James Maliszewski
patreon
Dream-Quest
🕑 Added 2025-08-25 17:59:44 +0000 UTC
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 gamers, Chaosium's Call of Cthulhu played a huge role in fostering my love for HPL and it’s largely been through the lens of the so-called Cthulhu Mythos that I’ve tended to approach him.
However, Lovecraft wrote much more than tales of cosmic horror. Among his most fascinating works are the so-called “Dreamlands” stories, which owe as much to Lord Dunsany and the tradition of fantasy romance as they do to eldritch terror. These tales of dream-voyaging, strange realms, and otherworldly wonders have long intrigued me. So much so, in fact, that I’ve decided to try my hand at creating a fantasy roleplaying game inspired by them.
I’m calling this project Dream-Quest. Mechanically, it’ll be based on Old School Essentials, but with twists and additions that reflect the unique tone and themes of the Dreamlands. My intention is to produce something that could be used by referees and players even if they don’t want to set their whole campaign in the Dreamlands — new rules, classes, monsters, spells, and other material that can be dropped into any old school game.
If you'd like a sense of what I plan to produce, take a look at the three Dream-Quest character classes I've written so far:
Here’s my current plan: starting this week, I’ll be posting new rules material at least twice a week (Tuesdays and Thursdays) here on Patreon. Most of this material will be for patrons only, though I will occasionally make public posts, both to share the work more widely and, yes, to entice new readers to consider becoming patrons (above and beyond supporting me to keep writing Grognardia every day).
I’ll be honest: I make no promises that Dream-Quest will ever be “finished” in the conventional sense. There’s a very good chance it will wind up, like so many of my other projects, half-completed, though I certainly intend to do my best to bring it to a satisfying conclusion. However, if I don't, that’s not necessarily a bad thing. Even fragments can be inspiring and my hope is that whatever I do produce will be useful to players and referees looking to bring a touch of the Dreamlands into their games.
If that sounds intriguing to you, I’d be delighted to have your support. Not only will you get access to exclusive material for Dream-Quest as it develops, but you’ll also be helping me continue the work I’ve been doing on Grognardia for years.
And, to those of you have already been supporting me, thank you.
