71 upvotes, 2 direct replies (showing 2)
View submission: Do NOT Sleep on Dungeon Crawler Carl
No. I’m glad people like it, but reads like a teenager spending hours telling you about a video game that they played.
Comment by Hyperversum at 24/02/2025 at 12:34 UTC
22 upvotes, 0 direct replies
And that's part of its style, yeah, by definition.
It used videogame/TTRPG system logics as its fantasy rules as opposed to develop a "realistic" secondary world.
Comment by AltruisticWelder3425 at 24/02/2025 at 16:01 UTC*
6 upvotes, 0 direct replies
I don't know, I think that's the appeal in some ways. Using this it makes me feel like I'm reading a parody of my youth in a way. It's a bit of hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy in a way, mixed with the however many thousands of hours I had in World of Warcraft when I was younger, and in some ways Mario..
It's giving me a lot of the same nostalgia I had when I read Ready Player One. I'll agree RPO was not top tier fiction or anything, but the parts I enjoyed were how it made me relive parts of my childhood, as a product of the 80s and 90s. This book is similar in the way it's triggering my nostalgia, though maybe a little more modern.
I've read a few LitRPGs and while I wouldn't say they're amazing, I think DCC is well aware of how corny it can be and uses it to its advantage and telling a much broader story about how devastating inserting yourself into a "video game" can be.
It may not be for everyone, but I think anyone that has played an RPG and enjoyed it is likely to find DCC enjoyable.