LitRPG, short for literary role-playing game, is a comparatively young fiction genre. The term was coined in 2013 by a Russian publishing house for books influenced by massively multiplayer online role-playing games. Early examples were largely self-published, but strong sales have helped the category move into traditional publishing.
Sword Art Online and Solo Leveling helped popularise game-inspired stories through web novels and anime. In English-language fiction, Matt Dinniman’s Dungeon Crawler Carl became a major crossover success. The series follows a Coast Guard veteran and his prize show cat through a deadly dungeon, all while their progress is broadcast as alien reality television.
Eight Dungeon Crawler Carl novels have been published by Ace Books, with two more in development. The property is also being adapted into a Peacock series produced by Seth MacFarlane, alongside a tabletop role-playing game. If you have finished the currently available books and want another fast-moving progression fantasy, these five series offer very different ways to approach the genre.
For readers who enjoy the systems and escalation of game-inspired fiction, the wider world of gaming news and stories can offer plenty of related ideas about worlds built around challenge, progression and play.
1. He Who Fights with Monsters by Travis Deverell
Travis Deverell is frequently compared with Dinniman because of the popularity of his He Who Fights with Monsters series, first self-published under the name Shirtaloon. Its opening novel, Outlander, became a New York Times bestseller after Aethon Books republished it in July.
The story centres on Jason, a middle manager at an office-supply shop who awakens in another world with magical abilities that appear distinctly sinister. To survive as an adventurer, he must learn to use those powers against monsters, cultists and cannibals while working out how to do the right thing with frightening tools.
Deverell has written 13 books in the series. The second volume, Adventurer, was published on September 8, while the third, Hero, is scheduled for October 13. That makes this a substantial series with more immediate reading ahead for anyone who gets invested.
2. How to Become the Dark Lord and Die Trying by Django Wexler
Davi once lived an ordinary life. Then she woke up naked in a fantasy world and learned that prophecy had chosen her to save humanity from the Dark Lord. After repeated failures while learning magic, combat and leadership, Davi decides that the sensible alternative is to become the villain herself.
Her new plan involves levelling up quickly, assembling an orc army and eliminating the competition, all while avoiding the mistakes that send her back to the start of the cycle. Davi’s deliberately unhinged outlook gives the novel much of its comedy, particularly when her nerdy references leave her new allies and enemies confused.
Unlike many LitRPG stories, Django Wexler does not heavily emphasise formal levels, classes and numerical systems. That makes How to Become the Dark Lord and Die Trying an accessible entry point. Davi’s attempt to escape her repeating fate continues in the 2025 sequel, Everybody Wants to Rule the World Except Me.
3. The Wandering Inn by Pirateaba
Pirateaba’s enormous web serial The Wandering Inn has reached 15 million words since beginning in 2016. Harper Voyage started publishing the series in August, giving new readers a formal book edition of a story that has grown into one of the genre’s biggest projects.
Erin Solstice arrives in a fantasy world where people can gain classes and levels. Rather than becoming an adventurer, she takes over an inn and turns it into a refuge. Her position is made clear by the sign outside: “No Killing Goblins.” Safety proves difficult to maintain, however, as Erin becomes entangled in threats, schemes and the wider conflicts of the world.
The series is closer to the relaxed progression fantasy of Travis Baldree’s Legends & Lattes than to the conventional power fantasy of many LitRPG novels. The second book, No Killing Goblins, is due on September 22. Its welcoming-but-dangerous inn also has the kind of memorable setting that suits a carefully designed compact arcade display at home.
4. Defiance of the Fall by J.F. Brink
J.F. Brink has written 17 Defiance of the Fall books under the name TheFirstDefier, although the series had not entered print at the time described here. The opening places Zac at a severe disadvantage, much as Dungeon Crawler Carl does with its central characters.
Zac is alone in a forest with only a hatchet when Earth is absorbed into a multiverse in which civilisations compete for supremacy. To find his family, he must fight demons and beasts, develop his strength and survive in a setting where some beings can reach godlike levels of power.
The series combines familiar LitRPG progression with elements of xianxia, a tradition shaped by Chinese mythology and Taoist philosophy. Its focus on cultivation, supernatural power and the pursuit of immortality gives Defiance of the Fall a different flavour from a straightforward dungeon adventure.
5. Life in the North by Tao Wong
If unfinished series make you hesitate, Tao Wong’s The System Apocalypse provides a complete alternative. The 12-book series concluded in 2022 and is available digitally in full.
John Lee is hiking and camping in the Yukon when Earth changes beyond recognition. Technology stops working, while a mysterious energy allows people to gain levels, learn skills and complete quests. Stranded in the wilderness, John must understand the new rules, battle mutated monsters and manage threats that did not exist before the transformation.
His larger mission is to uncover the System’s origin and protect fellow survivors from aliens offering safety in exchange for freedom. The completed run makes this a practical choice for readers who want a long progression story without waiting for the next instalment.
Whether you prefer brutal combat, settlement-building or a more relaxed fantasy pace, these books cover several corners of LitRPG. For readers who enjoy seeing game systems translated into physical play, RETROCADE’s arcade machine buying guide is a useful next stop, while arcade machines bring another kind of interactive challenge into an Australian games room.
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