Dreaming

The investigator receives this skill the first time he enters the Dreamlands, whether he dreams to get there or arrives physically. It starts at a percentile amount equal to the investigator’s POW. The investigator gets one experience check in this skill each time he re-enters the Dreamlands and remains for more than a dream week, the skill increasing in identical fashion to any other game skill.
Dreaming is used to alter Dreamlands reality. However, it can be performed only in an ordinary dream. Hence the user must be asleep and dreaming. The dreamer chooses, consciously or unconsciously, what it is he creates. He may make something small, such as a piece of fruit. Or he may achieve something wonderful. The creation may take a single dream and a Dreaming roll to complete, or it may require many successful separate creative efforts, many dreams, and much time. King Kuranes created the land of Ooth-Nargai only after many dream-decades, and he is the greatest of all dreamers.
If the dream’s creative impulse comes from the dreamer’s subconscious, the keeper may decide what is created in whole or in part. Creations normally are not a threat to the dreamer (hence his subconscious would normally not dream up a Deep One to attack him), unless, of course, he is insane at the time.
Magic points must be spent in the use of the Dreaming skill. Especially large or complex objects may require several dream-sessions before enough magic points can be spent to form it. The Dreaming skill attempt is made after all desired magic points are assigned. The keeper decides upon the value of the desired creation. If the magic points spent equal or exceed the value, and the user’s skill roll is a success, then the object is created properly. The value represents the most important attribute of the object, whether that is size, quality, or whatever, as decided by the keeper. Living things normally have twice the value of their non-living equivalents. A sword might have a value of 9, since the maximum damage it can do is 9. If the sword were specially engraved and bejeweled, it would have a higher value, possibly 15, 20, or even higher, especially if the sword were magic. A dog might be assigned a value of 8 magic points since its SIZ is 4, and it, being living, costs twice that in magic points. A beautiful woman might cost 36 magic points since her most vital statistic, APP, is 18, and she is living. A painting the caliber of the Mona Lisa might have a value of 50 or even 80. A modest palace might cost 100-200 magic points.
Alterations may cost less than outright creations, depending on the nature of the alteration and the keeper’s desires. For example, a shade tree transformed to a wooden bench does not have its basic nature (wood) altered, and the creation of the bench, which might normally cost 20 magic points, may only cost 5-15. A statue of a woman transformed into a beautiful living woman may only cost 18 points instead of 36, because the basic shape of the object was not altered. If both the nature and the shape of the object are unchanged, the alteration may cost even less, depending on the keeper’s decision. Changing a shade tree into a fruit tree might only cost 3-4 magic points.
A dreamer normally cannot make alteration or create an object of more value than his Dreaming skill percentile. Thus, a dreamer with Dreaming of 45% could not make a house of higher value than 45. However, over the course of many creative dreams, he could create a whole village full of such houses. By the expenditure of POW along with the required magic points, the dreamer can overcome this
limit, however, For each point of POW expended in the act of creation, this limit doubles. Thus our dreamer with a skill of 45, by spending 1 POW could make an object of up to 90 value. If he spent another point of POW, he could make an object of up to 180 value. If he spent a third, his limit would increase to 360 value. This does not increase his Dreaming skill of 45, however, and if he rolled 46 or higher on his creation attempt all the POW sacrificed would be wasted.
Such changes are “real” upon the dreamer’s next trip to the Dreamlands proper. Objects created personally for the dreamer, such as clothing, tools, weapons, jewelry, money, etc., appear on his person when he enters the Dreamlands. Objects with an independent existence, those created at a specific point within the Dreamlands, immobile objects (such as palaces or trees), living beasts, and any other objects so designated by the keeper, exist at their point of creation, and the dreamer must travel there to find them. The dreamer may have no idea where his creation exists and may have to travel great distances to find it, as did Randolph Carter in The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath.
Normally the created object or alteration only exists for the Dreamer’s next Dreamlands voyage. On second and subsequent trips after creation, it is non-existent, or has returned to its original form. However, POW can be expended to make the object permanent. Generally, one point of POW must be expended per act of creation, plus one POW for each point of POW that the creation cost. Especially vital creations may cost more POW, at the judgement of the keeper. For example, a dreamer with Dreaming 45 might spend 2 POW and 180 magic points to make a mansion with a value of 180. If he decided to make the mansion permanent, it would cost 1 POW (for the act of creation), plus 2 POW (because the mansion cost 2 POW to create in the first place). Hence he would spend a total of 5 POW and 180 magic points to form his new, permanent mansion. This would probably require many nights of concentrated dreaming effort. Of course, if his Dreaming skill roll failed, the POW and magic points would be wasted.
It is possible for natives and other permanent residents of the Dreamlands to use the dreaming skill, but they must roll 1/5 of their Dreaming skill. Thus, King Kuranes, greatest of all Earth’s dreamers with a skill of 297%, now that he is a permanent resident of the Dreamlands would have to roll less than 59% in order to create something. Further note that permanent residents of the Dreamlands need not expend POW to make something last, since they can no longer leave the Dreamlands normally. Such creations will fade slowly from existence if the creator dies or somehow is transported out of the Dreamlands unless POW was sacrificed at the time of creation. Most native residents of the Dreamlands do not possess the dreaming skill.