Dungeon Crawlers
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Many don't believe me, but I was never into D&D growing up.  Maybe I just wasn't
around the kids that were playing it, or just happenstance that I never really
got into it, but eitherway, the closest I got to RPGs was the real-time RPGs
like Diablo I/II, and real-time strategy like Warcraft and Starcraft (if you
even put them in the realm of RPG...I guess you can).

I also never played Magic or Pokemon cards, but now as an adult, I realize that
I probably would've loved it if I just gave it a shot.

I was a different kind of "not in-crowd" kid - a computer nerd.  I understand
that D&D kids were also computer nerds as well, but my circle didn't intersect
that one - our tribes stayed apart for some reason.  One of my closest friends
loved the turn-based RPG games and would spend hours playing; games like Final
Fantasy and Chronotrigger, but I could never get into those.  I stuck to my FPSs
and other genres.

It's funny, now, that I'm in my mid-40s and I look up and find myself reading
stuff like book 2 of Dungeon Crawler Carl, and trying to figure out how to play
an ASCII dungeon crawler game from 1989 called Nethack and actually liking both.
Looking back it's not suprising that I would like these games, but I find it
amusing it took half my life to start to get into the genre.

I don't know where this path will lead me and how long it is, but for now,
suffice it to say I'm okay with watching an "@" move around on a screen and
attack a bunch of other letters, while my "c" cat follows me around and
sometimes eats dead things.  Come to think of it, this sounds a lot like the
basis of Dungeon Crawler Carl.  Shocking, I know.

~Gritty
09 February 2026