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LitRPG, short forliterary role-playing game, is aliterary genre combining the conventions ofcomputer RPGs with science-fiction and fantasy novels. The term was introduced in 2013.[citation needed] In LitRPG, game-like elements form an essential part of the story, and visible RPG statistics (for example strength, intelligence, damage) are a significant part of the reading experience.[1][2] This distinguishes the genre from novels that tie in with a game, like those set in the world ofDungeons & Dragons; books that are actual games, such as the choose-your-own-adventureFighting Fantasy type of publication; or games that are literarily described, likeMUDs andinteractive fiction. Typically, the main character in a LitRPG novel is consciously interacting with the game or game-like world and attempting to progress within it.
Theliterary trope of getting inside a computer game is not new.[3]Andre Norton'sQuag Keep (1978) enters the world of the characters of aD&D game.Larry Niven andSteven Barnes'sDream Park (1981) has a setting ofLARP-like games as a kind of reality TV in the future (2051). With the rise ofMMORPGs in the 1990s came science fiction novels that utilised virtual game worlds for their plots.[citation needed] In Taiwan, the first ofYu Wo's nine½ Prince novels appeared, published in October 2004 by Ming Significant Cultural.[4] In Japan, the genre started in 1993 with the comedyMagical Circle Guru Guru where the characters lived in aJRPG and the cliches and mechanics of the time were often a source of humor. Later Japanese examples include.hack//Sign in 2002 andSword Art Online in 2009.[citation needed] The Korean seriesLegendary Moonlight Sculptor has over 50 volumes.[citation needed]
These novels and others were precursors to a more stat-heavy form of novel. Using a looser definition, a Russian publishing initiative identified the genre and gave it a name. The first Russian novel in this style appeared in 2012 at the Russian self-publishing website samizdat.ru, the novelГосподство клана Неспящих (Clan Dominance: The Sleepless Ones) by Dem Mikhailov set in the fictionalsword and sorcery game world of Valdira, printed by Leningrad Publishers later that year under the titleГосподство кланов (The Rule of the Clans) in the seriesСовременный фантастический боевик (Modern Fantastic Action Novel)[5] and translated into English asThe Way of the Clan as a Kindle book in 2015.[citation needed]
In 2013,EKSMO, a major Russian publishing house, started its multiple-author project entitledLitRPG. According to Magic Dome Books, a major translator of Russian LitRPG, the termLitRPG was coined in late 2013 during a brainstorming session between writer Vasily Mahanenko, EKSMO's science fiction editor Dmitry Malkin, and fellow LitRPG series editor and authorAlex Bobl [ru]. Since 2014, EKSMO has been running LitRPG competitions and publishing the winning stories.[6]
Most LitRPG books wereself-published, with some works in the genre having reached mainstream success.[7] In January 2020 Aleron Kong'sThe Land: Monsters appeared on theWall Street Journal bestseller list in the Fiction E-Books category.[8][non-primary source needed] Matt Dinniman'sDungeon Crawler Carl series was picked up byAce Books, and has a television series in production.[7] In March 2025, Dinniman's novelThis Inevitable Ruin (book 7 ofDungeon Crawler Carl) reached #2 in the Audio Fiction category ofThe New York Times best-seller list.[9]
Many of the post-2014 writers in this field insist that depiction of a character's in-game progression must be part of the definition of LitRPG, leading to the emergence of the termGameLit to embrace stories set in a game universe but which do not necessarily embody leveling and skill raising.[10]
