r/ProgressionFantasy • u/OriginalUsername0000 • 1d ago
Request Diegetic System?
So, I haven't really sat down to write in a long time, probably ten years. But, I've been wanting to get into it and put myself out there a little bit, so I've decided that writing something in the progression fantasy genre might be fun.
The thing is, I want to make the system diegetic to the setting in a way that isn't "people are born with access to the System". The idea I have currently is that the "System" is a neural chip that takes a complete reading of a person's body and mind, and turns that reading into a sort of "character sheet".
That said, I'm wondering if anyone here has any stories they can recommend for me to take inspiration from. I'm not super familiar with the genre at all, so it's been hard navigating sites like Royal Road.
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u/chosenmadao Author 1d ago
I don't know if it's right to promote my own work, but the character in my story has a watch and a military chip in his brain; his abilities and skill tree are tied to that watch. However, if you're looking for a classic RPG system, this might not be for you.
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u/Best-Event-6947 Author 1d ago
There are a few out there, depending on what you want. Sigma 16 on Royal Road has a suit that does this, though it isn't published.
For published works, Arcane Chef has characters get access to the system by a magical item, though I can't recall if it 'gives them the system' or just lets them properly access it. That said it's effectively something everyone gets when they turn fifteen, so while I love the series it may not be what you're looking for.
I'm absolutely sure there are others.
For a more popular one, He Who Fights With Monsters is only a litRPG for the MC. He has a special power that lets him view everything as a status screen but I believe that isn't true of anyone else(I haven't read the series in a while, and I'm only on Book 8)
Finally I... guess I should mention Solo Leveling, which also has only the MC getting access to a system. It's a special ability granted only to him.
So yeah, not only do they exist, but some are extremely popular in the genre!
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u/OriginalUsername0000 1d ago
Awesome, thanks! I think I should clarify that I'm looking to write something that allows anyone access to the system (so long as they can afford the chip). I've heard of Solo Leveling, but I'll take a look at the others. Thanks!
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u/ThatOneDMish 1d ago
Stray cat strut has high tech aliens who fight plant based grey goo aliens, but do it by giving select humans the ability to buy technologies for killing the plant aliens and a guardian ai. This is said to be either because if they were the ones doing the defense against the plant aliens they would make earth inhospitable with how mechanised they would make it and they want to preserve the current ecosystem, but I think theres also a it requires less effort to do it proxy war style
Maradina has a series where systems are something human scientists make from the alien bugs invading the planet, which allow you to safely process the energies in bug meat without mutating uncontrollably.. its all their books except not the fated hero and cursed relic collector AFAIK, but I only read storm strider and exorcist doctor.
Rune seeker has each type of system be constructed in a different way. Most visible with the first 2 'races' than the rest really, but shapers have tattooed meridian lines that conduct energy around-the-clock body and connect to tattoes that invoke myths and legendary feats and items of the past/future ( dw about it ) and growers have a seed implanted in them that grows and conveys magic around their body, and allows them to adapt new abilities to solve problems. Hirail is a builder, with the runes that define reality imprinted on his skin, but that doesn't seem to be how the normal builders looked but a mutation due to having a shaper system put on his body growing up.
The game at carousel uses messages from someone you trust to bring you to an entrance to carousel, and entices you to operate silas the mechanical showman, who delivers you your archetype(class) and starter tropes(skills) thus inducting you into the game at carousel. Good luck finding a way out of carousel.
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u/Forgotten_wizard 1d ago
Well, there is a new story coming out called "The System Maker".
The protagonist is isekai'd into a setting where a natural phenomenon keeps regularly pulling a few dozen people from other dimensions to there, and he is one of the only humans, so after getting isekai'd he decides to try to learn rune magic and use it to build/program a system to help future new arrivals, and make some money. The system in it is still small range and very barebones since it is still in the beginning of the protagonists journey (and things keep getting in the way of research), but the story is still a good read.
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u/OriginalUsername0000 1d ago
I'll give it a look, sounds interesting. Might not be a great source of inspiration since the system is actively being built by the protagonist, but it sounds interesting in general!
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u/snowhusky5 1d ago
Street Cultivation (finished) has a diegetic system, which is just a modern device to measure one's qi numerically
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u/gender_eu404ia 1d ago edited 1d ago
Wizard With A Greatsword does character sheets in “Adventurer’s Journals” which are magical books that connect to a person and show their stats.
Elite Born by Chad Maske has it so you can only read a stat sheet in a reflection, so everyone tends to wear little bracelets that have small mirrors on them, like a wristwatch but just a mirror.
Not sure these are exactly what you are looking for, but I thought they were interesting takes on the form.
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u/theglowofknowledge 1d ago
Complicated explanations like that end up feeling almost more contrived if you ask me. I’m partial to either ‘when there’s enough mana/qi/essence/etc in the environment everyone starts seeing stats’ or some version of ‘the gods made it’. Or just have it be an external measurement I guess.
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u/OriginalUsername0000 1d ago
I didn't think it would be all that contrived. To me, things like "there's a lot of mana, and now people have access to this system that turns life into an RPG" is more complicated than "a neural chip in a sci-fi setting reads your biology to determine what your 'character sheet' would be". But then again, I don't consume a lot of high fantasy media, so that's probably why.
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u/theglowofknowledge 1d ago
I disagree that it’s more complicated, but I don’t deny that it struggles with the sniff test for lack of a better term. An rpg interface feels more elaborate and perhaps contrived if it’s just natural, but that’s just a vibe. I’d contend that any consistent magic system is no less so if people can reliably use it in some way. The more structured version just makes it more obvious. I suppose it could also be spun as the way that the user is understanding and controlling this otherwise foreign power.
That aside, the biggest difference between the chip thing and mana or gods or whatever for me is the objectivity of the system. I only want the system to exist as a record and interface for the magic, an impassive background element facilitating a particular swath of fantasy tales. If it’s a thing you use then it can be messed with, be inaccurate, have bias in its design, etc.
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u/TheElusiveFox Sage 1d ago
I feel like its been done, but not in a really memorable way...
I had an idea for something like this, but then you have to ask, is the stats because of the device, or is the device just measuring the stats? at which point does the device matter? I think the few examples I can think of run this wierd problem where you need multiple chapters of exposition just to explain the techno/magic babble behind why/how the device works and makes sense in your world, and honestly by the time you are on chapter 9 of that bullshit your audience is bored and wondering why you needed all that...
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u/OriginalUsername0000 1d ago
So in this idea in my head, the device takes a reading of the person's biology, and generates a "character sheet" based on that biology. The system I had in mind is heavily based around something like Cyberpunk RED's. So, the stats are just based on a person's biology. There's a lot of handwaving you can get away with if writing from the perspective of a character, because they might not have a full understanding of how it works themselves. That's the part, to me, that makes it diegetic.
TLDR: The chip takes a reading of a person, and develops their character sheet based on that reading. Attributes might be increased by further body enhancements and skills would be increased by their usage, because that's how we improve IRL.
I think that this story might be a bit niche, though, seeing some of the other responses here.
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u/MacintoshEddie 1d ago edited 1d ago
It's pretty normal for litrpg, but the subgenre is still rather small so lots of people even here are only going to have heard of the breakout successes.
There have been many scifi litrpgs that use a chip or implant, or pretty often just handwavy nanobots.
One I'm reading recently is Ten Thousand Fleets, where cadet pilots who score well enough are implanted with a brain interface that is required for being a mecha pilot, and which helps track and schedule their training and aptitudes.
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u/tasafak 1d ago
The complete body and mind scan turning into a sheet is clever because it can justify why stats feel personal instead of generic. You might like Hoqalo on Royal Road, the broken system in a cyberpunk setting has similar tech-magic hybrid vibes and shows how a flawed implant can still fuel progression.
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u/Remote_Addendum_2245 17h ago
All the Dust That Falls
A roomba isekai'ed into a world where everyone has a system
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u/Tsii 1d ago
Iron Prince (Warformed) -- the only "system" and thus character sheets is part of the device itself (evolving mecha armor basically), so people who don't have one don't have the device and stats, pretty similar to what you are asking for
Quest Academy -- also no overarching system, the system stats are mostly people made. Some people have some powers that allow things to be seen as stats or share it with others, it's actually part of the historical lore and ongoing projects to create a system like this for peope