Ahh, forget it. I've started... (was help me with dreamscape game)

[Heathen72]

And I'm doing fine. It's a good sort of game to run on the fly anyway, and I've come up with some really cool images. Thanks heaps though Eric, for your reply.
Mike



Hi Everyone,
I'm running a session tonight (edit - in about an hour or two) set in the heart of the dream realm, and I'm hoping you guys can help me out a little. I'm not running it for a few hours, but I am at work and won't get a chance to do much preparation for it, or stat out any monsters etc.







My take on the heart of dream is that it is the most fluid and chaotically surreal place in the realm, and one where the surroundings reflect the PC's inner dreams and aspirations - their id, I guess. So while they are there, they are going to meet aspects of themselves, young and old, see images of their future and their past (both true and false) encounter their own children and their parents, and come across old friends and enemies, and so forth. These will be very inviting, luring the PC's to join their reality - a risky proposition because the PC could get lost in their own dreams (ala Kirk and Picard in Star Trek Generations, if that helps)

The problem for the players is that they will need to surrender to these dream realities if they are to progress deeper into the realm - the heart of dream becomes irritated by trespassers who hold too stubbornly to reality and protects itself from those irritations by isolating them the way an oyster does a piece of grit. So any PC who tries too hard to maintain their own version of reality will find themselves calcifying and turning to stone. I don't intend to tell the players what they need to do to avoid this fate, though there will be plenty of warning - statues of other intruders litter the dream reality. (I will drop the odd hint, though.)

Anyway, what I'm hoping for from you guys and gals is ideas for different encounters and so on. Dreamlike monsters, surreal encounters, or ideas on dream locations would all be appreciated, etc. Don't be afraid to take a leftfield approach, or suggest things from your own dreams that might be useable, but remember that lot's of dreams are quite like reality but with a twist. If you think a monster (from the MM1 and 2 or CC 1 2 & 3) is really dreamlike, let me know.

Oh, The PC's are 15th level, but they start the session almost totally drained of their powers, and it's too dangerous for them to sleep in this realm. They don't have a lot of assets, so if the challenges rely on their wits, all the better!

Hope you can help me out.
Thanks in advance

 

[EricNoah]

My first Planescape adventure was set in a dream-land setting, in this case the dreams of a boy. The obsticals were characters from stories that the boy had read, and also versions of his father and his mother (some nice, some cruel). There were two halves of this dream realm -- one was pleasant, while the other was nightmarish. The ultimate goal was that the boy's psyche had been split into two halves ala Kirk in that one Trek episode and the PCs had to convince the two halves that they needed each other in order to complete their mission. So maybe your PCs have had parts of their psyches ripped from them (their worst aspects -- greed, violence, etc.) and need to get them back or convince them to cooperate or something.

Here's a link, might not be much use... http://webpages.charter.net/ericnoah/noahrpg/dreamland.htm .

 

[Heathen72]

Here's a link, might not be much use... http://webpages.charter.net/ericnoah/noahrpg/dreamland.htm .

Thanks, Eric!
Funnily enough, One of my PC's is called Simon, and he and his brother had a very... unpleasant... relationship with their father, and he has dogged their travels in the dreamrealm as a nightmare already!

So maybe your PCs have had parts of their psyches ripped from them (their worst aspects -- greed, violence, etc.) and need to get them back or convince them to cooperate or something.

Interesting. I could even get them to play both sides of their own personas!

 

[Heathen72]

I took a good look at your dreamscape game, Eric. It was very interesting.
Did you think about suing the Producers of The Cell?