Varieties of Dreamborn

At the end of last month, I suggested two possible character origins in Dream-Quest: earthborn and dreamborn. Earthborn characters, as their name implies, are mortals who dream their way into that otherworld, while dreamborn characters are natives of the fantastic realm beyond the wall of sleep. When I first laid out this broad distinction, I assumed that dreamborn characters would be, by and large, human, much like the countless figures Randolph Carter encounters during his adventures.

Of course, the Dreamlands are not solely peopled by human beings, however expansively one defines the term. I already acknowledged as much when I created the Moon Prowler class, representing the intelligent and magical felines who prowl the length and breadth of the land of dreams. So, if cats can be playable as characters, then what about the other nonhuman inhabitants of the Dreamlands? Until recently, I hadn’t given that question much thought. Yet, the more I do, the more possibilities suggest themselves.

Lovecraft’s Dreamlands teem with nonhuman races, from the furtive zoogs of the Enchanted Wood to the hulking, nightmarish gugs in their underworld vaults. Some of these beings are monstrous antagonists, dangerous even to the hardiest of dreamers. Others are more ambiguous, capable of cruelty, certainly, but also of alliance or even friendship. Think of the ghouls, who feast on the dead yet sometimes aid Randolph Carter.

This raises a tempting question: could some of these races serve as the basis for dreamborn characters? What might it mean to play not merely as a visitor to the Dreamlands, nor even as a human native, but as a being utterly unlike anything found in the waking world?

Take the ghouls. In D&D and its descendants, ghouls are undead monsters — feral, mindless, and best avoided. However, in Lovecraft’s Dreamlands, they are something different. They're a subterranean people, grotesque in aspect but intelligent and even conversational. They occupy an uncomfortable middle ground between horror and ally, repulsive yet not entirely beyond the pale of understanding. A ghoul character would likely be fraught with challenges, but isn’t that precisely the sort of thing that can make a campaign memorable?

Then there are the ghasts, those eyeless, reptilian horrors that hop through the Vaults of Zin. They’re less obviously suited to player characters, but what if that assumption is itself too hasty? What might play look like if one embraced the alienness of a ghast, such as its stench, its blindness, its subterranean life, and then tried to build a campaign around it? It may well not be possible (or even interesting) but who knows?

The zoogs, furtive woodland dwellers, are another intriguing possibility. They are mischievous, cunning, and not above violence, but they are also quick-witted and resourceful. A zoog adventurer would be very different from a human one, since it'd be smaller and physically weaker but capable of slipping into places and situations where humans would falter. They could occupy a role similar to, say, halflings in traditional D&D.

What about the men of Leng? Are they an ancient human tribe warped by strange gods or something else entirely? Their ambiguous nature could make them especially suitable for exploration through play, especially in Dream-Quest, where many details of the setting will be deliberately left open. A player might lean into the horns and alien features or downplay them in favor of the uncanny cultural traits that separate Lengites from other dreamborn character types.

None of this is to suggest that nonhuman dreamborn characters ought to dominate a Dream-Quest campaign. I think there is greta value in keeping them rare, uncanny, and even a little unsettling. But allowing for the possibility opens the door to play that mirrors the strangeness and wonder of the Dreamlands themselves. After all, if the Dreamlands are meant to embody the full scope of imagination, shouldn’t our sense of who can inhabit them be just as boundless?

At this point, I haven’t made up my mind about whether nonhuman dreamborn characters should be an option (beyond the Moon Prowler, which feels essential to me). My natural inclination is to keep things simple, especially as I continue to wrestle with the best way to present Dream-Quest and its open-ended vision of the Dreamlands. Even so, I can’t deny the appeal of giving players the chance to embody the stranger denizens of the land beyond sleep.

So, I’ll put the question to you: what role, if any, should nonhuman races play as player characters in Dream-Quest? Would you welcome the chance to play a ghoul, zoog, or moon-beast renegade or does that stretch the concept too far?