Dungeon Crawler Carl has gone from a relatively niche LitRPG series to one of the genre’s most surprising success stories in just a few short years. Matt Dinniman’s chaotic adventures of Carl and Princess Donut have exploded in popularity through both the novels and Jeff Hays’ acclaimed audiobooks, with the eighth installment, A Parade of Horribles, becoming an instant #1 New York Times bestseller following its May 2026 release.

The mainline story is now approaching its end, with Dinniman working on Book 9, currently carrying the working title The Beautiful Place, which is expected to conclude the series across two physical volumes. However, the Dungeon Crawler Carl is poised to expand into a full-blown juggernaut IP spanning various mediums in the coming years.

One of its biggest expansions yet arrives later this year with the official Dungeon Crawler Carl RPG, giving fans the chance to enter the World Dungeon themselves and marking the official next major release for the franchise this November (via RGS).

Dungeon Crawler Carl‘s official tabletop RPG generated more than $13 million through its record-breaking crowdfunding campaign, proving just how popular the franchise has become lately. Those backers should be among the first players to enter the World Dungeon, as Renegade Game Studios has said physical crowdfunding fulfillment is scheduled to begin in October 2026, although the enormous number of orders means fulfillment is expected to take roughly six to eight weeks rather than arriving for everyone simultaneously.

The campaign previously targeted October delivery, with Renegade saying it hoped backers would be playing by Thanksgiving. That said, digital copies of the RPG materials have already begun going out to eligible backers ahead of physical fulfillment.

Everyone else will not have much longer to wait beyond that, fortunately. Renegade currently lists the Dungeon Crawler Carl Roleplaying Game and its related products for a November 2026 retail release, with the company previously specifying that the wider retail launch is planned for late November. The Core Rulebook and Starter Set are also available to preorder, alongside accessories including miniatures, dice, a GM screen, and more.

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The RPG itself is a skill-based tabletop system designed to recreate the books’ deadly televised World Dungeon. Players can step into the roles of established characters such as Carl, Princess Donut, Florin, and Prepotente, or create an original crawler using dozens of races, classes, backgrounds, and skills.

Campaigns incorporate familiar Dungeon Crawler Carl concepts including achievements, viewers and followers, loot boxes, crafting, bosses, rival crawlers, gods, factions, and the ever-present System AI. Renegade is already planning continued support through expansions and a digital Season Pass running from November 2026 through October 2027.

The crowdfunding campaign also covered Dungeon Crawler Carl: Unstoppable, a separate solo or two-player cooperative card-crafting game designed by John D. Clair. Players initially control Carl or Donut, physically upgrading sleeved cards as they battle through the dungeon.

The base game covers the first three floors, while the Iron Tangle expansion adds the Fourth Floor and Crawler Chaos introduces additional playable characters. Like the RPG, Unstoppable is currently scheduled for retail in November 2026, giving Dungeon Crawler Carl fans a lot to look forward to this Fall.

Publisher(s)

Penguin Random House

Publication Date

September 21, 2020

Number of Pages

444

ISBN#

979-8688591507