This essay began as an attempt to explain Progression Fantasy and LitRPG. That topic wandered off into the woods and may be glimpsed through the bright autumnal foliage later on.

You are likely familiar with the book industry’s marketing separation of fiction books into overarching categories called ‘genres’ (pronounced as though you are three cocktails into the party and have forgotten the two years of French you took in high school: zhon-ruhs). If we were being honest in our taxonomy, almost every book can be considered fantasy to some degree, but we have collectively decided to pretend otherwise. It is quite rare to find a book which unambiguously falls into just one genre; think of them more as tags which represent major elements in the book, rather than any sort of strict separation. Every book is a mix-and-match; don’t be fooled.