Player's Handbook · Chapter 1

Combat

Fights in the Scar are fast, tactical, and happy to kill you. Position, cover, and exhaustion matter more than raw numbers — the GM plays monsters as smart, cornered things, not damage sponges.

The order of battle

Roll initiative: 1d20 + Dexterity modifier. The GM does the same for the monsters. Highest goes first, and the round loops until one side is done.

On your turn you can move and take one action — attack, cast, sprint, shove a lever, drag a body. The GM may allow more, but the Scar rarely gives you time for more.

Attacking

Roll 1d20 + your attack bonus — your relevant ability modifier (Strength for heavy blades, Dexterity for quick ones and bows) plus proficiency if you know how to use the weapon. Beat the target's Armor Class and you hit.

Your AC is 10 + your Dexterity modifier, plus any bonus the GM grants for armor or a shield you're actually wearing.
A monster's AC, hit points, attacks, and damage are listed in its file — trust those numbers.

Damage

When you hit, roll the weapon's damage dice and add the same ability modifier you attacked with. A shortsword is 1d6 piercing — roll a d6, add your modifier. Monsters' attacks carry their own damage, like "1d8+2 piercing."

Dying

Your hit points are a real resource, spent by blades and by your own Vira. When they reach 0, you fall.

From there it's death saves: roll a d20 with no modifiers. 10 or higher is a success, 9 or lower a failure. Three successes and you're stable — alive, but out. Three failures and you're dead, and the Dredge does not bring people back. The GM decides whether you even get the chance to roll — a monster that wants you dead will not politely wait for your third save.

There is no plot armor in the Scar. That's what makes the warmth worth protecting.

Rest

Short rest (about an hour): spend any of your hit dice — roll each, add your Constitution modifier, recover that much HP. Natural Path casters live on this.
Long rest (a night, somewhere safe): recover all HP and hit dice.

The dungeon's mouth — The Tally's front office — is the one place in the Scar you can actually sleep.

Manual updated Aug 3, 2026.

The Dredge

Adventures in GrimDark: the Dredge

A grimdark TTRPG where magic is paid in your own blood, the dungeon reshapes itself daily, and monster parts are currency. Fully custom races, spells, and systems — built to play, not to read.

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@Deatriss

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CreatedAug 2, 2026

UpdatedAug 3, 2026

The Dredge

Power has a price. Every time.

You wake with no name, no past, and a voice in your head. The only thing you're sure of is the dungeon mouth in front of you — and that it changes every single day.

The Dredge is a fully custom system, not a reskin. Magic runs on your body: Natural Path spells are paid in your own hit points, Mechanical Path crafts burn monster cores and crafting packages on every attempt — success or fail. Overcast and the price doubles. Reach zero and your own spell can kill you. Monsters aren't loot pinatas; they're an economy. Every corpse is a butchering check, every core a small fortune.

The playable races are all children of the Cataclysm — Tangle-Born beasts who smell forbidden magic, Lithari with psychic control, Virakin who calm corrupted Vira by presence alone. There are no generic fantasy species here. Every one changes how you play.

The city beyond the door is loud, alive, dangerous, and worth fighting for. The darkness has stakes because the warmth is real. Power has a price in the Dredge — every time.

Glimpses

Author's note

Everything in this world is custom-built — four original races born from the Cataclysm, 41 spells across three magic paths, and a resource-economy magic system where casting costs hit points, monster cores, and crafting packages. No reskins, no generic fantasy. This campaign is built to be played.

Inside the World