Motif · from book 1
The chat
The » Name: lines: where Carl talks to people who are not in the room. A handful of voices at first — Donut, Zev, Brandon from Meadow Lark — and the way a party becomes a network.
First appears: Book 1
Series arc
Through book 3
376 lines, fifteen voices: Elle (B3 ch. 10) and Imani (B3 ch. 12) arrive, with Bautista, Donita Grace, Ronaldo Qu and Gwendolyn Duet; densest in B3 ch. 6 and B3 ch. 22. Carl makes it policy — 'I want to get into everybody's chat', so that 'we can create a network where we can all pass information much more easily' (B3 ch. 14) — and reads it at night in place of the Louis L'Amour he traded away (B3 ch. 15). The show reaches in: 'For a small fee, all viewers may now subscribe to your private messages between other crawlers' (B3 ch. 29). On the last night, Gwendolyn Duet: 'Now clear the chat' (B3 ch. 31).
Through book 1
The party menu's chat option, shown to Donut in B1 ch. 15 — 'Using the chat is quite enjoyable to me' — and used in capitals from then on: fifty-two lines across the book from four voices, about half of them hers. Brandon An, the Meadow Lark maintenance man Carl met at the encampment (B1 ch. 22), is the first crawler outside the party heard in it (B1 ch. 37), and the first thing learned about it is its edge — of the party behind the gate, Brandon: 'We couldn't talk using the party chat, not with the ones in there' (B1 ch. 22). Zev opens 'a special chat channel' for interviews (B1 ch. 36), and in B1 ch. 47 Zev uses it to say the viewer feed has 'been acting funky all day'.
Through book 2
219 lines, seven voices. Mordecai, a manager now, is in it from B2 ch. 4 and takes it over — sixty-seven lines, second only to Carl's ninety-one — and Zev's twenty-five are the show's side; the busiest hours are B2 ch. 9 and B2 ch. 20. The rule of the thing is stated: two crawlers can talk 'only after we both initiated the chat handshake, which had to be done in person' (B2 ch. 21), so a fist bump puts Bautista's name on Carl's list (B2 ch. 23); a post to the whole group draws 'Dozens of responses' (B2 ch. 25); Katia is in it by B2 ch. 24; and Donut blocks Quan Ch 'after he called us assholes' — 'You need to rule with an iron paw' (B2 ch. 26).
The roster
Everyone who speaks in the chat through book 3: 17 voices, 647 lines. Ordered by first heard; a name links where the person has a page at this level.
| Voice | First heard | B1 | B2 | B3 | Lines |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Donut | B1 ch. 15 | 25 | 32 | 71 | 128 |
| Carl | B1 ch. 20 | 22 | 91 | 146 | 259 |
| Brandon An | B1 ch. 37 | 2 | · | · | 2 |
| Zev | B1 ch. 47 | 3 | 25 | 17 | 45 |
| Mordecai | B2 ch. 4 | · | 67 | 27 | 94 |
| Brandon | B2 ch. 8 | · | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| Katia | B2 ch. 24 | · | 2 | 21 | 23 |
| Quan Ch | B2 ch. 24 | · | 1 | · | 1 |
| Bautista | B3 ch. 6 | · | · | 19 | 19 |
| Daniel | B3 ch. 6 | · | · | 1 | 1 |
| Elle | B3 ch. 10 | · | · | 35 | 35 |
| Imani | B3 ch. 12 | · | · | 28 | 28 |
| Donita Grace | B3 ch. 14 | · | · | 3 | 3 |
| Porter T | B3 ch. 15 | · | · | 1 | 1 |
| Mei W | B3 ch. 15 | · | · | 1 | 1 |
| Ronaldo Qu | B3 ch. 31 | · | · | 3 | 3 |
| Gwendolyn Duet | B3 ch. 31 | · | · | 2 | 2 |
Where they appear
| Book | Chapters they are in (of the book's) | Where |
|---|---|---|
| 1 — Dungeon Crawler Carl | 10/48 | 4, 15, 20, 22, 27, 37, 39–41, 45 · the book's own page |
| 2 — Carl's Doomsday Scenario | 7/26 | Ch. 1, Ch. 6, Ch. 19, Ch. 21, Ch. 23, Ch. 25, Ch. 26 · the book's own page |
| 3 — The Dungeon Anarchist's Cookbook | 5/35 | Ch. 1, Ch. 14, Ch. 15, Ch. 31, Ch. 32 · the book's own page |
By book
The chat in book 1 — Dungeon Crawler Carl
The party menu's chat option, shown to Donut in ch. 15 — 'Using the chat is quite enjoyable to me' — and used in capitals from then on: fifty-two lines across the book from four voices, about half of them hers. Brandon An, the Meadow Lark maintenance man Carl met at the encampment (ch. 22), is the first crawler outside the party heard in it (ch. 37), and the first thing learned about it is its edge — of the party behind the gate, Brandon: 'We couldn't talk using the party chat, not with the ones in there' (ch. 22). Zev opens 'a special chat channel' for interviews (ch. 36), and in ch. 47 Zev uses it to say the viewer feed has 'been acting funky all day'.
The chat in book 2 — Carl's Doomsday Scenario
219 lines, seven voices. Mordecai, a manager now, is in it from ch. 4 and takes it over — sixty-seven lines, second only to Carl's ninety-one — and Zev's twenty-five are the show's side; the busiest hours are ch. 9 and ch. 20. The rule of the thing is stated: two crawlers can talk 'only after we both initiated the chat handshake, which had to be done in person' (ch. 21), so a fist bump puts Bautista's name on Carl's list (ch. 23); a post to the whole group draws 'Dozens of responses' (ch. 25); Katia is in it by ch. 24; and Donut blocks Quan Ch 'after he called us assholes' — 'You need to rule with an iron paw' (epilogue).
The chat in book 3 — The Dungeon Anarchist's Cookbook
376 lines, fifteen voices: Elle (ch. 10) and Imani (ch. 12) arrive, with Bautista, Donita Grace, Ronaldo Qu and Gwendolyn Duet; densest in ch. 6 and ch. 22. Carl makes it policy — 'I want to get into everybody's chat', so that 'we can create a network where we can all pass information much more easily' (ch. 14) — and reads it at night in place of the Louis L'Amour he traded away (ch. 15). The show reaches in: 'For a small fee, all viewers may now subscribe to your private messages between other crawlers' (ch. 29). On the last night, Gwendolyn Duet: 'Now clear the chat' (ch. 31).