Motif · from book 1
The show
Dungeon Crawler World: Earth is television first and a dungeon second. Views, followers and favorites appear in the interface after the first collapse and climb into the trillions; recap episodes air on the safe-room screens; loot is tailored to what plays well; Donut wants on that show and Carl learns that being expensive is a kind of armour.
First appears: Book 1
Series arc
As of book 3. From zero to a quadrillion views in three floors and forty-three quadrillion by the fourth. Book 3 itemises the machine's inputs: fan votes bought to put Chaco in a room with Mordecai; an audience that wants Katia dead for being boring; a Planet Beautiful script written by an AI that half-read Earth's media; private chats sold; a Death Challenge as a betting event; a floor theme chosen by paid vote; and a floor that is itself an editorial.
Open threads
Status is open or resolved; the chapter after it is the last one that moved the thread.
| Thread | Opened | Status |
|---|---|---|
| The manufactured feud with Lucia Mar | B2 ch. 21 | open · B5 ch. 71 — Lucia still means to kill Donut for Cici; a Dutch ten-year-old inside her wants her mother; she escapes the boss fight. |
| Cascadia | B5 ch. 63 | open — The daily-updates voice, named on a stick; Mordecai knows one connected to the crawl; she built the Great Race and screamed when it broke. |
| The Vengeance of the Daughter contract for the sixth floor | B2 ch. 11 | resolved · B5 ch. 76 — Signet assaulted Fort Freedom and then died at the masquerade by her own hand; 'Quest Complete. The Vengeance of the Daughter' in the pit. |
All threads: Open threads.
Through book 1
Mordecai names the ratings panel in B1 ch. 4; the premiere in B1 ch. 14 shows how the galaxy watches — in VR, with the smells — and ignores the cat. Every recap is watched from a safe-room booth: they miss the end of the second (B1 ch. 20), the third snubs them (B1 ch. 26), the fourth gives them fifteen seconds and cuts Agatha (B1 ch. 31). Then Odette's show airs and the numbers switch on — 69 billion views the next morning (B1 ch. 32), 1.4 trillion after the elemental escape (B1 ch. 41), 124.8 trillion for the Maestro sex tape and a cat being bitten by a chicken (B1 ch. 47). What the show is for is stated three times: by Odette, who says loot is not random because the show profits when they survive (B1 ch. 29); by Zev, who calls the residents a storyline and asks for a retake (B1 ch. 37, B1 ch. 44); and by the Maestro, whose Death Watch is the game with the pretence removed (B1 ch. 42). Carl's discovery is that fame is leverage — 'We were expensive' — and Donut's is that she cannot stop looking at her followers.
Through book 2
Views from 371 trillion (B2 ch. 4) to a quadrillion (B2 ch. 13) to numbers that leap when a tenner's story is told (B2 ch. 24). A scripted serial inside the crawl (B2 ch. 7); a deal that makes Carl a regular on it (B2 ch. 11); a fan box; a round-table that ends in an assassination (B2 ch. 19); a feud the recap invents (B2 ch. 21); a leaderboard with bounties (B2 ch. 26). Ripper: 'It’s their entertainment assets. They just murdered her.'
Through book 3
A recap that opens with the Polar Express and a sarin attack (B3 ch. 3); Zev's audience verdict on Katia (B3 ch. 6); the Prize Carousel and a vote bought to hurt Mordecai (B3 ch. 7); Carl spliced laughing over a head (B3 ch. 13); Planet Beautiful and its AI script (B3 ch. 20); Katia's kill cut as rage, Growler Gary's as horror, the tribute of hats cut entirely (B3 ch. 25, B3 ch. 29); private chats sold (B3 ch. 29); a Death Challenge as a betting event (B3 ch. 33, B3 ch. 35); the fifth floor chosen by paid vote (B3 ch. 35). 'By now everybody knows all of this stuff is pure propaganda' (B3 ch. 29).
Through book 4
An audience verdict relayed by a demoted Zev ('extra angry', more Mongo) (B4 ch. 12); a social media board Carl buys and Donut cannot leave (B4 ch. 14, B4 ch. 33); a product placement disguised as a benefactor box (B4 ch. 7), a doll made to explode by administrative order (B4 ch. 15), an infomercial for fueling depots (B4 ch. 18). A boss fight streamed live to subscribers with two commentators and a diagram of a shark's digestion (B4 ch. 26); Lucia Mar sobbing on a recap Carl did not see, which he takes for torture milked for drama (B4 ch. 29); 'The ratings have never been higher!' (B4 ch. 33). The recap cuts Fire Brandy, saves the gods for next week, and shows a goat gnawing a feather.
Through book 5
Hunters' friends outside can watch and tell, so plans must be secret (B5 ch. 4); a demographic the party is not trending in (B5 ch. 6); private messages no longer sold (B5 ch. 8); a social board and a warning to drop it (B5 ch. 12); a fan event as an ambush and a revenue share (B5 ch. 18); the official story of Bea and a scoop over a naga's program (B5 ch. 19); CrawlCon, borrowed, Mordecai implies, from Earth's first sci-fi convention of 1938, with a refund clause (B5 ch. 21); the panel circuit of rising stars and the about-to-be-tossed (B5 ch. 31); a cocktail added in post and a man cut out (B5 ch. 37); three hundred fans by lottery (B5 ch. 40); cosplay boxers and sedition (B5 ch. 41). At the end, trash talk to the cameras until the mute (B5 ch. 77).
The audience
The view and follower counts the recaps post; the multiplier is against the previous count of the same kind.
| Book | Chapter | Views | Followers | Views × |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | B1 ch. 32 | 69 Billion | 635 Million | — |
| 1 | B1 ch. 39 | 212 Billion | 4.4 Billion | ×3.1 |
| 1 | B1 ch. 41 | 1.4 Trillion | 352.2 Billion | ×6.6 |
| 1 | B1 ch. 44 | 1.7 Trillion | 439.9 Billion | ×1.2 |
| 1 | B1 ch. 47 | 124.8 Trillion | 2.1 Trillion | ×73.4 |
| 2 | B2 ch. 4 | 371.5 Trillion | 7.8 Trillion | ×3.0 |
| 2 | B2 ch. 8 | 998.3 Trillion | 16.5 Trillion | ×2.7 |
| 2 | B2 ch. 13 | 1.4 Quadrillion | 30 Trillion | ×1.4 |
| 2 | B2 ch. 18 | 1.9 Quadrillion | 72 Trillion | ×1.4 |
| 3 | B3 ch. 1 | 43.1 Quadrillion | 677 Trillion | ×22.7 |
| 3 | B3 ch. 7 | 50.2 Quadrillion | 890 Trillion | ×1.2 |
| 3 | B3 ch. 14 | 123.8 Quadrillion | 1.5 Quadrillion | ×2.5 |
| 3 | B3 ch. 25 | 974.1 Quadrillion | 5.2 Quadrillion | ×7.9 |
| 4 | B4 ch. 1 | 1.43 Quintillion | 7 Quadrillion | ×1.5 |
| 4 | B4 ch. 17 | 17.72 Quintillion | 13 Quadrillion | ×12.4 |
| 5 | B5 ch. 1 | 512 Sextillion | 142 Quadrillion | ×28893.9 |
Where they appear
| Book | Chapters they are in (of the book's) | Where |
|---|---|---|
| 1 — Dungeon Crawler Carl | 19/48 | 4, 9, 14, 20, 22, 30–33, 35–41, 43–44, 47 · the book's own page |
| 2 — Carl's Doomsday Scenario | 15/26 | 1–2, 4–5, 7–8, 13–14, 16–19, 23–24, 26 · the book's own page |
| 3 — The Dungeon Anarchist's Cookbook | 15/35 | 1–3, 6–8, 13–14, 19, 21–22, 25, 30, 32, 35 · the book's own page |
| 4 — The Gate of the Feral Gods | 15/35 | 1–4, 7, 14, 17–18, 20, 24, 26, 28, 31, 33–34 · the book's own page |
| 5 — The Butcher's Masquerade | 12/78 | 1, 7, 20–21, 33, 35, 37, 39, 51, 58, 60, 65 · the book's own page |
By book
The show in book 1 — Dungeon Crawler Carl
Mordecai names the ratings panel in ch. 4; the premiere in ch. 14 shows how the galaxy watches — in VR, with the smells — and ignores the cat. Every recap is watched from a safe-room booth: they miss the end of the second (ch. 20), the third snubs them (ch. 26), the fourth gives them fifteen seconds and cuts Agatha (ch. 31). Then Odette's show airs and the numbers switch on — 69 billion views the next morning (ch. 32), a trillion during the elemental escape (ch. 40), 124.8 trillion for a cat being bitten by a chicken (ch. 47).
What the show is for is stated three times: by Odette, who says loot is not random because the show profits when they survive (ch. 29); by Zev, who calls the residents a storyline and asks for a retake (ch. 37, ch. 44); and by the Maestro, whose Death Watch is the game with the pretence removed (ch. 42). Carl's discovery is that fame is leverage — 'We were expensive' — and Donut's is that she cannot stop looking at her followers.
The show in book 2 — Carl's Doomsday Scenario
Views from 371 trillion (ch. 4) to a quadrillion (ch. 13) to numbers that leap when a tenner's story is told (ch. 24). A scripted serial inside the crawl (ch. 7); a deal that makes Carl a regular on it (ch. 11); a fan box; a round-table that ends in an assassination (ch. 19); a feud the recap invents (ch. 21); a leaderboard with bounties (epilogue). Ripper: 'It’s their entertainment assets. They just murdered her.'
The show in book 3 — The Dungeon Anarchist's Cookbook
A recap that opens with the Polar Express and a sarin attack (ch. 3); Zev's audience verdict on Katia (ch. 6); the Prize Carousel and a vote bought to hurt Mordecai (ch. 7); Carl spliced laughing over a head (ch. 13); Planet Beautiful and its AI script (ch. 20); Katia's kill cut as rage, Growler Gary's as horror, the tribute of hats cut entirely (ch. 25, ch. 29); private chats sold (ch. 29); a Death Challenge as a betting event (ch. 33, epilogue); the fifth floor chosen by paid vote (epilogue). 'By now everybody knows all of this stuff is pure propaganda' (ch. 29).
The show in book 4 — The Gate of the Feral Gods
An audience verdict relayed by a demoted Zev ('extra angry', more Mongo) (ch. 12); a social media board Carl buys and Donut cannot leave (ch. 14, ch. 33); a product placement disguised as a benefactor box (ch. 7), a doll made to explode by administrative order (ch. 15), an infomercial for fueling depots (ch. 18). A boss fight streamed live to subscribers with two commentators and a diagram of a shark's digestion (ch. 26); Lucia Mar sobbing on a recap Carl did not see, which he takes for torture milked for drama (ch. 29); 'The ratings have never been higher!' (ch. 33). The recap cuts Fire Brandy, saves the gods for next week, and shows a goat gnawing a feather.
The show in book 5 — The Butcher's Masquerade
Hunters' friends outside can watch and tell, so plans must be secret (ch. 4); a demographic the party is not trending in (ch. 6); private messages no longer sold (ch. 8); a social board and a warning to drop it (ch. 12); a fan event as an ambush and a revenue share (ch. 18); the official story of Bea and a scoop over a naga's program (ch. 19); CrawlCon, borrowed, Mordecai implies, from Earth's first sci-fi convention of 1938, with a refund clause (ch. 21); the panel circuit of rising stars and the about-to-be-tossed (ch. 31); a cocktail added in post and a man cut out (ch. 37); three hundred fans by lottery (ch. 40); cosplay boxers and sedition (ch. 41). At the end, trash talk to the cameras until the mute (ch. 77).