System. House is awkward and awesome (and gets a LOT more interesting once she gets a cat), and Frank is, well, Frank.

[@dennisboushele5349]

Im a huge fan of the noobtown series! I highly recommend it ! Great dialog between the characters.

[@Swagandalf]

The author of Path of Ascension has the series mapped out, we're around halfway through with a year or two left (although the published books are ~4 books behind the amount released on Royal Road)

[@benpurdy]

Nice list and welcome back! Wanted to give my 3 series that wernt listed above (Defiance of the Fall and dungeon crawler carl have got to be my favorites of the ones listed though). Im going to have to agree with @pymarathon that Mother of learning is one of my top favorites. Besides that "Book of the Dead" has been a pleasent surprise even though there are only 2 books in the series so far and lastly Wake of the Ravager. If you havent checked them out id recommend them, besides that welcome back and glad you found something you enjoy :-).

[@EMoney114]

Thank you, I was so lost on what a Lit RPG is!

[@CtrlAltDUST]

Just finished the video. Defiance of the Fall sounds a lot like The Primal Hunter's world building.

[@simply.skyler]

Probably in my wheelhouse, I'm already reading a couple of these. I'll have to take a look at your other recommendations! Thanks Jeff!

[@wondernate]

Well made! I've been a fan of the genre for fifteen years. Solid list!

[@DRRHatchFantasy]

Does Gamelit have to be a vr experience? Or could it be any book that has game mechanics? I guess…what’s the difference between litrpg and gamelit?

[@hewhowilldestroyyou]

Have you checked out "The Wandering Inn" ? Real good, and huge (30000+ pages)

[@comokazijeff]

I have and I enjoyed the first one. I had a hard time getting into the second book though.

[@maceanglin]

Dungeon Crawler Carl Dungeon Crawler Carl Dungeon Crawler Carl! Yyyaaayyy so amazing!

[@legendthorne2085]

A list of some good other ones, my own favorites. Most these i'd recommend in audible format as the voices are great. All the Dust that Falls. -Comedy LITRPG about a roomba isekai. Sounds stupid but super fun. Beneath the Dragon Eyes Moon -Super indepths Healer focused LITRPG MC A bit heavy in the morals but actually faces the downsides to not killing , Victor of Tucson and Falling with Folded Wings - Two series in the same universe with cross overs, great LITRPG series. Unbound - Big LITRPG title rates up there with defiance and he who fights monsters levels, Primal Hunter - Another big in depths title A post apoc litrpg, Underverse - Grimdark LITRPG, a bit explicit that one 18+, Thats just to name a few of the big big ones of LITRPG. In depths , world building, deep characters and plenty of plot and most have over 6 books in each series. My thoughts on these favorites.... While Defiance of the Fall is pretty good, The rest for me were either too 'light' with very little detail or very little fleshed out characters or very campy with emotional issues. Like Carl, dude has way too big an obsession with his cat. Like when he's killing anyone who looks at his cat wrong and constantly going 'you will not break me' it just gets annoying. Same with He who fights with Monsters,Jason just gets more and more preachy and self hating longer it goes on. Constantly spending most the book going over his 'I'm too dark' stuff. Path and Iron prince are good but they are just average, Path tends to just skim rather than really go indepths. It's a fun light read but it moves as a super fast pace like...years go by in a single book in each of the later ones.

[@sonork]

I find RPGlit novels can be hit or miss depending on how many pages there are on stats and how easy things become for the MC after leveling up. My favorite series is a shorter 3 book set, Forever Fantasy Online: GamerLit Epic Portal Adventure. It's a 3 book series about players getting transported through a game to the fantasy world they were playing in as their characters, explores the players getting used to the new bodies of the characters, and how the game becomes far more real afterwards. Lots of references and nods to WoW, raiding and items and such. Loved it. Two other series I enjoyed are, The Divine Dungeon, which the MC is a dungeon core and learns to be a dungeon. Another one is more adult and it's, Morningwood: Everybody Loves Large Chests, where the MC is actually a mimic that lvls up and becomes self aware, lots of humor, gore and some adult stuff, lotsa fun.

[@tomleonard830]

Of the series that you didn't mention, I really enjoyed Ryan Rimmel's Noobtown and Sir Crabby series. As well as Drew Hayes' NPCs series.

[@comokazijeff]

I like Noobtown a lot. I think I read 5-6 of those. I got halfway through the first book of Sir Crabby before it came off Royal Road and onto Amazon. I just never went back to it, been on my TRL.

[@TheViper079]

thank you for giving this very hidden and unknown genre a shoutout litRPG has saved my mind from going into the blender more then once and more people need to get to know it. also warformed : stormweaver(iron prince) is my favorite by far the 2nd book is just as good as the first

[@mr.blizzy4101]

I HIGHLY RECOMMEND PRIMAL HUNTER! maybe you read it but its one of my personal favorites so far.

[@cylescherger3602]

Defiance of the Fall is absolutely amazing!!! #1

[@BenFisher-eg3jp]

Nice list. My top in this genre is Primal Hunter.

[@sirvazo1633]

Thanks for the recommendations! Have added them all to my Amazon wishlist and look forward to reading them

[@AwesomeXavy]

You will not regret All the Skills and Path of Ascension. DotF is still on my to read list, but heard a lot of good about it.

[@jamesw2855]

I’m listening to the audiobook of He who fights monsters and it is fantastic. I stopped on book 6 and need to pick it back up.

[@mr.blizzy4101]

I also recommend critical failures! Its a book that hasn't been very popular but it takes place where a bunch of highschool buddys make fun of a DM in a dnd type fantasy game an they are thrown into the world the dm created because they weren't taking the role playing seriously

[@dougsundseth6904]

If you like Iron Prince and haven't read Drew Hayes's Super Powereds. Read Super Powereds. Iron Prince reminded me of it (and I loved it), but Super Powereds is better. Other stuff that is at or near the top of my LitRPG/Prog Fantasy lists (in addition to most* of your list): Archemi Online, James Osiris Baldwin The Ten Realms, Michael Chatfield Spells, Swords & Stealth, Drew Hayes Divine Apostasy, A.F. Kay Hedge Wizard, Alex Maher Skyrealms Online, Troy Osgood Arcane Ascension, Andrew Rowe I'm Not the Hero, Sourpatch Hero (book 2 is out next week) Bushido Online, Nikita Thorn Codename Freedom, Apollos Thorne The Good Guys, Eric Ugland The Bad Guys, Eric Ugland ETA: Also, the real original LitRPG series, Guardians of the Flame, Joel Rosenberg (RIP). * Everybody but me seems to like DCC. I bounced off the first book. Not my flavor of fiction. I'm probably a horrible person. 8-)

[@kashada8714]

Defiance of the all really is amazing, the world building is next level.

[@thomaskeller4023]

I've gone thru a lot of litrpg/gamelit audiobooks these last few years as well. I agree that He Who Fights With Monsters is an amazing audiobook. The series that got me in to the genre is Archemi Online. Still one of my favourites. Has some adult stuff it thats not for every one tho. Another favourite is The Hedge Wizard. That one goes more in the general fantasy story direction. I might try Path of Ascension next. Scrolled past it quite a few times already.

[@sammigs34]

"Dungeon crawler carl" , "Infinite realm" and "the wondering inn" are my favorites.

[@beefigz2651]

Would love to hear some more of your favs… i read 2 of ur favs, one on my wishlist but would love to hear some more

[@adioneschild900]

Would recommend "Solo Leveling" , "Axe Druid" , "Rise to Omniscience " , and "Leveling up the World"

[@kal-torakmtgarena8478]

good to see ya back, not magic, but glad you are back.

[@Manean95]

Didn't expect this, but it's a nice surprise

[@CaffeinatedBookwoorm]

The Throne of Glass series is like reminds me of this but with a female lead. I haven’t tried much of this genre. May need to try it! I’m more of a horror, weirdlit girl

[@philliprporter]

Jake's magical market was my first ltrpg. It was really good and fun.

[@sldkgf]

I've only listened to a few in that genre. Two by Ryan Rimmel recently that I really enjoyed and there were One Bad Roll: A LitRPG Adventure: Fifth Era Apocalypse, Book 1 and The Tap Dancing Tarasque: A LitRPG Adventure: Fifth Era Apocalypse, Book 2. Johnathan McClain narrates them are was fantastic.

[@tomleonard830]

What about Rimmel's Noobtown series? And The Adventures of Sir Crabby?

[@monysugardogs8959]

Came here because I keep ending up dropping series from lack of focus on the main character. Multiple povs are just too annoying to deal with for me, and it's hard to find anything even touching the sides of The Primal Archer, Defiance of The Fall, and Terra Nova + the tower series by Seth Ring. Everything else seems to have problems where the plot either shifts entirely, growth slows, multiple povs are introduced in a way that makes the main character have less than .33% of the actual writing, or the character making choices that are just downright boring or clearly not what would make them the most powerful. I'll check some of these out, hope they do well!!

[@richardsrichards2984]

Finished Last Rock of the immortals series Damn good

[@michaelyates2052]

Pretty sure Patrick Warburton is featured in a later book in the DCC series 😂

[@gaminginanities]

where do i find these?

[@Chronamasteroftime]

What no Cradle? Not litRPG but people always recommend it.

[@m3divh]

Hmmm I quite enjoyed "the good guys" and "the bad guys."

[@CtrlAltDUST]

Give that Fox some Ice Cream!

[@olivercross6723]

For me DotF fell off hard after the tower… I got through book 9 and put down the series. It got really dry and repetitive. It felt like book 7-9 should have been only 1 book.

[@AndrewKimbrell]

Is this like the old "choose your own adventure" books?

[@comokazijeff]

No, they are full-plot novels. They just have game-like elements written in, like leveling up and improving stats as part of the world building.

[@samhaskins127]

Where did you get these books? Any place you recommend?

[@comokazijeff]

I use kindle unlimited, basically every litrpg book is free with that. Other than that, Royal Road has become my favorite website for books like these.

[@pymarathon]

Ooh, no love for Mother of Learning or Ar'Kendrithyst?

[@Manean95]

Mother of learning is an amazing series, but i don't think it actually falls under the litrpg genre

[@brianmisenar8956]

Jeff try mark of the fool

[@traebadmon]

God damnit donut

[@jeremysette3657]

Malazan Book of the Fallen - best fantasy series of all time. Started off as a RPG created by Steven Erikson and his friend Ian C. Esslemont. Must read!!!

[@Big_Sixer]

Malazan is great, I am on book 3 right now but man... nothing could be further from LITRPG in my mind. I read/listen to LITRPG as a break from books like Malazan. LITRPG and Progression fantasy (Cradle series is the GOAT) are always easier to follow and digest. At least, for me. That said, I recommend Malazan, but only for hardcore fantasy readers. LITRPG I recommend to everyone (read Cradle if you haven't!!).

[@batsofthemans7698]

Mmmm to full time dad .... Ya gots to be your first kid I have Three. It's not a job it's a side hustle youngster. Make it sound like it was pushed on to you.

[@batsofthemans7698]

I don't feel you read 300 books your picks are weak as water.