Entry Theme: Dream

[Quixotic]

No longer an entry
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My intentions are to make a game that is light and simple to use, no crunchy mechanics, just world creation and great story.

4 sessions, 2 hours each, based on one night of a complete 8 hours of sleep. Each session is a full phase of sleep, ex: stage 1: light sleep, stage 2: med sleep, stage 3: deep sleep, stage 4: REM.

The stages are there to add a dream atmosphere as well as help in keeping track of time. It also helps with explaining why the actual players have to stop what they are doing and end the session. Just like in our sleep there are several sessions of these phases. In this game there will be 4.

You could also think of it like 4 dreams (sessions) in one night of sleep.

And, I'm using Package One.
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Details:
There is a GM or a .. Master of Dreams really, MoD .. hehe
AND NPC's are played by other characters when they can be. This is one of my FAVORITE details. It keeps everyone in the game most of the time.

Goal:
To tie all the characters together and figure out why they are in the dream at all. Then Find the object they need to complete themselves and get out of the dream.
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Character Generation: I want a lot of capability here .. so that you only have to make the most simple details of your character for now, enough to get you started, and through the game you develop the character's reason for being in the dream. Be what you can dream up, or what you think you are in a dream. Symbolism.

I want generation to take 10 minutes or less. I've had two ideas that I'm going with for now. I'd love suggestions!

First: Everyone sits down and fills out a quick list of senses.

Sight, Sound, Taste, Touch, Smell

Originally I wanted these to make up the details of the character in some way, I'm not positive how exactly yet. I also wanted the responses to be used by the MoD to create a world and other characters.

EX. For Smell a player listed chicken, the MoD in turn can be as abstract as he/she finds reasonable and can make a farm with chickens in a more subtle game or a Giant Man Eating Feathered Beast in a slightly more abstract game.

Second: Everyone could just play themselves, this idea is good for ease of use HOWEVER I have trouble with the fact that it takes away from imagination and in a DREAM world imagination should be running rampant. Perhaps I could combine the two?

Third: Another idea I just had: Different players could play different senses and each sense would have a special ability. This of course limits the number of players to five. Or maybe six.

Fourth: Another new idea: I could twist the game some and make it have more of an indian theme, your character would be your totem, I could either provide a list (which I am not a fan of, I feel it limits creativity .. but so does making the game indian themed). Or just leave it to the MoD's discretion.
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Dream Source Material:

Nightmares, which would be the bad part of dreams, how do you know you might be approaching one? .. just check your shadow. The bigger it is, the closer you are.

Figments of Imagination, I was thinking these could be weapons or objects found in dreams that are usable by the players.

Dream Guardians, something that guides you in the right direction in a dream.

Dream symbolism, you know those books that you use to tell you what you dream might mean? .. if you have an idea on a way to tie it in let me know!

I would appreciate any suggestions on source material or anything at all really ...
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Being an NPC:

If for whatever reason you aren't in a scene or your character is not usable ( you've been turned into stone). You could be an NPC, roll a D-10 and get an idea from a list? Or draw a card? Or open a dictionary and use a single word to invent a quick character? .. you could be a guardian, nightmare, talking painting, swarm of singing bees.

NPC Objects: Could you even choose not to be your character in a scene and instead be an object that affects the game? A block of moldable clay? The Sword of Truth?
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Ancient

The force of Nightmares will of course be Ancient.

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Glass

Based on one books interpretation Glass is symbolic of importance. Each character is looking for an item they have lost. The item is usable once found, and is made of glass.

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Emotion

The idea I have right now is that an emotion would be your special ability.
The player would make up a name:

Rage of Eternity (Anger)
Laughter of Children (Love)
The Devil Maker (Greed)
The Faintest Glimpse (Hope)

[matthijs]

Previous "dream" games tend to go for the same thing you do: Go into someone else's dream, find a macguffin, fight nightmares, get out. Some games are basically a dungeon crawl with a dream theme. Is this what you're aiming for?

If not, I suggest trying to use more "dream logic" in the game. Players playing NPC's is a good idea - to make it more "dreamy", let characters actually change their identities. "Hey, uncle - oh, you're my third-grade teacher now - how's auntie?"

Dreams are usually connected to real life. How about having the game on two levels simultaneously: One team helping a person in the waking state, the other messing around in that person's subconscious?

[Quixotic]

You are very correct about the dungeon crawl thing and no that's not what I'm going for. I've completely revamped the idea now:

This game is played in 1 session of 2 hours, using package one's Glass, Ancient, Emotion and Committee. You and your co-players play the subconscious of a very stressed out individual. Whenever he sleeps his dreams are filled with nightmares and in turn he sleeps less and less. While he takes a much needed nap, you try to resolve the internal conflicts of the individual.
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*There is a GM

*How serious the game is depends on character generation.
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Character Generation:
Should take no longer than 5 to 10 minutes.
First: You can be a person, animal or talking object.
ex: widow, boy, wolf, giraffe, banana, typewriter

Second: Tie an emotion to your character.
ex: Sorrowful Widow, Laughing Boy, Viscious Wolf, Lonely Giraffe, Overwhelmed Banana, Nervous Typewriter

Third: Think of a name for your character if you like.

Your portion of making the character is completed at this point. The MoD (master of dreams) now dreams up an internal conflict based on each character. The MoD is encouraged to use both parts of the character, the emotion and the entity. You will not know what the conflict is until you encounter it in the game.
MoD conflict ex:

Sorrowful Widow: Why is she sorrowful? Because her husband has passed, she feels uncapable of taking care of everything herself. Only the MoD knows this for now. (In the game suddenly the Widow is locked in a house, she cannot leave no matter how hard she tries, there are chores to be done. All of the other characters are outside of the house and unable to reach the widow.) The characters have to figure out a resolution to the problem. Players can make up whatever works. (The Widow invites the players into the house and everyone takes care of the chores together.) Afterwards, the players figure out the problem and make a solution. (Oh, the Widow must be sad because she is overwhelmed! Why, she needs -friends- to help her! or .. Why, she needs -confidence- that she is capable!) The players create an object in the dream which represents the solution. (A glass ring made with the symbols of friends around it, which the Widow must find and wear. or a glass sunflower which she must wear in her hair.)

Laughing Boy: Why is he laughing? Laughing could be because of humiliation or helplessness, perhaps the Boy needs to lighten up and let go of his problems. He is perhaps like this because he was made fun of as a boy.

Viscious Wolf: Why is he viscious? Because he is over confident and a loner, hostile and aggressive. He is perhaps like this because he was betrayed.

Lonely Giraffe: Why is she lonely? Because she is a favorite stuffed animal, sold at a garage sale and needs a new owner.

Overwhelmed Banana: Why is he overwhelmed? Because he is afraid to show the world his true self.

Nervous Typewriter: Why is he nervous? Because he is having trouble writing a book to make an income.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------The game starts out in a nightmare. The characters go through and try to understand why they are there in the first place. Currently there is no real fighting in the game, you come across a 'nightmare' and simply have to 'diffuse' it by understanding why it's there and then resolving that issue. The game ends after two hours when the character wakes up from his nap. Still working on it!

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Emotion - used in character generation. Tie an emotion to the character.

Committee - the characters will encounter a committee which helps them to find the objects which they are looking for

Glass - glass is symbolic of something important or useful, in the game the object each character seeks is made of glass.

[shehee]

[Quixotic]

[kleenestar]

If the four sessions are the four phases of sleep, maybe the characters have a chance to wake up the dreamer depending on what phase of the dream they are in. If the dreamer wakes, the characters are relegated to shouting in the dreamer's subconscious as they have to expend their influence gained in dreams to try (and usually fail!) to control the dreamer's actions. Oh, and did I mention they can only succeed in making the dreamer do things (like fall back asleep) if they cooperate? But they might also want to stay awake to learn things about the dreamer's life?

I do love the "cards with random things that happened today" idea, too.

[shehee]

[Quixotic]

[Doug Ruff]

Oh, this rocks. And any game where I can ask "why is the banana overwhelmed?" is an AUTOMATIC WINNER! Do you hear that Andy?

If you're lookiing for more inspiration, Wikipedia is your friend here. Just start with "Archetype" or "Dream" and start clicking links. "Enneagram" looked pretty interesting too.

In fact, semi-randomly clicking links in Wikipedia is rather like free association which would be an awsome starting method. Players in a circle, first player says a word, next player says the next word that comes into their head, go round the circle. Then the challenge is to incorporate all of these elements into the dream. If you don't, the dreamer remains unfulfilled.

[kleenestar]

Free association might be a bit too easy to incorporate. What if you gave the players rewards for coming up with difficult things to relate to one another, but they only got the reward if the group actually figured out a way to resolve the conflict?