Dream sequenze in Those who tarry... (spoilers)

[Dunkelbrink]

Running the next part of this adventure from Tales of Wilderland this Thursday and I wonder if you LMs and players who have played it have something to say about the Dream sequenze.

This quite stands out from the rest of the scenarios published for the game. How did your players react? Did they at once realize that they were inside a dream? Did they realize when and where they were? Did they then try to wake up? Did they even bother to search Haycombe and talk to the people there or did they ignore it like the illusion it is? As a LM did you let the PCs heal when entering the Dream, or did you let them enter it when old wounds etc. And did you like this part?

I know this adventure has been discussed in other threads, mostly regarding the "unwinnable" fights, but that part is not really my concern. I quite like the adventure when I read it, just worrying a bit about how the Dream will play out. I guess I want the Dream to feel "real", on the other hand it's quite clear early on that the fellowship is trapped inside a dream. Maybe I'll just let the different "Dream scenes", like the Town, the slave march and dungeons in Dol Guldur "dissolve" into the next one and take place without a continous narrative between them.

Hope you can tear yourselves from the endless discussions about Called shots and Runes of victory and give me some input on this story...

Cheers!

[Glorelendil]

I'm starting a TfW campaign and have been thinking about this chapter a lot, and imagining all the things that can go wrong if the players don't...um..."cooperate". One of the solutions I came up with is to have Irime speak to one of the characters, perhaps even in the dream, beg them for help, and give them some hints of how to do so.

If they still just don't want to help, well...

[zedturtle]

Yeah, this is one of the adventures that can go the most wrong... I just skipped over it, and had Irimë appear a bit more proactively in the denouement of 'A Darkness in the Marshes'.

I think that the characters (and the players) should know that they're in a dream sequence, and yes you should certainly clue them in to the fact that they're having an impact in the real world as well. Maybe each of the characters feels bitterly cold with a tightness in their chest as the dream begins. Each time they do a brave deed (even if it is doomed to eventual failure) they feel a bit warmer and its easier to breathe. Let them know that they're winning, even as they ride the rails.

[Ernst-Jan]

When I ran it I abbreviated the events of the dream slightly, gunning for a somewhat more 'impressionistic' dream sequence. Wisdom checks resulted in the Companions slowly realising they were in a dream, and resisting it. They failed to save Irimë and it was all terrifically sad, the Companions genuinely remorseful. However, my players are usually quite accepting of this sort of thing and I realize that won't be the same for lots of groups.

I loved the themes of the adventure and I would urge everyone to at least partly run it, if only for the wistful tone.

[Robin Smallburrow]

I use dreams all the time in my campaigns as a way of providing an 'exposition' scene - I find it a useful way to tell bits of the story that the PCs would otherwise not be aware of, so this particular adventure wouldn't be a problem for my players ie get your players used to dreams first before running this adventure.

We started the second adventure of my campaign with a different dream sequence for each PC as we have agreed that such 'expository' scenes should be at the start of an Adventure

Robin S

[DarkTraveller]

I'm just eager to see how one of my PC's (A Noldor) reacts when he finds himself in the same room as a certain gift-giver