Dredge
Dredge is an exploration-based journaling game about sailing through an enormous lake known as the Wringwaste, hauling up mysterious items from its depths as you go, while struggling to regain the memories you've lost.
Throughout the course of the game, you will unearth a plethora of odd items, evade a malevolent denizen of the deep, and reveal a great mystery about the Wringwaste itself.
Dredge is written to be a solo experience, but the game can be played by multiple people taking on the role of the boat's cramped crew.
To play this game you will need: A deck of cards, two distinct-looking tokens, and a notebook or other method of writing journal entries.
This download contains: A complete rulebook, including instructions for play and 52 card-based prompts over 31 pages (about 5000 words total).
This game was built using the Carta SRD, by Peach Garden Games.
Purchase
In order to download this game you must purchase it at or above the minimum price of $2 USD. You will get access to the following files:
Development log
- Dredge: New VersionsAug 07, 2021
Comments
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I really enjoyed the experience of Dredge! The exploration and chase mechanics were fun and easy to understand. The prompts were very descriptive and compelling, clearly designed to set up the tone of the game. Each time I turned over a card, I found myself excited and delighted by the corresponding prompt.
One mechanic I was unsure about was how to play sailing over already overturned cards. The instructions did not specify if the prompt should be ignored or replayed. My solution was to replace all the overturned cards with un-played ones once I had found the second King. This allowed exploration to continue without trapping myself in a no-win scenario.
Wonderful game, I really enjoyed it!
Spanish please
I would definitely love to have versions in other languages someday! Sadly I am not fluent myself, and am not in a good spot to hire a translator at the moment.
Lovely, sad, and ominous! My favorite part was having to describe the items that I dredged up, rather than being given some fixed loot. In the beginning the Hunter was far behind me, but as I turned up more and more cards they were one space behind me. I managed to play without reading all the endings/prompts, so I can go again with the other half of the deck. Good stuff!
Tried this the other day and really enjoyed it! It's spooky, and the atmosphere is excellent, but not actively scary, which made it the perfect tone for me playing alone in a room with (almost) all the lights off, and having fun without totally freaking myself out. I also used these three ambient noise generators to really set the tone, haha. The prompts are fantastic, and I enjoyed figuring out how to connect them into an ongoing tale that culminated in the ending I got.
Admittedly, I never had an issue with the Deep Hunter getting anywhere close to catching up to me, but I might've just gotten lucky!
Played this on Episode 14 of Alone at the Table and had a great time! Got to play while I was at the beach for extra spookiness.
Loved listening to this - your storytelling was so suspenseful, and the sound of the waves was perfect ambience.
oh, thank you! The prose in the game was so evocative, it was a joy to play!
Hey, so is this the inspiration for the video game?
Hah, I believe they just happen to have similar concepts with the same name! That would be super cool, but I think it's that another group happened on the very true thought that fishing in eldritch waters = fun & scary
played/hacked dredge with my friends as a multiplayer splatoon inspired turf wars like game. we had a lot of fun and think this game is really cool!
Just played this! I think this is a very nicely-written and atmospheric game, highly reminiscent of Sunless Sea (I put on the Sunless Sea soundtrack while I played). Playing it took me about twenty-five minutes.
I really really love the premise of this game, though I think it's more fun to read than to play - the "prompts" are so detailed that they don't feel like they leave much room for journal entries at all, and I found myself struggling to write more than a sentence apiece. It's a good read, though!
Apologies for replying to such an old comment but I came here to say something similar. I'm pretty new to playing solo TTRPGs, so I wondered if I was missing something. I actually forgot to do the journaling at all when I played, and I don't know what I would have written. I wonder if drawing would be better?
I love this surreal and dreamy take on Carta! My favorite thing is the way the reality of the game changes when you reach the docks and remember why you're there.
Also my favorite Deep Hunter is the Diver. There's just something uniquely menacing about them!
Ah, thanks so much! The system was so fun to work with!