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

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

 

[ffanxii4ever]

I am very curious about these games (probably the card game more, since I find it hard to imagine running the RPG as it plays in the novels), but until there is more specific info about how they both work, I am not willing to lay out the bucks. Hopefully, I will get a chance to pick up both or either after the fact, if it turns out to be mechanically appealing and something I might actually get to play.

From the little that they have shown in the video linked on the Backerkit, and in the preview docs on the Backerkit, it's not doing anything crazy, mechanically speaking, but it's not just a D&D clone with one or two changes, which I am very happy about.

d20 + Stat Modifier + Skill ranks vs. a target number; meet or beat by 9 or less you get a basic success, beat it by 10 or more and you get a better success, Nat 20 gives a critical success. Nat 1 is a critical failure, and if you only fail by 1 or 2, you get a near hit/partial success.

It uses the same stats as D&D, minus Wisdom (since modifying people's Wisdom has unintentionally effects, according to canon), but is significantly more skill-focused, where most things have a unique skill associated with them. They have Attack Skills, Spell Skills, Utility Skills (noncombat, crafting, etc...), and Passive Skills - going off of the books, I fully expect a massive list of skills, since many skills in the books are pretty specific. Also they are going to have rules for Skill (and Race and Class) creation, so while they have a lot of mechanics that are named the same, it is a much more generic system.

There's some more details in the various sources that I linked, but I definitely am interested in seeing more details, hopefully before the campaign ends. Maybe I've just been spoiled by other games, but if Renegade is targeting a digital release around October of this year, I would expect that everything is more-or-less ironed out so I'm hoping for an Actual Play or something before the end of the campaign.

 

[Parmandur]

I’m a big fan of the books but I’m unsure if I’ll ever play this so I haven’t decided to back it yet.
Great to see the series is becoming so popular - hopefully the TV show also does well.

I'm not sure the book is to my taste fully, but enjoying getting into the first one now. Lit-RPG is one of the first things to give me real "Get Off My Lawn, You Darn Kids" energy, but I'm happy for the people who like it.

 

[el-remmen]

There’s a video all about the mechanics on the page.

I didn't scroll down far enough the first time! Thanks! I am still on the fence, tho. If I for certain had people to play with I would probably wouldn't hesitate as much - but leaning card game over RPG at this point.

 

[el-remmen]

I'm not sure the book is to my taste fully, but enjoying getting into the first one now. Lit-RPG is one of the first things to give me real "Get Off My Lawn, You Darn Kids" energy, but I'm happy for the people who like it.

They definitely get better, which is not to say you should slog through if you detest the first one, but I was kinda ambivalent after the first one but got sucked in by the second. However, all that being said, I think the audio book version is better than the print book.

 

[Umbran]

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.

Oh, do not let the boxer shorts fool you. Dungeon Crawler Carl is both dark and serious. It is also kind of absurd, but in context, that absurdity is also dark and serious.

 

[el-remmen]

it's not doing anything crazy, mechanically speaking, but it's not just a D&D clone with one or two changes, which I am very happy about.

I am just concerned that with all the skill bonuses, situational stuff, achievements, gear, that actual play will feel a little too crunchy fiddly, which is great when you have an AI + HUD to handle it all, but not so great during tabletop play. But gonna have to see it in action.

 

[el-remmen]

Oh, do not let the boxer shorts fool you. Dungeon Crawler Carl is both dark and serious. It is also kind of absurd, but in context, that absurdity is also dark and serious.

Yes. They were surprisingly more explicitly political than I thought they would be without being direct allegory (which is personally a draw for me).

 

[the Jester]

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.

It wasn't the humor for me, it was that the creatures that were supposed to be alien were too human. I've noticed that that can kill my interest in a story before.

 

[Umbran]

I am just concerned that with all the skill bonuses, situational stuff, achievements, gear, that actual play will feel a little too crunchy fiddly, which is great when you have an AI + HUD to handle it all, but not so great during tabletop play. But gonna have to see it in action.

Yeah, that's a possibility.

Weird tidbit that makes me think about the game's intent and pacing - a "session" is expected to be two hours of play.

Thinking about the design choices, I think I've realized there's a difference between, "designed to feel like you are in a Dungeon Crawler Carl book", and "designed to be playing the RPG Carl is playing, but tabletop instead of Carl's live action".

Those are actually two different design goals. For the former, I'd have chosen a more narrative approach, I think. But for the latter, obviously not.

 

[gnarlygninja]

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.

I hate (most of) the humor in the books but still enjoyed them quite a lot. For me part of the initial draw is that the situation Carl finds himself in is horrific, and the books don't really shy away from that.