I would have to say John Dies at the End. While it's not obviously inspired by Lovecraft, after I read it the only thing I could say to describe it was 'Modern-day Lovecraftian Comedy'.
>CEDAR FALLS — Readers who are fans of the absurd, the witty and the overwhelmingly sarcastic are sure to love “Good Boy,” a freshman release by local author Seth McDuffee.
>Re-released last week, the ebook climbed to Amazon’s No. 2 best seller in humorous science fiction and landed at No. 58 in overall sci-fi titles.
>Dark, witty humor paired with science fiction sentiments, this book is written to delight and shock readers.
https://www.amazon.com/Good-Boy-Seth-McDuffee-ebook/dp/B07726Y7X3
My book “Good Boy” is about a guy who dies during the zombie apocalypse and becomes a ghost. His body becomes a zombie and they travel the world as a duo, fighting zombies and demons.
It starts off like this but quickly devolves into a different story with tons of LitRPG elements. The second book (which is currently a WIP) will explore the LitRPG side much more heavily.
It was the #2 best selling science fiction book on Amazon for a couple weeks.
(https://www.amazon.com/Good-Boy-Seth-McDuffee-ebook/dp/B07726Y7X3)
Check it out.
A link to the book for those of you interested!
However, if you’re outside the US, you can just go to your country’s Amazon page and search for “Good Boy Seth McDuffee”.
Thanks!
Changing Faces by Sarah Lin might be up the alley you are looking down. Either way, It is very good and quite original.
https://www.amazon.com/Wizard-Kindle-Motion-Magic-Book-ebook/dp/B00EF8Z32I
It does and even allows animations within a book! They call it Kindle in Motion but I have no idea how to become a part of that.
Technologically there shouldn't be any limitations because ebooks support pretty much every reasonable web standard, though I know that Amazon limits scripting among other things.
Hey guys! Just wanted to pop in here and let you all know that I completed a novella. It started on reddit and caught a little bit of fire two years ago. Since then, I've been fine tuning it and finally have the full version available for free for the next few days on Amazon.
The little blurby-thing is as follows:
This ain’t Grandma’s Apocalypse. Being dead isn’t all it’s cracked up to be...
Hank Merrick was a pretty unremarkable guy — until the world went and got itself destroyed. Unspeakable horrors now wander around ruined cities, claiming what little is left of the old world, and only the dead and forgotten are left to tell the tales.
Freshly expired himself, Hank’s spirit begins a mysterious misadventure — finding purpose in the afterlife. Using guile, a bit of iron, and his shambling corpse companion named Maw, Hank sarcastically slogs through the nightmare landscape. Monsters leap out from every dark corner, while an unstoppable entity of evil slowly creeps across the earth, destroying everyone in its path. What’s a ghost gotta do to catch a break?
If you'd like to check it out, like I mentioned, it's 100% free for the next two days. Right now it's sitting at #60 in the top 100 under FREE in the Science Fiction section! Thanks a ton!
You might try:
I’m not sure if it falls under progression although I don’t recall them gaining levels rather just getting stronger with their abilities. However it is a great series that I really liked.
Anyone know what category it would fall under.
There is also a book series called "Spells, Swords, & Stealth" First book in the series called "NPCs"
I've only read the first so far but it was fantastic. Basically the same premise, except with Dungeons and Dragons.
Synopsis:
A group of adventurers die in a tavern because of some poisoned mushrooms that they ate. Several people in the tavern realize they have to take the adventurer's place in the quest they were given, or else the king will destroy their town. So a group of NPCs pretend to be a party of adventurers and go on a quest.
ninja edit:
This Quest is Bullshit - 4 books, complete, very well written, and very funny.
I highly recommend the rest of the Trilogy if you haven't read it.
I'm pretty sure Off To Be The Wizard is part of it. It shows the little Headphones next to the KU. Fun series.
>Martin Banks is just a normal guy who has made an abnormal discovery: he can manipulate reality, thanks to reality being nothing more than a computer program. With every use of this ability, though, Martin finds his little “tweaks” have not escaped notice. Rather than face prosecution, he decides instead to travel back in time to the Middle Ages and pose as a wizard.
>
>What could possibly go wrong?
This Quest is Bullshit(This Trilogy is broken) is great. One of my favorite Comedy LitRPGs. Just straight up fun to read and so much to laugh about!
Yea so much lit rpg is first person present tense.
A good third person book would be this quest is bullshit. It leans much more in to the comedy side. If you liked the wacky ness of Dungeon crawler. This takes the absurdity and cranks it up to 11.
The MC gets a life quest to go to the next town and get a loaf of bread. Its more of a joke than than an intergalactic reality show with a talking cat.
The word building is ok but these books are good for the lolzs. It is 3rd person so your not stuck in someones head.
My next favorite 3rd person lit rpg is System apocalypse. He gets the serious moments right. But not the comedy sass and wit.
This Quest is Bullshit is very lighthearted and very much a good time. The plot is kiiinda serious, but mostly meanders in a breadward manner.
I love John Dies at the End. There are three novels so far with a fourth apparently on the way; I recommend the first novel if you want to feel disturbed.
There's also a lot of humor; but the basics of this story for me are Lovecraftian existential horror: The universe is a vast, uncaring void full of terrible things against which we are defenseless. Some of the musings in this book have kept me awake nights for the past nine years.
I love these books and I think everyone should read them; but honoring your request I'll just recommend the first novel.
I think lucklookinglurker may have been referring to the Magic 2.0 series which begins with Off to Be the Wizard by Scott Meyer. I read the first book years ago and its about a guy that learns a way to manipulate reality and uses this technique to time-travel back to the middle ages to live so that he could be free to manipulate reality as he wished and the locals would accept it as wizardry.
Do I get the extra points? ;-)
Vainqueur The Dragon might fit your bill. Hapless thief accidentally reveals the nature of the class-and-level system to a dragon.
The dragon, being a dragon, is absolutely pissed that adventurers are being paid tons of gold to do what he already does for free; that is, save princesses and kill lots and lots of monsters. Of course, dragons "save" princesses so they can keep them for themselves (showing off your collection of live princess is quite the status symbol among dragonkind), and the mass-killing of monsters is basically just a dragon eating his lunch.
going through this sub, sorry for a response to a week old post but yeah, this guy is talking about something different.
that first little bit he says there "everybody loves large chests is another one" is him referencing another book called everyone loves large chests https://www.amazon.com/Morningwood-Everybody-Loves-Large-Chests-ebook/dp/B076NSQ6JT
a quick google shows its not really my type of book but just incase you were actually confused, there is your answer.
My book is a comedy about a guy who dies during a zombie apocalypse and becomes a ghost, while his body becomes a zombie.
It’s light on the LitRPG elements for this first book, but the second will be a treasure trove.
Oh also Everybody Loves Large Chests is on amazon although I haven't read it. A lot of authors take their successfully completed books to amazon. https://www.amazon.ca/Morningwood-Everybody-Loves-Large-Chests-ebook/dp/B076NSQ6JT
Everybody loves large chests is also a really good litrpg/progression series, a bit lighthearted sometimes, but solid writing and plot for sure. Easily makes the "The Great" category.
Links:
Amazon (Vol. 1)
RoyalRoad
Try Vainqueur the Dragon. It's an almost satirical take of the litRPG/Isekai genre. I've copied the blurb below:
>Vainqueur Knightsbane is your average dragon: a giant, fire-breathing lizard who loves to take naps on his golden hoard, kidnap princesses for fun, and make the life of adventurers miserable. Vainqueur's only pleasure in life is to watch his treasure get bigger, one coin at a time.
>
>So when a would-be thief turned unwilling minion tells him about "classes," "levels," and "quests," Vainqueur wonders if maybe, just maybe, he should consider a career change.
>
>After all, why bother hunting monsters for free when you can get paid for it?
It is HILARIOUS! The 'would-be thief turned unwilling minion' eventually starts liking the dragon then goes, "OMG, I have Stalkholmes Syndrom!" Read it, and find out why the rich always win!
https://www.amazon.com/Vainqueur-Dragon-Maxime-J-Durand-ebook/dp/B081VRFXBM
Drew Hayes. He is just amazing. He writes his books in a sort of tongue-in-cheek-yet-serious kind of way.
One of his book series is called Super Powereds, and it's better than the title might make it sound. It's set in a world where some people are born with superhuman abilities, and then some are born with superhuman abilities that they can't control. There are also humans. It's a school for those wanting to be a hero. It's full of subplots and twists and the books are quite long as well. They're also cheap in Amazon Kindle. This book is awesome.
He also has another book series called
How about a MC who is a mimic who is also a demon summoner? I actually surprised myself by how much I enjoy this series.
Try amazon smile to donate to a charity of your choice automatically at no cost to you!
https://smile.amazon.com/Changing-Faces-LitRPG-Adventure-Minus-ebook/dp/B07KMMT9TX
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https://www.amazon.com/Morningwood-Everybody-Loves-Large-Chests-ebook/dp/B076NSQ6JT
Don't be faked out by the fakeout
Ahoy hoy!
I’m Seth McDuffee, and I had a bestseller come out not long ago called “Good Boy.” It is about a man who dies during a zombie apocalypse and becomes a ghost, while his body becomes a zombie.
It has enjoyed a place under “dark humor/zombie/gamelit” and if you’re interested, it’s available on Amazon: HERE
The game elements are admittedly light in the first book, but the forthcoming sequel will be jammed full of it.
This is an equivalent to "why don't you speak?" for an introvert. Gonna give you some hard love and say just suck it up. Use your imagination. You can't go outside so the only thing you can think of... is to literally just lay in bed and sulk and sleep?
Really? Is that the best you can fucking do?
Have you ever thought of, I dunno, picking up a book? An actual good book? Not the shitty ones in high school that try to shove life lessons down your throat. I mean a book that you'd actually want to read yourself? Try this, John Dies at the End, one of my all time favorites. Best thing is you can download free samples for pretty much all eBooks on Amazon.
What about exercise at home? Start those 30 day challenges. Learn to dance, tons of YouTube videos to teach yourself Salsa.
You said you bring your laptop so you can work anywhere, and that opportunity will still be there when this passes. But think about this. Now you can whip out a book and read. Chicks dig that shit.
You said you love exploring the city. There are tons of outdoor dancing - Bryant Park for one has these dance festivals every summer. Well now you'll have a one-up knowing Salsa. And guess what, plenty of those dance events are like 2:1 girls to guys. You show up knowing Salsa and ooo lawdy.
You have 2 paths right now. You can either do something about it, in which you can come out of this stronger, or don't, in which you'll end up depressed and tearing brain matter out of your ears. I know you can do this dude, you fucking got this
My book is finally out!
Title: Changing Faces (New Game Minus Book 1)
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07KMMT9TX
Post: https://www.reddit.com/r/litrpg/comments/9y08yi/changing_faces_new_game_minus_1/