u/Hawkwing942

I have mostly seen the term gamelit used to refer to stories that have game like elements but are not necessarily to the extent of full character sheets with stats. Sometimes the term is used to encompass both litrpg and litrpg adjacent stuff, and sometimes the term might specifically exclude actual litrpgs. However, in thinking about stories of books with game like elements, it got me thinking about novels set in a pen and paper RPG campaign setting like Forgotten Realms or Dragonlance (D&D is not the only rpg with novels base on its settings but it is certainly the most widespread). These books feature characters that feel like rpg characters, even if the characters themselves never interface with anything resembling a stat sheet.

My question is, could novels such as Dragonlance and Drizzt books be classified as gamelit?

It is pretty common in this genre for series to add 1 LI or more per book, but I have noticed a few series that have some books where no new LI is added to the harem. The ones I know of with more book than LIs are Dungeon Diving (currently 9 LIs/11 books), Returner's Defiance (5 LIs), Bikini Days (not caught on this, but I think this is 4 LIs 5 books), and Master Class (4 LIs /6 books). Are there any others? (I'm not really interested in anything from the author farms, even though I think they do have some examples)

Edit: there are some series that add zero LIs in one book but 2 in another book averaging out to 1:1 like Amazon Apocalypse IIRC. I am mostly talking about the actual long term ratio, but I wouldn't mind hearing about series that add a bunch to the harem to the harem at the beginning and then stop for at least the last book or to, in order to make the long term ratio balance out at around 1:1.)

I feel like most of the stuff I read in this genre goes out of its way to point out that the women have never had sex before getting together with the MC. This is fine for the most part (although too much emphasis on it or anatomically incorrect depictions of the hymen give me the ick).

I am curious for recommendations of series where many if not most of the women are either confirmed non-virgins or where the status of such is never really confirmed or implied. If they have only had sexual experience with other women and not men, that is fine. Examples I have personally read that come to mind are Demon Hunter and Bikini Days by Michael Dalton and Our Own Way by Misty Vixen (I assume Lakeside Cougars also falls into this category, but I have not read it yet). Bonus points if you have an example from a non-contemporary setting.

(The most recent post I could find from others on this subject was from 2024, so I figured it was worth making a new rec thread for https://www.reddit.com/r/haremfantasynovels/comments/1h53i87/books_with_nonvirgin_fmcs_in_fantasyscifi_setting/ )