Steve Jackson Games Forums - View Single Post - Cosmology and game mechanics for Dream Worlds

~~tantric~~ · 09-06-2014, 12:30 PM

First, this, do NOT attempt to model this with pocket dimensions. It's not that - use the Astral Travel rules.

Here's where I went on about this...thread

The end result was a very odd cosmology for my world. The Land of the Dead, the Heaven, the Earth and the Underworld are physically connected. You can walk to the Land of the Dead (or, climb a tree or catch a lift with a spider). This is the Cloth of Being, because it is seen as being folded. When a person dies, you bury then and their spirit goes to the underworld. If you *really* miss them, you can crawl in a grave and go look for them. It is the task of spirits on the Underworld to find their way to the Land of the Dead - their people hold a ceremony nine months after the dead to celebrate their
ascension as an Ancestor.

This is where it gets weird. Ancestors have new bodies in the Land of the Dead. If they want to look in on the living, they Astrally Project, which is merely a form of Insubstantial where the ranges are based on familiarity instead of distance. Ghosts are spirit that hang around - very dangerous.

Now dreams - Dreams are one of the ways people use their latent psychic abilities, including Clairvoyant vision and Astral Travels. Dreaming *is* Astral Travel, only you just go into your Dream World, a "place" carved out by your subconscious. It *should* be totally private....

Each and every sapient being has a Dreamworld, constructed from Mana and hidden away in their Spirit. These Dreamworlds are layered atop one-another, like 'beads sewn into the Cloth of Being', and thus at times there are connections, both to real places and to other Dreamworlds. For the most part, dreamers sit in their Dreamworlds and see bits of other places using Clairvoyance. Some, however, do wander, just as some people sleepwalk. In these travels, they use Astral Projection to visit other parts of the Cloth of Being, be it in the Land of the Living or Kuzimu or the Underworld, or they can visit other Dreamworlds.

The Dreamworld bit is essential for my campaign because the 'evil' of the world is witchcraft, which is a kind of malign psychic parasite.Witches are the undisputed masters of the Dreamworlds, because it is their native domain. They are literally nightmares. Each witch has its own Dreamworld from which it projects into the Land of the Living and it is their final retreat. While it is true that witches are born as parasites in the bodies of normal people, they use their powers to create their own Dreamworld and then physically move into it. Or, perhaps more truthfully, become it as the mutant gland in their host atrophies. Once mature, the witch can detach from its host and create new connections to the Dreamworlds of new hosts.

Part of the pattern of development in this campaign is spiritual. Most people don't learn to use their psychic powers until they die, but by no means does a character go out of play simple because he *died* - that idea is fundamentally un-Bantu. Thus as the adventures go on, they should become more and more spiritual, taking place in the Underworld and World of Dreams.

Probably TMI.

09-06-2014, 12:30 PM	#22
~~tantric~~ Banned Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: Athens, GA	Re: Cosmology and game mechanics for Dream Worlds First, this, do NOT attempt to model this with pocket dimensions. It's not that - use the Astral Travel rules. Here's where I went on about this...thread The end result was a very odd cosmology for my world. The Land of the Dead, the Heaven, the Earth and the Underworld are physically connected. You can walk to the Land of the Dead (or, climb a tree or catch a lift with a spider). This is the Cloth of Being, because it is seen as being folded. When a person dies, you bury then and their spirit goes to the underworld. If you really miss them, you can crawl in a grave and go look for them. It is the task of spirits on the Underworld to find their way to the Land of the Dead - their people hold a ceremony nine months after the dead to celebrate their ascension as an Ancestor. This is where it gets weird. Ancestors have new bodies in the Land of the Dead. If they want to look in on the living, they Astrally Project, which is merely a form of Insubstantial where the ranges are based on familiarity instead of distance. Ghosts are spirit that hang around - very dangerous. Now dreams - Dreams are one of the ways people use their latent psychic abilities, including Clairvoyant vision and Astral Travels. Dreaming is Astral Travel, only you just go into your Dream World, a "place" carved out by your subconscious. It should be totally private.... Each and every sapient being has a Dreamworld, constructed from Mana and hidden away in their Spirit. These Dreamworlds are layered atop one-another, like 'beads sewn into the Cloth of Being', and thus at times there are connections, both to real places and to other Dreamworlds. For the most part, dreamers sit in their Dreamworlds and see bits of other places using Clairvoyance. Some, however, do wander, just as some people sleepwalk. In these travels, they use Astral Projection to visit other parts of the Cloth of Being, be it in the Land of the Living or Kuzimu or the Underworld, or they can visit other Dreamworlds. The Dreamworld bit is essential for my campaign because the 'evil' of the world is witchcraft, which is a kind of malign psychic parasite.Witches are the undisputed masters of the Dreamworlds, because it is their native domain. They are literally nightmares. Each witch has its own Dreamworld from which it projects into the Land of the Living and it is their final retreat. While it is true that witches are born as parasites in the bodies of normal people, they use their powers to create their own Dreamworld and then physically move into it. Or, perhaps more truthfully, become it as the mutant gland in their host atrophies. Once mature, the witch can detach from its host and create new connections to the Dreamworlds of new hosts. Part of the pattern of development in this campaign is spiritual. Most people don't learn to use their psychic powers until they die, but by no means does a character go out of play simple because he died - that idea is fundamentally un-Bantu. Thus as the adventures go on, they should become more and more spiritual, taking place in the Underworld and World of Dreams. Probably TMI. Last edited by tantric; 09-06-2014 at 02:01 PM.