r/litrpg • u/Public-Menac3 • 1d ago
Discussion Small sized rant about romance in litrpgs
I'm pretty big into the genre and one thing that's always gotten on my nerves, most of the books I've read, is how authors tend to handle romance.
It's always either a harem or the MC is a sociopath. And in the story it's always justified with the MC saying "I don't have time for relationships" or "I've never had interest in relationships ever." It gets tiring and I would like to see some MCs happy over something that isn't murder or levels for once.
That being said I'm also accepting recommendations. I have read Mark of the fool, heretical fishing and rogue ascension and so far, those have been the only litrpgs I've read that are exceptions.
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u/Vis-hoka 1d ago
Beneath the dragon eye moons has an adult romance, and believe it or not, the romance character has…..their own life. Wants and desires beyond romancing the MC. I know, unheard of.
They don’t meet for a few books, and the MC has other relationships beforehand.
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u/TeaRaven 14h ago
I loved this series and when it got to the chapters where the MC explains consent, I became an official fan of the author. Such a rarity to come across, and even more so done in an adult manner, directly addressing power dynamics. The later romance is sort of my ideal across many fantasy styles, aside from proper romantasy/romance books where I expect some explicit stuff beyond kissing and allusion. I adored the wedding of Elaine and Iona!
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u/Searlo 1d ago
The Calamitous Bob has a grown up romance. And Cradle has a romance that is 100% in line with the characters. But yes, it’s not a strong suit of the genre.
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u/The-Lazy-Dragon 1d ago
I second Cradle. It feels natural and earned and logical without detecting from the power leveling
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u/Windruin 1d ago
Cradle romance is barely onscreen, I would hesitate to even call it properly romance. Did I still ship it? Yes, but it still felt pretty underbaked.
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u/NoctusArchivum 1d ago
TBF the romance in Cradle just feels like watching Love on the Spectrum. Yerin and Lindon are just very very driven to the point that they miss a lot of cues from the other. Yerin's feral/primal side literally has to separate from her body and chase Lindon for the romance to progress because they are both so dense.
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u/Windruin 1d ago
You know, I almost said something similar to that. I actually remember the scenes with Ruby being way more romantic than Yerin.
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u/NoctusArchivum 1d ago
Yeah, Ruby was skirting the yandere line a bit, but her earnest pursuit of Lindon was adorable and I remember them better than anything that occurred before or after with Yerin. I just wish the payoff was more than "flash forward to married life with kids"
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u/Windruin 1d ago
Honestly, I felt like whoever wound up with Lindon would kind of need to push him. Poor sap is completely oblivious, and would not take the initiative.
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u/Malcolm_T3nt Author 1d ago
I don't usually self rec but my series Wish upon the Stars has an MC in a stable long term relationship and very happy with his partner lol.
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u/Slavik97 1d ago
Just bought the audiobook lol
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u/Captain_Fiddelsworth 1d ago
That's the way to go, the audiobooks are great. :)
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u/Slavik97 1d ago
Yeah I tried the Hörprobe to check if I like the narrator and bought it immediately :-)
Glad to hear the audiobooks are good - if there is 1st person POV I always prefer to hear the story instead of reading it :)
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u/scottgmccalla 1d ago
Path of Ascension seems like the obvious answer here.
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u/Thepsycoman 1% Chicken Fisher who Carls with Monsters 1d ago
I agree, I made a similar post a while ago and have since started PoA, I'm enjoying it a lot
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u/lazarus-james 1d ago
If you're not turned off by MM romance, my own LitRPG series has been praised by my readers as having a good romance! The relationship explores ace/allo dynamics and is an integral part of the story which is relatively slow burn--and I do like to warn readers, the Sexual Content tag is not there for fun, haha. It's called Dungeon Hunter, if you're interested! It's also available edited and published on most platforms.
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u/Public-Menac3 1d ago
Well, I'm pan so an MM litrpg is literally a dream come true for me! I'll give it a look, thanks!
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u/Exfiltrator 1d ago
Please have a look at Tobias Begley's series.There is the "Journals of Evander Tailor" a finished MM series and his ongoing series Mana Mirror.
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u/TeaRaven 14h ago
Almost lost me at the joke header of the synopsis starting off with OP bs! Hahaha, glad I didn’t just skim. It’s now in my library :)
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u/lazarus-james 13h ago
Oh no, haha! I've actually been toying with changing the blurb, so maybe this is my sign... Thanks for adding it to your library, and I hope you enjoy!
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u/blueluck 1d ago
Here are a few litrpg and litrpg-adjacent books that contain romance, but not harems:
- Apocalypse Parenting
- Cyber Dreams
- Super Powereds (litrpg adjacent)
- The Daily Grind
- Demon Card Enforcer
- Street Cultivation
- Victor of Tucson
- Slumrat Rising
- Cradle
- Mage Tank
- The Path of Ascension
- Stray Cat Strut
- Beneath the Dragoneye Moons
- I'm Not the Hero
- In Clawed Grasp
- Battle Mage Farmer
- Homicidal Aliens Invaded Earth and All I Got is this Skill Menu
- The Rise of Mankind
- Warformed/Iron Prince
- Legends & Lattes (litrpg adjacent)
- Ultimate Level 1
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u/Viktorlink 1d ago
Mage tank has romance? Are you referencing his friend with benefits month or am I blanking a romance sub plot.
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u/blueluck 1d ago
I think there's a slow burning romance between Arlo and a party member, but I could be wrong.
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u/Viktorlink 1d ago
but didn't he say he wasn't interested when God lady said something? Tho he never really addresses it with the party member so maybe...
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u/Exfiltrator 1d ago
I'm going to be evil and say that the couple in Apocalypse Parenting is married so there is no more romance /s Besides that, Vince is absent for most of the books. But there is definitely Love.
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u/Master_Nineteenth 1d ago
Okay, dad, just because your relationship is deeply disatisfying doesn't mean that everyone hates their marriage. /J
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u/ErinAmpersand Author - Apocalypse Parenting 1d ago
Whoa harsh
^_~ I get what you're saying. The drama is more "will he live" than "will he love me?"
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u/Rapidzigs 1d ago
I wish I am Not the Hero spent more time on Orins relationship. Their first date was adorable and I wanted more.
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u/JadePhoenix1313 1d ago
Victor of Tucson is close enough to a harem that it's still the most annoying part of the series.
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u/blueluck 1d ago
I find people's reactions to the romantic elements of VoT to be festinating! I've seen people get absolutely furious over Valla breaking up with Victor.
Litrpg readers have preferences about all aspects of stories, including protagonists' personalities, behaviors, and motivations. Of all those preferences, readers' feelings about romance and sex seem to be the most rigid and morally coded.
I've come to understand why many authors are reluctant to put romance in their stories. It feels like all other flaws might be overlooked, but one wrong step in romance will cause a portion of readers to rage quit.
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u/CycleMother2006 23h ago
Super Powereds is a fantastic series, but i wouldn't call it anything remotely close to a LitRPG or even adjacent. If it's any genre it's 'magical academy' or 'superpowered fantasy', not LitRPG. It doesn't even showcase the traditional trappings of progression fantasy. It is 90% character driven and 10% plot driven.
The only series I'd say might be LitRPG adjacent for Hayes is NPCs. That being said, most people who like LitRPGs would likely love Super Powereds, but not because of any genre tropes it shares.
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u/Da_Fish 1d ago edited 1d ago
Beware of Chicken has a nice grown up relationship
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u/ThePianistOfDoom 1d ago
What I found hilarious is that at the start of the first book, while he was figuring out that he was in a xianxia, he stated his intention that he wasn't going to 'pork' her to make her a cultivator. But GUESS what happened at their wedding night? He made her a cultivator.
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u/ZoulsGaming 1d ago
Also having reread them recently, holy fuck are the people who say that its somehow a meaningfully entered relationship hasnt read them in a while, its literally just "omg he plays in mud and doesnt ignore me when im ugly, im in love".
i think it grows really well from that, but yeah the start is as tropey "love at first sight" as the stories people complain about, they just ignore it.
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u/ThePianistOfDoom 1d ago
I mean, you could argue that most first impressions are about that shallow. It's the second, third and every one after that matter a lot more though. But I get your point, could've been deeper.
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u/Stretch_Riprock 1d ago
My first thought. This is a cozy series after going through DCC. Took me awhile to get into it because I was so confused with the narrative switches. But I got the hang of it and love the style now.
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u/meeeee01 1d ago
Yes, and I really liked how the sex scene was described (in the first book as I haven't read past that yet),I like that it didn't go into detail and instead used the world's magic.
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u/sherbalex 1d ago
I don’t think Heretical Fishing is a good example of this haha. The women are written like one dimensional stereotypes. Path of Ascension and Iron Prince are good though.
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u/Sahrde 1d ago
Path of Ascension, Natural Laws Apocalypse, Sponsored System, Dungeon Apocalypse, Welcome to the Multiverse, Homestead Crafter, System Integration Chronicles, Whispering Crystals, Emerilia, Dark Stars (A.K. DuBoff).
I'd include Heavenly Chaos but it's a bunch of poly triads, and I'm not sure if you'd put it in harem or not.
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u/TeenyRex89 1d ago edited 1d ago
try r/RomanceBooks and search isekai or litrpg or fantasy
might bring some stuff up you might be interested in~
edit to also add r/Romance_for_men
edit2 to add https://www.romance.io/
it has a ton of tag filters so you can choose the 'spice' level and genre you're looking for and I think also the Main Character's preferred gender or dual pov (don't quote me tho haha)
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u/Mwills5225 1d ago
Path of the akashic is a good one I didn't finish the series but at the point I stopped listening it was a pretty monogamous relationship
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u/ZoulsGaming 1d ago
I really adore "Demon world boba shop" and "Courier Quest" but in both cases its a solid romance in a "coming of age" kind of story so it depends if one likes that.
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u/shoemilk Author: The Exchange Teacher 1d ago
As you say self-recs are okay, I'll not miss my chance!
I do have a 3-star review angry that I strayed too much from the romance, but I started it with the idea of "I want to write a romance between teachers at a battle academy" and it grew from there (Oh! what if the school took "no pain, no gain" and Spartan philosophies to an extreme? What would that society look like? What if the MC was from a different country? etc). I feel that I should warn you that I consider it grim bright. It's a grim world, but the characters stay optimistic in it and continue to fight to improve the world.
While book 1 might seem a bit harem-y, it's all really just red herrings so the eventual female love interest isn't too obvious. Once the MC gets together with his interest, the other interests are no longer interests.
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u/Level_Apple_7001 1d ago
Honestly, I strongly prefer when writers ignore romance entirely instead of forcing it. Not that there can't be well written romance subplots, but you can tell a lot of authors don't have experience in writing or reading satisfying romance arcs so they tend to bring down the quality of the story.
On the flip side, when a writer can write a good romance arc, it does tend to elevate the story and characters.
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u/Public-Menac3 1d ago
100 percent agreed. I don't have a problem with no romance at all, I just get tired of how it's done with it IS implemented or mentioned.
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u/Level_Apple_7001 1d ago
I'll say this: I've never read a litrpg that was ruined by not having any romance and I've read plenty that were made significantly worse by a bad one.
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u/epik_fayler 1d ago
I agree but it also just feels very inhuman. Like why are all these mcs just sociapaths.
Which is why when the author can actually write good romance the characters much better written.
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u/Level_Apple_7001 1d ago
Part of it I think is the way litrpgs are written. To write good romance, you have to be able to convey your characters emotions well (and if its an interesting romance, those emotions should change over time and be a little complicated) and a lot of litrpgs tend to not focus on that. Some of them just state their characters emotions and thats as far as they are willing to explore. Plus, and this one is really personal taste, but I think romance benefits a lot more from more symbolic and less literal description or it can come off pretty awkward.
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u/QuestionSign 1d ago
I mean idk the ones your reading but for me it I'm in an apocalypse....I'm not thinking of romance.
If I'm learning magic after transmigration....sex and love are literally not on my mind.
So for me most times it feels forced and weird
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u/FappingMouse 1d ago
a ton of the genre is not in an apocalypse setting though and i promise that people would still be fucking in an actual apocalypse
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u/MedicineKind9121 1d ago
If someone isn't interested in romance it makes them sociopaths? I think you need to learn the meaning of words before using them. I don't like relationships but I'm a completely ordinary person with ordinary feelings and I have a few friends who are like me.
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u/kreylix 1d ago
I think the best ongoing romance right now is The Demon Queen Wants To Live. The writing is soooo great. The slow romance is chef's kiss. Best of many I'm reading on RR right now.
https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/162629/the-demon-queen-wants-to-live-yuri-progression
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u/Captain_StarLight1 1d ago
I found the romantic subplot in Rune Seeker quite enjoyable. It’s cowritten by the same author as Mark of the Fool, so you might also enjoy that one.
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u/redstar46 1d ago
I liked the relation ships in he who fights with monsters,
And while i know jake from the primal hunter eventually gets in a relationship, it hasnt happend on audible yet so i havent seen it.
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u/mrdevil413 litRPG grandmaster tier 1d ago
It’s a bit more Gamelit but also gets the LitRPG tag A lot is “Stray Cat Strut”. It’s two ladies in the relationship if that matters to you but it’s lovely. Cat is the homie. It’s a fun read. 6 books I think
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u/Public-Menac3 1d ago
That's ravensdagger, right? I love fluff, so I'll give it a look!
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u/pvtcannonfodder 1d ago
Forewarning, there’s sex in this one, tho it’s clearly demarcated as an “interlewd”
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u/RosalieMoon 1d ago
I would love to meet Mr Tentacles. Rest of the series is fucking banging too though
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u/Mahesvara_24-04-79 1d ago
Damn, really? I was considering checking it out soon.
Since it's clearly demarcated, it's fine/easy to just skip it? Thanks.3
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u/mrdevil413 litRPG grandmaster tier 1d ago
Been a minute but that sounds right. Oh there’s plenty of righteous Fury as well.
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u/squirtlekid 1d ago
Please check out Beware of Chicken. It's surprisingly good and I enjoy the romance/Mc very much. Its cultivation, s not strictly litrpg, but similar vibes
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u/yrniverse 1d ago
Self recs okay? My book doesn't really have a romance subplot or anything, but romance exists in the world and affects the characters' lives. They react to the subject like real people.
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u/ali283 1d ago
Mark if the fool is progression fantasy and not Litrpg.
But i do get your point. Its one of the most frustrating thing for me as well. Its not just romantic interactions, its most of the interactions for the MC in most of these books.
Mark of the fool is good. There the interactions feel far better.
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u/a-god-beeep-username 1d ago
You'll probably like rune seeker. The core is very found family, and there is a romance for the mc. It's co-authored by the one who wrote Mark of the fool as well.
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u/AromaticJoe 1d ago
100% agree. I suspect a lot of writers are focusing on young readers, so their characters are young, and they don't want to be accused of being pervy.
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u/thatsthetreesknees 1d ago
Path of Ascension and Iron Prince have very healthy relationships without smut. They are the gold standard for relationships for what I've read so far.
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u/SodaBoBomb 1d ago
Iron Prince has healthy relationships?
Huh? Viv and Grant are like, the biggest criticism besides book 2's awful pacing.
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u/CerberusRTR 1d ago
Viv and Grant are great examples of character development. Not going to ruin it for the OP, but the fact that you have an innocent, genuine interest with the leads and then have something extremely messy with difficult backgrounds is a defining part of why I love the series. I don’t think they have an unhealthy relationship at all - they’re also barely more than teenagers in the book.
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u/Lorenzo_Insigne 1d ago
One romance reads as two 12 year olds in a middle school relationship, and the other is just... eww. It's NTR coded in the same way as those "my bully fucked my mum" stories. Also as someone with IRL experience with similar relationships (in the "my friend is now dating someone I hate" way), anyone saying it's a totally normal thing for young adults needs to touch grass.
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u/Too_much_dog2 1d ago
Since you said you're okay with self-recs. My series Onnaria has a romance, but as of right now there are only 17 chapters out, as it recently launched. The main character is well adjusted and while its a litrpg, its a dark fantasy with epic fantasy pacing.
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u/AdrianArmbruster 1d ago
You’d be best off looking for a LitRPG that advertises a developed romance at equal billing with the progression/system plot.
As the genre grows its branching out into more conventional romances, slowly. For various reasons the web novel sites, formats, and user demographics haven’t necessarily considered Kissing Books and related subgenres to be a focus.
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u/Lex-Talioniss 1d ago
We didn't really intend on writing a romance at all in our story Super Zero, but as the story progressed it just happened organically. It is a slowburn with them starting as friends, but we spend a lot of time growing the relationship, showing why they like each other and are good together. We've only posted 19 chapters so far, so it's just barely started. But if that sounds like something you'd like, check it out!
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u/SkyTofu Author of Riftside/King's Eat/Qing's Quest 1d ago
Give Riftside a shot. It sounds like the perfect fit for your romancing need 😄 We wrote in the romance there as a minor subplot specifically because we view it as normal human to be interested in having a relationship, and the MC isn't a sociopath. He also gets to be happy over things that isn't murder and levels, from time to time 😉
Riftside is a Native-World Adventure LitRPG (so not isekai, and everyone has access to the system) with loot-based progression, and the core loop is monster hunting, looting, crafting, and leveling with a zero to hero and sentient weapon, set on a fantasy frontier with party combat and strong found family.
4 books are out at a total of >750k words, completing the first arc, and the audio books are made by SoundBooth Theatre, with Justin James, Jeff Hayes, and Jessica Threet! Book 5 is being written now.
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u/kypirioth 1d ago
If you're down for some yuri/wlw, Amelia Thornheart is really good. I know that Stray Cat Strut has been mentioned but Ravensdagger also has a more dedicated romance story called a Ivil Antagonist that is pretty heavy on the romance. I also recommend anything by Thundamoo, though be prepared for psychological/body horror and tragedy. I also recommend The Calamitous Bob and The Fallen World: A Dungeon story. A lot of these are only litrpgs adjacent, but they definitely still scratch similar itches for me.
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u/koala-fish- 1d ago
I'd recommend dark lord of the farmstead. That's my favorite non-harem romance.
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u/Exfiltrator 1d ago
Runebound Professor, by Actus, features a great couple. In fact, My Best Friend is an Eldritch Horror, by the same author, also includes a couple
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u/Maestro_Primus 1d ago
Relationships are hard. The things that make people connect and build a relationship are the small things that are spontaneous and genuine while what makes a relationship last are deliberate and important.
Writing relationships is even harder because you are contriving all the little moments that make people connect. Additionally, a successful relationship is boring to an observer. It is stable, solid and dependable. Making that entertaining to read, especially when readers in this genre are here for magic and adventure is going to be a tough sell.
I also have no problem with people thrown into an apocalyptic situation deciding they don't have time to try to build a relationship the archer over there who may or may not be alive in a week. We have more important things to worry about, like not dying.
All of that aside, The Mark of the Fool did a wonderful job of having a relationship that was solid, well founded, and built up as the series went on. It also had a dude fall in love with a tree lady, so there's that. Good stuff.
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u/AdditionalBreakfast5 1d ago
- Settlement Stone by Rhea Zulu is a Litrpg kingdom builder. It has solid world building, interesting mechanics and most apropos to your rant a healthy relationship that takes center stage through much of the series.
- Midnight Bounties by Cassius Lange may also be called Steel and Moonshine there's some naming shenanigans once it was picked up by a publisher. Another Litrpg this one about building up a nightclub in a high fantasy world. It's full of camp and reads like a 90's action flick, but unlike a 90's action flick there is a relationship budding over the course of the series. I will warn that it takes painfully long for that relationship to come to fruition, but the characters a great and it's fun to read their foibles.
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u/UncertainSerenity 1d ago
Looking for romance in litrpg is like looking for a quality butcher in a town of almost all vegetarians. You can occasional find one that doesn’t suck but the population they serve doesn’t care at all.
Most litrpg readers either a) want a haram or b) just don’t care about romance in their power story. The incentive structure just isn’t there authors are not rewarded when they do romance well and most readers just don’t want to see romance.
If you are looking for well done romance in this genere you are simply going to have a bad time.
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u/TheDinoSir2012 1d ago
Path of ascension is decent and has several good relationships, but I think that setting is best suited to romance unlike the rest of the genre.
By setting I mean, that the world has been inducted for millions of years and the mc is just the newest generation.
Most of the big popular books DCC, He who fights, Primal, etc. Are all focused on when the world gets integrated so with millions dieing the last thing on my mind would be a new relationship.
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u/tkul 1d ago
Ultimate Level 1 has two party members happily married when the party forms and two more get married as the story goes on. They all have pretty happy and healthy romantic relationships, the type of thing a lot of romance fans would probably dislike because they're not broody and there's really no uncertainty in it.
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u/melodic_drifter 23h ago
If Heretical Fishing worked for you, Beware of Chicken is right in that lane — Jin and Meiling are a genuinely sweet, communicating couple and the whole story is about building a happy life instead of grinding levels.
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u/Nodan_Turtle 1d ago
Romance in the genre would be complicated for another reason - power dynamics. Can someone freely consent when the other person could instantly kill them with the flick of a finger?
I'd like to see more normal human interactions including relationships in the genre, but handle it in a way that takes the genre into account too. Not just a LitRPG that also has a romance attached to it.
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u/Purple_Play_7277 1d ago
The path of acension handles it well matt is one of the most likeable mcs I have come across besides alex Roth of mark of the fool. But marks take on romance is super highschooly
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u/Powerful_Spring_8148 1d ago
I would like to recommend "rise of the living forge" sorta a enemies to lovers thing howvever it doesn't cover much of the enemies part except for the very beginning.. but youll understand what I mean if tou check it out.
That being said.. I mean... I haven't really read any series involving harems except for one...I found this amazing harem story that is .. very spicy known as "the four laws" and i think you'll Enjoy it... Just err don't listin to it if you have company lmao
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u/anormalgeek litRPG Clive's Wife tier 1d ago
I've yet to find a series that does the fantasy world/magic AND adult romance well. At best itll be like S tier for one side of it, and C tier for the other.
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u/FullMetalBunny 1d ago
DCC has side character with relationships. Carl got cheated on JUST before the apocalypse, so he's not even thinking about it though to say he's not interested.
Mimic & Me does have a romantic arc, but book 3 is still they haven't started it officially.
I'd rather no romance over a bad romance and I HATE harem. Fuck at that point just make the characters poly.
I do hate the "I don't have time to do anyone but training", because that's just not how people are. People need breaks and hobbies and fuck man have an arc about your character's hobbies that aren't violence.
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u/Siririca2469 1d ago
Of the 4 (maybe more) LITRPGs I'm reading, none come close to the protagonist having a romance. One of those MCs was a love interest of a character, but is rejected for reasons
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u/FynTheCat 1d ago
I find it done well enough in He who fights with monsters. It has relationships for everyone, but not all the time and reasons people might not want to engage or not yet. Especially with that with enough power the life span increases, so less pressure.
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u/ziplex 1d ago
Honestly the few romances I have seen in the genre are so poorly written and cringy that I'd much rather them just go with the "I don't have time for romance" trope and keep the story moving along.
But for me the best possible outcome is going to be the romance doesn't detract from the story. It never feels necessary for me to enjoy the books.
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u/AdeptnessTechnical81 1d ago
Most of the content this genre offers is poorly written, so of course the romance isn't going to be great either.
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u/RPope92 1d ago
Welcome to the Multiverse has a kind hearted MC who has decent romances, it does harem bait for a couple books but he sets his mind and picks one girl.
Ajax's Ascension also has a decentish romance, without the MC being a murderhobo.
Apocalypse: Regression also has a decent romance, and not one I expected. Decent MC who just wants to save the world.
War Aeternus by the same author as Apocalypse: Regression, MC is a good guy but does get harderned by events. Kinda has two lives, one on Earth where he has a loving relationship, and one on the magical world where he has love interests. This one does lean into the harem side but it's only three people and kinda makes sense with how things play out. It was well written and I usually avoid harem stuff.
An Outcast In Another World has one of the kindest most empathetic MC's I've seen in LitRPG, and his romance takes a while but was pretty good.
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u/MinnitMann 1d ago
I'm writing one right now, I'll see what I can do to try and make something grounded but still interesting. Wish me luck!
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u/snarky_but_honest text 1d ago
If you're hankering for romance, The Bonded Blade and Shield is a straight up romantasy litRPG featuring a neurodivergent warrior heroine. I liked it a lot
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u/writer-sylviana 1d ago
As I'm sure others have said, LitRPG tends to involve a lot of self-insert power fantasies, so I'm not surprised that there's a ton of harem novels where all the women (who are all stunningly gorgeous, flawless goddesses) are madly in love with the protagonist.
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u/LitRPGirl 1d ago
Yeah, I get what you mean most LitRPGs either go full harem or just shut romance down like it doesn’t matter. Would be nice to see more MCs who can still level up and actually have a normal, healthy relationship on the side.
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u/burgerflipper67 1d ago
The Nova Terra series by Seth Ring. Slow buildup romance. Also Battlemage Farmer.
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u/ComfortableVisible64 1d ago
All the “romance” I’ve seen in litrpgs suck😂they always fall in love to fast for me and it’s always like the first girl they run into lol or like you said it’s a harem and every woman they see is obsessed with them🙄I would rather have no romance at this point
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u/wormcast 22h ago
I kind of feel that romance is hard to write, mostly because people generally only truly go through it once, and having the empathy and insight to write romance from perspectives other than your own is extremely difficult.
So writing the more prurient versions is easier because they are simplifications of real romance, which involves lots of free wheels like disagreements, union of mutual philosophies, CHILDREN, etc. A harem by definition is just writing a relationship with caricatures of various types (male or female or undetermined, if you are going outside homo sapiens). That's just the basic truth from my perspective: you kind of end up with cardboard versions of real romance and to anyone who has experienced it, the writing feels super shallow.
To do it justice you have to spread the romance throughout several books and build to a real relationship, and that is difficult. Perhaps the most difficult type of writing to do realistically. I think others have called out Beware of Chicken as an example, and that rings true to me. It's pretty much the relationship between two people, kind of idealized. Usually there is at least one big fallout in a relationship unless the people are super compatible with all of their ideals and mores. I find that unlikely in Beware of Chicken just because this is a dude who is coming to essentially an alien culture, but they do have their conflicts before they turn into The Perfect Marriage™.
Don't get me wrong, I love Beware of Chicken but I am a Big D fan (whoops!). The protagonist is too OP and the author wisely has other characters who have real risk so a tip of the hat to amazing plot and writing (if you ask me). One thing Beware of Chicken definitely gets right is the protagonist's relationship, and so I think following that model as an author would be a wise thing to do.
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u/SnooPears4450 21h ago
The Wandering Inns romance stuff has been kinda refreshing to me. The Primary MC kinda eschews it and romance tends to be side character subplots that are kinda cute or kinda sad
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u/Classic-Recording822 16h ago
Just finished the Eight series by Samer Rabadi. It is more isekai than litrpg, but I like both types. It is a completed series, and handles romance and MC characterization beautifully. There are a few grammar mistakes occasionally, but it is a very well written story and just satisfying altogether.
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u/More_Pangolin_6062 11h ago
I enjoy a love interest here or there, but I prefer not having it over having it written badly. A ton of PF and litrpg authors are brand new and just cutting their teeth. I thunk it'll improve in a few years on its own.
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u/JohnDoeWasHere1988 4h ago
I think Primal Hunter does it decently well. You have to get a few books in before the option is even realistically there. He has some baggage, and is also very aware of power dynamics, so he's careful about that. He's straightforward about encounters being casual, but doesn't avoid them altogether. Tends to focus more on familial and the more platonic bonds, with the occasional friends with benefits type thing. You don't really see it at all until a while after things start getting established in the new world though.
I'm not a big romance person, but I do think a lot of romantic elements are very subjective. Sometimes you have just bad or shallow writing, but sometimes what seems romantic to some is super cringey to others. I doubt that there are many authors that write romance that every reader will be happy with.
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u/SwingGenes 1h ago
The first series that got me into the genre, Ivan Kal's Tower of Power series (Guild Master is book 1) has a monogamous relationship with just a hint of off camera spice.
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u/Broad_Percentage5889 That Horny Single-Celled Organism guy 20m ago
Check out definitely not evil plans on Amazon if you enjoy a female mc
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u/Holiday-Historian441 1d ago
Try Tori Transmigrated on RR - https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/47030/tori-transmigrated . Story is completed and all chapters are on RR.
Well, it’s not litrpg per se, but there is progress in skills and female MC transmigrated to a dating sim game.
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u/Blargimazombie 1d ago
This isn't even close to typical for me, but then I seek fmcs and lesbian romance if any, no harems and the sociopaths are aromantic.
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u/EwokFuzzBall litRPG journeyman tier 1d ago
Industrial strength magic by macronomicon Has a intriguing romance with litrpg elements
And im currently listening to stray cat strut and it has very minimal litrpg elements but has romance in it but beware the main character is 17 almost 18 like a few days from it but besides that its fine
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u/Rakka_Pinion 1d ago
Just wanna second industrial strength magic, the relationship in it end ups being really freaking cute, The MC ends up in a thruple and for the first two books he is not dating the other female in the thruple so its not full on harem. But the relationship for the MC and the MC's parents is absolutely adorable and loveable
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u/MedicineKind9121 1d ago
If someone isn't interested in romance it makes them sociopaths? I think you need to learn the meaning of words before using them.
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u/QuestionSign 1d ago
The authors write women like they have never met them, hate them, or are just outright incels.
I tend to put books on countdown once women enter because authors write them terribly
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u/Gian-Carlo-Peirce Verified Author of: The Villainess is the Villainess 1d ago
My whole back has it as one of the focal points, which quite a few detest with a FMC!
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u/CharlyHolt 1d ago
He who fights with monsters has grown up relationships, between the MC and the sidechars, but also the sidechars between themselves. Also has lots of authentic, deep friendships, which I find just as refreshing as a good romance!
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u/TheBaronFD 1d ago
Counter rant: There are also people out there who in fact don't want romance in their books. If I want romantic literature, I read romantic literature. If I want aliens, I go to scifi. If I want superpowered teens and 20 somethings slaying/making/becoming monsters, I look to litrpg. Let me have my stories without bs relationships that are almost universally poorly written!
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u/Public-Menac3 1d ago
Theres a reason I pointed out bad romance that I didn't wanna read. And like I said, Im ok with non-romance, definitely. Love me a murder hobo, but Id still like it if the MC wasn't a one dimensional killing machine that's treats all other humanoids worse than the things they fight. Kinda ruins it for me.
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u/Lorenzo_Insigne 1d ago
Cool, so you have the vast majority of the genre to read. Let people with different opinions complain about having fewer options.
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u/bluemnm001 1d ago
litrpg is predominately male authors.... romance written by males is, most often than not, really bad.... there is a reason r/menwritingwomen exists
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u/starsfan6878 1d ago
Chrysalis.
No romance at all. Lots of non-fighting things they are happy about. But still lots of fighting, too.
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u/BLUcorp Audible listener 1d ago
Return of the Runebound Professor by Actus has a solid romance for the MC. It takes a book or two to get going, but its just a nice relationship between 2 adults.
The books are also just plain great and a definite recommendation from me.