What's all this about?
You may have seen those people after dark, running around Purchase campus with foam swords. Sometimes they yell funny things. Sometimes they hurl little cloth thingies at each other.
They are actually participating in a huge campus-wide role playing game called Tales of the Dreaming. Tales of the Dreaming (sometimes abbreviated to TotD) is a Live Action Role Playing Game (or LARP for short) that's run at SUNY Purchase. The game technically goes on for 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and anyone is allowed to play for as long or as little as they'd like. We identify who is playing and who isn't at the moment by colored arm-bands. Whenever you feel like coming in-game, you just slip on your arm-band and go see who else is in-game.
If you've heard of Dungeons and Dragons, or Vampire: The Masquerade, it's something like that, except for that we play live. Instead of describing your characters actions in the presence of a narrator, you physically act as your character.
There's no way to win or lose - the object of the game is to have fun playing. Tales of the Dreaming requires a lot of imagination. There are a lot of byzantine internal politics intermixed with exciting combat. If you or your friends are interested in playing, we'd be happy to game with you. The more players in the game, the more fun it becomes.
We have a set of rules which define how the game works. These rules can be found on this website, though if they seem confusing, one of the staff members would be happy to help explain them to you.
Building a Character
Basically, when you come into the game, you pretend you're a character in the Dreaming. You start with 30 points to buy skills, which allow you to use weapons, cast spells, heal people, and a variety of other neat things. Every week you play, you get more points to buy more skills, so the longer you play, the more powerful you get. The game has a set of rules, described on this website, that define how the game works. Sort of like how in monopoly, there are rules for who goes first, how you trade property, et cetera, we have extensive rules for how you swing a weapon, how often you can cast spells, what happens when you die, et cetera. They may seem complicated at first, but they're very easy once you get the hang of it.
However, the game is a bit more complicated than that...
The Dreaming
The Dreaming is a fictional place where we all go when we sleep. It's also the stage for all the drama that takes place in our game. Purchase Campus represents a Dream Country, that is, a section of the Dreaming. In addition to regular people who are asleep, (nicknamed Wakes) the Dreaming is populated by four races of beings-
You get to play as a member of these races. In addition, we have four "paths" of skills that you can choose from. Each of these has its advantages and disadvantages, and you're not restricted to buying skills from only that path.
What takes place in the Dreaming?
The Dreaming is a rather tumultuous place. The people who live there lead wars, both public and secret, for territory, peace, money, the defense of the Dreaming, power, and many other causes. It's a land of politics, but also fraught with danger.
There are beings known as Dark Sides that come from the Void at the end of time. They are violently seeking to overtake the entire Dreaming, as they have already done to the Fae's homeland, Faerie. Dark Sides carry currency which can be used to create or sharpen weapons, be used in alchemy, or general trade and barter with other citizens of the Dreaming. The slaughter of Dark Sides is often profitable, though dangerous.
There are various political positions that denizens of The Dreaming can hold, such as the title of Shaper, the person who shapes the laws of the land. It pays to formulate opinions on various topics, as people's political beliefs are often center to much of the drama of the Dreaming.
Enough of this political nonsense, what about the fighting?!
Combat is, in short, really really fun.
A brief synopsis of how it works: Every weapon in the game has a tag on it which tells you how much damage it does. If you have bought the in-game skills Weapon Blocking and Weapon Use, you are allowed to swing a boffer weapon at an opponent. When you swing the weapon, you call out the amount of damage it does, and the type of damage it does. "2 silver", for example, does two points of silver damage. "4 cold iron" represents 4 points of cold iron damage. If you're a fae, cold iron damage affects you twice as much, and you would take 8 points from it.
You have a certain amount of Hit Points, which is defined by both your race and your skills. After you have taken more damage than you have Hit Points, you disappear from the Dreaming, and are allowed to return in a day or two, which is also defined by your race.
Offensive magic is cast through spell packets which are little cloth pouches of birdseed. To cast a spell at someone, you say the incantation to the spell and then throw the spell packet at your opponent. If the spell packet hits any part of your target, including anything they're carrying, they're affected by the spell. The incantation for the spell describes what the spell itself does. For example, the Flame Bolt spell's incantation (or incant for short) is "I call forth a Flame Bolt, 2!" If you're hit by this spell, you take two points of flame damage.
Is all of this safe?
Yes, this is a very safe game. We have very strict rules about safety. Our foam "boffer" swords are made of a PVC pipe, graphite, or fiberglass tube, covered in thick pipe foam. The thrusting tip and butt-end also has a square of squishy foam on it to protect from the pipe itself. The whole thing is covered in a layer of glorious duct tape to keep it together. All weapons that come into the game must be safety-approved by a safety marshal.
Furthermore, all weapon swings must be between 45 and 90 degrees. When fighting with a boffer weapon, you use the wrist much more than the arm, so combat is fairly safe. You need only tap your opponent with the weapon- taking wide baseball swings is illegal. Likewise, the head, neck, hands, and groin are all illegal targets. If you're found to be injuring your opponent or repeatedly dealing illegal shots, you may be restricted from combat or removed from the game for a period of time.
There is also a no-physical-contact rule. You're not allowed to touch your opponent in any way except for through spell packets or boffer weapons. Therefore you're not allowed to grapple or charge your opponent. We are trying not to give an advantage to large, strong players - just because you're physically small it doesn't mean you can't be a warrior. Likewise, people who may not be interested in combat can pick up a profession like spell casting, shamanic magic, or alchemy. It's very seldom required that you fight.
How do you enforce the rules?
Tales of the Dreaming works on the honor system. It's expected that you keep track of your own hit points, or that you don't forge illegal tags, or in other ways break the rules of the game. We don't have referees following people around to tell them when they're dead or anything like that, we expect that our players are mature enough to play by the rules of the game. This isn't like cops and robbers where your character dies when you think it's appropriate - we do have rules on how this happens. Always carry your character card on you. You can use this character sheet to keep track of your records. You need microsoft word to open this file.
All the Tales of the Dreaming players are expected to know and follow the rules. If someone hits you with a spell or effect and you don't know what it is, it slows the game down to clarify, so it's really to your advantage to read over as many of the rules as possible before playing. We do understand that there are a lot of rules though, so we're happy to give room for error to new players.
If we find out that a player is cheating, there are disciplinary actions we, as staff, will take. Cheaters could be suspended from the game for an amount of time, or people who fight unsafely could have their weapon skills taken away. These cases are extreme, and don't come up often. Remember, the point of the game isn't to win everything. Besides, it's more interesting if you DO lose a fight once in a while.
I have even more questions about the game
We, the staff, are always excited to bring new players into the game and answer their questions. Feel free to stop by K-2-1 in the New or call x7428 (for off-campus people it's 914-251-SHAT) and ask for Dan, Josh, or Keith.
We're looking forward to gaming with you!
