The Achievement [system].

Series thoughts.

As a personal review. This series started out as several wildly different goals and sort of grew into the result that we actually got. I hit most of my goals but the series would probably have been better off if I had been able to drop a few of them.

As a overal (personal) opinion on the series, this was pretty much exactly what I wanted to write but I'm not necessarily happy with how it turned out. Or in other words, I wanted 'exactly like this but better' and feel like I'm not quite good enough of an author to write the series as good as I had hoped...

A main goal for this series was to get better at writing.

I've mentioned it before, but part of the goal of this series was to improve as an author. I committed to the two parts I thought were my weakest in DCCR - dialogue/character interactions and action - then threw myself in the deep end to try and get better at those points. In that regard I've written A[S] and no longer have it burning to be written and I do think I got slightly better...so this series was a success to that personal goal?

I sort of weakened those requirements near the end because actually finishing it was more important but I still managed part of it near to the end. Trying to frame a lot of scenes as conversations (either back and forth or descriptions coming forth with a character's vibe) was something I was aiming for for example.

On the other hand, I don't think I'll write something like this again - it's pushed me into wanting to write future series with as little character interaction and action as possible (hence taking a break to write magic farming part way through) but I hope it does increase the quality of my writing in general even if only by a little.

One note I found was that In DCCR (besides Innearth) all of the characters were bundles of tropes. For that series I wanted to make sure the characters didn't blend together and allowed myself to make them almost larger than life. In DCCR I tried to make each personality distinct by throwing specific bare bone tropes at each character and committing to those simple mental profiles as hard as I could. Because of that it was relatively easy to write them and have them stand out...but it also might have lead to them feeling slightly one dimensional because those tropes were static and I exaggerated them a bit beyond realism.

A[S] on the other hand I tried to make complex characters with each of them having backstories, specific fluid personalities etc. I approached each section by thinking 'what would this character do when presented with this event?' I did that for every reoccurring character (MC's, admins, etc) and tried to show them all slowly changing bit by bit as the series progressed.

A[S] was much much much harder (for me) to write because of that and I'm not sure how complex the characters actually read at the end of things (at least considering how much more work I put into them). I almost feel like the tropes I did add - the necromancer/Koshchei using 'ass' and 'shite' as his swears of choice for example (he used a few others but I tried to make him abuse those the most) stood out more than the attempt at complex goals and emotions...I should have just thrown tropes at them and been done with it.

Maddy noticing and being attracted to eyes was fun, but looking back it feels like its the main part of her personality that stood out. I originally tried to make her notice colours to a higher degree than the other two (girls have better colour vision on average+ I thought it was a fun trait) but sort of dropped that part way through.

In the future I'll probably continue to try and make MC's multi dimensional but I'm going to cut back on all side characters getting anything more than a trope dump for personalities.

Anyways, some less important goals and how I went about building the series.

I wanted to write a story all the way from 'base human' to 'god' level with characters literally shaping their world at the very end of it.

The main seed I started with was the idea of magic vs science and a 'magic system' that can be approached in different ways by isekaied characters. Anything is possible but not all at once or by the same person (or for free, although costs are negotiable).

I prefer hard magic to soft magic and yet for this story I wanted to lean as far into soft magic as possible then marry that soft magic system with a hard scifi flavored system because I haven't fully seen that before.

For me, the softest type of magic has always been wishes and so instead of crystalizing that base into a hard system with specific rules for what wishes could do, I purposfully focused on giving all true magic a cost (in pain/permanent loss or otherwise) that was nearly impossible to get around. Maddy's magic being a 'anything she can think of' illusion made real setup (a hard to write mess) was tied to that soft magic idea even if I personally might have preferred a simpler base stretched outwards for my ideal magic.

And then of course I realized the best way of exploring this type of dual magic system with multiple sides was through a multi pov series. Once I got that idea I couldn't bring myself to plan this system without having multiple characters and realized it probably wouldn't be as popular because of that.

I also had a vague idea of an achievement based system and what that might look like. Earliest ideas for this system were a VRMMO but I didn't fully want to write a VR story even if I've had fun reading them. Wishes/boons and that system seemed compatible and working backwards the whole achievement system could be recreated from that base and the idea of trials.

Initially, I actually tried to write the first dozen chapters with only James's POV (A less deprosso/more generic version) but...I scrapped that initial draft because it felt shallow and my thoughts kept drifting to this split version.

Comiting to MultiPOV and not trying to be as wildly popular as I could, opened the floodgates for all the other ideas for this series - having the characters be complex flawed messes instead of being as generally likable as I could. Actually showing off the ugly parts of mental illness and trying to heal it or accept it or overcome it as part of the progression. Making the stats and other parts of the litrpg system more complicated just because I could and thought it would be fun. Making it unsanitized and realistic in the worst and best of humans with the darker plotlines and language. etc, etc, etc.

And this is the end result. Partway through I simplified some of my goals and dropped some of the more complicated bits.

The math for stat synergy and suppression was never stated only mentioned.

Writing some of my rough plotlines (politics, war etc) was taking an exessive amount of time and energy so I skipped them.

Trying to get the crew to go off searching for silly achievements started to feel out of place so I didn't use the achievement premise as much as I could have near the end.

Trying to look on the bright side, this is still exactly the series I wanted to write and I'm glad I put it down. It's really satisfying to finish this sort of long running series.

...But everything is also ever so slightly worse than I hoped. It's to the point where I wonder if AI will improve and I can shove the whole series through a large language model and pop out something better while still including a lot of my personal goals.

The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

If you've read all this ramble...Wew. I appreciate you even more than most.

/AMA in the comments if there's anything I haven't covered.

Future stories.

Skip to blurbs below for the important bit.

I need to take a break for a while - I do like writing as a hobby but it's a lot of work.

I'm probably going to write some interlude/epilogues at a slower pace. I might return and write a bit more of magic farming in the meantime. (I also might write a few bonus chapters for DCCR) but I'm definitely taking some months to relax. We just bought a house and haven't fully settled in yet.

After this small/medium break (pending any major events) I'll probably be back with my third main/(fourth series if you include MFBUT). Personally I only want to release/focus on one series at a time because actually finishing what I start is important for me.

smol poll to garner interest in the plans I have - I'm interested to see which series people who stuck with me in this story would be the most interested in reading. I've done alot of system/magic system/lore building for all these series and have actually started most of them already.

All of these are series I would personally want to write, but I also know myself and know having readers is what actually pushes me to continue. I found DCCR easier to write because it was more popular and probably couldn't have finished this series without all you awesome readers and commenters.

Big 3

Torture dungeon - Grimdark/minor dark humour, cultivation/litrpg lite murderhobo dungeon. High stakes/pace/growing as strong as it can to try and survive. Probably a shorter series.

The two main hooks I have for this series are attempting to create a stealth dungeon - with workplace injuries and 'accidental' deaths - as well as having a relationship (either friendship, rivalry, or romantic) between two dungeon cores as they tag team a town. Humor is subjective and really hard to force, but the tagline I have for this series is "This is a murderhobo series. By that I mean its a series about murdering some hobos!". Obviously a non generic magic system and some light experimentation but I'm going try to keep it as fast paced as possible.

Pro: Already wrote 10+ chapters, haven't been alot of DC stories like this in recent times. Reach out if you want to beta read the rough draft start...

Con: It being as dark as planned might be a turn off. Actual torture as part of dungeon design. Pit traps will in fact have spikes and snakes.

Rad Mage - Radiation magic, Progression filled, crunchy system apocalypse.

The system I've built for this series is really crunchy and it would be inspired in part by delve/minute mage in terms of crunch and granular levels of detail. Every single level should be a choice and - even if its an easy choice for some levels - I want the stats and skills as a whole to feel like they matter. Lots of balancing both visible and hidden. Lots of mulling over different options. Dozens of levels across the series with every single level giving a new skill. Lots of Modifier skills (extend range by twice the original range+10 mana, increase strength of skill by increasing its casting time by x, etc.

Basically much much more system heavy than anything I've written yet, because I want to focus on the math and exact numbers of skills/mana/etc. Mostly solo mage MC but I hope the practice I got in A[S] would help any combat and the character interactions that do appear to feel smooth. More system based than any other series, because I want to try writing a series with actual damage numbers/mana costs and health as a shield. (The only time damage numbers make sense/feel like they matter is when pitting against flat health shields.)

Pro: Alot of the math and mechanics I've made are pretty solid already. Skill-tree's have been planned out quite far and should be fun all the way to god levels of power.

Con: Main story beyond "survive" is flimsy at best. I've rewrote the first part of it three times now because I don't know what age range and personality I want the MC to be. He's either a unlikable/unsocial math professor, a crippled pre-teen, a father trying to get back to his family...

Mixed: Probably the most mainstream idea I have.

Uplifting soul item core - Dungeon core with a really really fun magic system I don't want to spoil too much but I have great ideas for.

Only problem dragging this series down from #1 is the history behind it.

I tried brainstorming this series with someone to write as a multi author series...and then that sort of fell through. Considering how much I liked the system for it, I might still write it alone...but it feels sad that it fell through and mentally it feels like I'm not allowed to write it without them (even if I strip the contributions they made to the brainstorming out of it).

The main hook I have is the magic system based around bonding to items and (eventual) dungeon building using that system...Think of it like a dungeon that can give a [class] to anything. Give a monster a class for obvious strength. Give a room a class and that room now has special effects. Give a floor a class and that gives that floor special effects etc.

Beyond that, it would be a world ravaged by dozens of apocalypses. Something like a new apocalypse every 10-100 years has ravaged the world and smashed fantasy humanity back to a partially regressed state. Part of the series goals would be surviving the current appocalpyse which looks alot like zombies but isn't and then future plot points would be uplifting and retaking the world.

This is the story I'm most excited for but also the one I'm the most disappointed in after that co author bailed.

Part of it is written already. Reach out if you want to beta read the start...

Small 4

Multiple magic system magic school.

I really liked designing the magic systems in A[S] even if I'm not sure how well the final result came off. This series would be a backstep with several simple incredibly constrained magic systems (cultivation, runework, arcane words etc) each interacting and synergising with each other in specific ways.

'System' would be purely observation based and would track all those 5-10 systems seperately.
Words Learned: 12
Cultivation tier: Green
Runework: Apprentice

etc

Magic school progression with classes and tournament arcs and all that popcorn style content.

Young protagonist and (probably) a less mature plotline.

Noble death game litrpg.

From child skill based litrpg. (Similar to reincarnation/regression stories but I really might just start them off as being born without memories instead of sticking to those tropes)

My goal for this series is a cartoonishly hostile environment. MC is 'competing' with his 5-12 siblings from birth in an environment where anything short of death is fair game (and once they come of age even that's on the table in terms of finding an heir). The lite litrpg system is essentially something where everyone gets to 'wish' for a single skill they can then grow and build upon. That skill can be anything, most skills can grow, but once they are made they follows very strict rules. All commonors have 1 skill because of this setup. Nobles cheat and their one skill is a skill that can 'hold and/or grow other skills' with the exact details varying between different people.

Sun Core - Observer/researcher dungeon core.

Core that's designed to study alien flora and fauna ends up stuck on the sun through a freak accident.

This story would be a exploration of an alien world. I want to study a planet with its mana ecosystems and cultures from bird's eye view.

Probably a realistically violent world but with low danger/stakes to the MC.

Might delve into a god sim. Main goals would be creating a fantasy world from the ground up (history, culture etc) and then researching it as an observer.

Legacy core - slice of life jargon/tech filled dungeon core.

Isekaied guy takes over a existing dungeon from previous owner and finds it has close to zero documentation. Magic is similar to programming and there are lots and lots of hacky 'removing this line/treasure chest breaks everything and I don't know why' style magic everywhere. Idea is to slowly 'fix' the dungeon up in a satisfying way as he tackles floors one by one and refractors 'legacy code'. Series will probably end when he finishes fixing up the whole dungeon so its not going to be nearly as long as anything else I've written.

Honestly one I would put in the larger brackets in terms of "I want to write" but don't think it's going to be generally popular as planned and thats dropping it in priority for me.

Finally

I'd be interested to know what anyone who reached this point thought of the series. Either in comments or reviews by this end because all the reviews I have are from early chapters. I'm completely fine with honest criticism despite how defensive the description has been. A huge part of this series was aimed at personal growth as an author, I just didn't want to deal with endless 'you suck' comments on every chapter. Hard to get discouraged when the series is already done!

For a final time. Thanks for reading!!

You're great.