What Dreams May Come
Written by Jonathan Green
Illustrated by Heraldo Mussolini
**************************Shakespeare vs. Cthulhu - What Dreams May Come
Shakespeare Vs. Cthulhu: What Dreams May Come is unlike other books. In fact, it is the gateway to a world of Shakespearean drama and underlying cosmic horror, and an interactive adventure inspired by the works of both the Bard of Stratford and American horror author H.P. Lovecraft.
As well as the book itself, you will need two dice (or a standard pack of playing cards), a pencil and an eraser. Using these tools, and a simple set of game rules contained within the book, you will undertake a curious quest that will transport you into the world of Shakespeare’s plays, taking on the role of the world’s most famous playwright, while he is beset on all sides by madness-inducing horror.
YOU decide which route to take, which perils to risk, and which of the terrifying creatures you will meet along the way to engage in battle. But be warned – whether you take arms against a sea of troubles, and by opposing end them, or succumb to mind-destroying, riotous madness, will be down to the choices YOU make.
We will be using 2 dice
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All The World's A Stage
"And one man in his time plays many parts."
Introduction
The book you hold in your hands is a gateway to a world of Shakespearean drama infected with undertones of cosmic horror, and an adventure inspired by the works of both the Bard of Stratford and American horror author H.P. Lovecraft. Within its pages you will undertake a mysterious quest in which, beset on all sides by unimaginable horrors and the machinations of uncaring, immortal entities that exist outside of time and space, survival is your only goal.
In Shakespeare Vs. Cthulhu: What Dreams May Come you play the part of the Bard of Stratford himself, William Shakespeare. Using your wits and courage, as well as martial skills honed by hours of stage-fighting practice, YOU decide which route to take, which perils to risk, and which of the terrifying creatures you will meet along the way to engage in battle. But be warned – whether you survive your adventure, or succumb to absolute madness, will be down to the choices YOU make.
For this is no ordinary book. Rather than reading it from cover to cover, you will discover that at the end of each narrative section you will be presented with a series of choices that allows you to control the course of the story.
Success is by no means certain, and you may well fail to complete the adventure at your first attempt. However, with experience, skill, and maybe even a little luck, each new attempt should bring you closer to your ultimate goal.
In addition to the book itself, you will need two six-sided dice, or a conventional pack of 52 playing cards, a pencil, an eraser, and a copy of the Shakespeare Vs. Cthulhu: What Dreams May Come Adventure Sheet (spare copies of which can be downloaded from www.acegamebooks.com).
"The game's afoot."
Playing the Game
There are three ways to play through Shakespeare Vs. Cthulhu: What Dreams May Come. The first is to use two six-sided dice. The second is to use a conventional pack of 52 playing cards. The third is to ignore the rules altogether and just read the book, making choices as appropriate, but ignoring any combat or attribute tests, always assuming you win every battle and pass every skill test. (Even if you play the adventure this way, there is still no guarantee that you will complete it at your first attempt.)
If you are opting to play through Shakespeare Vs. Cthulhu: What Dreams May Come using the game rules, you first need to determine your strengths and weaknesses.
“What a piece of work is a man!”
Your Attributes
You have four attributes you need to keep track of during the course of the adventure, using your Adventure Sheet. Some of these will change frequently, others less so, but it is important that you keep an accurate record of the current level for all of them.
• Agility – This is a measure of how athletic and agile you are. If you need to leap across a chasm or dodge a deadly projectile, this is the attribute that will be employed.
• Combat – This is a measure of how skillful you are at fighting, whether it be in unarmed combat, or wielding a keen-edged blade in battle.
• Endurance – This is a measure of how physically tough you are and how much strength you have le. This attribute will vary more than any other during your adventure.
• Madness – As you travel through the nightmarish dreamscapes of Shakespeare’s plays, the unfathomable horrors you will be exposed to could drive you mad. This attribute tracks how close you are to going completely insane and losing all grip on reality. You want to avoid threats to your sanity, if possible, for that way madness lies.
Unlike some adventure gamebooks, in Shakespeare Vs. Cthulhu: What Dreams May Come your strengths and weaknesses are not determined randomly. Instead, you get to decide what you are good at and, conversely, what you might not be so good at.
Your Agility and Combat attributes start at a base level of 5. Your Endurance score starts at a base level of 15. You then have a pool of 10 extra points to share out between Agility, Combat and Endurance as you see fit, but you can only add up to 5 points to each attribute. However, every 1 point spent on Endurance increases it by 2. Therefore, the maximum starting score for Agility and Combat is 10, and the maximum starting score for Endurance is 25. (You must apportion all 10 points one way or another and cannot leave any unused.)
Agility 5 (Base)
Combat 5 (Base)
Endurance 15 (Base)
Attribute Pool: 10 (remaining)
There are limits on how high each of your attributes can be at the start of the adventure, but there are also limits on how high they can be raised during the course of the adventure, dependent upon bonus points you may be awarded. Neither your Agility score nor your Combat score may exceed 12 points, while your Endurance score may not exceed 30 points. However, should your Endurance score ever drop to zero, or below, then your adventure is over, and you should stop reading immediately; if you want to tackle the quest again, you will have to start from the beginning, determining your attributes anew and starting the story from section 1 once more.
Your Madness score always starts at zero. While there is no limit on how high your Madness can be, it may not drop below zero.
“Bring me to the test.”
Testing Your Attributes
At various times during the adventure, you will be asked to test one or more of your attributes.
If it is your Agility or Combat that is being tested, simply roll two dice. If the total rolled is equal to or less than the attribute being tested, you have passed the test; if the total rolled is greater than the attribute in question, then you have failed the test.
If it is your Endurance score that is being tested, roll four dice in total. If the combined score of all four dice is equal to or less than your Endurance score, then you have passed the test; if it is greater, then what is being asked of you is beyond your capabilities and you have failed the test.
However, whenever you are told to Take a Madness test, roll two dice and if the total is greater than your current Madness score, you have passed the test. But, if the total is equal to or less than your current Madness score, you have failed the test.
“What wound did ever heal but by degrees?”
Restoring Your Attributes
There are various ways that you can restore lost attribute points or be granted bonuses that take your aributes beyond their starting scores, and these will be described in the text.
However, an easy way to restore lost Endurance points is to find sustenance. Sometimes you may find enough sustenance that you can take some with you to consume later in the adventure.
Make sure that if you do find any supplies of this nature you record them in the Meals box on your Adventure Sheet, along with any information about exactly how many attribute points they will restore when consumed. (Unless you are told otherwise by the text, one Meal will restore 4 Endurance points.)
“This rough magic.”
Special Abilities
In addition to your four basic attributes, you also have two special abilities that you can employ at critical moments during the journey through Shakespeare’s plays you are about to embark upon.
• Where There’s a Will – If you find yourself in a tight spot, you can use this ability to change the nature of the world around you. However, there is a possibility that this may result in you actually making things worse for yourself, rather than better.
• The Pen is Mightier – This ability allows you to avoid coming to blows with an enemy, by altering the narrative of the encounter and thereby enabling you to get away unscathed. You begin your adventure with two uses of each of these very special abilities, but it is possible to acquire additional uses. Each time you call upon one of them, you must cross off one use on your Adventure Sheet under the appropriate special ability. The text will typically remind you to do this in the subsequent section.
“Cry ‘Havoc,’ and let slip the dogs of war.”
Combat
You will repeatedly be called upon to defend yourself, during the course of your adventure. Sometimes you may even choose to attack an enemy yourself. After all, as they say, the best form of defence is attack.
When this happens, start by filling in your opponent’s Combat and Endurance scores in the first available Encounter Box on your Adventure Sheet.
Whenever you engage in combat, you will be told in the text whether you or your enemy has the initiative; in other words, who has the advantage and gets to attack first.
1. Roll two dice and add your Combat score. The resulting total is your Combat Rating.
2. Roll two dice and add your opponent’s Combat score. The resulting total is your opponent’s Combat Rating.
3. For each Combat Round, add a temporary 1 point bonus to the Combat Rating of whichever of the combatants has the initiative for the duration of that round.
4. If your Combat Rating is higher than your opponent’s, you have wounded your enemy; deduct 2 points from your opponent’s Endurance score and move on to step 7.
5. If your opponent’s Combat Rating is higher, then you have been wounded; deduct 2 points from your Endurance score and move on to step 8.
6. If your Combat Rating and your opponent’s Combat Rating are the same, roll one die. If the number rolled is odd, you and your opponent deflect each other’s attacks; go to step 10. If the number rolled is even, number rolled is even, go to step 9.
7. If your opponent’s Endurance score has been reduced to zero or below, you have won; the battle is over, and you can continue the adventure. If your opponent is not yet dead, go to step 10.
8. If your Endurance score has been reduced to zero or below, your opponent has won the battle. If you want to continue your adventure you will have to start again from the beginning. However, if you are still alive, go to step 10.
9. You and your opponent have both managed to injure each other; deduct 1 point from both your Endurance score and your opponent’s Endurance score. If your Endurance score has been reduced to zero or below, your adventure is over; if you want to play again you will have to start again from the beginning. If you are still alive but your enemy’s Endurance has been reduced to zero or below, you have won; the battle is over, and you can continue the adventure. If neither you nor your opponent is dead, go to step 10.
10. If you won the Combat Round, you will have the initiative in the next Combat Round. If your opponent won the Combat the
Round, they will have the initiative. If neither of you won the Combat Round, neither of you will gain the initiative bonus for the next Combat Round. Go back to step 1 and work through the sequence again until either your opponent is dead, or you are defeated.
“Once more unto the breach.”
Fighting More Than One Opponent
Sometimes you may find yourself having to fight more than one opponent at the same time. Such battles are conducted in the same way as above, using the ten-step process, except that you will have to work out the Combat Ratings of all those involved. As long as you have a higher rating than an opponent you will injure them, no matter how many opponents you are taking on at the same time. Equally, any opponent with a Combat Rating higher than yours will be able to injure you too.
However, if you are fighting two or three opponents simultaneously, you must deduct 1 point from your Combat Rating for the duration of the battle. If you are facing four or five opponents at the same time, you must deduct 2 points from your Combat Rating. And if you ever have to fight six or more opponents at the same time, deduct 3 points from your Combat Rating!
For example, if you find yourself having to fight two Murderers, for the duration of that fight you must deduct 1 point from your Combat Rating. If you were fighting three Witches at the same time, you would still only have to deduct 1 point from your Combat Rating. But if there were four soldiers attacking you at the same time, you would have to deduct 2 points from your Combat Rating, for the duration of the battle.
Please note, if even just one of your opponents makes a successful strike against you during a Combat Round, you will not have the initiative against any of them in the following Combat Round – if you are still alive!
“A horse! a horse! my kingdom for a horse!”
Props
You start your adventure with nothing, dressed only in your doublet and hose. During the course of your adventure, you will no doubt acquire all manner of items that may be of use to you later on. Anything that you do collect should be recorded in the Props box on your Adventure Sheet, including weapons and other miscellaneous objects.
“Exit, pursued by a bear.”
Stage Directions
You will also come across various clues and useful pieces of information, or be forced to endure unusual or unpleasant experiences, during your adventure. The knowledge you have acquired and the experiences you have endured are tracked in the form of code words, referred to as Stage Directions, a list of which appears on page 19.
Whenever you acquire a particular Stage Direction, you will be instructed to tick it off on this list. How many of them can you collect?
“Time shall unfold what plaited cunning hides.”
Hidden Sections
There are also three hidden sections within this book. They will not be signposted in any way, so you should keep your eyes open in case you can work out where they might be found. If you discover one, you will be suitably rewarded.
“Though this be madness, yet there is a method in’t.”
Hints on Play
There is more than one path that you can follow through Shakespeare Vs. Cthulhu: What Dreams May Come to reach your ultimate goal, but it may take you several attempts to actually complete the adventure. Make notes and draw a map as you explore. This map will doubtless prove invaluable during future attempts at completing the quest and will allow you to progress more speedily in order to reach unexplored regions.
Keep a careful eye on all your attributes throughout the game. Beware of traps and setting off on a wild-goose chase. However, it would be wise to collect useful items along the way that may aid you further on in your quest.
“All’s well that ends well.”
Ending the Game
There are several ways that your adventure can end. If your Endurance score ever drops to zero or below, your trials have exhausted and overcome you. If this happens, stop reading at once.
There may also be occasions when you are prevented from progressing any further through the adventure thanks to the choices you have made, or if you meet a sudden and untimely end. In all of these cases, if you want to have another crack at completing the adventure you will have to start again with a new Adventure Sheet and begin the story afresh from the beginning.
There is of course one other reason for your adventure coming to an end, and that is if you successfully complete your quest, the very same quest that awaits you now…
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We will begin after your starting attributes are determined. Please vote for the distribution that you prefer. I will plan to average your selections. For example, if one person suggests putting +5 in Combat and someone suggests putting +3 in Combat, we'll probably end up with a +4. If averaging does not work for whatever reason, I may determine randomly between suggestions.
Updates are on an 'as I can do them' basis, probably 2x per day. If I have received 2+ votes for an action, I may advance multiple times, schedule permitting. Good luck!
