DREAMSCAPE:underworld™ - my next game

[Deleted]

A solid setup for adventuring, intrigue etc and I think using the adventures to outline a playable setting is more immersive than a gazetteer.

[paleologos]

Very cool - yes, Chania fits so well as an old school adventuring town. I was there in 2000, and might be going back, this summer. Will be sure to post some pics, if I do!

[Vile Traveller]

Not a lot, I'm frantically busy with my relocation and will be for several months. It's still there on the side burner though, not the back one.

[Vile Traveller]

More news soon! If you look back through the thread I've made some big changes.

[doublejig2]

Dreaming the Dead Dreams of a
Cold War Kid
Still Awe Struck Champion
About What We Did

[Vile Traveller]

The magic system, as I mentioned, is point-based. Most spells start off at a cost of 1 Stamina, but that quickly goes up. Casting spells costs Stamina, so it doesn't do to do so willy-nilly! There will, of course, be ways to get extra points as PCs get more experienced. Rituals can spread the cost amongst willing/unwilling donors or sacrifices but take much, much longer.

The spell list is adapted from 1st-2nd level cleric and 1st-3rd level magic-user spells. That is actually a very wide range of spells compared to, say, RuneQuest 2! The Church and the Colleges only teach a limited number of basic spells (i.e. 1st level), after that spell casters are on their own and have to seek out or invent new spells. Scrolls and magic books are the main sources, but stealing magic books from any Collegiate carries the slow-and-unpleasant-death penalty.

Spells based on the size of the target (there are surprisingly many of these) double Stamina cost for every category. Making one medium-sized creature Invisible costs 2 points. A large creature, or 2 medium ones, cost 4 points.

Range can be increased by expending the same number of points again, e.g. a 2-point spell with 60' range can get a 120' range for 4 points.

Duration can be extended by expending the same number of points again, as for range. This doesn't expand geometrically, the extra cost for each is based on the base cost of the spell - i.e. double range and triple duration is (base x 2) + (base x 3).

Area (volume, actually) of effect is almost always a sphere. Doubling the radius costs 8 times the Stamina, and that's the limit.

Spell books are still a thing, and PCs still have to study them every morning to refresh their memory. They also write new spells into them as they find and decipher them. But they have access to all the spells they know and can cast whatever they want, as long as they have the points.

Anyone can make scrolls, potions, and even magic wands for the spells they know, so these are the most commonly-found magical treasures. The limiting factors are time, money, ingredients, and Stamina. Other magic items require specific rituals which may be discovered, but it's unlikely as most are unique and the procedures are lost or were never written down. Non-spell scroll and potion 'recipes' are fairly well-documented and anyone with sufficient Arcana skill should be able to use them if they find them.

[Vile Traveller]

Although BLUEHOLME™ does have its Known World in the background, the rules themselves are not tied to it. DREAMSCAPE:underworld™, by contrast, comes with a setting in the book - the Misty Isles. The physical geography might seem familiar, especially to people who know where I've these past decades, but I assure you:

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons living or dead, events or locations is entirely coincidental.

[Vile Traveller]

I'm currently finalising the Creatures chapter. One of the many, many cool things about Holmes Basic D&D was the list of monsters in the book. As befits the idea that PCs don't have to charge into combat with everything they see, the good Dr Holmes selected a complete cross-section selection of monsters from kobolds ("evil, dwarf-like creatures") all the way up to purple worms ("lurking nearly everywhere beneath the surface").

I am distilling the list a bit further, but not much. It's still quite a mix, but not quite the plethora of the first Holmes supplement, the Monster Manual.

I am also changing a lot of names to get further away from D&D tropes or to go back to original sources instead of the now standard D&D interpretation. For example, my kobolds are more like Holmes's evil, dwarf-like creatures, though they have tails because the artist got confused when I did BLUEHOLME™ but we both decided we liked the tails so I kept them. Snake-haired women are gorgons, hobgoblins are little goblins, etc. Green slime and yellow mould are still there, but they're classified as Underworld hazards rather than creatures.

Here's my current list:

• Basilisk
• Bear
• Cave Creeper (Carrion Crawler)
• Chameleonid (Troglodyte)
• Chimera
• Dire Wolf
• Dragon - Young, Adult, Ancient
• Dwarf
• Elf
• Flicker - Light, Dark (Blink Dog / Displacer Beast)
• Ghoul
• Giant - Common, Flame, Mountain, Rock, Sky, Sea
• Gnole (Gnoll)
• Goblin - Hobgoblin, Goblin, Orc
• Gorgon (Medusa)
• Griffin
• Horse
• Howlbear (Owlbear)
• Human
• Insect, Giant - Centipede, Fire Ant, Rot Beetle, Stink Beetle, Tarantella, Tick
• Kobold
• Manticore
• Mimic (Doppelganger)
• Nixie
• Ogre
• Ooze (Black Pudding, Gelatinous Cube, Grey Ooze, Ochre Jelly)
• Pixie
• Rat, Giant
• Reptilian (Lizard Man)
• Servitor (Skeleton)
• Shade (Shadow)
• Siren (Harpy)
• Skin Changer (Lycanthrope)
• Skysteed (Pegasus)
• Spectre
• Stalker
• Strix (Stirge)
• Troll
• Unicorn - Black, White
• Vampire
• White Worm (Purple Worm)
• Wight
• Wraith
• Zombie