Erebus?

I can't Bear a bus!

Author

John B
January 15, 2025

This week on system analysis go from Dad to Daddy with Erebus.

System Analysis attempts to break down how authors make decisions about their Litrpg systems. It's a blog interview series about current authors and how they approach the craft. It seeks to answer the question: How the heck did you do that?

(1) How'd you come up with this system?   My system was intended to be a unique take on the classic system: something that runs the world and metrics almost everything in it. Given that Project Tartarus takes heavy inspiration from Greek and surrounding mythologies, I wanted to include nods and references both within the system and within the world itself without turning everything into a meta joke. I wanted the world to have the feel of those sandbox RPG games where you can grind anything you want and see levels increase because that’s the feeling that got me hooked on the genre in the first place.

(2) Was it based off a game you played and loved or a book?

A lot of it took inspiration from Aleron Kong’s Chaos Seeds: The Land, which was my first foray into LitRPG. The world building and system were like nothing I’d ever seen before, and though I caught many of the references and inspirations for it, I didn’t catch all of them. If I had to pick games as a reference, I would say a mixture of Skyrim, Guild Wars, and Final Fantasy II, with some original twists.

(3) Is the math a constant obstacle for you?

I use Excel for note-keeping and that has come invaluable for doing the calculations for me. All I have to focus on is plugging in the right numbers at the right times and making sure what’s in the manuscript is accurate, which is easier said than done. For book 1, I went over the manuscript about a dozen times during editing, and I think each time I ended up updating numbers because of minor errors that had been missed until that point. Otherwise, I’d generally say the math isn’t too much of an obstacle for me. I kept the visual calculations fairly simple and had decided on progression rules early on in the story, so I didn’t have to make major changes as I went along.

(4) What are the main skills and why did you choose those?

I think the major skill in it is Divine Body. It’s a plot device, a “cheat” skill, and a clue all in one. It’s one of the first skills Arche learns and it’s the only skill he has that has no description, forcing him to figure out how it works inside the narrative. Other than that, his Spearmanship skill is probably up there for how often it’s used. Swords are great, but there’s a reason spears dominated ancient combat for so long

I got to make a lot of interesting decisions with how I wanted to delineate combat skills and subskills. Base combat skills (like spearmanship) don’t increase attributes, for example, but combat subskills (like spear throwing) can. The effort here was a balancing trick. In my world, attributes can be increased by training, but doing so is difficult. Many skills can increase attributes, but combat skills already have direct bonuses to combat applications (the most common of which being increased damage), so the balance is that they do not directly affect attributes.

(5) Did you make the system first or work through the plot first?

The plot came to me first, but I had a rough idea of the system from the outset. To me, the system is effectively world building. It’s important and has a direct effect on how the story is told, but there has to be a story to be told. A majority of my work is discovery writing, but I always have a goal or direction in mind, it’s never totally in the dark. The system required careful consideration of consequences and implications, so a lot of my planning time that wasn’t related to far-reaching plot was spent hammering out the system intricacies and what I wanted out of it.

(6) Is there anything you wish you had done differently?

I’m very happy with how the story itself has gone, but I do wish I’d done some things differently on the journey. I went straight to publishing instead of building a following on a site like Royal Road, so while I did see some success, I’d say it was more in spite of myself than anything else. I’ve since taken the story down from Kindle Unlimited and begun posting it on RR in hopes that I can spread some awareness and get some name recognition.

I also wish I’d gotten involved with writing groups earlier on. It’s a lonely profession, but it doesn’t have to be. Getting more eyes on and getting feedback from other professionals in the field is a great way to learn and grow.

(7) What's a "level up" in your system?

There are levels and skill levels in my system. Levels are earned through reaching experience thresholds; most commonly gained by killing things, but can be earned in other ways as well. Skill levels are earned by doing things related to the skill, with quick early progression and slow later progression as the invisible requirements for getting that next skill level go up. For levels, progression is generally easy until Level Fifteen, at which point a person chooses their Profession. After that, leveling slows dramatically as the requirements for each level increase drastically. As an example: Level 15 is half of Level 18, and the cost keeps increasing.

What's one piece of advice you have for new writers?

  1. Start small. You may have ideas for a 5 million word scrawling epic spanning a thousand years, but that’s not the story you should start with. Beginnings, middles, and ends all have their own nuances and it’s important getting experience with all of them. The more you write, the more experience you get, but if you never finish a story, then that scrawling 5 million word epic might end in a way that will just piss off everyone who followed along.

  2. Read wide and with intent. Stories you like: what did you like about them? What did the author do that you want to replicate in your own writing? If you didn’t like a story, why not? What happened that didn’t work for you? Could you do it better?

  3. Take the time to figure out why your story is a story and what you want to tell with it. Why are you taking the time to write it? Why should a reader take the time to get invested? Personally, I like stories about characters struggling to reach a goal. I like the catharsis that comes after significant effort, so my characters are often suffering and, if the readers have grown to care about the characters, that means they suffer too, but there’s always a pay off.

(Reader Suffering) = (Character Suffering) -1

How do you feel about Percy Jackson (Big greek mythology series)

I'm grateful for how many kids got interested in Greek Mythology from it and frustrated by how many think things Riordan made up are "canon" or "true."

Greek Myths are a disparate collection of writings and beliefs by Greek and Roman scholars/philosophers/playwrights of the time. There is no connecting canon of Greek Mythology, only trends and writer biases. That hasn't stopped some from positing there are singular "true" myths, lacking historical sources, simply because they read it when they were young.

Erebus for some reason took his book off of KU and went back on RR. A bold move, let's see how that's going for him?

-Note from Erebus: Actually, I took it off KU and went on RR for the first time. I made the very questionable choice of publishing first, RR second.-

You made a big decision, taking your book off KU and going to Royal Road with it, is that something you would recommend?

I miss the KU reads, but the fanbase on RR has been steadily growing. Up to over 450 followers in three months without ever hitting RS main, which is pretty insane growth. I would recommend starting on RR for two reasons: one, build up interest in the book to give it a strong start when it's eventually published for real, and two, readers will help point out plot holes or logical fallacies that can be addressed before actual publication

What are you currently working on?

I’m currently editing Project Tartarus: Politeia (Book 3) for publication. This book is the halfway point of the series and dives hard into characters, morality, and the overarching struggle they face.

What do you want to shout out?

I’d like to shout out Rachel Ni Chuirc’s Knights of Eternity series. A phenomenal trilogy with fantastic character writing. She deserves a lot more success for her work.

You can find more about Erebus here:

You can get his books on audible/KDP here:

And finally you can read Project Tartarus for free here:

Thanks for reading System Analysis. If you have a suggestion drop me a line [email protected] or check out my author website https://storyweaver.quest

You can find older episodes of System Analysis here: https://system-analysis.beehiiv.com/

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