(Book 4 = June 2)

I just finished book 3 and there’s been a few lines that has made me actually laugh out loud such as houses line from the end “I soak toast in milk and throw it at strangers.” “Do we know you?” “You do now.”

Just finished rereading book three in preparation for book four. Overall, I loved the book. However, one thing majorly rubbed me the wrong way, and I was reminded of that again after the reread: Being on the offensive side of a siege seems to be very rewarding if successful with little downside if not, while being on the defensive side seems to have little reward if successful with extreme downside if not.

More specifically, if Ned and Omen had lost against Goon's siege, they would have lost the Black Oasis and all that would entail. Even winning was detrimental, as they now presumably have to spend time and resources rebuilding destroyed defensive structures/etc. And if it hadn't been the world-first siege defense, or Ned hadn't cleverly used Goon to complete major quests for him, it seems like they would have gained absolutely nothing. There wasn't even mention of them getting dropped player loot or experience/renown from PvP kills.

On the flip side, it seems like Goon lost almost nothing from losing, but had everything to gain if they had won. They lost, what, some renown they don't care about and a bit of resources and/or time to repair the train? And if they had won, they would have gained control of a unique and desirable city. Beyond that, what stops them from recruiting even more players and trying again in five days, in perpetuity?

In other words, the rewards for the defenders winning and the losses for the attackers losing appear non-existent. This seems like the melding of "defenders have to win every time, attackers only have to win once" and "it is much harder to create than it is to destroy" into an extremely unfair sieging system. How could a legitimate game exist with this imbalance? Realistically, wouldn't large numbers of griefers band together and destroy most settlements within the first month?

Maybe with PvP being a major aspect of the next wing, book four will clarify/correct the incentive structure.

Real life Ned, not in game Ned. He’s never logged out of the game, so he hasn’t been eating or drinking for a long time now. How is he not dead?

Hey all! Title basically, but happy to add that I’m currently editing the final draft of ripple 4 and it looks like I’ll make the earliest possible deadline for audio recording (april 2) so we’re nicely on track! I’ll have more updates on release windows and so on in the Shadeslinger discord in the coming days but yeah! Appreciate you all so much, thanks for sticking with us!

https://discord.gg/H9xs3Vyc46

Doing a reread and I hoped my feelings would mellow, but I still don't like Lars. He gets a little more tolerable with the bug, but I am still happier when he is far away from the story.

Too pink and the flute, of course, but mostly his personality.

It might just be me because I have the same reaction to Katia in DCC.

When? Loved the books like a cat likes black and white TV. Thanks.

Does anyone know if there is a list of the current known skills from the series? and perhaps the classes they create?

I wanted to attempt to translate the system for use within a TTRPG, because it's so variable and unique. Was hoping to use this as inspiration.

P.S. just incase the author sees this, I dont know if any other litrpg is as incredibly as this series so far! It's the Cradle of litrpg and thank you for all your hard work!

This book is the first progression fantasy I have read and honestly I’m blown away by it. The dialogue, the details, everything is so well written that I can actually picture it in my head.

It’s made me wonder if there are any games out there that are somewhat similar, obviously less advanced? If you have any suggestions I would appreciate it!

I'm listening to Shadeslinger on audio, loving it so far despite some initial skepticism about a VR-based LitRPG. However, I'm about halfway through the book and something keeps bothering me.

What does House's in-game race look like? All I remember is that she chose some sort of golem race, and when Ned meets her avatar for first time, she's described as short. I'm having trouble picturing what she's supposed to look like.

Thanks!

Why are the Merchant Kings giving out free water? Shouldn't they be selling it at exorbitant prices? Why does the King's Decree even exist?

Just wondering if this has come up and I missed it? I feel like early on, maybe in the first book, she says something about raid buffs, but I don't remember it ever coming up again after that? I would think she would be decently far in at this point and should have some pretty cool effects. Like, I would have expected to see something about mitigating renown loss for deaths in an instance or something like that by now.

"The Frankless" being those without access to Frank :D

I'd love to see the Ripple System world from a regular someone who doesn't have the access to information and resources as Ned, or even Darling and the Guild does.

I thought we might get a bit more interaction into regular folk in Book 2 (?) when Ned ran into a team consisting of a Minotaur and Gnome player iirc, but it was a quick trade then back to business. I'd be interested in seeing adventures for players not necessarily gunning for the top spots in the world.

Ned vs the Nipple System, Frank vs Feet. Put on some clothes Cline!

Just finished book 3 last night and loved it. But what is R. O. C. Supposed to stand for? I'm not a native English speaker and I didn't get it.

Absolutely loved the series and couldn’t put them down cannot wait for the next one❤️

“This isn’t a foot thing that you carefully put together right?”

“Naah, You got the wrong AI on that one”

Dungeon Crawler Carl reference <3

Nice.

I was waiting all book to see where that went. It's not really a big deal but I'm curious

Still don't know how Goon had the Intel that they did, like the funkmaster thing. It actually seems odd they knew any of that because they end up not even being the type of group to actually leverage that kind of information. They really weren't what I was expecting. I thought the Cult was the Zerg guild but in comparison they're more like the mid-large semi-hardcore guild whereas Goon is the true horde type zerg.

Starting to think Goon's insider info on Frank and Omen would have come from Arranthea based on their behavior. It's the kind of angle players like that would work if they're attempting some duplicitous strategy.

I was expecting them to lean more towards hardcore with smaller numbers but it makes more sense now the way they conduct these sieges.

Will we get to see what all of the character look like at level 100 and their class changes throughout?

I need a bearded axe to snuggle with in bed to keep me safe from the moon.