Nightmare Dreams
What are they?
Those who manifest Nightmare dreams are cursed to restless nights and waking paranoia. These dreams could be anything from horrific monsters, scenes of murder and betrayal, or any other horrible vision. The defining factor of this type of dream is the dreamer is never fully at rest with the knowledge that all sleep brings is horrible visions.
Playing as a Nightmare Dreamer
As a nightmare dreamer, you are constantly fighting with a lack of adequate rest. Going to sleep is not something you relish, and often you would prefer to stay up until you absolutely need it. Over time such struggles become the normal process for you. This might influence your appearance and you should consider if you want it to be reflected somehow to the world around you. Do you have dark bags under your eyes? Do you yawn often due to lack of sleep?
How has your dream influenced you? Most nightmares are scarring, forcing paranoia into the mind of the dreamer. How has this dream caused your average life to be affected? What relationships has it strained? Has anyone used the dream to manipulate you and your fears? And a big question to discuss with the GM, what goals does your character have because of manifesting this dream?
As you gain power, you will slowly be able to take your nightmares and turn them on your enemies. While you may never truly be free of your demons, you will ensure they benefit you.
Dealing with Nightmare Dreamers as the GM
When you use the Wyrd to affect the dreamer or the world around them, give subtle hints reflecting their dream. This will always help tie them into the moment, but with a nightmare dreamer you must take extra care. If you do this too often their dream will lose its "wow" factor to the player as they roll their eyes at the instance. Instead, if you use this sparingly and insert it in moments that the player will be focused more on, they will not only see those mentions but they will be trained to expect their dream to matter and have influence. Use the nightmare to give the player legitimate paranoia and apprehension.
DISCLAIMER
Nightmare is a dream type that risks casual exploring of fears and uncomfortable topics. This is always a type that should be thoroughly discussed with the players in order to determine real player boundaries. It is recommended that you utilize some sort of consent agreement so that you do not accidentally cross a line.
Nightmare and Magic
Nightmares twist magic into horrid reflections of the dreamer's mind. The magic tends to take darker turns in both color and appearance. When using magic, consider how your particular dream influences the magic you cast.
For example: You seek to cast an attack spell, you have dubbed "flaming bolt" but instead of standard flames they are a black shimmer that seems to consume the light around them instead of giving off the light. Or perhaps your dream of being surrounded by the blood of your loved ones causes your magic to take on the appears of seeping wounds and pouring blood. Take some time to make the magic reflect your dream and what it might manifest as.
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