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26-516: Epic is a novel written by Conor Kostick . It is the first book in the Avatar Chronicles trilogy and was published in 2004 by The O'Brien Press Ltd . Epic takes place on a world named New Earth and follows the life of a boy named Erik Haraldson and his involvement in a game called Epic. Epic is a virtual game which echoes World of Warcraft and EverQuest , although interaction with this game directly affects income, social standing, and

52-418: A future member of Central Allocations). Ragnok was trying to assault Harald's wife. Having escaped from exile, Harald had hidden in a small out-of-the-way community with his wife, where they had Erik. In order to help his local friends, Harald challenges Central Allocations hoping to remain unknown to them, but his character is identified and he is exiled once more. Before these events, Erik had become fed up with

78-672: A local comprehensive school in Chester. Conor Kostick was the editor of Socialist Worker in Ireland and a reviewer for the Journal of Music in Ireland . A historian, he holds a doctorate, and has lectured and researched at Trinity College Dublin . He has been awarded research fellowships by the Irish Research Council and the University of Nottingham . In August 2018, he was recruited by

104-545: A number of awards. Kostick is the eldest of two boys born to teachers Gerrie and Marjorie Kostick in Chester , England. His father was Jewish-Irish, brought up in Dublin but having moved to the UK in the 1950s, where he became a physical education teacher, while his mother was a teacher of maths. One set of grandparents were Polish Jews, who moved to Ireland to escape pogroms. Kostick attended

130-594: A setting of LARP -like games as a kind of reality TV in the future (2051). With the rise of MMORPGs in the 1990s came science fiction novels that utilised virtual game worlds for their plots. Early examples are Piers Anthony 's 1993 Killobyte , Tad Williams 's 1996–2004 tetralogy Otherland , Conor Kostick 's 2004 Epic and Charles Stross 's 2007 Halting State . In Taiwan, the first of Yu Wo 's nine ½ Prince (½ 王子 Èrfēnzhīyī Wángzǐ) novels appeared, published in October 2004 by Ming Significant Cultural. In Japan,

156-460: A virtual reality world called the OASIS that is filled with arcade game references from the 1980s and 1990s; Marie Lu 's books Warcross (2017) and Wildcard (2018), which are about an online bounty hunter in an internet game; and Louis Bulaong's sci-fi books Escapist Dream (2020) and Otaku Girl (2021), which tell the story of a virtual reality world where geeks can role-play and use

182-485: A waste, as beauty has no benefit in battle. This, incidentally, is the cause for the bland, gray characters that predominate in Epic. But curiously, the tale takes a twist and Erik inherits much wealth from his investment in beauty as the game itself begins to respond to his unique avatar. As a result and freed by the plight of his parents from having to play the game in the usual, risk-avoiding grind, Erik dares to dream he can kill

208-548: Is a children's book about a magical board game; Neal Stephenson 's 1992 cyberpunk novel Snow Crash , which introduced the term metaverse ; and the Guardians of the Flame series (1983–2004) by Joel Rosenberg in which a group of college students are magically transported into a fantasy role-playing game. More recent examples include Ernest Cline 's novels Ready Player One (2011) and Ready Player Two (2020), which depict

234-448: Is forfeited and that person must create a new in-game character. Since death in the game results in death of the character, challenges are a risky method of gaining prosperity, as the characters involved are usually trained for months to years of real life time. The story opens with Erik determined to obtain revenge for the unjust treatment of his parents. Unknown to Erik, his father, Harald, was exiled because he hit another person (Ragnok,

260-594: Is set on Earth in the near future and sees the protagonist enter the game of Epic . This is a prequel to the events of the off-Earth colony. Conor Kostick Conor Kostick (born 26 June 1964) is a historian and writer living in Dublin . He is the author of many works of history and fiction. A former chairperson of the Irish Writers Union and member of the board of the National Library of Ireland, he has won

286-687: The 'Avatar Chronicles' trilogy. Conor Kostick was a designer for the UK's first live action role-playing game , Treasure Trap . Kostick was twice chairperson of the Irish Writers Union . He was awarded the Farmleigh writer's residency for the summer of 2010. In 2015, Kostick was made chairperson of the Irish Copyright Licensing Agency. He was President of the Irish Jury for the EU Prize for Literature in 2015, and in that year too he

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312-558: The Clan as a Kindle book in 2015. In 2013, EKSMO , a major Russian publishing house, started its multiple-author project entitled LitRPG . According to Magic Dome Books, a major translator of Russian LitRPG, the term "LitRPG" was coined in late 2013 during a brainstorming session between writer Vasily Mahanenko, EKSMO's science fiction editor Dmitry Malkin and fellow LitRPG series editor and author Alex Bobl  [ ru ] . Since 2014, EKSMO has been running LitRPG competitions and publishing

338-544: The Russian self-publishing website samizdat.ru, the novel Господство клана Неспящих ( Clan Dominance: The Sleepless Ones ) by Dem Mikhailov set in the fictional sword and sorcery game world of Valdira, printed by Leningrad Publishers later that year under the title Господство кланов ( The Rule of the Clans ) in the series Современный фантастический боевик ( Modern Fantastic Action Novel ) and translated into English as The Way of

364-614: The UK's Ockham Publishing to lead a new imprint, Level Up publishing, with a remit to publish LitRPG . Epic , a LitRPG volume, was his first novel and was awarded a place on the International Board on Books for Young People Honours list for 2006 and on the Booklist Best Fantasy Books for Youth list for 2007. It sold more than 100,000 copies. The sequel to Epic is Saga , first published in Ireland late in 2006; Edda , published 5 years later, in 2011, completed

390-452: The careers of the people who play. Because of this relationship a growing separation of power occurs that mimics the real world, where those with money and power tend to keep it, and those without tend to stay impoverished (both in-game and in real life). In order to build up acclaim in the game, and thus in real life, poor players must work in-game for their entire lives in hopes of becoming powerful enough to take part in challenges set forth by

416-440: The elite for prizes. With these prizes the citizens may live more comfortably in real life. If a community wishes to redress a perceived injustice, they may challenge Central Allocations or C. A., which is a powerful, select group of nine individuals that controls all of the world's resources and funds the most powerful characters in the game world. All of the members of C. A. are wealthy and possess nearly unbeatable characters in

442-442: The game's desire to end its existence and save the people of New Earth, while the vampyre reflects its desire to simply continue existing. They balance each other out in the final conflict of the book, leaving Erik to revolutionise his world by ending the game of Epic. The book was followed by two sequels, making the Avatar Chronicles a trilogy. The sequels are Saga and Edda . A 2019 LitRPG publication, The Dragon's Revenge ,

468-557: The game, squandering many lives of his avatars in fighting Inry'aat, the Red Dragon, who guards a massive treasure hoard. Most of these attempts are spent trying to figure out a quick way to defeat the dragon. As an expression of his discontent with the world, Erik had gone against convention in making a human female avatar, which he named Cindella and had deliberately chosen an almost unknown character class, swashbuckler . He put all of his ability points into beauty, which most players consider

494-470: The game. These are the individuals who set challenges which are held in special arenas where various players may attack each other - the last player alive is proclaimed the winner. If one wins against the Central Allocations team, then one gets what one wants, be it a new law, a medical procedure, or a material object. However, if one loses then everything one's character owns (including items and money)

520-542: The genre has reached the mainstream with the release of the media phenomenon .hack//Sign in 2002 and Sword Art Online in 2009. Also of note is the Korean Legendary Moonlight Sculptor series with over 50 volumes. While these novels and others were precursors to a more stat-heavy form of novel, which is LitRPG proper, a Russian publishing initiative identified the genre and gave it a name. The first Russian novel in this style appeared in 2012 at

546-467: The red dragon and with its wealth, challenge the power of C. A. With his friends' help and the use of a strategy he figured out from studying Inry'aat, the red dragon is indeed slain, and as a result Erik and his friends become some of the richest and most famous characters in all of Epic. Each of the group gains about four million bezants, which amounts to more wealth than they could earn in over one hundred thousand years of normal play. This victory propels

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572-524: The teenagers into a series of unexpected encounters including with an evil vampyre (who can kill people in real life from inside the game); the Executioner of C. A. (can kill people in-game); a sinister Dark Elf, and the Avatar of the game itself. The Avatar and the vampyre play a central role in the plot, as they are the opposing sides of the persona that the game itself inexplicably developed. The Avatar represents

598-405: The winning stories. Many of the post-2014 writers in this field insist that depiction of a character's in-game progression must be part of the definition of LitRPG, leading to the emergence of the term GameLit to embrace stories set in a game universe but which do not necessarily embody leveling and skill raising. Some of the earliest examples are Chris Van Allsburg 's 1981 Jumanji , which

624-588: Was a member of the Irish team that won the Diplomacy National World Cup in 2012. He is the brother of the playwright Gavin Kostick and a member of Independent Left . LitRPG The literary trope of getting inside a computer game is not new. Andre Norton 's Quag Keep (1978) enters the world of the characters of a D&D game. Larry Niven and Steven Barnes 's Dream Park (1981) has

650-775: Was a nominee for the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award 2012 and 2013. As a historian, Kostick's awards include a gold medal from Trinity College Dublin , first prize in the 2001 Dublinia Medieval Essay Competition ; fellowships from the Irish Research Council and the University of Nottingham ; a Marie Curie Career Integration Grant ; and, in 2015, the British Academy ' s Rising Star Engagement Award. A former winner of Manorcon (2000), now one of Europe's grand prix Diplomacy events, Conor Kostick

676-862: Was appointed to the Board of the National Library of Ireland . In 2018, the Kerala Literature Festival , India, chose to showcase Irish literature and Conor Kostick was one of seven Irish writers invited to participate. In 2019, Conor Kostick again was president of the Irish Jury of the EU Prize for Literature. At their 2009 awards, the Reading Association of Ireland gave Kostick the Special Merit Award 'in recognition of his significant contribution to writing for children in Ireland.' Kostick

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