Who is this Author Steve Rowland guy, and why is he on a trading card?

Sometimes, life is stranger than fiction.

Back in 2023, I made a post titled “Are you searching for Author Steve Rowland?” With the release of my trading card (we’ll get to that shortly), I thought it might be time for an update and a little insight into how my cameo as a Dungeon Crawler Carl stripper came to be.

I never would have thought an off-the-wall tweet would turn me into a fan-favorite character in one of the biggest book series on the planet, but here we are.

It all started on April 6th, 2022, when Matt Dinniman, author of the popular indie litRPG, Dungeon Crawler Carl, made a tweet asking for stripper name suggestions. At this point, Matt and I had been friends for a while. We started writing litRPG around the same time and interacted in a lot of the same Facebook groups, and had recently cemented our friendship with a late night out in Vegas the previous year, where I had way too much to drink and locked myself out of my hotel room.

We bantered a lot on social media, so when he posed this infamous question, I jokingly replied.

Matt didn’t acknowledge the tweet in any way, so I promptly forgot about it.

Until the messages started.

Messages like “Do you like Billie Eilish?” and “I didn’t know you were such a good dancer.” These were confusing at first, but I soon learned they were all from people who were reading the Patreon advanced chapters of Eye of the Bedlam Bride.

You see, Matt is a troll. But he’s sly, the kind of troll that gets you when you least expect it. He’d turned me into a stripper who was a muscled green forest troll, inspired by the main character from my litRPG series, Sentenced to Troll.

I didn’t actually read any of the chapters until the book was released. Even though I knew I was a character, I got to experience the reveal as a reader. People often ask me how I feel about being a stripper, and the truth is that I think it’s both hilarious and extremely cool.

How many people get the opportunity to actually be a part of their favorite series? I like to imagine this is what Tom Bombadil felt like when he got his cameo in Lord of the Rings. (I know Tom isn’t a real person. Leave me alone.)

2025: When things get weird

Up until 2025, my cameo went largely unnoticed except by die-hard fans of the litrpg genre. I’d get a message or comment every few weeks or months. Not many people made the connection between S.L. Rowland and Author Steve Rowland. When Eye of the Bedlam Bride first released, DCC was a hit and gaining popularity by the day, but it was still independently published.

Once the print rights were picked up by ACE, a traditional publisher with expanded reach, the books started showing up in mainstream bookstores, and everything changed. At the time I’m writing this, Dungeon Crawler Carl has sold over 20 million copies worldwide.

In the grand scheme of things, my appearance in DCC is very small. But somehow, it has taken on a life of its own within the fandom. I don’t know if it’s because Matt and I are friends, or because I’m best known for my cozy fantasy series, Tales of Aedrea, which is the polar opposite of DCC, or because I’m an actual human being people can connect to the series.

People bring me copies of DCC to sign at events; we talk about the series; and the Stripper T-shirt has become a hit across the fandom.

Trading cards?

And then in 2026, I got a random email asking for permission to include me in the upcoming trading card set. After checking with Matt if it was legit (it was), I sent over some photos.

Matt thought it would be hilarious if my card featured an actual photo of me, and it turns out he was right. For the past few weeks, it seems like every time I log into social media, I see a picture of my face on one of these cards. Shoutout to Barry at Urban Runway for the headshot.

If you ever see me at an event, I’ll be happy to sign one. I also commissioned a piece of artwork from Jonathan Grimm, featuring me as a forest troll with all of my actual tattoos. I even made it into a T-shirt. Jonathan has an amazing series of Tattooed Crawlers you should definitely check out.

I think the success of DCC is incredible, and I can’t wait to see where it goes with the final two books and the upcoming TV show. Will I get to have a cameo in the show? No idea, but I can’t wait to see it all come together.

Until next time. Glurp, glurp, motherfuckers!