Dice the Demiurge
A downloadable game
An incremental dice game for one player.
Roll dice each day to attack the Demiurge,
then trade the demon’s blood to become stronger.
Once the monster has been slain,
Ascend to the next world and do it again!
To play you will need:
- The rulebook
- Pencil & eraser
- At least one set of polyhedral dice (or a dice app)
~
A physical print version is available at DriveThruRPG
Purchase
In order to download this game you must purchase it at or above the minimum price of $18 USD. You will get access to the following files:
Community Copies
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Get a copy:
These are limited copies for people who want to play but can’t afford the game, paid for by generous folk who pay extra.
Development log
- Game ReleaseOct 17, 2025
- v 1.0 - It's finished!Aug 04, 2025
- v 0.45 update - FINAL PRERELEASE!Jul 22, 2025
- v 0.44 updateJun 23, 2025
- v 0.43 updateJun 06, 2025
- v 0.42 updateMay 31, 2025
- v 0.41 updateMay 26, 2025
- v 0.40 updateMay 20, 2025
Comments
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Rogue question.
The class dice pool is 2d4 and they Pop on values 3 and 4.
At Level 2: “After Popping, Rogue class dice now Explode on values over half their size (a d8 can explode on 5 and above).
So 2d4 might roll a 2 and a 1, and that’s it.
A roll of a 3 and a 1, on the other hand, would Pop the first die, and if THAT rolled a 3 or a 4, then it would Explode?
That is, the total value would be 2d4 + popping 1d4 + exploding 1d6 == 1 + (3 + 3 + exploding 1d6)?
You’re correct up until the very last line, the exploding die remains a d4, it doesn’t become a d6 (Rogue’s Agile Motion skill is specifically explosion, and not inflation).
You can increase the size of the rogue’s dice by levelling up more, or purchasing “Surpass Limit” from the Dojo of the Flame, or by using an inflation scroll before rolling the dice pool.
But Agile motion alone does not increase the size of the dice that the rogue rolls.
Looking at it now, it is a little confusing at just level 2 with d4s, since mechanically it’s the same as just “the dice now explode instead of pop”, but obviously the values for explosions change if the size of the rogue dice is different - so that’s why it is the way it is.
Ohhh, ok, I got Explode and Inflate mixed up.
But otherwise, it sounds like I had the “Pop first, then Explode” part right.
But to clarify more:
Let’s say the Rogue is Level 4.
That means I’m now rolling a 2d8 (Level 3 grows my class dice to d6, and Level 4 grows them to d8).
So 2d8 with Vital Hits means I initially pop on values of 3 or more still (that is, as I level up, I am more likely to pop because more of the possible results are greater than 3), and if any popped, then those dice can keep exploding only on rolls with a value greater than or equal to 5 (more than half of 8).
Yup, that’s right :)
Speaking of buying rules, the rules say: All purchases “stack”, making a purchase will not cause you to lose another.
But when I read the description for Indulgences, presumably buying the First-Class Indulgence (“Keep up to 20% of your Blood Shards when Ascending”) does not mean I’m intended to keep any previous indulgences. That is, if I have a Basic Indulgence (up to 5%), and I buy the First-Class Indulgence, I don’t get to keep 25% of my shards, just up to 20%.
Is that the intention?
If I get the Just Bury Me With It indulgence, I think it makes sense that I can only keep up to 100% and wouldn’t get to keep a maximum of 405% (making more shards somehow) if I had all of the other indulgences, but on the other hand, maybe?
Your instincts are correct, yes you can own all of the indulgences, but their effects are not independent. If you can “keep up to 5%” and “keep up to 20%”, 20% is as much as you can keep.
tbh the stacking rule was a necessary addition for other purchases to work how I wanted, and the cathedral purchases have been a little confusing ever since. Saying “up to X%” was my best way of simply saying “you get this much and no more, regardless of which other indulgences you have.”
When buying indulgences from the Cathedral, is it intended that you have to buy your way up the ladder instead of just picking higher levels when you have enough blood? It seems that way and that's how I've been playing it.
Oh, see, I was wondering the same thing with leveling up at the Dojo of the Wave.
Since it explicitly tells you that, for example, the Blood Bank Premium Account can’t be purchased without the Basic Account being purchased first, and as another example the Advanced Contract at the Shadow Mercenary can’t be purchased until you buy the Basic Contract, I assumed it meant that that if it doesn’t explicitly tell you, that it is fair to skip ahead.
That is, you should be able to save up to get a higher indulgence and I should be able to jump from Level 2 to Level 4 because nothing says you must purchase them in order.
But let’s see what Sophie says.
I didn’t include a rule to prevent buying ahead with indulgences, so you can do it if you like. As you say, I did try to be explicit about stating when another purchase is a prerequisite but I also understand that there is a bit of ambiguity here. Ultimately though, it’s your game and you can play however feels right for you :)
edit: oh and as for the level up purchases, it was my intent to buy them in order but I can see now that I was not as clear in that case. That said, with the cost increases being what they are it’s pretty fair to play it either way I suppose.
Thanks for the update. I think I'm going to keep buying them up in sequence. I'm bit stricter since I'm playing at a slightly accelerated rate; I roll a 'day' every couple of hours at work, when it occurs to me.
“this purchase does nothing, i just wanted to say hi!”
Hi from a Bizarre world! B-)
I had been playing for a bit over a week when I noticed that the world number starts at zero, not at one, so I couldn't have bought the dead god's flesh on the first day. Trying to pull that out of my daily rolls would have been too complicated, so I just started over and caught up. Fortunately I hadn't yet bought a garden plot.
I wouldn't worry too much about honest mistakes like that, it can be fun to work out ways to correct or rebalance for them - but also it's fine to just carry on and play differently. Whatever you're happy with is cool :)
Ohhhhhh, I just realized (now that I have Serrated Blades) that while Drops are taken or given back to the Demiurge, Shards are NOT.
And now I have my eye on the Side Quest, which is available at 1/4 the Demiurge’s WP.
Is that based on the current WP (which, as I have 33 Blood Drops in World 0, is 117) or is it the starting WP (which would be 150)? As in, is the Side Quest cheaper to start the weaker the Demiurge is?
So the WP shouldn't actually decrease, it's just there to compare your blood drops to. So the cost of the side quest doesn't change until the world (and therefore the demiurge WP) changes
Oh, that would cut down on the erasing/rewriting a bit. Thanks!
I have a rules question: how does dojo of the flame cluster attacks (add a die to your class pool) work for mage (roll d4 to determine how many d6 are in your class pool). Is it d4+1 d6 or is it d5 d6 or something else?
Your first idea is the right one. The d4 sets the base amount of class dice each day, and cluster attacks adds more dice on top of that. 👍
Thanks to your generosity, I was able to claim a community copy. I very much appreciate it! I plan to leave a review once I've had some time to play, but I'm already loving the illustrations and the concept.
I've been looking for a nice daily thing to do with dice that doesn't require the increased mental load of a full-fledged oracle-based solo journaling RPG, and this looks poised to scratch that itch. Perhaps I'll try switching it up with a different polyset per world, or pick a set per different pool.
You're super welcome, I'm glad you were able to grab one and I hope you have a good time rolling!
Maybe I need an example of a day or two’s worth of play.
So far, I’ve filled out my play sheet as follows:
World = 0, Demiurge WP = 150 Class: Knight, Level 1
Now, I am treating the Dice Pools/Dice/Drops Drawn rows as a single day each.
So the first line I dated 10/18/2025 (or 2025-10-18 if you prefer), and in the Dice Pools column I wrote “1d10”, and in the Dice column I wrote “d10”, and after rolling the d10, I got a 5, decided not to use the knight’s ability to reroll, and so I wrote “5” in the Drops Drawn column for that row.
Then, I decided to go shopping with that 5. I got myself a Mace Mouse from the Guild of Heero’s for 5 drops, which I noted in the Notes section with today’s date as well.
And then I wrote in the Dice Pools for the next row: “10/19/2025, “1d10, 1d3”, “d10, d3”, and blank for Drops Drawn because that’s for tomorrow, when I roll both a d10 and a d3 to find out how many drops I draw from the Demiurge.
At this point, I should have 0 Blood Drops again because I spent them all, and the Demiurge WP is still 150 because having spent the drops I did have, they go back into the WP.
Does this sound like I am using the game sheets correctly for this first day’s worth of play?
You can use the sheets however feels best for you, but your current approach might become overwhelming after playing for a bit.
What I’d recommend is using a row for each dice pool (or parts of a pool even, if the pool has a lot of different dice).
So currently you would have one row for your class (Knight, d10) and one for your allies (Mouse, d3). Tomorrow you can roll each and write their results in the “Drops Drawn” column before totalling them and adding that sum to your Blood Drops. Then erasing everything from the “Drops Drawn” column ready for the next day.
This way you’re only adding new rows when you acquire new dice pools, and only changing their details as you upgrade the pools.
Ah, great. That makes sense.
I will definitely need to invest in good quality erasers.
Day 2, I have rolled a 7 and a 2 for a total of 9 Blood Drops. The Demiurge WP is now 141. And I’ll figure out what to shop for later today.
And whether or not to roll for the Wandering Emporium, which I understand I only find if today’s d60 roll would be 19, for instance. If I do find it, and I make a stranger laugh, I would add a permanent d5 to a Notions row under Dice Pools?
Thank you!
Woo hoo!
I really dig the Real-Action bonus, so the game encourages creating a real-world impact to fight against real-world evil as well.
I’ve tried to include things like that in a few places. After all, the game takes place across multiple false worlds - including some that are out here with us.