An Old-School Dungeon Crawler
Combat isn't about whether you hit. It's about how badly you hit, what breaks, and who's still standing when the dust settles.
The Hacked Edge is old-school dungeon crawling stripped to the bone and rebuilt for speed. Every swing lands — armor reshapes the damage die instead of dodging the blow. Every round is unpredictable — a deck of initiative cards decides who acts next. Every minute counts — the Doomclock ticks down while you search, rest, or hesitate, and the dungeon answers with monsters and dying torches. You start at zero: no class, no glory, just a profession and a will to survive. Earn your class in blood. Or die a peasant.
Five pillars hold the game up. Each one cuts.
No to-hit rolls. No whiff rounds. Armor doesn't make enemies harder to hit — it reshapes the attacker's damage die down a chain, from a brutal 2d6 against the unarmored to a desperate d4 against a knight in plate. That d4 still rolls, though, and when it rolls a max, something breaks.
Every turn changes the game state. Every die roll matters.
A visible countdown — the Doomclock — ticks down every time you search a room, pick a lock, or stop to bind a wound. When it hits zero, the dungeon answers: monsters arrive, torches die, and the deeper you push, the angrier it gets. Rest if you have to. The dungeon is keeping score.
Time isn't a resource. It's an enemy.
You don't start as a hero. You start as a rat-catcher with a sling, a pilgrim with a staff, a grave robber with a crowbar and bad ideas. Survive the dungeon and your profession blooms into a class — fighter, thief, cleric, magic-user, and beyond. Die, and you were just another peasant who shouldn't have gone down there.
Heroes aren't born. They're the ones who came back.
Shields splinter to save your life. Helmets dent under critical blows and shatter on the killing strike. Armor sunders when the dice find the seam between the plates. Every piece of kit is a resource you spend to keep breathing — and every fight leaves a story written in broken steel.
Your gear will save your life. Once.
Run a brutal solo Gauntlet — one character, one dungeon, see how far you get. Gather your table for a Funnel, where a mob of peasants descends into the dark and the survivors emerge as heroes. Or play a full ongoing campaign with the same rules, the same dice chain, the same ticking clock. One book. Three ways to bleed.
However you want to play, the dungeon is waiting.
The Doomclock is ticking.
Coming to Kickstarter
The Hacked Edge is coming to Kickstarter — and backing the campaign is the only way to get the Kickstarter-exclusive edition: the complete rulebook in hardback, behind an alternate cover that will never be printed again. Same rules. Same blood. Rarer armor.
No launch date yet. Leave your email and you'll know the moment the clock starts counting down.
Want to see what kind of doomed soul you'd play? Generate a 0th-level character right now — profession, gear, starting coin, and all — and find out whether you're a wizard's apprentice or a flagellant with a flail.
Most won't survive the first room. That's the point.
Generate a CharacterThe Hacked Edge is built for players who love B/X, OSE, Mörk Borg, Shadowdark, and the Dungeon Crawl Classics funnel — but want combat that runs faster, hits harder, and never wastes a turn.
If you've ever rolled three misses in a row and wondered why you came to the table, this is for you. If you love the feeling of a fragile character clutching a single torch in the dark, this is for you. If you want a system where every roll changes something — your health, your gear, your luck, or the dungeon's mood — this is for you.
Built on the bones of Old School Essentials, compatible with the broader OSR ecosystem, and setting-neutral by design. Bring your own world. The rules will sharpen it.
I built The Hacked Edge because I love old-school dungeon crawling but I hate watching a table go quiet during a missed-attack round. I wanted a game where every die roll changes something — your health, your gear, your luck, or the dungeon's mood.
I wanted shields that splinter and helmets that dent. I wanted a clock the players could see ticking. I wanted a peasant with a sickle to feel just as alive as a knight in plate — and just as likely to die.
This is that game.
— Heath
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