When a dreamer enters Dreamland, they do not simply materialize from thin air. Instead, they ‘awaken’ into a body that already exists, in a person who already lives there: their dream self. Even Randolph Carter did not simply appear in Dreamland, but realized that he was already there, and—like many…
Who are Dreamers?
In the modern era, less than 1 in 10 million people can enter Dreamland. If there were ever societies or religions built around Dreamland’s existence, they have long ago been forgotten and their teachings obscured. Only a few rare people are still capable of experiencing the other reality. Some dreamers…
Five Pillars of Dreamland
Whereas other worlds are made of earth, water, air and fire, Dreamland has its own elements. In addition to Words (represented at the table by Word Cards) Dreamland is made of emotions. Sages have identified five primal forces: Wonder, Loathing, Mystery, Exoticism and Passion. These themes suffuse Dreamland, as well…
Breaking the World
In the last post I talked about the core mechanic of Dreamland: gathering Words by making flowery speeches and spending them to perform (or get bonuses on performing) actions. But although Words are the substance of Dreamland, a dreamer who uses too many Words risks suffering for their hubris. (For…
A World Made of Words, 2
Dreamland is a wordplay RPG. Once I had made the Word Tokens, the question was, how to use them in a game? My intention was for a game where players and the DM would quickly, frequently exchange these Words, using them in flowery speeches at the table. Not whole sentences…
A World Made of Words, 1
Since language is such an important thing in the mood of Lovecraft and Dunsany fantasy stories, and fairytales in general, my goal when I started working on Dreamland was “a game whose core component is language”. A quick google search early on showed that there weren’t many tabletop games whose…
Where & What is Dreamland?
Hi! Thanks for reading! This is Jason Bradley Thompson. I mostly draw comics and do illustrations for games and movies. This is the better-late-than-never design blog for the RPG I’ve been designing with help from my playtest-DM and editor Jumana Al Hashal (with whom I also collaborated on our two…