Dungeon Crawler Carl by Matt Dinniman

[lightreads]

Dungeon Crawler Carl and five more

4/5. Carl ends up on an intergalactic reality show dungeon crawl to the death with his cat after aliens destroy most of earth.

N.b.: The latest book is not out in audio yet. Do not spoil me. Also, the first few of these have been picked up for trad publishing, but I read all in the original indie audio (very good productions).

Aw man, I ate these the fuck up. I was not so sure when I started the first book – too much dude humor, that thing where there are no female characters who aren’t inhuman or monstrous in some way, you know what I’m talking about. But then they got their feet under them more, and started sprinting, and yeah. You know that dopamine hit you can get off of opening a treasure chest in a video game? These books delivered that, repeatedly and creatively. I’m even here for the extended passages of dungeon game mechanics and stats!

These are messy as hell and weirdly paced. And I both respect him for writing on patreon and letting people vote on various things, and also wish he would take a little more time with his drafts. Am I confident that he will land some of the bigger ideas he is lofting as the series progresses, about violence and complicity and the costs of survival? Eh, moderately. But in terms of pure enjoyment? Top notch.

Also, I will say an absolute highlight is the extended cast. The setup almost made me stop reading – the remnant human population is supposed to be fighting itself to the death – but the books are so not into that. They are into teamwork and solving big problems with big collaboration, and making big messy friend groups work, and all sorts of things that are 100% my jam.

These books also do that thing where they are deeply enjoyable, and at the same time fully convince me that I do not want to go dumpster diving in the lit RPG space for more of this. Because I’m pretty sure I will not find it, and what I will find will not make me happy.

Content notes: Violence, both interpersonal and genocidal. Recollections of child abuse/suicide/attempted murder.

Comments

[runpunkrun]

These sound like fun. Can you tell me if there's any harm to the cat?

[lightreads]

Not in the way you mean. I'm about to spoil something that happens in, like, the first 10% of the first book. The cat starts out an ordinary cat, but through dungeon logic becomes a sentient being who talks and functions like a person. So she is a full-fledged character/party member throughout, and as such participates in battles and the like. While also still being a cat. So no pet harm in the way you mean, but she is sometimes in danger. I'd be shocked to my socks if the books truly harmed her, though.

[runpunkrun]

That makes sense. Thank you!

[cyphomandra]

Oh yay!!! I love these books so much, and they are so hard to sell people on, which is a shame, because they are fantastic at teamwork and friendship and plans that go sideways and total gonzo commitment to the premise. I am reading and listening and backing in Patreon, and yeah, Dinniman has really risen heroically to the challenge of some of the vote outcomes (like the Iron Tangle!).

I intermittently trawl through other LitRPG titles but honestly I bail after the first chapter in >95% because of either a) terrible writing b) bucketloads of male gaze c) boring, so while I live in hope I think you’ve probably made the right decision.

In addition to the other themes you’ve mentioned, the thing I find really interesting that Dinniman is doing is considering the ethics of NPC characters, and I’m really enjoying what he’s doing with this.

[lightreads]

Yes! I was getting a little worried in the second....? book I think it was, with the dead hookers plotline because I was like 'my dude, I think you think you are making a joke here, and you don't get to make that joke.' But then he really turned it around in increasingly interesting ways with the NPC's, particularly the sex workers later on. So either he thought more deeply about things, or got way better at saying it. Either way, I'm curious where it is going.

I made my wife read these, and she said after the most recent book, "I think he has an office with one of those murder boards with string connecting a hundred different things in an incomprehensible manner," and yes, I will buy that.

[cyphomandra]

I believe he actually now employs someone to handle a massive spreadsheet with stats inventory etc but I would also totally buy a murder board.

I’ve read Dominion of Blades, his other litRPG series (currently on hiatus after DCC took off) and I think he’s been poking at the NPC thing for a while, so improved writing skills are definitely operating. I’m intrigued to see how that’s going to play out - I read Kaiju to see what he was like at endings and I felt the ending was more failure than success, but an interesting failure that could have worked.

I’m trying to read his Shivered Sky series, but it’s a significant step back again in technique and character development so I am going v slowly.