09-04-2014, 04:32 AM | #1 |
GURPS FAQ Keeper
Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: Kyïv, Ukraine
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Cosmology and game mechanics for Dream Worlds
Greetings, all!
Suppose that a significant minority in a setting can access a Dream World of sorts. Whether by personal ability or by proper use of equipment is not relevant. The point is it's used, and they're in. However, questions arise when it comes to making a coherent cosmology for the world, topology, and mechanics for representing both. First, it seems traditional for Dreamworlds to include both a personal dreamsphere, and something more global where the various fantasies and fears of different people are given existence. Or maybe even exist independently, seeping into people's individual dreams occasionally, in a lesser form. What's the best way to handle the barriers (if any) between the global and the individual territories of the Dreamworld? Second, like the Inner Astral, the Dreamworld has a funny relationship with distances, at least on the global scale. Nonetheless, it would be nice to maintain a meaningful topology of some sort. The way I've seen it done at least somewhat playable was in a computer game called The Void / Turgor / Tension, where regions had an entry point (usually not far from the centre of the region), and exit areas pretty much everywhere as soon as one moves outside the borders of a region. And the regions had abstract connections (two regions either had a direct connection, or they didn't, in which case one had to go through multiple regions); sort of a gate-network. There was more or less no way to take a turn once a path has been chosen - stopping halfway from here to there was not an option outside the regions. Speed-of-travel is an interesting problem to ponder. Oh, and all this can be hard to handle with the issue below. Third, the issue of congestion. Let's say that the number of people capable of visiting the Dreamworld reaches a million very fast, and after that will be growing to a number comparable to the number of Internet users. That (a) requires either an already-large, or a gradually-expanding Dreamworld and (b) creates issues if entry points in regions are too small. I'm wondering if making entry points in regions sufficiently large, and placing individual entrants randomly, would solve congestion . . . but on the other hand, it will likely result in people getting lost much more regularly. What are the better solutions? Of particular interest is the issue of where the entry points into the Dreamworld should be located. Making it a single entry area would feel wrong. Making the entries correlate with geographical location in the real world would seem banal and undreamlike. Making them random each and every time would result in too much confusion. Making them depend on some totally different characteristic, such as the aspirations or the mood of the character, would have a high risk of breaking up parties of adventurers trying to enter the world together. I'm not sure how to balance the different worries against each other and whether there is a way to address all of them. Finally, an issue related to the one above is the issue of number and location of phantasms or whatever one calls local denizens of the dream. At the start, there would seem that there are too many locals; but as time passes, there would be too many members of the 'Eternal September'. This almost demands new locales to open up gradually, but I'm not quite sure. Thoughts? Advice? Ideas? Questions? Thanks in advance! |
09-04-2014, 05:12 AM | #2 |
Join Date: Oct 2004
Location: Yorkshire, UK
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Re: Cosmology and game mechanics for Dream Worlds
Does the Dreamworld exist as the place where everyone 'goes' to Dream?
For the majority this is a relatively passive interaction between their subconscious and the abstract medium of the Dreamworld. For those with the ability (or technology), they can become conscious active participants within the Dreamworld, potentially interacting with others 'passive Dreams'? Does the Dreamworld itself have any particular existence or properties without these 'visitors' (active or passive)? |
09-04-2014, 06:39 AM | #3 |
Join Date: Jun 2005
Location: Lawrence, KS
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Re: Cosmology and game mechanics for Dream Worlds
I would suggest that the dreamworld is comparable to the astral realm, Yetzirah, in GURPS Cabal.
One of my conceits about the three realms was that each was governed primarily by a different magical law and a different type of signs. The law for the material plane is Contagion, which operates by things coming in contact with each other; this goes with indices, or signs of things that cause them, as smoke is a sign of fire. The law for the astral plane is Similarity, which operates by things resembling each other; this goes with icons, or signs of things that resemble them, as a photograph is a sign of its subject. The law for the mythic plane is Names, which operates by things being identical to their names; this goes with symbols, or conventional signs. It occurred to me that each of these could be associated with a metric. The metric for causality is the familiar one of geometric interval and lightlike lines. The metric for symbols is the number of changes needed to turn one symbol string into another—almost a binary metric, or at any rate a digital one (there was an article or forum post a long time ago that defined characterizations for the decans in terms of a 3x3x2x2 structure, which I took as a metric for the mythic plane). But the metric for resemblance is one of things that look alike being close together. So if you can morph an image of A into an image of B you can navigate from A to B. This would be rather like the way Amberites walk through Shadow, actually. I think that makes sense for dreams, where one thing can change into another. Bill Stoddard |
09-04-2014, 08:07 AM | #4 |
Join Date: Nov 2008
Location: Yukon, OK
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Re: Cosmology and game mechanics for Dream Worlds
I like Bills idea and always thought Amber made a good Dreamworld. To address some of your over concerns say everyone is out of phase with each other. Mental shield is the skill to use to keep people out. Use a techniques to bring people in and make them part of your dreamscape. That lets people travel togetherwhile Lucid dreaming lets you phase into and travel to other regions. Perhaps use Jumper and Warp modifiers
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09-04-2014, 08:08 AM | #5 |
Join Date: Feb 2006
Location: St-Basile-Le-Grand, Qc
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Re: Cosmology and game mechanics for Dream Worlds
I use The Marches and Ethereal Player's Guide (from In Nomine) when I need to deal with the Dream Worlds. You can take a look inside Gurps In Nomine (3ed) for adapting the rule if you're not familiar with In Nomine.
For a more occult game (no Gurps Cabal), the Dream Worlds open the gate to Low Astral. In Hermetic magic, this is dealing with Yesod. Taking Gurps Cabal (p.50) they explain that it's somewhere inside Yetzirah. Hope i could help |
09-04-2014, 08:16 AM | #6 |
Join Date: Nov 2008
Location: Yukon, OK
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Re: Cosmology and game mechanics for Dream Worlds
On merging as travel it works best as roll per time period and use MOS to reach target rather then pass or fail. That means getting closer or farther away and skilled dreamers travel faster then novices who may get lost.
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09-04-2014, 08:37 AM | #7 | ||
GURPS FAQ Keeper
Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: Kyïv, Ukraine
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Re: Cosmology and game mechanics for Dream Worlds
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Yes, an existence on its own. |
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09-04-2014, 09:44 AM | #8 |
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: Rochester, MN
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Re: Cosmology and game mechanics for Dream Worlds
Do people enter the Dream World physically? Or is it a projection, leaving the body behind?
Entering the global Dream World requires abilities/technology. Would passing from region to region also require the ability/technology? If projection, my first thought is that every individual has their own doorway through their personal dreams. Groups could be brought into the global Dream World in the same spot through the use of an "artificial" group "personal" dream. This staging area could be set up either through technology or other means. The TV show Supernatural allowed group dreaming (or at least entering someone else's dream to share it) through the use of "African dream root" and close proximity and/or contact. Something similar could allow you to keep the party together. |
09-04-2014, 09:54 AM | #9 | ||||||
Join Date: Jun 2006
Location: Portsmouth, VA, USA
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Re: Cosmology and game mechanics for Dream Worlds
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09-04-2014, 03:58 PM | #10 |
Hero of Democracy
Join Date: Mar 2012
Location: far from the ocean
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Re: Cosmology and game mechanics for Dream Worlds
The topology here interests me. The truly important part is how outsiders get in, because all of your PC's are outsiders. You have three requirements:
1) where the dream is entered should not correspond to physical geography. 2) PC's should have fairly simple means to stay in the same area of the dream over the course of the campaign. 3) The dream should have meaningful barriers to travel. In other words, you can't assemble your team from the four corners of the dream world every night through teleportation. Options: Random fixed entry points + Starting Luck: every one enters the dream at one point and one point only. This is a basically random topography (though something like time of birth, parentage, or fate may guide it). The PC's start out close to each other, ensuring they are together for adventures in the dream world. Random Fixed Entry Points + Entry Tricks: everyone can enter the dream at one point that belongs to them. However, a mechanism exists that allows you to enter at someone else's point, or just at a different point. For example, perhaps a spell exists that when both people cast allow them to enter at one of the two people's points, or a sleeper hooked into the access machine can bring a whole crew to his dream entry point. Save Points: Leaving the dream world does not force you to enter at a different point. You return to the dream world in the place that you left it. Players have to stay together for this to work, but they have to do that in the physical world anyway. other variations on this allow a character to control where he comes into the dream world, but only through actions in the dream world (that require him to get there in the first place).
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dream, dream projection, dream world, dreaming, dreamworld |
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