Praedormitium Release!
As of yesterday, we decided to release our first tabletop roleplaying game, Praedormitium, here on our website, on DriveThruRPG and on Itch. Named for the transition of wakefulness to sleep, Praedormitium is a game inspired by lucid dreaming, where players portray Hypnopomps, characters with the natural ability to manipulate dreams while they adventure in the Realms of Dream. It uses tarot cards as the basis for its resolution system, cooperative play, and a shared-narrative structure built between the players and DM (Dream Master) and players to build a cohesive story. We playtested Praedormitium at Metatopia 2018, so it only seemed fitting that it should debut right before the con this year.
During the year between Praedormitium’s development and release, the game went through several iterations. Ultimately, we decided that the best version was what you see; the stripped-down, zine release, that covers the basic concept behind the game, character creation and rules system. The reason we chose to go with this version, instead of something more elaborate, is because we feel it’s is closest to the spirit of the game. The Dream Realms in Praedormitium are, by design, meant to be extremely changeable. Attempting to provide additional lore, or to more rigidly define them, would limit that malleability and potentially shackle the creativity of DMs and players. We obviously don’t want to do that, thus we released the version of the game that allowed for the most possibility of DM and player control.
That said, there may be a few small additions to Praedormitium in the future. We definitely want to add a character sheet, as soon as we find the perfect designer to create it for us, and we may update the game with additional Hypnopomp Gifts in future versions. There is also the possibility of hiring writers to create introductory adventures for players and DMs new to gaming, or for convention play, so look for all of these things in the coming months. For now, though, Metatopia 2019 is fast approaching and we have a new game to playtest (more on that next week!) so we look forward to seeing you there.