Dreamlands Campaign Idea?

[AlHazred]

How does this sound for a Lovecraft's/Dunsany's Dreamlands-style campaign?

 

SETTING: The Waking World is the modern world of 1985. You are all teenagers (12-14) in a sleepy, rural New England town.

 

CHARACTERS: Player characters are built on 25 points, plus up to 15 points in Complications. Waking World characters are subject to Characteristic Maxima as shown on 6E1 50, except that STR, CON, and BODY max out at 15 (because you're young teenagers), and INT, EGO, and PRE max out at 25 (because you're Lovecraftian teenagers). Waking world characters have the following powers for free:

Quote

7      Power Skill: Dreaming (either INT-, EGO-, or PRE-based, player's choice)

12    Dreaming:  Extra-Dimensional Movement (the Lands of Dream, Single Location) (25 Active Points); Dream Body (character’s body remains in the real world, but cannot move, perceive, or act, and damage to either the dreaming form [in the Dreamlands] or the real body [in the Waking World] can hurt or kill the character; -1) [2 END]

 

The Dream World is the Dreamlands of Lovecraft and Dunsany. Basically, Jason Thompson's map of the Dreamlands could be the setting map. Dream World characters are different that your Waking World character, and are built on 100 points. Personality traits should be similar to the Waking World version, but skills do not transfer -- knowledge of real world places and things is usually fuzzy, and Waking World technologies just don't work right in dreams. Your Dream World character is built on 100 points, with up to 30 points in Complications.'

 

You should choose a Tension for your Waking World character -- you're a teenager, there's some source of drama in your life. Pick Social, Family, or Internal Tension. Such Tensions might be reflected in a Complication for your character: for Social Tension, you might pick a Rivalry Complication; Family Tension could be a Rivalry, a Psychological Complication, or something similar; and, Internal Tension could be a Psychological Complication. The GM should conceive an overall plotline to resolve the characters' Tensions over the course of a campaign, whether they are reflected as Complications or not. (Think Stranger Things and the resolution of the Tension involving Steve.)

 

As for the Waking World character's discovery of the Dream World, pick an archetype:

Quote

• Imaginary Friend: You discovered the Dream World through the intercession of an imaginary friend, who only you can see in the Waking World, but who has a full form in the Dream World. There is a physical token for the imaginary friend in the Waking World, such as a stuffed tiger, an action figure, etc.; you are very protective of this item, and should take a Psychological Complication: Protective Of [Token] (Uncommon, Total). You may have 25 points to build the Imaginary Friend as a Sidekick.
• Bookworm: You discovered the Dream World through careful reading of obscure fantasy authors of the past and a bit of luck while dreaming. You may not take more than one Contact in your Waking World form, and if you take one it must be a Librarian (or similar.) Your Dream World form has 3d6 of Luck, and you have an additional 10 points to spend on Area Knowledges, Culture Knowledges, and Languages of the Dream World, even of places you haven't been.
• Experimenter: You stumbled on the Dream World during a drug-induced dream. Your Dream World form is more durably-built than others' because the drugs put you under more heavily than the rest. You may not take Lightsleep in your Waking World form. Your Dream World form has an additional +5 CON, +10 BODY, +10 STUN, and +10 END.

 

I feel like there should be more Archetypes possible, those were just the ones that leapt to the top of my thoughts. Does this seem interesting or workable? I conceive of two levels of plot, Waking World and Dream World, and they might or might not be related or cross over. Stranger Things or Fear Street show ways this could be set up, I think.

[DShomshak]

This seems eminently workable. In the unlikely event you aren't aware of it already, you can also draw on the H. P. Lovecraft's Dreamlands setting pack that Chaosium did for Call of Cthulhu.

 

PRE 25 might be a bit high for Lovecraftian teens. Erudite, possibly unusually self-possessed, but I don't see Lovecrarft protagonists as ever being particularly charismatic... in the Waking World, at least. And part of classic Teen Drama is that people don't take you seriously. In fact, for Waking World characters it's probably best to stick to Normal Characteristic Maxima for INT and EGO, too. As teens, they are still growing into their full potential.

 

Archetypes seem limiting, especially if there are only 3 of them. Something like them might be useful as suggestions to help players who don't know where to begin (a common problem with players, especially for games where everything hasn't been spelled out in advance by decades of pop culture.)

 

I would like to see this idea developed more.

 

Dean Shomshak

[AlHazred]

My idea was to have several archetypes, but I haven't really developed the idea far yet. The archetypes were meant to give additional points for basic ideas, but not straight-jacket character generation.
 

PRE 25 was from the old "Age" Disadvantage. I was kind of wondering if it even makes sense to have higher than 20 maximums, since they'll only have 25 points to build with.