Why I’m Building A Dreamer’s Tale
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What happens when a system becomes very good at organizing human life—and people gradually stop deciding what that life should be?
That question is one of the reasons I’m building A Dreamer’s Tale. It is an English-language science-fantasy tabletop roleplaying game set in a possible future of Earth. Its world grows out of questions I recognize in the present: who directs our attention, how much judgment we hand over to automated systems, and what happens to needs that do not fit an efficient routine.
A life arranged by Scara
Much of humanity has surrendered its sovereignty to Scara, a planetary system that manages and continually optimizes human life. People inhabit managed Habitats where the organization of everyday life extends into the way they perceive their surroundings. Scara’s reach does not end when they fall asleep.
The player characters are Dreamers. They discover ways to act beyond the reality presented to them and encounter other people trying to do the same. Their archetypes, relationships, Signal Companions and allegiances give that struggle a personal shape.
Automated by Day. Animated by Night. This is the game’s guiding phrase: the contrast between a life carried along by an imposed order and the recovery of an inner life that can move things.
What do you do at the table?
You investigate discrepancies, explore unfamiliar places, negotiate with people whose interests differ from your own, and confront danger together. A suspicious interruption in an ordinary work shift can become a question about a person, a hidden transaction or something Scara’s version of events cannot explain.
The setting supports tactical conflicts as well as exploration and personal stories. I want the world’s ideas to become decisions for the players: whom to trust, what to risk, whether to protect someone, and what consequences they are prepared to carry.
A dream that changes the waking world
Dreamspace is spatially anchored in Realspace. It reveals a symbolic experience of that same world and opens different possibilities for action. Externalizations—the passage of dream events into physical reality—are central to the game. What happens in a dream can change what someone wakes up to.
This development log follows the work of turning that premise into a coherent game. The Alpha manuscript, artwork and growing Beta provide a substantial foundation. I am now revising that material toward a game that other people can learn, run and make their own.