Dreamland RPG Preview

 If you know me, or if you've read my blog for any length of time, you'll know that three things that inform a great deal of my life are dreams, "weird" fiction, and tabletop roleplaying games. So when I learned, several years ago, that Jason Thompson, artist behind the amazing graphic novel version of The Dream Quest of Unknown Kadath & Other Stories was behind a TTRPG focusing exclusively on the dreamlands, I was very excited. 

Then, last year at Gameholecon, I had the privilege to play in a game and, frankly, was blown away. This is a game that rewards creativity, it is not a player's game, but a creator's game, and I am ALL in on it! The mechanics use word cards that players use to influence and create actions and even the environment itself (a malleable dreamworld where creation is the ultimate power). I had been prepared to be disappointed (just in case), but that preparation melted away as the game play far surpassed my cautious emotional hedging. It was one of the most fun games I've played at a convention (and I've played a few). 

So now, you can download the quickstart rules in preparation for the upcoming Kickstarter next year. I'll be saving my gold pieces to be able to splurge on this one. I only get excited about Kickstarter campaigns every few years - yeah, I'm a skeptic and a bit of a cheapskate at times - but 2025 is going to be the year I get excited. 

Go here to download the quickstart rules. And have a gander at this art! This is just a sample of the goodness that is and will be the Dreamland RPG

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The Book of Monelle

 

The Book of Monelle by Marcel Schwob
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

"When Marcel Schwob published The Book of Monelle in French in 1894, it immediately became the unofficcial bible of the French Symbolist movement," claims the back-cover copy of the (always amazing and criminally under-rated - and, incidentally, publisher of one of my favorite books of recent years) Wakefield Press edition of The Book of Monelle. One can easily see the segue from the artistic themes of the Symbolists (particularly the Belgian contingent) to Schwob's work here. This might also have something to do with the mood and themes of his short story collection The King in the Golden Mask, so, perhaps my artistic synesthesia bleeds into one morass of mythicaly-ethereal dream oceans.

I ascertain that one of the main ways that Monelle fed the symbolists was through a sort of literary sleight-of-hand, in which the title of the book's sections intentionally put one in an emotional state, ready to "receive" what the title had to offer, only to be slipped a story that contrasted with the story's title, sometimes directly opposing it, at other times, skewing meanings in unpredictable ways. This is particularly true in the first section "The Sisters of Monelle". For instance, the story "The Voluptuous" is anything but sexually attractive, while "The Savage" ends on a note of purely innocent love. In some ways, I see this baiting as a very mild precursor to what the dadaists and surrealists would take to extremes later on.

The second section, the actual "Book of Monelle," is a logically-slippery slope, a time-less (meaning that time has become a sort of stew with bits and pieces of past, present, and future swirling before the reader) dreamstate or fugue. Only on reading the translator's notes did I realize that Schwob had written the book using his lover, Louise (surname unknown), a young woman, likely a prostitute, with whom he had fallen in love before she was riddled through and killed by tuberculosis, becoming, over time, a sort of saintly figure in Schwob's mythology. Of course, this was deeply affecting to Schwob, and one can feel the emotional tug of "Monelle" throughout. We can feel Schwob's sorrow and his longing, especially in the pleading of Monelle's suitor to stay with or return to him and the children (not their children, but any child that is trying to escape the entrapment of adulthood and its banalities). So, besides the intellectual and philosophical exercise of the symbolism herein, we are swept up in a powerfully-emotional, softly-turning whirlwind, pushed aloft, then dropped to the depths of sorrow. It is a moving journey, and not one to be soon forgotten.

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Bootleg Reverse

I believe the last bootleg vinyl I owned was a really crappy live recording of Metallica's "Creeping Death" I got back in 1986 or so. Since I've been bitten again by the vinyl bug, I've avoided bootlegs, but in this case, I couldn't pass it up. The reason is that I can't find any "legitimate" vinyl releases of Pink Floyd's Live at Pompeii, which I consider, along with Blue Oyster Cult's ETI Live and Heaven and Hell's Live at Radio City Music Hall, to be one of the best live performances ever recorded. This was before the Floyd burst into popularity with "Dark Side of the Moon". In fact, it was the year before that high watermark and many, many years before their next biggest hit, "The Wall". This is the Floyd I missed because I was so young and because before the days of the interwebs, one just couldn't find copies of this thing or, as in my case, one didn't even know such a thing existed. 

But now, thanks to a birthday gift from my wife (I'm incredibly surprised by this because she hates most rock music, though she is incredibly musical), I am back in the bootleg business. 

This puppy is soooo bootleg it doesn't even have a sleeve, just this printed piece of glossy in a mylar bag. Please excuse me while I go listen to some psychedelic wanderings. Don't worry, I'll be back. I'm not going to go Syd Barret on this one, tempting as it is.

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If you like my writing and want to help my creative endeavors, ko-fi me at https://ko-fi.com/forrestaguirre. Every little bit is seen and appreciated! Thank you!

Going to Gamehole 2024

 Alright! I just got into the following events for Gamehole 2024! I will see you there!

Thursday:

9 AM - 1 PM: Branches of Bone (Cthulhu Dark Ages)

2 PM - 6 PM: Into the Clouds (Empire of the Petal Throne)

7 PM - 11 PM: Catastrophe Island (Dungeon Crawl Classics)

Friday:

9 AM-11 AM: Resurrection Men (Achtung! Cthulhu)

12 PM - 4 PM: Death Station (Classic Traveller)

4 PM - 8 PM: Black Letter: Legacy (Call of Cthulhu)

8 PM - 10 PM: Intro to Warhammer 40K RPG: Rain of Mercy (Warhammer 40K RPG)

Saturday:

8 AM - 12 PM: Thicker Than Blood Part 1: Forgotten Island (Troika!)

2 PM - 4 PM: Classic Battletech Grinder (Battletech Miniatures)

4 PM - 10 PM: Black Sun Rising (Call of Cthulhu)

So, as usual, a preponderance of Call of Cthulhu-and-adjacent games, 1 DCC/MCC game, 1 minis game (Battletech), 1 game I've never played before (Warhammer 40K RPG). This is my preferred mix for cons, so I'm pretty happy with it. The only things I couldn't quite fit were a Vaesen game and Cthulhu Invictus session. Maybe next time around. 

I usually get in a Wednesday night off-the-books game, as well. Usually something incredibly stupid and over the top involving DCC. And, frankly, that's usually my favorite game of the whole con. We'll see what shenanigans happen then. 

I'm seriously thinking I will run something for Garycon: Taking the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons coloring album dungeon (which is absolutely ridiculous) and running it using DCC. Gotta work on 1st edition AD&D monster conversions to DCC this winter, though. 

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If you like my writing and want to help my creative endeavors, ko-fi me at https://ko-fi.com/forrestaguirre. Every little bit is seen and appreciated! Thank you!