Dream Life – the game

Just writing  about some of my experience with this game I played.

Not that long ago I had the opportunity to play Dream-Life. It is a game where you either make a few lists or tables with location, events or encounters you had during dreams or use pre-made tables.  Roll dice to determine one item from each list/table and then make up a story about it.

Lists, or tables, can be made up of actual things, locations, activities, people or creatures you have experienced in a dream, or, you can use generic tables.

You roll the dice and whatever number it falls, that is the location, activity or event that you get to make your story from.

So, a small group of people I knew for some time from work played and  I noticed some interesting effects.

It was very connecting to get to know people from a very different “than the usual social” angle.

It felt great to be listened to without there being any judgment.

If anything traumatic was in your dreams and you put it on a list, it might get coupled with a different time or location, or encounter, depending on the roll of dice. This potentially loosens a grip a dream might have on you. There is always an observer in you that gets activated.

When I played with the list made  of people’s actual dreams, it felt more connecting, but not at all threatening. This is important for people for whom other humans are generally a source of distress, anxiety or energy drain.

If you use pre-made tables, you simply get to tell a story that may or may not contain actual dream events you may have dreamed at some point.

This is just fun and kind of telling about yourself, but not directly, you make things up into a story, you train to speak, and there is no judgment.

If I were using 3 or 4 words to describe the effects of the game on me, it would be fun, connecting and healing and the game adds an observer component to the entire playtime. If you wanted to, you could even do a little acting or dramatic storytelling.

This game might also be a good voyaging tool, traveling into universes you would not normally go to. Could even be the whole group goes there.

It trains in listening.

And sis I mention it is fun?

from the website page:

What is Dream-Life?

• Dream-Life is a table-top game.
• Dream-Life is a mutant form of RPG (role-playing game).
• Dream-Life does not require a Game Master nor Dungeon Master).
• Dream-Life uses tables and dice to adventure through a landscape — having encounters and engaging in various activities.
• In Dream-Life, the landscape is your dream-life, the encounters are drawn from those you have in your dreams, and the activities are extracted from the things you do during dreams.
• Dream-Life is basically your dreams as a table-top game.

Link to the short form instructions in case you want to give it a try.