The Game at Carousel: A Horror Movie LitRPG

Self-Published

Community Rating

Description

Could you survive a horror movie? That's the question Riley must answer after he and his friends get lured to Carousel, a malevolent town where horror movies come to life. Riley thinks he is in big trouble when he is assigned the Film Buff archetype, a minor support class that has a penchant for dying early in movies. At first resigned to his fate to die over and over, he believes he has found a way to survive. Upon obtaining the Oblivious Bystander trope, monsters and killers will not harm him as long as he can convincingly pretend he has not noticed them. At first, this ability appears to be a joke, but Riley thinks that with some clever exploitation, it might just be his greatest strength. What to expect: -Strategic gameplay and clever uses of movie tropes to survive -Perilous storylines right from your favorite horror movies -Creative Twists of Classic Horror Movie tropes -Moderate stats-based combat and strategy Discord:https://discord.gg/3VdE2cpD25 Art: Andrew Clark artstation.com/atcillustration

Information

Status: Ongoing
Year: 2023
Author: lost_rambler

Royal Road Stats

Rating: 4.8/ 5.0
Followers: 10,452
Views: 7,297,994

Chapters(421 total)

What readers say about The Game at Carousel: A Horror Movie LitRPG

“Updated review, original review from chapter 77: Rat Race Tl;Dr: If you want light, well used litrpg elements servicing characters trying to genre-savvy their way through horror movie scenarios, while on a broader scale trying to out-fox the the meta-horror…”
AmateurHourRoyal Road5.0 / 5
“OMG, this lit-rpg horror combo is so cool! I've never seen a story where peeps get trapped in horror movies and have to level up. The way the author uses unique stats makes it stand out from other lit-rpgs. I wasn't a huge horror fan, but after reading this…”
Authors DreadRoyal Road5.0 / 5

Reviews

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Community Reviews(10)

AmateurHourRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
Updated review, original review from chapter 77: Rat Race
Tl;Dr: If you want light, well used litrpg elements servicing characters trying to genre-savvy their way through horror movie scenarios, while on a broader scale trying to out-fox the the meta-horror that keeps putting them in these movies, this is for you
Style: Starts a little rough narration wise, but smooths out a few chapters in. Pacing has been tight, perhaps a little too so (a breather arc would be appreciated). LitRPG elements, which in other works feel like a sauce dumped over everything to disguise a poor meal, are instead used skillfully and in moderation.
Update: later on the pacing finds its footing, the use of the LitRPG elements continue to be spot on. There is, so far, no runaway growth in the numbers-go-up to trivialize the horror elements.
Story: Horror fans, don't expect arc-stories to bring the horror. Each 'movie' the characters find themselves in functions less as a horror piece and more as a lethal escape room where as long as one person escapes the team comes back, but a total party wipe ends things. Players are rewarded for finding novel ways of bending horror movie tropes while not outright breaking the script. The real horror happens between the lines, as our heroes try to determine the goals of the entity that has trapped them and how they might escape it.
Update: Cosmic Horror and Mystery fans rejoice, the larger arc has been highly entertaining. As long as our dear author can stick the landing, this will probably remain one of my favorites in the LitRPG space
Grammer: not much to write here, it's clean and well written. Haven't noticed any overused phrases or adjectives.
Characters: A lot of reviews speak to relatively flat characters, which was fair as the story has been fairly action heavy and most of what we focused on were the horror movie tropes each character was bringing in. As of the arc this review is posting in though, we're finally getting some backstory and fleshing o
Authors DreadRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
OMG, this lit-rpg horror combo is so cool! I've never seen a story where peeps get trapped in horror movies and have to level up. The way the author uses unique stats makes it stand out from other lit-rpgs. I wasn't a huge horror fan, but after reading this, I'm hooked! Keep up the awesome work! Can't wait for more chapters! 🤩👻💯
Apostle_of_TeaRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
The amount of thought put into the various plot elements is astounding in its complexity. This story is a credit to the accumulated knowledge only one who has delved into the depths of film will understand.
Every character has depths to their lore that is untouched, Riley and his childhood are a standout, but Antoine’s in depth backstory into why he ended up in carousel shows the depths of familial affection and loss.
Bobby truly encapsulates the wallflower archetype, hidden depths that are explored the later you get into the story, till eventually you can’t imagine a world without him.
Carousel is beautiful and twisted in equal measure. It is, itself, a storyline. The Omen at the beginning of all the things that didn’t add up going into the town, The Choice to continue onwards. The Party of learning how things work, First blood when irrevocable proof is shown that nowhere is safe, Rebirth is where we’re at.
i can’t wait to see what remains, what will Second blood be? The Finale approaches slowly, but have our characters prepared enough? What will the End look like? All that’s left to do is wait.
Backfire_Royal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
In a genre as tried and true as gamelit it's rare to find an implementation of stats/game-like elements that actually feels unique. That's not neccessarily a bad thing, as long as they support the plot, but The Game at Carousel has gone above and beyond in this respect. The already pretty good plot is not only unhindered by the use of stats, it actually feels like it's elevated by them. The system elements are very tangible in how they clearly effect the story and manipulate character interactions, yet do not feel like they bloat the chapter and are still relatively simple to understand.
For example, the main character's low "plot armor" score often incentivizes the villain to target the mc. In a different story that may be an excuse to create fake tension, since the MC won't ever actually die, but in this story the MC not only utilizes the villain's behavior to his advantage, death is an actually an option as long as it allows his team to "win" the story. It's a truly brilliant way to create uncertainty in the reader, and so far the author has managed to actually repeatedly surprise the readers in believable ways. And on royal road, that's pretty rare.
The story also, from the very start, has a very stable formula that perfectly suits the serialized nature of Royal Road. The Game at Carousel throws various horror storylines at the mc and his cohorts that they have to work through. If they satisfy the storyline's victory conditions, the whole party gets to live (even if you died during the story) and individuals are rewarded with "tropes". These tropes suit the character's personalities and, so far, have had a very real impact on how they approach other storylines moving forward. A great example of this is the MC's 'Oblivious Bystander' skill, which allows them to be invulnerable to attacks so long as they act oblivious of a killer's presence. He received it as his reward for the first storyline, and has used it to scout for information in every story moving forward
BrckRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
Super interesting take on LitRPG Genre. Was a little slow in the middle but the slow and deliberate set up payed off. Super hype for the next part! Has a nice spin on the system and abilities definitely worth checking out. Honestly I'm just mad I didn't wait longer so there would be more chapters to binge, but thats just me!
Dead_SlimeRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
This is definitely worth reading
Style : It takes place through Rilely’s POV mainly with it also occasional being from the other Characters. Which gives the story a nice variety as we aren’t always stuck with only one person mind set and better appreciate the other characters.
Story : By far the best aspect of the story the plot is lovely. It always hints at underlying factors taking place and that Carousel is a place of mystery and horror. Next the system feel less intrusive but just as important as interesting as any other system. With it taking a unique approach to most areas that you’ll typically find in a system.
Furthermore the power scaling is set up in away that every new villain is a threat and they all have their own strengths and weaknesses. With them being subtlety laid out instead of being obvious or if they are their strength’s are strong enough to only give a slight chance.
Characters : Only place I think needs improvement
but this might just be me but Kimberly and Anna are feel a bit too similar. So I feel they need a bit more attention to make them stand apart better. Other than that all of the other characters feel distinctive and memorable. Especially the veterans it was always interesting when they appeared.
Grammar : I’m not an expert but I haven’t seen any major errors.
Overall : Fun and intriguing read which I would definitely recommend even if you don’t like the horror genre.
Dreaming starRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
This novel is so good man. Also I am loving how everything in the story ends up playing a role even after their scene later on, like everything in the story eventually connects into many tiny clues which at the start of the first book you wouldn't even notice would end up playing a role in the later books and reveal more about the history behind carousel.
I highly recommend readers read it as it's a beautiful piece of work and it gets soo much more interesting from arc 2's beginning.
In terms of style I have no complaints at all and for the grammar as well as I didn't notice significant grammatical errors of any kind.
And in terms of story I have just praise man, just praise. The story is in my opinion, the best part of this entire novel the mystery of the novel and how slowly it unravels itself after each book is just so satisfying to read. If I could I would give the story 6 star rating.
The character development is also pretty good and I have no complaints whatsoever about it.
All in all definitely recommend it to all readers who like a good mystery horror to read.
AutophagiaRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
All I can really say is that It's one of the best horror novels I'have read in quite awhile, and the twists are never ending. Definitely a unique and interesting read that I'd recommend diving into.
On a side note -
Grammer and spelling are both perfect, I'have never found or really noticed any jarring issues - which I usually do quite often.
Character design and growth are both amazing as well, you learn to truly sympathize with them and notice how they change overtime - they feel human.
Why do these reviews require so many words? Like genuinely, why can't we just write a short, concise, and thoughtful review to support the author in a rush? Daaaaa da da daaaa I really don't know what to say anymore!~ daaaaa da da daaa da Is this really necessary at all~! And god I shouldn't stop a singing career.
chattttt whyyyyy I reallly can't
Ight, back to a regular review
InusanRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
I wasn't sure what to make of this story from the short description. However this is masterfully told any plays cunningly well with the classic troops of the horror genre.
It has been a pleasure to follow the intrepid team as they learn the roles, then get pulled into the larger meta plot line.
A surprising fun and terrifyingly addictive read.
LowerAndLowlierRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
Recently—and NOT so recently—there’s been a flood of stories that grab your attention by being as different from the others as it can be. More often than not, unfortunately, these make for short-lived gimmick pieces with a flare of popularity that lasts for maybe a couple weeks, before being replaced by something with a little more depth.
This story, thank goodness, isn’t a short-lived gimmick piece. It’s a phenomenal example of genre-savvy elevated to a form of art, with only a few flaws. From a purely aesthetic perspective, this story NAILS it. It’s a sort of 80’s-B-horror-film veneer that dips into an Eldritch-thriller-mystery, if that makes any sense. Gimmicky, sure, but it’s a neat gimmick, with enough meat to it to keep you interested. One can only hope that it’s not short-lived.
There are only two flaws that I can point out, one of which the author is already making corrections to. The first—the one being corrected—is a lack of stakes. The main character, and his friends, are free to die and come back to life with a battery of mulligans and safety-nets that make it hard to feel worried for anyone. I’ll not spoil HOW the author is fixing this, but fixing this they are, and I applaud it
The second flaw… I just can’t bring myself to care enough about most of the characters involved. It feels as if more thought and care was put into the npc’s of this story than the main character’s own friends and allies, with MAYBE two exceptions. You may find yourself identifying characters by the tropes they represent more than their actual names. Those two exceptions, though, are AWESOME. More of that please, dear author. That episode with the demon? Friggen amazing.
Otherwise, yeah, 5 stars.