OK, I managed to complete the Tutorial Dream playing solo without too much trouble, once I worked out how the rules flowed. (Though watching a playthrough after the fact, I noticed that I'd entirely missed finding any items. I hope that doesn't make things too difficult later.)
Playing on, I keep finding questions that I'm not sure I can answer correctly from the rules. The rules seem to make a number of assumptions (I guess that's covered by the note regarding "obvious" rules, but having played so many games where the rules are pedantically specific, and assumptions will get you in trouble, "obvious" may not be the same for me and the game designers.)
First a minor point. Though I appear on the "Awakening" spot on the Dreamworld map, the "Awakening" Wisdom card is not related to this? It appears to be something I can use at any time later to change characters. So if I don't use it now, I continue in whatever state I finished the last dream (in my case, luckily, no Distress and just one card sealed). Is that right?
Moving around the map, I turn over Fate cards and Slumber tiles as directed. My first Quirk card gets me to place a Dreamscape map tile, which doesn't physically connect to the existing Starting tiles (except at a corner) and place the Quirk card. Is it a problem that there are now separate unconnected segments of the map? I'm not sure the rules exactly say how Quirk cards work. I assume it triggers when the Time card has a matching action, just like for any active entities, even if the Quirk card is on an unconnected section of the map.
Next I draw a Slumber card that spawns a Wraith. (The first slumber cards I drew ended immediately as I didn't meet the conditions on them). So I guess that means I now enter the slumber with that Wraith (another "obvious" rule, I guess). I guess I could enter on a different part of the map to where the entity spawns, but that would be equivalent to Skipping the Slumber as we couldn't interact and we would just time out. I don't yet know what the penalty for skipping is, so I'll just leap into this slumber, and see how it pans out.
I guess this will all become second nature after a few slumbers and another dream. But a little more guidance would be nice when starting out. I'm enjoying it so far, but it's taking me such a long time with searching the rules at every second step. Maybe I should think about writing such a guide when I understand it all a bit more.
I too had this question. If you found the five items, I was under the impression they went into the Storage. After the completion of the tutorial, I was confused if all five items went back to Storage (from which you then "restore" three random ones) or they were supposed to go into the Item Market.
Yes, if you lift the plank, you get all 5 items. The AR clarification regarding the items being in the Item Market is to cover the case where you don't lift the plank. Since you never get to see the Item Market before this, it provides a fix for the fact that nothing says what happens to the starting items if they were not found.
"If you managed to find 3 of them in the first (tutorial) Dream, the remaining 2 have been returned to the box (ie to the Item Market)." This part of the response is inconsistent with the Secret Scripts and appears to be in error.
All 5 starting items belong to you. It's clearly stated in s.181. Although not clear, the item market starts empty.
OK, I just noticed that Saving your game invokes steps 1-3 of Awakening. Basically meaning that Distress, Sealed cards, gems and keys don't persist from session to session. Just Ether markers I guess.
So, apparently this means: You reset after the first Dream. You reset each session. And you can reset part way through a session if you really want.
And at least until we discovers something else, a normal session involves traveling the Dreamworld, having Slumbers along the way, until you get enough keys for a Dream. The Awakening card just formalizes that. (Somehow it seemed quite confusing getting to that point.)
> Yes, exactly.
As for Awakenings and reset system - please also look here.
> Thanks, Niall, for the answer - that was exactly the problem.
Then we will add an additional explanation to the FAQ as many players may also overlook the need to exactly align the letters of the respective codes when lining up Dreamscape tiles.
Oh, I see how they line up. It hadn't occurred to me that a Tile labelled C4 wouldn't just go into the C4 tile slot on the board! I know the overlay cards can go anywhere, but I'd assumed the grid was a simple 3 x 4 arrangement of map tiles, as clearly delineated on the board. The rules just say "If it is: A Map Tile - place it on the Dreamscape according to the code on it's front (A1, B2, etc)". I did think it strange that the images didn't line up very well.
Looks like your A2 and C4 are placed incorrectly? You can tell on A2 because the art doesn’t match up. Move it left halfway into A1. It should match up then. Probably the same with the C4. I think I saw on the A2 that the A2 symbol is on the right hand side not the left. So you can tell from that it should be placed half way Instead of fully in A2.
Thanks for the comprehensive reply.
Hmmm, there should never be a situation where the Slumber Map tiles do not physically connect to each other. There are always 2 Starting Slumber Map tiles placed first - they are in the middle, so it is not possible to add more Slumber Map tiles so that they do not connect physically. There may have been a mistake in interpreting the rules.
Can you upload a picture of the situation?
S.133 says to make the Slumber Map deck from tiles II-36 A. Two of these are starting tiles (B2 & B3). The other two are A2 (connects) and C4 (only touches at a corner).
As for how they work - yes, many Quirk Fate cards work when the Turn card in question tells you to resolve all available Dreamscape steps of a given type (eg BASIC, SPECIAL, MORPHING).
More about Fate cards, Quirk Fate cards, Quirk slots and Quirk spaces can be found on page 7 of the manual.
Sorry, I guess I'm being picky here. Yes page 10 says "the current Turn card specifies what happens during the Dreamscape phase - which effects of the Slumber/Dream are triggered (like entity effects) ..."
And page 7 does indeed talk about Quirks, and how they are placed. But (being pedantic) it does not say they can add effects to the slumber, what they do, or when they trigger. There's no statement linking turn effects to quirks. When I'm confused by a new ruleset, I want explicit statements, rather than having to extrapolate. In hindsight it may be obvious. A simple statement in the rules can make life easier for new players. Your explanation above would be perfect. Add it to the rules.
Yes. The rules can be found on page 9 of the manual, in the Entity tiles section. You begin by resolving the setup for the drawn Entity...
Dream entrance is described on page 10. Slumber entrance? What I missed was anything saying when the Wraith spawns, put your Dreamer mini on the dreamscape map and start the slumber. I wasn't sure if the spawn was just adding further to the Dreamscape (as when map tiles were added), with the start of a Slumber to be triggered later, or whether spawning the Wraith would start the slumber. I had to read the section 2 or 3 times trying to work this out. And it was still just a guess when I did. (I've edited rules before, I know how hard it is to cover everything you think should be obvious, but I know you have to state the obvious too.)
Initial "Item Market" consists of: 5 Items cards that are in the box from the beginning of the game (The Book of Birds, Spring Perfumes, Little Helpers, Strategic Plan, Journal).
If you managed to find 3 of them in the first (tutorial) Dream, the remaining 2 have been returned to the box (ie to the Item Market).
Thanks, that's exactly what I needed to know. There's nothing to link "Starting Item Cards" to "Item Market". And when page 2 explicitly references the "Starting Influence Market" but not "Starting Item Market", the omission seems deliberate. S.181 makes no mention of "Item Market", only Starting Item cards. All of this seems to make a distinction between the Starting Items and the Item Market.
So, thanks for the answers, Hopefully you can tell me what I've done wrong with the Dreamscape tiles. I'm really excited to continue with the game. I hope to see these clarifications in the FAQ.
1] First a minor point. Though I appear on the "Awakening" spot on the Dreamworld map, the "Awakening" Wisdom card is not related to this? It appears to be something I can use at any time later to change characters. So if I don't use it now, I continue in whatever state I finished the last dream (in my case, luckily, no Distress and just one card sealed). Is that right?
> "Awakening" spot on the Dreamworld map has no effect. If we enter the "Awakening" spot while traveling through Dreamworld map, nothing happens.
As for Awakening card - as written at the top of this card:
Dreamers may resolve the Awakening at any moment after resolving the Location (any Location) effect on the Dreamworld Map.
Then we resolve all 10 steps from Awakening card one by one (it is a kind of reset - we heal all Distress, Unseal all cards, but lose all Keys, Shining Gems, discard cards from Progress zone, reshuffle decks etc.).
The last (tenth) step is:
Place the Team miniature in the Awakening Location on the Dreamworld Map. So "Awakening" spot is only the starting space from which we start at the beginning of the game or after resolving Awakening. 2] Moving around the map, I turn over Fate cards and Slumber tiles as directed. My first Quirk card gets me to place a Dreamscape map tile, which doesn't physically connect to the existing Starting tiles (except at a corner) and place the Quirk card. Is it a problem that there are now separate unconnected segments of the map? I'm not sure the rules exactly say how Quirk cards work. I assume it triggers when the Time card has a matching action, just like for any active entities, even if the Quirk card is on an unconnected section of the map.
> Hmmm, there should never be a situation where the Slumber Map tiles do not physically connect to each other. There are always 2 Starting Slumber Map tiles placed first - they are in the middle, so it is not possible to add more Slumber Map tiles so that they do not connect physically. There may have been a mistake in interpreting the rules.
Can you upload a picture of the situation?
As for how they work - yes, many Quirk Fate cards work when the Turn card in question tells you to resolve all available Dreamscape steps of a given type (eg BASIC, SPECIAL, MORPHING).
More about Fate cards, Quirk Fate cards, Quirk slots and Quirk spaces can be found on page 7 of the manual.
The effects of the individual Quirk Fate cards are described directly on them.
- Some work on the entire board, passively changing any of the rules - e.g. Omnipresent Mist, Caution Repairs,
- some add a new action available on the Quirk space adjacent to the Quirk slot where the Quirk Fate card has been placed) - e.g. The Dark Cubbyhole,
- some introduce a new effect that we have to deal with in Dreamscape Phase (when resolving Turn card) - e.g. Darkness, Strange Hood (Strange Hood also introduces a new action),
- some additionally order you to perform some effect when placing them in the Quirk Slot (e.g. Caution Repairs orders reshuffle Fate deck),
etc.
3] Next I draw a Slumber card that spawns a Wraith. So I guess that means I now enter the slumber with that Wraith (another "obvious" rule, I guess).
> Yes. The rules can be found on page 9 of the manual, in the Entity tiles section. You begin by resolving the setup for the drawn Entity:
SETUP – Begin with the Setup section in the upper right corner. If the setup indicates a Spawn (most of the time it will), the Slumber is played on the Slumber Map. Then prepare the required number of Turn cards, Spawn the required number and type of Entities tokens/miniatures, and complete any additional Setup steps.
Etc.
I guess I could enter on a different part of the map to where the entity spawns, but that would be equivalent to Skipping the Slumber as we couldn't interact and we would just time out. I don't yet know what the penalty for skipping is, so I'll just leap into this slumber, and see how it pans out.
> There must be a mistake in your games, because there is no possibility that the Slumber maps tiles do not touch each other. There are always 2 Starting Slumber Maps in the middle and all others are always touching them.
Of course, you can often use the Skip option, as long as it is available on the given Slumber Entity tile (however, you need to deal with the effects related to Skip / Out of Turns - mostly negative).
What makes up the initial "Item Market"? Do the starting item cards go in it if they weren't acquired in Dream I-01? Or do you need to wait for the market to be populated before you can purchase from it? (I'd expect the rules page 15 would mention it if there was a possibility of an empty market.)
> Initial "Item Market" consists of: 5 Items cards that are in the box from the beginning of the game (The Book of Birds, Spring Perfumes, Little Helpers, Strategic Plan, Journal).
If you managed to find 3 of them in the first (tutorial) Dream, the remaining 2 have been returned to the box (ie to the Item Market).
Additionally, during the campaign (usually in the Dream epilogue), Items that we could find in this Dream but which we did not find often end up in the Item Market - but this is always exactly described in the Dream epilogue.
Additionally, Items that we have lost (removed, not discarded) go back to the Item Market.
Thanks for your questions!
I guess I answered most of my own questions while writing that post.
The Wraith turned out to be an obliging wimp, and was no problem. Then I got to go shopping.
What makes up the initial "Item Market"? Do the starting item cards go in it if they weren't acquired in Dream I-01? Or do you need to wait for the market to be populated before you can purchase from it? (I'd expect the rules page 15 would mention it if there was a possibility of an empty market.)