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 8. Odette's stage and the Syndicate's product: counters that switch on at zero after the first collapse and read 933 septillion views by book 8, and Carl's discovery in book 1 that being watched makes the crawlers expensive as the lens for the rest — serials inside the crawl, recaps that invent feuds, fan votes bought, private chats sold, a boss fight with commentators, CrawlCon, a blackout by action item. In book 8 the eighteenth floor's cameras are dark since the Nothing broke, every team gets a media show, the audience picks the losing team's upgrade, the ratings after Harbinger are the highest ever, the floor's entry screen answers who is watching — 'It’s everybody. Literally everybody.' — and the AI makes viewing mandatory. The counters below are every reading the text prints.
Open threads
Status is open or resolved; the chapter after it is the last one that moved the thread.
| Thread | Opened | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Cascadia | B5 ch. 63 | open · B8 ch. 78 — Cascadia's overdose and the goddess in the submerged wings: Zev reports from headquarters that she 'accidentally' took too much of her medicine, and that when the AI intervened a goddess appeared in the submerged wings; Zev is locked down. |
| The show: viewing mandatory, the eighteenth floor dark | B8 ch. 89 | open — Everybody is watching and the AI has made it mandatory; the eighteenth floor's cameras have been dark since the Nothing broke, and the leaderboard is suspended. Whether the show still has an audience it can lose, what a broadcast of nineteen people is on the floors below, and who is producing it. |
| 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. |
| The manufactured feud with Lucia Mar | B2 ch. 21 | resolved · B7 ch. 73 — Settled by conscription (ch. 72); what remains is a dead man's switch, not a feud. |
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).
Through book 6
Mordecai's fostering licensed to Titan (B6 ch. 21); a view counter spiked on Katia's collapse (B6 ch. 30); rejected action items as content (B6 ch. 35); an interview that is a press conference (B6 ch. 36); 'I'm going to drop this stupid feed if she keeps being so whiny' (B6 ch. 40); Survival Royale called by drunks in orbit (B6 ch. 55); views falling when a fight is refused (B6 ch. 59).
Through book 7
Carl's counters open the book at 231 septillion views and 887 quadrillion followers (B7 ch. 1). Donut gets nothing for the Donut Holes merchandise (B7 ch. 7); everybody's views spike as a crawler and an NPC whisper made-up vows at a wedding (B7 ch. 10); a live-feed blackout arrives by action item (B7 ch. 19); a news-media loophole is closed (B7 ch. 43); the world freezes and music blasts on its own for the finale (B7 ch. 76), with the views spiked again though the fight has moved below (B7 ch. 77); and Carl imagines viewers unfollowing him for not shedding blood (B7 ch. 85).
Through book 8
933 septillion views, and the eighteenth floor's cameras dark since the Nothing broke (B8 ch. 1); a media show for every team (B8 ch. 23); the audience picks the losing team's upgrade (B8 ch. 22); the ratings after Harbinger are the highest ever (B8 ch. 29). The floor's entry screen on who is watching: 'It’s everybody. Literally everybody' (B8 ch. 88); viewing is made mandatory (B8 ch. 89).
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 |
| 6 | B6 ch. 1 | 13 Septillion | 331 Quadrillion | ×25.4 |
| 7 | B7 ch. 1 | 231 Septillion | 887 Quadrillion | ×17.8 |
| 8 | B8 ch. 1 | 933 Septillion | 3.5 Quintillion | ×4.0 |
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 |
| 6 — The Eye of the Bedlam Bride | 13/74 | 1, 8, 15, 23, 28, 43, 47–48, 50, 52, 55, 59, 61 · the book's own page |
| 7 — This Inevitable Ruin | 8/89 | Ch. 1, Ch. 3, Ch. 8, Ch. 10, Ch. 14, Ch. 49, Ch. 76, Ch. 77 · the book's own page |
| 8 — A Parade of Horribles | 4/99 | Ch. 1, Ch. 30, Ch. 56, Ch. 88 · 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).
The show in book 6 — The Eye of the Bedlam Bride
Mordecai's fostering licensed to Titan (ch. 21); a view counter spiked on Katia's collapse (ch. 30); rejected action items as content (ch. 35); an interview that is a press conference (ch. 36); 'I'm going to drop this stupid feed if she keeps being so whiny' (ch. 40); Survival Royale called by drunks in orbit (ch. 55); views falling when a fight is refused (ch. 59).
The show in book 7 — This Inevitable Ruin
Carl's counters open the book at 231 septillion views and 887 quadrillion followers (ch. 1). Donut gets nothing for the Donut Holes merchandise (ch. 7); everybody's views spike as a crawler and an NPC whisper made-up vows at a wedding (ch. 10); a live-feed blackout arrives by action item (ch. 19); a news-media loophole is closed (ch. 43); the world freezes and music blasts on its own for the finale (ch. 76), with the views spiked again though the fight has moved below (ch. 77); and Carl imagines viewers unfollowing him for not shedding blood (ch. 85).
The show in book 8 — A Parade of Horribles
933 septillion views, and the eighteenth floor's cameras dark since the Nothing broke (ch. 1); a media show for every team (ch. 23); the audience picks the losing team's upgrade (ch. 22); the ratings after Harbinger are the highest ever (ch. 29). The floor's entry screen on who is watching: 'It’s everybody. Literally everybody' (ch. 88); viewing is made mandatory (ch. 89).