Writing When Did Stats Become "Not Enough" ? (LItRPG-centered)

FlutterOfCrows

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I'm also curious why it's rare to find Stat symbols(like rank F strength, etc.)
, as that would be an easier way to enter the world of litrpg writing, than trying to use pure stat numbers and do it exceedingly poorly. its a weird phenomenon.
 

GDLiZy

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I hate dumbass stats with passion.

Oh shit, someone hit on you the head so hard you flew into the sky? -100 HP
"Oh yeah, I have 300 HP so I'm still fine." The MC spoke when his head got curved in half.

Stats are good, but when there are HP involved, it started to become dumb. A knife stabbed into your heart? Nah, lvl3 mook dealt -5 HP to you lvl10 captain.

I much preferred no stats at all like the usual fantasy, or the rank system that showed the general quality of the character. Stats = Static, and static nature is hard to make it interesting. The scaling when using stats are also hard. 1 Str = 200N of force but, what is 200N of force? Can it punch through wall? Curved metals? Does Str add multiplicatively, or addictive? How Str and Agi interact? What dafuq is Int? Wisdom? How can you even quantify that?
 
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might as well write a story about someone 'cheating' on a single player rpg game, at least that made a lot more sense.

inb4 skyrim fanfics
 

Yiphen

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My view-point on litrpg's is that they're all trash as soon as they start majorly scaling stats. The general way to view them is like this:
Normal People's EXP Multiplier: Times 1
Skilled People's EXP Multiplier: Times 2
Heroic People's EXP Multiplier: Times 4
MC's EXP Multiplier: Times Higher-than-yours

As for cultivation novels, I just can't stand the way they tell all their stories. "Respect your master." "Respect your enemy, otherwise they'll murder you." "Oh! You disrespected me! Now I'll try and murder you and get my ass kicked to make you stronger!" It's all about that respect.
 

BenJepheneT

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I've never read LitRPGs or any of those aforementioned Chinese-inspired novels, but what is so hard about power escalation? Don't give the MC an overpowered foe to battle only for said MC to rape the foe tenfold. You'll rape drama and tension at the same time. The moment you do that, stats don't even matter anymore. It's just an arbitrary number put there because some fucker implemented it in the first chapter and has to continue it for the sake of continuity.

inb4 skyrim
THY LUSTY ARGONIAN MAID
 

Jemini

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Stats stopped being enough when the wuxia and xianxua trend hit worldwide. A lot of LitRPGs are trying to include those elements and they just dont mix. Take Ghosthound for example. Ghosthound was an amazing LitRPG, about a man stuck outside the system carving his own path to power. Then the author turned it into a interdimensional xinxua. At this point, I stopped reading cause the story just wasn't doing it for me anymore. It turned into just another dime a dozen cultivation novel disguised as a LitRPG.

wuxia / xianxia mechanics do not mix well when added to the LitRPG genre, but actually LitRPG mechanics integrate VERY well into a wuxia / xianxia world. Basically, the stats and other LitRPG mechanics become a tracker for how far along you are on your cultivation. So, the fusion of the two only really works if you start your world from the base of being a cultivation world, and then characters have some method of tracking their stat growth. The only concept of levels that might exist is level of cultivation.

An excellent example of this mechanic being used well would be "Warlock of the Magus World." The guy reincarnates from some futuristic earth-like world into a wuxia world where cultivation is used to advance as a mage. He happens to have had a microchip implanted in his brain at the time of his death, and the microchip came with him, fused to his soul. Said microchip can track the Str. Agi. and Vit. of the MC and any living thing around him, with a 1 representing the base standard for an adult male human from the old Earth. The highest stat seen before he decides to change the standard of measurement is in the mid 50s.

This actually brings up a basic weakness of most LitRPGs. They get TOO absorbed in the stats, and therefore wind up in a stats-inflation trap that just gets completely ridiculous and renders stats meaningless in the process. If you are doing it right, 2X the base human average ought to be considered super-human, with 5X whatever you have set as the human average being considered absolutely insane. Most series I've seen seem to use a D&D standard in which 10 is considered the base average, which should mean 50 is insanely powerful, but then they go ahead and have characters with 4 digit or even 6+ digit stats. You've gone completely too far when you get into that nonsense.

Usually, cultivation worlds that pull a few LitRPG mechanics are more conservative with dolling out stat points, where as LitRPG worlds just inflate stats to the sky. I think this observation of how well cultivation worlds handle LitRPG mechanics might have something to do with why a few people decided to try the mixture in reverse. (which ultimately results in an already bad problem becoming worse.)
 

XianPiete

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One of the challenges of creating a story that follows a predictable pattern where each new arc is essentially going to have to be a repeat of the previous arc with something extra is adding a new element that can break through the imaginary box you have created for your characters. I think the reason people are using abstracts like "the great Dao of killing!" is it doesn't come with the rigid imaginary box that is obvious with the LitRPG style.
 

Jemini

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One of the challenges of creating a story that follows a predictable pattern where each new arc is essentially going to have to be a repeat of the previous arc with something extra is adding a new element that can break through the imaginary box you have created for your characters. I think the reason people are using abstracts like "the great Dao of killing!" is it doesn't come with the rigid imaginary box that is obvious with the LitRPG style.

You gotta embrace the box man, you just gotta think of your story like a growing plant and then fill that box with planting soil and jam a support frame into it, then really think of your story like a growing plant.

The box in this analogy is the rules of your world, the planting soil is your imagination, and the support frame is really good world building and character creation. If you are using these concepts as a way to destroy that box, then you are only destabilizing your entire story. You gotta take the time and effort to do it the right way.
 

Discount_Blade

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You gotta embrace the box man, you just gotta think of your story like a growing plant and then fill that box with planting soil and jam a support frame into it, then really think of your story like a growing plant.

The box in this analogy is the rules of your world, the planting soil is your imagination, and the support frame is really good world building and character creation. If you are using these concepts as a way to destroy that box, then you are only destabilizing your entire story. You gotta take the time and effort to do it the right way.

I'm probably alone in this, but I pictured a guy with long hair, a wide-brimmed hat, and a cigarette hanging off his lips, saying this while sitting on the beach, in a tank top and swimming trunks, and a few discarded beer cans lying next to him. Go figure.
 

AliceShiki

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I'm probably alone in this, but I pictured a guy with long hair, a wide-brimmed hat, and a cigarette hanging off his lips, saying this while sitting on the beach, in a tank top and swimming trunks, and a few discarded beer cans lying next to him. Go figure.
:blob_aww: :blob_aww: :blob_aww: :blob_aww: :blob_aww:

Is this how you imagine your future lover? Should I try shipping you with someone like that?
 

ShyMaskedMan

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Agree, it will just end up being repetitives.
The 'MC never lose or half lose/half win' troupe
If u know what i mean.
I drop all Manhua at the moment, it just get boring, MC > Story > Girl > Plot > Enemy > Fight > Win > Get the Girl, and repeat.
No offense for those who likes it, this is just my very personal opinion n preferences
 

LostinMovement

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I never understood why anyone would mix Xianxia with LitRPG. There are two totally different things inspired by different concepts/cultures. They just don't work. It is like a phone trying to be both Apple and Samsung at the same time. It is either this or that.
 
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