Like most conversations, I felt like this podcast beat around the bush before it really got into the meat of its content. It was still an enjoyable episode, but I'm the type of listener that prefers a straight-to-the-point, deep dive into a topic. That's not why I'm posting though.
I love the basic framework you've laid out, and think you could do a lot with it. While listening I saw a great direction to take the story... at least, if you were Wizards and could commission art to match. Evis is a up-and-coming law mage, steadily climbing the ranks. Her latest assignment is to track down a mysterious poacher no one seems to know much about - all she has to go on is the name Yeva. Ral Zarek has heard whispers that this plane has a very peculiar mana signature he's curious about, so he planeswalks to investigate. He's immediately fascinated by the strange properties it holds, and decides to perform an ... experiment. He waits til the dead of night so no one can disrupt his plan, but a patrol interrupted him at the worst moment and he inadvertently unleashes the Dreamscape. Evis was sound asleep, and the sudden connection to the vast world of the Dreamscape causes her spark to ignite.
While she did have an impromptu planeswalk, she found her way back to her plane before she explored wherever her spark had taken her. When she arrived back on Noxtus*, she saw that everyone was asleep. Despite her efforts, she was unable to awaken anyone, and after a long day of fruitless efforts, she fell asleep herself and rejoined the Dreamscape.
She knew that everyone would slowly die of starvation/dehydration if she couldn't undo the Dreamscape. She encountered many people there, some thinking it was all just their own dream, some aware they were in the wrong place, still others fully enjoying the fact that they were in a dreamworld. She seeks out her colleagues, and the nightguard tell her of an encounter with a strange storm-mage who must have caused all of this. She makes it her mission to seek him out and force him to restore order to Noxtus*.
Without much to go on, and running out of time, Evis realizes she needs help to track down the storm mage. She visits the Dreamscape jungle, and follows progressively larger beasts (from the safety of invisibility) as she encounters them until she spots an unreal behemoth in the distance. As she approaches, it goes down with a deafening shriek and Evis finds her old assignment - Yeva - standing triumphant over it. After a tense conversation and a promise of a full pardon for her poaching, Yeva agrees to track down this storm mage for Evis. The two set out, and Evis quickly notices that Yeva is holding some secrets close.
After various escapades of the two seeking Ral and showing off the world of the Dreamscape, they find him. After a brief pursuit, Evis traps Ral and demands he set things right. Ral explains that he doesn't fully know how things went wrong to begin with, so setting things right would be a challenge. This ends set 1. Set 2/epilogue follows.
Evis tells him of what she saw outside, and he agrees to try. Despite all their efforts, it is only a partial success. People are able to wake up, but the Dreamscape persists. Every night, denizens join together in exploring and creating new dreams within the surreal nether-realm. Evis makes it her mission to bring order to the Dreamscape. Yeva and Ral both use the dreamscape to fulfill their ambitions - Yeva dreaming up even more ambitious sport, Ral devising impossible technologies. The story mostly focuses around Evis' efforts to bring order to the Dreamscape's chaos, and she gradually achieves her goal. Ral, however, finds a way to sneak a piece of dream-tech into the real world. The side effect, of course, is that some other dreams also become reality - and the story crescendos with Evis and Yeva facing off against an impossible monster that Yeva conjured in the dreamscape that slipped into the real world. After the battle, Ral is nowhere to be found, having taken his prize to be a Macguffin somewhere else.
The Lore described in the podcast is serviceable but I don't find it very interesting. Ral zarek is making dream things and Evis is killing dream things. Where is the conflict here? Why should I care?
Here are some of my own thoughts on a potential lore for Dreamscape...
The dreamscape has been a feature of Noctus apparently forever.
Nightmares are new. They act as the baddies of the set, and serve the primary antagonist.
Ashiok is the primary antagonist. Ashiok is the first Nightmare. This set tells the origins and "Death" of the character. All nightmares on Dreamscape originate from Ashiok and Ashiok's manipulations of others dreams.
Evis isn't a planeswalker, at first. She was going to be, but her first trip to Dreamscape resulted in her giving birth to the First Nightmare, Ashiok.
Because Ashiok is an extension of Evis, Ashiok was able to take Evis' spark. This is why Evis isn't a planeswalker, but Ashiok is.
...This set is about Ashiok's origins, and about the protagonist, Evis, confronting her childhood fears and nightmares. When ashiok was first born, Ashiok proceeded to create the nightmares of dreamscape by manipulating everyone else's dream. Eventually, Ashiok left dreamscape to learn greater powers still. Because Evis is responsible for the creation of the first nightmare, she sees it has her duty to protect the inhabitants of Noctus and Dreamscape from Nightmares, setting her into her role as the nightmare hunter. This set's conflict will be resolved by Evis confronting and overcoming her childhood nightmare, Ashiok, thereby removing Ashiok from existence, allowing evis to regain her power, her spark.
At least, that's some of the quick ideas I had in regards to a dream based set. If it seems confusing, feel free to ask questions. Bring in Ral Zerek as well to balance your planeswalker colors, evis beeing green, Ashiok being Blue - Black, and Ral Zarek being Red - Blue.
TLDR - Evis wants to protect Noctus and Dreamscape from the Nightmares of Ashiok, and confronts ashiok to retake her spark.
Every time I read a comment about "Well if this card had card draw/trample/haste/indestructible/hexproof/life gain...", I think "You're missing the point." They're armchair developer comments that fail to take into account the card's role in the greater Limited and Standard environment. No, it may not be as good as whatever card you're comparing it to. There's a reason for that. Not every burn spell is Lightning Bolt, nor does it need to be or should be.
- Manite
That's another really cool direction to take the flavor. I like how it provides a really clever resolution to the whole "Ashiok's gender?" thing - Ashiok is born from a nightmare, and as such has none. I think Ashiok is more important of a character than Evis could be, so I'd rather see Ashiok overcome Evis in their encounter, but I suppose there's always two sides to M:TG conflicts and people root for both.
That's another really cool direction to take the flavor. I like how it provides a really clever resolution to the whole "Ashiok's gender?" thing - Ashiok is born from a nightmare, and as such has none. I think Ashiok is more important of a character than Evis could be, so I'd rather see Ashiok overcome Evis in their encounter, but I suppose there's always two sides to M:TG conflicts and people root for both.
Ashiok winning would be very interesting, but leaves little room for resolution to the nightmares of Dreamscape. The logical result of Ashiok's win would be the Nightmares overrunning Dreamscape and making Noctus a horror plane.
Every time I read a comment about "Well if this card had card draw/trample/haste/indestructible/hexproof/life gain...", I think "You're missing the point." They're armchair developer comments that fail to take into account the card's role in the greater Limited and Standard environment. No, it may not be as good as whatever card you're comparing it to. There's a reason for that. Not every burn spell is Lightning Bolt, nor does it need to be or should be.
- Manite
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Reuben Covington
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Dreamscape
Coins of Mercalis [COMPLETE]
Exodus of Zendikar - ON HOLD
I love the basic framework you've laid out, and think you could do a lot with it. While listening I saw a great direction to take the story... at least, if you were Wizards and could commission art to match. Evis is a up-and-coming law mage, steadily climbing the ranks. Her latest assignment is to track down a mysterious poacher no one seems to know much about - all she has to go on is the name Yeva. Ral Zarek has heard whispers that this plane has a very peculiar mana signature he's curious about, so he planeswalks to investigate. He's immediately fascinated by the strange properties it holds, and decides to perform an ... experiment. He waits til the dead of night so no one can disrupt his plan, but a patrol interrupted him at the worst moment and he inadvertently unleashes the Dreamscape. Evis was sound asleep, and the sudden connection to the vast world of the Dreamscape causes her spark to ignite.
While she did have an impromptu planeswalk, she found her way back to her plane before she explored wherever her spark had taken her. When she arrived back on Noxtus*, she saw that everyone was asleep. Despite her efforts, she was unable to awaken anyone, and after a long day of fruitless efforts, she fell asleep herself and rejoined the Dreamscape.
She knew that everyone would slowly die of starvation/dehydration if she couldn't undo the Dreamscape. She encountered many people there, some thinking it was all just their own dream, some aware they were in the wrong place, still others fully enjoying the fact that they were in a dreamworld. She seeks out her colleagues, and the nightguard tell her of an encounter with a strange storm-mage who must have caused all of this. She makes it her mission to seek him out and force him to restore order to Noxtus*.
Without much to go on, and running out of time, Evis realizes she needs help to track down the storm mage. She visits the Dreamscape jungle, and follows progressively larger beasts (from the safety of invisibility) as she encounters them until she spots an unreal behemoth in the distance. As she approaches, it goes down with a deafening shriek and Evis finds her old assignment - Yeva - standing triumphant over it. After a tense conversation and a promise of a full pardon for her poaching, Yeva agrees to track down this storm mage for Evis. The two set out, and Evis quickly notices that Yeva is holding some secrets close.
After various escapades of the two seeking Ral and showing off the world of the Dreamscape, they find him. After a brief pursuit, Evis traps Ral and demands he set things right. Ral explains that he doesn't fully know how things went wrong to begin with, so setting things right would be a challenge. This ends set 1. Set 2/epilogue follows.
Evis tells him of what she saw outside, and he agrees to try. Despite all their efforts, it is only a partial success. People are able to wake up, but the Dreamscape persists. Every night, denizens join together in exploring and creating new dreams within the surreal nether-realm. Evis makes it her mission to bring order to the Dreamscape. Yeva and Ral both use the dreamscape to fulfill their ambitions - Yeva dreaming up even more ambitious sport, Ral devising impossible technologies. The story mostly focuses around Evis' efforts to bring order to the Dreamscape's chaos, and she gradually achieves her goal. Ral, however, finds a way to sneak a piece of dream-tech into the real world. The side effect, of course, is that some other dreams also become reality - and the story crescendos with Evis and Yeva facing off against an impossible monster that Yeva conjured in the dreamscape that slipped into the real world. After the battle, Ral is nowhere to be found, having taken his prize to be a Macguffin somewhere else.
Here are some of my own thoughts on a potential lore for Dreamscape...
...This set is about Ashiok's origins, and about the protagonist, Evis, confronting her childhood fears and nightmares. When ashiok was first born, Ashiok proceeded to create the nightmares of dreamscape by manipulating everyone else's dream. Eventually, Ashiok left dreamscape to learn greater powers still. Because Evis is responsible for the creation of the first nightmare, she sees it has her duty to protect the inhabitants of Noctus and Dreamscape from Nightmares, setting her into her role as the nightmare hunter. This set's conflict will be resolved by Evis confronting and overcoming her childhood nightmare, Ashiok, thereby removing Ashiok from existence, allowing evis to regain her power, her spark.
At least, that's some of the quick ideas I had in regards to a dream based set. If it seems confusing, feel free to ask questions. Bring in Ral Zerek as well to balance your planeswalker colors, evis beeing green, Ashiok being Blue - Black, and Ral Zarek being Red - Blue.
TLDR - Evis wants to protect Noctus and Dreamscape from the Nightmares of Ashiok, and confronts ashiok to retake her spark.
- Manite
Ashiok winning would be very interesting, but leaves little room for resolution to the nightmares of Dreamscape. The logical result of Ashiok's win would be the Nightmares overrunning Dreamscape and making Noctus a horror plane.
- Manite