LitRPG has evolved from a niche online genre to a dynamic area of innovative storytelling today. Drawing on video games, role-playing systems, web serials, and long-form fantasy storytelling, this genre has developed a massive global readership through online platforms such as Royal Road, Patreon, Kindle, and audiobook platforms.
For this special Media Mothership roundtable recorded live at Edge Radio 99.3FM in Hobart, Tasmania, a group of Australian LitRPG authors came together to discuss the genre’s rapid growth, changing publishing models, audience-building, serialisation, AI, adaptations, burnout and the future of internet-era storytelling.
The discussion features Shirtaloon (He Who Fights With Monsters), RinoZ (Chrysalis), Haylock (Heretical Fishing), Hannibal Forge (Cataclysm Rising), and Tevagah (Prophecy Approved Companion).
Watch/Listen:
Key Topics Covered
- Royal Road and serialised publishing
- Patreon and audience-building
- progression systems and character agency
- burnout and writing schedules
- AI and “AI slop”
- adaptations and Hollywood
- the future of LitRPG
LitRPG is still evolving, but one of the clearest themes to emerge from this discussion was how deeply internet-native storytelling, serialisation, direct audience engagement, and independent publishing models are impacting on contemporary genre fiction.
Thanks again to everyone who participated in the discussion and to Edge Radio 99.3FM for hosting the recording.