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What is pre-shipping?
Since stock arrives at the shipping warehouse in huge pallets it has to be counted and sorted so that the warehouse knows they have what they need to fill orders and that they have enough of the correct packing supplies. This step comes before address confirmation in order to ensure that they have enough stock to fulfill orders or so they can contact us if something doesn’t add up.
We'll continue monitoring progress across all regions and sharing updates as fulfillment moves forward.
We’ll be back next week with another shipping update, along with a full update with details on timing and more for our upcoming VTT releases for the RPG (spoiler: all good news)! Just a few final details to line up with our partners between now and then. Thanks so much for your patience as we’ve coordinated with and gathered information from our four VTT partners.
Until then, have a wonderful weekend and we’ll talk to you next week, Crawlers!
Yesterday's update was intended to provide transparency and context around our decision-making process. But after reading your responses, it's clear that our approach to retail backers hasn't sat right with many of you.
Everyone on this team cares deeply about this project and the people in this community who made it possible. We won't always get everything right, and part of honoring that support is being willing to acknowledge where we could have done better and learn from your feedback.
Thank you for your feedback and support. We've put a lot of ourselves into these games, and we really hope you have a blast when they arrive. Getting to make something you can enjoy around a table with friends and family means a lot to us, and we’re grateful you gave us the chance to bring this world to life.
I'm Nick Medinger, Senior E-Commerce Manager at Renegade Game Studios, and I'm overseeing fulfillment for the Dungeon Crawler Carl campaign.
I want to personally address some of the concerns we've seen about shipping progress and retail availability.
First, we understand how frustrating it is to still be waiting for your pledge while seeing copies of the game available in stores. You helped make this project possible, and you deserve clear answers about what's happening, why it's happening, and when you can expect your games.
Are We Still on Schedule?
With those processes established, shipping has accelerated significantly. Our US warehouse shipped over 2,500 packages on Sunday alone. Our fulfillment partners are also now operating six days per week (Sunday–Friday).
Why Do Stores Have Games Before Some Backers?
Your Backer-Exclusive Rewards
- All Backers: Included Dungeon Crawler Carl RPG Soundboard from Soundbooth Theater.
- All Backers: Included Jeff Hays audio narration of the Dungeon Crawler Carl RPG Core Rulebook.
- All Backers: Included Jeff Hays audio narration of the Archie short story included in Dungeon Crawler Carl: Unstoppable.
- All Physical Tiers: Included Floor 7 & Floor 10 Mordecai miniatures.
- All RPG Tiers: Included PDFs for the RPG Core Rulebook & Starter Set
- All RPG Tiers: 10x Included Digital RPG Bonus Content drops throughout 2027
- Legendary and Celestial tiers: Included VTT modules for the Starter Set and Core Rulebook on Roll20, Alchemy, and Foundry.
- And, of course, campaign backers also benefited from discounted bundle pricing, offering savings compared to purchasing each item individually at full MSRP through retail.
These additional rewards are made possible by your participation in the crowdfunding campaign and are not included with in-store retail purchases.
We recognize that these benefits don't make waiting for your games any easier, but we want to reinforce that your support as a backer is valued and comes with rewards that people who buy the game at retail will not receive.
Why Haven't I Received Tracking Yet?
- Shipping order: Pledges are not being fulfilled by backer number, pledge date, or tier. Each warehouse processes orders based on logistics and efficiency.
- Multiple shipments: Some pledges will arrive in separate packages, including items such as art prints.
- Tracking notifications: These may not arrive immediately. US backers can use FedEx Delivery Manager to monitor incoming shipments.
- International orders: Regional fulfillment partners are working through their respective shipping schedules, and we'll continue sharing regional progress.
If your shipment arrives with missing or damaged items, please contact [email protected] with your BackerKit email, pledge confirmation number, and relevant photos.
What Happens Next?
We know many of you are eager to get your games, and we appreciate your patience as our teams work to get approximately 90,000 packages into backers' hands around the world.
Senior E-Commerce Manager, Campaign Fulfillment Lead
Renegade Game Studios
These emails aren’t going out all at once to prevent email servers from being rate-limited so don’t worry if you haven’t gotten yours yet.
What do you think? Will you let your personal AI lie to crawlers? Should you TELL your crawlers that the AI might be able to lie?
Shipping is still on track to be completed before the retail release date of the games!
- Head to https://tvtropes.org/
- Hit the Random Trope button
- Come up with an achievement with the same name, bonus points if there’s a good media reference in there.
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UPDATE 2:
Huzzah! As of just a few minutes ago all of the errored codes and missing add-ons should be fixed! Check your digital downloads and try your codes again and if you're still having trouble and you've tried all the troubleshooting in our FAQ post from yesterday then fill out the form at the bottom of the post.
Original post:
Hello Crawlers! Making this a community post so that folks don't get a fourth email from me in 2 days and so I can pin it. As of this morning I have emails/comments/DM inbox of errored codes that I've got to assist one by one so forgive me if it's a little slow-going!
We're working with Backerkit to figure out where exactly these errors came from and hopefully once we nail down the problem we can smush a few gerbils and get back in the AI's good graces.
I'm going to attempt to go through all the comments from when I logged off last night to this morning but if you've had a code error or some other kind of redemption problem and see this please comment it here as well!
Until then, this fish will be sending out lots of messages and answering DMs.
Thanks for your patience, crawlers!
-Rina/Zev 🐟
UPDATE:
We've made a form to hopefully get through these a little faster! Please submit any errors
HERE
Project Update: SAVE THIS UPDATE! CARLRPG PDF REDEMPTION INSTRUCTIONS
Did You Finish Your Survey?
You will only be able to access the digital downloads page and the download codes on August 25th if you have completed your survey before 11:59 PM PST on Sunday August 23rd.
If you have not finished your survey before the above deadline you will not be able to access your files until we charge taxes/VAT/shipping in mid-to-late September.
Pay Over Time Backers who just completed their final installment had surveys sent out TODAY.
If you can’t find your survey, follow this link: https://dungeon-crawler-carl-rpg.backerkit.com/ and use the email linked to your pledge.
My final payment didn’t get withdrawn / My card errored / My stupid cocker spaniel ate my debit card.
If your payment details aren’t up to date, BackerKit will continue attempting to charge your card periodically for up to 14 business days. Please update your card information as soon as possible.
Once your final payment has been successfully processed and your survey is complete, you’ll see a link to your digital codes at the end of your survey.
How are 55,000+ Crawlers going to download these files at the same time?
We asked ourselves that same question! And we came up with a plan we think even Mordecai would approve of.
We’ll be sending the redemption codes in waves throughout the day on August 25th, starting early in the morning, to ensure that our system runs smoothly and we don’t create any frustrating bottlenecks.
Redemption codes will be sent in the following order:
- Celestial Backers — First wave
- Legendary, Platinum, & Gold Backers — Next two waves
- Silver, Bronze, & Tunnel Tuners — Final wave
We’ll give a couple hours between each wave, and everyone who has paid for their pledge and finished their survey before the Sunday August 23rd deadline will get their codes on August 25th.
Steps For Redemption
Step 1. Make Sure You Have a Renegade Webstore Account
You can create your account now so you are ready to redeem your PDFs on August 25!
- Create an account for US/CANADA/AUSTRALIA/REGIONS OUTSIDE EU & UK webstore
- Create an account for UK webstore
- Create an account EU webstore
Step 2. Obtain Your Unique Redemption Code(s)
- On August 25, you’ll receive an email from Renegade Game Studios with the subject line: New Digital Content for Dungeon Crawler Carl RPG + Unstoppable on BackerKit.
- In the email, click the Click Here link.
This will take you to your Downloads page on BackerKit, where you’ll find your unique code(s). If you purchased both the Core Rulebook and Starter Set, you will receive two redemption codes. If you purchased only one of these items, you’ll just see one code.
If you are reading this after August 25th and can’t find this email, there are instructions for finding your redemption codes through your BackerKit profile at the end of this post!
Step 3: You’ve Got Your code(s)! Now Redeem Your PDF(s) on the Renegade Webstore
US/CA/AU/NZ/Regions Outside EU & UK: https://renegadegamestudios.com/carl-rpg-code-bk-code-redeem
EU: https://eu.renegadegamestudios.com/carl-rpg-code-bk-code-redeem
UK: https://uk.renegadegamestudios.com/carl-rpg-code-bk-code-redeem
Add either the Starter Set or Core Rulebook to your cart.
If you purchased both, do not add both to the same cart. You will only be able to input one coupon code per order. So if you have access to both the Starter Set PDFs and the Corebook PDFs you will need to place 2 separate orders. This is a technical limitation of the system and there is no workaround for this.
On the checkout screen there will be a section for a coupon code. Paste your code into that box and the price will drop to $0. Then finish the checkout process.
With the code:
(Optional) Step 4: Return to the Redemption Page and Redeem Your Second PDF Code
This is a technical limitation of the system and there is no workaround for this.
Step 5: Download Your Files
Click the small blue arrow next to the PDF on the list and then follow the onscreen directions to download your PDF.
You will now see a list of downloadable files associated with the item in your order.
Clicking on a file name will begin the automated watermarking process. You will see different messages as the watermarking process progresses.
Once the watermarking process is complete the PDF will either download or automatically open in your browser depending on how your browser is configured.
Step 6: Kill, Kill, Kill!
Best Practices
- Being logged into your Renegade account when redeeming your code will help you in the future. If you forget to do this it is very difficult for you to find your order, and hence download your PDFs at a later date. Being logged into your account ensures that you will have easy access to your PDFs at any time.
- Being on a strong, stable internet connection will help your experience of downloading your PDFs. If you are on a weak internet connection the watermarking/downloading process takes longer and may fail. We find this most often happens with customers attempting to download PDFs while they are on their mobile devices not connected to a stable WiFi connection.
- Only click on each file one time. Clicking multiple times will add multiple files to the queue increasing the time for other people attempting to download their own PDFs.
Step 2A: I didn’t get my download email on August 25th
- Head to your Backerkit profile and locate the Dungeon Crawler Carl RPG + Unstoppable project link, either in Your Surveys or Past Surveys.
- Click Dungeon Crawler Carl RPG + Unstoppable
- The address/order confirmation page will also have a button that says Get Your Digital Downloads.
Engaged with this project 20+ times 🌟
2nd Highest Funded Campaign in Backerkit.com History! $12M+ Raised! $50K+ Crawlers Backers! Good afternoon, Crawlers! Those are some BIG, EXCITING numbers! And we’re just getting started. The campaign may be winding down, but the time has arrived for us to share the DCC Bopca Community Center Shared Drive with the entire community. Here it is: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1ZvVoTt3bVChrvpda1MESpHQ0PKFEDaxC This link will grant viewer access to everything we have compiled over the course of the campaign. It Contains: AI vs Crawlers DCC CCS W+W: Bedlam and Ruin Deceased Crawler Poet Society Guess Who? DCC Definitive Crawler # Codex Fan Created Art Gallery Once again, we the creators, would like to thank all of you. Without you, this project wouldn’t exist. By the Community, For the Community. Enjoy! The Team at DCC BCC: DeaDPaN79, The Wombat Mafia, JackWreckem, Jessica Fates, Barry, The Royal Grumble, Seladriana, Ian O’H, Brenden Harden, Mark Harrison Check out our “new and improved” Logo Created by Brenden Harden: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1zGXQ-q4j7_wb1XRhBo0EmFpyvePvWRYs
Engaged with this project 20+ times 🌟
Hello again, Renegade. I'm putting this in two places: I responded to the last update on shipping, and I'm also posting here in the community so people can weigh in, talk about their experiences, discuss what kinds of things would make them feel heard and how to repair the relationship that many feel has been damaged. I've posted about this before, and I know I'm far from the only backer who has raised these concerns. I'm writing again because, despite the updates, explanations, and apology, I don't feel the underlying issues have been adequately addressed. This campaign raised $13,298,059 from 55,972 backers, against an original goal of $250,000. That's a MASSIVE show of support from a community that loves Dungeon Crawler Carl and wanted to help bring these games to life. Almost 60,000 backers- that's a Midwestern town's population that showed up and said, "We want to help" Many of us didn't just contribute money. We playtested, provided feedback, promoted the project on our social media, hyped our friends about it, and invested our time because we believed in it WE wanted YOU to succeed in this. I was one of those playtesters, and my name is in the books. I volunteered because I love tabletop gaming and wanted to help in a small way to create something amazing that I could share with my friends. So please understand where this frustration comes from. We see products available in brick-and-mortar stores while individual backers are still waiting for their pledges. In some cases, customers can purchase those products at a discount, without paying the shipping costs we paid. We've seen reports of damaged products, inadequate packaging, missing items, and shipping complications. And more and more, we're seeing backers say they won't support another Renegade campaign or purchase from the company again. People aren't just disappointed; they are furious. Just look at some of these comments, the fights and division in the comments, a game that should have brought close to 60,000 people together in joy instead is causing people to lash out. That should concern you. I understand that retailers who backed the campaign are backers too. I've read your explanation about separate freight and fulfillment systems. I also recognize that shipping tens of thousands of packages worldwide is an enormous undertaking, and I appreciate the work being done to get those packages delivered. But explaining how something happened isn't the same as addressing whether it should have happened or what you're going to do about it. You have acknowledged that allowing retailers to sell their copies while individual backers were still waiting was a decision that upset many supporters. You've apologized and said you'll learn from this experience. Thank you for that acknowledgment. But what does it mean for us, the people supporting this campaign right now? What steps are you willing ti take to rebuild the goodwill that's been lost? Can you explain how damaged shipments and other fulfillment problems are being handled? Can you tell us whether any meaningful gesture toward your backers is being considered? I want to specifically acknowledge CircaNOW73, who shared the example of Heavy Metal magazine and how its team responded when backers experienced a similar situation. That example wasn't about handing out millions of dollars in free merchandise. It was about a company recognizing that it had damaged its relationship with supporters and making a genuine effort to rebuild that relationship. They found ways to recognize their backers, make them feel valued, and turn frustration into renewed enthusiasm. I'm not suggesting Renegade needs to copy that approach exactly. But I think the underlying lesson deserves serious consideration. We aren't asking for the impossible. We're asking you to show us that our concerns matter enough to inspire action, not just another acknowledgment. The weekly shipping numbers are encouraging. I'm glad packages are moving. I'm happy for everyone who has received their games, and I'm genuinely looking forward to receiving mine. But shipping the products we've already paid for isn't, by itself, a response to the loss of trust, its what you agreed to do as part of us stepping up and pledging to support the game. I don't want to see this community continue to become divided between people who are angry and people who think those backers should simply stop complaining. We all supported this project because we love Dungeon Crawler Carl. I don't want Renegade to fail. I want you to succeed. I want to recommend your games, support your future projects, and feel good about having helped bring this one to life. Right now, though, I think you're losing people who genuinely wanted to be your customers for years to come. Please don't let the final lesson of a $13.3 million campaign be that backers should have waited and bought their games at a store. Talk to us. Address the specific concerns. Tell us what, if anything, you're prepared to do for the community that helped make this possible. We want to crawl. We'd also like to feel that the company we helped support still wants us along for the journey. Thank you for reading. Damion J. Brooks Backer and DCC RPG Playtester
Engaged with this project 20+ times 🌟
Latest OH SHIP Update: 1:30 PM 11/9/26 Fulfilled: 36,779 / 90,000 packages (40.8656 %) Packages Remaining: 53,221 Packages shipped today: 6,206 Packages shipped last shipping day: 6,844 Days until November 23rd: 13 days (after today, not including the 23rd) Saturdays (non-shipping days): 2 Total shipping days remaining: 11 59,427 / 11 = 4,838.2727 Renegade needs to ship a minimum of 4,839 packages per day for the next 11 shipping days to reach their fulfilment goal of getting all 90,000 packages to backers before the retail release date of November 23rd. Just some more data to think about.
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