Carl's Doomsday Scenario

Carl's Doomsday Scenario is a dark comedy LitRPG following Carl and Donut, a human man and a sentient Persian cat, as they navigate Dungeon Crawler World—an intergalactic entertainment spectacle where thousands of humans from Earth have been trapped in a deadly game show. After Earth's collapse and absorption into a galactic Syndicate, Earth's population is conscripted into a 25-floor dungeon crawl broadcast live across the universe. Carl and Donut must survive increasingly dangerous floors while managing their growing notoriety, powerful enemies, and the constant threat of assassination. The book spans the third floor of the dungeon—a reimagined volcano city filled with corrupted circus monsters, undead vampires, homicidal elves, and a lich pulling strings from the shadows. With only eight days to complete the floor before it collapses, Carl and Donut face political conspiracies, dramatic television appearances, and moral quandaries about the nature of the game they're trapped in. The story blends dark humor, graphic violence, social commentary, and moments of genuine character growth as our protagonists grapple with survival, fame, and what it means to be human in an uncaring universe.

Carl, an ordinary Coast Guard veteran, and Donut, a sentient cat, survive Earth's destruction when the planet is absorbed into the Syndicate's Dungeon Crawler World—a reality television show where trapped humans compete in a deadly 25-floor dungeon for the entertainment of billions of aliens. After completing the first two floors, they arrive on the third floor, the Over City, a sprawling volcano-based urban level with only eight days to clear before it collapses.

Upon arriving, they immediately become celebrities thanks to their televised exploits. They are paired with Mordecai, a demon-like incubus game guide who becomes their manager after Donut tricks the system into selecting this role. Carl chooses the Compensated Anarchist class (a trap-making, bomb-making specialist) and picks Primal as his race. Donut, despite earlier promises to Carl, selects the Former Child Actor class instead of Artist Alley Mogul, enabling a special manager benefit for Mordecai. Their dinosaur pet Mongo continues to grow and level.

The floor's primary plot involves a dark circus run by Grimaldi, a dwarf wizard transformed into a Pestiferous Vine during a magical cataclysm centuries ago. The vine controls the twisted remnants of circus performers—lemurs with throwing knives, stilt-walking clowns, and a shambling berserker made of corpses—through mold spores and parasitic worms. Carl and Donut encounter Signet, a half-naiad, half-elf elite NPC on a personal revenge quest against the circus that destroyed her family. Using her blood magic, she summons paper-based tattoo monsters and requests Carl's help.

During a high-profile television appearance on the Maestro's interview show, Carl is asked for his political opinion and boldly advocates for revolution against an oppressive galactic king. His remarks trigger an assassination attempt by Prince Stalwart of the Skull Empire, who orders a pulse attack on their production trailer. The shot misses, instead killing Manasa, a famous cobra-headed pop star, damaging the Valtay-Skull Empire alliance and sparking a chain reaction of galactic political consequences. Carl and Donut survive but become targets for assassination.

Meanwhile, a secondary quest emerges when GumGum, an orc NPC, asks Carl and Donut to investigate the mysterious deaths of prostitutes falling from the sky in the alleys. The bodies appear drained of blood and twisted unnaturally. They discover a conspiracy involving the 201st Security Group, a militia of insane city elves who worship the skyfowl as angels, and Miss Quill, the receptionist to Magistrate Featherfall, who secretly runs the city.