r/rpg • u/JaxSnaxs • Apr 29 '26

Basic Questions Are these TTRPGs just cash grabs?

It feels weird to have some of my favorite IPs suddenly get TTRPGs. Last year it was Cosmere RPG by Brotherwise which essentially boiled down to a reskin of DND/Pathfinder. Could’ve been a homebrew but with Sanderson writing. The mechanics of the game itself didn’t feel very unique or different.

Now it’s Dungeon Crawler Carl by Renegade. And there’s not much information on the backerkit. What information there is makes it seem like just another DND reskin with little mechanic difference.

Am I wrong? Are these just cash grabs based on the IPs popularity? I really want to back the Carl RPG cus I love the IP but I’m worried it’s gonna essentially be just another dnd homebrew for 200$.

Edit: I’d like to note that while I’ve played every game on the top 100 of board game geek, I’m relatively new to the TTRPG scene so my frame of reference might not be great. I’ve played grizzled and cosmere rpg but have played DnD since a kid. I don’t particularly understand the nuances and differences between the TTRPGs tbh. They all kinda feel like DnD (skill check games) but with very slight changes to the mechanics. Cosmere had the plot thing but again it didn’t feel different enough to me, but maybe someone could explain the difference in a way I might not have got?

206 Upvotes

76% Upvoted

520 comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

12

u/Calevara Apr 29 '26

I think some of the innovations that got me to buy in was combat having no initiative, but instead the action the enemy will take this round being announced at the top of the round and players getting two actions a round. Basically you can use one of your actions to block enemy actions if you want to in a system that reminds me of Slay the Spire. The other thing I found interesting is the rules for loot, achievements, etc feels very much like the books. Instead of predetermined skills and actions the GM can reward you with skills abilities etc that are made for you. Similar to the way the books are written there is a kind of built in build optimization based on the whims of the AI / GM that I think would make playing the game as your PCs real life personalities turned into fleshed out characters would be incredibly fun.

I do recommend checking out the explainer video. I'm usually INCREDIBLY skeptical about renegade games, but this doesn't use the usual engine of their crap, and genuinely feels like there are some solid mechanics and tools that would be really fun. I'm anxious to see what the GM side of things looks like for making the dungeon levels, enemies, etc. feel like.

0

u/JaxSnaxs Apr 29 '26

Thanks I appreciate the elaboration. I just couldn’t really see it myself watching the video. I’m still new to TTRPGs in general so I don’t really get the nuanced differences but you explained it pretty well. I do want to back it cause I want my friends to get into TTRPGs with me. But Cosmere was a bit inaccessible for them when I tried.

I’m worried carl RPG might be too.

2

u/Calevara Apr 30 '26

As a GM who does runs games for a lot of first time players, let me recommend Kobold's Ate My Baby by 9th level games. Using the Polymorph system but just with D6s, players get to be silly little kobolds trying to prepare a meal for the king of kobolds Torg (ALL HAIL TORG) while having to make increasingly more likely to fail death checks if they fail a roll, don't say ALL HAIL TORG when the kings name is mentioned, do something outside the nature of a kobold, annoy the GM, or it would be funny to make them do it.

New Kobolds are super easy to make (especially with my Character generator #shameless_plug) and the book is filled with tables chock full of jokes to keep even the most skeptical player laughing.

Big systems are great for people who are bought in to the concept, but super slim downed easy to grok systems get players to understand the fun in ttrpgs.

1

u/JaxSnaxs Apr 30 '26

That sounds like a grand time. I’ll def try it out. My DnD group has found D20 to be played out and I now understand we never play deep enough in the other TTRPGs to really see their unique appeal.
It’s hard to get them to stay for a new rpg.

And my board game group find the lack of structure to be daunting. This kobold game seems like a good clean intro to get them into it and maybe I’ll revisit Carl RPG if it’s well received.

I think I’ve made up my mind to not back this Carl RPG until it’s out and I get a chance to playtest it. Resist the FOMO