Manufacturing Magic: A LitRPG Adventure

Jeff the Game Master, Book 1

By: Jaime Castle, Troy Osgood

Narrated by: Nick Podehl

Length: 10 hrs and 59 mins

Publisher's summary

Ten million active players. One Game Master.

Infinite Worlds is the most popular VRMMORPG on the market. Its maps are so vast, developer Hard Rock Data utilizes a network of highly advanced artificial intelligences to control it. But it’s not without problems.

That’s why Game Masters like Jeff Driscoll have jobs. The downside? He’s not allowed to play the game. Something about conflicts of interest and favoritism.

His very boring and tedious job is to help players deal with the occasional bug that slips through the cracks and ensure they enjoy their time playing enough to give a five-star rating. It’s a gig. It pays the bills.

However, when the AIs unexpectedly issue a rogue patch, the game becomes a buggy mess, and Jeff’s role radically changes. He finds himself as the only Game Master around, dealing with more problems than he can handle. It’s up to Jeff to return Infinite Worlds to normalcy...but will the AIs let him?

Manufacturing Magic is a unique spin on the LitRPG genre, not just providing the perspective of the players but also of one of those mystical, magical, all-powerful GMs we all dream of being. Perfect for fans of Luke Chmilenko, Dakota Krout, and Shemer Kuznits.

©2021 Aethon Books LLC (P)2021 Podium Audio

Awesome concept

This was a great take on litrpg with a new twist. I read this first then picked it up to listen this was soo good... I can't wait for book two

nice twist on the MMORPG

not what i expected but was over have way in before I realized where it was going and then boom. Yes i recommend this book buying the next one right now myself.

A unique concept

this book offered a unique spin on the LutRPG genre. Considering that LitRPG as a genre is relatively new I didn't realize how predictable the setups had become until I heard this book which blew many of the past expectations out of the water. this book would be worth reading if only got its unique perspective but there is also a good story behind it as well. I definitely recommend this book.

Wonderful! let's see the second book!

Great adventure! Excited for the second book ^.^ that is wonderful world that you have created in this book. Thank you for sharing it with us.

Great story however..

nick made this story come to life.
the story had a great premise and is very promising.
however spoiler for the first 2-3 hours.



I feel like most of the story could have been avoided if the devs were any bit competent. I mean wouldn't an AI going "rogue" have been caught almost instantly? not to mention just doing a hard reset to set the game back to 24 hours before? Realistically this entire book would have been solved within the first 4 hours of the story.

Good LITRPG

Nor the best, but since neither Author was Russian or Aleron Kong I'm calling it a Push.

Think about it, if you are about to submerge yourself into a character who would you want to be: the everyday average guy/gal? Or the insanely lucky bastard who rocks a world to its knees?

Me?! I'd be the safe average guy. But I'd dream I was the ultra badass, whose success made themselves miserable. But I'd blow past the Suck parts. And really love the free XP!!!

Unique twist on litrpg, kinda fun

Nice overall story with some familiar elements as well as some insights into behind the scenes of MMORPG games you don’t often think about

interesting perspective but a bit jumbled

Narrator: decent differentiations
Language: moderate; no full Fbombs but iterations are present. Typical online gaming community language level.
Violence: moderately gorey, fairly descriptive
Sexual content: indirect reference to male genitalia
Parents: moderate to strong language would be my main warning, this is a lit rpg so the gore isn’t nonexistent by any means
Story: feels disjointed for the majority of the book and then things finally start to come together. Like one of the quests, this book took its sweet time to get to a consistent speed where the action was coming at an enjoyable pace—rather than a sprinkle here or there. I think this series has potential with better editing with cohesion of story in mind.

Has promise.

Started out really slow, story took a good 2/3 of the book to get going. The last 1/3 was really good and shows promise for future books in the series. Looking forward to the next book in the series to see if it will be a series worth following.

Outstanding new series!

I started this series on royal road and loved the introduction. It’s clear they know what LitRPG readers are looking for: an endearing character who quickly enters the game. I wasn’t sure what to expect with a game master being the focal character, but found myself really enjoying his quest as the sole problem solver in a game that’s taken on new life. The forum comments section has hilarious tidbits that any customer service rep can laugh at. Or anyone really. I loved the ending and how it sets up our game master for books to come. Nick Podehl is top notch as always, with hilarious character voices and gritty action performance. Osgood and Castle are the new co-author powerhouse for LitRPG!