Gamesters (a LitRPG isekai romp)

Self-Published

Community Rating

Description

Games are everything. Everything is a game.

Everyone thought that Isekai World GameCon was a cute name for a gaming convention — after all, getting immersed in a good game is a lot like being transported to another world — but nobody took it literally. That is, not until the top gamers who attended the convention all disappeared at once.

Daniel has a secret: he thinks it was his fault, that he had unwittingly chosen who’d be turned into superpowered Players and forced into a strange, deadly game on the fantastic world based entirely on human games and isekai stories.

Unfortunately, the powers Daniel was given seemed terribly nerfed compared to those of the other Players. Butthat's not even the worst of his problems.Before he can truly grow to meet his potential, he needs to learn to believe in himself and understand that it's not what you've got, it's how you use it.

Follow Daniel's growth as a person and a Player as he and a large cast of Players and NPCs strive to survive and discoverthe real reason why they were summoned to play the game.

Losing is not an option.

What to expect:- Approx 2,000-word chapter updates every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday- LitRPG elements: Status, System, crafting, power progression, all that fun stuff- Slowish burn- Main character growth from weak to something quite different- Adventure with some slice of life and lots of humor

Information

Status: Hiatus
Year: 2024
Author: Mister Hand

Royal Road Stats

Rating: 4.4/ 5.0
Followers: 427
Views: 243,457

Chapters(193 total)

What readers say about Gamesters (a LitRPG isekai romp)

“The setup for Gamesters is immediately grabby. The author gives us a quick tease in the prologue about what we're in for—a group of gamers abducted and forced to compete in a televised competition within a world with game-like rules. The descriptions are vi…”
ZScottRoyal Road5.0 / 5
“Great editing is essential for a good read. This delivers. I only found one typo in the entire story and that was a missing letter. Amazing writing, a little slow in the filler chapters, but way made up for in the action chapters. Descriptive verse is esse…”
BablezmithRoyal Road5.0 / 5

Reviews

No reviews yet. Be the first to share your thoughts!

Community Reviews(10)

ZScottRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
The setup for Gamesters is immediately grabby. The author gives us a quick tease in the prologue about what we're in for—a group of gamers abducted and forced to compete in a televised competition within a world with game-like rules.
The descriptions are vivid and clear, and the characterization is on-point. Even side characters are quickly and efficiently described in a way that makes them stand out in the reader's mind.
So far, the area where this story sets itself apart is the characterization. The MC isn't a blank slate and has some real personality. He seems like a sweet guy who is talented but doesn't quite give himself the credit he deserves for his own gifts. I found him endearing. He deals with what seems to be severe anxiety, and based on the notes from the author and the blurb, it's reasonable to assume he's going to make strides to overcome it gradually.
I give the author a lot of credit here. Watching the MC grow as a person while also growing within the game world and competition will be very satisfying but difficult to pull off. His observations about the other gamers were also enjoyable to read, as somebody who plays a lot of games. Seeing his takes on gamers and games helped me relate to him quickly and feel like I was already rooting for his success.
The grammar and prose all felt very solid and professional and there were occasional bits of humor thrown in to lighten things up.
Overall, this was a really well-done start to a story that I look forward to following. I want to see how this competition evolves. With the MC's unique abilities in the game world, I think it will be very cool to watch how he leverages his tools to come out ahead.
Thanks for the read!
BablezmithRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
Great editing is essential for a good read. This delivers. I only found one typo in the entire story and that was a missing letter. Amazing writing, a little slow in the filler chapters, but way made up for in the action chapters.
Descriptive verse is essential for placing the characters in the right spots in a battle to preserve narrative flow.
This author has succeeded spectacularly in this regard, BTW this one along with the preceeding paragraph are filler, as you have to have at least 50 words for a review. 😁
BoniatRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
General feel of the beginning of the story:
Isekai were a bunch of people get transported (300 at the beginning maybe more in other places). Type of story where you discover the whys such as the reason they've been isekaid as the story goes on, slight tinge of mystery.
MC is a bit like Rudeus though he's more of a Tomozaki (Jaku-chara) in the sense that he's insecure and the story seems to lean quite a bit on the growth as a person that the world and it's other characters will make him go through. Also, he can be a bit annoying at times so just jump a little around your room when that happens, it's what I do and it works.
Important things about the story:
Characters with depth, meaning they aren't NPC so they will do things off screen and will have character development.
MC is NOT op from the start nor is any other Player although there are differences in their abilities.
System is general, meaning it's not exclusive to the MC and it doesn't have stats not levels, kind of like the Nightmare spell from SS in that sense.
There are quite a few references about different things which are said by the characters themselves and it is cool to see those things that you probably would talk about or say.
Overall great read.
Infamous GooseRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
This story reminds me of an anime I watched a long time ago; No Game, No Life, at least in premise. A gamer is abducted to a new world in order to play a real-life game. This story, however, has a bunch of gamers involved in this, for their various skills. I won't spoil too much, but there are, of course, LitRPG mechanics involved in this situation.
The grammar is fine, and while the sentence structure could use work, it gets better in later chapters. Characters are good enough to keep reading - it's even believable that the MC is excited to get powers. That they might be is even expected, which is quite a feat, as usually I get thrown off by characters that accept their situation too much. Overall, author, I say keep writing. You're doing good.
LocklenRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
While whats posted so far is only a small part of the authors overall ambition, its a dang good start. The pacing in particular is good, since while it isnt fast, its also not anemically slow. I do hope that the greater background of the sotry is expanded upon, but I'm fine with that being telling too much at this stage. After all, we don;t want the game solved too quickly, itll spoil the fun.
Tales ForgeRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
This is an excellent story. It could evolve in a variety of directions that seem inspired by story such as No Game No Life, or Tower of God.
Style
It is clear, by its characters, vocabulary, and cultural take, that the story is addressed to a certain audience. This is in no way a bad thing (a “product” tailored for a select target is always better than a for-everyone-goo), and the author often includes paragraphs describing obvious elements of RPGs for the rare layman.
My only trouble with the style is the abrupt transitions from present to past. Flashbacks happen quite a lot in the early chapters and aren't well brought or indicated.
Grammar
Mostly free of errors, or if there are any, they are not distracting. There are a few odd choices of words or adjectives, but it's closer to metaphors rather than mistakes.
----------- Spoilers ----------
Story
The story revolves around a group of gamers (and a few additional people) transported to another world to partake in a “deadly” game. We follow one of the “players” who attracted the attention of the GM, putting him in a unique position to unravel the mystery of their predicament. The premise is well-executed, and despite a little too much exposition, it flows smoothly.
One thing that I noted is that in the first chapter: A participant orders the GM to send him back to earth, and he “disappears.” There is probably here an occasion to better set the promise of Graphic Violence and create a more believable reason for the 299 remaining participants to play along.
Characters
The main character is kind of too pessimistic. He's a calm, analytical and “good” person who has the curiosity, and proactivity to be a great character. However, seeing him immediately deny the usefulness of his abilities despite the obvious advantages he gets is kind of weird.
I think there is an occasion here to extend on his state of mind (maybe he's pessimistic because of his Earthly life, maybe something else, ...), before giving him the occasion to
sdeboerRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
Following along with the experience of the characters learning their new capabilities is very entertaining. For me this comes from the separation of personalities between the characters. I think the author has a lot of backstory on each of them, but is polite enough to not be dredging it up all the time. We experience people as they are today, without knowing everything about them. I appreciate that the author sticks to the first-person POV and we only know what the MC knows.
The ongoing pop/nerd culture references make me laugh every time, and I bet I'm missing 20% of them.
The writing craft and story pacing is quite high -- especially for this genre.
Style:
The story telling is very light and flows quickly. Dialogue sticks to the parts where it is important with the MC paraphrasing much of the discussions. Which ends up being that a lot of the dialogue ends up being joke material (usually with the MC being the butt of the joke.)
Grammar:
There are very few misses here, with some intentional ones for effect. The author knows their craft.
Character:
The cast of characters gets wide quickly, which makes it difficult to keep them straight and a few of them (by chapter 60) still are very thin holding a place for whatever story element they will be called upon for later.
The characters that get the most screen time do have depth to them, actions and words seem to come from a depth of personality.
Story:
I am eager to see what hijinks the MC and their team will get up to next.
'nuff said.
trichoplaxRoyal Road
★★★★★ 4.5
Story: This story has a very interesting premise which brings a nice twist to a well-known and loved genre. The plot is made clear form the very beginning which lets the reader know what they are in for. If I had a criticism, it is that the early chapters are exposition heavy with nothing of note necessarily happening. More time is spent explaining the words and overviewing the different characters. This is not a bad thing in and of itself but it does render some parts a bit stale.
Style: The author uses a first person narrator who sometimes directly speaks to the reader. I found that aspect to be quite original and helping with my immersion. The author uses a lot of dialogue which is used, alongside the narrator's internal monologue, to incorporate their humor into the story. This might be bad in some cases, but not in this one. The author skillfully gives their characters meaningful and natural-feeling conversations which never really seem out of place or overbearing. The prose also makes each chapter easy to read.
Grammar: There were no major issues in this aspect apart from a few words which I felt were awkward in some instances.
Character: The side cast has yet to be really introduced at this point in the story but the author has clearly defined their main character. The story revolves around Daniel and that is made clear from the start. We have deep insights into his thought process, his beliefs and his personality. I do wish we got to see a bit more of at least one other character, however.
Overall, as the blurb mentioned, this is definitely a slow burn. This may make it hard to get into the story at first but I do not doubt that the time the author takes to set up his ideas will bear fruit in the end and provide for a better reading experience. I had a very nice read.
Tarrying_soulRoyal Road
★★★★ 4.0
Author, you are doing good work, so just pick and choose things from my review(as it isn't my story)
Let me get this thing off my chest first: I HATE the MC- HATE him.
Ignoring the bad synopsis which shows that the MC isn't a gamer as any gamer knows an ability's power depends on the situation(or simply no useless power just useless people) Our mc doesn't grasp that gamer tenet for a guy who is supposed to be good at every game(or as the author says gets obsessed with one before moving on).
We don't get to see his obsessed side, sadly. If anything the MC is very un gamer-like ( he gives up achievements and powers to others because he is a depressed broken chump. And he is a self-flagellating kinda broken, not the cool kind lol!)
Again, if you guys have a boner for character development I think you will like what the author's going for.
But I don't wanna read a novel or about an mc who wants to make me hit my head.
Just saying author, the story should be enjoyable then you can go for character development(imo).
While I loved the gamers getting isekai'd no one acts like a gamer, not even his teammates who are supposed to be powerful.
Where is that relentless grinding, where is that power optimization, the custom builds..... people are just going following the flow, with no initiative at all.
And the plot armor is a little heavy in the starting chaps that too for a lame skill, again imo.
dying to a knife(i mean what are the chances that a knife meant for another makes your heart its home) and getting the skill, defeating a BOSS monster as floundering idiot... no good team builder aside from him( I mean he did nothing special if anything three driven gamers grind, they can finish his team.
Again, I hate the mc. Idk if the author has a reason to make him like that. But I think the gaming socially awkward nerd trope is overused. I mean I have gamer friends, friends who watch anime, and manga, friends who read novels and none of them are socially awkward. (maybe its a c
35hebiRoyal Road
★★★★ 4.0
First person narrator actually telling us the story. The way it is written feels surprisingly organic.
If you are steeped in nerd culture, you will love Gamesters. The references spread throughout the book are hilarious. They are also equally unobtrusive, I think I got a tenth at most. The story is creative, the underlying mechanics well thought out, and the characters lifelike.
Character flaws are a good thing, great even. They give depth and space for growth. MC is not acting particularly smart (more like a complete idiot at first): taking reckless actions, not thinking things through, testing new tricks mid-fight. That is a fine, albeit somewhat cheap, way to move the story forward. On the other hand, the story claiming him to be smart causes a disconnect. Fortunately, it fades out somewhat after the first act. MC himself thinks of himself as not very bright and I tend to agree with him on that. However, I am not supposed to do that because the story says he has confidence issues (true) and constantly undersells himself. Incidentally, that makes a good twist on the harem trope. Instead of an oblivious MC we get a disbelieving one. Plausible more often than not, as opposed to the former.
The story is too fun to be ruined by a single thing. Go make your own opinion, it's worth the time.