There is a Dungeon Crawler Carl RPG coming out. By this I mean a pen and paper RPG, not a video game RPG. I already have the PDF’s for it and I’ll get a physical copy as well. But one of the questions I’ve though about, while waiting for that to come out is how would it work in Dungeons and Dragons. Because Dungeon Crawler Carl has similar systems but it’s own system. So let’s say that you just want to play it in D&D, could you do it?

Dungeon Crawler Carl Plot Synopsis

First off, let’s just refresh for those folks who might not know what Dungeon Crawler Carl is. I wrote an article/review on it not too long ago. And I am reading book 7 out of 8 right now. But it’s Earth and aliens harvest all the resources from Earth. Now, your options are survive on the surface where there aren’t many resources left. Or you can go into the dungeon and that is going to be televised across the universe. If you survive this dungeon long enough you can get taken out and get a job. But is that worth it, for Carl, the answer is yes.

The Differences

So let’s talk about the differences. Firstly, Dungeon Crawler Carl is not a system with a leveling cap to it. Or at least in the books that is not something that has been hit. So that is different from Dungeons and Dragons. In D&D you go up to level 20 and then that is it.

The other big thing is how you level up. You level up and you get to put points into stats. As well as then your skills and abilities level up. In Dungeons and Dragons terms think of it like the following. You go up to level five and you gain the spell fireball. You cast it a whole bunch of times. And after you cast it enough times it just goes up in level. You can now always cast it just a level higher even if you haven’t leveled up. Even if you don’t have a spell slot at that level.

How To Makes Dungeon Crawler Carl Work in D&D

Let’s now talk about how you make it work. I’m not too worried about the level cap for this. I think that is the element that is easiest to work around. Especially with how crazy Dungeon Crawler Carl is. I think that you can make that work at level 20 and maybe do some smaller milestone leveling or split up what you get at a level to stretch it out and give more of those rewards you expect from the book.

Leveling

But let me break down leveling even a little bit more. And let’s use the fighter as an example. If you are playing in the world of Dungeon Crawler Carl you start as a level 0 character. You get into the Dungeon and at the third floor you go from a nobody to a fighter.

Now, even before that you can start to get some skills. But we’ll talk about that in the next section. But when you hit level three of the Dungeon you become a level 1 fighter in Dungeons and Dragons terms.

Now what happens when you continue to go up in levels. You fight more monsters, and in Dungeon Crawler Carl you would go up to level 10 pretty quickly and then level 40 or 50. I think I would do something I’m going to term as micro-leveling.

Let’s use level 4 as an example because it’s easy and it’s the same for every class. At level 4 you get an ability skill increase. Now that is going to be adding in two points your ability scores. Well, instead of doing that you do a level 4a, a level 4b, and a level 4c. Level 4a is going to give you an ability point you can spend how you want. Then level 4b gives you your level up hit dice. And finally level 4c gives you your final ability point to spend.

Skills and Spells

So the next hard thing is going to be how do you handle skills and spells. As I mentioned in the differences section, in Dungeon Crawler Carl those things level up separately from everything else. And I think that there are ways to make that work as well. And that is just by scaling benefits for things. Now that is going to mess up how you calculate difficulties in a Dungeon Crawler Carl D&D campaign, but it is workable.

Spells

And maybe it is even that you start out with things weaker and then level them up. Let’s give fireball as an example. Your character learns the spell fireball. A normal fireball in Dungeons and Dragons does 8d6 fire damage, that is eight six sided dice. Well, what if it starts out at 4d6. That is still strong, you can give it out early and the more the player uses it, the more D6 damage that it can do.

Skills

Or, what about a ability skill check or saving throw? I think that things like expertise could help with that. Now that is going to again scale up your leveling plans, at least I’d assume so. But there are some things to do to make this work as well. As they level up and as you get more points in your proficiency bonus, give a % based boost of expertise. You are really good at perception, you are proficient with it, cool, you get that +2. You use it more, now you are at 125%, rounded up, so a +3. Then you level up to a level where you get +3 naturally for your proficiency, you are +4 now. You go up to 150%, you are +5.

A similar thing can be done with weapon damage or attack bonuses. And even things like the rogues sneak attack ability. Treat it like the fireball. Less damage at first but then it ramps up into that.

Loot

Finally, I didn’t mention loot before, but loot is something that is common in Dungeon Crawler Carl. And there is a lot of loot in the story. It is tricky in Dungeons and Dragons because you don’t want to give out too much loot. But I think there is a way around it.

Still be stingy with things like +3 long swords. Or a wand of fireballs. But when you give out loot, give odd more mundane objects. A ring of water walking is something that is very useful, but won’t overpower your players too much. So items that they can keep that are situationally valuable.

The other thing is to give them items that are good and powerful but limited use. A wand of fireballs but give it three charges and then it’s destroyed. As the person running the campaign then you put them in situations where it would be useful. And the players should, hopefully, use it.

But the big thing is give them those limited use, one time use items, and give them those things often. And then put them in situations where it is going to be useful and go crazy and have fun with them.

So Would You Play Dungeon Crawler Carl in D&D?

I think it could be a fun way to do it. And there is one main reason that I would say to to do it over just getting the new system. If you have a group who is interested in it but not in learning a new system. I don’t think the new system is going to be that hard to learn. But I also know from owning different gaming systems for RPG’s I tend to stick with Dungeons and Dragons. I know how it works and that is good enough for me.

But let me know if you’ve given it a try. What did you do, if anything, that was similar to what I said? How did you give it that Dungeon Crawler Carl feel?

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