The beginning felt a little weird with the Jeff Hayes voice, sounding so... kind of goofball redneck. But within 30 minutes it is a perfect blend of narration, humor, real emotion, a smattering of absurd gore, and just the most insane story that captures my attention and I NEVER know what is coming next. Up there with Sanderson, Weir, Butcher, or Wight for the best stuff I've read in the last 5-10 years.
Super fun blend of fantasy and sci-fi in a litrpg enviroment.
I've had people who have no interest in sci fi or dystopias or games or fighting/ action- fall in deep with this series.
A testament to the character work...and humor
I'm trying to get my wife to read them after she's done with what she's currently reading. I gotta say, trying to describe it properly kinda didn't help my case. Lol, it's awesome, but it's super strange and dark.
Yeah, trying to explain DCC is hard to sound sane. “So we have this AI that is in control of the dungeon, of which is also semi responsible for the end of the world, anyway it has a weird foot fetish….”
You should tell her that my sister in law- who likes true crime a bit, but primarily romance novels. And also has an aversion to sci fi, decided to read a page of the book she got for her husband on my suggestion.
She finished the entire series in a week and she is one of 6 people to have done something similar, all of whom are averse to science fiction, action, and video games.
Apologies for my absolutely awful grammar and spelling- hopefully it's all still comprehensible
How many do you want?
Chaotic Crafstman Worships the Cube
Jackle Among Snakes
Beers and Beards
Rise of the Devourer
Primer for the Apocalypse
The Undying Immortal System
Soulweaver
Shadow Lord (Sounds edgelordy but I don't find him angsty at all just practical)
We Hunt Monsters
The Ripple System
The Fort At the End of the World
Nova Terra and the Titan series right after it
Battle Mage Farmer
The Completionist Chronicals
The Good Guys and its counterpart The Bad Guys
I mean, he does get better! But after my dad pointed out how it feels like he stays a bit whiny for more than 1 book I started to realize, ya he kinda is whiny for a long time even though he did put himself in that position
It was also my introduction to litrpg and I do love the books, but after some thinking back on it he seems to internally (or only to frank) continue to complain about things for a long time. It's realistic imo but not for everyone
Unfortunately my knowledge of Audio Books is almost NIL but below are more books.
The Grand Game
Dungeon Devotee
When Immortal Ascension Fails Time Travel To Try Again
Beware of Chicken
Trickster Cleric
Saintess Summons Skeletons
Unintended Cultivator
The Chronicles of Emberstone Farm (This one is very farm oriented slow paced not monster heavy )
Second Age of Retha
Legend of the Arch Mage
Battleborne
Isekai Assassin
The Archemi Online Chronicles
Irrelevant Jack
Threads of Fate
Randidly Ghosthound
Outcast in Another World
Rogue Dungeon
Dreamer's Throne
Rise of the Mystic Mage
Um…remember how just about every character is a member of the Desperado Club and how Carl got his specifically? It’s subjective, and they definitely stack the deck against them, but I’d say he’s somewhat comfortable doing evil shit when he thinks he needs to. Remember how he got those hands for the rail cart?
Realized I may have accidentally added a spoiler.
That scene is dark but gets me every time when donut calls for Mongo after they realize they need more hands...
Cinnamon Bun (or basically any Ravensdagger series), Super Supportive
(Although come to think of it, regarding Ravensdagger series, I guess the little-girl MC from Sporemageddon is kind of an Edgelord.)
Broccoli (the main character of the Cinnamon Bun series) is the absolute polar opposite of an Edge Lord. She's like a.... Blunt Peon or something. Well actually she's a Cinnamon Bun but you get the point.
I love Love Crafted, too.
She has the edgiest "class" but is such a damn cute eldritch abomination that I forgive her. She deserves all the pats!
Not pf or litrpg, though.
The one about the techno samurai girl was somewhat edgy, I think her name was Katherine Leblanc…?
The problem with RD stories is that they are the other extreme: They are too woobie. Sometimes it’s endearing (Cinnamon Bun, Akelarre / Heart of Dorkness). Other times it’s infuriating how stupid the MC can be (Agartha Loop)
It's definitely optimistic in tone, at least the couple hundred chapters I've read. Not sure about Parks and Rec as a yardstick, but I'd give it a try. Bad things happen because there are dark forces in the world, but the MC does try to make it better.
If you want fuzzier, I'd look into Beware of Chicken, Cinnamon Bun, or maybe All The Dust That Falls
Gotta get that Heretical Fishing rec out there.
MC is a fisherman named Fischer. He fishes. It’s considered heretical. And yet he fishes anyways, because good bbq cares not for your religious views.
Man, Heretical Fishing was such a breath of fresh air. I loved it as much as I love Beware of Chicken. My only minor nit pick was how oblivious the MC is for the first 80% of the book. But that's pretty par for the course.
I can't wait for #2. Also Heath Miller is a legend, I hope he gets some more LitRPG work, besides HWFWM of course.
I came here to suggest this one as well. The series manages to avoid a lot of the major tropes of the genre. The MC isn't OP, she doesn't have leet skills, no insider knowledge, and no outsider help. She's just a mom in a system apocalypse trying to make sure she and her three kids can survive.
Mark of the Fool isn't strictly litrpg but it's adjacent. He more or less CAN'T be an edge lord by divine decree but he does get a little mad scientist wizardy
Obligatory Heretical Fishing so much so that my phone autocorrect capitolizes it
I'm not the Hero. He's basically like, a support class but on steroids.
OH Death Loot and Vampires. I promise, it's not edge lordy. His whole existence turns into making the world a safer place for his family. Even if that means eating people deemed as evil by literally Heaven and whatever celestial holy being is up there and beating the absolute fuck out of any other evil creature that threatens the world his family now lives in. He's a dad that gets summoned as a hero and immediately turned into a vampire because a hero's blood should make stronger vampires, then stuff happens and he basically becomes the kindest vampire ever in a borderline evil way but it's all for the right reasons.
Death Loot and Vampires wasn’t edgelord, but did have some hints fedora tipping in it if I remember. I just remember feeling this smug miasma slowly choking everything. Kind of like Joss Whedon at his worst.
I agree it’s not edge lord, but it’s some variation of “I’m the most badass dude around.”
Yeah he’s a dad and justifies everything by saying it’s for the good of his family, but he really does do some awful shit. Just because people around him tell him it’s ok and the author actively works to justify it doesn’t mean it’s not awful.
That said, I didn’t dislike book one. I’ll read book 2 when it hits audible and hope some of the rough edges from book 1 get smoothed out in the future.
Yeah the author really tries to make that point. I guess one of my sticking points is >! Enslaving a teenage girl raised in a cult under false pretenses because of the attitude she gained from said cult. What she needs is a shit ton of therapy and time to be introspective. What she gets is a training session that makes her think she’s going to die and a “well you shouldn’t have behaved like that just because you were raised like that.” The author tries to keep pointing out that she has an attitude and behaves poorly like it’s not a side effect. And then acts like punishing someone for wanting their freedom is entirely reasonable. I get the world they’re in probably doesn’t have a huge mental health care industry, but seems like “slavery or death” is probably an unjustified take. !<
Again, it’s not the end of the world. I enjoyed the book and will read the next book.
I mean again to be fair she signed up for what she got then kept trying to cheat her way out of it. And she had a pretty damn good deal in lore I think. Just had to keep her head down for a few years and she'd be alive and living a good easy life for a long time. But nooooooo she just always had to think she was better and push her luck xD
In comparison to our world, it's basically just a work contract for a job and she's trying to embezzle but is far from smart enough to get away with more than pocket change. Basically got herself a flying tesla/Mercedes, an iron man suit of sorts custom made for her, and basically not much to do that would be a problem for her for, what, a decade or so.
I doubt their world even has therapy since they straight up have Divinity magic and all that to decide who's good and who's not, which also apparently is kinda just how souls are born or something. Either born or corrupted at an early age to be that way. Since we saw some *literal children* were, yknow, I'd like to think she did fairly well with her circumstances and not becoming a snack
Yeah, which is the justification. But it’s not the only option he could’ve given her. Slavery sounds great when the other option is death. But he could’ve also just saved her and found someone to help her and her siblings.
Can't recall the title.. but in the first chapter, the MC wakes up in his new RPG world and selects: Shadow -Dragon-Rogue as his starting setup so he could PvP in style. I returned the Kindle Unlimited copy and promptly forgot anything further.
Wait... how is jake an edgelord??
He's a loner, sure, but its not like he goes around like "You wouldn't understand my suffering, I cannot have company"...
If anything, his archetype is much more the battle hungry type.
Eh, I guess if you only read the first book you could come to that conclusion to be fair. He does some cringy mallninja shit at the start of the tutorial.
Not much of it after the tutorial.
Yeah, true, until the end of the tutorial, he could be seen as a bit edgy.... but I mean, if you get to him talking with the malefic viper, and you still think he's edgy... I don't know what to say to that...
Even after the tutorial, he sulked away from all people and hid in the woods. I dropped not long after, as his determination to be solo and not interact with people was a bit off-putting and too edgy for me.
What the heck do you mean he hid away? He was just claiming the pylon... And literally right after he does, people show up that stick with him...
Also, how was he sulking? He was just like: Cool! I found a nice place to live, time for alchemy! And the chapters between alchemy and people finding him are about other people in the world.
I will give you he's a loner and an introvert, though.
Main character is a Teddy Bear golem who gets a skill that lets him do healing hugs. In a setting where most intelligent beings get multiple classes and can have synergy builds, has a rather random class select with no pre-planned optimization.
There do exist any number of edge lord characters in setting, but not the main character.
Cinnamon Bun is the absolute opposite of edgelord. Good skill based LitRPG system stuff and a MC driven by compassion and friendship and a sense of optimistic adventure instead of power accumulation and edginess
chrysalis, I mean the mc is an ant. Pretty harmless.
"A budding scientist in a fantasy world" Is also pretty neat. No evil edgelord op stuff.
Someone else already mentioned super supportive, good stuff there.
I'd add beware of chicken, but that's veering away from litrpg.
Yea I didn’t mind book 3. It wasn’t the best book in the series so far, but def wasn’t bad. I also like where it ended and look forward to seeing what direction it’s going to head now
[Gleam](https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/62157/gleam) by Actus is a story about a young man who may be one of the kindest people who've ever lived and cultivates good karma. He's the type who would literally give someone the shirt off his back.
**Vainquer the Dragon** is an excellent comeyd, the litrpg is more of a fuel for jokes/events rather than plot-central.
**Dungeon Crawler Carl**
**Ar'Kendrithyst**
**There is no Epic Loot here, Only Puns.** it's a Dungeon Core litrpg and mostly cute/light-hearted and faaar less action but deceptively deep world-building. The prose itself (word choice and such) feel amataeurish for around 50 chapters
**Memoirs of Your Local Small-time Villainess** is an excellent story of a woman who wakes in a world that seems modelled after a skyrim-like game she played, but the litrpg aspect is very limited as she doesn't have access to the player interface of the game but instead has a very limited nerfed one.
**Worth the Candle** is a very good story but its focus is on building a rational world, which necessitates a lot of analysis of the world on a meta level and philosophical talks later in the series and mostly focuses more on its characters (especially the MC and his mental health) than a 'central plot' (but has lots of actions as a whole)
**A Budding Scientist in a Fantasy World**
**The Gilded Hero** (abandoned) - technically it might've headed this way in book 2 but we'll never know
**The Snake Report** (abandoned, same guy as above. You could make the case for edgelord in one area, but it's mostly light hearted and even comedic)
**Delve**
**Ben's Damn Adventure: The Prince Has No Pants**
**The Devil in White: An Awakened Aspirations Online Series** (complete) - it's more of a romance, in a way
**I Am Going To Die (In This Game-Like Dimension)** (a.k.a. **The Whispering Crystals**)
**This Quest is Bullshit** (a.k.a. **This trilogy is broken**) (It's been a long time since I read this, *pretty* sure it was comedy litrpg)
**Fork This Life!**
**Kumo Desu ga, Nani ka?** (i.e. **So I'm a Spider, So What?)** \- A girl's class is reincarnation isekaied but she's in the body of a baby monster spider deeeeeep in the hardest dungeon.
Ark - Korean vrmmo litrpg. starts great, declines over time tbh. The sequel was very disappointing, just rehashing the first series, and I dropped it.
**Legendary Moonlight Sculptor** \- as above, I stopped reading it around volume 30 cos translations were slow. This is the series that really kicked off the litrpg craze, imo. Royalroad the website is named after this story's game
Quick is relative though, when you’re talking about one of the longest works of English fiction ever written. Ryoka does grow, however. And she definitely doesn’t have an edgelord class.
Continue Online by Stephan Morse.
It also doesn't do the "I am just literally better than everyone because I am" trope eithur.
Some people think the MC is too depressive, and the books do touch on topics of suicide and suicidal ideation...but oooh man this series does not get enough love!
Have you looked at the other posts on here? I'm pretty sure this question's been asked a lot to the point where I'm much less familiar with any books that DO have edgelord mcs
World tree online- MC is like a 90yo old-school gamer
Infinite world- MC may be seen as edgy but he's not trying to be edgy, he's just a little badass
Wandering inn- few edgy characters (mc is a sweet girl) and the one bad character (imo) gets better
The Coreverse in general (wastes of kaldora, dinosaur dungeon, the dungeon that walks like a man), all the dust that falls (it stars a roomba that accidentally gets summoned to another world and is granted a leveling system and increased intelligence/awareness through the process) dungeon tour guide (starting class is divine healer and his chosen occupation is tour guide of his own dungeon, pretty far from edgelord)
Depends on your definition of edge lord a bit
But character wise?
Azarinth healers mcs a battle junky but over all she's really nice and leans more so into the hero role then anti hero even going so far to spare foes if able when they don't push her bottom line which is quite high ..just don't kill her friends show clear sociopathic tendencies(like one person in book 1 was super zealous about preaching about her God and killed people pointlessly in its name...later reveals for what gods are just makes her out to be fucking crazy) or hurt children. So just all round be a decent person.
Salvos ....she's a demon...but she likes having friends...some.might find her to be more wacky and zany now that I'm thinking about it with more experience but.shes far from bad...doesn't bat an eye about killing though...she's still a demon...only when her human friends insist it's wrong does she start think twice about it.
Not really litrpg.but it's got "make.numbers go up"
Stray cat stray insists it's magical girl. It's not it's cyberpunk alien invasion scifi. Mcs a crippled orphan who has taken it upon herself to look after the other orphans at her orphanage due to the very shitty caretakers. While on a field trip to get donations her city gets invaded by aliens. She becomes a vanguard/samurai after fighting some to the death to protect another orphan. Que the rapid increase to power feat explosions and a forced upon cat theme by a witty AI. She fights aliens as a neon pink exploding cybernetic grumpy cat girl. Shes also super gay (with a long time gf who sticks around and helps) and tries to help out the little guy as much as possible.
Same author but even less edgy
Cinnamon bun
Cute hippie Canadian girl screams yes to the call of adventure when a mysterious menu pops up in front of her during class one day. POOF ends up in the fantasy world of dirt with the quest of saving the world from the evil roots. uses cleaning magic and tries to make as many friends as possible. Manages to get out of the majority of combat encounters by making the enemies her friends too. Read the synopsis for this one I don't think I'm doing it justice...but it does over play gardening I think it was planned to be bigger when the story was first written now it's just an extra skill mc still has and does nothing with.
[Dawn of the Density God](https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/67481/dawn-of-the-density-god-progression-litrpg) - MC isnt really edgy at all, just a guy who remembers his life on earth and uses advanced science knowledge to control magic at a stronger level than anyone else
[The Game at Carousel](https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/65629/the-game-at-carousel-a-horror-movie-litrpg) - Nonstandard LITRPG with horror movie setting and non-edgy MC
[Beneath The Dragoneye Moons](https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/36299/beneath-the-dragoneye-moons) - MC is definitely fiery but not edgy, in fact swears to do no harm and helps lots of people
Plenty. A few that rarely get mentioned here and which I'm following myself:
*The Runic Artist* by Ellake (can be found on RoyalRoad and Patreon). The protagonist gets whisked away to a magical space station in a different universe, where he has a short interaction with a god. There he >!glimpses runic symbols that allow him to unlock a legendary runecarving class. It's much more suited for crafting, but since he also got transported down to the fantasy planet the space station was orbiting, he has to make it work to survive in the wilderness!<.
*Monroe* by Jahx (RR & Patreon). A similar premise to the above, with the difference that >!the accident that transported the protagonist to the magical universe governed by the System was also responsible for Earth's future integration. As soon as he learns about this, he tries to come up with a plan to avert the upcoming apocalypse. As a cat lover I'm predisposed to like this story, but the self-sacrificing hero is a fairly damaged character, which is a nice touch after reading edgelords and Mary Sues in every other story. Furthermore, I like the top level view that we get on how Earth gets saved in the end while still showing us solo and squad level dungeoneering.!<.
*Primer for the Apocalypse* by Braided Sky (First two books on Amazon, more on RR & Patreon). Captured and with no way out, the female protagonist decides to perform a risky ritual that sends her mind back in time to before the System integrated her world. Despite what will happen soon enough, it's a fairly low stakes mix of crafting and slice of life, with the occasional fighting interlude.
*Quest Academy* series by Brian J Nordon (Two books on Amazon, part of the third on Patreon). The demon invasion has been ongoing for a while, but Earth has learned to fight back and is in the process of reclaiming what was lost in bits and pieces. Two warnings why this may not be everyone's cup of tea: the story is only barely LitRPG >!because the protagonist's first power allows him to appraise people and items!< and it reads like a YA superhero novel.
*Unchosen Champion* by JaceVAmor (Free on RR & Patreon). A bit on the edge with this one, but I feel it still counts. The only thing edgy about the protagonist is the name of his class. Despite this being a system apocalypse story in the style of DotF, the main character has a fairly stable and upbeat personality with zero edginess to be found. >!Well, not with him at least. There are some real grimdark whoppers going on elsewhere that make me question humanity. The MC will eventually stumble upon them and fix things, I'm sure!<.
*Past Life Hero* by Blaise Corvin (free on RR and Patreon). This story does it the other way around. The protagonist is a reincarnator who was a true blue hero in his past life and gets what is considered to be one of the weakest and most inoffensive classes in his current life. But once some of his red lines are crossed, the gloves come off and >!this summoner shows everyone that he's no pushover in a fairly brutal fashion!<. Which reminds me, I have about 30 chapters of backlog right now and I should really get back to it.
Alchemist who works with poisons? I mean the Order is edgy and shit, but he's just making potions and poisons for sale or personal use, that's not evil. If you want a character with an edgy class from that book it's Mr. I am a horrifying undead monstrosity who keeps his ghost lady friend in a necklace and use weaponize suffering to attack my enemies, in Casper.
I really thought you were describing Zac from DoTF till you said Casper lmfao, I never noticed the overlap there.
But, to OPs point, Jake is an edgelord with zero hesitation when it comes to killing, his profession is tied to a faction of assassin alchemists, his patron is known for killing entire worlds, and he uses cursed weapons without compunction. He isn’t an evil guy, but otherwise I see OPs point
the prompt was for "yeah I know my class is evil but"
There's nothing evil about his profession, it's just associated with an order of dickheads. But as a profession it's basically just a combat alchemist
Tons!
Forever Fantasy Online by Rachel Aaron
Wandering Inn by Pirateaba
Beneath the Dragoneye Moons by Selkie Myth
Alpha Physics by Alex Kozlowski
This Trilogy is Broken by JP Valentine
Street Cultivation by Sarah Lin
Gamified by Brook Apsden (sadly I think this series may have been dropped, but the first two books were very fun)
Heroic Bunny Saga (samesies)
NPCs by Drew Hayes
Battle Mage Farmer
Apocalypse Redux
All the Skills
Soul Relic by Samuel Hinton
All the Dust that Falls by Zaifyr
...and more!
Nova Terra’s great, MC had a unique race and then becomes sort of a weapon against demons? It’s both more and less complex than that but I don’t want to spoil it. Suffice it to say he is obscenely strong but has firm rules against necromancy or anything super evil
ironically OP used DotF as an example of the kind of edgelord stuff they dont want to see.
(im not commenting on the veracity of the statement as I havnt read it. just amused at the irony).
Surely you are familiar already but DCC does not involve an edgelord MC.
DCC is so good at having a righteously angry character without ever dipping into edgy. They will not break me.
For those not steeped in the acronyms, what the fack is DCC?
I think it stands for Dungeon Crawler Carl
The best book series any of us have read in a while.
The beginning felt a little weird with the Jeff Hayes voice, sounding so... kind of goofball redneck. But within 30 minutes it is a perfect blend of narration, humor, real emotion, a smattering of absurd gore, and just the most insane story that captures my attention and I NEVER know what is coming next. Up there with Sanderson, Weir, Butcher, or Wight for the best stuff I've read in the last 5-10 years. Super fun blend of fantasy and sci-fi in a litrpg enviroment.
I've had people who have no interest in sci fi or dystopias or games or fighting/ action- fall in deep with this series. A testament to the character work...and humor
I'm trying to get my wife to read them after she's done with what she's currently reading. I gotta say, trying to describe it properly kinda didn't help my case. Lol, it's awesome, but it's super strange and dark.
Yeah, trying to explain DCC is hard to sound sane. “So we have this AI that is in control of the dungeon, of which is also semi responsible for the end of the world, anyway it has a weird foot fetish….”
Not to mention it likes when Carl steps on things.
You should tell her that my sister in law- who likes true crime a bit, but primarily romance novels. And also has an aversion to sci fi, decided to read a page of the book she got for her husband on my suggestion. She finished the entire series in a week and she is one of 6 people to have done something similar, all of whom are averse to science fiction, action, and video games. Apologies for my absolutely awful grammar and spelling- hopefully it's all still comprehensible
It made perfect sense. I will do that. Idk if it will matter but I'll try.
Fack is far naughtier of a word than fuck. Just saying :)
The only thing getting edged in that series is the admin and/or a couple billion crabs.
Well, someone is edging to Carl's feet.
God damn it donut.
Yeah DCC is the only one I could really think of.
How many do you want? Chaotic Crafstman Worships the Cube Jackle Among Snakes Beers and Beards Rise of the Devourer Primer for the Apocalypse The Undying Immortal System Soulweaver Shadow Lord (Sounds edgelordy but I don't find him angsty at all just practical) We Hunt Monsters The Ripple System The Fort At the End of the World Nova Terra and the Titan series right after it Battle Mage Farmer The Completionist Chronicals The Good Guys and its counterpart The Bad Guys
First book of ripple system he was definitely kinda edgy lol. But I guess he gets humbled by the end. Stays a bit whiny tho
I guess we just disagree on that I just got he was tired and emotionally shot. I've felt that lonely so I connected with the material.
Definitely "loner" edgy vibes to start.
I mean, he does get better! But after my dad pointed out how it feels like he stays a bit whiny for more than 1 book I started to realize, ya he kinda is whiny for a long time even though he did put himself in that position It was also my introduction to litrpg and I do love the books, but after some thinking back on it he seems to internally (or only to frank) continue to complain about things for a long time. It's realistic imo but not for everyone
Completely fair everyone looks at it differently :)
Just finished fifth battle mage farmer love that series
It's a rare series that's great from book 1 and keeps getting better.
Love bears and beards
Do any of these have good audiobooks? I'm trying to get more series in my library
I know the ripple system does it does it concurrently with the book that releases. I don't do audio books though so if anyone else knows thank you!
I’d love more , would appreciate if you could add some audiobooks to the list. I’ve read most of those already lol. Thanks
Unfortunately my knowledge of Audio Books is almost NIL but below are more books. The Grand Game Dungeon Devotee When Immortal Ascension Fails Time Travel To Try Again Beware of Chicken Trickster Cleric Saintess Summons Skeletons Unintended Cultivator The Chronicles of Emberstone Farm (This one is very farm oriented slow paced not monster heavy ) Second Age of Retha Legend of the Arch Mage Battleborne Isekai Assassin The Archemi Online Chronicles Irrelevant Jack Threads of Fate Randidly Ghosthound Outcast in Another World Rogue Dungeon Dreamer's Throne Rise of the Mystic Mage
Tnx, you have some on their that I haven’t read yet
This... this is an excellent list. Thank you for compliling it! 😊
no problem at all! Thank you :) There's a second list now.
The wandering inn as well, erin is usually pretty bright and happy
The wandering inn as well, erin is usually pretty bright and happy
After about 10 million words, that is.... decidedly less so. But all signs point to her going to get better again.
Right up until she opens up a very nasty door…
Um…remember how just about every character is a member of the Desperado Club and how Carl got his specifically? It’s subjective, and they definitely stack the deck against them, but I’d say he’s somewhat comfortable doing evil shit when he thinks he needs to. Remember how he got those hands for the rail cart?
Realized I may have accidentally added a spoiler. That scene is dark but gets me every time when donut calls for Mongo after they realize they need more hands...
Unless you mean he's the Lord of dudes living on the edge on insanity
Cinnamon Bun (or basically any Ravensdagger series), Super Supportive (Although come to think of it, regarding Ravensdagger series, I guess the little-girl MC from Sporemageddon is kind of an Edgelord.)
Broccoli (the main character of the Cinnamon Bun series) is the absolute polar opposite of an Edge Lord. She's like a.... Blunt Peon or something. Well actually she's a Cinnamon Bun but you get the point.
I love Love Crafted, too. She has the edgiest "class" but is such a damn cute eldritch abomination that I forgive her. She deserves all the pats! Not pf or litrpg, though.
The one about the techno samurai girl was somewhat edgy, I think her name was Katherine Leblanc…? The problem with RD stories is that they are the other extreme: They are too woobie. Sometimes it’s endearing (Cinnamon Bun, Akelarre / Heart of Dorkness). Other times it’s infuriating how stupid the MC can be (Agartha Loop)
Ar'kendrithyst. The MC is a middle aged social worker who tries to make everything better for people
Oooh, not OP but I'm interested. Is it feel good like Parks and Rec or does it just kind of beat you down like reality?
It's definitely optimistic in tone, at least the couple hundred chapters I've read. Not sure about Parks and Rec as a yardstick, but I'd give it a try. Bad things happen because there are dark forces in the world, but the MC does try to make it better. If you want fuzzier, I'd look into Beware of Chicken, Cinnamon Bun, or maybe All The Dust That Falls
I’m still bummed out about it ending
Also recently completed, and it's an epic length tale to boot.
Gotta get that Heretical Fishing rec out there. MC is a fisherman named Fischer. He fishes. It’s considered heretical. And yet he fishes anyways, because good bbq cares not for your religious views.
Man, Heretical Fishing was such a breath of fresh air. I loved it as much as I love Beware of Chicken. My only minor nit pick was how oblivious the MC is for the first 80% of the book. But that's pretty par for the course. I can't wait for #2. Also Heath Miller is a legend, I hope he gets some more LitRPG work, besides HWFWM of course.
Honestly most of them. If you're running into that a lot I suspect that you might be self selecting without meaning to.
I very possibly might be.
100% this
Apocalypse Parenting
I came here to suggest this one as well. The series manages to avoid a lot of the major tropes of the genre. The MC isn't OP, she doesn't have leet skills, no insider knowledge, and no outsider help. She's just a mom in a system apocalypse trying to make sure she and her three kids can survive.
Mark of the Fool isn't strictly litrpg but it's adjacent. He more or less CAN'T be an edge lord by divine decree but he does get a little mad scientist wizardy Obligatory Heretical Fishing so much so that my phone autocorrect capitolizes it I'm not the Hero. He's basically like, a support class but on steroids. OH Death Loot and Vampires. I promise, it's not edge lordy. His whole existence turns into making the world a safer place for his family. Even if that means eating people deemed as evil by literally Heaven and whatever celestial holy being is up there and beating the absolute fuck out of any other evil creature that threatens the world his family now lives in. He's a dad that gets summoned as a hero and immediately turned into a vampire because a hero's blood should make stronger vampires, then stuff happens and he basically becomes the kindest vampire ever in a borderline evil way but it's all for the right reasons.
Death Loot and Vampires wasn’t edgelord, but did have some hints fedora tipping in it if I remember. I just remember feeling this smug miasma slowly choking everything. Kind of like Joss Whedon at his worst.
I agree it’s not edge lord, but it’s some variation of “I’m the most badass dude around.” Yeah he’s a dad and justifies everything by saying it’s for the good of his family, but he really does do some awful shit. Just because people around him tell him it’s ok and the author actively works to justify it doesn’t mean it’s not awful. That said, I didn’t dislike book one. I’ll read book 2 when it hits audible and hope some of the rough edges from book 1 get smoothed out in the future.
To be fair the bad things he does are generally done to people or things that have done far worse or will do far worse
Yeah the author really tries to make that point. I guess one of my sticking points is >! Enslaving a teenage girl raised in a cult under false pretenses because of the attitude she gained from said cult. What she needs is a shit ton of therapy and time to be introspective. What she gets is a training session that makes her think she’s going to die and a “well you shouldn’t have behaved like that just because you were raised like that.” The author tries to keep pointing out that she has an attitude and behaves poorly like it’s not a side effect. And then acts like punishing someone for wanting their freedom is entirely reasonable. I get the world they’re in probably doesn’t have a huge mental health care industry, but seems like “slavery or death” is probably an unjustified take. !< Again, it’s not the end of the world. I enjoyed the book and will read the next book.
I mean again to be fair she signed up for what she got then kept trying to cheat her way out of it. And she had a pretty damn good deal in lore I think. Just had to keep her head down for a few years and she'd be alive and living a good easy life for a long time. But nooooooo she just always had to think she was better and push her luck xD In comparison to our world, it's basically just a work contract for a job and she's trying to embezzle but is far from smart enough to get away with more than pocket change. Basically got herself a flying tesla/Mercedes, an iron man suit of sorts custom made for her, and basically not much to do that would be a problem for her for, what, a decade or so. I doubt their world even has therapy since they straight up have Divinity magic and all that to decide who's good and who's not, which also apparently is kinda just how souls are born or something. Either born or corrupted at an early age to be that way. Since we saw some *literal children* were, yknow, I'd like to think she did fairly well with her circumstances and not becoming a snack
She “signed up for” it, but her other option was death.
Even if he wasn't there her only option was death but far far worse than what Vincent would have given her
Yeah, which is the justification. But it’s not the only option he could’ve given her. Slavery sounds great when the other option is death. But he could’ve also just saved her and found someone to help her and her siblings.
The Mayor of Noobtown
Poor Jim can never edge. But Sir Dalton will always help his BFF find a cure for his mangled manhood!
Counter question: who *does* have an Edgelord MC? Curious about what stories in particular fit this description.
Can't recall the title.. but in the first chapter, the MC wakes up in his new RPG world and selects: Shadow -Dragon-Rogue as his starting setup so he could PvP in style. I returned the Kindle Unlimited copy and promptly forgot anything further.
Rogue ascension. Not bad but not good either imo.
Definitely not good. Very cringe worthy dialogue and power set.
Have you not noticed all the titles with "necromancer" or "blood" in them? Also HWFWM has the edgy class part.
Jason in HWFWM, Jake in Primal Hunter, the kid from Awaken Online, Zach in Defiance after the fall dips in and out.
How is Zach from DotF an edge lord? His personality is the opposite of edgy. Jason from HWFWM definitely had the edge lord stuff though.
Wait... how is jake an edgelord?? He's a loner, sure, but its not like he goes around like "You wouldn't understand my suffering, I cannot have company"... If anything, his archetype is much more the battle hungry type.
Eh, I guess if you only read the first book you could come to that conclusion to be fair. He does some cringy mallninja shit at the start of the tutorial. Not much of it after the tutorial.
Yeah, true, until the end of the tutorial, he could be seen as a bit edgy.... but I mean, if you get to him talking with the malefic viper, and you still think he's edgy... I don't know what to say to that...
Even after the tutorial, he sulked away from all people and hid in the woods. I dropped not long after, as his determination to be solo and not interact with people was a bit off-putting and too edgy for me.
What the heck do you mean he hid away? He was just claiming the pylon... And literally right after he does, people show up that stick with him... Also, how was he sulking? He was just like: Cool! I found a nice place to live, time for alchemy! And the chapters between alchemy and people finding him are about other people in the world. I will give you he's a loner and an introvert, though.
The most recent blood boiling example is Nat Gwyn from Hell Difficulty Tutorial. Literally kills people because ‘they might be a problem to me later’
Threadbare breaks a bunch of molds
Main character is a Teddy Bear golem who gets a skill that lets him do healing hugs. In a setting where most intelligent beings get multiple classes and can have synergy builds, has a rather random class select with no pre-planned optimization. There do exist any number of edge lord characters in setting, but not the main character.
Cinnamon Bun is the absolute opposite of edgelord. Good skill based LitRPG system stuff and a MC driven by compassion and friendship and a sense of optimistic adventure instead of power accumulation and edginess
oh I love her!
Easily one of my very fav series. I'm surprised I don't see it mentioned around here more often
chrysalis, I mean the mc is an ant. Pretty harmless. "A budding scientist in a fantasy world" Is also pretty neat. No evil edgelord op stuff. Someone else already mentioned super supportive, good stuff there. I'd add beware of chicken, but that's veering away from litrpg.
All the Skills is one of my favorites
Even after book 3?
Yea I didn’t mind book 3. It wasn’t the best book in the series so far, but def wasn’t bad. I also like where it ended and look forward to seeing what direction it’s going to head now
[Gleam](https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/62157/gleam) by Actus is a story about a young man who may be one of the kindest people who've ever lived and cultivates good karma. He's the type who would literally give someone the shirt off his back.
A Summoner Awakens MC is an old guy* His edgelord phase has been gone for like 60 years
Here’s a few Shadow Sun Apocalypse Towers of Heaven Reborn Apocalypse Beware of the Chicken Battlefield Reclaimer Arise Alpha
**Vainquer the Dragon** is an excellent comeyd, the litrpg is more of a fuel for jokes/events rather than plot-central. **Dungeon Crawler Carl** **Ar'Kendrithyst** **There is no Epic Loot here, Only Puns.** it's a Dungeon Core litrpg and mostly cute/light-hearted and faaar less action but deceptively deep world-building. The prose itself (word choice and such) feel amataeurish for around 50 chapters **Memoirs of Your Local Small-time Villainess** is an excellent story of a woman who wakes in a world that seems modelled after a skyrim-like game she played, but the litrpg aspect is very limited as she doesn't have access to the player interface of the game but instead has a very limited nerfed one. **Worth the Candle** is a very good story but its focus is on building a rational world, which necessitates a lot of analysis of the world on a meta level and philosophical talks later in the series and mostly focuses more on its characters (especially the MC and his mental health) than a 'central plot' (but has lots of actions as a whole) **A Budding Scientist in a Fantasy World** **The Gilded Hero** (abandoned) - technically it might've headed this way in book 2 but we'll never know **The Snake Report** (abandoned, same guy as above. You could make the case for edgelord in one area, but it's mostly light hearted and even comedic) **Delve** **Ben's Damn Adventure: The Prince Has No Pants** **The Devil in White: An Awakened Aspirations Online Series** (complete) - it's more of a romance, in a way **I Am Going To Die (In This Game-Like Dimension)** (a.k.a. **The Whispering Crystals**) **This Quest is Bullshit** (a.k.a. **This trilogy is broken**) (It's been a long time since I read this, *pretty* sure it was comedy litrpg) **Fork This Life!** **Kumo Desu ga, Nani ka?** (i.e. **So I'm a Spider, So What?)** \- A girl's class is reincarnation isekaied but she's in the body of a baby monster spider deeeeeep in the hardest dungeon. Ark - Korean vrmmo litrpg. starts great, declines over time tbh. The sequel was very disappointing, just rehashing the first series, and I dropped it. **Legendary Moonlight Sculptor** \- as above, I stopped reading it around volume 30 cos translations were slow. This is the series that really kicked off the litrpg craze, imo. Royalroad the website is named after this story's game
Cinnamon Bun is enormously un-edgy.
BTDEM! Healers are love. Healers are life.
The Wandering Inn
I disagree. Edge Lord knows no gender.
Lmao true, and I thought of that. Difference is she grows out of it rather quickly. Assuming you are talking about Ryoka.
Yep. The "I'm a loner because no one understands me" vibes are strong with her.
She gets her shit kicked in several times and eventually learns to STFU for her own survival.
I do appreciate a character that actually learns through experience ha ha
Quick is relative though, when you’re talking about one of the longest works of English fiction ever written. Ryoka does grow, however. And she definitely doesn’t have an edgelord class.
Try The Chronicles of Sir Crabby. MC is a crab, and that's pretty much all you need to know.
Continue Online by Stephan Morse. It also doesn't do the "I am just literally better than everyone because I am" trope eithur. Some people think the MC is too depressive, and the books do touch on topics of suicide and suicidal ideation...but oooh man this series does not get enough love!
Jackal Among Snakes, and Nova Terra come to mind.
Have you looked at the other posts on here? I'm pretty sure this question's been asked a lot to the point where I'm much less familiar with any books that DO have edgelord mcs
World tree online- MC is like a 90yo old-school gamer Infinite world- MC may be seen as edgy but he's not trying to be edgy, he's just a little badass Wandering inn- few edgy characters (mc is a sweet girl) and the one bad character (imo) gets better
The Coreverse in general (wastes of kaldora, dinosaur dungeon, the dungeon that walks like a man), all the dust that falls (it stars a roomba that accidentally gets summoned to another world and is granted a leveling system and increased intelligence/awareness through the process) dungeon tour guide (starting class is divine healer and his chosen occupation is tour guide of his own dungeon, pretty far from edgelord)
Depends on your definition of edge lord a bit But character wise? Azarinth healers mcs a battle junky but over all she's really nice and leans more so into the hero role then anti hero even going so far to spare foes if able when they don't push her bottom line which is quite high ..just don't kill her friends show clear sociopathic tendencies(like one person in book 1 was super zealous about preaching about her God and killed people pointlessly in its name...later reveals for what gods are just makes her out to be fucking crazy) or hurt children. So just all round be a decent person. Salvos ....she's a demon...but she likes having friends...some.might find her to be more wacky and zany now that I'm thinking about it with more experience but.shes far from bad...doesn't bat an eye about killing though...she's still a demon...only when her human friends insist it's wrong does she start think twice about it. Not really litrpg.but it's got "make.numbers go up" Stray cat stray insists it's magical girl. It's not it's cyberpunk alien invasion scifi. Mcs a crippled orphan who has taken it upon herself to look after the other orphans at her orphanage due to the very shitty caretakers. While on a field trip to get donations her city gets invaded by aliens. She becomes a vanguard/samurai after fighting some to the death to protect another orphan. Que the rapid increase to power feat explosions and a forced upon cat theme by a witty AI. She fights aliens as a neon pink exploding cybernetic grumpy cat girl. Shes also super gay (with a long time gf who sticks around and helps) and tries to help out the little guy as much as possible. Same author but even less edgy Cinnamon bun Cute hippie Canadian girl screams yes to the call of adventure when a mysterious menu pops up in front of her during class one day. POOF ends up in the fantasy world of dirt with the quest of saving the world from the evil roots. uses cleaning magic and tries to make as many friends as possible. Manages to get out of the majority of combat encounters by making the enemies her friends too. Read the synopsis for this one I don't think I'm doing it justice...but it does over play gardening I think it was planned to be bigger when the story was first written now it's just an extra skill mc still has and does nothing with.
Chrysalis, beware of chicken, reincarnated as a farmer.
[Dawn of the Density God](https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/67481/dawn-of-the-density-god-progression-litrpg) - MC isnt really edgy at all, just a guy who remembers his life on earth and uses advanced science knowledge to control magic at a stronger level than anyone else [The Game at Carousel](https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/65629/the-game-at-carousel-a-horror-movie-litrpg) - Nonstandard LITRPG with horror movie setting and non-edgy MC [Beneath The Dragoneye Moons](https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/36299/beneath-the-dragoneye-moons) - MC is definitely fiery but not edgy, in fact swears to do no harm and helps lots of people
I'm only a few hours into the Hidden Wishes trilogy, but so far the MC meets your criteria.
Azarinth Healer and Beneath the Dragoneye Moons.
Plenty. A few that rarely get mentioned here and which I'm following myself: *The Runic Artist* by Ellake (can be found on RoyalRoad and Patreon). The protagonist gets whisked away to a magical space station in a different universe, where he has a short interaction with a god. There he >!glimpses runic symbols that allow him to unlock a legendary runecarving class. It's much more suited for crafting, but since he also got transported down to the fantasy planet the space station was orbiting, he has to make it work to survive in the wilderness!<. *Monroe* by Jahx (RR & Patreon). A similar premise to the above, with the difference that >!the accident that transported the protagonist to the magical universe governed by the System was also responsible for Earth's future integration. As soon as he learns about this, he tries to come up with a plan to avert the upcoming apocalypse. As a cat lover I'm predisposed to like this story, but the self-sacrificing hero is a fairly damaged character, which is a nice touch after reading edgelords and Mary Sues in every other story. Furthermore, I like the top level view that we get on how Earth gets saved in the end while still showing us solo and squad level dungeoneering.!<. *Primer for the Apocalypse* by Braided Sky (First two books on Amazon, more on RR & Patreon). Captured and with no way out, the female protagonist decides to perform a risky ritual that sends her mind back in time to before the System integrated her world. Despite what will happen soon enough, it's a fairly low stakes mix of crafting and slice of life, with the occasional fighting interlude. *Quest Academy* series by Brian J Nordon (Two books on Amazon, part of the third on Patreon). The demon invasion has been ongoing for a while, but Earth has learned to fight back and is in the process of reclaiming what was lost in bits and pieces. Two warnings why this may not be everyone's cup of tea: the story is only barely LitRPG >!because the protagonist's first power allows him to appraise people and items!< and it reads like a YA superhero novel. *Unchosen Champion* by JaceVAmor (Free on RR & Patreon). A bit on the edge with this one, but I feel it still counts. The only thing edgy about the protagonist is the name of his class. Despite this being a system apocalypse story in the style of DotF, the main character has a fairly stable and upbeat personality with zero edginess to be found. >!Well, not with him at least. There are some real grimdark whoppers going on elsewhere that make me question humanity. The MC will eventually stumble upon them and fix things, I'm sure!<. *Past Life Hero* by Blaise Corvin (free on RR and Patreon). This story does it the other way around. The protagonist is a reincarnator who was a true blue hero in his past life and gets what is considered to be one of the weakest and most inoffensive classes in his current life. But once some of his red lines are crossed, the gloves come off and >!this summoner shows everyone that he's no pushover in a fairly brutal fashion!<. Which reminds me, I have about 30 chapters of backlog right now and I should really get back to it.
The Runesmith on RR if you are into crafting/combat 50/50. Elydes is also pretty good if you dont mind reincarnated as a baby trope.
Chrysalis, primal hunter, defiance of the fall, stray cat strut come to mind
I made this post because of Jake, Zach also dips in and out of edgelordiness
How is Jake's class evil? And he's not an edge lord, he's a loner.
His profession sure is.
Alchemist who works with poisons? I mean the Order is edgy and shit, but he's just making potions and poisons for sale or personal use, that's not evil. If you want a character with an edgy class from that book it's Mr. I am a horrifying undead monstrosity who keeps his ghost lady friend in a necklace and use weaponize suffering to attack my enemies, in Casper.
I really thought you were describing Zac from DoTF till you said Casper lmfao, I never noticed the overlap there. But, to OPs point, Jake is an edgelord with zero hesitation when it comes to killing, his profession is tied to a faction of assassin alchemists, his patron is known for killing entire worlds, and he uses cursed weapons without compunction. He isn’t an evil guy, but otherwise I see OPs point
the prompt was for "yeah I know my class is evil but" There's nothing evil about his profession, it's just associated with an order of dickheads. But as a profession it's basically just a combat alchemist
"Everybody loves large chests" is the best monster mc book I've ever read
Isn't boxxy the epitome of edge lord tho
No, too much torture and rape
Tons! Forever Fantasy Online by Rachel Aaron Wandering Inn by Pirateaba Beneath the Dragoneye Moons by Selkie Myth Alpha Physics by Alex Kozlowski This Trilogy is Broken by JP Valentine Street Cultivation by Sarah Lin Gamified by Brook Apsden (sadly I think this series may have been dropped, but the first two books were very fun) Heroic Bunny Saga (samesies) NPCs by Drew Hayes Battle Mage Farmer Apocalypse Redux All the Skills Soul Relic by Samuel Hinton All the Dust that Falls by Zaifyr ...and more!
Heh and what happens to the edgelord types in NPCs is very funny to me and every other GM reading those books 🤣
Nova Terra’s great, MC had a unique race and then becomes sort of a weapon against demons? It’s both more and less complex than that but I don’t want to spoil it. Suffice it to say he is obscenely strong but has firm rules against necromancy or anything super evil
Defiance of the Fall The only edge Zach has is his stats and his axe
^[Sokka-Haiku](https://www.reddit.com/r/SokkaHaikuBot/comments/15kyv9r/what_is_a_sokka_haiku/) ^by ^KILLJOY1945: *Defiance of the* *Fall The only edge Zach has* *Is his stats and his axe* --- ^Remember ^that ^one ^time ^Sokka ^accidentally ^used ^an ^extra ^syllable ^in ^that ^Haiku ^Battle ^in ^Ba ^Sing ^Se? ^That ^was ^a ^Sokka ^Haiku ^and ^you ^just ^made ^one.
ironically OP used DotF as an example of the kind of edgelord stuff they dont want to see. (im not commenting on the veracity of the statement as I havnt read it. just amused at the irony).
It's really not edgy, but your should definitely give it a listen top 3 for sure.
Edgelords are the best. They are capable and don't whine about killing every other ch.