I've some interest in your first idea. I don't think I've done any LitRPG before that I can think of, but I'm a quick learner. Unfortunately, I'm terribly rusty at this and got way too accustomed to only in-person TTRPGs for the past 4 years. Writing requires its own set of skills separate from in-person performance and those skills have got major cramps from being in the closet for so long. This would be, in effect, the first forum roleplay I've done in 6-8 years. Might need some mild babying/instruction the first post or two, but I'll be fine after that.

I'm not a bad writer, but I like to be casual and I like to throw as much of my voice in there as possible. One of my peeves, especially as someone in academia who has to read people being asses in their papers all the time, is overuse of big words that we really don't need to use. I know what the words mean-- they just feel pretentious, and sometimes shorter words get the point across better, like a jab or a punch. I can send you a sample of my writing from last semester's Creative Writing class. Or you can give me a prompt and I'll improv something.