In the world of Matt Dinniman’s post-apocalyptic literary RPG series Dungeon Crawler Carl, the last survivors of Earth have to attract the attention of sponsors and patrons in order to receive the resources they need to advance in a brutal alien reality TV show. Getting that sort of support doesn’t seem to be a problem for Renegade Game Studios, which has racked up more than $5.5 million to create tabletop games based on Dinniman’s books in a BackerKit campaign that went live on April 14.
The campaign broke records before it even began, becoming the most followed tabletop role-playing crowdfunding project of all time with 65,000 followers at launch. It was funded in less than a minute and has unlocked its first 13 stretch goals, which include cards representing loot and achievements, sticker bundles, and art prints.
The TTRPG will let players explore Borant’s World Dungeon as characters from the series, like Carl and the extremely charismatic psychic cat Princess Donut, or build their own Crawlers by choosing from more than 30 playable races and a huge roster of classes. There are also rules for making your own skills, classes, backgrounds, and races. Much like in the books, players need to make it to the third floor of the dungeon before they can unlock some of these options and further tune their builds.
The World Dungeon in Dungeon Crawler Carl comes with a tutorial and so does this game. A starter set offers everything you need to dive into the setting’s early floors, while the 300-page Core Rulebook is focused on the tougher challenges players encounter in floors 3 to 5. The book will provide game masters with mechanics for dungeon neighborhoods, saferooms, loot, and mobs so they can design their own challenges for Crawlers. Other goodies in the campaign include miniatures, a character journal, and dice. Backers can also buy a season pass to receive access to six pieces of digital content that will begin dropping in November.
Dungeon Crawler Carl fans who don’t have a party to explore with can pick up Unstoppable, a card crafting game based on the system introduced by John D. Clair in 2016’s Mystic Vale. Unstoppable will let one or two players take on a single floor of the dungeon or keep venturing deeper as part of a campaign mode.
The Dungeon Crawler Carl BackerKit campaign runs through May 15. The Cyberpunk TCG became Kickstarter’s biggest game ever by raising nearly $20 million in a campaign that kicked off in March, so Renegade has plenty of time to challenge that crowdfunding dominance as backers keep shelling out for legendary loot boxes.
