Project Dreamscape
Project Dreamscape Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Components
A 52-card Sleep Deck, 5 Z shield tokens, 2 reference cards, an active participant token, and a 54-card expansion deck (marked with a symbol; see Controlled Study).
Project Setup
You should only use the basic deck for your first project (game), so put all of the cards marked with a set of vents back in the box for now—they will be explained in Controlled Study. Shuffle the Sleep Deck and give each participant a facedown card (Z card), which represents the participant's Deep Sleep stack. Z cards always remain facedown, and are treated as a sort of currency (see Participant's Area). Place the Sleep Deck on the table. Lay out 5 cards faceup in a row next to the deck, starting from the deck and going out. These cards are Dream cards and make up the shared Dreamscape. The remaining cards in the Sleep Deck represent the time left in the project. Leave space on the side of the Sleep Deck opposite the Dreamscape for a faceup discard pile. Finally, place the five Z shield tokens below the cards in the Dreamscape, from 1-5, with 5 being closest to the Sleep Deck.
Participant's Area
Each participant will have two stacks of cards: the first is the Deep Sleep stack, which is comprised of facedown cards called Z cards; the second is the REM stack, which is comprised of the faceup cards called Dream cards. Participants may look through their REM stack at any time, but may never change the order unless instructed to do so by a card. Space for reserved cards will also be needed (see Dream Types Explained).
Project Dreamscape Begins
The participant who can remember the most interesting dream is the start participant and takes the active participant token. Turns continue clockwise, with each participant's turn consisting of 3 phases.
Phase 1: Deep Sleep Accumulation
You may take 1 Z card from the top of the Sleep Deck and add it facedown to your Deep Sleep stack.
Count the number of Z cards in your Deep Sleep stack. The number of cards you have represents your will in guiding your dreams and equals the number of points you have to purchase cards in the Dreamscape; however, be careful that you don't get too many Z cards, as they count for negative points at the end of the project.
Phase 2: Direct Your Sleep
You must buy at least 1 card from the Dreamscape, including card(s) you reserved on a previous turn using the Lucid Dreaming dream type (see Dream Types Explained). You may purchase as many cards as you can afford.
The cost of a card is based on its distance from the Sleep Deck. The card immediately next to the deck costs 5 points, then 4, 3, 2, and finally 1 point for the card farthest from the deck. Rotate sideways a number of Z cards in your Deep Sleep stack equal to the cost of the card in the Dreamscape that you wish to purchase. Purchased cards are not replaced and the remaining cards in the Dreamscape are not moved.
Each time you purchase a Dream card, place it faceup on top of your REM stack—orientation does not matter. You must then choose 1 of the 2 dream types on the new Dream card and immediately perform the text. If you choose a dream type that cannot be performed, nothing happens. If you purchase a Z card from the Dreamscape (see Dream Types Explained), or a dream type gives you a Z card, you can immediately use the new point towards the purchase of additional cards.
Phase 3: Prepare for the Next Participant
After purchasing cards and performing dream types, slide the remaining cards in the Dreamscape to the least expensive spaces and repopulate the Dreamscape from the Sleep Deck. All cards in all participants' areas are turned upright, including all Z cards and Dream cards that were reserved on that turn. Pass the active participant token to the left.
Variant—The Sleep Token: Choose this variant before the project begins. At the start of your turn, using your active participant token, you may either discard one of your Z cards (red side up, for restless sleep) or use the token as a temporary point towards purchasing cards that turn (blue side up, for restful sleep).
End of Study & Evaluation
The project ends when there are not enough cards remaining in the Sleep Deck during phase 3 to repopulate the Dreamscape to 5 cards.
Project Evaluation Result: Add all the results for Continuous Dreaming and then subtract the Deep Sleep score—the difference is your total score. The participant with the highest score wins.
Chain Points
Continuous Dreaming: Spread out your REM stack into a row without changing the order of the cards. Go through the different dream types to see if adjacent cards share the same dream. Orientation of cards does not affect scoring. When you find a chain of the same dream type, count the number of adjacent cards with the dream type and consult the chart below. Look for chains of all dream types. Multiple groupings of the same dream type count for points, but separately.
| Chain length | Points |
|---|---|
| 2 | 2 |
| 3 | 4 |
| 4 | 6 |
| 5 | 8 |
| 6 | 10 |
| 7 | 13 |
| 8 | 16 |
| 9 | 20 |
| 10 | 24 |
| 11 | 29 |
| 12 | 34 |
| 13 | 40 |
Deep Sleep: Count the Z cards in your Deep Sleep stack and subtract it from your score.
Balanced Sleeping (tie breaker): Those that demonstrate a better balance between dreaming and deep sleep are considered to be the best choice. In case of a tie, the tied participant with the highest amount of Z cards wins. If a tie persists, it's a shared victory.
Example Study Evaluation
For the example above, the participant with this REM stack would score 2 points for the 2 adjacent Floating Free, 2 points for the 2 adjacent Collective Dream, 6 points for the 4 adjacent Interrupted Sleep, and 4 points for the 3 adjacent Recurring Dream. This gives them 14 points. They have 4 Z cards in their Deep Sleep stack, which is subtracted from the REM score for a final total of 10 points.
Dream Types Explained
Floating Free: Pull a Dream card from your REM stack and play it on top. Search through your REM stack without rearranging the cards. Take out one card, place it on top of your REM stack, and perform either one of the dream types.
Interrupted Sleep: Flip a card in the Dreamscape. Turn 1 of the cards in the Dreamscape over to the other side. This dream type can turn a Dream card into a Z card, and a Z card back into a Dream card. A Z card can be purchased from the Dreamscape and goes to your Deep Sleep stack unspent.
Night Terror: Choose 1 opponent to discard a Z card. The chosen opponent must discard the top Z card from his/her Deep Sleep stack to the discard pile next to the Sleep Deck. A participant can never go below 1 Z card, so if the chosen opponent only has 1 Z card, nothing happens.
Lucid Dreaming: Reserve a card in the Dreamscape. Take a card from the Dreamscape and place it sideways in front of you. During Phase 3, turn it upright and it will be available for purchase from your next turn on. It stays there until you pay 1 point to play it to your REM stack, or is discarded at the end of the project if you do not pay for it. There is no limit to the number of cards you can have reserved. Opponents cannot buy Dream cards that another participant has reserved.
Perfect Respite: Gain a Z card. Take the top card of the Sleep Deck and add it to your Deep Sleep stack unspent. If there are no Z cards to draw, nothing happens.
Recurring Dream: Replay the Dream card that is under this one. Perform either one of the dream types on the Dream card below this one. Do not pull the card out of your stack and play it on top; simply perform the chosen dream type on the card.
Collective Dream: Copy the top Dream card of an opponent's REM stack. Choose the top Dream card on an opponent's REM stack and perform either one of the dream types. Anything that would affect a REM stack affects your stack—not your opponent's.
Shifting Dreams: Rearrange the cards in the Dreamscape. You may rearrange the cards in the Dreamscape however you like among the 5 positions. Variant: Choose this variant before the project begins. Instead of moving the cards, rearrange the Z shield tokens, which changes the cost of the cards until Shifting Dreams is used again.
Controlled Study
An Expansion Deck with Three Alternate Dream Types
Swap out base dream types for controlled study dream types (marked with a symbol) on a one-for-one basis. When a dream type is chosen to be removed, take out all cards that contain that dream type. Then shuffle all cards containing the new dream type into the base Sleep deck, except for the cards that contain the removed dream type and the other two unused dream types. This allows you to customize the project.
Invasive Dreaming: Swap the top card of an opponent's REM stack with a card in the Dreamscape. The opponent must perform one of the dream types on the new card. If the chosen dream type is Night Terror, and you are the target, you may discard a Z card that was spent earlier in the turn. If there are no cards in the Dreamscape, nothing happens.
Empowered Dreaming: Take a card in the Dreamscape, perform one of its Dream types, then discard. Anything that would affect a REM stack affects your stack. If there are no cards in the Dreamscape, nothing happens.
Paradigm Shift: Discard up to 2 cards in the Dreamscape, shift all cards down, and then replace. You can choose 0, 1, or 2 cards to discard from the Dreamscape. Slide all the remaining cards down to the cheapest positions, and then fill in with the same number of cards that were discarded.
Virtual Dreaming
1 Participant (solo play) • 10-20 minutes
The set up and scoring stays the same. During the project, some of the dream types play a bit differently, and phase 3 has been slightly altered.
Dream Changes
Collective Dream: Copy the top card of the discard pile. If the chosen dream type affects the REM stack, you may target the discard pile. If there are no cards in the discard pile, nothing happens.
Invasive Dreaming: Swap a Dream card from the Dreamscape with the top card of the discard pile, and then perform a Dream type from the newly-discarded card. If the chosen dream type affects the REM stack, you may target the discard pile. If there are no Dream cards in the Dreamscape, nothing happens.
Night Terror: Reveal the top card from the Sleep deck and use it to fill the cheapest empty space in the Dreamscape. If there are no empty spaces, or there are no cards remaining in the Sleep deck, then nothing happens. Additionally, discard one of your own Z cards. If you only have 1 Z card, then nothing happens.
Phase 3 Changes
When you are done with your turn, do the normal clean up with these changes:
- Instead of shifting the Dreamscape, discard all the Dream cards in the Dreamscape. You choose the order in which they go into the discard pile.
- Slide any remaining Z cards to the cheapest spaces (see Interrupted Sleep).
- Turn the Z cards faceup.
- Refill the Dreamscape from the Sleep Deck.
- If the Dreamscape cannot be fully filled, the game is over. Calculate your score as normal.
Score Analysis for Virtual Dreaming
Under 15: The only thing you can create are stick figures with your dreams. The scientists are worried. You either get too much Deep Sleep or not enough. Either way, you have trouble creating chains.
15-24: You made a fuzzy dog, or possibly a horse, though it could also be a hippo; no one's sure. The scientists believe you are not tapping into your potential. You know how to use the dream types, but stringing chains together eludes you.
25-34: A half-caf, two-pump, whole milk, no-whip, extra-foam, extra-hot white mocha appeared on the table, and it tastes good. The scientists see you as an average dreamer. You understand the goal and have a decent grasp of how chains work.
35-44: It's a brand new car with that brand new car smell. The scientists are satisfied with your results as you show a great deal of promise. You have the ability to make some spectacular plays.
45-54: It was cool to ride in a brand new car, but even cooler to ride a dragon. You display a level of dream mastery that impresses the scientists. Your ability to weave through dreams is natural and effortless.
55 and Over: They named that planet after you, since you made it. The scientists now ask you questions about the machine, as your abilities are akin to godly.
Note: When using dream types from the Controlled Study expansion, it is possible (but highly unlikely) to form a chain of 14 cards. In this extremely unlikely scenario, that chain would score 46 points.