Ramon’s Guide to Places of Shadow and Sorcery

“They’re already dead, they just don’t know it yet!”

Instead of a normal lecture, I figure I’ll just chronicle my own travels and recant later.  The realms of dream proved invigorating, mortifying, thrilling and so much more!  However, my desire for adventure has taken me to far more chilling places.  Lands of Death, Darkness, Disaster and so on!  As always, I am forever devoted to pursuits of knowledge.  And through my travels and magical catalogue of thoughts and sights, you too may travel with me to parts unknown and dreadful.  Should anything unfortunate happen to me, let this document be a word of warning!

Author’s Note: I did an old school reorganizing of 4e’s (and I guess 5e’s) Feywild, I figure it’s the Shadowfell’s turn.  Many of its ideas were appropriated from past sources already, so that makes things a little easier.  As for the other stuff?  Well, once again, time to improvise!  Also, keep an eye out for some crunch that relates to this post.

Ramon’s Guide to Realms of Dream and Nightmare

Dream big.

“Hark!  Dear scribe, should you find this letter, I have likely been lost to The Dream.  A dream, you ask?  Preposterous!  But, not at all!  The Demiplanes of Dream and Nightmare are more than true.  To find them, one must traverse into the depths of the fair folk dominions, already a deadly task.  In truth, the dream creatures are primordial entities, predating even the sylvan folk.  They’re something raw, primal, coalescing into parallel creatures far more detached from logic.  Tread carefully, friend.  Even within the confines of this letter, its eldritch energies stir.  Do not try to look for me, lest you become stuck too.” – A letter from Ramon DeLeon, planar traveler and bard.

The Dream, an essence of energy so wild we can never truly ponder it.  It’s far more morphic than even Limbo!  This energy is neither chaos nor law, but something perhaps beyond it.  Scholars speculate its relation to a distant void known as “Far Realm”.  Currently, the forces of darkness are on the warpath to completely control all that is light within the Dream.  Should this happen, no one shall sleep soundly again.  Already, the Dream is a strange place full of the impossible, with logic far beyond anything akin to reality.  However, shaping dreams comes with its own dangers.  Particularly powerful minds are sought out… and not necessarily by forces for good.

Author’s Note: A mashup of faerie mythology and H.P. Lovecraft Mythos!  Would you expect anything less than me?  Plus, I figure this is a way to drag things into my yearly horror theme while revisiting my Planescape Fey lore by request!  (Also, no more robots for a while!  I promise!)

EDIT: 5e-related crunch is removed.