Developing Pariah's Dawn Realm (the influence of Scavengers Reign)

Last year I returned to the untied loose end of the Dawn Realm (crudely, Pariah's equivalent of the feywilde) with this slightly long, sketchy post. It's been fermenting since then with a great deal of reagents added following conversations on this blog and elsewhere, of which many were with Max Cantor of Weird and Wonderful Worlds. It took watching Scavengers Reign for me to take this pot of potent brew off the flames and let it cool, let the residue crystallise, and then snort a big hefty old line of the stuff.

This is not a post that includes a Scavengers Reign hexcrawl... but I've robbed a few of the details, because the big breakthrough that show provided was to really show how the world interacts with not just the explorers, but the elements within it.

If you wanna someone with real OSR chops talk about this show, please go and bother Patrick Stuart's substack, linked here. This post is extraordinarily long and I don't finish it properly: there's at least one further post before I get all the ideas down, and then 

Aesthetic touchstones for the energy I'm channelling:

• Spirited Away and Princess Mononoke (as usual)
• Annihilation (as usual)
• Heart: The City Beneath by Grant Howitt and Chris Taylor
• The Modern Fairy Sightings Podcast
• Passport to Magonia by Jacques Vallee
• Exclusion Zone Botanist by Exeunt Press
  
• LSD, especially those crazy purple microdots that were doing the rounds in the mid 90s
• Hypoxia (emphatically not auto-erotic asphyxiation... or so protested the Player Queen...)
• Scavengers Reign

Technical references (i.e. procedural references):

• Hexcrawls after Luke Gearing's methodology, in particular reference to Carcosa
• Depth crawls after Ynn & Stygian Library by Cavegirl (links are affiliate links to Dying Stylishly's DTRPG pages)
• Hex flower generators as espoused by Daniel Sell but developed, refined and truly championed by Goblin's Henchman 

IMPORTANT: PEDANTIC PSYCHONAUTS PLEASE READ!

As stated in last August's post, the continuing design intent is to create a novel gaming experience in a fantasy world rather than a tabletop simulation of ingesting hallucinogens. However, there are bits and pieces inspired by my own real-life experiences and the experiences of others, as received second hand.

A lot of this is going to sound complicated to run.... at time of posting, it's almost entirely untested. I'm also giving some quite general terms some very specific meanings (in this procedure), and for clearer communication have included a glossary at the end. You have been warned

Dawn Mushrooms

Let's take it back to PARIAH VOLUME 1, with this picture of the Dawn Mushroom:

Dawn Mushroom by Abigail Lingford

The design was inspired by the real life (but non-hallucinogenic) octopus stinkhorn Clathrus archeri, pictured below.

Clathrus archeri looking especially gross.

In-game Dawn mushrooms ARE hallucinogenic and are one way in which wise-ones and spirit-talkers—DAWN TREADERS (ha!)—can access the Dawn Realm. Broadly, the size of the dose corresponds to the intensity of the experience, as outlined below. These range from minor pseudo-magical effects to full spiritual travel.

Ingestion

The mushroom can be eaten raw or cooked—it can even be dried and smoked. Whatever the method, the same quantity delivers the same effect. One baby's head-sized mushroom will give you six little doses, but you'll need to save vs. poison to avoid vomiting if this is your first time ingesting this amount. Failing the save reduces the intensity of the trip by one step: if they've just ingested a low dose, you're not going to feel anything at all.

(if you're playing with skills you may use an entheogen skill die to improve the roll)

The effects of dawn mushrooms accumulate: regardless of dose, follow the procedure for a low dose and work through...

Low dose

The effects of a low dose are straightforward, manifesting after half an hour: the Dawn Treader 

(working title only, suggestions welcome, no direct relationship to the work of CS Lewis is implied but that was probably the most psychedelic he got apart from The Magician's Nephew) is very aware of nature's collect give intelligence, to the extent that they can infer how it feels about them at that moment in time...

Roll 2d6 to establish the mood i.e. how Dawn responds to the tripper. Roll with disfavour (3d6, drop highest) if the dawn treader vomited. As an option (and if skills are being used) the GM may allow the player to use their character's entheogen skill die in lieu of one of the D6s.

2	The mushroom rejects you, as does all of nature. All interactions with plants and animals are rolled with disfavour. Voluntarily interacting with any animal, plant, fungus or spirit of dawn requires a successful spell/dawn save, failure results in freezing in fear (though this may be overcome by taken a voluntary point of WIS damage). However oppressive nature may look, feel... and smell you are imbued with a keener sense of non-human intent and disposition. GMs should provide extra (sensory) information about threats and hazards in the natural environment, as well as informing of reaction rolls in advance. You may not invoke, conjure or summon any spirits of the Dawn Realm, though they are plainly visible to you.
3-5	The mushroom rejects you, but nature is ambivalent: the Queen of Dawn may not be impressed, but her avatars on the Here & Now are used to clumsy humans and respond to you normally You get the same insights into threat and intention as above, but with none of the penalties to interacting with non-human intelligences (except maybe actual dawn spirits, at the GM's discretion) mentioned above. You may not invoke, conjure or summon any spirits of the Dawn Realm, though they are plainly visible to you.
6-8	The mushroom is ambivalent, but nature appreciates you: The effect of the mushroom is mildly euphoric, you catch glimpses of colours and shapes that you were not previously aware existed. Those distant orb-like dawn-spirits are ambivalent to your presence, but animals and plants react with favour. Though they are not automatically friendly, you can immediately sense those which might still do you harm and understand the best ways to avoid and/or placate them. You may invoke, conjure and summon spirits of the Dawn Realm if this is something you know how to do, though they do not respond in any special way.
9-11	The Queen of Dawn welcomes you, nature adores you: the full visual effects of a powerful dose (see below) are experienced. Dawn welcomes you and wants you to stay: animals and plants will not respond in a hostile manner (+1 to the roll with favour), and all dawn entities react with favour, including those that you invoke, conjure or summon. You feel a connection to the land and insight into its genius loci, in addition to any positive effects described in previous entries.
12	The Queen of Dawn Adores You: as above with a very strong sense of a guiding presence, an intelligence, just beyond your reach. If you wish, you may extend your experience beyond the parameters of the dose taken (low dose->powerful dose; heroic dose-> ridiculous dose etc.) Furthermore, while the dawn treader is consciously aware of the Here & Now, they are empowered with the ability to enter any plant and travel any distance to a plant of like species instantaneously. This ability vanishes once the effect of the dawn mushrooms has worn off.

 

Keep a note of the mood, as this will define the experience further at greater intensities. It remains fixed until sunrise the following day: indeed, experienced practitioners will use a small dose to gauge with a more intense experience is desirable.

• The effects of a low dose last for 1d3 hours; taking an additional low dose extend this time by 1d2 hours... before taking additional doses does nothing but induce nausea. 
• If a powerful dose was taken at the outset, then the effects of a low dose progress after another  half an hour (3 turns).
• If an heroic dose was taken at the outset, then the effects of a low dose progress after another  10 minutes (1 turn).
• If a ridiculous dose was taken there is a brief moment of clarity before immediate progression to the next stage below...

Powerful dose (the threshold)

The effects of a powerful manifest after those of a low dose as described in the preceding passage. The dawn treader is now standing at the threshold between the Here & Now, compromising their efficacy somewhat.

In addition to the effects of the low does...

• Invisible entities of both the Here & Now (tree sprites, wind elementals, genius loci etc.) and the Dawn (including spirits bound to individuals, enchanted items and constructs) are visible to the dawn treader.
• 2-way telepathic communication with all spirits of the Here & Now (including minerals) and the Dawn is possible: they will respond within the limits of their knowledge and experience. This includes human beings who don't ordinarily share a language.
• It takes considerable effort to engage the physical body: movement is at half rate, GMs should impose similar penalties to other physical activity such as combat. The pariah can temporarily forego these penalties by spending HP or hit dice, or even wisdom, at the GM's discretion 

The duration of this experience is determined by its intensity: once the dawn treader hits their zenith, they have about 3 hours (regardless of the dose) to uhh.. experience it fully.

But they don't arrive there instantly: it's an ascent.

Rough sketch of trip trajectories

Zenith is randomly determined, but weighted according to the dose:

• Roll 1d6 for a powerful dose
• 1d6+6 for an heroic dose
• 2d6+6 for a ridiculous dose

The resulting number (along with mood) determines the quality of the experience... but it's also a clock. Intensity advances in increments of one turn until the zenith is reach, where it lingers (for 18 turns!) before bringing the dawn treader back down to earth.

Once the effects of a powerful dose take hold, Flint Arrow's player rolls 1d6, rolling a 6 This means they will hit their zenith of intensity 6 in 6 turns, with intensity increasing by one each turn until then.

Under the effects of  a powerful dose, the dawn treader will experience glimpses of the Dawn realm through the Here  & Now according to the terrain tables below (roll 1d12 and add the intensity). 

Once intensity reaches 6, the dawn treader is no longer able to operate in the Here & Now and must rest their physical body while they travel the dawn room: note, this can happen even under the influence of a powerful dose.

If desired, players can resist the increase in intensity (and reduce the zenith by one) by making a successful save (vs. dawn/spells) or by taking 1 point of wisdom damage (if the save fails) or some other sacrifice agreed with the GM.

Flint Arrow's player doesn't want his character to be immobile for three hours when they hit their zenith, so they try to save vs. wisdom to stop the inevitable advance. They fail, but decide to take a hit to their wisdom for the same effect. Flint Arrow is able to keep their consciousness on the threshold of the Here & Now, but doing so has impaired their grip on reality somewhat...  

After three hours at their zenith, the trip's intensity reduces by two steps every turn, until they experience the effects of a low dose (see above) for half an hour/ 3 turns, after which they will need to rest. 

Heroic Dose: crossing the threshold (intensity 6-9)

Taking a heroic dose—a whole, be-tentacled mushroom the size of a baby's head—has serious implications. For one, once intensity is attained the dawn treader is no longer able to interact with the Here & Now until they return to the threshold. 

Usually, only one pariah will be in this state, and it's not much fun for the rest of the table to watch as the GM and one player explore this psychedelic realm. There are multiple options open to the players:

• Roll and narrate: calculate how long the pariah is going to be out of action and roll on the roll and narrate table on p.44 of PARIAH volume 1. The player briefly describes their character's experience to the rest of the table, influenced by the results of that table
• Going solo: calculate how long the pariah is out of action, and drop them back into the game after that point. The player and GM resolve the trip in a private session at a later date.
• I contain multitudes: all the players participate in the exploration of the Dawn Realm, representing disparate aspects of the pariah 

The last two options are what this post is really about. Phew! Only took 2000 words to get here. Well done you, you made it!

Exploring the Map

"One of the most boring things about D&D is travelling to the Elemental Plane of Fire, doing all the necessary magical prep to survive the journey and finding... it's just like a hexcrawl... but on fire."

- Me, 5th August 2023

Ah shucks, guess who's about to eat humble pie?

Dawn sits parallel to the Here & Now: separate but entwined, it is both a part of it while also apart from it. An existing hex map of the territory surrounding the dawn treader is used to generate the environment of the Dawn Realm, with the following caveats:

• Terrain is a PROMPT not a description, and will vary with the intensity and mood of the trip (this is also a psychedelic depth crawl as well as a hexcrawl)
• The greater the intensity of the trip, the greater the environment is divorced from base reality/The Here & Nowrn
• The PC's physical form remains in the place where it begins, this journey is made purely in spirit: if it helps, imagine it's the character playing another character in a game within the game (suddenly that Hamlet paraphrase is starting to make sense)

The dawn treaders thus explore a distorted version of their locale at an accelerated map, each turn they may:

• enter a new hex
• remain in the current hex

Though each turn...

• details and events are re-rolled
• intensity increases by 1 (unless the dawn treader(s) actively resist, as noted above OR they have already attained their zenith)

As noted, real world terrain influences visual appearance, encounters and events. This means I need to share tables for... every possible biome, modulated by trip intensity and mood.

This may take another post...

...or maybe two...

Glossary

All terms in the text above that are set in bold are defined below: 

(the) Dawn (realm)

The chaotic world of new life, capricious and fey, a swirling ever-changing realm of endless fractals. Associated with the east, night and day, nature—especially mammals and birds. Sits parallel to the Here & Now: it is both a part of and apart from quotidian reality.

dawn mushroom

A large, fictional hallucinogenic mushroom the size of a baby's head, resembling the real-world octopus stinkhorn.

dawn treader
A primeval psychonaut, a wise-one, a spirit-talker

dose

A portion of dawn mushroom large enough to induce a psychedelic experience

• Low dose: there are six of these to one mushroom
• Powerful dose: a third of a mushroom, ingested at once. Brings the dawn treader to the threshold between the Here & Now and the Dawn Realm
• Heroic dose: a whole mushroom, ingested at once. As the dawn treader approaches their zenith, they are unable to engage with the Here & Now: their body shuts down as their spirit travels through the Dawn Realm.
• Ridiculous dose: more than one mushroom. 

entheogen

A psychoactive substance used in a spiritual, magical or otherwise sacred context. Dawn mushrooms are an fictional entheogen, ayahuasca or psilocybin would be real world examples.

intensity
Equivalent to "depth" in Ynn or Stygian Library, progresses at a steady rate until reaching its zenith (determined by dose)

mood

The outcome of the reaction roll made upon ingesting dawn mushrooms, setting the tone for the whole trip as well as the nature of minor effects at low dosages. It is usually a number between 2 and 12.

pariah
An individual outcast from their family or wider community. In the RPG of the same name (usually stylised PARIAH), "pariah" serves as an alternative to the term "player-character".

PARIAH

The "game" this "game" sits inside: a psychedelic, proto-Neolithic, animist old-school roleplaying game first release for zinequest 2 in 2020 years ago. The dead horse I continue to flog.

Queen of Dawn

The embodiment of the Dawn Realm's intelligence, usually manifesting as a beautiful woman/androgyne, but also appearing as...

• a giant dawn mushroom
• the rising sun
• a pool of bile full of writhing eels
• the morning star

threshold

The state of consciousness reach with very powerful or heroic dosages of dawn

trip

The experience of ingesting a hallucinogen. The above text refers exclusively

zenith
The maximum intensity of a dawn mushroom trip, usually lasting 3 hours of in-world time

~

A Final Word

I'm aware this is deranged, overwrought, complex... I'm also convinced I can make this workable! I suppose that is itself the true derangement. Consider this a work-in-progress but also... 

...please don't feel afraid to tell me that it's deranged, unworkable, overwrought and complex... your comments are appreciated and let me know that I'm being read. I'm shouting into the void here! Help me! Please! Heeeellllp!

~

Final FINAL word

Thanks for reading. If you enjoyed this post but are an infrequent reader, then I recommend signing up to the blog's mailing list. It's hosted by substack and I issue a monthly summary—"Latest from the Labyrinth"—of my RPG activities across platforms, including all posts made to this blog. Additionally, I use it to host extra pieces of writing that don't fit on here or Psychocartography. Finally, the old (COVID times) podcast has been migrated to that platform, with the intention to revive it when time allows. So in other words...

...subscribe to the Alone in the Labyrinth substack for FREE at the link below. There's also a paid option if you would like to support my creative endeavours financially. I appreciate it.

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Adieu.

Links

The Dawn Realm:
https://aloneinthelabyrinth.blogspot.com/2023/08/the-dawn-realm-further-thoughts-on.html

Weird and Wonderful Worlds
https://weirdwonderfulworlds.blogspot.com/

Patrick Stuart's substack
https://pjamesstuart.substack.com/p/scavengers-reign

The Modern Fairy Sightings Podcast
https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/the-modern-fairy-sightings-podcast/id1539352369

Exclusion Zone Botanist
https://exeuntpress.itch.io/exclusion-zone-botanist

Luke Gearing on Carcosa and hex stocking:
https://lukegearing.blot.im/supplement-v-carcosa

Gardens of Ynn
https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/237544/the-gardens-of-ynn?affiliate_id=767873

Stygian Library on DTRPG (affiliate link)
https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/257113/the-stygian-library?affiliate_id=767873

Daniel Sell's Ur hex flowers:
https://whatwouldconando.blogspot.com/2017/04/five-dimensional-weather.html

Goblin's Henchman's hex flowers
https://goblinshenchman.wordpress.com/hex-power-flower/

Abigail Lingford's illustration Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/anthropoidillustration/