News Roundup: Dungeon Crawler Carl Kicks Down Crowdfunding Doors

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Dungeon Crawler Carl is the big story this week, raising big numbers. We also have new reveals for Daggerheart, a new AP for Dungeons and Dragons and a lot more.

Dungeon Crawler Carl TTRPG and Board Games Break Crowdfunding Records

The big story this week for me has been the Dungeon Crawler Carl TTRPG/board game Backerkit campaign, which has been a massive success. The campaign raised more than $4 million on its first day and has raised over $6 million as of Friday evening. The campaign is raising funds for a board game and a TTRPG set in the same setting.

Dungeon Crawler Carl, for the uninitiated, is an immensely popular novel in the LitRPG genre. DCC is about Carl, who must survive an intergalactic game show resembling a fantasy dungeon crawl after aliens take over Earth. The author, Matt Dinniman, has released seven volumes and has an eighth one scheduled to release in May. The first seven books have sold an estimated six million copies, according to the New York Times.

The books’ success shouldn’t surprise observers, since DCC fans are often TTRPG fans themselves. I first learned about DCC from a professional GM friend who could not stop talking about the books. And yet, I will admit I have not read them. It’s on my to-do list…my very long to-do list.

But I do believe it is highly likely that the campaign will continue to excel in the coming days despite a lack of clarity around how the TTRPG itself will work (as noted by Rascal’s Lin Codega.) The authors have released basic rules, but I still have a lot of questions about how this game works.

It remains unclear whether or not DCC will beat the Cosmere RPG, a TTRPG from Brotherwise Games that raised over $14 million in 2024 to produce games based on Brandon Sanderson’s fantasy novels, and become the most funded TTRPG crowdfunding campaign to date.

Daggerheart: Hope and Fear Unveils Covers, Opens Preorders

Daggerheart: Hope & Fear is the first expansion for Darrington Press’ extremely popular TTRPG. The Critical Role-affiliated publisher announced dates for when the game will be available in stores while also revealing the new cover art (featured above.)

The new expansion will release as a regular book and a deluxe edition (complete with a GM screen, dice, cards and tokens.)

Fans can now preorder both versions of the game on Darrington Press’ online store. The book is scheduled to be released on September 22.

The book, as TTRPG Insider covered during PAX Unplugged last year, will contain four new classes, multiple lineages, and four official frameworks for storytellers to use as they see fit.

Dungeons and Dragons Announces New Ravenloft Actual Play

Wizards of the Coast announced it is creating a new actual-play titled Dungeon Masters. The campaign stars Dungeon Masters stars Jasmine Bhullar (DesiQuest, Dimension 20) as the Dungeon Master, Mayanna Berrin (Dispatch, StoryQuest), Christian Navarro (13 Reasons Why, Forgotten Realms: Tears of Selune), Neil Newbon (Baldur’s Gate III), and Devora Wilde (Baldur’s Gate III).

The first season will focus on Ravenloft, the new book published in June. Nearly all of the new characters appear to be made with Ravenloft subclasses and lineages.

“Dungeon Masters brings a truly authentic and original experience to our fans, with all of the fun, high-tension moments, drama and adventure built from official D&D material,” said Dan Ayoub, SVP and Head of Dungeons & Dragons at Wizards of the Coast in a press statement.  “In many ways, Dungeon Masters is our love letter to the actual play shows that have introduced so many to D&D. Our aim with Dungeon Masters is to crystallize all that’s great about actual play – the tension, drama, and unpredictable nature – and put our stamp on it with upcoming official source material. We’re so excited to see how Dungeon Masters can inspire even more adventure from our players, and in turn, see how they inspire us to make the show better and better.” 

The one odd aspect is that D&D Beyond tried to promote this project as the first “official AP,” a claim that AP scholar Emily Friedman notes is inaccurate. The company has had previous partnerships with creators like Acquisitions Incorporated (hell, they even had their own SOURCEBOOK built around Baldur’s Gate!).

GeekNative also noted questions about whether this AP may run into legal issues if it doesn’t disclose that it is an advertisement

Personally, my only gripe is a lack of Jennifer English (Shadowheart from BG3) who would play so well off of Newbon and Wilde. Personally, I love watching their con interviews and TikToks. But maybe they’ll appear in a future season.

The first two episodes premiere on April 22.

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I got to write a piece over at ANIME HERALD about how we’re seeing games like SWORD WORLD, GHOST IN THE SHELL and ATTACK ON TITAN release in 2026. There have been a few other announcements since I wrote the piece, but it just went live and I’d love to see you support Anime Herald, who is covering their own part of the fandom space.

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