Play Dread with Nondum™.

01

Start here

Dread is a role-playing game of horror and suspense. One participant is the Host. Each other participant controls one main character.

Nondum is the tension mechanic for this form of play. Its shared deck makes danger increase across the whole group.

Before the session

1. Choose one participant to be the Host.
2. Select a scenario and prepare one questionnaire for each character.
3. Prepare the complete 60-card Nondum base deck.
4. Agree on content limits and a clear way to pause the game.
5. Make sure that any participant can leave the session without pressure.
6. Review all questionnaire answers before play.

02

Host and players

03

Create characters with questionnaires

Dread characters do not need numerical attributes. Their answers tell the group what they can do and why they face the danger.

The Scenario Manager supports up to thirteen questions for each character. Each player answers one private questionnaire before the session.

04

Prepare Nondum

The base deck contains 53 Endure cards and seven Death Omens. Optional bonus cards can join this deck before play.

1. Use every card in the 60-card base deck.
2. If you use bonus cards, add the selected cards now.
3. Shuffle the complete deck without arranging or seeding any result.
4. Place the deck face down where each player can reach it.
5. Give each player space for a visible card pile.
6. Set each character to living and set the first pull to 1.

Count Endures, visible Death Omens, and bonus cards in all player piles. Cards held by dead characters still count.

Returned Death Omens no longer count. The Inflict.io Live Room calculates the pull number for the group.

05

When the Host calls for a pull

Call for a pull when a character can succeed, but danger or limited experience makes the result uncertain.

The Host decides how many pulls an action requires. One pull fits a single risk. Several pulls fit separate stages of a difficult task.

Before the first draw, state what success can accomplish. If the character lacks information, the Host can keep the exact hazard secret.

06

Resolve a pull

1. State the attempted action and the number of required pulls.
2. Let the player choose whether to draw or refuse.
3. If the player draws, reveal the top card.
4. Resolve the card with the current pull number.
5. Keep each resolved card face up unless section 10 returns the Death Omens.
6. After a safe card, update the pull number.
7. If more pulls remain, resolve the next card separately.

Each Death Omen shows one of these activation numbers.

07

Refuse or volunteer for a pull

Refuse a pull

A player can refuse before drawing. The attempted action fails, but the refusal alone cannot remove the character from play.

If time permits, the player can change the circumstances. Help, better tools, or a slower approach can remove or change the pull.

Once a card is visible, resolve it. A player cannot return the card or refuse its result.

Volunteer for a pull

A player can request a pull without a prompt from the Host. The player first states the desired effort, insight, luck, or advantage.

The Host decides how a safe draw affects the story. Every accepted voluntary pull must give the character a useful result.

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Complex tasks and character conflicts

Complex tasks

Divide a complex task into important stages. Each pull must represent one stage, obstacle, or added danger.

Before each draw, the player can choose which unfinished stage the pull covers. Dependent stages must occur in a sensible order.

If a player refuses a later pull, only the unsupported parts fail. The Host preserves completed work when the fiction permits it.

Conflicts between characters

Resolve most disagreements through conversation and established character details. Use pulls only when a player escalates to a risky decisive action.

1. State the intended result against the other character.
2. Keep that result short of removing the target from play.
3. Resolve at least one pull for the character who starts the conflict.
4. After a safe draw, let the target accept the result or draw to resist.
5. After a safe defense, let that player stop or draw again to retaliate.
6. Continue until a player accepts, refuses, or draws a lethal Death Omen.

The Host can change the number of pulls for a clear advantage. The character who starts the conflict must face at least one pull.

09

Death, the Final Rite, and Heroic Sacrifice

A lethal Death Omen

A lethal Death Omen kills the character. It does not determine the exact events of the death.

1. Stop all remaining pulls unless the danger transfers to another character.
2. Keep the lethal Death Omen visible.
3. Give the character one Final Rite that fits the scene.
4. Let the player describe final words or actions when the fiction permits them.
5. Let the Host decide how the established danger completes the death.
6. Do not start another pull before the Final Rite is complete.

Heroic Sacrifice

A living player can choose Heroic Sacrifice when the Host can require that character to resolve a pull.

1. Declare Heroic Sacrifice before drawing a card.
2. Do not reveal, remove, or replace the top card.
3. Let the character complete the action as the Host permits.
4. Kill the character and give them a Final Rite.
5. Continue with the current deck and pull number.

If a bonus card requires an immediate draw, complete that effect first. Heroic Sacrifice cannot cancel a pending bonus effect.

10

Return all seven Death Omens

A character's death does not reset Nondum. Leave every visible Death Omen in its current pile.

If all seven Death Omens are visible and a character lives, reset the Omens with this procedure.

1. Collect all seven visible Death Omens.
2. Add them to the remaining face-down deck.
3. Shuffle the remaining deck once.
4. Remove every Marked status.
5. Leave all Endure and bonus cards in the player piles.
6. Recalculate the next pull from all cards that players still hold.

11

Optional bonus cards

Bonus cards are optional Nondum rules. Select zero to five copies of each card before the session.

The rules and card previews are available to everyone. Adding bonus cards in the Inflict.io Live Room requires Survivor or Unlimited access.

Add selected bonus cards without removing a base card. Each bonus card counts as an Endure in addition to its immediate effect.

If a required effect is impossible, ignore that effect. Complete all immediate effects before play continues.

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Host guidance

• Call for pulls only when success is uncertain and failure matters.
• Use questionnaire details before you decide whether a pull is necessary.
• Make every safe draw accomplish something useful.
• State the stakes before the draw when the character can understand them.
• Use separate pulls for meaningful stages, not repeated copies of one risk.
• Let a refused pull change the situation without killing the character.
• Keep the story moving after both success and failure.
• Pause all other action during a Final Rite.
• Protect uncertainty. Never arrange, seed, or remove a Death Omen.

Dread gains tension from meaningful choices. Give players enough information to understand risk, then let them decide when to face it.

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Quick reference