LitRPG system

[Rhaps]

Calling to all LitRPG authors, how do ypu keep the stats and skills of your character organized? And how to translate feats to corresponding numbers/stats

 

[LilRora]

Personally, I made a separate file where I keep track of all system messages and changes to the character sheet. Nothing magical, though I wish I had a better tool to keep track of everything.

Please elaborate on the feats, cause that's very vague by itself.

 

[MatchaChocolate69]

I'm not very good at giving advice because I tend to be very disorganized. For this reason, I've made myself keep track of level-ups and power-ups using Excel sheets. Each character has their own sheet with their stats and level boosts.

 

[ParticleOfSand]

With an ongoing note sheet in the background and referencing previous chapters a lot. Feat to number wise, I don’t. I just scale up the power levels and what the characters are capable of after every power up.

 

[greyliliy]

I have a spreadsheet. I add a column with the chapter number when their stats change. Lol.

 

[Glitched]

I don't write litrpg. But all of my characters have a very, very, very detailed skill and level sheet in Google docs in folders. When their stats change in the story, I update them on the docs.

 

[2wordsperminute]

I haven't started the series I have planned yet (I'm going to finish my current series first), but I'll prob have a character sheet like a ttrpg (probably on physical paper because it's easier to format), and for one of the skills that has a loot table, I'll either use tables in a Google doc or just a Google sheet.

 

[Rhaps]

Personally, I made a separate file where I keep track of all system messages and changes to the character sheet. Nothing magical, though I wish I had a better tool to keep track of everything.

Please elaborate on the feats, cause that's very vague by itself.

I am entering a brief LitRPG arc, some of my character's feat are hard to calculate, to me at least. The MC is at least Large Country level to Continential.

Some of the things that she can do normally:
-She has what is similar to Ultra Instinct, she sees the world in numbers and formula and is able to calculate them, in dnd term, it correlate to Wis or Int. What number do you assign to hyper instinct?
-She hit like a train and is able to lift up to 5,000 tons.
-Her charisma is so high its borderline mind control without using her special powers.
-She pretty much have near infinite stamina, able to fight demigod dinosaurs faster than the eyes can see to a stand still.

Things like this, how tf do I translate these feats into number?

 

[LilRora]

I am entering a brief LitRPG arc, some of my character's feat are hard to calculate, to me at least. The MC is at least Large Country level to Continential.

Some of the things that she can do normally:
-She has what is similar to Ultra Instinct, she sees the world in numbers and formula and is able to calculate them, in dnd term, it correlate to Wis or Int. What number do you assign to hyper instinct?
-She hit like a train and is able to lift up to 5,000 tons.
-Her charisma is so high its borderline mind control without using her special powers.
-She pretty much have near infinite stamina, able to fight demigod dinosaurs faster than the eyes can see to a stand still.

Things like this, how tf do I translate these feats into number?

Okay, so as I understand, first bit of advice: no, the numbers mean nothing.

I've read enough stories where authors tried to quantify how much exactly one point in strength or in stamina was. Without any exceptions, they were stupid, whether they tried to set an average for humans or directly quantify something like one point in strength allows to lift a certain weight. Those numbers only somewhat make sense with stats such as Mana, which can directly translate to the size of the mana pool, but even then it gets funky when you go into details.

Numbers should generally be arbitrary, mainly because it's just impossible to properly put some things into numbers - human bodies and minds are far more complex than that.

I believe what you should focus on is two primary things. One - how stats work, or what they represent. Generally, are they the strength of magical enhancement? An overall representation of something? Right there it's also really helpful to separate stats into expendable resources (health, mana stamina, whatever else) and values (strength, agility, intelligence, etc.), because values may start at zero while basic resources shouldn't.

Two - how stats scale. Linearly? Exponentially? Most people don't really take this into account and it ends up pretty arbitrary, but it's at least useful to make a distinction between linear scaling and non-linear scaling.

Probably the best way to go about it is to set up some references. For example, show stats at level one, which is a rough reference to average strength, and go from there, gradually increasing the numbers as the character grows according to the scaling you choose, and keep consistent with it. You can give a glimpse of the stats of a god, or someone strong, so the readers will know how close your mc is to them, and you'll have a reference that will keep your urges in line.

Now, from there:

Ultra Insctint - this should be either a skill, or very high perception, or a further generalization. Can't tell you anything more, because virtually anything will go so long as it's consistent.
For example, if your stats are an overall representation of a character's strength, you can just give the character very high Perception stat. That stat itself won't include what kind of perception it is, but remember numbers are always a simplification.
Another solution is to consider this a skill. You can leave stats unchanged and give the character a passive skill either without a directly specified effect, or you can say it increases perception be some number and percent.

Strength is just a stat. Don't get hung up on the exact number, since it doesn't really matter anyway. You can come up a rough equation that turns strength into how much strength someone can exert, but realistically strength depends on far too many factors for it to be accurate beyond rough estimations.

Charisma... well it's high charisma, what did you expect. The exact number with mind stats becomes even less meaningful than with physical stats. This here, though, usually is better dealt with as a skill.

Infinite stamina... there's a lot of ways to deal with it, because this is a resource not a static value. You can give her a huge pool, you can give her very quick regeneration, you can give her skills that... do something that keeps her stamina high.

Notice not in one of the four I gave you any numbers. That's because they don't matter much. Consistency, is what matters the most.

 

[Little-Moon]

Maybe try without numbers but with Ranks.
Rank A, Rank B so on.

What you describe sounds like a SS or an L Ranked skill, so instead of giving it concrete numbers you give it a Rank.

 

[Syringe]

Several methods.

1) Make a wiki/glossary page. This can help both you and your readers keep track of stats, skills, etc. These are mine for example:

Nexus Awakened (An Isekai LitRPG Gender Bender Story) - Glossary | Mini Wiki | Scribble Hub

www.scribblehub.com

https://www.scribblehub.com/read/526583-nexus-awakened-an-isekai-litrpg-gender-bender-story/chapter/1072674/

2) Another is to keep it all in docs separate from your story. If something changes, then you have to change it in your notes too. The good thing about Scribble Hub is how easy it is to sift through your own story and find key words/numbers on specific pages, just in case you missed something.

3) You could get a program dedicated to tracking elements of your story/stats/characters, but I'd always just recommend Word/Google Docs, even Notepad will work. One that was really good was Campfire, but it's discontinued unfortunately.

4) Arrange/design it in a way that is recognizable and makes sense. This is the formatting part so it's easier to keep notes and organize them.

5) Speaking of organization, it might be a good idea to make folders to differentiate characters into separate categories, like MCs, Enemies, etc. Or you can just have it all in one massive word doc and use Ctrl + F to move around.

For feats, that largely depends on what you're aiming for and what the numbers actually mean. For example, humans have at average 100 HP so normal punches should not do 10 damage, because that would mean 10 hits = 1 person dead. What I do instead is only write their 'Maximum' damage in the best case scenario, so on average they'll be doing much less and gives you much more leeway in fudging the numbers as an author.

Of course, this isn't perfect, since there's likely other stats that influence raw numbers too. But in general numbers should reflect how much impact said skill has in practice. It would be very off putting if an attack that literally wipes out a city does only like 1,000 damage.

Ultimately, how you do it is up to you and there's no real perfect way to do it. Just have higher feats be reflected by higher numbers, and show that visually. For example, a normal person's punches doing 10 damage vs another who does 250 damage and is breaking the sound barrier with each hit vs 1,000 that's forming cracks into in the earth.

 

[TheEldritchGod]

Calling to all LitRPG authors, how do ypu keep the stats and skills of your character organized? And how to translate feats to corresponding numbers/stats

I DM'd for 35 years. I know my shit.

 

[Glitched]

I am entering a brief LitRPG arc, some of my character's feat are hard to calculate, to me at least. The MC is at least Large Country level to Continential.

Some of the things that she can do normally:
-She has what is similar to Ultra Instinct, she sees the world in numbers and formula and is able to calculate them, in dnd term, it correlate to Wis or Int. What number do you assign to hyper instinct?
-She hit like a train and is able to lift up to 5,000 tons.
-Her charisma is so high its borderline mind control without using her special powers.
-She pretty much have near infinite stamina, able to fight demigod dinosaurs faster than the eyes can see to a stand still.

Things like this, how tf do I translate these feats into

My character system uses 8 key stats to determine thier general attributes
Agility(Speed/Athleticism)
Dexterity(Flexibility/Ability to hide)
Constitution(HP or Vitality)
Strength(Raw power)
Intelligence(Brains)
Power(Magic)
WillPower(Charisma)

Your average adult human has a value of 5 for everyone of these. A 2 in strength would mean you have the strength of a 5 year old, while a 10 would make you Einstein. Ofc, the cap for these values is actually 20. Anything over 10 is where you start to become inhuman. Someone with 20 agility could move anywhere, everywhere, instantly. Someone with 20 WillPower could shape the world as they please just by thinking about it. 20 Strength could lift anything as long as they are on something that can support the weight of the item they're lifting. That being said, a S-class adventurer might have stats around 10. The human limit is 10. The inhuman limit is 13. Only gods or demi gods go above 15.

 

[Kalliel]

I create a bunch of disorganized sheets where I write down what I think I need to keep track of, which, obviously, is nowhere near adequate. At this point, I worry for my future self when my story enters its latter arcs.

On a more serious note, as someone who has written ~140 chapters of LitRPG, I can give you one piece of advice: If you think you can remember a detail correlating to the—system-related—progression of something, you don't. Unless you only eat and write in a day. Write absolutely everything down.

 

[Rhaps]

Maybe try without numbers but with Ranks.
Rank A, Rank B so on.

What you describe sounds like a SS or an L Ranked skill, so instead of giving it concrete numbers you give it a Rank.

Holy shit, somehow I didn't think of this.

Several methods.

1) Make a wiki/glossary page. This can help both you and your readers keep track of stats, skills, etc. These are mine for example:

Nexus Awakened (An Isekai LitRPG Gender Bender Story) - Glossary | Mini Wiki | Scribble Hub

www.scribblehub.com

https://www.scribblehub.com/read/526583-nexus-awakened-an-isekai-litrpg-gender-bender-story/chapter/1072674/

2) Another is to keep it all in docs separate from your story. If something changes, then you have to change it in your notes too. The good thing about Scribble Hub is how easy it is to sift through your own story and find key words/numbers on specific pages, just in case you missed something.

3) You could get a program dedicated to tracking elements of your story/stats/characters, but I'd always just recommend Word/Google Docs, even Notepad will work. One that was really good was Campfire, but it's discontinued unfortunately.

4) Arrange/design it in a way that is recognizable and makes sense. This is the formatting part so it's easier to keep notes and organize them.

5) Speaking of organization, it might be a good idea to make folders to differentiate characters into separate categories, like MCs, Enemies, etc. Or you can just have it all in one massive word doc and use Ctrl + F to move around.

For feats, that largely depends on what you're aiming for and what the numbers actually mean. For example, humans have at average 100 HP so normal punches should not do 10 damage, because that would mean 10 hits = 1 person dead. What I do instead is only write their 'Maximum' damage in the best case scenario, so on average they'll be doing much less and gives you much more leeway in fudging the numbers as an author.

Of course, this isn't perfect, since there's likely other stats that influence raw numbers too. But in general numbers should reflect how much impact said skill has in practice. It would be very off putting if an attack that literally wipes out a city does only like 1,000 damage.

Ultimately, how you do it is up to you and there's no real perfect way to do it. Just have higher feats be reflected by higher numbers, and show that visually. For example, a normal person's punches doing 10 damage vs another who does 250 damage and is breaking the sound barrier with each hit vs 1,000 that's forming cracks into in the earth.

For character sheets I used Roll20 since might as well work with something I'm familiar with. The problem only came when I can't translate dnd number appropiately with what I'm trying to write. But with your advice I think I can calculate them appropiately.

 

[ConansWitchBaby]

The ABC method is easier if you need to insert it half-way through the story.

 

[RP8]

Calling to all LitRPG authors, how do ypu keep the stats and skills of your character organized? And how to translate feats to corresponding numbers/stats

I just reference the last chp where I wrote it, and calculate from there, it's working so I'm not keeping a separate sheet or doc for it...well for now at least

 

[Paul_Michaels]

Me personally I'll probably use a spreadsheet. You can use the one on Google

 

[NotaNuffian]

Many thanks to everyone who answered properly.

And wow, this sounds like a project with excel sheets and all.

My character system uses 8 key stats to determine thier general attributes
Agility(Speed/Athleticism)
Dexterity(Flexibility/Ability to hide)
Constitution(HP or Vitality)
Strength(Raw power)
Intelligence(Brains)
Power(Magic)
WillPower(Charisma)

Your average adult human has a value of 5 for everyone of these. A 2 in strength would mean you have the strength of a 5 year old, while a 10 would make you Einstein. Ofc, the cap for these values is actually 20. Anything over 10bis where you start to become inhuman. Someone with 30 agility could move anywhere, everywhere, instantly. Someone with 20 WillPower could shape the world as they please just by thinking about it. 20 Strength could lift anything as long as they are on something that can support the weight of the item they're lifting. That being said, a S-class adventurer might have stats around 10. The human limit is 10. The inhuman limit is 13. Only gods or demi gods go above 15.

That is very DnD. Kudos of you to cap your characters and not making them into instant gods.

 

[Rhaps]

That is very DnD. Kudos of you to cap your characters and not making them into instant gods.

With dnd you can solo god at level 14-16, thats why I don't want to use dnd's system since it focuses more on ability synergy than the ability scores.