LUCID

ADAM VASS
MAY 2022
WORLD CHAMP
GAME CO.
This project was made This game is inspired by The two phase structure
possible by my backers consciousness-hopping is inspired by the rally-raid
in May 2022. For more movies like Possessor roleplaying game TORQ
innovative tabletop rpgs, (2020), Nightmare on Elm by Will Jobst available at
visit worldchamp.io. Street (1984), Inception goodluckpress.co.
(2010), Waking Life (2001),
and more.

C O N T E N T Some albums I listened to

W A R N I N G S : and was inspired by while The mission structure
psychological strife, physical making it include Eldovar-A on randomly generated
violence, manipulation Story of Darkness & Light psychedelic landscapes
and coercion, dissociation, by Kadavar and Elder, VOL is derivative of my stoner
horror themes and imagery. 4:: Slaves of Fear by Health, metal science fantasy game
and Panopticon by ISIS. Necronautilus, available at
worldchamp.io/store.

This work is based on the

Push SRD, developed,
authored, and edited by
Cezar Capacle
( h t t p s : // c a p a c l e . i t c h .
io/), and licensed for our
use under the Creative
Commons Attribution 4.0
International license (https://
creativecommons.org/
licenses/by/4.0/).
THE EARTH CRIES
My head hurts.
My mind is a well with no bottom. Someone
has fallen in and is stuck at the bottom, a
dog’s incessant barking told me so. Hate and
love. Conversations I’ll never have climb up
the wet stone walls. A plague of information
forced upon me by screens of every size drips
through cracks. People I’ve long forgotten
and others I’ll never forget, they live here

WHEN I CALL
together. A constant war
between silence and noise,
compulsion and restraint,
light and darkness, and
neither side has a viable
plan to win. This is where
you come in, the emissaries
of a blurring reality. Fix me.
Dig as deep as you can and
mind the viscuous fluids
underneath the surface. Let
your dreams be dreams.
Purge the forces that would
bring our nightmares to life.

ON THE INSIDE
WHAT
YOU ARE DREAM WARRIORS,
a powerful sect of sleeper agents guarding
an ever-thinning veil between waking life
and walking nightmare. Convene with other
agents in your waking life while carrying
out missions deep in the folds of others’
minds, waging war against the nightmares
that aspire to invade our physical reality.
Your missions take place across two phases:
awake and dreaming.

IS While A W A K E , seek out

sources of strife within the
minds of those around you,
learn about your world and
your role within it, formulate
plans, interact with other
Dream Warriors, and sharpen
your focus.
In D R E A M I N G , traverse
the realms of dreams full
of our deepest fears and
secrets, manipulating and
battling the dark forces that
operate within to maintain a
semblance of sanctity in our
cognizant days.

THIS
This is a tabletop roleplaying game for 1-5 players. Each
player needs a six-sided die (d6) and a way to keep track
of their character details (scrap of paper, notes app,
whatever). You do not need a gamemaster. Each player
inhabits the role of their character, dictating thoughts,
dialogue, decisions, and actions. All players share the
responsibility of describing the various worlds enveloping
your characters and the consequences of their actions.
Rolling dice and consulting the included oracles help you
make difficult decisions, stay on the intended themes,
introduce drama or unexpected elements, and direct the
events of your story.
comfortable and on the same page.

L I N E S are themes that

SAFETY
Before play, discuss Lines, Veils, and Palettes, and The
X-Card with your fellow players to make sure everyone is

V E I L S are things that P A L E T T E S are things

you do not want included in players are comfortable you specifically do want
your story at all and should including in the story but to include or explore
never be crossed. Topics want to control how overt during play. These can
established as Lines can they are. Metaphorically, be conceptual (memory/
still exist in the world of these events or topics are forgiveness), thematic
your story, but will not be hidden behind a veil—they (make it vaporwave/soaked
explored or discussed at all happen in the world of the in gasoline/glittering gold),
during play. Lines are often story but aren’t described in or anything else. Palettes
used to avoid offensive detail. Veils are often used to further allow players to
content or subjects a player censor graphic content that manage their expectations
finds upsetting or triggering. serves some purpose in the and make sure the game
By default, sexual violence story but does not need to satisfies everyone involved.
and xenophobia are hard be described explicitly.
lines in LUCID.

T H E X - C A R D is an excellent and quick way to remove

unwanted content from play in the moment. Draw an X on
a notecard or paper scrap and place it within reach of all
players. Whenever a player would like to remove something
said from the game, whether it be upsetting, offensive,
simply outside your story’s established tone, or for any other
reason, they can tap the X-Card to have it removed with no
questions asked. Online players can do this by typing X in
the chat, saying “X” or “X-Card,” or making an X with their
arms in front of the camera. The X-Card was created by
John Stavropoulos, tinyurl.com/x-card-rpg.
 DREAM
WARRIORS
Give your character a name, pronouns,
and a look. Each character has three traits:
Background: your waking life occupation,
Specialty: your dreaming life forte, and
Fear: your frightening soft spot.
Each Background and Specialty begin with
a single (+) rank.

Choose from the tables provided or make

your own. Characters can have the same
Background or Fear but each character
should have their own unique Specialty.

Once you know your Dream Warrior, discuss

them with the other players. Talk about
missions you’ve done together in the past
and the ways you clash or harmonize.
BACKGROUND SPECIALTY FEAR
1 . 1.Sensory 1 . W i c c a p h o b i a
Coordinator Enrichment (fear of witches and witchcraft)
( m a n a g e r,
community 2.Minor
2 . T r y p o p h o b i a
o r g a n i z e r, S h a p e
(fear of holes)
professor) Shifting
2 . A r t i s t 3.Motion 3 . M y s o p h o b i a
(musician, C o n t r o l (fear of germs/dirt)
painter,
w r i t e r ) 4. Spiritual
4 .T h a l a s s o p h o b i a
3 . D r i v e r Possession (fear of the sea)
(pilot, racer,
courier) 5 .
5. E n t o m o p h o b i a
Environment
4 . Manipulation (fear of insects)
Technician
( e n g i n e e r, 6 . 6 . S t y g i o p h o b i a
d e v e l o p e r, Conjuration/ (fear of Hell)
h a c k e r ) Summoning
5.Medic
(doctor,
surgeon,
homeopath)
6.G r u n t
( b o u n c e r,
f i g h t e r,
soldier)
In waking life, you are indiscernible from anyone else around you, a sect of
ghostly strangers on the sidewalk with the secret powers to save existence.
You must meet with your fellow dream warriors to peruse the nearby space,
seek out the strife within the realms of nightmare, organize your collective
will, and prepare as best you can to confront the task ahead.

CONVENE INVESTIGATE ORGANIZE

Choose or roll d6 to decide Each player should then Once there are a number of
on a location to convene in turn highlight a person persons of interest equal to
with your fellow agents. of interest. They can or greater than the number
This site must be public choose this person for any of players, the group
as you’ll be exploring the reason, be they suspicious, decides which to pursue.
surrounding thoughts and animated, despondent, or Consider the intensity of the
minds of those around you in anything else that interests nightmares, the perspective
search of nightmare threats. you. Choose from those that person of interest offers
provided or make your own. to their dreams that may
complicate your mission,
1. Coffee shop. Agents can interact with and how your backgrounds,
2. Sporting event. these p.o.i. by asking specialties, and fears may
3. Party. another player to voice their help or hinder your attempt
4. Political demonstration. thoughts and speech. Each to cleanse the dream world
5. Musical performance. is distressed by nightmares of these threats.
6. Educational facility. in unique ways, whether
they allow it to affect their
day to day interactions or
not.
It is important while Use these moments to Each player votes for their
awake to stay grounded in delicately explore the chosen p.o.i., rolling dice to
reality. Beginning with the troubles each person might break any ties. The target is
player who most recently be experiencing and getting chosen and your mission will
woke up and continuing a vague understanding of begin shortly. Proceed to the
clockwise, each player the corresponding mission DREAMING phase.
takes a turn offering a ahead. You do not need
sensory description of to learn everything during
your surroundings: smells, this stage, most of your
sights, sounds, or otherwise. exploration will take place
Continue to add sensory in the dreaming phase. Use This game presumes you are
details to your waking life the premade adventure at human beings in the present
interactions in the following the end of the zine to skip day or near future, but you
moments. this phase all together if you can set your story in any
wish. era, as any being living or
dead, on any planet you can

AWAKE
imagine.
PERSONS OF INTEREST SHARPEN
• Kalani Quinn furiously • Fang Oakley shouts After a successful mission,
paints their surroundings in political catchphrases at Dream Warriors are able to
rich blues. They clench their passersby. Their poster hone their focus and further
teeth with each brushstroke, board sign condemns the develop their special skills
channeling anxiety in every powers that be, largely that enable them to confront
highlight & shadow. In their ignored by the human the malignant forces within
dreams, bright colors swirl traffic around them. In their our darkest dreams.
in whirlpools infested with dreams, their teeth pile up
amphibious nightmares before them, forming ivory
clawing towards the mind’s nightmare ghouls climbing
surface with scant rafts one another towards an To sharpen an agent’s skills,
manned by smoke beings ominous hole in the clouds. a player rolls 1d6.
barely staving them off.
• Tracy Jeong fakes a smile • On a result of 5 or 6, either
• Abby Garland lethargically over a webcam meeting, create a new Specialty
pours drinks, darting her counting down the seconds based on the actions of the
eyes around the room as until his workday ends. His prior mission or add a (+)
if expecting something leg shakes incessantly. In to an existing Specialty. A
bad to appear. She his dreams, people sprint warrior can have at most
nervously fidgets with her through streets avoiding 2 Specialties. overwriting
facial piercings between heaps of rubble as the old ones as new ones are
customers. In her dreams, skyscrapers surround them generated, each having at
she is a schoolchild again. and block out the sun. most two (+).
Nightmare children swing Nightmares hover, scanning
from ceiling chains taunting from the skies for vulnerable• On a result of 1-4, the
her as the walls close in and prey below. agent gains a new Fear
the floor trembles beneath. based on the prior mission.
• Frankie Zola hums along An agent can have at most 4
• Jordan Harper tries in offkey with the folk record Fears, overwriting old ones
vain to get her kid to eat a in her headphones. She as new ones are generated.
snack of vegetables. Various laughs at something on her
blotches of past snacks stain phone screen, interrupting • Dream Warriors can
her otherwise fashionable the white noise of the room. only sharpen their skills
fit. In her dreams, the house In her dreams, she struggles after successful missions,
feels familiar but foreign at to breathe in the vacuum meaning you will not need
the same time. A vintage of space, reaching out for these rules the first time you
clock ticks loudly on the wall. passing debris to take her play.
Hallways lengthen and twist away from a dying sun’s
between her and her child gravity.
Your specialties do not affect
with shadow nightmares
you while awake and can only
behind each illusory door.
be used in dreams. While
there can be interpersonal
drama in waking life, there
are no skill checks involved.
Nightmares want to invade waking life, so you must protect surrounding dreamers
otherwise the veil grows thinner. Jump into the slumber of your target, surrounded by
imagined miseries & agonizing fancies. In each target’s mind, nightmares aspire to torment
any it interacts with in an attempt to bring their unique brands of dismay and dread to our
waking realm. As long as you are in the dream realm, your warrior is not safe.

EXPLORE BRIEF CONFLICT

Entering the subconscious Your mission in every mind When your character
is a dangerous act even is to prevent the nightmares attempts something
for the most experienced from overwhelming the dangerous or dramatically
dream warrior. As you did consciousness of your interesting, roll 1d6. Each
in waking life, each agent target. This can be done with player should attempt an
takes a turn describing the containment, destruction, interesting action at least
sensory experiences of the manipulation, or any other once per conflict:
entered realm. Use what you means you can muster.
learned about the person Each player contributes one 7+: Miss.
of interest, the oracles on goal to bring them closer to 5-6: Strong Hit.
subsequent pages, and your overcoming the nightmare 1-4: Weak Hit. You can
creativity to saturate the threat. Possible goals choose to roll +1d6 but
dream realm with surreality include combat a nightmare must add it to your result.
and psychedelics. goliath, map the tunnels of
the unconscious hell, rescue Channel a relevant
a captive ally, and so on. Background or Specialty to
More goals are available on reroll a Miss (once per (+) per
the oracles page. Mission).

There are no rules here, Consult the Oracles Strong Hit means you get
no physics to calculate on the following pages the result you wanted from
and no realities to concern for prompts to start or your action. You strike your
yourself with. A dream invigorate your scenes. enemy, you cross a difficult
can be mundane, like a Take turns describing the barrier, you find something
high school memory, or shifting setting, introducing you were looking for.
extraordinary like a traversal elements of your target’s Describe how you succeed
through hellfire to touch the fears in the form of and what happens next
face of god. Continue to nightmares that you can collaboratively.
add sensory details to your confront and introducing
dreaming life interactions in obstacles to overcome. Weak Hit means there is
the following scenes. These can be creatures to a cost or complication to
combat, environments to your action. Describe with
traverse, beings to converse your fellow players how you
with, and other forces take your action and how
natural and unnatural that things get more dangerous,
provide a compelling and dreamy, and dire.
perilous landscape for
our Dream Warriors. Invite Miss means you get what
collaboration and ask the you DON’T want. Things
other players often what get much worse. Your Fear
their characters do. When manifests in your target’s
conflict arises, one player mind, Describe how and the
can attempt to confront it ways it complicates your
using ingenuity and dice. mission.
QUESTION AWAKEN DIE
Players can at any time ask When your group Dream Warriors only die
questions regarding the accomplishes at least one if their player decides it
setting, the mission, threats, established Goal from the is so. Dying can make for
or anything else about which Mission Brief or once you interesting and emotional
they are curious and there is collectively Miss 6 times, moments in your story but
not an established answer. your target awakes. All can also limit your options
Ask in the form of a yes/no Dream Warriors are purged moving forward. If you think
question and roll 1d6. from their mind and sent the moment is right, you
back to the AWAKE phase. can simply state that your
7+: A disaster. character dies in a scene.
5-6: Fortunate answer. In the event that you Continue playing if you feel
1-4: Unfortunate answer. accomplished at least one like it, introducing a new
You can choose to goal, your mission was Dream Warrior or focusing
roll +1d6 but must successful. Your characters on adding sensory details
add it to your result. can Sharpen skills in the and conflicts to the dream
Awake phase. On your realm the other players
next mission, the number continue to explore.
of necessary goals to earn
success increases by one.
Fortunate answers favor
your success and safety. Is If your group amasses
the acid beast dead? Yes. 6 Misses together, your
Has the flower of spiritual mission falls short and your
sanctity bloomed yet? Yes. target becomes tormented
by the nightmares, now
Unfortunate answers favor another manifestation of
nightmares and make your pain and anguish in our
mission difficult. Is the acid waking lives. The nightmares
beast dead? Not quite yet. make another major step
Has the flower bloomed? No, forward in their ongoing
it needs some help from you. attempt to invade our
conscious realm and your
Disasters favor nightmares next mission will be more
in ways worse than thought difficult.

DREAMING
possible. Is the acid beast
dead? No and it is coming to
swallow you. Did the flower
bloom? The chain-wielding
guardians won’t let you close
enough to find out.
ORACLES
Use as needed to introduce
new ideas and intrigue
to your story. Feel free to
publish your own oracles
or adventures for Lucid.

MOMENTS (2D6)
1. a hole in the sky
1-2 2.
3.
someone
a brutal
that looks
admission
just
of
like me
honesty
4. Nige, the Dream Warrior fallen
5. the ink in your skin shifts to reveal
6. the pages of the book drifting away

1. a crystalline dream in the palm of your hand

3-4 2.
3.
feels like falling, fall like
the metallic taste of blood on your tongue
feeling

4. pins and needles

5. a lover from the past with something amiss
6. a mirror with no reflection

1. a copy of a copy of a copy

5-6 2.
3. the sky
storm
itself is within
brewing
reach
4. asceticism in pursuit of dream
5. a false awakening, a dream within a dream
6. taste the colors, feel the sounds

GOALS
1. find a key to the lock 1. forge an ossuary of past belief
2. make a meaningful sacrifice 2. rescue a tainted dream warrior
3. sign your names to the charter 3. purge the parasitic infection
4. bring light to the darkened hole 4. receive a gift from a reluctant bearer
5. alter your body to match your mind 5. merge multiple selves to one
6. sing in harmony with the sea 6. taste the forbidden nightmare elixir
 SUCCESSES
1. an enemy is 2. the path to your 3. an interesting item is
weakened or defeated goal reveals itself discovered or obtained

4. the dream
warps removing an 5. an ally offers 6. a critical hypothesis
immediate obstacle information or assistance is proven true

COMPLICATIONS
1. a character is mentally 2. an environmental 3. something
or physically harmed hazard appears or worsens important is lost (item,
route, opportunity)

4. the dream warps and 5. a new nightmare 6. something thought

manifests additional fear creature approaches true is proven false

DISASTERS
1. A powerful Lord arrives to 2. Warriors are transported 3. A timed threat
oversee nightmare combat to hostile territory manifests (a bomb, an
approaching vessel, other)
4. Dream Warriors’
collective Fears 6. Dream physics defy your
compound the nightmare 5. An ally is destroyed understanding of reality

NIGHTMARES INHABITANTS THREATS LORDS

1. giants 1. seismic 1. hatchling 1. a charismatic priest
:
aggre s sive

:
c u r i o u s

2. phantoms 2. hovering 2. parasite 2. a deceptive educator

6
4

3. insects 3. marrow 3. angel 3. a family of cannibals

4. technoids 4. tentacled 4. butcher 4. a collection of teeth
-
-

5. humanoid 5. fleshy 5. crystal 5. a sensual wet heap

6. sprites 6. fungal 6. hoard 6. a guitar-wielding god
5
1

SETTING PHYSICALITY TERRAIN OBSTACLES

1. gravity 1. flooded 1. ocean 1. a crack in the surface
dangerous
:

:
pleasant

2. weather 2. unholy 2. park 2. a towering structure

6
4

3. stability 3. volcanic 3. vehicle 3. a gravitational shift

4. light 4. suburban 4. high-rise 4. an explosive cataclysm
-
-

5. flora 5. gooey 5. warzone 5. a sprouting growth

6. time 6. rotting 6. ruins 6. a blink of reality
5
1
SPIKED
Sam Shea rifles through her bag looking for
something that must not be there. A small
rat crawls out onto her arm, her pet Oscar
who accompanies her along every journey,
special or mundane. She scurries to hide
the rodent lest she get kicked out of here
but not before giving it a gentle kiss on the
snout. She swiftly grabs her bag and moves
to a more concealed corner and scribbles in
her sketchbook, avoiding eye contact with
those who glance her way. She idly clicks
the end of her pen and chews on its grip

NIGHTMARE
when lost deep in thought.

LORD OF THE SEA

In her dreams, mountains of crumpled
coffee-stained paper encapsulate a small
village near the sea. Meek traders and
GOALS
craftspeople shuffle between the beachfront 1. Enhance the levees to prevent flooding
shacks of bone and stone that weather 2. Repurpose the Lord’s flail
the corrosive storms that form above the 3. Bring Oscar back to the surface
water. Their outfits are a mix of vaudevillian 4. Deliver critical documents from the
sideshow acts and present day hipsters, a shore to an unseen island settlement
surprisingly harmonious combination. 5. Purge the pending storm
6. Bring calm to the seaside residents
Thunder claps and lightning flashes above
the sea as the tide rolls further in towards the
settlements, bringing fear to a gargantuan
Oscar that burrows into the ground to hide.

COMPLICATIONS
Nightmare eyes blink from the darkened sky 1. Tendrils beneath the sea reach out to you
above riding clouds like chariots high above 2. Flood levels rise making travel difficult
the populace and out of attacking range 3. Nightmare chariots
for now. Chopping iridescent waves hide approach from the sky
subaquatic nightmare tendrils that reach 4. The Lord makes a tempting offer
closer to the beachfront properties and 5. Residents panic and interfere
their inhabitants with every swell. 6. The ground trembles and fractures

The booming voice of a nightmare Lord

echoes between the mountains of paper
scrap, the silhouette of a face with many legs
swinging a spiked flail from atop a mountain
nearby, swirling the clouds and their hidden
forces closer to the ground.

MOMENTS (2D6)
1. a ship crashes into the coast
1-3 2.
3. the
Sylvia,
tide
the
recedes
tendril
and
tamer
reveals
4. an unexpected offering of peace
5. Oscar opens his toothy maw
6. the salty taste of seaweed

1. the flail
of the Lord beckons
4-6 2.
3.
the
the
flood
opposite
sirens
of a
blare
spike
4. the touchdown of the clouds
5. the town triplets have urgent news
6. the sun struggles to shine through
 AWAKE
Combat nightmares in
the minds of another to
protect the veil between
dreaming and waking life.
Play as Dream Warriors
with powers surreal. Carry
LUCID is a gm-less tabletop
roleplaying game for 1-5
players. unique
phase play allows for
dual-

casual and conversational

pondering and planning
out missions to pursue while awake with surreal
your goals and protect and psychedelic conflict
reality. For fans of movies and combat in the dream
like Possessor, Inception, realms. can be used for
Nightmare on Elm Street, single session play around
Waking Life, and more. an hour or an ongoing
campaign against the
forces of nightmares.

Designed by Adam Vass in

May 2022. Published by
World Champ Game Co.

more games at worldchamp.io