The Quiet Dream: Between Two Worlds

For as long as anyone can remember, we have been suspended between two worlds: the everyday and the dreamlike. Now, finally, it seemed there was a fragile truce. A moment of apparent stability, where we can try to look around and peer through the shadows that surround us. Yet, perhaps, it is nothing more than a dream, an illusion of calm, ready to fade away. The boundaries between our world and the abyss are growing thinner. Judy, a dark and corrupting force, waits just beyond the threshold. When this time of calm ends, she will rise from the edges, threatening to swallow everything. But for now, we do not know this. For now, in this suspended moment, we are allowed to dream.

What This Is:

The Quiet Dream is a map-making game for 2 to 4 players, with an estimated playtime of 3 to 4 hours. It is a hack of The Quiet Year, a role-playing game created by Avery Alder, and is inspired by the dreamlike worlds of David Lynch. Currently in development, it invites us to explore the struggles of a community suspended between two worlds, searching for a sense of stability.

This is a game about the unseen forces that shape a community, the weight of difficult choices, and the shifting boundaries between reality and dreams. Throughout the game, we will shape the fate of the community through our decisions, recording them on a constantly evolving map. While some elements of the map are concrete, much of it is symbolic, fragments of dreams, fears, and memories. These layers shift, overlap, and blur together, creating a surreal and often unsettling experience.

Together, we will build and guide this community, but our role is twofold. On one hand, we act as caretakers, watching over it from a bird’s-eye view, invested in its survival. On the other, we introduce dilemmas with detachment, like scientists conducting an experiment, testing how the community endures uncertainty and change. The game invites us to move seamlessly between these perspectives, balancing empathy and dispassion as we navigate the fragile line between order and chaos.

A TTRPG made for the FIX YOUR HEARTS OR DIE - A David Lynch Game Jam