DIE TRYING [A Roguelite Extraction LitRPG]

Self-Published

Community Rating

Description

Jump into a fantasy deathworld.Smuggle magical loot and refugees back to Earth.Try not to die in the process.Michael Wade's only goal in life was to get rich or die trying - and that's gotten a lot more literal recently.Stuck in retail hell with debt, rent and crippling guilt, his days were spent paycheck to paycheck between broke and completely screwed.Until a desperate god offers him the ultimate side hustle: running a nightly smuggling operation between his bedroom and another world entirely. One filled with spells, treasure, and as much magical contraband as he can stuff into his pockets.Just one problem: It's no place for tourists. Shaped from calamity after calamity, this parallel world has transformed into the ultimate deathtrap. If the people there don't kill Wade, the land itself sure will.But with a reality-bending video game System to exploit, past gaming years as a min/maxing fanatic, and a chaotic god texting him questionably useful advice - he might just stand a chance.And he's gonna need it. His starting location may as well be outright hell itself.------------ What to expect ------------> A focus on discovering and experimentation with different fun builds each dive, instead of one optimal forever-build.> Stats that matter, rational characters, rules-as-written exploits> Detailed loops, slow-burn character-driven progression fantasy.> Tax evasion.Written by the author of12 Miles Below.Schedule: Monday, Wednesday, Friday at 9:00AM PST!Discord link!Give it a shot :]

Information

Status: Ongoing
Year: 2025
Author: Mark Arrows

Royal Road Stats

Rating: 4.6/ 5.0
Followers: 7,180
Views: 1,837,949

What readers say about DIE TRYING [A Roguelite Extraction LitRPG]

“I love the fact that it is not the usual 0 to 100 in 3 seconds. Well written and sensible. Levels seam meaningful and the exploits are sensible - I hate plots that do not add up. I am heading to Patreon for the rest. I wish there was a way I could get the w…”
GentlePandaRoyal Road5.0 / 5
“Yes, yes, another Patreon reader. I, uh...it's been a while since I've read the first few chapters. I've read so far ahead that anything I might say would probably have a lot of spoilers. So I'll just say this: this story's fun, and I like reading it. The b…”
Granular FoolishnessRoyal Road5.0 / 5

Reviews

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Community Reviews(10)

GentlePandaRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
I love the fact that it is not the usual 0 to 100 in 3 seconds. Well written and sensible. Levels seam meaningful and the exploits are sensible - I hate plots that do not add up. I am heading to Patreon for the rest. I wish there was a way I could get the whole book in one go.
Granular FoolishnessRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
Yes, yes, another Patreon reader.
I, uh...it's been a while since I've read the first few chapters. I've read so far ahead that anything I might say would probably have a lot of spoilers. So I'll just say this: this story's fun, and I like reading it. The blurb at the top there -- yeah, right above the table of contents and the user ad -- has all the info you need.
Flame1Royal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
I am LOVING it so far, absolutely loving it! From the moment it set itself apart with the cute emojis and snarky phone narrator, to the captivating, dynamic characters that the main character meets, to the main character’s actual motivations, all of these are hallmarks of the foundation of phenomenal storytelling, and I cannot wait to see where this leads!
The story itself is a twist on the classic LitRPG “summoned to a new world by a sponsor” trope, but I’m already loving how the main character is trying to game the already gameified system in a really unique way; tax evasion! And as a red-blooded American, that kinda underdog story really brings a tear to my eye. I can respect a man with the grit to pull himself up by the bootstraps and kill two birds with one stone, opening a magical clinic/magic bootlegging operation to get rid of his self loathing and for that good moolah, yessir.
The world itself is also wildly compelling, and what little has been revealed invites SO much attention. For one, the sun exploded!? And so, the disastrous ramifications have forced the magical societies to scramble for solutions, and resulted in what we see in the story now — but! What we see is only a sneak peak. The real meat and potatoes is *outside* the end-of-the-world bunker, and we see only snippets, with most of the world building coming from the snarky, <-< emoji-loving narrator! It makes for such a fun time picking up the pieces; it doesn’t feel like a loredump, but also doesn’t feel like a Miyazaki/Bandai Namco game — chef’s kiss.
But what brings this story to life are the characters, I love each and every one, and it’s not difficult to see why. Many writers feel compelled to avoid obvious cariatures for a quick way to become different and set the story apart, but Mark Arrows isn't afraid to leverage them into strengths — caricatures are popular for a reason! For now, we've seen a stereotypical: Big, bear-like, friendly Russian man; a snarky, quick-witted, fast-to-insult S
FitsandSnatchesRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
This is the second story of the author I have followed - and I am equally enjoying this story. The author challenges the LitRPG genre while still giving any book in that category a run for its money. Admittedly, I like the manic MC who likes to break things that the author seems fond of. I’m hooked, and will see this through to the end!
BirdBugBooksRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
So I'll start off by saying this story is a fun read and the characters are fun!
We get thrust into things with our MC being thrown into an alternative dimension where gods are using people as players for the their own objectives.
I've seen this done before so nothing to new there, but what is unique is our MC. He has a tragic backstory which isn't special, but what is special is his coping mechanism of obsessively trying to get a full time role at his job while also cutting corners everywhere possible to minimize his expenses and maximize his sleep.
I thought the backstory was well done as it is slowly established and reinforced without making the reader slog through it.
Our MC's questionable decisions and priorities is explained by a status condition he has called mania which I thought was a fun twist in addition to his many other status ailments.
The area it shines most is in its side characters who actually are interesting and useful. I've read too many power fantasies where only the MC matters so it's nice to have the diversity.
Only area for improvement I think would be some with the pacing. A large amount of the story has the MC and friends more or less wandering around with no real hope or idea what they're doing.
Banter and character development fills this gap, but it starts to wear thin and I think the story could benefit a bit more from the characters actually having an idea of how to take concrete steps towards their goal instead of being aimless for an extended period of chapters.
Overall great read and I'm looking forward to how it develops!
Darath69Royal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
This story starts a bit slow in the first chapters but bear with it as once the characters are introduced it becomes a great read. Wade definitely has a problem with his money mania but he uses it to his own advantage to hyperfocus on what he’s trying to get done. The other characters get some time to shine , I hope they get their own chapters later.
if you have read 8 miles below than you will enjoy this too as the author’s style shines through. The characterisation and dialogue is well written and the environment and backstory is thought out well too.
DeverashRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
This was a fun read for book 1. The MC has weird focus issues, but considering his story, it makes perfect sense. The mechanics are i interesting, but considering I love a good rogue-like, and the extraction element is interesting, I may be biased.
The other characters introduced are interesting and believable, and varied. I'm looking forward to seeing how this all plays out in book 2 and hopefully beyond.
1condor12Royal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
I have been following this story since the start, and I am extremely interested in where this one is going. I followed the author over from his other excellent story, 12 Miles Below, and this story also seems to have something that I consider a 'must have' for any good fiction story.
A well thought out and interesting magic system. The world feels full and alive. It existed long before Wade got there, and while it might not exist for long afterward, that is because of the apocalypse.
The characters themselves are fleshed out and interesting, with Leon being a personal favorite, and react to things realistically. I am looking forward to both how Earth changes with these people carrying magic back with them, and how the magical world will change with the addition of a lot of Murderhobos dropped on it.
Well worth the read.
-steelcondor
FitchivalryRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
Give a cash-stapped maniac a way to earn money by playing a game in a fantasy world, with real pain and suffering. Make the game ruled by an omnipotent system making up rules on the fly. Add a NEET goddess as a sponsor in this adventure.Watch the chaos unfold.
Kyusal1001Royal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
I don't usually use RR, I come from spacebattles, but I had to make an account just for this fic.It's good. We're talking new sub-genre of litRPG good. All the individual pieces are stuff I've seen before, but the way it's all put together is a breath of fresh air.I've seen the advanced chapters, so I'm rating it from that point of view.Grammar: Mark's writing style has errors here and there, but nothing that took me out of the story.Style: There's no weird prose or attempt to be artistic, it's simple and to the point.Story score:10/10 Author clearly understands what's fun about litRPG and makes it a focal point in every part of the story.World is really interesting too, though that's to be expected from this author. It's basically the number 1 thing everyone knows him for. Mark writes with a rationalist foundation, so everything in the world has a reason to exist, and history behind it. This isn't going to be your basic elf/dwarf/goblin in generic forest number twenty thousand and two.Magic system isn't talked about much yet as of chapter 17 besides a warning that it's toxic as heck and shouldn't be messed with. But I've seen what comes next, and I can say it's a really clever but simple system. Mana being toxic is the only foundational rule, and everything else revolves around that. Makes the system really easy to understand since you can predict a lot just from "If X, then Y." but has so many layers you could unravel.For example, there's a metal that absorves mana. So if mana is toxic to train and requires a high degree of safty, of course people learned how to work that metal into daily casting as the emergency off-switch. If things go wrong, immidiatly dump all mana into the metal. It makes sense. Then from there, of course there's different kinds of jewlery done with that metal, from necklaces, to rings to even just innert pill form you'd drink down. All of which have different pro's and con's that just make sense. It's not done in way that's special to the se