What’s your take on kill systems in web novels? (i.e., any mechanism where the MC gains power directly from killing, like leveling up, etc.)

[Bartun]

In fact, for the first minute or so after a Quickening, they seemed weaker... Apparently the first movie was a mix of two ideas:
The Elevator Pitch was "A vampire movie but the vampires only feed on each other and do so by decapitation."
The other idea was the alleged Legend of the Clan MacLeoud - Supposedly, all of the men of a village, including all the men of the Clan MacLoeud, went off to war and the matriarch of the clan showed great courtesy to a traveling stranger, who took pity on her sadness and gave her a banner. Each time she waved it, she was guaranteed to bring back one member of the clan, no matter the distance, even if they had 'left this world;' the banner was allegedly waved three times, providing the names of the three characters from the movie (Connor), Live action series (Duncan) and the abomination of a cartoon (Colin).

Quentin was from the cartoon. Colin was from the anime movie. ?

 

[Lysander_Works]

A leveling system is the bit I care about, and only when it is created and balanced really well. It should take actual genuine effort to increase stats, not just leaving it to a WoW system where stomping on a thousand ants makes someone OP

If the system is doing too much of the work, just feels superficial.

 

[Ani_nerowriter]

For me it's dependable but I really like stories who actually take the killing system seriously and show that there are serious consequences to your actions especially if you kill a human.

It's those dark themes that I like to enjoy especially seeing a character having to handle throughout obstacles that test their limits.

For me I like more serious stories with the killing system. It's really dependable however on certain conditions if the killing system actually works.

So it's more of a "if it's well written" for me.
(A bit ranty I know)

 

[CharlesEBrown]

For me it's dependable but I really like stories who actually take the killing system seriously and show that there are serious consequences to your actions especially if you kill a human.

It's those dark themes that I like to enjoy especially seeing a character having to handle throughout obstacles that test their limits.

For me I like more serious stories with the killing system. It's really dependable however on certain conditions if the killing system actually works.

So it's more of a "if it's well written" for me.
(A bit ranty I know)

The Dark Powers of Ravenloft system... each act of Evil (including murder, betrayal, etc.) gains you more power but increases the odds of you being trapped in your own special prison realm...

Quentin was from the cartoon. Colin was from the anime movie. ?

Never knew there was a Quentin; the guys who made the TCG must have seen the anime movie and thought it was the cartoon, while I didn't know about the anime movie and ... well thee cartoon was pure awful; I thought the idea of a "no-kill" Conan was bad, but they almost made that work in the 80s. A no-kill Highlander though? Uh yeah, whatever genius came up with that should have been forced to change careers very, very quickly... it was so bad I never noticed a fourth name in the mix! Tried to sit through two episodes and could only manage one and a half...

 

[Cipiteca396]

Kill systems are too depressing.
I would prefer a creation system, where you get experience for doing the opposite of killing.

 

[Daitengu]

After reading through these replies I think it is important to note that it doesn't have to be people. They could kill animals, or monsters. I've read novels where one could gain exp from both. Just as in real life most people still do not resort to murdering their fellow man. I see nothing wrong with hunting.

The problem is that it only works in a world that has respawns like MMO based stories(SAO) or rando generated dungeons(Solo lvling). Making things go extinct is very easy when everyone is killing stuff to get stronger.

 

[ChillCore]

Yeah, kill systems are fine if it's based around an rpg type game, or if the story doesn't take itself too seriously (looking at you "I've been killing slimes for 300 years and maxed out my level"). In a fantasy setting that isn't based on a game though, I'd prefer a system where exerting oneself beyond their normal limits would raise a stat, and once the total of all stats reach a certain threshold the character levels up. In a system like that it'd be easier to justify characters having class archetypes or fighting styles beyond being born with a talent for a class, or having innate magic talent.

Maybe you could have increased stat gains during a fight to show exertion, and also because it's dangerous; for instance maybe evading attacks, or trying to escape might increase agility or stamina, while successfully blocking attacks might increase defense or constitution. And for training you could have reduced stat gains since it's safer, and more of a grind. Though the only flaw for that type of system that I can think of would be the difference in experience between someone who's battle hardened by facing off against difficult opponents with varied strategies, and someone who's only ever swung a sword at a training dummy and ran until they were exhausted in the safety of their training area. And while I say that's a flaw, I think it'd be neat to see a story, or even a story arc based around it.

I suppose if someone were dead set on doing a kill system though, they could probably change the experience gain based on what took place in the fight. For instance, a character could kill a monster significantly weaker than themselves and get reduced or even no experience points; or increased experience points if they kill a significantly stronger monster, or kill it by targeting weak points. I dunno, it could be my own bias, but I feel like using a variety of fight choreography and different numbers breaks up the monotony of "kill thing and get 10 exp, kill 10 things and get 100 exp"

 

[StoneInky]

I don't even like em in dnd. Let alone a novel.

 

[Deleted member 192215]

Bruh, I don't want to read a system receipt backlog being printed on a paper.

Do I like system?
Depends on your writing. If you gone to a receipt mode, yeah, no. I would not read that. It doesn't give me relax, its like homework I need to read every skill, buff, and etc. Like most RPG games, its like Warcraft again, no matter how I look at it.

I prefer old school RPG. LitRPG (with system) trends thanks to the Successful Solo Leveling.