During Kickstarter’s first Zine Quest, I met Drew Cochran and joined his RPG zine, Harrowings #01: From the Rime! When he mailed me copies of the zine, it included a tri-folded, one-page version of his RPG, The Epic of Dreams: Quickstart Rules. I was fascinated by this diceless system which was new, yet short enough to describe on a single piece of paper, front and back. When Drew announced the crowdfunding of a new edition of the RPG, I sent him some questions to learn more about the new project.
EGG EMBRY (EGG): Drew, it’s great to talk to you! You’ve got a Kickstarter rolling, what is it and what’s it about?
DREW COCHRAN (DC): Hey Egg! Thanks for having me! We are about to release the second edition of our RPG – The Epic of Dreams: Basilisk Edition. It’s a game that’s all about building the peak immersive experience, every single time. We do this through mechanics that are designed to minimize the time spent thinking about rules and numbers, as well as rewarding drama and creative thinking.
EGG: Tell us about the system for the game?
DC: There’s a good amount of weird stuff under the hood, I’m so excited to share everything with you.
At the core of the game, we have a unique core mechanic, called The Circle of the Muse. It’s a numbers guessing game where you try to match number ranges on a numbered Circle, from 1 to 20. Instead of beating a difficulty with a high number, your hero succeeds if any of the numbers on their ‘roll’ overlap with the numbers on the GM’s range. The ranges themselves are determined by the Players’ Skill modifier, and the GM’s difficulty rating, and they always count up going clockwise. You don’t need dice to play, but you can definitely use a D20, if desired.
Characters have two different kinds of stats: Core Stats, and Discerned Stats. Your Core Stats are your actual backstory, your level (1-9), and your Order Class (0-7) – a static number based on your species. As you play the game and get the hang of things, you’ll find yourself remembering your Core Stats, and will be able to use them to discern the rest of your stats on the fly – Character sheets become optional. This also makes porting in new monsters for GM’s incredibly easy.
Our magic system is elastic. Each ritual goes through a process of two separate rolls to determine one of five outcomes – there are no dud spells in The Epic of Dreams, and nothing is cookie cutter. Our combat system is likewise a riot. Every combat is lethal, do-or-die, and requires your players to think in character from moment to moment, devising impromptu strategies to gain the upper hand.
In addition to this, we have three separate kinds of drama mechanics, rewarding players in different ways based on how they play their character. The most unique of these is our Soliloquy mechanic!
And that’s not even all of it. From the GM’s seat, you have access to a helper character called the Muse, that sits beside the story you’re building with your players, acting as both an arbiter of luck, and the audience of the game. Based on the Muse’s personality and backstory, the GM can quickly discern and create new encounters and adventures on the fly.
Due to the nature of the game starting with the story first, it is compatible with any setting or adventure module for any RPG system. As long as you have the lore, you have it.
EGG: That’s a nice range of options. I dig the concept of diceless. However, a lot of roleplayers arch their backs at the mention of diceless (see the comments to Andrew Peregrine’s EN World article about Amber Diceless for a few examples). What makes diceless work for this RPG?
DC: Truth be told, it’s more ‘Dice-Optional’ than truly diceless. The Circle of the Muse functions by emulating the probability of a D20, so you can use a die with ease. With certain playgroups, you’ll never reach the level of trust needed to just riff on the Circle without dice, and that’s okay!
The intended Diceless play really just solidifies the tempo of play, making every dice roll lightning speed. This helps every juncture of game inserted into the story take up less time, and the games end up just being intense and evocative. But I always run The Epic with a d20 in my pocket just in case.
EGG: This is a new edition of this RPG. What will you update in the Basilisk Edition versus previous editions?
DC: This time around, we are focusing on presentation quality. Our mechanics are very different, and we want to make sure we communicate them as effectively as possible, so the game is accessible for everyone, regardless of prior gaming background.
As well as this, we have streamlined our combat system over the past two years, and it’s probably the aspect I’m the most excited about. Every combat we’ve done has been just adrenal. I never thought a dungeon crawl in a narrative game could be so much fun, but we’ve done it, and I’m just so ready to unleash it on the world.
The Basilisk Edition will be printed in an A5 format in softcover – but for this Kickstarter we are offering an alternate art hardcover that we’re only printing once.
EGG: What are gamified Soliloquies?
DC: So, gamified Soliloquies are really the secret sauce of The Epic. Instead of gaining experience for slaying monsters or gaining gold, you gain experience by performing Soliloquies.
Soliloquies are short monologued moments where players reveal the inner thoughts and musings of their character to the group. A lot of the time, the internal thought process and deeper roleplay gets tossed to the wayside at the table, because the focus is always on the adventure. When you read a book, you can always peer into the protagonists mind, and live through their travailing moments with them.
With Soliloquies, not only do we remedy that disconnect, but we use it to bring everyone deeper into the story. When you hear a good soliloquy, it gets not only the speaker deeper into character, but the rest of the table begins to believe the tale deeper.
By rewarding it in play, it just cements the dynamic. And it has been so much fun.
EGG: Why is the RPG setting neutral instead of bolting on a setting?
DC: A couple reasons. The main one being that I have some setting books we’re planning on releasing through the next few years that I didn’t want to be tied to any one system. I also think that being setting neutral just provides a lot more gameplay possibilities and replay value.
We use world mythology and epic poetry in the core rulebook as a sort of implied default setting, but using those ancient, classic themes is also helpful for worldbuilders. We wanted to pack as much evergreen resources into this book so that it bolsters both players, Game Masters, and writers of all shades.
By having access to all these mythological tropes written out, we can see where a lot of our modern fantasy series come from, and learn to draw upon deeper source materials to create new fantasy worlds of our own, that have some echoed weight of the Homeric pen. We want the worlds that GM’s build in our system to ring true – and by using mythology as a touchstone, it becomes easy.
EGG: What kind of feedback have you gotten on The Epic of Dreams?
DC: Every time we play with our regular groups, my players tell me it’s the best session they’ve ever had. I wish this was hyperbole – I don’t want to sound like the highfalutin’ hipster or anything. I usually rag on them for saying it so often – “you say that every week!” “Yeah, but it’s true!” is the go around.
People are really grabbing on to our game, and I’m just really thankful that it’s worked out as it has. But yeah, after every game, our players walk away inspired, and itching for the next game.
EGG: You, I, and a boatload of other creators worked on Harrowings #01: From the Rime! for Kickstarter’s first Zine Quest. What’s the pitch for that zine? As the creative force behind it, how do you feel that project turned out?
DC: If all of my projects are lead zeppelins – which they are – Harrowings #01 was definitely the one I didn’t understand the scope of.
Harrowings is a dramatic OSR zine featuring a bunch of different creators and games. The digital versions of each issue are online for free, and we have limited print runs of each as well. It’s [tagline is] “And RPG Zine to Steal your Soul!”, and focuses on the juxtaposition between horror, fantasy, and poetry. We’ve been extremely blessed to work with everyone we have in the past, including yourself! 😉
I think it turned out well for our first go. We’re still learning what it’s like to work with an extended team – each issue we’ve had about 12 people in the squad. I’m really happy with the final product, and I’m really stoked for Harrowings #02: The Exalted Hours. We’re nearing the end of production with that, and every year the people involved just amaze me with the creativity they bring to the table.
EGG: Beyond The Epic of Dreams RPG: Basilisk Edition, what else are you working on?
DC: In addition to finishing up Harrowings #02, we have a bunch on the backburner. As the Basilisk Edition really is the restart to our RPG career, we want to just focus on that release.
However, we have been working the past three years on a picaresque space fantasy setting – where the suns themselves are immortal Djinni, and space is a ship-navigable sea. Players are slated as either explorers, missionaries, pyrates, sages, or merchants from diverse planetary backgrounds, trying to solve some of the ancient mysteries surrounding the now-burned matron tree, who gave life to all planets.
“The Seas of Ayil” is, hopefully, going to be our big release next year.
As well as this, we’re working on some more traditional OSR offerings that I can’t talk about yet. 😉
(We have a tendency of releasing playable spoilers of future releases as stretch goal content, so uh, don’t miss out.)
EGG: Thanks for talking with me. Where can fans follow you and your Kickstarter?
DC: It’s always a blast whenever we get to talk Egg! Thanks for having me on! It really means a lot!
Our Kickstarter is right here. Besides this, our Discord Server is really where things are at. You can also find us on FaceBook, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube under The Epic of Dreams, or @epicofdreams. We post some really spicy memes when we can be bothered to, lol.
The Epic of Dreams RPG: Basilisk Edition from Drew Cochran
End Date: Tue, June 16, 2020
“A Unique RPG designed for the Pinnacle Immersive Role-Play Experience.”
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