Through the Gate of Deeper Slumber

Behind your eyelids, inside your mind and beneath your subconscious, lies another world. It is a fantastic realm where dreams are real and where nightmares prowl just beyond the limit of vision. These are the Dreamlands of Earth, a dimension lying just parallel to ours. Its fabric exists solely for and is sustained by the minds of Earth’s dreamers, human or otherwise.
The Dreamlands are, in a sense, an idea formed by men. While a man may die easily, ideas are much harder to kill; they live on in myths, legends, and racial memories. So the Dreamlands have survived through the ages. They have witnessed the rise and fall of many great civilizations of the Waking World. Each rise and fall has left its mark upon this unseen world which lies so close to, and yet an eternity away from, our own. Yet the Dreamlands are much as they were when the minds of the first men conjured them forth. They are a realm of the fantastic and the fanciful, the weird and the wonderful, the joyful and the terrible.
So lie back, close your eyes, and dream, for in dreams all things are possible.

Into the Dreamlands

Though there are a great number of ways to enter the Dreamlands, there are only two basic methods of doing so. Most people dream their way into the Dreamlands, but a few actually physically enter that far-away and fanciful realm.

Perchance to Dream

The most common dream-path into the Dreamlands is down the Seventy Steps of Lighter Slumber to the Cavern of Flame. One night, in his dreams, an investigator may come across a huge stairway leading downward from whatever ordinary dream he is having. If the investigator has been seeking the Dreamlands, he may recognize this staircase as the Seventy Steps of Light Slumber on a successful Cthulhu Mythos roll. No matter the form or setting of the investigator’s current dream, the seventy steps always bear the same appearance—a highly ornate, almost baroque marble staircase. Furthermore, the staircase may appear anywhere. It could be inside a building, inside a large vehicle such as a ship, in a cave, or outdoors leading into a hole in the ground. The stairs will always lead down from wherever the investigator currently is.
Whether or not he recognizes the stairway, a dreamer may choose to follow it down. Keepers who need to have an investigator descend the stairs and enter the Dreamlands should feel free to move the stairs about and have them continually appear in the investigator’s path (after all, strange things happen in dreams) until the investigator either chooses to descend or wakes up. Assuming that the investigator descends, he will arrive in a large cavern with a pillar of flame stretching from floor to ceiling. This is the cavern-temple of the priests Kaman-Thah and Nasht. At least one of these two priests is always awake to greet anyone who descends the stairs to his home. At the far end of the cavern from this entrance is another set of stairs. These are the Seven Hundred Steps which lead to the Gate of Deeper Slumber, which open into the Enchanted Woods of the Dreamlands.
However, the seventy steps are not the only dream-gate to the Dreamlands. Some dreamers may find themselves at the edge of a cliff in their dreams as did King Kuranes. The investigator will be overcome with a feeling of curiosity and a sense that no harm will come to him by stepping off the edge. If need be, the keeper should feel free to offer some source of inducement to leap off the cliff in the form of terrible pursuers or some such. Once over the edge the investigator will find himself gently floating downward past dark shapeless forms, faintly glowing spheres, and laughing winged things. Although these shapes, spheres, and winged things may alternately terrify or amaze the investigator, they can not harm him. Suddenly a bright rift will appear in the air before the investigator. Through this rift he can see a fabulous vista of a location in the Dreamlands. Upon passing through the rift the investigator will settle softly to the ground. While King Kuranes arrived in the valley of Ooth-Nargai via this method, the keeper should feel free to have investigators arrive at any point in the Dreamlands.
The last of the three primary dream-paths to the Dreamlands is the White Ship. The White Ship only appears to dreamers near the sea. In his dreams, the investigator will see a white ship with masts and rows of oars approaching him. The White Ship glides smoothly over the waters toward the dreamer no matter what the weather conditions or wind direction are. As the ship draws closer it can be seen that it actually sails slightly above the crests of the waves. Upon the deck of the ship stands a tall bearded man dressed in robes. He seems to beckon to viewers to come aboard his vessel. Should an investigator choose to do so a bridge of moonbeams will stretch forth from the White Ship to the investigator. Once on board the ship, the bearded man will introduce himself as the Captain. He has no other name. The Captain is most familiar with more pleasant regions such as Sona-Nyl or Ennon, but he is knowledgeable about much of the Dreamlands and can voyage to any region accessible by water that his passengers might wish to visit. He has even sailed beyond the Basalt Pillars of the West twice and successfully traveled to fabled Cathuria once. He will speak of these voyages, but is reluctant to undertake the trip a third time. If his passengers have no specific destination in mind he will sail for either Sona-Nyl or Ennon. No matter where his ship sails, it will always arrive at night and under a full moon. Again the bridge of moonbeams will extend, allowing his passengers to disembark. Neither he or his crew will join the investigators ashore except in Sona-Nyl, Ennon, or Cathuria.
If an entire group of investigators is attempting to enter the Dreamlands at the same time, while asleep, the keeper should have them all use the same route. Each investigator will arrive at this route in his own way (for each person’s dreams are his own), but once they have arrived they may encounter others of their group already there. For example, while each investigator in a group will find the top of the Seventy Steps in his own way once he has descended to the Cavern of Flame he may meet other members of his group. Investigators floating down from the precipice will arrive at the same point in the Dreamlands once through the rift, and the White Ship may sail from point to point and pick up a different member of the group at each location before sailing on to its final destination.
While these are the three primary dream-routes leading into the Dream lands they are by no means the only ones.

“There are not many persons who know what wonders are opened to them in the stories and visions of their youth; for when as children we listen and dream, we think but half-formed thoughts, and when as men we try to remember, we are dulled and prosaic with the poison of life. But some of us awaken in the night with strange phantasms of enchanted hills and gardens, of fountains that sing in the sun, of plains that stretch down to sleeping cities of bronze and stone, and of shadowy companies of heroes that ride caparisoned white horses along the edge of thick forests; and then we know that world of wonder which was ours before we were wise and unhappy.” —H. P. Lovecraft, “Celephaïs”

Within A Dream

Once they have attained entry to the Dreamlands, investigators will find themselves in a world similar to but not totally like their own. Time runs differently here, varying from the flow of time in the Waking World and even varying from land to land in the world of Dream. Likewise, sanity gain and loss is modified, and even death and injury may not be permanent.

Exit the Dreamlands

An investigator physically present in the Dreamlands can leave only by finding one of the physical paths, such as those in the Forbidden Lands past the Tanarian Hills, the ghoul tunnels from the Underworld which lead to the Waking World, or similar means. If he walks back up the Seven Hundred Steps to Deeper Slumber, to find the Cavern of Flame, he can exit the Dreamlands by proceeding up through the Seventy Steps of Light Sleep.

Whether or not he exits through a different place than that he entered by, his Waking World point of arrival is always the same as that through which he entered the Dreamlands. A character cannot travel in the Waking World by using the Dreamlands as a shortcut.
If an investigator’s dream self is present, he may also leave by means of a path to the Waking World. If he takes such a path, as he nears the Waking World, he first sees the town in which he lives at a distance, then he can make out his own house, then, as he draws closer and closer, suddenly a blaze of light overwhelms him. He wakes up, his dream over.
It is also possible for a character to will himself awake. In order to do so the investigator must make a successful Dreaming skill roll to “convince” himself that he is in fact just dreaming. A character who makes this roll wakes up safe and sound. If the investigator fails his roll he is unable to wake up at this time, but may try again later. If the investigator fumbles this roll, he is unable to distinguish between his current dream and reality and may not try voluntarily to wake up again at all during his current sojourn in the Dreamlands. The keeper should only allow an attempt to roll to wake up if the investigator is in very dire circumstances; for example, Randolph Carter is only able to force himself awake after he flings himself off the back of a shantak which is flying through space toward Azathoth’s court.
An investigator may also be awakened if his body is disturbed in the Waking World, perhaps by a loud noise, being shaken vigorously, or a similar startlement. To remain asleep when being so disturbed, the investigator must get a successful Idea roll.
If an investigator awakens when on an adventure, his companions simply notice that he isn’t there any more. This disappearance is always fairly natural; he might simply go into his cabin and not return, or they might look up from their places at table and notice that his food has been untouched—and, in fact, that he isn’t in his seat anymore.
Any time an investigator awakens from a dream, he risks forgetting much of what he learned therein. To simulate this, after the investigator wakes, have him attempt an Idea roll. If it succeeds, then he can remember what happened in his dream as if it had occurred in “real life.” If the Idea roll fails, however, the dream experiences and discoveries are not clearly remembered. Confiscate any notes the player kept on his investigator’s findings and deny the investigator any experience checks gained during the episode, but retain any changes in Sanity, Cthulhu Mythos, or the Dreaming skill. Spells learned are forgotten.

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Enter The Dreamlands

New Skills for the Dreamer
Dreaming
Dream Lore

Into the Dreamlands
Artifacts of Dreaming
Entering Physically
Spells of Waking

Within a Dream
Time in the Dreamlands
Sanity Gain And Loss
Death and Injury
Who Can Enter?
Bringing Clothing and Equipment
Dreamlands Spells