To get started with Tales of the Dreaming, you'll need to create a character which lives in the Dreaming. You are not required to wear any makeup, buy any special costumes, and for the most part, buy or construct any special props. There is no charge to play the game, nor is it physically dangerous.
This page describes many of the preliminary rules you should be familliar with before you start.
Anyone wearing an arm-band is considered in-game. A blue arm-band represents that you are a Dark Side (one of the more nefarious races of the Dreaming). Anyone who sees the blue arm-band will sense that you are a Dark Side. An orange arm-band means that you are an NPC and are being directed by someone on the plot team; if you see a character in a orange arm-band, do not assume they are playing their primary characters. Any other colored arm-band indicates that you are playing your character and are in-game. As such, you may only have one character at a time. If you want to start a new character, you have to get rid of the old one.
If you are a Dark Side, Fae, Lost Soul, or Husk of a God, you must come in-game while out of line-of-sight with other characters. If you are a Vision, you may phase in anywhere (even behind locked doors) by saying "I phase in one, I phase in two, I phase in three." Anyone who hears you say this will see you fade into the Dreaming.
Most in-game items have a Tag, a small slip of paper which describes what the item is. For example, a sword might have a tag which reads "2 silver". This lets the wielder know how much damage it does, what it's made of, et cetera. All tags except for currency (Cold Iron, Quick Silver, Spirit Silk) and components (a variety of things used to make other things) must have a corresponding physical representation (or phys-rep). This means that a tag for a sword must be attached to a foam boffer sword for the item to be useful. You cannot carry around ten swords in your pocket even though the tags will fit in it.
Except for in a few special cases, an item cannot be used if it doesn't have a tag. If you have a boffer sword with no tag on it, it cannot be used in the game.
You're not allowed to hold more than one in-game item in a hand.
Searching and Stealing
If someone is unconscious, paralyzed, drained, asleep, or otherwise incapacitated, you may go up to the player and say "I search you." You must then count to thirty while roleplaying padding and searching the person. If the player is not in an in-game condition to stop you from patting them down, they must hand over all in-game items they are carrying at the end of the thirty second count. Visable items such as swords or worn talismans can be taken immediatly, ignorning the 30 second count. If someone searches you, please be quick to hand over your items and do not whine or take an extra-long time to get them out in hopes that someone will come and save you from being robbed.
If someone wants to take a phys-rep that you own, you have the right to say No, and only hand them the tag. If this is the case, and you don't feel comfortable lending out your phys-rep, then make sure the tag can be easily taken off the item without ripping it. All phys-reps remain property of the owner even if they are stolen in-game. The phys-rep must be returned to the person who it's been stolen from at the earliest convenience. Most likely, they will only use it for a battle, or until they can make it to the Forge and put the tag on a different phys-rep.
In-game, there is a location called the Forge, which is located at the Henry Moore Scuplture located on the Mall at Purchase College. Here there are tools which are used to create or reforge weapons.
If you have four pieces of quicksilver, four pieces of cold iron, or four pieces of spirit silk, you can take it to the Forge and create a weapon. Quicksilver produces silver weapons, cold iron produces iron weapons, and spirit silk produces Essence blades. Turn the tags for the currency in to a marshal (Dan, Keith, or Josh) and put an appropriate tag on a phys-rep. The weapon does a base of 1 damage. For example, the tag for a quicksilver weapon will read "1 silver". Please Note: All Weapons over 47 inches are considered two handed weapons. To attack with a weapon longer than 47 inches you must have both hands gripping the hilt of the weapon. You may still block with a weapon over 47 inches with one hand.
You may also spend 4 quicksilver, 4 cold iron, or 4 Spirit Silk at the forge to create a shield. The shield must have a tag attached to it at all times. The shield must be approved for saftey by Dan Comstock or Joshua MacNeil. The edges of all shields must be covered with pipe foam and duct tape. A shield requires the skill Weapon Blocking You must note what type of currency you used to craft the shield so that if you break it down the proper amount of currency can be returned to you. If you do not note the type of currency then you will be given 4 quicksilver.
You may spend 4 quicksilver, 4 cold iron, or 4 Spirit Silk to craft a bow. You must have a tag attacked to the bow at all times. To use a bow, you must have the skill Bow Use You must note what type of currency you used to craft the bow so that if you break it down the proper amount of currency can be returned to you. If you do not note the type of currency then you will be given 4 quicksilver.
You may spend 1 quicksilver, 1 cold iron, or 1 Spirit Silk to create a quiver of 15 arrows which do 3 point of the type of material used to craft the arrows. The quiver looks like a tube of some sort. You may use a cardboard toilet paper tube or a piece of thick paper rolled up. The quiver must have a tag indicating how many arrows are left in the quiver. When firing an arrow, you must tie a streamer to the end of a spell packer so that it will look like an arrow (kinda) as it flies through the air. Arrows blocked with a weapon or shield are destroyed, arrows that miss can be recovered. Once forged arrows can never be broken down as per the weaver skill.
At the Forge, for no cost, you may "reforge" weapons, thereby moving a tag from one phys-rep to another phys-rep. Obviously, you can't have more than one tag on a phys-rep.
If you wish to make the weapon more powerful, you must have it tempered by a God of War.
Note: You are responsible for supplying your own boffer weapons, and no weapons may be used that have not been approved by Dan Comstock or Joshua MacNeil. If you have any questions about construction of boffer email us and we'll be happy to help.
Behind this world, or perhaps under it, there is a place called the Dreaming. It is said that humans spend a third of their lifetime there, drifting through the misty corridors and shadowy forests of the plane of dreams. This is not a place of logic, it is a place of surreality and abstraction. It is a place of mischief, politics, danger and adventure.
The Dreaming looks just like the Waking World. The residents of the Dreaming can sense that real-live people (nicknamed Wakes or Mortals) walk through another version of their world which often overlaps with it. In-game we say that people who aren't wearing arm-bands are Wakes- people who are just having a dream (This is a nice explanation for why they often watch us). You can still interact with Wakes, but they really don't participate. You can light their cigarette, give them directions, ask them if they saw someone come running this way, et cetera, but they cannot have any other influence on the game.
Visions
Visions are the natural-born inhabitants of the dreaming. Visions are forced to take the form of something out of the imagination of someone in the waking world, but they usually (99% of the time) assume the form of a human itself, being the most common thing to appear in a dream and the easiest thing to manifest.
Visions can be very varied in personality and motivation. Many possess magical abilities which can affect the Dreaming. One things that all Visions share in common is a custodianship for the dreaming.
Each Visions is born with a Dream Stone; a gem that contains a part of the essence of the Dreaming. A Dream Stone can look like any rock - a pebble, a gem, a piece of sea glass - most are pretty or in some way unusual. If a Dream Stone is captured by another being, the Visions can take no offensive actions against that being. If the Dream Stone is stolen, lost, or destroyed, the Visions will feel like their soul has been ripped from him or her. The Visions will lose his motivation, wandering aimlessly and restlessly.
All Visions are tied to the Dreaming through Essence. Essence makes up the fiber of their being. It is spiritual energy that can, unfortunately, be stolen and destroyed. When a Visions loses all his Essence, he will phase out of reality, vanishing from the Dreaming for a period of time. The Essence will, however, regenerate slowly and he can return to his world. When a vision is cut down to zero health, he will no longer be able to function, but remains tied to the world. In this state, a Vision is drained, unable to take in-game actions, run, or speak above a whisper. A drained Vision can be searched or knocked out without resistance.
Visions, due to their connection to the Dreaming, can also disspear without a trace and re-appear elsewhere. This is called Phasing, and is similar to what happens to someone when they die in the Dreaming - they simply fade out. To phase out, a Vision must look at the sky for a period of time, tuning himself to the fabric of the Dreaming. Most of the time, this takes 30 seconds, but on the New Moon, when the Dreaming is week, it takes a full minute. On the Full Moon, the most sacred day of the month, it takes only 10 seconds. In doing this, the Vision spends a point of essence, letting part of his being be absorbed into the Dreaming. While phased out in this manner, the Vision is within the Dreams of Wakes, creating and sculpting surreal realities that they live in for only a brief time.
There are three sub-races of Visions: Weavers, Succubi, and Nightmares. All dreams fall into one of these categories.
Weavers are the guardians of the Dreaming. They are the custodians of the Laws of the Dreaming, and make it their duty to uphold the code. Weavers are often very xenophobic, not liking outsiders who are not born in the Dreaming. Many see Fae as a threat to their homeland. Weavers have the ability to grow claws, and the ability to break down items into their essential components. The Dream Stone of a Vision is usually gray or brown.
Succubi are the seducers and enchanters of the dreams. They are sensual beings of the flesh. Many are female, though there are males (called Incubi). Within Succubi subculture, males are inferior to females; they will always submit to a female’s word or decision. Succubi like mischief and temptation. Their Dream Stone is often round and smooth. Succubi have the magic of Glamour, having the ability to change people’s appearance.
Nightmares are not evil, but are often perceived that way. They feed off the fear, pain, and hatred of others, reveling in taking power over someone. They are often very sadistic and cruel, but not to the extent where they will kill their prey. A Nightmare’s Dream Stone is often black and jagged, like coal or obsidian.
Fae are often playful and mischievous creatures with an affinity towards magic. They live for thousands of years but never lose their curiosity about the world or their fascination with nature and beauty. They can take many forms, but through the exodus to the Dreaming, all have grown to look human.
Fae used to exist in two worlds: the Waking World, and Faerie. Faerie is a mystic place where water runs backwards and wishes become real. It was the homeland of the Fae until the Great Exile.
In the mid 1800s, magic in the Waking World began to fail. Advancements in science and technology resulted in a plague among the Fae. A widespread color-blindness and therefore depression spread through the Fae as they began to wither and die. This was called the Great Fade.
Meanwhile, on Faerie, a new race had appeared. The Dark Sides arrived from the stars in great cold-iron machines. It was a race of beings that had fully discarded their spiritual nature and embraced the sciences. The Dark Sides fought a great war with the Fae, eventually violently herding them out of their homeland.
With the exile both from Faerie and the Waking World, the Fae had nowhere to go. In mass, they traveled through large Rifts to the Dreaming, where they made their home. The Fae found that though they may have appeared as tiny leprechauns, intimidating giants, or any number of dazzling creatures, when they came to the Dreaming, their appearance changed and became quite mundane. Many Visions were happy to give them a home, as there is no lack of space in the Dreaming. But there existed many Visions, especially the Weavers, who did not like the outsiders tinkering in the affairs of the Dreaming.
Many Fae have an affinity towards magic, though they are incredibly susceptible to damage from metal. When a Fae is "killed", he will be banished from existence for a period of time. Slowly, as his wounds heal, he will be able to re-attune himself to the Dreaming and return there. All Fae take double damage from iron weapons.
There are four types of Fae, the Guiders, the Dark Ones, the Guarders, and the Elementals.
Guiders used to be the beings that guided dead mortal spirits through the Labyrinth at the center of Faerie and into the Afterlife. They like the color black, and like hoods and sunglasses, things that will cover their faces. They have a certain fascination with the grim reaper fairy tale. Since the Fae were ejected from Faerie, the Guides cannot lead the mortal spirits through the Labyrinth, causing them to wander endlessly and eventually exit into the Dreaming. This is where Lost Souls come from. Guides have the ability to open portals from one door to another, bypassing physical space with a special understanding of the routes between things.
Dark Fae are often called Dryads. Some are called Nymphs (female) or Satyrs (male). They are a reclusive breed of Fae that would prefer to live in the deep woods where no one will ever find them. Dark Fae are excellent at stealth and will disappear from sight, often eavesdropping and listening rather than directly participating in the affairs of the Dreaming.
Guarders are often called Redcaps or Ettins. Before the Great Fall and the Great Fade, they used to guard borders, Fae Nobility, and holy places. The Guarders have a certain lust for challenges and dares, and enjoy physical combat. They have natural resistances to magic and physical pain, as well as immense strength. There is a myth that an enraged Guarder is overtaken by the Bloodlust, a condition in which he can hardly distinguish friend from foe.
Elementals are nature spirits. They used to be Elves (forest people), Nyads, (river ffolke) Salamanders, (fire lizards) Wisps, (night lights) and Dwarves (earth men). When they came to the Dreaming, they became a more homogenous stock, though they found that all breeds of them could manipulate the other elements as well as their native one. Elemental Fae can channel elemental energy and throw it as an attack, or simply manipulate the elements around them.
The Sumerians and Babylonians, the Egyptians, the Native Americans, worshipped literally thousands of Gods, most of which have been forgotten. When a God loses all his followers and belief, he falls into the Dreaming and waits for his day to come.
When an ancient God is worshipped again in the mortal world, he will become real again. Until then, they wait in the Dreaming, vying for power and respect. A God’s power rests on Faith. He can be worshipped by denizens of the Dreaming and gain Faith, which he channel into powers and abilities. When a God loses all his Faith, he will cease to exist. In a few days, Faith will slowly return, allowing the God to rest in the Dreaming again.
Each God has an Altar somewhere on the Dreaming. An Altar is the God’s resting place, and is sacred to that God. Each God has a Verse, a passage that is chanted over and over to give the God Faith. The Gods try to get their allies to meet at the Altar and chant the Verse. Doing so will power the God’s strength and abilities.
Gods of War have the ability to temper weapons. With special components (such as Quicksilver, Cold Iron, Spirit Silk, and Dream Stones), regular weapons can be sharpened into mighty tools.
Gods of The Harvest are hunters. On a New moon or a Full Moon, they can call a Hunt, where everyone in their hunting party gets certain combat bonuses so long as the God is playing an instrument. They can also create a Bounty, a meal which will heal wounds.
Gods of Love can stop combat even midway through it. They make excellent bodyguards as they can prevent two people from doing damage to each other in any way, or even sanctify a room so that no damage can be done there.
Long ago lost souls were never heard of in the Dreaming. When a mortal died, his spirit would travel through a rift to Faerie. Guider Fae took the responsibility of guiding them into the next life, through a holy path through the great Faerie Labyrinth. But since the fall of the Fae world, souls have been know to become confused, and end up wandering the labyrinth for eternity, many somehow slipping into the Dreaming.
Lost souls are the most versatile race. Being the souls of human's, they have the most sense of individuality and independence. Although centuries of the "real world" being sapped of magic has left them without racial abilities, the advent of technology has allowed them to learn most skills much easier than any other race.
The Dark Sides have come from the Void, the Beyond. Over two centuries ago years ago, they entered Faerie and violently ejected the Fae ffolk. In the last ten years, they have reached the Dreaming and have begun their assault on it.
The Dark Sides are best described as monsters. They are filled with a bitter hatred of all that exists, and attempt to destroy it, often through violent means. When the come to the Dreaming, they assume the form of another being who lives in the Dreaming.
All Dark Sides wear a blue arm-band. If you see someone wearing a blue arm-band, you can sense that they are a Dark Side. Your Character cannot be a Dark Side, but you can take a break from playing and be a Dark Side for a while if you'd like. If you're interested in doing this, please talk to the Staff first.
Gremlins were once a breed of Fae. During the War for Faerie, the Gremlins sided with the Dark Sides and began building the huge steam engines that eventually destroyed much of the Fae Countryside. The Gremlins are fascinated by gadgets and devices - they would prefer to microwave their meal than cook it over a fire. Their special ability is to Tinker, the power to make items simply stop working, even if it is a simple object like a sword or a potion. When an item loses its function for a period of time, the owner must drop it on the ground and cannot pick it up until the magic has worn off.
Automatons, also known as Golems, are great steamwork beasts that always speak in monotone. The first few attacks of an Automaton will be incredibly strong and fierce, but as steam will run out they will get weaker and slower. If an Automaton drinks water or rests for a period of time, he will be re-steamed and may function at full efficiency again.
Together, the Gremlins and the Golems make up the main force of the Technocracy, the assault force that took over Faerie.
Wraiths are non-corporeal beasts that are not effected by cold iron weapons. They are the sorcerers of the Dark Sides, having the ability to channel magical energy into shards of metal and essence.
Goblins are also corrupted Fae who were cast into the volcanoes of the Firbolg mountains. Tempered by the refining fires of the Void, they have crawled out as Dark Sides. They are quick and mischevious, and have the capability to strike supernatural fear into the hearts of those who face them.
Fomor are the archers of the Dark Sides. They have silver arrows which they fire at their opponents with ruthless force.
The Dreaming is divided in to regions called Dream Countries. A Country is usually not more than a mile wide. The different Countries do not interact with each other in any way. If a being in one Country tries to cross into another Country, sometimes it will take hours, other times, years. When you leave one Dream Country, there is no guarantee you will arrive at the same place or time as people you are traveling with. No maps can be drawn of the Dream Countries, because the juxtaposition of the Dream Countries changes from moment to moment.
Seperating each Dream Country is a dark and nebulous place called The Mists. There is no guarentee that anyone who enters the Mists comes out from the place they left. It is impossible to leave any land marks in the Mists, or find any static paths through it. Rumor has it the Mists did not always exist, and only set in within the last two centuries, but there are no records to prove or disprove this.
Each Dream Country is ruled by a Shaper, who can modify the Laws of the Dreaming. The Shaper does not necessarily have to be a Vision himself - even Fae can become a Shaper.
The Shaper is greatly respected, at least to his face. To fall out of favor with the Shaper is dangerous, as he or she is the Word of the Law. The Shaper is addressed as "My Lord Shaper" or "My Lady Shaper" It is traditional and considered good etiquette to bow or kneel before the Shaper the first time you interact with him on each day. You may rise as soon as he nods to you.
Full Moons and New Moons are special events in the Dreaming. Most members of a Dream Country will meet somewhere special and discuss what's going on. During the full moon, Dark Sides are weakened.
New Moons are a special night for Dark Sides. With the moon obscured by shadow, Dark Sides get significantly more powerful, and are a bit more courageous.
On the full Moon, as stated above, it takes Visions 60 seconds to phase out instead of 30. On the new Moon, it only takes them 10 seconds.
Refer to the darkside stat page for new and full moon stats.
The first step to getting involved in the game is to create a character. Read over the different races and skills and figure out which combination thereof would be fun for you to play.
Think of a name and a concept for your character. Are you a mischievous Fae? A self-righteous Vision? A vengeful God of War? A forlorn Lost Soul? Come up with a personality for your character, and some likes and dislikes.
If you are playing a Vision, your character will either be a wanderer who has just come here to Purchase from some other Dream Country, or a newly created Vision who was just given birth by the Dreaming. New Visions do not know the current events of the Dreaming and must learn in-game about the presence of Fae and the identity of the current Shaper. Note that many Visions dislike Fae and view their presence in the Dreaming as a kind of intrusion, though they are for the most part willing to put up with the Fae until they can reclaim their homeland.
If you are playing a Dead God, come up with some background information about your life. You were worshipped in the Waking World at one point, probably by a long-lost culture such as the Babylonians, Sumerians, the Celts, the Native Americans, or any number of African or South American tribes. Once you were no longer worshipped or believed in, you lost your power and drifted into a long coma. Some time later, (could be a year, could be a few millennia) you awoke in the Dreaming, a kind of purgatory to you, waiting for someone to worship you again, or Ragnarok, the time when all Gods will walk the Earth again. You do not need to be a historically accurate-god; you can make up a God, but the culture you come from must be real, or at least sound real.
If you are playing a Lost Soul, you were once a mortal that lived in the Waking World. After your death, you wandered towards a distant light-- usually, mortals are guided to the afterlife by the Guider Fae, but since Faerie has been taken over by the Dark Sides, you had no guide to bring you there, so you wandered off the path and ended up in the Dreaming. You have fragmentary memory of your life, though there are frustrating holes which cause you to forget large portions of it. You may sense that you may have some purpose to fulfill, but you can’t remember what it is. Some Lost Souls see their time in the Dreaming as another chance to live. Some, however, are very depressed that they cannot be where they belong- their afterlife. Lost Souls do not always look like they did at the end of their life- so you could have died at age 75 but appear as a 22 year old.
If you are playing a Fae, you are a stranger in a strange land. Some two hundred years ago, during the Waking World’s steam age, you left your homeland. You may have lived in the Waking World during the time the Fae call the Great Fade, when the last magic in the world faded out and all Fae went color-blind. You might have lived in Faerie, the Fae’s homeland, when the Dark Sides fought the Fae and forced them out of their homeland. Now you wander the Dreaming, looking for home.
Your character cannot originate from this Dream Country unless you are a Dead God that is just waking up there, a Lost Soul that is just coming through a gate off the path to his afterlife, or a Vision that is born there. If you are starting a new character, you must wrap up loose ends with your current character and wander off into another Dream Country, probably never to return. You must announce on the out-of-game game message board that your character has wandered off and you will be playing a new character from now on.
All new characters have 30 experience points (or XP) to spend on a set of skills. You may choose from racial skills and skill paths. You may pick one skill path as a primary skill path which you buy at normal cost- the others are more expensive. You do not have to spend all of your experience points.
When making a new character you can choose to start with a "1 silver" weapon. However you do not earn the full 10xp for the 1st week for a new character. (See Game Policies) for more information.
Basically, you spend experience points on skills. Every skill has a listed cost, and perhaps a prerequisite or two. Some skills are leveled, which we'll discuss later. Every skill falls into either a Path, or a Racial tree.
The five Paths (or Skill Trees) are: General, Warrior, Sorceror, Shaman, and Rogue. At character creation, you get to pick one of these paths to be your 'primary path'. (note: Lost Souls get to pick TWO primary paths, but do not have any racial skills) Any skills in your primary path you may buy at the listed cost. Any skills outside of your primary path, you buy at 1.5 times the listed cost.
Leveled skills have five "ranks" of accomplishment. Each new rank you attain gives you more abilities within that skill. For example, the skill Fall allows you to fall up to ten feet for each level you possess. Each successive level of a skill gets more and more expensive, to a maximum of Rank Five.
Skills are more fully described on the Skills section.
Once you have your character created email it to the gamemasters at TalesOfTheDreaming@yahoo.com. You must have your character sheet on you at all times. You may use this character sheet. if you want. To open this file you must have Microsoft Word.
