Inviting thoughts on mixed progression systems.

[Michael Terrance]

I am working on an Isekai story presently and am thinking of incorporating both the usual LitRPG-type progression and a Xianxia-type cultivation system. I am wondering if anyone has either written or read other stories that incorporate both of these elements, and, if so, how have they dealt with comparative level progression?

Thanks in advance for your thoughts.

 

[ThinkerX]

Focus on the story, not the mechanics. Game mechanics don't mesh well with storytelling.

 

[Michael Terrance]

Good point, and thanks for that.
I am actually intending to use it as a story element by having my protagonist try to use both systems and being routinely frustrated by the results.

 

[ThinkerX]

I spent years trying to reconcile AD&D and Warhammer game mechanics with storytelling, and still have notes featuring character classes. Hit points. Armor class. Spells. None of it quite fits with telling the story.

Still...my 'Empire' series revolves around four main characters with dozes of others making appearancs. So...

Sir Peter Cortez, a disillusioned hero of the Demon War. I suppose you could call him a 9th-10th level fighter or noble warrior or whatever. Hmm...
Strength: 17, Intelligence: 10, Wisdom: 12, Dexterity: 15, Constitution: 15, Charisma: 13

Rebecca, gypsy minstrel who is Tia's personal maid. She's good at sneaking and swiping stuff, knows the power of music, later learns to use music to 'cast' spell like effects that work on the mind, so it'd be tempting to call her a bard, maybe 8th-10th level, though that is a bit of a stretch. Maybe...
Strength: 11, Intelligence: 14, Wisdom: 12, Dexterity: 15, Constitution 14, Charisma: 15

Kyle, a peasant drafted into the legions and trained in 'magic' after a series of brutal battles, now employed as Tia's carriage driver. Maybe...fighter 5 turned 'wizard' (psionicist) 7-9? Anyhow...
Strength: 18, Intelligence: 15, Wisdom: 11, Deterity: 8, Constitution: 16, Charisma: 8

Then there is Tia, the wealthy commoner who is the nominal employer of the others. She doesn't fit into any standard character class (or almost all nonstandard ones, for that matter). She is intelligent, educated, and beautiful...but she's no fighter (though she does tae a basic self-defense class at one point. She doesn't steal and doesn't know magic, unless you count bizarre dreams). Yet she saves the others multiple times. But...
Strength: 11, Intelligence: 17, Wisdom: 13, Dexterity: 13, Constitution: 13, Charisma: 16

 

[pmmg]

I just show my characters getting better and more skilled as the story goes on. It would seem highly likely that all characters would gain in skills as time moves on, gaining more skill at the things they do everyday, and occasionally picking up new skills as needed. I dont apply any numbers or systems to it, other than what seems organically natural to me. I would avoid any game system personally, or at least have it so far in the background as to be very hard to find.

 

[Queshire]

Hm, I've seen some series that have combined litRPG & cultivation or have a character get a litRPG system that speeds up their cultivation. Having them as two completely separate systems isn't something I've seen before.

Let's see... with multiple power systems in a story I think you'd want to keep them roughly in the same ballpark power-wise. Don't want to have one be objectively better than the other, ya know? Instead focus on different pros & cons between the two in order to distinguish them.

With that said, I think you can use feats to get a general idea how the two pair up. For example, if you know that a level 100 necromancer can raise a full army of the undead and march on a city then what cultivation stage is required for someone to destroy a city on their own? What about a building? What level/stage is generally required to be able to knock down a building? At what point is a thug with a knife in a back alley not a threat? Etc. Once you have a map like that it can serve as a good guideline.

To make the results frustrating, hm... have it hard to synergize the two systems together maybe? Like, if a cultivator practices the Dao of Fire and also has access to fire spells from the system it's difficult to use them together because even if the guy is telling the fire to basically do the same thing (such as shoot a fireball) it still ends up being two different sets of instructions at once and the fire gets confused or something.