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In what is now officially the most-followed TTRPG launch in crowdfunding history, Renegade Game Studios has unleashed the Dungeon Crawler Carl Roleplaying Game on BackerKit. The project, which includes a core rulebook, Starter Set and tie-in card game, has already generated a whopping $5.3 million in the first 24 hours alone and shows no signs of slowing down. If it continues at its current rate before it wraps on May 15th, it has the potential to become one of the most successful tabletop RPG campaigns in crowdfunding history.
So is the new TTRPG take worthy of Princess Donut herself? Below, we loot all the details.
What are the Dungeon Crawler Carl novels about?
The Dungeon Crawler Carl book series follows the adventures of Carl, an average guy who finds himself barefoot in the snow with his ex-girlfriend’s prize-winning Himalayan cat, Princess Donut. Seconds later, every human-made structure on Earth collapses and most of the population is instantly killed. He soon learns that an alien conglomerate known as the Borant Corporation has effectively “claimed” the Earth, atomizing its resources to build a globe-spanning, 18-level “World Dungeon” that taps into many of the tropes of Dungeons & Dragons (including monsters, traps and magic items).
Carl and Donut are then forced to enter the dungeon along with other survivors, with their exploits broadcast to an intergalactic audience as a hyper-violent reality TV show. Along the way, Donut gains sapience and magic through a specialized pet biscuit, and the two must navigate floor-wide death matches, boss battles, eccentric aliens and an increasingly unhinged System AI that runs the show.
The publishing history of the series is a true indie success story. Author Matt Dinniman originally began writing the story as a web serial on Royal Road in 2020, drawing from his love for MMOs. The self-published series quickly gained a massive following and by 2024 was acquired by Ace Books. It now includes eight novels along with a variety of tie-in materials, including a graphic novel and TV adaptation. With millions of copies of the books now sold worldwide, the series has also become one of the most popular examples of the growing LitRPG genre.
What is the Dungeon Crawler Carl TTRPG?
Developed by Renegade Game Studios, the Dungeon Crawler Carl RPG is a skill-based D20 system. Players take on the role of Crawlers trapped in a post-apocalyptic reality show, with the Gamemaster taking on the role of the System AI. Players can choose from over 30 different species as featured in the books (such as Skyfowls, Primals and Caprids), as well as bizarre classes such as Fire Mage Arcanist, Former Child Actor and Shotgun Messenger.Â
Characters track five core stats: Strength, Intelligence, Constitution, Dexterity, and Charisma (Wisdom has been deliberately left out). The GM sets the Difficulty (using a base of 10), and players must roll over to succeed. One unique aspect, however, is that players roll, with the Gamemaster never touching the dice. Another unique features is that players can create their own custom Skills, covering everything from combat to social encounters.
What are the BackerKit options?
The primary products are the Dungeon Crawler Carl TTRPG core rulebook, Starter Set and a tie-in card came known as Dungeon Crawler Carl: Unstoppable. As with other big name BackerKits, there are also a wide range of accessories, including dice, stickers, tokens, a GM screen, cards, art prints, character sheets, miniatures and other items.
- Bronze ($55 USD): Includes the Starter Set in both physical and PDF format.
- Silver ($60 USD): Includes the Core Rulebook in both print and PDF.
- Gold Loot Box ($150 USD): Includes both the Starter Set and Core Book, the GM Screen and a set of tokens.
- Gold Plus+ ($210 USD): Adds the Unstoppable card game and the Crawler Chaos Expansion to everything in the Gold tier.
- Platinum Loot Box ($269 USD): Includes the Starter Set and Core Book, plus dice, stickers, art prints and other items.
- Legendary Loot Box ($399 USD): Includes everything for the RPG, plus three boxes of miniatures and campaign exclusives.
- Celestial Games Loot Box ($490 USD): Includes everything in the campaign across both the TTRPG and the card game.
Why we’re excited about the Dungeon Crawler Carl TTRPG
- A LitRPG classic: If you haven’t read Dungeon Crawler Carl yet the series is absolutely brilliant, with the material and characters practically begging to be turned into a TTPRG. In a way, it’s surprising it took this long!
- High production value: The art and design already looking amazing, but given the incredible amount of community support we’ve seen in a short period of time, we’re likely going to see a high bar when it comes to quality.
- Swag and add-ons: Many times the accessories included in crowdfunders feel like an after thought, but what’s included with this particular campaign looks absolutely amazing.
- History in the making: Raising over $5 million in the first day alone is an insane achievement worthy of Carl himself, and if nothing else it’ll be interesting to see just how big the campaign will go on BackerKit.
Final Thoughts
Dungeon Crawler Carl has always felt like a love letter to RPGs, so it’s great to see the series come full circle and get its own tabletop game. Throw in the series’ demented humor, bizarre setting and rapid fanbase, and it’s no surprise that the campaign has already blasting records on BackerKit.
We’ll be keeping a close eye on the campaign in the days ahead. In the meantime, if you’re ready to enter the World Dungeon, you can back it from now until May 15th, 2026 on BackerKit.