Stumbling Up

A Loser's Guide to Progression, Book 1

Meet Richard: ‘[Immortal]’ banana slug, emotional terrorist, dungeon life coach…Then there’s Cole. He just wants to survive. Richard has goals. Neither of them is optimistic.

In a world split between [Mundanes] and [Adventurers], Cole rolled the worst specialization imaginable: [Self Criticism].

One drunken mistake later, he’s conscripted into the Adventurer's Guild. First stop? A deadly [Trial Dungeon] with a sarcastic slug, a mysterious goth, and two best friends who are absolutely not qualified for this.

Richard is a ‘foot-long’ telepathic jerk with a gift for emotional damage.

Leo is a pink sweater wearing himbo with a double-bladed axe and a hit first mentality.

Tandy is a genius crafter with a deep and irrational hatred of sheep.

And Meredeath? She’s not in Kansas anymore, but she is kicking monster butt in platform boots.

Together, they form [Your Mom’s Party], the dungeon’s least-likely survivors. Join them as they stumble towards glory treasure power adventure.

Welcome to the party.

Try not to die.

Stumbling Up is a heart-wrenching adventure comedy about three friends tackling their quarter-life crisis by pursuing adventure. It's a stat-light LitRPG like Matt Dinniman's Dungeon Crawler Carl and Shirtaloon's He Who Fights With Monsters. These are not your average OP main characters. They're the underpowered losers we’re all rooting for.

©2026 Marsh Douglas (P)2026 Marsh Douglas

Really good start to the series

I loved this book, Richard is the best… Can’t wait for the next book, the shifting of team dynamics makes for an interesting tale

Who wants a banana slug?

A great story! The mixing of mundane life and being thrust into adventure and coping with the results. The author ‘weaves’ a tale of childhood friendship and the changes an immortal fanged banana slug, an off-worlder, and grudge filled system can impose. Solid start to a series looking forward to the next book

Absolutely fantastic adventure!

The characters are relatable, well developed, and fun! Richard is hilarious, and the action and adventure just keeps going! Can't wait for book 2!

Can't wait for book 2!

The narrators being so much life to this already endearing cast. I am watching the movie run through my head as I listen! Can't wait for book 2!

These characters made me feel seen

A breath of fresh air, as far as my experience with litrpg thus far. This litrpg is "creamy" which overall I prefer. The 3 initial main characters are native to the litrpg world, so there was no awkward isekai to get thru in order to start the real story.

I appreciated that this was story driven with enough action to keep it interesting but not so much that it was about the main characters proceeding linearly on a quest to save the world until they all manage to become seriously overpowered. Don't get me wrong, I love those stories as well, when they are skillfully written, but this felt more real to me.

The main character clearly has ADHD and anxiety, so much so that he's managed to turn self-criticism into a skill he keeps accidently initiating. He and his best friend Leon have spent their lives, trying a little bit of everything but succeeding at nothing. While they're friend Tandy is too good at the one thing she doesn't want to do. Leon is self-conscious because unlike his other friends, he never activated any kind of class or magic skills. Cole the main character has a bunch of skills that he considers useless and he’s constantly questioning his value to the group. Tandy is a master Weaver but hates it so much she convinces Cole and Leon to join her in becoming adventururs one night when they get drunk.

Bottom line there is something seriously relatable about these characters, their journey, and their struggles. Each have their own doubts about themselves, their own failures and as the stakes are raised some of those doubts begin to bleed into their long standing friendship.

This is the first litrpg I've read where I have felt like, 'Yeah, this is what it would REALLY be like if a world like this were real.'. I'm incredibly impressed by the foundation this first book has laid for the series and I can't wait for more!