Dungeon Crawler Carl is breaking crowdfunder records

Launched just this week, funded its $250K goal in under a minute, and currently sitting at nearly $5.5M with a month left to go, Dungeon Crawler Carl is already the third biggest TTRPG crowdfunder in history, with a strong chance of climbing to the #1 position.

Based on Matt Dinniman's novel series, which features the titular hero Carl and a cat which belonged to his ex-girlfriend, forced to compete in an intergalactic Running Man-style reality show centered round a deadly dungeon crawl. The World Dungeon is a massive megadungeon created by an alien corporation, and livestreamed across the universe. The players take on the role of crawlers, tasked with surviving the dungeon.

The crowdfunder by Renegade Game Studios includes not just the Dungeon Crawler Carl TTRPG, but also a deck-building card game, and more merchandise than you can shake a stick at--dice, bags, screens, miniatures, trays, playmats, stickers, journals, cards, and more.

The campaign also includes a 'season pass' which gets you digital content throughout the year.

The current leader in the Million Dollar Crowdfunder Club is 2024's Brandon Sanderson's Cosmere RPG, which came in at $14.4M, followed by 2021's Avatar Legends: The Roleplaying Game, which made $9.3M. Dungeon Crawler Carl currently sits in 3rd place with $5.4M and climbing.

The TTRPG is a d20 'skill-based TTRPG' and features 30+ playable races, backgrounds, and a 'massive class roster'. It has five stats--the D&D stats, but with Wisdom removed. Skills are divided into attack, spell, utility, and passive skills. A skill check is--as you'd expect-- a d20 plus modifiers compared to a target number. As part of the megadungeon's conceit, the actual floor number of the dungeon (in the novels that goes from 1-18) is added to the target number, meaning all tasks are more difficult the further you progress. One feature of DCC is that GMs do not make skill checks; only the players do.

Speaking of 'DCC", many are abbreviating this to the 'DCC' RPG, which is bound to create confusion with Goodman Games' existing Dungeon Crawl Classics, which uses the same abbreviation.

Update—Renegade has reached out to clarify that they do not intend to use the abbreviation ‘DCC’ and instead recommend that people use “CarlRPG’.

Dungeon Crawler Carl is on Backerkit right now, and ends on May 15th.

 

[doctorhook]

I'm no expert, but I believe the online shorthand for the Carl books has been 'DCC' for a long time, so despite the best of intentions I think the publishers etc might be spitting against the tide on this one.

Not a lawyer, but I believe the onus is on Goodman Games to defend their trademarks. I don’t have my book in front of me to check if they list DCC as one of their trademarks, but but Dungeon Crawler Carl came much much later than Dungeon Crawl Classics did.

 

[humble minion]

Not a lawyer, but I believe the onus is on Goodman Games to defend their trademarks. I don’t have my book in front of me to check if they list DCC as one of their trademarks, but but Dungeon Crawler Carl came much much later than Dungeon Crawl Classics did.

I don't know either (and after being thoroughly schooled by one of ENWorld's resident lawyers on an unrelated matter a while ago, I've learned my lesson and will refrain from speculation!)

However, I don't think it's the Carl RPG people calling the Carl RPG 'DDC'. I believe it's the customers, and the fans of the Carl books, while the publisher has actually ASKED that the product be referred to as 'CarlRPG'. So the Carl publishers seem to be deliberately avoiding treating on Goodman's toes, but there's probably not much anyone can do about the online zeitgeist. It's like when Xerox desperately tried to stop people generically calling photocopying 'xeroxing' no matter the brand of machine.

 

[Parmandur]

Not a lawyer, but I believe the onus is on Goodman Games to defend their trademarks. I don’t have my book in front of me to check if they list DCC as one of their trademarks, but but Dungeon Crawler Carl came much much later than Dungeon Crawl Classics did.

Yeah, but as long as the company is not doing it themselves and actively makes an effort to discourage the DCC moniker...not much of a legal case, even if DCC means Dungeon Crawler Carl in Sci-Fi/Fantasy circles now.

 

[Maxperson]

I've heard mixed reviews of the novels as well. You either love the style of humor in them, or you don't. I'm hesitant to start it as my tastes tend to lie in darker more serious stories.

The tone changes over the course of the novels. The later novels have a very different tone than the first few. I'm really enjoying the story progression.

 

[saviirkad]

The tone changes over the course of the novels. The later novels have a very different tone than the first few. I'm really enjoying the story progression.

I agree. I got surprisingly hooked, it's not normally my thing, and the shift has been greatly appreciated. Haven't devoured books this fast since I was in my 20s; only got into them mid last month and I'm on the last book before the next releases in a week or so.

 

[Maxperson]

I agree. I got surprisingly hooked, it's not normally my thing, and the shift has been greatly appreciated. Haven't devoured books this fast since I was in my 20s; only got into them mid last month and I'm on the last book before the next releases in a week or so.

Me, too! I'm about 80% of the way through the book 7 right now. Already have book 8 pre-ordered.