Ghost Writer's Thoughts

Inspired by a recent video I saw, I came up with an idea for a D&D campaign that I'll probably never get to use. It centers around changing the setting and history of the characters at certain levels, and carries an undercurrent of the feeling of 'Inception's dreams within dreams.

Level 1-5: Your standard fantasy setting with typical adventurers and adventuring. At the end of the story arc of this first set of levels, the party frees a god of sleep and dreams from a cult that believes said god will end the world. He informs the group that they are dreaming, and with a snap of his fingers...

Level 6-10: The players wake up in a contemporary setting. They are the same race & class as before, but now their personal history is completely different to fit the setting (or simply changed slightly to better fit the setting). They can either search for each other, or be nearby from the start. A new adventure ensues, navigating the politics and corruption of the setting while learning more of the gods of this world (some of which they probably heard of in the first setting). At the end, they meet the god of dreams again. He smiles, informs the PCs that they are still dreaming, and they wake again.

Level 11-15: A sci-fi setting where the PCs are either mid-to-high ranking galactic military or a well-known independent space-faring crew. Their personal history changes again, and again they'll find out as they play. There is little distinction between magic and science at this point in history (at the DM's discretion). The conflict can either be an intergalactic war, or a war waged against the gods themselves. They learn that the gods have their own agenda, and are looking for people loyal to them. In any case, at the end of the arc, they meet the dream god again, who tells them they are still dreaming. Another snap, and...

Level 16-20: The war is now on a cosmic scale. Gods, demons, and mortals battle for the fate of all of creation. Each god has recruited an army of high-level adventurers to their cause. The party may fight for the god of dreams, or ally themselves with the god of their choice. High level spells are as common as Fireball, and masters of the martial arts bring destruction with every blow. At the end of it all, the god of dreams offers the players a choice: they may return to one of the previous dreams and remain there, or they can finally wake up and see the true nature of the world.

Alternatively: Level 1-5 is the same. Level 6-10 is a steampunk/pirate/Victorian/wild west/samurai period setting. Whichever flavor your table likes, so long as it's a setting between fantasy and modern. Level 11-15 is the modern setting, and level 16-20 is a combination of the sci-fi and cosmic wars.

Alternatively alternatively: if your table doesn't mind shorter adventures, you can cram all five settings into the campaign.

2020 actually wasn't that bad for me. I shifted to working from home, and have been able to continue to since. I avoided the 'rona, and so did the people I care about. But mostly, I only heard about bad things happening to others. But fate finally caught up with me.

Like 2020, it actually started the year before. My AC went out and I had to go into debt to pay it. After the year turned, my cat had a couple issues that led to removing a benign tumor from her shoulder. Just as I paid off the AC unit, my car went into the shop, and because it's old, it stayed there for two months before I finally got it back. Of course, the mechanic tells me this just after I left town for vacation.

The worst thing was that it seemed like I just got my cat out of the cone before she went back in. What seemed like a sinus infection turned out to be a tumor, and had taken weeks and thousands of dollars just to get that far. And her condition worsened before we could even see a specialist. Just short of a week ago, I put my best friend to sleep. Now I'm left to mourn while trying to recover financially.

So yeah. It's been rough. The good news is that my friends and family have been supportive during these hard times. And my thanks to the positivity and mental health blogs here.

Been playing TotK like so many of you, but also watching reactions to Ghibli movies lately. It's already been said that BotW took some inspiration from Ghibli (nature, the hero's journey, ancient tech), but it is all the more apparent in TotK. Let's name a few:

Hyrule Castle floating in the air - Castle in the Sky

Zelda falling and being saved by a magic stone - Castle in the Sky again

Link's arm corrupted, almost killing him, and his new arm grants him power - Princess Mononoke

Ancient tech powered by glowing stones found deep underground - also Castle in the Sky

Towering clouds hiding secrets within - Castle in the Sky once more

Gloom infecting the land, enemies, and even affecting people - the curse from Princess Mononoke

Deep Fireflies - give Nausica vibes

Strong, independent, well-written female characters (most of them with great hair) - Ghibli in general

Potential Major Spoiler Warning:

Spirited Away (if you know, you know)