I recently started reading the Dungeon Crawler Carl LitRPG series by Matt Dinniman. A little over a month ago I had never heard of these books, and now I’m nearly finished the fourth book from the series. They are definitely worth reading for people with interests that overlap with mine. Speaking of people who have overlapping interests: apparently the series is so popular that it has had an impact on the latest Comic Con and even got featured in a Variety post.
NOTE: this post delves into some details of the Dungeon Crawler Carl series that could be considered spoilers. I’ve tried to avoid plot points and for the most part what is revealed is similar to what you’d find on the back of the book. But you have been warned!
What is LitRPG?
Before I begin talking about Dungeon Crawler Carl (DCC) it seems prudent to explain what I mean by the term “LitRPG”. To be frank, I heard of LitRPG as a genre for the first time when I initially started looking into the DCC book series. So if you want an expert level understanding you will want to do your own research.
Simplistically, LitRPG is a genre of fiction writing that combines literature (Lit) with the mechanisms of typical role playing games (RPG). The characters in the story have stats like Strength and Constitution, they collect items that grant abilities or enhance those stats, and they complete quests to progress an over-arching story line. The degree to which these background systems appear in the story varies, but as a reader you will be made aware that they exist. The characters exist within a system of mechanics that you as a reader can play along with. You can see the wheels and gears that limit or expand the story options if you want to.
LitRPG has existed formally since around 2013 according to Wikipedia, but that same article also rightly states that the underlying concept goes back several decades before that. Authors in the 1970s like Andre Norton and Larry Niven incorporated D&D and LARP rules into their books long before the term LitRPG existed. But the basic idea remains consistent: LitRPG is fiction written with a basis or framework taken from game system rules.
The story thus far and my observations
There are eight books currently available in the Dungeon Crawler Carl series. I have read three in full and am about halfway through the fourth. I synopsize what I’ve read thus far as follows:
- Book 1- Dungeon Crawler Carl: destruction of humanity and introduction of the Crawl, Carl, Donut, and others
- Book 2- Carl’s Doomsday Scenario: introduction of ‘urban’ settings; Carl nearly blows everything up
- Book 3- The Dungeon Anarchist’s Cookbook: Carl and Donut ride the rails in a twisted Gordian knot of a subway system
- Book 4- The Gate of the Feral Gods: bubble-wrap mini worlds separate the crawlers into smaller populations as Carl, Donut, and Katia explore Air, Earth, Dungeon, and Water zones
The DCC books are easy to read, but reward extra effort. Paying close attention allows you to see the possible uses for items and skills before a situation arises to use them: this is where much of the “LitRPG” concept shines through. What I found, however, is that I am more often than not wrong about what Carl is going to do next. I like to think this isn’t a failure on my part: Carl is inherently an unpredictable factor in all of the books, and in fact unpredictability is arguably his strongest character trait.
The overarching story of a modern day earth that has suffered an unbelievable apocalypse that the protagonists must now struggle to make sense of is very reminiscent of the Duck and Cover book series I just finished. Both also have a fair amount of humour, although Dungeon Crawler Carl mostly keeps the funny stuff for the achievement and item descriptions. There are fewer attempts at outright humour in the main story line which I think is a good thematic choice when dealing with the near total annihilation of Earth and everyone on it.
Also similar between Duck and Cover and DCC is the code of morals and justice adhered to by the main protagonist. Carl is very much prone to doing the same kinds of over-the-top things to set the balance of fairness back to even as Jerry from Duck and Cover. They both attract people to their cause who recognize their strange form of leadership. And they both more often than not barely survive by the skin of their teeth.
Where Dungeon Crawler Carl most stands out, however, is the quality of characterization of the “secondary” characters. Donut the talking hyper-intelligent but child-like cat, Katia the superhuman doppelgänger tank, Mordecai the Manager and advisor, and a wide collection of tertiary characters are all deeply flawed and realistic at the same time. I want to see how they interact because they are complex in unique but largely understandable ways.
Conclusion
At this point I’m less than halfway through the Dungeon Crawler Carl series, but I feel confident in recommending it to anyone who appreciates fantasy fiction. If the reader also has experience with video/computer/pen and paper role playing games then they will likely have even more fun. The complexity of the “game” part of the book is there for those who care to pay extra-close attention, but for the most part it is background to the story itself. Most of the time I’m wrong about what Carl is going to do next with the items and abilities at his disposal no matter how closely I follow the item descriptions, and that is just fine with me.
