Dream Magic

Nobody is entirely sure if there are any Powers of Dream or not. Many claim to have met them, but nobody agrees on any details. Many think them to be figments of the imaginations of individuals. Such is the way of dreams. Most Dream Sorcerors tend to be shamans or dubious oneiromancers, though there are also a fair number of people that follow Dream as a fashion statement.

So example dream entities that have been encountered by adventurers include:

Takes the form of either a white unicorn or a young maiden. Whilst she is overtly quite naive, her own ignorance can sometimes prove quite dangerous. This serves as a warning to those who assume that innocence can not have negative consequences.

Often manifesting in the form of a phoenix. For many years a band called the Black Sword of Hope, a group of warriors who seemed never to leave dream, claimed to be in search of her. The peaks of memory and regret also have dream entities that are strongly tied to them.

A group of four interrelated dream powers. Aided adventurers with the binding of the Fifth Sleeper and the Bound Knight. Each of these is an embodiment of their name. Despair is morose and dour, Dignity is demure and aloof, Devotion is kind but obsessive and Dishonour is both jovial and malicious (as well as being eager to bed pretty much anyone he meets). Whilst they often have petty disagreements amongst themselves, it is implied they have some dependence upon one another.

A dream power associated with the spirit of the White City, formerly Michael D'Artois.

Dream entities of considerable power, believed to be individual who are dreaming. Each sleeper has a number and it is speculated that they number thirteen in total (given the thirteenth sleeper claims to be the last), however not all these have been encountered. The first sleeper in particular is shrouded in mystery. See the Sleepers for more information.

Frankly, it ain't much good in the waking world. Most Dream magic can only be used while the caster is unconscious.

“Ordination” for a Dream Sorceror tends to mean a familiarity with the Dream-Realm rather than a relationship with any actual Gods or Powers. Even Ordained Dream Sorcerors cannot fall asleep at will, there are sleeping potions and the like for that. They can normally tell whether they are awake, asleep, in their own dream, in somebody else's dream or in the Dreamlands. GMs should not disallow this ability during a LARP without good reason.

Dream is more powerful the further North you go. Whether the world of the White City is a globe or a flat world has not yet been defined. At some point going North all barriers between dream and reality break down and both become one and the other. Further South it is more difficult to get to Dream as the power is weaker. Dream sorcerors have the power though. People dreaming are little patches increasing the power of Dream. With effort these patches of dreaming can be seen as all linking together in some way to form a whole dreamscape running one dream into another, taking on a life of its own in some places and looking very much like patches of the real world in others. Normally people can't access this level of dream. Whether there is a direct correlation between space in the dreamscape and space in the real world is not known, occurrences to suggest this have certainly happened (or appeared to happen) to people but one can rarely tell what is part of one's own dream or what is part of the whole dreamscape.

Practically speaking, things from Dream will not normally be able to exist in the real world, whether they got there by walking South or by popping through a dreamer's dream in the White City or by tearing through into reality in a blatant way. The further south things of Dream get the less powerful they become, either through actually becoming incorporeal or just becoming weaker then eventually dying, or fading into Dream to wait until you next sleep with you dreams unprotected. Though there are some rare places further south that allow Dream to have more effect and occasionally even allow things to come through. This might be a place, a person, a creature type, an artefact, et cetera (be creative). Obviously at some point a great number of things attacked the White City across Dream Bridge, they must have had a mechanism for being effective that far south at that time.

People physically in Dream as a result of travelling North take real physical damage and have their equipment affected as normal. Items found may trivially be taken back south with them, etc.

People 'just' dreaming can also take real physical damage (via psychosomatic injuries, as in the original Matrix film), or alternatively may take Psyche damage (whichever the GM thinks more appropriate), at GM discretion but their equipment cannot be affected, other than by their somnambulistic actions (drinking potions in their sleep, for example). GMs please be clear OoC which tack you are taking and keep it consistent during an adventure. Taking items out of this kind of dream is almost impossible and would require a specific mechanism.

How powerful a character naturally is in Dream can vary a lot depending on the situation and location they are in. It may be that in some places the psychicly powerful will see their apparent physical attributes increased while the psychicly weak see them reduced, i.e. people skilled at Psychic Combat are a bit harder (a person's physical damage is reduced by one (Singles are reduced to Halves) or become equal to amount of damage they do in Psychic Combat, whichever is greater). Some parts of the Dreamlands might work like this, other parts work more like the real world. GMs please try to be consistent over the course of an adventure as to what the party can do (even if this is just to say it might be different every Encounter and to assume nothing). Other variations on Body Hits and Fatigue are also possible.

With considerable effort the Dream Sorcerer is able to force a target's waking mind into dream for but an instant, giving them a momentary flash of the last dream they had. This is likely forgotten the next heartbeat, but it's enough time to send a strike awry. The caster may spend 2 psyche to call a Dodge against any opponent that dreams. (For general reference, most creatures with psyche hits dream).

A Dream Sorceror knows how to stop intruders from entering his dreams. They can alter aspects of their own dreamscape so as to deter intruders.

On a practical level this allows the sorceror to isolate their dreams in such a way that casual passing things in Dream will not be able to get in, including most mass effects, suggestions aimed at the general populace, etc. If the sorceror is specifically targetted by another Dream Sorceror or by some kind of Dream creature then they are still at risk but will be more powerful in their own dream than someone without this skill would be. Essentially they can alter the 'reality' of their own personal dreams to tear apart anything that gets in and doesn't pay homage to them, give them its message and leave. Only when in their own personal dream a Dream Sorceror may inflict Through Global Triples on anyone they can see at the cost of one Psyche hit each - which should be enough to see off most intruders.

Note that this is not usable in Dream if they have just gone North into Dream or have come out into the Dreamworld from their own dream. A Dream Sorceror may also invite another willing person into their Dream-Palace to rest and recover, if they are both asleep at the same time and physically touching each other.

With an exertion of will the Sorcerer lulls his target into his own daydream. This spell costs one Psyche hit to cast and causes the target to see distracting things out of the corner of their eyes, stealing their fighting edge. This causes the target to lose 3 Parries and 3 Dodges.

Note that this effect requires a small amount of the caster's concentration so will cease if the caster loses consciousness. Outside of Dream it can only be used on a single target at a time, but in Dream the spell affects up to three targets.

This is the ability that allows a Dream Sorceror to romp around in Dream outside their own head while not in the far North. The Sorceror wanders from dream to dream and an Ordained Dream Sorceror has a shot at finding a specific dreamer as well Outside the North it generally takes perhaps an entire night's Walking The Dreamworld to locate another specific dreamer without a lot of preparation of the type not usually possible during an adventure.

Whilst Walking the Sorceror can send images and messages to those whose dreams they encounter. Depending on the complexity of the message the GM may require 1 or more Psyche to be spent.

Once walking in dreams, either their own or somebody else's, the Dream Sorceror can step through into the real world at a cost of one Psyche hit. While doing so they manifest as an incorporeal spirit, unable to touch anything. They are still able to use magic, however, and can be engaged in psychic combat by other spirits and by people with the Exorcist skill.

The caster, while using the Walk Abroad spell to travel the real world, may initiate psychic combat with anybody they touch who is asleep (just being unconscious doesn't count) and whose dreams are not protected. Both combatants fall into a deep sleep while this battle continues in real time, unlike normal psychic combat. The loser enters a deep and dreamless sleep from which they will not awaken until the next sunrise.

At a cost of three Psyche hits the caster takes on a terrifying form in the target's mind. If the caster is not Ordained then the target is too terrified to Dodge or Parry and is so weakened by fear that their physical attacks do only Singles (unless they would normally do Singles, in which case the damage is now reduced to Halves). If the caster is Ordained then the target is completely paralysed with fear and just curls up into a quivering whimpering ball. If cast in the waking world this spell affects a single target, if cast in Dream it affects up to three targets.

Targets with exceptional mental strength are able to fend off the most crippling aspects of these nightmarish visions: anyone possessing 5 ranks of strong willed always suffers the unordained version of this spell.

The Dream Sorceror may consume dreamers. If the caster engages in a Dream-Battle and wins the psychic combat, they can consume some of the target's memories. Until the next sunrise the Dream Sorceror counts as having either one of their victim's Arcane Lore skills, one of their victim's Learned skills or a specific group of the victim's memories (subject to GM approval). If defeated the target will not remember the battle, just that they had a really bad night's sleep and can't remember a certain portion of their memories. If a single person is repeatedly defeated by use of this spell then their mind and spirit may eventually be consumed entirely.

NPCs only - A Dream Sorceror may cause another's dreams to become reality. The caster must have walked in the dream to be affected, and must be able to see the dreamer when the spell is cast. The dream becomes reality for the dreamer, and may or may not become reality for those around him depending on the circumstances. How long the dream remains real is highly unpredictable, as are the effects when the dream reality wears off.

For obvious practical reasons this spell is moving to the purview of NPCs only. Simply because this spell by itself is capable of creating whole adventures for people to go on. This is fine if the Dream Sorceror is the instigator of the adventure at the start but is just impractical halfway through a LARP. With sufficient research and Arcane Lore a PC Dream Sorceror may well be able to set up such an adventure with the use of downtime actions and a whole load of Psyche hits, subject to the approval of the LARP Organiser.

The caster wanders off into the Dream Realm, possibly becoming one of the strange Dream Powers which are sometimes spoken of. Nobody who has left the physical world in this manner has ever been known to return, at least not in any recognisable form.

The caster can perform any manipulation on the dreams of others, but unless Ordained runs the risk of being consumed in his own manipulations. Such a one can send dreams to people they have never met, and to enormous swathes of the population. Consult the LARP Organiser before using this spell.