Revision as of 16:14, 21 February 2010

Overview

A Dream Walk is a special event which happens within the Dreaming. A group of Dreams may embark on a Dream Walk together. A Dream Walk is kind of like a holodeck - while you're on one, you might find yourself in strange or dangerous places or situations.

In many Dream Walks, team work is often necessary for survival. Dream Walks usually involve traveling between a few different locations, so you'll want a local spot where you're comfortable LARPing, such as a park, forest, or friendly neighborhood. While on a Dream Walk, you may face danger, interact with NPCs, or solve puzzles. Other players will play the part of monsters or other non-player characters you'll encounter on your journey.

In the Dreaming, Dream Walks are thought of as sacred journeys. One prepares for a Dream Walk like one would prepare for a hunt or a trial. Some people take them very seriously. If a Dream Walk is completed, it can impact other events within the Dreaming. Dream Walks are not meant to be easy - a Dream Walk that is completed with little or no challenge is seen as a disappointment.

The participants divide themselves into two groups: the Party and the Guides. The Party are the characters who are going on the Dream Walk. The Guides are the ones who run the Dream Walk, playing the monsters and other characters which may be encountered.

Rewards

see also: Rewards

Resonance

Every character in the Dreaming may have a Dreamstone, a stone with its own soul. As you go on Dream Walks, you will begin to build a relationship with your Dreamstone which will improve over time. Your relationship is numerically represented by Resonance. If your group completes the Dream Walk, you will get a point of Resonance. You can spend Resonance to awaken powers within your Dreamstone.

In order for a Dream Walk to "count", it must be "Archived". This means that someone must post pictures, video, or a story about the Dream Walk to the game's central blog. People are encouraged to make their narratives as colorful and interesting as possible.

Archiving

Good Archiving prevent disputes about cheating. If there ever is disagreement about whether or not someone should have a certain power or item, there will be a public record you can reference to prove that you earned it. Likewise, when treasure is found, the tag must be signed by all players present, thereby ensuring that it was found during a legitimate game event.

Plot Influence

Dream Walks can make progress within the game's plotlines. For example, there are 100 refugees hidden on the war-torn realm of Faeire. An ongoing total is kept of how many Fae are still trapped or rescued. Two Dream Walks relevant to this plotline are available on the Dreaming website. In one, you go to Faerie and fight your way towards the refugees. If you succeed, you can rescue two of them. But if you want to thwart the rescue, you can go into the dangerous heart of the Dreaming and try to shut the Fae gates. If people succeed on this, it seals off 2 refugees from rescue. The plotline is completed once all the refugees are returned or sealed away.

When you go on a Dream Walk, you may be cooperating or competing with other Dreaming players elsewhere in the world. You can communicate with them via the game's website. You may develop friendships or rivalries with characters you'll never actually play with in person.

The game website hosts a central archive of Dream Walks. Players can go on any Dream Walk for which they meet the requirements. They simply print out the Dream Walk PDF, distribute the roles to each other, and then begin their journey.

Players may write Dream Walks and submit them to be rated by others. In this manner, players help generate the ongoing content for the game.

Playing a Dream Walk

If you'd like to go on a Dream Walk, print out its PDF from the Internet. Gather up a group of people in the Dreaming to assist you with the adventure. There may be parts of the Dream Walk marked "HIDDEN" - do not read these pages! You will discover what happens on the Dream Walk as it takes place.

Divide everyone into two groups: the Party and the Guides. The Guides will go off-stage. During the Dream Walk, they may play monsters or NPCs, set up physical challenges, or hide scavenger hunt items. When the Dream Walk is over, the Guides may go back to playing their regular characters.

The Dream Walk consists of several scenes, or encounters. Generally, each page of the Dream Walk is instructions for a different scene. During the Dream Walk, you'll have to find different places for each scene, and this may require walking around or exploring the area in which you're playing. The Guides have the final say on where each scene will take place.

If the Party completes the scene, typically by solving whatever challenge they've been presented with, they can move on to the next one. If they fail, perhaps because everyone was knocked unconscious, the Dream Walk is over. In the event of a party wipe, if the Dream Walk is Archived, all the Guides gain a point of Resonance but the Party does not.

Reading a Dream Walk

Each Dream walk has certain conditions which must be met in order to begin. The first page describes the Dream Walk, the minimum number of people needed, how many people will be needed to play Guides, and any other special set-up or prerequisites needed to begin. It also should mention any special rewards that you get for completing the adventure.

The following pages each describe an encounter. Before the encounter begins, you may need to set up certain things. For example, you might have to draw circles on the ground which represent special zones or respawn points. You may do this before beginning the Dream Walk, or prior to the encounter. If the set-up is simple, the Guides will generally do it themselves, but they may ask for help from the Party.

Running a Dream Walk

If you are one of the Guides for the Dream Walk, you will be running the adventure for your fellow players. If the Dream Walk is Archived, you will gain Resonance whether the party succeeded or failed. In trade, you have to do your best to make the Dream Walk challenging and fun.

If all the Guides agree, they are allowed to make minor additions to the Dream Walk script which involve puzzles and roleplaying. For example, if the Dream Walk is about rescuing Fae from Faerie, the players might be sent on the adventure by a Fae who is desperate to find her son. She explains where the players need to go and what they need to do to find him.

Or perhaps in order to find the way, the players will have to collect six fragments of a sketch of their destination. Only by assembling the pieces will they know where the next encounter takes place. The pieces might be found by searching Monsters which the players fight during the Dream Walk, or by searching around the current encounter area.

Props, music, and monster costumes are other ways to spice up the Dream Walk. You might play fight music during combat encounters, or tense music if they are racing against a time limit. The bottom line is that your job is to ensure the Party's experience is as rich and fun as possible.

Do not hand victory to the party, but don't make the Dream Walk unwinnable either. It's okay to "fight down" when facing an opponent of significantly less skill than you. But remember that the feeling of victory only comes from overcoming a challenge, so don't be a pushover!

List of Dream Walks