A Murder at the Royal Wedding

More Harrow cards and their possible uses in the Dreamlands


The Crows
The Crows are a dangerous trio of notorious robbers and bandits.
When invoking The Crows a wise dreamer will have either a very large sum of treasure to secure their services or else propose a very profitable venture indeed.  Invoking The Crows is always a risky proposition, as they are extremely greedy and completely without scruples.  Although each member of the band is of course a skilled Rogue, they should not be underestimated in a straight up fight either though; they fight dirty and have an uncanny ability to put a blade in an unwary opponents back.     





The Queen Mother

The Queen Mother can be a powerful ally in the Dreamlands. This card can represent a very wise motherly figure in many Dreamscapes. Often she wields significant power and has much sway with the rulers of the Dreaming Realms.  A Dreamer which manages to earn the love or respect of The Queen Mother will have a much easier time traveling in the Dreamlands. When invoked a large royal train and majestic palanquin bearing the Queen will come into view.
Note this card does not automatically guarantee a positive attitude from the Queen, it merely grants a opportunity to earn her favor.





The Marriage
This is a powerful card to invoke and not one to be done lightly. Invoking The Marriage creates a intense union; two seperate elements forming a new whole.  The nature of that union is left up to the Dreamer but common Marriages are between two people, two groups, or two things - and all combinations in between.
Such is the strength of this card that it can even bind bitterly opposing forces together such as fire and water, light and dark or Montague and Capulet.

Adventures in the Dream Lands

Alright, So its been a little while, hope to be back up to at least a few posts a week.

So here are two Pathfinder Harrow cards the Cyclone and the Forge, and here is how they can be invoked in the Dreamlands.

The Cyclone
When invoked a slight breeze will begin blowing, a breeze which quickly becomes a howling gale, heralding a terrible storm which will become visible on the horizon.  At the center of this storm spins the Cyclone. A terrible and very destructive force, the Cyclone can shatter the normally  peaceful landscape of the Dreamlands. Although the Cyclone is nigh impossible to control a skilled dreamer can enter into the Cyclone and by subtly guiding its movements use it as a means of fast transportation across vast distances. Needless to say this is an extremely dangerous way to travel.


The Forge
When invoked a small smithy will appear. The Blacksmith is a gruff sort of fellow who does not like being interupted from his work. A skilled dreamer may be able to convince the Blacksmith to create a single item for them. The item will obviously be crafted from metal and of a excellent quaility, quite often even having magical qualities.  A magical sword  would be suitable item to ask for, but a giant metal fortress would not.  Greedy dreamers who ask for too much will be chased away by the Blacksmith`s fire sprite assistants.

Adventures in the Dream Realm

I'm home for reading week so I'm trying to spend lots of time with my folks while I'm here.  We watched Inception last night. My third time seeing it now (I went twice to see it in theaters) and geeze is that ever a good movie. It blew my mind again even though I knew all the stuff that was coming. The action and visuals are fantastic, but they ultimately serve only as the back drop for the story and a very interesting counterpoint to the plot.  It really seemed to build like a song in the way it was filmed and how it cut back and forth and up and down and forward and backward throughout the film, and yet it managed to do it all in such a pleasing way (without being too disorienting- possibly confusing yes- but during the action climax where several action sequences are being presented simultaneously its not too hard to figure out what is going on ).
Also I have to say the love story in Inception is I feel one of the best I have ever seen, the love, loss and regret expressed between Dom and Mal is so intense, sad, and beautiful.

Anyway, late last night i was reading this post here http://sorcerersskull.blogspot.com/2011/02/ad-cosmology-defense.html and it really got me thinking about what it would be like to adventure in some kind of strange Dream Realm.  The Pathfinder setting has something called a Harrow Deck which is basically a D&D version of a Tarot deck, each of the 54 cards represent a specific combination of an alignment and a ability score. So for example The Rabbit Prince here represents Chaotic Neutral and Dexterity. Each card title is really interesting and the art is super cool and evocative.

What does this have to do with Inception? Well basically in a dream world type adventure I don't think the characters should be able to just create anything Inception style but they should have some influence on the dream and its landscape. So I decided in my setting part of the journey into the Dream Realm involves having your cards read, not quite sure on the specifics yet but the players keep the cards they draw and may evoke them at some point on the dream quest, thereby gaining an advantage and altering the dream.

So say I got The Rabbit Prince card, at some point in the quest I can summon The Rabbit Prince himself to come aid me on my adventure- creating a new npc ally who may join the party or preform some other service.

More on this later. .