Dreamscape

He moves the Fragment next to Korin's Dreamer. One more move and it is captured. Korin realizes it too and hopes a little luck is on her side. She grabs the Dream Dust and lightly blows it around the three pieces of stone, hoping not to hit her own Dreamer. As she brings the heat stone over them, she sees Agel's Fragment is glowing.
Yes! I got it!
Agel realizes the game is over now. He can't capture her Dreamer and she only needs one move to get to the Awakening.

Mechanics & Inner Workings

The Scape:

The board can be drawn on any stone with chalk. It consists of 11 lines drawn vertically and 11 lines drawn horizontally crossing each other at even intervals. This creates a grid.

Supplies:

• Each player needs 5 or 10 Fragments depending on the rule set being used. They would also need 1-2 Dreamers.
• Pieces: Players can use simple small stones to signify the Fragments and a slightly taller stone to signify the Dreamers.
• Dream Dust: The Dust is a mixture of stone dust and Thindle dust. The Thindle dust glows when exposed to heat.
• Heat Stone: Used to make the Thindle Dust glow. This is optional as you can just breath on the pieces closely to activate the Thindle Dust.

The Set Up:

Each player sits on opposite ends of the Scape and gets 6 pieces for the board. They get 5 Fragments and one Dreamer that they can place on their side of the Scape. Each player places their Dreamer on one of the bottom edge points (from their perspectives) except the corners. They then place their Fragments on each point around the Dreamer. This creates a 3x2 formation for the starting position.
This can be played with multiple players. For two players, it is common to have 2 of the starting formations. So 2 Dreamers and 10 Fragments. When done with four players, it usually only done with one formation and players sitting on each side of the Scape. They get one Dreamer unless the grid is drawn larger.

The Objective:

The primary objective is the get the Dreamer to the center of the grid called the Point of Awakening and hold it there for one whole turn without being captured. The player that achieves this first wins.

Gameplay:

Movement:

• The pieces move along the lines and movement is counted by the number of segments it can move.
• The Fragments have two moves and the Dreamers have one move.
• Player one can move one piece on their first turn. Every turn after that, they can move two pieces.
• Player two and all additional players can move two pieces.
• Fragments can move two segments and the Dreamer can move one segment when selected.

Capturing:

• To capture an opposing piece, the player must surround it with two on their Fragments on either side.
• When a piece is captured, it is out of the game permanently.
• If all of the player's Dreamers are captured they are not out of the game. They may still capture the other Dreamer to cause a draw.
• Two or more pieces may be captured if they form an unbroken line and the player has two pieces on both ends of the line.

Dream Dust:

• At the end of player 1's third turn, dust is blown on the board by both players. The player selects the area to blow the dust. After the dust settles, they apply heat and the see what pieces have the glowing dust. If one of your pieces have some dust on it, you are not able to move it until the next turn. This only impacts one of piece per player. If multiple pieces are impacted, the owner player may choose which one can't move.

Winning:

• When a player moves a Dreamer to the Point of Awakening, it must sit there until the player's next turn without being captured. If it does so, that player wins the game.
• If all the players lose all their Dreamers, the game is a draw.

Significance

This game was designed several centuries ago and is used as a common past time. It requires skill and a bit of luck as well. Although sometimes considered more of a rich man's game, the game was initially developed with simple stones in the taverns by common people looking to gamble and smile.
It is a strategy game and mastery of it is a sign of intelligence. It now played commonly in the University and the homes of the noble families. It is still played in the taverns as well.
Dreamscape is a game based some simple techniques used to understand dreams. These techniques became more strategic with adults and the game was created. The actual person that created is unknown. It is believed that they just went around teaching people, but didn't want any credit.

Alternate Rules:

There have been many alternate rules added to make the game both faster and more challenging. This is just a small number.

• Teamwork: This allows four players to play, but in teams of two. In this version, each player would be responsible for one formation of Dreamers and Fragments. They would work together though and either Dreamer reaching the Awakening would give the win to that team.
• Dream Warriors: 3 or 4 players all competing against each other can be used with each player deploying from a different edge of the board. During this type of game formations can't be set up on the two lines furthest on either side of their edge.
• Pushback: This rule extends the game dramatically. In this version there is no capturing. Instead, if a piece is surrounded then it is pushed back one segment.
• Dream Storm: In this version the amount of Dust used is double and it impacts every piece that glows. This can make things very challenging for most players.
• Small Scape: This is designed for short games. Scapes can be drawn with any odd number of lines. Five to Seven lines makes the game move quite fast paced. The Dream Dust may be used 1-2 turns in these versions as well.
• Dream Fields: This is the opposite of Small Scape. The Scape is made with more lines. This can be used if there are more than 4 players and is usually combined with the Teamwork rules.

Gambling:

In the taverns the game gets more interesting as Chips are involved. Chips are used in place of the pieces.

• Fragments: Blue Chips
• Dreamers: Green Chips
• High rollers might use Green for the Fragments and Yellow for the Dreamers, but this usually only for the nobles that might bet. Local taverns use the smaller amounts.
• When a piece gets captured, the player keeps that Chip.
• When the Dreamer is capture, the player gets all the opposing chips.
• On a draw, each player only keeps the chips they captured.

This is still actively played in taverns across the city. Some even have Scapes carved into a couple of stone tables for people to play.