An interesting writing experiment

[Deleted]

So, there's this relatively new genre that's come alive over the last six or so years, called a LitRPG.  While the definition is complicated, and there are various subgenres already developed from it, the basic premise is that it follows a person who's living in a video game.  Either literally, through VR, or is in a world that functions like a video game, with stats and levels and whatnot.  The Land, written by Aleron Kong, supposedly started the whole thing, in America, at least.  Apparently it's been big in Russia for decades.   

Anyway, I've been listening/reading a lot of them lately, and some are great.  Viridian Gate Online is about the end of the world, where a Meteor is about to crash into the planet and wipe out 90% of the population, and a gaming company has just released its newest ultra VR video game, Viridian Gate Online, in which nanites go into your brain and you basically live the video game.  It feeds the info directly into your brain, so you believe you're actually there.  The graphics are indistinguishable from reality, and the NPC's are so advanced many think they may actually be self aware.  It had a bug, though.  If you stay hooked up for more than 72 hrs, your body died and your brain was uploaded into the game.  Normally, they had a safety feature that forced a player to unplug after 8 hrs.  But since the world is going to an end, they disabled the safety feature and let anyone who wants to 'escape' to the video game world.  The servers are protected deep under ground, and set up to run forever.  The AI's who run the game basically become the in game gods, and it's really, really interesting.  

The Land is also incredible.  Apparently, there's another world called "The Land".  It is a Jupiter sized planet of magic and sorcery and fantasy stuff.  The whole world is a lock keeping these incredibly powerful beings locked away into another universe.  If the planet were destroyed, then they would be free.  Well, one of them managed to stretch himself outside his prison just enough to find Earth.  Every human on Earth is unique in all the multiverse: they all have a seed of Chaos inside them.  What that means is explored later in the series.  So he conspires to bring them to The Land, hopeful that they'll eventually destroy it.  How does he do that? By influencing Game Designers to create a High Tech VR Game (like VGO above), based on The Land.  Buried in the Terms of Service is fine print agreeing to be transported to The Land. 

Turns out, The Land functions like a video game.  Everyone has stats, and can bring up their personal stat sheet, gains levels and whatnot.  The only reason Earth doesn't is because it's disconnected from the Multiverse, and has little to no Magic.  The Main Character of The Land was just playing a VR video game, found an ultra rare dungeon that no one had ever heard of, and managed to get inside cause he was so high level.  He activated a pedestal that asked him if he would speak for his race.  He said yes.  Then it asked if he wanted to go to a world of adventure and leave his life behind.  He said yes.  Then his mind was transported to The Land, and the story begins.  

Anyway, they're some great reads.  I've even been trying to develop my own world to use for something like that.  But it got me thinking about using stats and whatnot for characters in a book.  And then it got me thinking about a writing experiment:  What if I write a story where every character is a randomly rolled DND Character?  First, I build up their stats, which for me would take about ten seconds for each one.  And then, every time they try to do something, I roll to see if it succeeds.  They gain XP from the enemies they face.  They gain randomly rolled loot.  They have to spend money on food and equipment and have to keep track of how much they can carry.  They explore randomly generated dungeons.  They level up and have to make decisions on how to progress their abilities.  And if they die...then they die.  Their story is over.  Experiment complete.  Start a new character.  

I think it would bring a real sense of urgency in the stories.  Like, you follow Bob, a Bard, and watch him go through all these wacky adventures, and grow to love him, and then...he falls in a spike pit and fails his saving throw.  Bob dies a horrible death.  Woops.  Oh well. On to the next character.  

I know people hate when characters die, but I feel like this could turn in to something.  I have dozens of DND characters in my head that I never get to play, or only got to play once.  I could use them to create entire book series, seeing where they eventually go.  It's almost like...like playing DND by yourself, only then you publish the adventure and make money off it.  Lol.  Assuming anyone would actually read it.  

Thoughts?  

[pelwrath]

So, as a writer I have tell(show) each characters stats and abilities, them studying new ones, assign titles to levels, describe show them earning experience points. It seems overly complicated to write a fantasy novel.

[Deleted]

It's horrendously complicated if you're making your own game system, like they did in VGO and The Land. But for now, I'm going to use DND's 5th edition. I know that like the back of my hand, and have all the books, almost. It shouldn't be too difficult to keep up with all that. Plus, I can use Dndbeyond.com to keep track of the characters stats, equipment and experience.

[RAVENEYE]

Jan 28, 2022 17:35:19 GMT -6 @tglassy said:

Anyway, they're some great reads.  I've even been trying to develop my own world to use for something like that.  But it got me thinking about using stats and whatnot for characters in a book.  And then it got me thinking about a writing experiment:  What if I write a story where every character is a randomly rolled DND Character?  First, I build up their stats, which for me would take about ten seconds for each one.  And then, every time they try to do something, I roll to see if it succeeds.  They gain XP from the enemies they face.  They gain randomly rolled loot.  They have to spend money on food and equipment and have to keep track of how much they can carry.  They explore randomly generated dungeons.  They level up and have to make decisions on how to progress their abilities.  And if they die...then they die.  Their story is over.  Experiment complete.  Start a new character.  

I think it would bring a real sense of urgency in the stories.  Like, you follow Bob, a Bard, and watch him go through all these wacky adventures, and grow to love him, and then...he falls in a spike pit and fails his saving throw.  Bob dies a horrible death.  Woops.  Oh well. On to the next character.  

I know people hate when characters die, but I feel like this could turn in to something.  I have dozens of DND characters in my head that I never get to play, or only got to play once.  I could use them to create entire book series, seeing where they eventually go.  It's almost like...like playing DND by yourself, only then you publish the adventure and make money off it.  Lol.  Assuming anyone would actually read it.  

Thoughts?  

Wow, this sounds fun. Been doing a bit of this over in Litterbug Junction, any time the story could go several ways, roll the dice and let the dice decide. Sounds more challenging doing it for longer, more serious work. But, like you say, immediate and surprising for the reader. Given the gaming generation, and the popularity of "pick your ending" books, etc. this idea might really work. Go for it, I guess, and see what happens.

[Deleted]

I've got a party of characters written up. Now I just need to develop the adventure. It's kind of like being a DM and a player all at the same time, lol. I have to develop the adventure, set the traps, build the dungeon, etc, and then play through it with the characters and see if they survive. It'll be an interesting project, to say the least.

[Deleted]

I've got the starter dungeon and the first adventure picked out. Just need to roll a few Random encounters on the way to the adventure site, and then write it all out.

My premise is that the party has recently joined the Adventurer's Guild in one of the larger cities in the Empire. This is Classic Fantasy World, filled to the brim with monsters and treasure and ancient secrets and all kinds of cool stuff just waiting to be found. The Adventurer's Guild goes off to find it, and also takes contracts from anyone willing to pay. Joining the Guild is a great honor, as their members (the ones who survive) usually gain great power and can keep all but 10% of what they find. That 10% is their fee for joining the guild. As such, they usually don't have room for lots of new members.

However, there was recently a war with a neighboring kingdom. The war is over now, but many of the Adventurers died in it. So there's a unique opportunity for new members!

Their first mission: Another Adventuring Party, a pair made up of a Wizard and a Fighter, went to dispatch a cave full of (insert evil monster group here), as this group has settled in a cave near a village and has been kidnapping the villagers! You're not supposed to go on Quests (as their called) without at least four members, preferably five, but that particular Wizard always liked to do things on his own. He, and his sidekick, never came back. So, the as yet unnamed party (full of brand new Adventurers) are going to be sent to see what happened to the Wizard, and most importantly, Kill the (Insert Monster Group Here).

I haven't decided on which type of monster to use in this adventure. Gnolls are a classic, but I may need to search through the Monster Manual to see what sticks out.

[HDSimplicityy]

Great idea! I think that it can spawn a trilogy, for example, easily. Talk about plot twists, misdirection, or absurdly hilarious chapters!
You could try this. It also brings to mind two thoughts. One, you have said more than once, in other threads, of your writers' block in just writing stories rather than always worldbuilding and character designing. This seems like its almost breaking out of that, while letting more of your old stories still wait for development. You are a more experienced writer than I, so maybe you can handle pushing more off to the side. The second thought is the plot can get so wildly twisty and convoluted in prose form that consistency, character arcs, and plot can get jumbled up. As I have never sat at a table to play Dungeons and Dragons, I only imagine this can happen.

Up to you.

[RAVENEYE]

Feb 12, 2022 18:31:58 GMT -6 HDSimplicityy said:

One, you have said more than once, in other threads, of your writers' block in just writing stories rather than always worldbuilding and character designing. This seems like its almost breaking out of that, while letting more of your old stories still wait for development. 

This is a really good point, actually. This seems to be an interesting tool to trick the brain into ongoing creativity. AND motivation to write the next segment and the next and the next until the story is finished. 

Hmm, might be able to adapt this to some of my future stories as well. Love that idea, actually. Hoping it works for you, @tglassy.

[HDSimplicityy]

Feb 13, 2022 13:08:37 GMT -6 RAVENEYE said:

Feb 12, 2022 18:31:58 GMT -6 HDSimplicityy said:

One, you have said more than once, in other threads, of your writers' block in just writing stories rather than always worldbuilding and character designing. This seems like its almost breaking out of that, while letting more of your old stories still wait for development. 

This is a really good point, actually. This seems to be an interesting tool to trick the brain into ongoing creativity. AND motivation to write the next segment and the next and the next until the story is finished. 

Hmm, might be able to adapt this to some of my future stories as well. Love that idea, actually. Hoping it works for you, @tglassy .

Has to be some trick to it. 
The other thing is it can make you start stuff without finishing it. A writer I have talked to in a singles group said she has too many stories in various drafts, or that are just unfinished. One is a big fantasy story in like six different versions! Its a common struggle, no doubt.  As she is more experienced, I was encouraging her to try prioritizing stories, but not trying to tell her, "This is how you need to do it". Knock one thing out at a time, or pick two to alternate between, until they are finished. Its up to her to do it how she wants, just like for us here. 

[Sundrinker]

Jan 28, 2022 17:35:19 GMT -6 @tglassy said:

So, there's this relatively new genre that's come alive over the last six or so years, called a LitRPG.  While the definition is complicated, and there are various subgenres already developed from it, the basic premise is that it follows a person who's living in a video game.  Either literally, through VR, or is in a world that functions like a video game, with stats and levels and whatnot.  The Land, written by Aleron Kong, supposedly started the whole thing, in America, at least.  Apparently it's been big in Russia for decades.   

Oh yeah, that genre was a really big thing in Japan a couple of years ago. The most popular title being Sword Art Online. Other I can think of off the top of my head are Overlord (the light novel series) and Log Horizon. As for the quality of any of those, I couldn't tell you. I haven't read any of them. Although I keep hearing again and again that SAO, or at the least the anime adaptation, got a lot of flack for its bland characterization, wish-fulfillment power fantasy, etc.

A common theme among all those is the players are trapped in their respective games against their own will.

The big thing now in Japan is isekai (lit. another world), where the main character is transported to another world for some reason, and a lot of those retained some RPG elements like Rising of the Shield Hero and KonoSuba.

Jan 28, 2022 17:35:19 GMT -6 @tglassy said:

I've even been trying to develop my own world to use for something like that. But it got me thinking about using stats and whatnot for characters in a book. And then it got me thinking about a writing experiment: What if I write a story where every character is a randomly rolled DND Character? First, I build up their stats, which for me would take about ten seconds for each one. And then, every time they try to do something, I roll to see if it succeeds. They gain XP from the enemies they face. They gain randomly rolled loot. They have to spend money on food and equipment and have to keep track of how much they can carry. They explore randomly generated dungeons. They level up and have to make decisions on how to progress their abilities. And if they die...then they die. Their story is over. Experiment complete. Start a new character.

That makes me think of those old-school text-based adventures. Basically, it's a novel but sometimes you'd be prompted to make a choice on screen or try to enter a word or command.

How would you see your adventures work on paper?