Do androids dream of electric sheep

[Umbran]

With the dwarves I was after an imagery which is sort of hard to convey. One in which their minds tell their bodies that they are melding with the living stone.

Perhaps I was mis-reading, but it seemed like you were saying that's the only dream image they ever get.

If so, no wonder they get all gruff and cranky. How would you like to only ever get one dream image? Lots of rock. Being rock. Boring rock. Fine if you're a dwarven rock-druid, I suppose, but not exactly what you'd expect from a people who's major line is fighters...

And that, in a nutshell, was my thought - you gotta have a varied dreamscape of possible topics, or else there's darned little point in saying what the dreamscape is, both dramatically and psychologically.

 

[RangerWickett]

Dude, isn't Dranko dating a frikkin' somnambulist? You'd think that she would've let you in on a thing or two about dreams.

Hmm. Now that's an interesting idea. Taking the dreamscape from Sagiro's storyhour, along with this thread. How would different people and different races perceive the dreamscape differently.

And of course since somebody brought up a type of dream that Grandmothers probably don't want to hear about, I think I'll end this message now before I say something offensive.

 

[Wil]

I see that as more of a feature than an omission. I'd really prefer to figure out the metaphysics of dreams myself. I don't want them written down in a book that the players can read.

Then we're talking about two entirely different worlds play-wise - I assume that players are mature enough that, should they read something that is "GM only" that they can keep that knowledge out of character. It seems awfully odd that a setting have everything laid out, from the gods to the spells to the weather, and that how dreams interact with the rest of the universe be left out entirely. Of course, in my favorite game dreams, spirits and mysticism are an integral part of the setting - the "magic" is. in and of itself, powered by dreams. To omit dreams would be leaving GMs and players alike hanging.

 

[s/LaSH]

Telaranrhiod anyone?

The brain is theorised to dream as a method of sorting and storing new experiences and memories from the previous day. Is this something all races do, or is it unique to humans and other short-lived, frantic species?

If so, then goblins must certainly have the most vivid dreams... although I shudder to think what they'd be about. Contrariwise, elves (if they dream at all) and dwarves tend to lead centuries-long lives in one place doing one thing. (Although dwarves do favour fighter, humans favour anything, yet nine-tenths of them are commoners. Favour means very little to most of the population.) What happens when these nigh-immortal races with nice, predictable lives and routines and boring dreams, that don't have to sort anything much, go adventuring? They'd have incredibly vivid dreams all night as their brain struggles to deal with these new experiences, and wake up convinced they were going mad.

At least, that's one possible low-magic interpretation...

 

[CRGreathouse]

I'm a sleep and alertness specialist, but I don't know diddly about dreams. The closest I've come is reading Neil Gaiman's Sandman comics and writing up dreams for Of Sound Mind.

PC gets +2 to Spot and Listen checks!

 

[F5]

Here's a great non-human dream scenario I threw into a game once:
If you figure that dogs dream, you can extrapolate that other mammals dream, right? What about Killer Whales? They're a higher-order mammal, very intelligent, so it's not a stretch to believe that they can dream, too.
Now, our (humans') dreams are mostly interpereted visually, because that's primarily how we percieve our surroundings. But a Killer Whale percieves most of its' surroundings through sound.
So, imagine being trapped in a killer whales' mind while it's having a nightmare. A world of sounds so subliminally terrifying as to be frightening to a several-ton killing machine.
I used this idea once as a kind of "phantasmal killer" effect. The player was really creeped out...

 

[Xeriar]

Here's a great non-human dream scenario I threw into a game once:
If you figure that dogs dream, you can extrapolate that other mammals dream, right? What about Killer Whales? They're a higher-order mammal, very intelligent, so it's not a stretch to believe that they can dream, too.
Now, our (humans') dreams are mostly interpereted visually, because that's primarily how we percieve our surroundings. But a Killer Whale percieves most of its' surroundings through sound.
So, imagine being trapped in a killer whales' mind while it's having a nightmare. A world of sounds so subliminally terrifying as to be frightening to a several-ton killing machine.
I used this idea once as a kind of "phantasmal killer" effect. The player was really creeped out...

Keep in mind that, at least for humans, the same part of the brain is used for spatial recognition - it's just that sight is the normal input for it.

If someone has been deprived of vision, their 'vision center' gets its input from touch and sound. Obviously not as good, but still an impressive example of just how the human brain can adapt, even as an adult.

 

[Umbran]

Then we're talking about two entirely different worlds play-wise - I assume that players are mature enough that, should they read something that is "GM only" that they can keep that knowledge out of character.

No, we aren't talking about different things. Even the best intentioned players cannot keep some pieces of knowledge out of his conscious mind. He can edit his or her character's actions down to what they'd do if they didn't know, yes. But it still eliminates the sense of mystery from the player. And, the best thing about dreams is making the player wonder.

And, actually, it might be appropriate to note that the metaphysic of D&D isn't particularly well defined to begin with. We know that divine magic power comes "from the gods". Arcane magic? Not specified in the core, IIRC. Considering you're free to use whatever gods and deific metaphysic you want, that means that overall, it's a mystery, rules wise.

 

[Wicht]

So, imagine being trapped in a killer whales' mind while it's having a nightmare. A world of sounds so subliminally terrifying as to be frightening to a several-ton killing machine.

Now there's a great dream concept - dreams composed entirely of sound with little or no visuals.

That would be interesting too, taking the idea of the dreamland itself being different to/for each race (or having different locales for each race) - taking a dream plane and making part of it completely devoid of sight (not blackness - just no visual period) but filled with sound. How would an ordinary wanderer navigate - it would be just a little short of an eternal private hell to the ones trapped there unable to find their way out.