Surreal Dreamscape – Solo Journaling RPG

By / 6 minutes of reading

In this game, you are the lone dreamer, navigating a landscape where the bizarre and the beautiful coalesce in ever-shifting patterns.

With nothing more than a standard deck of playing cards, you will embark on a unique narrative journey, crafting a personal story with every game.

In "Surreal Dreamscapes," each suit of cards opens a door to different aspects of your dream journey, inviting you to explore, imagine, and reflect.

As you draw from the deck, you will encounter a variety of dreamscapes, visions, wonders, and entities, each contributing to the tapestry of your story.

Imagine wandering through an ethereal forest where the trees whisper secrets of the past. Picture yourself in a floating city, where gravity is just a suggestion and buildings shift like clouds. Envision meeting a dreamweaver who guides you through a labyrinth of forgotten memories.

Each card you draw adds a new layer of wonder, challenge, or discovery to your adventure.

Your journey will be shaped by the following elements:

  • Dreamscapes: From luminescent glades to forgotten ruins, the surreal places you encounter will set the stage for your dreams. Each location, whether it’s the shimmering Crystal Caves or the twisted towers of a dreaming city, brings its own atmosphere and challenges, enriching your narrative with vivid and otherworldly settings.

  • Visions: These are the core of your journey, manifesting as profound experiences and aspirations. Whether you gain the ability to shapeshift, uncover secret knowledge, or confront a dark prophecy, the visions you explore will deeply influence your path, revealing hidden desires and fears.

  • Wonders: In this world, the line between imagination and reality blurs, giving rise to incredible inventions. Discover devices like the Thought Machine, which brings your innermost thoughts to life, or the Dimension Door, which opens portals to unknown realms. These wonders will aid, challenge, or transform your journey in unexpected ways.

  • Entities: Encounter enigmatic characters who inhabit this dreamscape, each with their own stories and purposes. Meet the Time Guardian who controls the flow of time, or the Illusionist who bends reality with a gesture. These entities will become allies, adversaries, or guides, shaping your narrative through their actions and influences.

"Surreal Dreamscapes" is a GM-free, diceless game designed for solo play.

All you need is a deck of cards to generate prompts that guide your journaling. As you draw cards and weave your narrative, you will document your experiences, thoughts, and decisions, creating a rich tapestry of your character’s adventures in this fantastical dream world.

Embark on this journey of imagination and storytelling, where every card draw brings a new chapter to your dreamscape. What wonders will you discover? What challenges will you face?

Game Rules

Welcome to this solo journaling RPG, where you’ll create your own story using just a deck of cards and your imagination.

This game is inspired by The Adventurer by James Chip (jameschip.itch.io) – with the addition on the "triples" table and the "joker events"

Follow these rules to embark on your unique narrative journey.

Setup

  1. Separate the Deck by Suits:

    • Take a standard deck of playing cards and separate it into four suits: Diamonds, Hearts, Clubs, and Spades.
    • Add the Red Joker to the Hearts deck and the Black Joker to the Spades deck.

  2. Shuffle the Decks:

    • Shuffle each suit deck thoroughly.
    • Place each shuffled suit deck face down in front of you.

Gameplay

  1. Draw Cards:

    • At the beginning of each turn, draw one card from each of the four suit decks (Diamonds, Hearts, Clubs, and Spades).

  2. Create Your Journal Entry:

    • Refer to the prompt associated with each drawn card.
    • Use the prompts to inspire a journal entry, weaving together the elements into a cohesive story. For example, if you draw a location, an event, a resource, and a character, describe how these aspects interact in your narrative.

  3. Special Rules for Jokers:

    • If you draw a Red Joker (from the Hearts deck) or a Black Joker (from the Spades deck), refer to the Joker table for its special meaning and incorporate this twist into your journal entry.

  4. Triple Face Values:

    • If you draw three cards of the same face value (e.g., three 7s) in a single turn, regardless of positiom, refer to the "Triples" table for a rare and unexpected event. Incorporate this event into your journal entry.

  5. Continue the Story:

    • Repeat the process of drawing cards and writing journal entries.
    • Continue until any one of the suit decks runs out of cards.

Ending the Game

  • The game ends when any one of the suit decks is exhausted or you draw a fatal card.
  • Reflect on your journey and consider how the final entry concludes your character’s story.

By following these rules, you’ll embark on a captivating solo journey, crafting a narrative driven by the cards you draw.

Each game is a new adventure, offering endless possibilities and stories.

Cards

Diamonds: Dreamscapes

A: Floating Islands
2: Twisting Corridors
3: Mirror Maze
4: Eternal Sunset
5: Endless Forest
6: Crystal Caves
7: Shifting Sands
8: Glowing Mushrooms
9: Frozen Waterfalls
10: Whispering Winds
J: Rainbow Rivers
Q: Starlit Ocean
K: Gravity Wells

Hearts: Visions

A: Forgotten Memories
2: Ghostly Figures
3: Ancestral Spirits
4: Past Lives
5: Future Glimpses
6: Hidden Desires
7: Echoes of Love
8: Celestial Patterns
9: Divine Messages
10: Sacred Symbols
J: Eternal Youth
Q: Radiant Light
K: Veil of Secrets

Clubs: Wonders

A: Living Paintings
2: Singing Flowers
3: Dancing Flames
4: Talking Animals
5: Flying Books
6: Invisible Bridges
7: Levitating Stones
8: Melodic Trees
9: Moving Statues
10: Breathing Walls
J: Infinite Staircase
Q: Time Bubbles
K: Sentient Shadows

Spades: Entities

A: Shadow Beings
2: Astral Guardians
3: Dream Weavers
4: Time Keepers
5: Soul Harvesters
6: Moonlit Hunters
7: Ethereal Guides
8: Nightmare Beasts
9: Illusionists
10: Light Bringers
J: Whispering Spirits
Q: Ancient Sages
K: Chaos Bringers

Jokers

  • Red Joker: "Temporal Rift" – A sudden shift in time that transports the character to a different era within the dreamscape, altering the context of their journey.
  • Black Joker: "Reality Collapse" – The boundaries between the dream and reality blur, causing elements of the waking world to intrude into the dreamscape, leading to unexpected challenges or aids.

Rare Events (Three with same face value)

A: "World Merge" – Two distinct dreamscapes collide and merge, creating an entirely new, surreal environment.
2: "Phantom Carnival" – A ghostly carnival appears, filled with bizarre and whimsical attractions.
3: "Eternal Night" – The dreamscape is plunged into an endless night, where stars and moonlight reveal hidden secrets.
4: "Whispering Garden" – A garden of sentient plants appears, offering cryptic advice and strange gifts.
5: "Falling Sky" – The sky begins to fall in slow motion, creating an eerie and beautiful spectacle.
6: "Mirrored Reality" – Every surface in the dreamscape turns into a mirror, reflecting unknown worlds.
7: "Silent Storm" – A storm that creates no sound sweeps through, altering the landscape in silent, dramatic ways.
8: "Time Loop" – The dreamscape begins to loop a particular moment or scene, each loop revealing new details.
9: "Dream Orchestra" – The environment fills with hauntingly beautiful music that influences the surroundings.
10: "Ghost Town" – An abandoned, spectral town materializes, inviting exploration of its forgotten stories.
J: "Living Shadows" – Shadows detach from their sources and take on lives of their own, interacting with the dreamer.
Q: "Crystal Visions" – Crystal formations grow rapidly, creating dazzling and treacherous landscapes.
K: "Void Descent" – The dreamscape starts to collapse into a void, drawing everything into darkness and ending the experience abruptly.

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