Macronomicon does it again, using the familiar canvas of a chosen subgenre and story type (here, the dungeon delver RPG), even going so far as to include some familiar tropes, but filling the empty spaces with refreshingly new elements and figures.
The Legend of William Oh is a litRPG, a hero’s journey, etc. that seems to take inspiration from, for instance, the disparity between Wild West cowboys as they were and how they were depicted in periodicals and penny dreadfuls.
Such disparities are observed throughout history, of course, but the West comes to mind by way of The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance. “When the legend becomes fact, print the legend.” The notion that in the case of the character in question, it would print more newspapers to print the story circulating rather than the interview he just did with the subject.
Which is, incidentally, also misquoted fairly often, sometimes in ways that twist the original meaning, or, coming back to the original point, the intended narrative. Most famously “when the truth becomes legend, print the legend”, a slightly more cynical take on the same notion. The idea that facts are irrelevant to the notion of professional journalism when they conflict with the hard facts that one must sell newspapers.
Regardless, William becoming a Chuck Norris-like figure in the mind of the public serves several purposes. It’s quite funny, particularly when the tales are close to what happened (which you will just have read, or are about to read). It facilitates his rise to power by allowing him to occasionally leverage that reputation for material gain, as a bargaining chip, or simply to avoid additional conflict. I could go on, but this is long enough.