As I recall...
You're correct that he did engage in some interesting world building. However much I tried, I just could not really care about any of the characters he was populating it with. At first he seemed to have an interesting take on the "Man destined to same the universe" trope. Over time though, as I recall, I found myself hoping that he would just die so I wouldn't have to read about his bitching any more and not really caring if the big bad guy was ever stopped.