Reddit reviews The Crafting of Chess: A LitRPG adventure

I really enjoy Kit Falbo's The Crafting of Chess, and I don't feel like it gets a lot of advertising/talk. https://www.amazon.com/Crafting-Chess-LitRPG-adventure-ebook/dp/B07P1YRHTX/

Also, Sarah Lin's trilogy New Game Minus https://www.amazon.com/Changing-Faces-LitRPG-Adventure-Minus-ebook/dp/B07KMMT9TX/

She has a superb Urban Fantasy Wuxiua coming out too.

[Cradle]
[Mother of Learning]
[Sufficiently Advanced Magic]
[Street Cultivation]
[The Land]
[The Divine Dungeon]
[The Dark Herbalist]
[Ascend Online]
[The Way of the Shaman]
[The Wheel of Time] (Low Quality)
[I Shall Seal the Heavens]
[A Will Eternal]
[Coiling Dragon]
[Patrick Rothfuss] (Author)
[The Thousand Li]
[Savage Divinity] (Low Quality)
[The Dao of Magic]
[Dante's Immortality]
[Forge of Destiny]
[Veilverse]
[Way of the Immortals]
[Sundered Soul]
[Edge of Eons]
[Soulship]
[The Wandering Inn]
[Delvers LLC]
[Dodge Tank]
[World Tree Online]
[Life Reset]
[Viridian Gate Online]
[The Crafting of Chess]
[Reverend Insanity]
[I Eat Tomatoes] (Author)
[Er Gen] (Author)
[The King's Avatar]
[Against the Gods]
[Martial World]
[Dragon Heart]
[Purple Days]

Crafting of Chess gives us a sense of the rl characters life and issues

https://www.amazon.com/Crafting-Chess-LitRPG-adventure-ebook/dp/B07P1YRHTX/ref=nodl_.

Paradise Clash follows a pi who is hunting a missing person in a game


https://www.amazon.com/Paradise-Clash-Bounty-L-Price-ebook/dp/B07Q8WQPSR/ref=nodl_

The Crafting of Chess kind of fits from what I remember. There are plots about past situations, game company things, but most of what he MC does meets that description.

https://www.amazon.com/Crafting-Chess-LitRPG-adventure-ebook/dp/B07P1YRHTX

Spinward an artifical dreamstate novel also works. It takes place almost entirely in the game.

https://www.amazon.com/Spinward-Artificial-Dream-State-Novel-ebook/dp/B01KQOSHYK

Also look at: You need a bigger sword, Battle Spire, Codename Freedom, Stonehaven league.

The Crafting of Chess

​

A Chess Hustler decides to play an immersive Fantasy game as a way to push for a better life. Near future Sci-fi with fantasy game world action.

​

https://www.amazon.com/Crafting-Chess-LitRPG-adventure-ebook/dp/B07P1YRHTX/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=The+crafting+of+chess&qid=1556405261&s=gateway&sr=8-1

​

Kindle Unimited

​

3.99 to buy e-book

​

14.99 paperback

​

2 reviews shy of 50 on amazon. I should have a new book out next month, a Space Opera. If you like this, I'll do my best to get more work out for those that care.

My favorite LitRPG read for 2019 so far has been The Crafting of Chess. IIRC the author has stated he couldn't afford an editor or to commission cover art, so he did everything flying solo. And boy, can you tell.The cover art is basically stick figures, he seems to think "martial" (as in law) should be spelled "marshall," (as in sheriff) and on and on...but if he'd not published it I'd have felt I was missing out. Dunno. 🤷‍♂️ But it sounds like he brought the book to market for effectively no money out of pocket, so it can be done.

Having said that, I think it was the cover art on Travis Bagwell's books that made me immediately gravitate to them. So different from typical LitRPG covers, yet so arresting in their own right. (I think he said his sister in law does them. Lucky him.)

I'm a part-time author, 19 books, 20th out early next year. And although a long time ago I wrote a book that prefigures LitRPG in a lot of ways, I've been on a steep learning curve this year to catch up with where LitRPG is at. Firstly, as a reader, I've come to appreciate that the usual criteria for enjoying a book don't fully apply. I get hooked by following an MC in a gaming system, especially one with levels and skill tipping points and stay up much later than I intended to read on. This despite weak stories, poor writing, errors, etc. I'm into literary fiction as well and appreciate a book that leaves me deeply moved. But these days I'd rather read LitRPG. Of course, I prefer well-written LitRPG (Kit Falbo's Crafting of Chess and Travis Bagwell's Awaken Online spring to mind) but it's really interesting that there is a hook in LitRPG done right which is, frankly, new to fiction. If an author comes to the genre thinking they understand it (me a year ago) but don't deliver that sweet, addictive engagement with progressing in the game, then that author is going to disappoint readers, and see correspondingly negative posts. My experience here in the reddit community though, has been overwhelmingly positive and nothing like the territorial hostility and downright bullying I've seen in the LitRPG / GameLit Facebook groups. I think the reddit community is now so large that proprietorial authors and their epigones can no longer whip up a storm against new writers.

TL;DR: you should come back to the genre.