Revision as of 15:00, 28 March 2010

Introduction

The Dreaming is a live game which is coordinated over a social networking site. Players portray a character who lives in a Dream World which looks, coincidentally, almost exactly like the real world. Your character is a member of the dream world's society. Places where you and your friends actually hang out can become special locations within the game world. You can choose to go adventuring with other characters and participate in the game's ongoing plotlines and politics. These adventures may involve live combat using foam boffer weapons. When you post pics, videos, or blog entries about your adventures to the social networking site, you earn points to customize your Dreamstone, a unique and personalized magic item.

Live Play

The Dreaming is played by meeting up in the real world. When you engage in live play, you'll adapt a persona called a character. When you enter the Dreaming, by putting on an arm band or game badge, you'll become that character.

Each character can own one territory, a spot in the world where players gather for live play. Much of your time will be spent hanging out in one of these territories with other characters. You can go on adventures, called Dream Walks, and fight monsters (who are portrayed by other players).

If you choose to go on adventures, or get in fights with other players, you may engage in combat using foam boffer weapons. Some characters can cast spells by throwing small props called spell packets. When you build a character, you will choose a class and pick a few skills. This determines which weapons you can use, what kinds of abilities you have, how much damage you can take, and what kind of tactics you will use in combat. There are no long-term consequences for death - your character is merely knocked out for the rest of the day.

Combat is not necessary to play the Dreaming. The Dreaming has a society which has social and political elements. Players may band together to form countries with their own rulers and laws.

If nobody is in your area, you can also play solo. You can earn points in the game by putting up surreal recruitment posters. Some plot lines involve using photography or installation art to blur the line between the waking world and the Dreaming.

The Aether

Live play is coordinated over a social networking site at http://dreamings.ning.com. The site works much like other familiar sites such as Facebook or MySpace. When you build your character, your choices about your race, class, and skills will be entered onto your profile. You can post status updates, photos, or other media. You can plan events and form groups. There is a community map which can help you find players in your area, or help them find you.

In-game, the Social Networking site represents a dream of the Internet, called the Aether. The photos and blog entries posted on the Aether are called the Archive, a collective memory accessible by anyone in the Dreaming.

Posting to the Archive is a form of collaborative storytelling. Plot lines are coordinated over the Aether. Things which happen in live play, (such as Dream Walks) can affect the game for everybody. Each plot has a wiki page which its coordinator edits based on archive posts relating to that plot.

Every character has a unique magic item called a dream stone. When you go on a Dream Walk and somebody posts about it in the archive, you gain a point of Resonance, which represents the awakening of your dream stone. You'll keep track of your own resonance in your character profile. Resonance can be spent to give your character special powers or properties.

for a printable pamphlet which contains this intro, go here

for more information, see Setting Basics, or the rulebook Table of Contents.