You couldn't walk very far at New York Comic Con this year without running into Dungeon Crawler Carl. The bestselling fantasy series was everywhere on the convention floor, from merch booths to an author signing with Matt Dinniman. Even I couldn't resist picking up a Princess Donut sticker. And while the premise of a man and his ex-girlfriend's cat fighting their way through an apocalyptic, video game-inspired dungeon created by aliens might sound absurd, its popularity points to something much bigger happening in the world of books.
Welcome to LitRPG, a genre that combines the immersive storytelling of fantasy with the mechanics of role-playing games. Characters level up, earn experience points, and unlock new abilities, much like they would in World of Warcraft or Dungeons & Dragons. It's a genre that's been thriving in online communities for years, but now it's having a mainstream moment, thanks in part to the runaway success of Dungeon Crawler Carl.
According to The Atlantic, the first eight volumes of the series have sold more than 17 million copies, with a TV adaptation currently in development for Peacock.
And the publishing industry is taking notice. After years of building audiences through self-publishing and online fiction platforms, LitRPG titles are now finding their way onto bookstore shelves.
Penguin Random House's Ace imprint began publishing Dungeon Crawler Carl in 2024, while Harper Voyager acquired four books in pirateaba's sprawling web serial The Wandering Inn earlier this year, bringing the series to print for the first time. Meanwhile, independent publisher Aethon Books partnered with Vault Comics to launch a new imprint dedicated to bringing popular indie fantasy titles into bookstores, including deluxe hardcover editions of He Who Fights with Monsters.
For years, the biggest trend in fantasy publishing has been romantasy, with dragons, shadow daddies, and morally gray love interests dominating bestseller lists and BookTok feeds. But LitRPG represents another side of fantasy's growing audience, one shaped as much by video games and internet communities as by traditional publishing.
It's also raising an interesting question about who's reading. Could a genre that feels so familiar to gamers be introducing an entirely different audience to books?
What is LitRPG, exactly?
LitRPG stands for Literary Role-Playing Game. At its most basic, it's fiction in which the rules and mechanics of a role-playing game are part of the story itself. If you've ever played World of Warcraft, Final Fantasy, or Dungeons & Dragons, the concept will probably sound familiar. Characters have levels, attributes, abilities, and inventories. They complete quests, defeat enemies, and earn experience points that help them become stronger.
What distinguishes LitRPG from the broader GameLit genre is that those mechanics are explicit parts of the narrative. A character might receive a notification that they've leveled up, discover a new ability, or inspect their stats to determine whether they're strong enough to survive their next encounter.
In some stories, characters are literally trapped inside video games. In others, they're transported to fantasy worlds that operate according to game-like rules.
In Dungeon Crawler Carl, Carl and Princess Donut, his ex-girlfriend's cat, find themselves navigating an elaborate, alien-controlled dungeon after Earth is transformed into the setting for a brutal intergalactic reality show. They must fight monsters, collect loot, and level up while their increasingly absurd adventures are broadcast to an audience.
It's part science fiction, part fantasy, part dark comedy, and unmistakably influenced by video games. But LitRPG isn't necessarily about being good at games. Like any compelling fantasy story, its appeal ultimately depends on its characters, worldbuilding, and emotional stakes. The mechanics simply provide another way to tell that story.
LitRPG isn't new. So why is it suddenly everywhere?
Despite its growing mainstream visibility, LitRPG has been around for years. The genre draws inspiration from tabletop role-playing games, massively multiplayer online games, and Japanese and Korean fantasy fiction. But its recent popularity may have something to do with how familiar gaming language has become.
In an interview with Audible, Dungeon Crawler Carl author Matt Dinniman pointed to games like Baldur's Gate as helping introduce RPG mechanics to audiences beyond traditional gaming communities. "We saw a huge demographic shift with games like that, and we're seeing a similar shift among readers of LitRPG," he said. "We have more representation from all sorts of walks of life. My readers, I've noticed, are so much more diverse than they were just two years ago, so I think it's leaking out the edges of what people used to think LitRPG is, and that's fantastic."
Part of LitRPG's appeal is the satisfaction of watching characters grow stronger in ways readers can actually measure. During a 2025 New York Comic Con panel, Aethon Books president Steve Beaulieu described what makes that progression so satisfying.
"You actually get to watch the character progress tangibly throughout the series, as opposed to just reading that it happens," Beaulieu said. "We get to see things like stats, we get to see things like levels up, we get to see the tangible changes in the character. And that ends up being really fun for the reader."
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But the appeal goes beyond watching numbers increase. In a September 2026 interview with Dragon Con's Daily Dragon, Magetank author Cornman compared the experience to playing a game — with considerably less responsibility.
"Playing the game requires active participation," Cornman said. "In LitRPG books, you're along for the ride, and there's this person, or these characters — this group — who are making these choices, and you’re getting the satisfaction of seeing them work on the world and synergize and do cool things without having to be wholly responsible for everything that's happening. It also feels like you’re there with a friend or are a part of the group."
The Dungeon Crawler Carl effect
If LitRPG has a breakout mainstream star, it's arguably Dungeon Crawler Carl.
Dinniman originally published the series independently, building an audience before transitioning to traditional print publishing through Ace, an imprint of Penguin Random House. Its success illustrates how a genre that developed largely outside the traditional publishing system can become a major commercial force.
There's something particularly interesting about the series' crossover appeal. Dungeon Crawler Carl is full of RPG mechanics, but it also has the qualities of an accessible, character-driven adventure, like humor, escalating stakes, memorable relationships, and an increasingly elaborate fictional universe.
And that fandom is moving beyond online reading communities, with fans showing up at conventions in cosplay, lining up for author signings, and collecting merch, much like they would for their favorite games or anime series. The series is also being developed for television, another indication of the entertainment industry's interest in LitRPG's crossover potential.
Why audiobooks are such a big part of LitRPG
You can't really talk about LitRPG's popularity without talking about audiobooks. The genre has developed an enthusiastic audio audience, with narrators becoming recognizable figures within its fandom. And as LitRPG reaches more readers, its popularity on audiobook platforms is skyrocketing.
According to data shared with Mashable, total listening hours for LitRPG titles on Audible grew more than 125 percent between September 2025 and September 2026. On Spotify, average daily global listening to LitRPG audiobooks is up a staggering 508 percent in 2026 compared with 2024.
Dungeon Crawler Carl is leading the charge. As of September 2026, the series had amassed more than 260 million listening hours and sold more than 10 million audiobook units on Audible alone. Total listening hours for the series on the platform also grew nearly 300 percent year over year.
Part of the appeal of LitRPG audiobooks is how naturally the genre lends itself to immersive performances. Jeff Hays, who narrates Dungeon Crawler Carl, is one particularly prominent example. His performances give the series' eccentric characters distinct voices, bringing the experience closer to an audio drama than a straightforward reading of a novel. Hays has become so closely associated with Princess Donut that he's been cast to voice the feline in the upcoming Peacock television adaptation.
Audiobooks have also played an important role in the series' journey. Dinniman originally self-published Dungeon Crawler Carl in 2020, with Soundbooth Theater producing its audiobook through Audible's Audiobook Creation Exchange (ACX), a platform that allows independent creators to produce and distribute audiobooks. In 2024, Audible brought the series under its Audible Books publishing imprint, with plans to produce editions in six languages.
For listeners accustomed to podcasts, gaming streams, and other long-form audio entertainment, audiobooks may offer an accessible entry point to the genre. LitRPG stories can be extremely long, with elaborate worlds and sprawling character arcs. Plus, audio lets fans experience those adventures while commuting, exercising, or engaging in other activities.
And the audience isn't necessarily who you might expect. According to Spotify, listeners ages 35 and older accounted for 54 percent of Dungeon Crawler Carl's listening hours on the platform in 2026. It's a reminder that while much of the conversation around reading trends focuses on younger audiences and BookTok, LitRPG's appeal may extend well beyond those communities.
Are listeners discovering LitRPG because they already enjoy fantasy novels, or are they arriving through gaming, podcasts, and online creators? While the available data doesn't answer that question, the genre's explosive growth on audio platforms suggests that the way people discover and consume fantasy is indeed evolving.
Where to start reading LitRPG
The good news is that you don't need to understand every RPG mechanic to enjoy LitRPG. If you're curious about where to begin, here are a few popular entry points.
For readers who like dark comedy and chaotic adventures:
$20 Save $7.52
A man and a cat must survive a deadly, game-like dungeon while entertaining an intergalactic audience. It's absurd, violent, funny, and unexpectedly emotional.
For readers who love sprawling fantasy adventures:
$35 Save $13.73
An ordinary man finds himself in a magical world filled with monsters, complex abilities, and a progression system that shapes his journey.
For readers who prefer character-driven fantasy:
$24 Save $6.01
A young woman is transported to a fantasy world and becomes an innkeeper rather than a traditional adventurer. Its game-like class and leveling system provide the LitRPG framework, but its slice-of-life focus gives it a different feel.
For readers who want a more traditional gaming experience:
A virtual-reality fantasy adventure that leans into the experience of entering and progressing through a game world.
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