ALL CARL wants to do is smoke his cigarette, but Princess Donut, his ex-girlfriend’s cat, has escaped. He reluctantly goes after the creature when—“slam”—his building, and the city beyond it, is flattened like “a massive tin can that had been crushed by a giant cosmic boot”. Carl is one of the few survivors left on Earth. Along with Princess Donut, he is forced into a dungeon to fight various monsters; the battles will be televised throughout the universe. As they “level up(升级，特指游戏中提升等级。)” through the floors and try to make their escape, they earn XP(经验值，游戏中的量化进步指标。) (experience points).
卡尔只想抽根烟，但他前女友的猫——公主多纳特——逃走了。他不情愿地去追那家伙，这时——“砰”——他的大楼以及外面的城市，像“一个被巨大宇宙靴子踩扁的巨型铁罐”一样被夷为平地。卡尔是地球上少数幸存者之一。他和公主多纳特一起被迫进入一个地下城，与各种怪物战斗；这些战斗将在全宇宙直播。当他们通过楼层“升级”并试图逃脱时，他们会获得XP（经验值）。
It sounds like the premise of a video game. But it is the introduction to “Dungeon Crawler Carl”, a book series by Matt Dinniman, which has sold over 2.7m copies in print. The first instalment has been on the New York Times paperback bestseller list for 19 weeks and counting. The eighth, “A Parade of Horribles”, was released on May 12th. The audiobook is in first place on Audible’s bestseller list in America; all the other books are in the top 20. A TV adaptation and a graphic novel of Carl’s misadventures are in the works(正在进行中，筹划中。).
这听起来像电子游戏的情节。但这是马特·丁尼曼的系列小说《Dungeon Crawler Carl》的开篇，该系列印刷版销量已超过270万册。第一部已连续19周登上《纽约时报》平装本畅销书榜，且仍在继续。第八部《A Parade of Horribles》于5月12日发行。有声书在美国Audible畅销书榜上排名第一；该系列其他所有书籍均位列前20。卡尔冒险经历的电影改编和图像小说正在制作中。
Gamified novels—known as literary role-playing games, or LitRPG—are going mainstream. Such novels borrow the tropes(套路，常用主题或手法。) of video and tabletop games. (Unlike choose-your-own-adventure tales, however, the reader does not make narrative choices.) Characters face challenges and grow stronger. They go on quests to obtain rewards. In Mr Dinniman’s novels Carl gets tougher as he punches goblins and defeats a “Krakaren”, a monster that is a combination of a “cosmic octopus” and “your average, suburban, anti-vax, let-me-talk-to-your-manager mom”. Throughout the book the reader is updated on his character stats, health bar, XP and special skills.
游戏化小说——即文学角色扮演游戏，或称LitRPG——正成为主流。这类小说借用了电子游戏和桌面游戏的套路。（但与选择你自己的冒险故事不同，读者不做叙事选择。）角色面临挑战并变强。他们去执行任务以获得奖励。在丁尼曼的小说中，卡尔通过打地精和击败“克拉卡伦”变得更强——这是一个结合了“宇宙章鱼”与“你郊区常见的、反疫苗、让我和你经理说话的妈妈”的怪物。整本书中，读者会随时了解到他的角色属性、生命值、XP和特殊技能。