James Maliszewski posts
Posts: 129
Files: 80
DDE: Iounian
Artwork by Jason SholtisSince my Christmas post sharing a monster from the abandoned Dwimmermount Designer's Edition was so well received, I thought I'd offer you another one today, especially after having posted about the Four Worlds over at Grognardia Games Direct yesterday. As with my ear...
Commentary on Dwarves & Gnomes
Happy New Year!In Tuesday's post, I promised to provide some commentary about Dwarves, Gnomes, Kobolds, and other related topics, since I didn't want that post to be any lengthier than it already was — and it would have been, as I have a fair bit to say about these topics. That's becau...
DDE: Dwarves & Gnomes
Following last week's Christmas post and yesterday's Substack post, I have decided to offer up some posts over the next few weeks that give some idea of the kind of thing that I had in mind for the Dwimmermount Designer's Edition, had I ever produced. Consider these drafts or rough cuts ...
An Old School (Essentials) Christmas Gift
Artwork by Jason SholtisThe Dwimmermount Designer’s Edition is a project I still return to from time to time, though no longer with any real expectation that it will ever be completed. What continues to give it its hold on me is the commentary it contains about the megadungeon itself — my inspir...
Year's End
2025 is rapidly coming to a close. One of the unexpected consequences of getting older is that time seems to move much more quickly than it did when I was younger. That only makes sense, I suppose. When you're ten years old, a year is 10% of your entire life; when you're fifty, it's only...
House of Worms Commemorative Portrait
Today, I thought I'd take a break from sharing more of my thoughts about Dream-Quest in order to give you, my patrons, something unavailable to other readers of Grognardia — the full commemorative portrait of the major player and non-player characters of my recently concluded House of Worms Em...
The Current State of Dream-Quest (Part II)
In my last post, I talked about the origins of the Dream-Quest project and how my desire to honor not just the memory of H. P. Lovecraft, but more specifically the peculiar power of his Dreamlands tales, has pulled me in several directions. Those directions, as I’ve discovered, aren’t always com...
The Current State of Dream-Quest (Part I)
Though I haven’t posted anything new about the Dream-Quest project lately, it’s not for lack of activity — provided one is willing to count thinking as a form of work. I mean that only half in jest. Thinking can be real work, but only when it leads somewhere. Otherwise, it drifts into mere rum...
Dream-Quest: The Great Ones
As I continue to ponder Dream-Quest and just what I want this project to be, a recurring topic concerns the gods of the Dreamlands and their priests. While there are a number of reasons why I keep returning to this particular topic, one is practical: would the priests of these gods be available as a...
Inquiry
(Dream-Quest posts will resume next week with some thoughts about the Great Ones, the gods of the Dreamlands. Today, I wanted to talk about something much more mundane.)One of the things that has surprised me most over the years is how much Grognardia has grown beyond anything I could have imagined ...
Dream-Quest: An Example
After thinking some more about my previous post, I concluded that it might be helpful — both for myself and patrons — if I tried to offer some concrete examples of what I was talking about. If nothing else, they'll serve as yet more fodder for discussion, but I also hope do more than that. A...
Dream-Quest: Mirroring the Psyche
As I continue to think about Dream-Quest, I keep coming back to the idea that the Dreamlands are not a fixed geography but rather a landscape of the psyche. This idea was reinforced when I reread “Celephaïs” for this week's Pulp Fantasy Library. In the short story, the titular city is not s...
Dream-Quest: Generating the Dreamlands
In my public post a couple of days ago, I discussed the idea that every referee’s Dreamlands ought to be his own. There is no a fixed geography or canonical map common to every Dream-Quest campaign, but instead a personal landscape of wonder, nostalgia, and unease. Lovecraft’s dream stories offe...
Dream-Quest: Building the Dream
As I discussed in two previous posts, I've begun to realize that, from a game design perspective, it's best to think of the Dreamlands not as a place but as a process, a way of seeing. Lovecraft never drew a map of them and, despite the best efforts of later generations of fans, it's alm...
Dream-Quest: The Mutable Dreamer?
Lately, I’ve been pondering an intriguing — and probably difficult to implement — idea for Dream-Quest. I’m not yet sure if it’s good or even workable, but it’s been rattling around in my head long enough that I feel compelled to explore it a little.The idea is this: what if each player ...
Dream-Quest: The Mutable Dreamlands (Part II)
As I mentioned in Part I of this post, I’m still very much in the “thinking out loud” stage of developing a system and set of guidelines to help referees create their own Dreamlands for Dream-Quest campaigns. Nothing here is final; like the Dreamlands themselves, everything remains mutable.I...
Dream-Quest: The Mutable Dreamlands (Part I)
One of the guiding ideas behind Dream-Quest is that there is no such thing as a definitive version of the Dreamlands. Lovecraft himself wasn't completely consistent about them. The places mentioned in his stories, like Ulthar, the Enchanted Wood, or Celephaïs, shift in tone and detail from tale...
Dream-Quest: Anchoring Items
As Dream-Quest continues to take shape in my mind, I keep circling back to the question of permanence within the Dreamlands. What, exactly, endures from one visit to the Dreamlands to the next and what inevitably fades away?When I first tried to draw a clear line between the Earthborn and the native...
Varieties of Dreamborn
At the end of last month, I suggested two possible character origins in Dream-Quest: earthborn and dreamborn. Earthborn characters, as their name implies, are mortals who dream their way into that otherworld, while dreamborn characters are natives of the fantastic realm beyond the wall of sleep. Whe...
Dream-Quest: Poet-Seer Spells (Levels 3 and 4)
3rd Level SpellsBinding RhymeRange: 30’ Duration: 1 turnThe Poet-Seer speaks a binding riddle.One creature within range cannot cross a threshold, doorway, bridge, or river for the spell’s duration.The target may approach the barrier but cannot pass until released.Only one binding rhyme may aff...
Dream-Quest: Poet-Seer Spells (Levels 1 and 2)
As promised, here are the 1st and 2nd-level Poet-Seer spells I've currently created. Levels 3 and 4 will follow on Thursday (September 25, 2025). They all follow the format used in Old-School Essentials, so their meaning should be fairly obvious to anyone playing any version of old school Dungeo...
Dream-Quest: Poet-Seer
Poet-SeerWords woven from moonlight. Verses that stir the soul. Prophecies whispered from the hidden cadences of slumber.Origin: Earthborn or DreambornRequirements: Minimum WIS 9Prime Requisite: CHAHit Dice: 1d6Maximum Level: 14Armor: NoneWeapons: Dagger, staff, slingLanguages: Alignment, Common, Dr...
The Dreamlands Campaign
As I continue work on Dream-Quest, I find my thoughts drifting into places I never expected — surprising, yes, but in the best possible way. That’s fitting, I suppose, since I never intended to create a game inspired by Lovecraft’s Dreamlands in the first place. The idea arrived unbidden and s...
Dream-Quest: Shadow
ShadowFootfalls erased. Faces forgotten. Whisper where the dark gathers.Origin: Earthborn or DreambornRequirements: NonePrime Requisite: DEXHit Dice: 1d4Maximum Level: 14Armor: Leather, no shieldsWeapons: AnyLanguages: Alignment, Common, DreamspeechBorn of silence and hidden places, the Shadow moves...
Alone in the Dreamlands
On Thursday, I’ll be sharing another Dream-Quest character class — the shadow, my take on a thief-analog for the Dreamlands. However, today I want to digress a little into something inspired by my work on this project that has broader implications, both for the design of Dream-Quest and for role...
Dream-Quest: Knight of Dreams
Knight of DreamsVows made flesh. Steel made dream. Champion of the unreal.Origin: Earthborn or DreambornRequirements: NonePrime Requisite: STRHit Dice: 1d8Maximum Level: 14Armor: Any, including shieldsWeapons: AnyLanguages: Alignment, Common, DreamspeechSworn to vows spoken in moonlit halls, the Kni...
Dream-Quest Table of Contents
Today, I thought I'd take a brief break from presenting sample rules from my Dream-Quest draft and instead share the very rough outline I've got for the work as a whole. Bear in mind, this is all incredibly rough and subject to change. In some ways, it's more of a fond hope on my part th...
Dream-Quest: Death & Return
The Lands of Dream are indeed wondrous – but they can also be perilous. Yet death is not always the same for all who walk its roads.Hit Points & DyingAbove 0 HP: A character fights on as normal.At or Below 0 HP:The character falls unconscious.If left untended, he may deteriorate. Next round (or mi...
Dream-Quest: Character Origins
Every soul who treads the Dreamlands must come from somewhere. Before any other choice is made, each player decides whether his character is Earthborn or Dreamborn. These origins shape not only what gifts and burdens the character carries but also what roles are open to him (see Character Classes, p...
Dream-Quest
If you’ve been reading Grognardia during this past month, you’ll know that I’ve been thoroughly immersing myself in the works and thought of H.P. Lovecraft, whose influence over fantasy, science fiction, and popular culture (including roleplaying games) is nearly unparalleled. Like a lot of ga...
