Loot descriptions and/or a good leveling/skill tree system

Recommendation: asking

TLDR: I would like a recommendation based on rating the following and the post title:

  • He Who Fights with Monsters: Tier S

  • Dungeon Crawler Carl: Tier S

  • Discount Dan: Tier B (decent content, bad writing, author thinks he's SIGNIFICANTLY smarter than he is and shouldn't have made this so similar to DCC when they didn't have the skill in humor, writing, or world building to match - it's close to impossible not to compare unfortunately)

  • Vampire Vincent: Tier C, but did not finish due to lack of what I'm looking for

  • Mark of the Fool: Tier A, but did not finish due to lack of what I'm looking

Solo Leveling: Haven't read it yet, but I know it'll end up an A or S tier. Great manhua

Longer Version I have only read a few Lit RPGs, but I know for sure that in order for me to get into it, there needs to either be a cool loot description system or an entertaining skill progression system that is clearly outlined and updated as necessary. If it's video-game like, even better.

I really enjoyed He Who Fights with Monsters and Dungeon Crawler Carl. I'd saw HWFWM is the better series, but DCC is more entertaining as a a whole.

I am currently half way through Book 2 of Discount Dan. It's... Okay. I am finishing it because I like the loot and leveling system, but it feels like it was written by a painfully average 12-year-old who wants to convince you he's smart, yet uses the dumbest potty humor sometimes and is just gross for no reason way too frequently. It's too similar to DCC to stop yourself from comparing, and it is never even close to meeting that standard. I laughed twice the whole first book. While I enjoy it, I am also annoyed by it very frequently.

Vampire Vincent: I stopped reading around 90% of the first book because I realized that it wasn't going to have the loot or level progression I was looking for. I also found it to be a tad boring, but overall, I think it was well written and just not what I was personally looking for.

Mark of the Fool: The similarities with Rising of the Shield Hero (anime) intrigued me, and it seems like a well written book with a world I'd be interested in. I stopped reading around 50% of the first book though due to the same lack of leveling and loot.

Posted Mar 8, 2026, 7:59 PM UTC

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