The Grind Dealer’s Bargain: What Are You Willing to Trade for Power?

The Grind Dealer’s Bargain: What Are You Willing to Trade for Power?

August 4, 2025

Everyone wants something under the Dome—but at what cost?

In Under the Dome, survival isn’t noble. It’s a transaction. Progress is bartered. Power is earned. And the Grind Dealer always—always—gets paid.

If you’re playing this game straight, clean, and honorably? You’re either new, lying, or already dead. Last week on Under the Dome.

💀 The Dome Doesn’t Reward Morality—It Consumes It

Under the Dome, the world is cracked and chaotic. Chaos magic churns through every leyline. Warlords make treaties over irradiated bogs. Gangs build kingdoms out of trash. Every oasis has a rot core. Everyone is hiding something, buying something, or bleeding something out of someone else.

And in the middle of it all?

You.

Your character.

And whatever they want more than their next breath.

⚖️ The Grind Dealer: Not a Person. A Principle.

No one knows if the Grind Dealer is a real entity—some say she’s a contract devil in a meat mask, others think he’s a chaos spirit born from the Dome’s pressure. Some say the Dealer is a philosophy: the moment you realize you’ll do anything to win.

You may never meet them face to face. But you’ll feel them every time you:

Accept a cursed item because it “just fits”
Look the other way when your ally burns down a village to find a lead
Take a shortcut that unravels a bit of your soul
Tell yourself the cost is fine—so long as you’re moving forward

The Dealer offers you progress. Gear. Contacts. Secrets.

You offer your limits.

🎲 The Trade-Off is the Point

If your character hasn’t made a bargain against their better judgment, you’re not under the Dome. You’re still in the shallows.

These decisions might not come with dice rolls. They might not show up in your class features. But they will etch themselves onto your character’s legacy. That one decision where you said, “Screw it—burn the bridge,” and walked over the ashes.

“I just needed a faster bike.”

“I only gave the cultist one name.”

“The old man was already dying. I just made it useful.”

These are Grind moments. Not evil. Not good. Just grinding forward.

❓What Does Your Character Want?

Let’s be honest. If your PC doesn’t want anything, the Dome will chew them up. And if they do want something?

They better be ready to trade.

Ask yourself:

What is your character chasing?
Who are they willing to sacrifice?
What line won’t they cross—or already did?
What’s their endgame… and what happens if they get it?

Maybe it’s vengeance. Maybe it’s love. Maybe it’s just a damn piece of sky that isn’t full of stormglass needles.

Whatever it is—the Grind Dealer can help you get it.

But the price?

It’s never what you expect.

📜 Player Tips: Making the Bargain Sing

If you’re building a PC for a Dome-style setting, consider adding:

A Grind Debt: What did you do to get where you are, and who knows it?
A Whispers of the Dealer mechanic: When the GM offers you a dark shortcut, will you take it?
A Cost Counter: Keep track of how many people you’ve betrayed, how many artifacts you’ve taken that hum when you’re alone, how often you’ve lied to your party. Then roll with it.

Remember: the Dealer doesn’t need you evil. Just desperate.

🎭 Final Thoughts: You’re Not Playing Safe. You’re Playing Real.

Under the Dome, it’s not about leveling up—it’s about wearing your story on your sleeve, even when it’s soaked in blood, broken promises, and half-truths.

The Grind Dealer doesn’t care if you’re good. Only if you’re willing.

So the next time the GM says,