Dreampunk (rulebook)

This item includes only the rulebook (and handouts) for Dreampunk, not the deck of cards. The digital Dreampunk deck is available separately.

At night, you dream. Your dreams are not idle imaginings, but visits to a persistent world of wonders and dangers both personal and alien. Will you find power there? Will you find freedom? Or will you slowly slip into Entanglement, and be trapped there forever?

Play to find out!

Dreampunk is a tabletop roleplaying game for 2–6 players comprised of two parts: a rulebook and a deck of surreal art cards. Rather than the numerical randomness of dice, it uses these cards as both creativity prompts and a resource to power your special abilities. This item includes the rulebook only.

Your character is a Dreamer, someone from a waking world who is drawn to the Dream when they sleep. As a Dreamer, you have powerful abilities to shape the world around you. To do so, you must play a card and incorporate into your action an element of your choice from the card.

Dreampunk can be played with or without a dedicated Guide. By default, the Guide player, rather than play a Dreamer, portrays the world of the Dream and its denizens. Alternately, you may instead distribute the Guide role among all the players, so everyone both plays a Dreamer and shares responsibility for the world. Either way, Dreampunk uses the cards to encourage an improvisational style for inspiring challenges and obstacles, avoiding the need for detailed planning or prewritten adventures. 

Dreamers can be any type of character you can imagine, and they're defined primarily not by their powers or skills but by the Needs that have entangled them with the Dream. Thirteen different Dreamer playbooks are available, reflecting different reasons for entering the Dream, as well as four deeper playbooks for characters with stranger origins. No matter your playbook, you are given wide room to creatively define your character, the world they come from, and their position in the Dream.

The mechanics for Dreampunk are heavily inspired by the token economy of Dream Askew and Dream Apart by Avery Alder and Benjamin Rosenbaum as well as the zaniness and powerful abilities of Jenna Moran's works. The focus on art cards, however, creates a unique gameplay experience. By playing a card, you can use your Dreamer's lucid abilities to shape the Dream around you and overcome obstacles, defend yourself, or cause chaos. You draw cards when you falter against the Dream, when you use your tethers to the waking world, and when you awaken or find respite. The constantly-shifting array of cards prompts options that are never the same twice for both Dreamers and the Guide.

Written by Xavid. Includes art from Sarah Morrison, Jhenne Tyler, Kindred Styles, Chad Wyrwicz, Obaseun “godofiron” Ogunkeye, September-XYZX, steff bradley, Idefix, Nathaniel Santore, Camille “Karma” O’Leary, Finn J. Carey, Santiago Alzate, and Natalie Olivari.

For full art credits and extras, visit the Dreampunk website.