#NEXT DREAM

[ohnoproblems]

hello, i was curious if there happened to be any example plays of your Next Dream ttrpg even if only from your own experience? reading the rules and ideas in it was really fascinating and fun in of itself

i've run it with three different groups over the course of its development, though never ended up compiling those experiences into play examples. also thank you for asking about next dream, my GMless touhou ttrpg in the belonging outside belonging system!

i do have an excerpt from the channel where we logged all the moves we made to accompany the voice chat, which might help shine a light on the mechanical flow of things between the roleplaying we were doing. more below the cut:

THE CAST:

STRAW DOGS, THE IMMORTAL, played by me LUNETTODAE FUTILLODAE, THE BODYGUARD, played by autumn MAGIC LAND RAINBOW, THE SAGE, played by miranda NEMESIS ENAREI, THE SHRINE MAIDEN, played by bea NEPHELINE EURYALE, THE MAGICIAN, played by bizzuh

(art by bea @tsunderebird)

SUPPORTING CHARACTERS:

Minerva, the mistress of the sealed manor, Lunettodae's boss Cataract, a silent crocodile-headed mummy, Straw Dogs' puppet Flashbulb! Flights of Fancy, the wizard tourney's tengu announcer

THE OCCASION:

a wizard tournament held by Minerva (actual merlin's actual owl). to the victor goes a hat (actual merlin's actual wizard hat). in this bracket, ordinary jackal-headed taoist Straw Dogs faces off against dragonfly greatbow-wielder Lunettodae Futillodae. Straw Dogs had invited Magic Land Rainbow to watch her bout (they had a thing going, they're in love). however, Nemesis Enarei wanted to show Magic Land her weird hole, so this distracted her. during the bout, miranda and bizzuh passed around Flashbulb! to represent moves made by The Spell Cards and The Youkai.

i forget if Lunettodae announced spell cards during this bout or if she was just straight up aiming for killing blows on Straw Dogs every time. i think it was the latter.

when Straw Dogs spent a token to demonstrate her masteries, she used Cataract to intercept a killing blow. this killed Cataract. just because you're spending a token to do something very cool and get a moment playing to your strengths doesn't mean you should escape all consequences, especially if you've been put into that position by another character spending a token!

the reason it was particularly inopportune was because it was that moment, when Lunettodae's blades had lodged fatally in Straw Dogs' chest, that Magic Land arrived late at the bout. their eyes met. too late. instead of reporting her victory to her secluded mistress via her magic scouter, Lunettodae ripped it off, then flew off to brood on a cliffside. that wasn't even getting into the wild shit that happened back at Ena's hole. it was a juicy session!

hope this is illuminating! it might be fun and edifying to write up something like you find in the BOB book.

[symphonyofsilence]

Let the poor man rest.

[bamsara]

i have so many dream/nightmare related comic scenes I havent posted. anyway hold this real quick

[eric-the-disposable-demon]

Uh-

just found out my cousin (who lives in England) is in the art department of a bunch of shows??? And she worked oN DOCTOR WHO? AND HAD LUNCH WITH DAVID TENNANT???? and she just told me so casually because she's interested in the art, not the show? I mean, excuse me? She worked on SHERLOCK???? FOR A WHOLE SEASON?? She worked on Peaky Blinders and Lord of the Rings and Game of Thrones??? And probably other things because she has a shitty memory and according to her everything is a blur?? AND AT ONE POINT SHE WAS LIKE: "oh and have you ever heard of Neil Gaiman?" And I was trying not to scream, because yes, of course I've heard of Neil, he's only my favorite author, I've only read like all of his books multiple times, and if you say you worked on Good Omens or the Sandman I'm going to lose it completely. So I said "yeah I've read a couple of his books," -you know, like a liar- "what about him?" and she goes "well I worked on one of his shows and he's brilliant i just can't remember which one" and i go "w-what do you mean he's brilliant? You're.. you're talking about his writing... his writing is brilliant, right?" And she cheerfully says "oh no I don't read books, I ment he was really nice and brilliant when I talked to him" and i go "WHAT DID YOU TALK ABOUT WHAT DID YOU TALK ABOUT" and she thinks for a moment and goes "oh! BRICKS" WHAT IN THE WORLD YES NO THAT MAKES SENSE YOU GET TO WORK AND TALK WITH NEIL FUCKING GAIMAN AND YOU TALK ABOUT BRICKS? NO THAT'S TOTALLY NORMAL I'M NOT MAD ".... it was what I was designing at the time, I needed to know what vibe the bricks should have. Anyway want to see the spinning fireplace I made for doctor who" WHAT THE FUCK.

@neil-gaiman do you remember any brick conversations by any chance

[caemidraws]

[Swan Song Dream 1/2]

[anna-scribbles]

emma dupain cheng on the brain😽🎀

more:

[egophiliac]

crossing my fingers and wishing upon every star that chapter 10 finally brings us the tweel cards 🤞🤞

[dkettchen]

cursed construction core hi vis bra that came to me in a dream

In the dream I saw it in the window display of a hardware/DIY/trade shop, implying it was meant to be a practical garment designed for actual female constructions workers in a Female Armour level missed-the-brief attempt at gender inclusion

The practical support from the visible underwire combined with the hi vis implying it’s not meant to be worn as an undergarment, I just-

I blame my binge-reading ND Stevenson’s gender comics talking abt masculinity and femininity incl the one abt Victoria’s Secret lingerie yesterday for this monstrosity x’D

[tiger-is-a-certified-idiot]

The Sandman fandom is fucking hilarious to me bc everyone is like "i wanna put him in a box and study him" or "i wanna put him into Situations :3" and then they DID actually do that in the show like right at the beginning and half of the fanfiction is getting that guy OUT of the Situation.

[heartorbit]

figure skating set right now please. thanks

[pansy-picnics]

despite everything, it’s still you

[one-time-i-dreamt]

not a dream

What are some television moments that live rent free in your head?

For me it's that one episode of Degrassi where they decided an actress with no dance training whatsoever will portray a character who is a trained ballet dancer and they made her do an artsy dance scene with no prep whatsoever so she improvised

Why did they do that to her

[the-east-art]

Not sure if I’ll finish this haha

[berenshand]

one of my favourite little things about the murderbot diaries is how present all secunit's friends are even if they're not actually physically present. it doesn't do the annoying thing where it jumps through hoops to bring back characters that aren't really relevant to the narrative but it also doesn't do the other annoying thing where it pretends they never existed either. like secunit talks about art and mensah all the time even when art or mensah aren't in the book. it's clear how bharadwaj has impacted its personal growth even when she's literally on another planet. it complains about gurathin and pin-lee when they're not there. it's still sad about miki and don abene and it mentions tapan and maro and rami even though it only knew them for a few days (because when you're new at being a person every interaction with other people is important even if it's short). iris reminds it of mensah. iris also reminds it of ratthi. its hair is fluffy bc it let amena play hairdresser off-screen and it messages her so she knows it's okay. it doesn't have to worry about protecting volescu anymore because volescu retired thank goodness. it's still using thiago's language module. etc etc etc

it's such good writing because it's such a little thing that gives the characterization and relationships greater depth and also reinforces the running theme of friendship in the series and then also subtly gives this sense of 'the people you love are a part of you/your story' and also reinforces secunit's role as a storyteller because it's constantly telling little stories about all its friends.

[worse-name]

Former Emperor of the Merged Realms THIS Close to Stamping His Foot and Pouting!!!!

[kenjakusbraincum]

Sukuna is old. He is also weirdly cultured for the monster that he is. With so much time on his hands, he loves indulging in arts and literature, and as with everything else he tries, he's good at it. You wouldn't know this, of course, you are only his pet. The time you spend with him is limited and hardly consists of intellectual conversation. You are there to serve one purpose and you know that quite well. So when you wake up in his bed one morning, two things come as a surprise. First that you're even here. It's one of those rare occasions when Sukuna couldn't be bothered kicking or carrying you out of his chambers once your time together was up. Second, he's awake, bent over his desk and so concentrated on a little figurine in his hand that he doesn't immediately notice you've shuffled awake. Once your eyes focus, you see that he's holding a tool in his other hand. He's carving wood. You're almost hypnotized by the scene. The scene feels so private that even for a pet like you, who knows Sukuna in the most intimate way, it feels like you shouldn't be watching. But you can't look away.

"Awake?", he asks, without sparing a glance at you. You apologize for staring, and look for your clothes around the bed. You throw them on just precisely enough to cover up until you reach your chambers, just wanting to be as quick and innocuous as possible. You wait for Sukuna's approval to leave. He gives you a simple nod, once more avoiding to look at you. You leave feeling conflicted. Special, because he allowed you to stay and watch (even as little as you did), but saddened because he barely looked at you, once more solidifying in your mind that you're only interesting to him when you're naked and bent over. As long as you've been here, you could never stop wishing for his validation.

Sukuna knows when you get insecure too. He notices the way your eyes droop, the way you close in on yourself and seem absent in his presence. He justifies this excessive worry about you by telling himself he likes to be the only thing that bothers his pets. All the way until he realized he already is the only thing that can make you sad. This realization falls upon him one time he lashes out on you and sees the immediate change of heart on your face. Now, he isn't one to apologize, especially not to someone who is as low under him as his pet. But why does he feel guilty when he sees this one act of his ruin your day? When he catches a glimpse of you sitting in the garden with your head hung low, or leaving more food on your plate than you usually do. If only you knew the way you really made him feel.

He beckons you to his chambers, and you follow three steps behind him like a good pet does. You didn't expect this time to be any different than others. You've become used to serving Sukuna on days you loved him and on days you hated him. But when he tells you to close your eyes, you know something is different. You obey, of course, and listen to his footsteps as he fetches something from the room. His hand takes yours and opens it, placing a piece of wood onto your palm. You already know, but you wait for him to allow you to open your eyes. He lightly presses his thumb on your cheek under your eye, and when you look, you find a small wooden fawn, curled up and asleep in your hands.

"Master!!..", you start, but nothing else can leave your mouth. You turn the figure around in your hand, inspecting and admiring the details. He's given you gifts before, but not ones carved by his own hand. Not ones made with love.

"You don't have to squint anymore.", Sukuna says, almost jokingly. But his face is as serious as ever as he looks at you, his muse. He thinks of the first time he's exhausted you to the point of passing out right after your nightly meetings. You were relatively new and very unsure of your safety. He thinks of your small body curled up in sleep on the edge of his bed, knees pressed to your chest in a primal, subconscious attempt to protect yourself. His little pet, his fawn.

You slur on and on about how beautiful it is, how you don't know how to thank him, the usual when you receive a gift. And as usual, Sukuna shuts you up with a kiss. You welcome it and wrap your arms around his neck, giving yourself in to him and letting him take you to the bed.

And he takes things slow tonight. He's gentle and so, so giving. Every sensation is delicate, prolonged and heightened to exhaustion. You cling to him, pull him impossibly close, and come apart under the comforting weight of him. Afterwards, you hold his hand to your face and kiss it softly. His hands, so large and strong, capable of such violence, yet for you they craft gifts, cradle, caress, love... in a very subtle and distant way, of course. With these thoughts your hands slip away from his, you turn around and quickly drift off.

He looks at you now, sleeping so close to him. Trusting him with your back, and turning your curled up form to the outside world. As if he is no longer a perceived danger. He smiles to himself in victory, and plants a chaste kiss to your shoulder to wish you one final goodnight.