DnD, D&D influenced Dungeon Crawler Carl

The whole LitRPG form is D&D's grandchild and Dinniman's novel does not disguise it. Character sheets, levels, loot tables and a dungeon that goes down in floors are printed on the page as mechanics rather than described as magic. What Carl adds is the joke underneath: the dungeon is a televised game show, so the rules exist because somebody is watching, which is the one thing a tabletop session never has to explain.