Matt Dinniman Reveals The Dungeon Crawler Carl Subplot That 'Ruined His Life'

Published Sep 17, 2026, 1:00 PM EDT Carrie is a Senior Writer at ScreenRant who previously managed Geek to Geek Media and wrote for SwitchRPG. She is particularly knowledgeable when it comes to WoW, Diablo, and cozy games. She has a passion for supporting the indies and always enjoys sharing her passions with others through her writing. The popular Dungeon Crawler Carl book series has exploded in popularity this year, which should come as no surprise to anyone who's read these entertaining LitRPG novels. And one of the greatest things about them isn't the danger that comes from this grimdark dystopian world that Carl and the rest of humanity are dealing with. It's the sheer amount of ridiculousness and humor that's spread throughout author Matt Dinniman's writing. This humor creates a magnificent blend of laugh-out-loud moments alongside the dark. Currently, there are eight books in the series that have been released, with one or two more anticipated before the saga of Carl and Princess Donut is finished. However, at Dragon Con Dinniman recently said that there is one big plot point that he wishes he had never included. And, unfortunately, it's some of the fans' fault for making him feel this way. Matt Dinniman Wishes He Never Wrote This Memorable Scene In Book One In the panel where Dinniman was taking questions, he admitted that if he could change one thing about the books, it would be his having given the System AI in Dungeon Crawler Carl a foot fetish regarding Carl. This all started in the first book of the series when it was used as a way of helping introduce the situation. As Dinniman stated: One of the biggest mistakes I've ever made was that scene that I wrote in Book One. Carl is on top of the Dozer, and the goblin had fallen off, and he looks down, and I think to myself, 'You know, I need some way for Carl to describe how big he is without him looking in the mirror.' So, he's like, 'Yeah, I'm a big dude,' and so that goes to his head, 'so I'm gonna jump on this goblin and explode him." "Then I thought it would be funny if the AI, like, got off on that. And so I put that in the book without, you know, realizing that I was, at that moment, ruining my life." The fact is, Dinniman was right that it is incredibly funny to have the AI respond in the way it does, and then for it to become a running gag throughout many of the books. As some readers have noticed, though, Dinniman seems to have backed off the joke in the latest books, and it isn't a mistake. However, it has also opened up several theories about where the relationship between Carl and the AI will ultimately lead in the end of the series. His Fan Mail For Dungeon Crawler Carl Is... Interesting Sadly, this memorable joke that did such a good job of both showing how large of a guy Carl is and how ridiculous the System AI is ended up leading to Matt Dinniman getting unfortunate fan mail. In the same panel at Dragon Con, Dinniman explained that these letters, which also include photos of feet, have given him "the opposite of whatever a foot fetish is." Knowing how Dinniman feels about this subplot now, it will be interesting to see if he does have the ending of the series reference it at all, or if he's just chosen to drop the entire thread. Also, now we can't help but wonder how this well-known portion will be handled by the writers for the television series that Peacock is working on for Dungeon Crawler Carl. Dungeon Crawler Carl Publisher(s) Penguin Random House Publication Date September 21, 2020 Number of Pages 444 ISBN# 979-8688591507 Author(s) Matt Dinniman