The great RPG designers/podcasters Kenneth Hite and Robin D. Laws often suggest that, before starting a new campaign, GMs should show players a movie or TV show episode to show them the style they’re going for. So, if you’re starting a Dreamland campaign, what movies should everybody watch? If players…
Dreamland at Comic-Con @Home
For some time now, the wonderful Aaron Vanek has been running Dreamland playtests at The Game Academy, which runs online roleplaying games for educational (and fun) purposes. Now, Aaron and his colleagues Emily Nguyen-Hoai, Keenan Kibrick and Fiona Rene have featured Dreamland in a panel on “Learning through Roleplaying Games“!…
Creating Marvels
“‘But does all this exist only after I’ve wished it? Or was it all there before?’ “‘Both,’ said Grograman. “‘How can that be?’ Bastian cried almost impatiently. ‘You’ve been here in Goab, the Desert of Colors, since heaven knows when. The room in your palace was waiting for me since…
Dreamland on Roll20
This possibly doesn’t deserve a post, but… Dreamland is now (really truly) working on roll20!! The great Aaron Vanek and I have now run several games and worked out the technical kinks. Naturally, these are just rough playtest versions of all the cards — things won’t actually look like this…
Roles of Dreamland
The core Dreamland rules contain 52 Roles (plus additional Roles not available to starting characters). Here are the rules, descriptive text and suggested starting equipment for several Roles. Each Role is linked to one or more of the Five Pillars of Dreamland. TROUBADOUR The Troubadour, or Bard, is a travelling…
Dream Selves & Roles
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…