Barliona: a virtual world jam-packed with monsters, battles - and, predictably, players. Millions of them come to Barliona, looking forward to the things they can't get in real life: elves and magic, dragons and princesses, and unforgettable combat. The game has become so popular that players now choose to spend months online without returning home. In Barliona, anything goes: You can assault fellow players, level up, become a mythical hero, a wizard, or a legendary thief.

Zac was alone in the middle of the forest when the world changed... The whole planet was introduced to the multiverse by an unfeeling System... or God. A universe where an endless number of races and civilizations fought for power and dominion. Zac finds himself stuck in the wilderness surrounded by deadly beasts, demons, and worse. Alone, lost and without answers, he must find the means to survive and get stronger in this new cut-throat reality.

It was a day like any other when suddenly the world changed. The universe reached a threshold humanity didn’t even know existed, and it was time to finally be integrated into the vast multiverse. A place where power is the only thing anyone can truly rely on.

A man. His ex-girlfriend's cat. A sadistic game show unlike anything in the universe: a dungeon crawl where survival depends on killing your prey in the most entertaining way possible. In a flash, every human-erected construction on Earth - from Buckingham Palace to the tiniest of sheds - collapses in a heap, sinking into the ground. The buildings and all the people inside have all been atomized and transformed into the dungeon: an 18-level labyrinth filled with traps, monsters, and loot.

Reality is cruel. The rising level of technological development has led to a rising level of unemployment. They're laying off everybody, from teachers to technical servicemen. What's the point of holding onto a person if they can be replaced by an advanced mechanism? But what are the people to do? How are they to live? Where are they to get money from? There is only one answer - Barliona. The official government project is gathering steam, luring more and more people into its net.

Is it easy to survive in the game world? You could say yes, if you didn't know what the additional conditions were. They are unusual: it's the real world in which you have lived all your life. The enemy, craving to destroy you. Your own class who couldn't care less about you. Are you still sure that survival is easy? Then welcome to The Game! It will prove you wrong.

Twelve players set off through the online world of Galactogon, lured by the game owners' promise of an enormous payoff. The question is, who will survive to tell the tale? Which of the 12 is a potential hero - or a traitor in the making? Which of them will defend the weak, and who will become the ultimate evil overlord? A knight or a coward? Each of the 12 will have to choose his or her path.

The decision to start a new life is never an easy one, but for Joe the transition was far from figurative. Becoming a permanent addition to a game world, it doesn't take long to learn that people with his abilities are actively hunted. In fact, if the wrong people gained knowledge of what he was capable of, assassins would appear in droves.

There are whole anthologies of stories out there about what humankind does when a game enters their world. But what about when they're living in one where a game arrived thousands of years before? What if they're the survivors of a bloody struggle, having fought for and earned their place on the planet? Tailyn Vlashich was a young nobody far away from all those grander issues. All he cared about was one thing: making his way through a harsh world where the emperor, evil foes, and an impartial god held sway.

Diving into a revolutionary new video game, Marcus and his friends escape a stagnant society, entering into a world that defies their wildest imaginations. But from the moment that he logs in, Marcus finds himself separated from his friends and thrown into a remote village under attack by a horde of goblins. Forced into battle, Marcus rallies the beleaguered villagers and, with their help, manages to drive off the invading creatures. With the village in ruins and their supplies spoiled, the villagers turn to Marcus for help in rebuilding the village.

Arthur lives with his father, a fallen but proud former noble, in Border Village #49, along with the other good folks condemned to toil in service to the Baron. But Arthur has an edge: a stolen heart card that secretly fell into his possession, thanks to a dragon. It’s a priceless source of power for the Baron and the tyrant will kill to get it back. Invaluable, too, to a young man of spellcasting ambitions.

He thought it was the end, and his gun sat ready to make sure. But an oddball offer from his last friend comes at the literal last second. Curiosity gets the best of him, and he finds himself sucked into iNcarn8, a game claiming to be a whole new life. Now, as Montana, the larger-than-life tank warrior, he has one more last time to get his life right.

Betrayed and left for dead by a group of slaving nobles, he thought there was nothing left but to bleed out as he counted the number of bricks on the ceiling. But fate had other plans.

Just yesterday, Ben was a petty criminal getting by on fleecing New York’s one-percenters. Today, he's got a new face, a new name, and a new world to navigate. And Ben’s thinking maybe this time around, he’ll use his skills at disarming and deceiving to help out people other than himself. Maybe. Watching a medieval City Guard fight off a 20-foot-tall ooze that crawled up from the sewers will make you think twice about life decisions.

Tricked into a world of banished gods, demons, goblins, sprites and magic, Richter must learn to meet the perils of The Land and begin to forge his own kingdom. Actions have consequences across The Land, with powerful creatures and factions now hell-bent on Richter's destruction. Can Richter forge allegiances to survive this harsh and unforgiving world or will he fall to the dark denizens of this ancient and unforgiving realm? A tale to shake "The Land" itself, measuring 10/10 on the Richter scale, how will Richter's choices shape the future of The Land and all who reside in it?

Is it easy to survive in the game world? You could say yes, if you didn't know what the additional conditions were. They are unusual: it's the real world in which you have lived all your life. The enemy, craving to destroy you. Your own class who couldn't care less about you. Are you still sure that survival is easy? Then welcome to The Game! It will prove you wrong.

This fast-paced collection of novellas and short stories from leading Russian LitRPG authors sheds new light on their signature worlds. You're in Game! features works by Vasily Mahanenko, Andrei Livadny, Alexey Osadchuk, Michael Atamanov, Pavel Kornev, and Andrew Novak. Expect your favorite heroes to play second fiddle to an array of new main characters, once-minor plot lines to lead you in unexpected directions, and familiar story events to take surprising new turns.

Reality is cruel. The rising level of technological development has led to a rising level of unemployment. They're laying off everybody, from teachers to technical servicemen. What's the point of holding onto a person if they can be replaced by an advanced mechanism? But what are the people to do? How are they to live? Where are they to get money from? There is only one answer - Barliona. The official government project is gathering steam, luring more and more people into its net.

World of the Changed completely modified human consciousness. The incredible graphics that worked even on the simplest of phones. The intuitive interface that made the game accessible for absolutely anyone. The aggressive marketing campaign that put news about the game on every TV, every phone, every tablet. By the time the launch was a few days away, an entire army of fans was out there waiting for just one thing: Hour X. That was what the mysterious developers were calling the release time.

There are whole anthologies of stories out there about what humankind does when a game enters their world. But what about when they're living in one where a game arrived thousands of years before? What if they're the survivors of a bloody struggle, having fought for and earned their place on the planet? Tailyn Vlashich was a young nobody far away from all those grander issues. All he cared about was one thing: making his way through a harsh world where the emperor, evil foes, and an impartial god held sway.

Jarl Beckström dreams of one day becoming a great warrior. Sadly, he had the misfortune of being lowborn-classless, unable to level up. He lives the mundane life of a poor mud-farmer, subjected to the whims of the infamous battleborn and the magical fireborn. But legend says that deeds of great courage can change a person's class. When the Clan Lord's son unexpectedly disappears, Jarl sees an opportunity to prove himself a hero and rise above the lowly station of his birth. He goes against the traditions of his people to seek his destiny...and possibly even his death.

In the Prime Kingdoms, the system dominates everything. It dictates one’s strength, skills, and power. It spawns dungeons and guides the actions of their monsters. But every system has its limits, and it’s about to push four oddball adventurers to theirs.

Twelve players set off through the online world of Galactogon, lured by the game owners' promise of an enormous payoff. The question is, who will survive to tell the tale? Which of the 12 is a potential hero - or a traitor in the making? Which of them will defend the weak, and who will become the ultimate evil overlord? A knight or a coward? Each of the 12 will have to choose his or her path.

Jackson's class as an Ironwood Monk puts him right in the front line. He gets stronger the more he gets hit and can pass that on to the rest of the team. That is if he can get his mom to actually let him fight. No one, least of all Jackson, fully understands the importance he holds for his family's future or that of all Talos. He will have to navigate challenges both in dungeons and the halls of power if he is to find a new home.

The car crash was the last thing I remembered...then I woke up here. Where "here" was felt like an impossible nightmare. I died, but this wasn't what I'd expected to find when they said I'd meet my maker. The afterlife is just like a video game, except I didn't start in a noob world like everybody else. I started out on one of the most challenging dungeon worlds meant only for ancient souls who've been dead much longer than I have.... Welcome to Epoc.

Rob didn't think of himself as anyone special, but when a pitch-black portal tried to wrap his best friend in chains, he stepped up without thinking and found himself ensnared instead. His moment of heroism results in being torn away from everyone he knew and loved, kidnapped by an unknown force that leaves him with a note in his pocket stating: "Good luck." After being thrown into the wilderness of Elatra, a hostile fantasy world ruled by levels, stats, progression, and bizarre video game logic, he finds himself entirely out of his depth.

With monsters, magic, swords, and Gods, the world of Nava is anything but normal. How will the once-average young man survive as his newfound title of Lost Lord makes him a target for assassins and terrorist organizations? Max’s new home is governed by the strong and over-encompassing System that regulates the world. Whether someone is a [Farmer], [Warrior], or a [Grand Magus], classes and abilities allow some to prosper while others fail.

Just yesterday, Ben was a petty criminal getting by on fleecing New York’s one-percenters. Today, he's got a new face, a new name, and a new world to navigate. And Ben’s thinking maybe this time around, he’ll use his skills at disarming and deceiving to help out people other than himself. Maybe. Watching a medieval City Guard fight off a 20-foot-tall ooze that crawled up from the sewers will make you think twice about life decisions.

Matt's just an ordinary guy, but when he's beaten, robbed, and left for dead, bleeding out at the bottom of a gully, it all has to change as he grasps frantically at his only chance for survival, coming as it does in the form of a glowing, dangerously pulsing light. With his reality forever altered, Matt must quickly find a suitable place to deploy the Dungeon Core, fighting his way through the hundreds of people between him and safety, because if he doesn't do it soon, a Core Detonation will solve all of his problems for him....permanently.

Follow an unfortunate soul who has been thrown into a fantasy world with nothing. He is quickly railroaded into joining the Legion and has to develop under harsh conditions while slowly discovering his potential power.