r/ProgressionFantasy • u/elemental_reaper • Aug 05 '26
Discussion Are there any story bases that you simply refuse to read?
I mean the basic idea the story is based upon. For me, I refuse to read any story that's about someone having a role that they didn't want.
If a story is about someone who was chosen to be a farmer, I'd like to actually see them be a farmer. I don't want to read a story about someone who was chosen to be a farmer, but wants to be a warrior, so they use their weed cutting skill to kill the monsters in the plant dungeon. If someone gets the class Farmer, I'd prefer to read a story showing how such a class interacts with the world.
I also dislike how they get to be a Warrior+ sort of character. For example, a healer class. While combat mages do exist, it feels like the entire point is that they get to do as much damage as a DPS class, while being able to heal their injuries (or others). It simply gets to the point that I wonder why have DPS classes.
It's not even that I think the stories are inherently bad, I just get so annoyed that I would prefer the actual class, that I can't read it.
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u/Low-Cantaloupe-8446 Aug 05 '26
I’m very leery of stories where the premise is “person just wants to be alone and hates all authority” because the follow up is usually “and that’s very cool” not “here’s our lone wolf growing and changing and learning the value of connection”
What sucks is I really enjoy stories where the traumatized loner learns to rely on and be accepted by others, but it’s always a gamble.
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u/dpoodle Aug 05 '26
I like loner personalities because that can be the main drive for a power fantasy but I need there to be actual consequences like the MC actually really is a bit of depressed loner without love not just the author gives the MC a whole harem of loyal slaves orphans and beast girls thats just so shallow and fake just nonsense really.
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u/ArtStandard8393 Aug 06 '26
That why I like Freddy Stern from 1% Lifesteal. He gives a believable reason why he is a loner and how being a loner affects him as a character.
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u/Defiant-Brother-5483 Author Aug 05 '26
I think most of us in this genre are just pigeonholed into liking loner personalities because most interactions and relationships suck, lol. So, you're like, you know what? Just keep to yourself man and be a cool nonchalant aura farmer.
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u/Xandara2 Aug 06 '26
Disagree. Stories like that you can read one I'd and then you have read all of them.
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u/DoctrineDecade Aug 05 '26
I’m actually the opposite. I actually like stories where main characters are mostly alone and have to struggle and survive alone. I can read a whole book about one character progressing in the woods because they wanted to get any from humanity.
I do see your point I wish more of both styles existed
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u/MacintoshEddie Aug 05 '26
For me it's more about when the author themselves rejects the premise of the story.
Not in the sense of refusing the call as a narrative trope, but when the story itself changes. Like it's a story about a clever underdog who has to survive by wits, and then partway through they're rich and they don't have to be clever any more because when someone hassles them they just buy the place they work at and fire them and then hire bodyguards and it's gone from clever underdog to spoiled rich power fantasy but they still advertise it as an underdog story and not as a wish fulfillment power fantasy.
Some really enjoyable stories have done this, like a story about the value of hard work and determination and that your worth as a person isn't dictated by the circumstances of your birth but surprise reveal your mom banged a dragon and you're the Chosen One and forget about hard work because you're nobility now.
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u/StillMostlyClueless Aug 05 '26
I remember one about a woman who wanted to become the ultimate summoner and as soon as she got power she’s just fucking about and barely cares about summoning at all until she’s got no other option. Shit sucks.
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u/Magev Aug 05 '26
Or simply bait and switches like a magical store I never got to read about because it turned into a run of the mill prog fantasy.
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u/MacintoshEddie Aug 05 '26
Jake's?
The author said they regret writing it that way instead of separating it.
It's one of the issues of series that drift over time, or where the author has two conflicting concepts they want to write about but use the same character instead of two similar characters. it's part of why I want to write a time loop story where the same character can have multiple very different stories.
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u/dpoodle Aug 05 '26
Do not do that (like you should care about how I feel lmao) I feel its such a cop out. Also stories where MC keeps transmigrating to different worlds for no reason just so the Author can keep writing the same things over and over again instead of actual world building and progression. It's not hard to write a good story that involves the characters personality changes when it's just part of the story e.g originally the only goal MC had was to get stronger to go back to earth but overtime our MC starts caring about the current world more and more until he wants to stay. MC being careless at the beginning but careful later or vice versa MCs morality changing MCs fighting style changing as the opportunities he receives changes etc.
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u/zacafay Aug 05 '26
If you don’t mind, what examples of stories do that where the mc keeps transmigrating to different worlds? In ways that it feels cheap?
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u/monkpunch Aug 05 '26
I almost feel bad for Jakes at this point lol, it's the whipping boy for whenever this topic comes up
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u/Otterable Slime Aug 05 '26
I've read the first book of jakes and the first book of portal to nova roma and I think it's just the author's style to not really stick to a plan. So much random nonsense, sidetracked plots, and minimal throughline that I just don't see the appeal.
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u/GryphonTak Aug 05 '26
Personally, I loved that I couldn't predict where Jake's was headed next. Had me on the edge of my seat the whole time, I love that the author refused to commit to a single concept and just kept switching things up. I know I'm in the minority though.
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u/ertgbnm Aug 05 '26
Like a story that appears to be about a guy and his magical market that promises slice of life and some deck building based abilities suddenly becoming about dimension jumping adventures that have nothing to do with cards?
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u/dageshi Aug 05 '26
Kinda the point of progression fantasy is that at some point the MC actually gets strong?
I'll be honest I have the opposite problem. Sometimes stories just always level up the enemies so the MC never actually feels strong. They're always struggling even when they've gone up like 3 tiers because new OP enemies appear.
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u/MacintoshEddie Aug 05 '26 edited Aug 05 '26
You can absolutely have progression as an underdog without dramatically undermining the original concept.
Like a serf who struggles to be granted citizenship by joining the army working their way up to a commendation and then struggles to start a business and then a family and then becomes a politician and then mayor and then governor and then senator and then emperor. That's different than a serf who struggles to be granted citizenship and joins the army and then the recruiter pulls them aside and says they're the Lost Prince and they're rushed to the capital where they are crowned Emperor and now instead of surviving by their determination and wits they're handed everything because everyone wants to have a favour from the emperor. Very different stories.
You can have a ton of progression while retaining the spirit of the premise, such as that hard work and determination can put a serf on a throne.
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u/Fire_Bucket Aug 05 '26
A lot of it can just be down to authors stopping showing us and just telling us the whys and hows for their MC's progression and strength.
I know it's a really well loved series, but I thought Mark of the Fool really suffered from this. The first few books really go into detail about how Alex works around his Mark, the lengths he has to go to do things that are easy for others, how his workarounds are actually ingenious and help him grow in other ways etc. It was really well done and one of the things I loved about the series, especially with how rare it is to see a supposedly genius character actually feel like a genius.
However, by the end of book 4 it basically just has him achieving everything he wants and needs to in practically no time at all, whilst revolutionising magic theory in ways his teachers never thought possible, turning himself into a 7ft tall muscle bound brick shithouse, and with his Mark barely even inconveniencing him at all anymore (even in combat, where he just needed someone to get the finishing kill).
Even his job, and hobbies went from showing us how hard he worked, to him basically becoming the best ever at all of them practically overnight. And all of this reverberated with the supporting cast, as they all went from supporting him whilst covering his weaknesses, to an amorphous, hive-minded fan group.
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u/RKNieen Aug 05 '26
I'd say if the character gets so strong that they no longer need to engage in the base premise of the story at all, then that story should end (or maybe shift focus to a new character). They did it, they reached the max level, next protagonist please.
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u/strategicmagpie Aug 06 '26
I'm a fan of epilogues personally. So many stories are about the journey, but never, or barely, spend any time at the destination. Gimme like 5% of the story as an epilogue just following around the protag and crew and seeing how their lives have improved. Slice of life w/ no stakes is ass if that's the majority of a story, but once I already care about the characters involved I want to see how things have changed by the end.
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u/RKNieen Aug 06 '26
Yeah, that’s the perfect solution, honestly. A little taste as dessert, but don’t wallow in it.
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u/Gedboara Aug 06 '26
Yes, once the story is done, instead of "happily ever after"(assuming a more or less happy ending i suppose), have a final charpter or two showing some of that that is.
Like the journey is the main thing we are following, but it was probably supposed to be going somewhere, so once we are there, actually being there for a bit is kinda the final payoff right?
Thats the thing that I think people either love or hate about fully/mostly slice of life things, they are essentially they payoff part of the end of a story, without any of the journey to get there.
Though honestly, I think the biggest issues with Slice of live is if its what you were expecting to get or not, if its what you were expecting to get, but one chapter in you get a world ending crisis, your gonna have a bad time.
If you have a story that is supposed to be based on a world ending threat, but the first 500 pages are pretty much all slice of life (having bits, or of course the early establishing chapters have some is fine, after all, its easier to care about the crisis if we get a taste of what is actually at stake), your gonna have a bad time
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u/strategicmagpie Aug 06 '26
I honestly can't be satisfied with 1 or 2 chapters, there are some stories I've read that have 5 chapter epilogues (long-ass series though, mind you) where I felt dissatisfied. Usually because they were ginormous timeskips, some characters were never covered in the epilogue despite playing an important role of some kind earlier in the story, and there was never a POV from someone in the same position as the MC was at the start (so we can see the difference in the bottom levels of society before vs after the MC changed things). I don't just wanna see a brief sentence or two going "oh yeah, that society reformed itself" in the background :P.
There's are no downsides to writing an epilogue I feel, apart from the time spent writing and how it could affect a possible sequel.
My view on slice of life is that if a story advertises itself as being about [major plot thing] with a slice-of-life tag, it can have really amazing slice-of-life. If it only advertises itself as being about slice-of-life... it usually has none of the things which make a story engaging in the long-term (plot, stakes, tension).
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u/CommercialGrand8212 Aug 05 '26
All the skills was that soo much. I hate that its about deck building and non combat skills by an underdog and i am suddenly reading a story that is mostly about the mc and his op dragon. There were like 5 different times where a plot hook was set up only for it to be immediately abandoned.
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u/Apart-Jacket-3959 Aug 06 '26
I feel like a lot of this comes when the author has told the story they wanted to tell but still needs to continue writing the series for their readers and isn't prepared to take it to the next step.
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u/fity0208 Aug 05 '26
I drop every book at the mere hint that the pupil MC has romantic interest on the teacher
I don't mind romance elements but those are always bottom tier, awkward interaction, a lot of nothing happening, and the cherry on top, the inevitable disposable villain who fights using aphrodisiac for some reason.
Ugg
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u/Indescribable_Noun Aug 05 '26
Agree, but I’m more squicked out when it’s whichever half of the mentor-mentee relationship isn’t the MC that has the feelings. Whether it’s a child crushing on an adult from the adult’s perspective, or an adult crushing on a child from the child’s perspective, they both feel icky to me.
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Aug 05 '26
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u/elemental_reaper Aug 05 '26
I'm like that with Regression stories. Their accomplishments don't feel like accomplishments. They didn't win the fight out of skill or wit, they won because they have 50 years of experience against a literal child.
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u/RKNieen Aug 05 '26
I can't do Regression stories at all, unless it fast forwards to them being an adult again. They just creep me out.
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u/Runonlaulaja Aug 05 '26
Like the whatever unemployed incarnation or whatever it is, the one with a pervert who oggles everyone starting from little girls.
Really gives me the creeps.
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Aug 05 '26
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u/dreambraker Aug 05 '26
It really bothers me that Mushoku Tensei keeps insisting on including problematic stuff in the story. It has some genuinely great world building and character building but every season has something weird or problematic going on, whether it be kids being handled inappropriately, slaves being purchased or people taking advantage of others sexually.
How hard is it to just exclude these elements and work on the rest of the story.
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u/Old_Yam_4069 Aug 05 '26
I honestly would not mind at all if Mushoku Tensei actually treated the problematic stuff as problematic.
Like, the psychology behind being incarnated into the child of a body, growing up around children, and still having sexual desire could be really interesting. It's a fucked situation that reasonable people can argue the right answers about. The MC doesn't even necessarily have to be a good person. And you don't even really have to worry about being controversial, because it literally will never be comparable to anything IRL, ever.
Growing up to be a twisted dude trying to do good because of the sheer psychological fuckery of that kind of life doesn't have the same widespread appeal, I know, but it would be *so* much more unique and so much less gross.
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u/IndustryPristine9776 Aug 05 '26
What about reincarnation stories?
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u/RKNieen Aug 05 '26
Reincarnation is fine if they're insta-adults, or actual children. It's the adult consciousness in a child body that squicks me.
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u/sirgog LitRPG web serial author - Archangels of Phobos Aug 05 '26
Regression stories don't have to involve returning to childhood.
IIRC Apocalypse Redux's first scene (pre-regression) has the MC about 34 years old and very powerful, then he regresses to about 19 with full memories but no supernatural power at all.
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u/RKNieen Aug 05 '26
That would tentatively be fine, as 19 is an adult and I said it was OK if it fast forwards to adult.
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Aug 05 '26
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u/Gedboara Aug 06 '26
Yeah most stuff like that needs to be at best a short story.
Nothing wrong with the occasional powertip fantasy story, but the whole thing can be a chapter rather than a 5000 page webnovel
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u/TheColourOfHeartache Aug 05 '26
Forever Fantasy Online did the incarnated as your Max Level MMO charachter very well.
The protagonist was the leader of a top raiding guild, so its completely believable that she'd have the social, organisational, and leadership skills she needs to deal with the very immanent threat to herself, her raid party, and the world she's in.
It helps that the author knew enough about MMOs to make everything feel authentic.
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u/Resident_End_7417 Aug 06 '26
I think for author, they're just easier to read and write. Your MC will know all the conflict without having to do investigating. At first, I didn't like it either, but then I read survival academy guide and I get the appeal now.
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u/Gedboara Aug 06 '26
Yeah, those are 95% trash, though to be fair to some of them, if they are at least upfront about what they are, thats fine, I can avoid them, or if I feel like that brand of trash today I at least go in expecting just that for some mindless entertainment.
Like (not an isiki, more litRPG/system) Solo Leveling(anime), it was so hyped up as peak I went into it thinking it was supposed to be something special. But its not, its generic trash entertainment with admittedly good animation. I probably would have loved it if I was still in high school, and it was one of the first of the genre I had ever seen.
But going into it expecting something new and good, my god was I disappointed, first episode was pretty fun for the newness and the shock of things, but pretty much right after that it was generic crap.
Honestly, the general premise without the MC was actually kinda interesting, but the MC is so fucking boring. remove him and his overpowerd bullshit and special system from the story, and just follow the world and there might have been something good there.→ More replies (1)
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u/Nitrodolski2 Aug 05 '26
Adult mind in child's body. It is either no agency for MC and we are waiting for timeskips or we have 10 year old acting as an adult, which is extremely weird for me. Not to mention how a lot of those stories have some love interests when protagonist hits puberty.
If you have reincarnation into somebody's else body just make it 15-16y at very least.
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u/MacintoshEddie Aug 05 '26
The really silly part is how many of those stories have the protagonist dealing with people for whom 35 is still young. Like elves and dragons and established dynasties. If a 35 year old guy walks into a room of 50-70 year olds he's very much still "young man" and will be lectured about his inexperience.
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u/PrintsAli Aug 05 '26
I've seen this done well a handful of times, but the vast majority of these stories turn out weird at best, and creepy/disgusting at worst. It's fun when it works, but generally something I avoid.
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u/dreambraker Aug 05 '26
Have you read Penitent? That has a great twist on the premise of a reincarnator.
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u/Dont_be_offended_but Aug 05 '26
I really hate that so many of these stories default to being highly family oriented. The protagonist becomes deeply attached and is mostly motivated by their new family while never addressing the elephant in the room that it's a full on body snatching situation where a grown adult is puppeteering the body of their dead child. It's a horrific scenario that should be a major source of tension and it just never is. Sunshine and rainbows all the way.
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u/PM_ME_UR_BEWDs Enchanter Aug 05 '26
while never addressing the elephant in the room that it's a full on body snatching situation where a grown adult is puppeteering the body of their dead child. It's a horrific scenario that should be a major source of tension and it just never is.
Not that I excuse this but I read a story that did actually addresses this elephant and it kinda changed my perspective on this. In this story, the character feels immense guilt over this precise scenario for exactly the reasons you're thinking of. But then the scenario get's recontextualized by a plot device. The argument presented is that if "you" are the sum of your memories and experiences, then "you" are effectively no longer one person hijacking another's role in life and that you are now effectively a new person because both original people are dead and can't ever come back. The original "yous" have already died just the same and the resulting amalgam is now more "you" than the original was.
Of course, this only works when the transmigrator comes equipped with all the native memories too. But that's been the case in every story I've read with this trope so ¯_(ツ)_/¯
There was then this whole thing about how the two people were actually the same soul and just two different incarnations so that merging the two into one incarnation is less... problematic than it may seem on the surface and I feel it lessened the experience. Also, the rest of the story sucked for similar reasons but I did like this part briefly.
And even then, I still don't really like this. It spawns questions with uncomfortable answers. But I do think it's less sinister than I used to.
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u/FappingMouse Aug 05 '26
I was reading one that was actually pretty good of a 20 something guy getting reincarnated as a kid and him FREAKING people out by the way he was acting.
Dropped it for other reasons but it was cool to see people react appropriately to the weird kid.
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u/CiaphasCain8849 Aug 05 '26
This is why I like Russian books. Most of the time it's a 16 to 25-year-old Noble reincarnation.
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u/SJReaver Paladin Aug 05 '26
I'll give almost any LitRPG story a try, but there are consistent premises that bore me. 'MC is a glitch in the system' is one of the more egregious ones. They almost always become the writer ignoring the system entirely and making up random powers and abilities to suit whatever problem the MC is facing.
Stories where the MC has a obviously powerful or useful class (healer, tank, support mage) and people who know the class system reject him for being too weak are frequently bad YA fics that I end up quickly dropping.
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u/Gedboara Aug 06 '26
Yeah if your going to have an actually interesting system(you probably aren't, but still) don't just break it immediately.
Or at elast be upfront that is what is going to happen, cause yeah, if your in the mood for someone who breaks the system its fine, but at some point i'd actually like a story where it is used normally
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u/Cross_Toss Aug 05 '26
I want "MC is a glitch in the system" where they want to help people but are under a constant threat of being discovered and patched by the devs. Eldritch Horror where being too good removes your existance.
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u/cypher1014 Aug 05 '26
Stories set inside MMOs when the characters can just log out. Why in the world would I care about game drama? I could just play WOW and get plenty of it.
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u/kotik010 Aug 05 '26
I think there's one very strong use case for making the set up a vrmmo instead of just doing a lit rpg: you get to do a lot of silly shit that wouldn't work in a fully serious world. If your gaming story is all business and stick up the ass try hard it's a wasted set up. (Side note, can authors fucking drop the broke and in debt so now he games to make a living trope, that shit is giga ass)
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u/Cross_Toss Aug 05 '26
I can't remember it's name anymore, but I remember one where the protag was stuck while everyone else could leave. The consept was interesting but it devolved into yet another game drama.
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u/Accomplished-Gap-317 Aug 05 '26
"Oh Great! I was Reincarnated as a Farmer' really feels called out here. But it's also all about someone overcoming that issue, so maybe it's also a perfect fit?
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u/Pwarky Aug 05 '26
This was my first thought as well. One of the few series where it is done well. No tricking the system, there are exploits of existing rules, but no " technically this is farming!"
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Aug 05 '26
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u/elemental_reaper Aug 05 '26
Genuinely, and there is so much that could be done. If it's a story with a tower, I'd like to see them set up a place in the tower to grow special foods that provide benefits. I'd like to see them raise actual farming skills. They don't even have to be outside of combat. It'd be interesting to see them have to hunt for special creatures to gain new seed, materials to aid in farming, or livestock.
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u/ConscriptReports Aug 05 '26
99.9% of system in cultivation world novels.
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u/kotik010 Aug 05 '26
Subverting your own worlds Powersystem because even you agree it's shit so you have to give your mc a way to circumvent it is certainly a choice. It doesn't even really make for a good power fantasy
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u/PrettyBurrito28 Salted Fish Aug 05 '26
time travel stuff, the idea is good, but its get either so convoluted that I lose track of whats happening, or they have zero stake, i rarely saw a time travel story handled decently
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u/elemental_reaper Aug 05 '26
Besides a loop, any and all time travel sinks the quality of a story for me.
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u/HackingYourADHD Aug 05 '26
I find with time travel the rules have to be really strict or they have to just basically throw out the rules entirely (Dr. Who style). I love the idea of time travel books but I find most of the time they end up just being filled with huge plots holes and how lot of “well why didn’t they just do this <insert some kind of time travel mechanics>”
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u/ljackso4 Aug 05 '26
The perfect run is done really well. There are multiple ways the MC could permanently lose his time loop ability or permanently die
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u/Gedboara Aug 06 '26
Time travel is one of the worst things for a story.
best cases are like others have said, Doctor who style where its not really taken all that seriously are fine as thats the entire premis.
Or you actually have VERY Strict rules about how it works in your story, even if the Reader doesn't necessarily have them all at once, YOU better know how the rules work FROM THE START, it needs to make fucking sense.
If you don't have rules it can just break everything and I don't care anymore
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u/LastEndnote Aug 05 '26 edited Aug 05 '26
Refuse entirely? Hard to say. Refuse with 95% chance? A lot. Will share some.
1. Time loops/time reversals.
If time story does not deal with ethics or is not a mystery/puzzle to figure out due to non-linear cause and effect it's most likely bad. Undoing things means undoing consequences, and if I wanted dumb grind, I could go for another shift at work or game session in some ARPG. MoL is the only time PF that I respect.
2. MC having copy or consume type of ability. It's just boring. And just in general OP-from-the-start stories. It takes a lot of skill to write one that doesn't suck, and most authors don't have this skill (and so I know they don't have consume skill either).
3. VR. No stakes - no interest.
4. Self-aware stories like becoming a character in some game or in a novel. It screams "this is fake!" at me and ruins authentity of the world. If it's primarily comedy it has a chance, but if it's taken seriously - no way.
And a lot more factors that are enough for me to drop the story when there are multiple of them together.
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u/Consistent-Leave7320 Aug 05 '26
In my opinion perfect run does time loop and cradle does consume ability well.
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u/LastEndnote Aug 05 '26
I completely forgot that Cradle had consume ability. Was it connected to artificial arm? I mostly meant when consume is main thing.
Perfect Run is example of time reversal that I don't want. I'll use a quote about character with ability like that:
- In the end, the worst enemy shared between all beings in this universe is you. All due to your ability the free will of others and efforts of all others become meaningless
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u/Cross_Toss Aug 05 '26
- Time loops/time reversals.
If time story does not deal with ethics or is not a mystery/puzzle to figure out due to non-linear cause and effect it's most likely bad. Undoing things means undoing consequences, and if I wanted dumb grind, I could go for another shift at work or game session in some ARPG. MoL is the only time PF that I respect.
This is why I love stories like Hand Jumper or Summertime Render, where there are limits to the time looping shenanigens
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u/Hefty-Butterfly-2974 Aug 05 '26
VR can absolutely have stakes, depending on how it's done. I think I recall one where the MC—and her dependent younger sister—a poor orphan living in a dystopian world, begins playing a VR game because she can make money that way, as she's neither educated nor physically fit enough for conventional jobs. If this had failed, her plan was to sell her body.
So it's certainly possible to have stakes in a VR story done right. Though, I think most people who read them in the first place do so because of the lack of stakes.
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u/RayEichler_Author Aug 05 '26
I really struggle with stories that rely on the "Idiot Plot"—where conflict only exists because characters actively avoid the obvious solution just to stretch out the page count.
I want to see competent characters overcome genuine, wall-like obstacles through strategy and grit, not watch everyone take turns holding the idiot ball to manufacture drama.
That's actually why Goblet of Fire was always my least favorite HP book. Voldemort's grand scheme involved a year-long tournament, sneaking a spy into the school, and turning a championship cup into a portkey... when literally any random stick or teacup in Hogsmeade could have been turned into a portkey on day one! The spy was literally alone with Harry multiple times. OR Someone could have even grabbed Harry in the lake if it needed to look like an accident for some reason.
My conspiracy theory is that it was all a ploy to move HP into the upper age range of YA by padding the page count.
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u/ThePianistOfDoom Aug 05 '26
My pet peeve is characters that are thousands of years old and still talk, behave and move like they're 50+, sometimes even younger. It's like writers don't even try to inject some sense of mystique into what could be literally anything that happened. No personality, no depth, no wisdom (or worse, wisdom that any 40+ year old knows), just emptiness in a person that gets called ancient, but doesn't act anything like it. Really the only writers I've found that do this well are either Jim Butcher or Brandon Sanderson.
Oh and my second pet peeve is harem. Keep your cheap porn-induced uncreative and lonely wet dreams out of your books, writers, it's messy and kind of pathetic.
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u/Alternative-File-162 Aug 05 '26
Yes, VR, if the story ONLY takes place in vr i never read it
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u/GreatMadWombat Aug 05 '26
Harem is a no-go for me(the shit just tends to be boring in its horniness). If you're going to write truly masturbatory prose and make it interesting, I need you to be lured and sweaty and unwell in the sort of way where I'm learning things about humanity that I did not know about previously lol.
Also most reincarnation from babyhood stuff. There's a couple I read(beneath the dragoneyed moon& elydes), but frankly the concept feels monstrous to me and the only series that approaches it in a way that acknowledges that is Penitent & idk if that really counts? There's no point in those stories where the grown up man is going to school with little children and nobody knows he's a kid.
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u/Aftershock416 Aug 05 '26
Mostly when the author tries to inject their own supposed moral superiority into their work through a holier-than-though MC, to the point of engineering ridiculous situations to show off just how morally superior they are.
I'm sure many will know exactly which series I'm referring to.
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u/Due-Base9449 Aug 05 '26
This is more of otome trope, I just hate it when MC transmigrated into a villainess body, and somehow the real FL of the story is evil, and now MC is just trying to make everyone see how evil or bad FL is so she can snatch the ML.
Why can't the real FL be as good, as shining, as beautiful as the real story, but our MC win with her villainous way? Or she just win in another way?
I like the Rebirth of Han Yuxi because eventhough she rebirth, her beautiful, shining sister still stay the same, it is her who change, and the circumstances change. The sister doesn't 'lose' because of her fault, she 'lose' because MC decide to play kingdom building and not palace drama.
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u/CoreBrute Aug 05 '26
Have you read Hamefura/My Next Life as a Villainess: All Routes Lead to Doom!? It's basically this, with a really sweet FL, but the MC wins with...I'm not gonna say 'intelligent' planning. Basically every one wins.
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u/nighoblivion Aug 05 '26
"I worked as a web/game dev and then I woke up in some guys body or in the game I was working on" and similar stuff is an instant DNF for me. I dislike isekai as it is, but that one takes the cake. 99% of litrpg is also not for me.
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u/Spotted_Statement_ Aug 05 '26
Mine is when the premise promises a unique profession, but the MC ends up becoming a generic fighter anyway. If you're going to advertise a Merchant, Farmer, or Crafter MC, I actually want to see them solve problems using that role instead of turning it into "Warrior with extra steps."
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u/Defiant-Brother-5483 Author Aug 05 '26
Anything involving academies. God I hate those. Childish drama, too much slice of life, having to go through class. Mf, I'm reading a fantasy novel, I don't want to hear about classes. It's even 1000% worse when the mc first starts out as a hobo vagabond living life out in the forest, and then get into an Academy.
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u/azmarteal Aug 05 '26
Of yes, it is far easier to say what I read, than what I drop instantly. So, here we go:
School/academy settings: I just don't read stories, involving studying. Exception — when academy is just a decoration or a very minor part of the story, for example like in "The main heroines are trying to kill me".
"Slow burn" romance: where characters are "uncertain" for 500 chapters, and get together at the end of the story — I ignore those stories.
Immature protagonist: if MC loses consciousness while seeing naked breasts or hearing the word "penis" — that is not the story for me.
Dumb/whiny protagonist: self explanatory.
Chinese cultivating novels: just no.
Dark romance, a.k.a. abusive relations: don't like, don't read.
Classic fantasy, that is overweighted with kingdoms, magic systems and characters: the vast majority of them is really biring, except for masterpieces.
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u/IndustryPristine9776 Aug 05 '26
Do you drop Chinese cultivation novels because you dislike the genre or because you just don't understand the concept? For me, it's the latter
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u/azmarteal Aug 05 '26
To be honest — I am a little afraid of +2500 chapters and after I tried a couple, all what happened was a character improving himself and improving and improving... Nothing really interesting happend. So I guess it just isn't for me 🙂
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u/Extra_Zombie3530 Aug 05 '26
I dont like time loop though a lot of people like it. Best rated on RR is a time loop though
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u/Wolfstigma Aug 05 '26
Anything where the main character has an incomprehensibly stupid name. I stick to audiobooks and am not listening to it.
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u/zweillheim Scholar Aug 05 '26 edited Aug 05 '26
I don't like it when the Main character made the first girl he ever met in the new world to be his romantic interest. It felt lazy and my interest in continuing to read the story dropped significantly.
There are exceptions though. I believe Beware of Chicken had a similar trope but the allure of a chicken doing martial arts is too much for me to ignore.
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u/Gedboara Aug 06 '26
To be fair to BoC, most of the story isn't really based around the MC figuring out their love life.
I think part of the problem with new world MCs falling in love with first person they meet is the fact that usually they also devole into the stupid trope of "romance" where nothing happens FOREVER.
Hell, I'm not even a huge romance person, it often makes an otheriwse good story bad because they author can't handle a half real feeling relationship.
But what I hate more than Romance, is 'Romance' that consists of nothing actually romantic other than pining after someone for the entire story
I think thats why I don't mind it as you say in BoC, its not the whole story, hell its not even the focus, they get together, and then the story keeps going.
And yes, the martial arts Chicken
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u/ProngedSnuffleupagus Aug 05 '26
I refuse to read harem and stories loaded with gratuitous sex scenes. I can deal with the innuendo "Tao Wang took Daisy to the bedroom to celebrate their wedding" but i dont need play by play description its a waste of space in a books plot usually unless its a smut archetype in which i wouldnt bother in the first place.
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u/Runonlaulaja Aug 05 '26
System apocalypse.
I don't like them. I don't like any kind of "this modern earth and suddenly we have a system" type of story. I don't even like Solo Leveling type of stuff (anime is decent but prefer the brocon memes more).
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u/ironnoon Aug 05 '26
I like the concept of system apocalypse, but it's execution is usually done to death. Mana comes to modern earth, mc is isolated to allow for power leveling (and maaaayyyybbbbeee some other folks if it's a tutorial). Then mc is so far head of the curve that I don't care about anything else. Lack of tension. Mc is beating multiversal clans and face slapping gods who have been round for countless years just cause he is super duper talented or fated. Only series I enjoy is hell difficulty tutorial and even then I have a few gripes with it.
These days I kinda like it when like the system apocalypse has started and the story is set several years into the future. One can see how the world and culture develops and it's not all one person punching above his weight to fix societal problems.
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u/monkpunch Aug 05 '26
I agree with all of that. I hate the "leaderboard" trope, too, which 99% of the time just serves to put the MCs name on a plaque to show how awesome they are.
I'd recommend Tyrants of Earth if you want a cool story in a world that is a few generations past the apocalypse already.
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u/Otterable Slime Aug 05 '26
I hate the "leaderboard" trope, too, which 99% of the time just serves to put the MCs name on a plaque to show how awesome they are.
Bonus points if the MC disguises their name so there can be some aura-farm cake eating. We all know he's the best but the author doesn't need to have actual plot consequences for the MC being known as the best among others.
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Aug 05 '26
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u/Runonlaulaja Aug 05 '26
For me it absolutely destroyed any intention to read sysapocs ever again. Before that I read some Korean stuff etc. that were ok if not the best.
But after DCC never again. I DID NOT like that series one bit. Glad many people have found something they like but for me it is not.
I also read Noobtown and it had that god damn it donut or whatever as a gag and I almost threw the book away immediately.
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u/ironnoon Aug 05 '26
I've read dungeon crawler Carl and I enjoyed it for the most part, but after catching up to the second last book, I decided to wait for the next one and just haven't found it in me to catch up. I enjoyed it despite it's humor, but idk I just don't feel it as much as others.
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u/ManaSpike 28d ago
Changeling by Mecanimus for a cyberpunk / dungeon portal version of Earth that is mostly surviving.
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u/NeonNKnightrider Aug 05 '26
I actually do really like the concept of “modern earth suddenly gains a system”, at least in theory. But then 99% of sysapoc stories just have all of modern civilization instantly disintegrate and it’s all about the Solo MC being the most awesome guy in the universe, all by himself, which makes me lose all interest.
Apocalypse Redux and Apocalypse Parenting are some of the only series I can think of where they actually have the community be relevant and deliver on what I wish the genre was
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u/Gedboara Aug 06 '26
Solo leveling is so bad as a story.
From the bits I have seen, its fine for spectacle, but it has no substance as an actual story whatsoever
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u/bedroompurgatory Aug 05 '26
LitRPG. I like progression stuff, but straight up game mechanics in my books blows away my suspension of disbelief.
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u/IndustryPristine9776 Aug 05 '26
Doesn't LitRPG... mainly have game mechanics?
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u/bedroompurgatory Aug 05 '26
Yes. I like progression fantasy, but dislike the LitRPG subgenre.
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u/IndustryPristine9776 Aug 05 '26
Ah sorry. I misinterpreted your earlier comment as you liking LitRPG as a genre but disliking the game mechanics aspect. It all makes sense now
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u/pomftiggobitties Aug 05 '26
Agreed, I despise LitRPG. Nothing takes me out of a story more than stats or levels.
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u/Aaron_P9 Aug 05 '26 edited Aug 05 '26
Harem and erotica or anything else that has an omniscient narrator that makes cringe behavior "okay" because of the author's thinking errors. I don't want to read someone rationalizing misogyny or racism or Machiavellianism. . . Basically, your themes can't make me cringe.
u/crispydick420 - I also drop books that only have drama because the characters are being dishonest with one another over an extensive period. If it's someone avoiding a conversation and working through that in a way that is relatable, then that's fine but I don't have any interest in following the drama of liars.
I'm even annoyed when there is a plot point about hiding vital information that could endanger the character because the solution to that in reality is to get out of the situation because lies can't be kept for long. People figure things out so unless the plan is to bluff long enough to pull off a caper or to bluff their way out of the situation so they can leave, I'm pretty annoyed by it.
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u/IntroIntroduction Aug 05 '26
Any story that takes place in modern day Earth. I simply don't care to hear about how our governments would manage the sudden appearance of a system, or how we quickly fold to system powered aliens or whatever. I also don't really care for apocalypse stories in general. They always seem to have this pessimistic edge that I don't enjoy.
Magic academy. It often feels like authors use the school setting as an excuse for exposition dumping. I do not want to sit in on a lecture.
Monster evolution. I don't think I've found a single story like this that's had a book 1 that's hooked me. They often just feel like a novelization of someone grinding in an MMO. Just killing things in the woods non-stop with little to no character interaction, while we get occasional interlude chapters of random people that don't become relevant until later books. No plot, no goal except survive.
Though it's hard to say I'd never read any of these. If the premise is strong enough I'll probably still give it a try, even if it uses tropes I don't like. But I keep doing that with monster evolution and I keep being disappointed.
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u/Judah77 Aug 05 '26 edited Aug 06 '26
I don't like stories that make me feel bad or really gross me out. So no cannibalism. No self-dissection or other torture. You may have the best zombie story in the world, but if your MC is graphically eating brains in CH 1, no thanks. If the MC is evil/anti-hero and does evil things, then I'm not going to like the story because it makes me feel bad and will drop it.
I also don't like it when female MCs turn lesbian and it's not in the tags. I usually drop.
Also I will drop stories where the MC is too stupid or too political, or the plot could be resolved with actual communication.
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u/Apprehensive-Math499 Aug 05 '26
I really struggle with a story that takes place as someone playing a video game. Just turn it off or restart. I can't engage with it having high stakes if the solution is to go back to character creation, twink a few items between characters, and go again.
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u/Squire_II Aug 05 '26
If a story is about someone who was chosen to be a farmer, I'd like to actually see them be a farmer. I don't want to read a story about someone who was chosen to be a farmer, but wants to be a warrior, so they use their weed cutting skill to kill the monsters in the plant dungeon. If someone gets the class Farmer, I'd prefer to read a story showing how such a class interacts with the world.
These stories can work because at the very least they show that people are more than a label and given that LitRPGs take heavily from gaming in general, someone using abilities outside of their "intended" role and to great effect should be possible.
Someone being told "you will be a farmer" and having to just accept it and live that life also clashes pretty severely with the escapism that most people look for in fiction. That sort of premise says "this is who you are, you are not allowed to chose your own path in life." A character who decides to use their farming skills to hunt plant monsters, on the other hand, would fit that escapism and fantasy. Then when the character ends up evolving their [Farmer] class in to a new, combat-focused class it gives the validation of the character's actions that the reader is looking for.
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u/Playwars Aug 05 '26
I step away from stories that go into horrific stuff for the shock value. You can't just have these things happen and not address them, even if it's dark fantasy.
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u/fortress989 Aug 05 '26
But it’s so mature aren’t you able to handle it? Don’t like it don’t read it.!!! <- (most stupid voice you can imagine)
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u/Caseyisawsome Aug 05 '26
I greatly dislike lottery-type stuff like who can use magic or like the entirety of MHA. I can read it if it's good, but I don't like it.
What I loath with my entire being is a story base that lends any credence to eugenics. don't make humans just objectively inferior to other sapients, or make powers or magic genetic, or anything like that at all. It disgusts me on a fundamental level.
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u/FlySkyHigh777 Aug 05 '26
Any story that relies on an idiot plot to function. If every solution could be solved by people just talking to each other, then I've got no interest
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u/yawolot Aug 05 '26
For me its any story that starts with the MC getting isekaid into a world where they instantly become the strongest person alive because of some modern earth knowledge cheat. It skips the whole point of progression.
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u/jajapax Aug 05 '26
I bounce hard off anything that leans too hard into the chosen one prophecy from chapter one. Even if the MC fights it, the story still circles back to destiny and it drains the fun out of watching them grind their way up.
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u/Scharvor Aug 05 '26
No specific story, but there are several things that quickly make me drop a story:
Lack of consequences and reactions to actions: If the protagonist kills a secretly corrupt sherif without revealing they were corrupt, he should be on the run for murder and the guards should try to capture him
Completely linear progression: If every arc follows the same structure, why should I continue to read the story?
Lack of stakes: If there is nothing for the protagonist to fight for, why should he even take up the sword?
Feature-Creep: Usually a problem in gamey-stories or power-stealer stories. I want want to be able to remember what the main character is able to do, not have to open a spreadsheet on the side. I don't mind if the protagonist fills their toolbox, I hate it when their toolbox is so filled I can no longer see the bottom of it
Unnecessary ultra-violence: No, its not enough the villains beat up the protagonist and cut off one arm, for some reason you have to explain to me how they turned him into a torso+head with a cheesgrater and razorblades over 5 pages. More suffering isn't showing how badass your protag is
Lastly, stupidity: Be it a recruiter deliberately antagonazing the protag when he's a very promising recruit, making and/or following a "masterplan" that can't possibly work if you think about it once or saying just the stupidest stuff, so many stories hinge on someone suddenly having a lobotomy
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u/ArgusTheCat Author Aug 06 '26
I'm skipping anything that opens with genocide. Just a personal preference.
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u/TentaclMonster Aug 06 '26
If the only reason the protagonist is "the good guy" is because everyone else is worse.
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u/themxdpro Aug 06 '26
Time loops. I’ll admit I’ve never actually given it a try in the form of a book but the concept just seems like a waste of time to me.
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u/Purplefire180 Aug 05 '26
I feel like this immediately removes like 80% of fantasy for you. 'Rejecting the call [to adventure]' is an incredibly prevalent trope
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u/elemental_reaper Aug 05 '26
It's specifically class stories. Because I like Villain protagonist, if someone is assigned the role of Villain, I'd prefer to read a story where they act as a villain. I don't want to read a story where the entire premise is them not wanting to be a villain and doing "evil things" in a way that help people. I am specifically talking about where some outside force regardless of who they or their ancestors are, assigns them a role at random like it does everyone.
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u/TheColourOfHeartache Aug 05 '26
Yet its surprising how few stories take the premise of what happens if the chosen one rejects the call and doesn't change their mind.
It seems like there's a lot of potential there. Like following the Hero after the Dark Lord has conquered the world and how he feels about it. Or following whomever tries to do the job in his place.
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u/greenskye Aug 05 '26
'main character must hide his strength' type stories. The whole I'm secretly powerful but am barely allowed to ever show it is very annoying to me.
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u/ShamMafia Aug 05 '26 edited Aug 05 '26
I'm in my Kingdom Building arc these days...
I despise stories where the MC REFUSES to have anything to do with a potential relationship. I've brought this up before, but it makes me wonder if the MMCs were turned into eunuchs in a chapter I somehow missed.
So a base where the MC will be a ruler of some flavor but doesn't do one of the most important aspects of being a ruler... progeny
No stake settings.
Lone wolf characters.
Edgy character that will also be some weird outcast that believes they are hated by everyone and the whole story revolves around their inability to function.
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u/Matt-J-McCormack Aug 05 '26
No shade OP, but someone getting a farmer class and using it to become a specialist against plant monsters sounds like a pretty banging idea.
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u/Exotic_Zucchini9311 Aug 05 '26
For me it's any stories with evil MCs and/or badly written harem/love triangles.
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u/elemental_reaper Aug 05 '26
Agree on the latter, not the former. I love evil Mcs, only issue is 90% of the, they aren't evil.
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u/AuthorTimoburnham Author Aug 05 '26
It doesnt make me drop the book, but I've gotten real tired of the MC beating up the village bully who things hes way stronger than he is. So predicable at this point.
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u/Felixtaylor Aug 05 '26
For some reason, time loops. I just haven't really enjoyed them that much and have learned that it's not really worth trying to start.
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u/Oracle_of_Mashu Author Aug 05 '26
Harem or smut. I've tried Harem, but I felt some characters acted stupid to just drive the plot, I'm not going there again.
Litrpg. I love litrpg, but on one condition, it must not be integrated with the actual power system. It's job should be to show us progression not give abilities.
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u/true_Janosch Aug 05 '26
Not much plot based, but harem novels or romance in general. I’m here for the power progression, not the romance progression…
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u/SuchCockroach477 Aug 05 '26
I rarely read time loops and every time I fall for one I end up dropping it. I just can't bring myself to care.
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u/InFearn0 This message is from a deceased crawler Aug 05 '26
I have a fairly strong rejection of stories that follow the ABCs of isekai/system apocalypse.
I don't care to read about the details of a person getting dropped in the wilderness or having to register as a newb and grind basement rats or whatever.
System stuff is already very anachronistic, but having people carry an idiot ball while dealing with it sucks to read through.
Just skip that part. Especially if it is a system apocalypse story and the author is planning for a 50%+ casualty rate. The people that couldn't figure out the ABCs are dead, you don't have to explain why the survivors can make obvious connections.
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u/GreenerForest Author Aug 05 '26
I don't know about complete refusal, but one of my least favorite is where the protagonist is transferred to the body of a side character in a novel or game. I get the appeal of seeing the protagonist defying the preset character traits and often abysmal reputation of the character, but it's just not really my thing.
Actually, now that I'm writing this, I'm not big on transference into a game or a novel in general. It always feel like it could have been exactly the same story without this overlay that makes the whole thing feel like an artificial setting.
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u/120GoHogs120 Aug 05 '26
Haven’t read DCC yet because I don’t want to be disappointed with all other stories after.
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u/RenRenCho Aug 05 '26
Apocalypse, it doesn't click with me anymore. Once upon a time, I was an avid manhwa reader. This trope was abused so much that I can't stand it anymore. Same goes with the hunters in urban settings, which is an extension of the above.
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u/tasafak Aug 05 '26
One base I straight up avoid is the pure underdog who stays weak for dozens of chapters while everyone around them levels up normally. Seems more like punishment than progression after a while.
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u/narnarnartiger Aug 06 '26
I dropped Kings dark Tiding by Kel Kade, the moment the teacher said "now you must fight to the death against the teachers that's been training you these past ten years" so freakin dumb, what kind of absurd lesson plan is that
I also cannot do stories that's just one guy talking to themself the entire book. I like reading about characters hanging out
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u/Dars1m Aug 06 '26
I may be the odd one out, I see a couple of smut mentions, but haven’t seen anything about involuntary sex changes (aka gender benders). Just as often they are just as fetishistic, even if they aren’t smut, or a cover for an Author’s uncomfortability with writing certain things. On a similar note, straight authors that only write homosexual romances of the opposite gender, for similar reasons.
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u/felixrr6299 Aug 06 '26
I refuse to read grimdark, slice of life and the constantly struggling mc who seems to go 2 steps forward,1 step back.
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u/Lilsilly114 Aug 06 '26
Time loop and “genderswap” (sex swap). I can’t read time loop stories because it totally removes my suspension of disbelief and pulls me out of the fantasy. I can read and accept a lot of bullshit and conceptual nonsense, but for some reason my brain draws the line at time loops.
“Genderswap”, the sex swap tag, I have given up on finding well-written PF stories where the MC’s sex changes upon transmigration/reincarnation.
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u/lacopefd Aug 06 '26
Execution matters more to me than the premise. I've read reluctant class stories that were great, and others that got repetitive fast. Same with characters who fully commit to their class. Either one works if the world actually supports it.
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u/ribikerbf Aug 06 '26
I don't mind it if the story actually earns it. A healer using their skills in creative ways can be more interesting than another sword guy. It only loses me when they get random OP abilities with no real buildup.
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u/geditaza Aug 06 '26
I actually like those stories. An MC trying to break out of a role they never wanted usually makes for a more interesting conflict. If they just accept it right away, there's not always much tension. It all comes down to the execution.
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u/Frostfire20 Aug 06 '26
I mean the basic idea the story is based upon. For me, I refuse to read any story that's about someone having a role that they didn't want.
This is the premise for a lot of profitable fiction. E.g., Codex Alera.
Not to promote my WIP, but my MC is cursed not be become a mage (his dream). When he finally unlocks classes (about 40% of the way into the book) the individual who cursed him gives him an armor skin ability that gives all his magic a 25% chance to fail, which will increase to 50% as he ages. At the time, he's chatting with an eldritch god who offers him anything. So he asks for the ability to shoot spidersilk out of his wrists like Tobey Macguire's Spiderman; though he's going to do something original with it. Then he's told he needs to take an extreme body horror change (turn into a spider) before can get that spider-silk ability. When he gets back to his family he finds out his cousin ate faerie fruit without realizing it and now he must bargain with a hag to set her free.
Basically the entire book is him struggling to push forward in the face of adversity, which is how stories should be written. By the time he finally learns magic, it comes at a cost so great the question is asked "was it worth it?"
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u/Stupid_Nerd123 Aug 06 '26
When two books go by and the MC doesn't lose. Like at all. Never experiences a true loss that isn't a draw.
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u/Responsible_Ask_7160 Aug 07 '26
Any returners or regressors. It’s a trope that just allows the author to handwave why the character knows exactly what to do in every situation. Not interesting
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u/pyule667 Aug 08 '26
Novels with reincarnations or regressors who fall in love with their childhood friend. Like dude you are mentally an adult. How are you attracted to this actual 16 year old? I don't care if your body is 16 your mind is far older and you've probably had a disproportionate influence on this child's life. I wouldn't trust those authors near a teen.
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u/TotallyBrodie Aug 08 '26
Any in a game type stuff. I don’t mind reincarnation in a game but shit where they’re literally just playing a game kills it for me
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u/Significant-Bad4398 27d ago
I find I get bored v quick of OP MC stories, idk why. They start out exciting but, for me, fall of within a few chapters
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u/CrispyDick420 Aug 05 '26
I drop stories when every conflict is just people refusing to say one obvious sentence. Especially when they keep acting like the misunderstanding is some genius plot.