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Shattered Dreams

by Christopher M. Dorn, Timothy R. Erickson, Matthew D. Grau, and Lance P. Johnstone (I think)

Apex Publications, Inc. 144 pages, perfect bound Price = 18.00

Reviewed by Lisa Padol

This review originally appeared in The Familiar #2.

I expected this to be a dreadful rip-off of White Wolf's Storyteller system. It does borrow rather obviously from WW, but it is much better than I had hoped.

PCs are dreamers who have learned how to control their dreams and travel to the dreams of others. There, they battle malevolent nightmares, trying to banish them from the mind of the dreamer.

The system is more structured than I expected. The pcs will spend much of their time in dreams, where, theoretically, anything is possible. Yet, their powers are extremely limited.

The system is based on a d12. Depending on their pcs' level of skill, players choose between one and eleven numbers on the d12. They will succeed on these numbers. If a task is especially hard or easy, gms may add or remove a success number. Also, to reflect the unpredictability of dreams, gms may change one or more of the success numbers, but they are expected to tell the players ahead of time.

This is unnecessarily convoluted. But the more I thought about it, the more I liked it. The numbers 1-12 are printed on the character sheet for each attribute, and for the skills and aspect powers, or dream abilities, which players take. All one has to do is circle them. Gamers who dislike the system can easily simplify it.

Players roll against both an attribute and a skill or aspect power. The goal is to succeed on both rolls, and there are different degrees of success depending on which rolls are made. In dream settings, the gm rolls another die to see if the dream changes in favor of the pcs, the nightmares, or the dreamer. Again, this is all more complicated than it needs to be, but the rules are clearly written and easy to understand.

Three scenarios are included in Shattered Dreams. These are helpful, although they could be more detailed. Also helpful are the sections giving advice to gms. Several sheets are provided to organize scenarios so that the gm has stats on the dreamer and the nightmares, as well as a brief summary of scenes in both the dream and waking worlds.

Shattered Dreams is far from perfect. The folks at Apex desparately need a copy editor. (I am available, and my rates are reasonable.) There are words missing on almost every page.

Players must spend 20% of their skill points on professional skills. The number of points which can be placed into a single skill is limited. Some professions have only a few skills associated with them. A player who has many skill points and chooses one of these professions will not be able to spend the required amount of points. The section on insanity is entirely too sketchy. Some of the numbers in the examples do not seem to add up correctly. The "index" is an expanded table of contents, which is far less helpful than an actual index. Also, the price is a little steep, especially considering the poor editing.

Still, Shattered Dreams is worth a look. Enterprising gms will find something they can use.

Grade: B-

Re-reading my own words: Shattered Dreams remains one of my guilty pleasures.

Style: 2 (Needs Work)
Substance: 4 (Meaty)

Shattered Dreams
Author: Christopher M. Dorn, Timothy R. Erickson, Matthew D. Grau, and Lance P. Johnstone (I think) Category: game Company/Publisher: Apex Publishing Line: Shattered Dreams Cost: $18 Page count: 144 pages, perfect bound Capsule Review by Lisa Padol on 05/17/99. Genre tags: Modern_day Horror Gothic	Shattered Dreams by Christopher M. Dorn, Timothy R. Erickson, Matthew D. Grau, and Lance P. Johnstone (I think) Apex Publications, Inc. 144 pages, perfect bound Price = 18.00 Reviewed by Lisa Padol This review originally appeared in The Familiar #2. I expected this to be a dreadful rip-off of White Wolf's Storyteller system. It does borrow rather obviously from WW, but it is much better than I had hoped. PCs are dreamers who have learned how to control their dreams and travel to the dreams of others. There, they battle malevolent nightmares, trying to banish them from the mind of the dreamer. The system is more structured than I expected. The pcs will spend much of their time in dreams, where, theoretically, anything is possible. Yet, their powers are extremely limited. The system is based on a d12. Depending on their pcs' level of skill, players choose between one and eleven numbers on the d12. They will succeed on these numbers. If a task is especially hard or easy, gms may add or remove a success number. Also, to reflect the unpredictability of dreams, gms may change one or more of the success numbers, but they are expected to tell the players ahead of time. This is unnecessarily convoluted. But the more I thought about it, the more I liked it. The numbers 1-12 are printed on the character sheet for each attribute, and for the skills and aspect powers, or dream abilities, which players take. All one has to do is circle them. Gamers who dislike the system can easily simplify it. Players roll against both an attribute and a skill or aspect power. The goal is to succeed on both rolls, and there are different degrees of success depending on which rolls are made. In dream settings, the gm rolls another die to see if the dream changes in favor of the pcs, the nightmares, or the dreamer. Again, this is all more complicated than it needs to be, but the rules are clearly written and easy to understand. Three scenarios are included in Shattered Dreams. These are helpful, although they could be more detailed. Also helpful are the sections giving advice to gms. Several sheets are provided to organize scenarios so that the gm has stats on the dreamer and the nightmares, as well as a brief summary of scenes in both the dream and waking worlds. Shattered Dreams is far from perfect. The folks at Apex desparately need a copy editor. (I am available, and my rates are reasonable.) There are words missing on almost every page. Players must spend 20% of their skill points on professional skills. The number of points which can be placed into a single skill is limited. Some professions have only a few skills associated with them. A player who has many skill points and chooses one of these professions will not be able to spend the required amount of points. The section on insanity is entirely too sketchy. Some of the numbers in the examples do not seem to add up correctly. The "index" is an expanded table of contents, which is far less helpful than an actual index. Also, the price is a little steep, especially considering the poor editing. Still, Shattered Dreams is worth a look. Enterprising gms will find something they can use. Grade: B- Re-reading my own words: Shattered Dreams remains one of my guilty pleasures. Style: 2 (Needs Work) Substance: 4 (Meaty)