The Dreamlands
Best cover art in the series!
This is the one I've wanted to happen since I first discovered Arkham Horror years ago. Thank thank THANK YOU FFG.
Ooof, right in the wallet.
Edit: Also, what stories should I read as reference material?
Edited by flightmaster101Yes! A million thanks!
Edit: Also, what stories should I read as reference material?
If I had to suggest just one it would be The Dream Quest of Unknown Kadath
After that, off the top of my head a few more that come to mind are
- The Cats of Ulhar
- The Silver Key
- The Doom that Came to Sarnath
Note that these are just drawing from HP s works - I'll let others provide other references.
Edit: Also, what stories should I read as reference material?
If I had to suggest just one it would be The Dream Quest of Unknown Kadath
After that, off the top of my head a few more that come to mind are
- The Cats of Ulhar
- The Silver Key
- The Doom that Came to Sarnath
Note that these are just drawing from HP s works - I'll let others provide other references.
Are the game designers drawing from anything other than HPL's works? That would be disappointing to me somehow.
I think they are drawing from Chaosium's works, which is based on both Lovecraft and Derleth (and others who have expanded the mythos).
Ooof, right in the wallet.
Edit: Also, what stories should I read as reference material?
Atlach-Nacha appeared in The Lurker at the Threshold , so that might be a good one to read as well.
Best cover art in the series!
I agree, do we know who did this art and if we could get a print of it?
No idea, but the artist will be credited in the rulebook. After that, finding the artist on line and check his webshop shouldn't be too difficult. I'd love to get one of those as well
Atlach-Nachta first showed up in "The Seven Geases," by Clark Ashton Smith, though it wasn't especially malevolent there. I'm not sure why he's associated with the Dreamlands here; I'm not very familiar with Derleth or Chaosium.
Anyway, if you're going to read Dream Cycle works, you should bear in mind that they tend to be atypical for Lovecraft. Unlike his cosmic horror stories, the Dream Cycle is full of wonder and discovery. The real horror here is the contrast with the mundane world, which is dull and dirty in comparison. They often end with the protagonist trapped in the physical world, forever doomed to yearn for the paradise they can never regain. When the protagonists do gain what they seek, it is strongly associated with death.
I'd say the primary defining works for that (besides Unknown Kadath , of course) are:
- Celephais
- The White Ship
- The Quest of Iranon
- Polaris
In roughly that order.
"The Cats of Ulthar" and "The Doom That Came to Sarnath" weren't part of the Dream Cycle originally (the latter was set in mythic prehistory, the former had no clear setting beyond Ulthar itself), though Lovecraft later folded them into the Dreamlands. Despite the names, neither "Dreams in the Witch-House" nor "Hypnos" share much in common with the Dream Cycle, and are more like cosmic horror stories that strongly feature dreams and surrealism (though, if you just want general recommendations, I consider "Witch-House" to be one of Lovecraft's best works). Lastly, "The Silver Key" is set entirely in the mundane world, so it's not much use if you only care about setting lore, but it really nails the mood of the Dream Cycle stories (it features William Randoph Carter as an old man, longing to return to the Dreamlands he lost in his youth).
Edited by rsdockeryAtlach-Nachta first showed up in "The Seven Geases," by Clark Ashton Smith, though it wasn't especially malevolent there. I'm not sure why he's associated with the Dreamlands here; I'm not very familiar with Derleth or Chaosium.
Atlach-Nacha resembles a huge spider with an almost-human face. It dwells within a huge cavern deep beneath Mount Voormithadreth , a mountain in the now vanished kingdom of Hyperborea in the Arctic . There it spins a gigantic web, bridging a massive chasm between the Dreamlands and the waking world. Some believe that when the web is complete, the end of the world will come, because it will create a permanent junction with the Dreamlands , allowing monsters to move freely into the waking world.
Atlach-Nacha probably came to Earth from the planet Cykranosh (or Saturn as we know it today) with Tsathoggua . Because of its appearance, Atlach-Nacha is often referred to as the Spider-God(dess) and is believed to be the regent of all spiders. Furthermore, the giant, bloated purple spiders of Leng are thought to be its children and servitors .
There is some disagreement about its gender. In Smith's original story, Atlach-Nacha is referred to as a male, but in later stories by other authors, it is implied to be a female.
(quoting from wikipedia)
I hadn't thought of the Spiders of Leng connection; good point. I was just wondering which author explicitly made the Dreamlands association (in "Seven Geases," the land across from the web-bridge, while decidedly otherworldy, has nothing to do with dreams).
Hugely excited of course, but I'm still coming to grips with the Lovecraft Mythos hierarchy and their various incarnations. I'd immediately assumed that Atlach-Nacha is one of Nyarlathotep's many manifestations, because of that opening quote on The Dreamlands news page, but judging by Julia's post above I'm now thinking that's not the case. Am I just being confused by that Nyarly reference or am I missing something?
I'm surprised to see the new side-board won't be expanding on the world map - didn't think that would happen. Not that I don't love the idea, but it's easy to try and read into what this could mean for the future of EH. Could it mean they don't intend to release anymore world map expansions? Or does it mean that they've just expanded the list of potential side-boards by a whopping margin?
I'm obviously hoping the latter. EH should never die. Not even with strange aeons.
And here's hoping that release date of first quarter of 2017 is a tease.
EDIT: Oh, and new Lost in Time and Space conditions!
Wohoo! Ulthar here we come!
I hope we'll get King Kuranes and Richard "ghoul form" Pickman!
I wonder what travel will be like (the white ship ofcourse) in the dreamland...
I hope we'll get King Kuranes and Richard "ghoul form" Pickman!
I wonder what travel will be like (the white ship ofcourse) in the dreamland...
Something related to dreaming and passing through gates open on the board, I'd say. I cannot think of any physical place on the board directly communicating with the Dreamlands, so, it has to be an already existing mechanic in the game. Possibly gates will now offer you a dual opportunity: resolving the gate encounter as usual, or moving to Space X of the side board.
Or it'd be something related to a certain Silver Key?
Curious to find out. I stopped playing Eldritch one year ago, more or less, but I'll be picking this one just to read the encounter cards
ahhhh.. the satisfaction of being right.. oh, what a feeling.
yall laughed at me! ha ha ha, yalllll laughed at me! well, guess who's going to the dreamlands!
yall laughed at me! ha ha ha, yalllll laughed at me! well, guess who's going to the dreamlands!
Whoall? Most people also thought it's Dreamlands.
Whoall? Most people also thought it's Dreamlands.yall laughed at me! ha ha ha, yalllll laughed at me! well, guess who's going to the dreamlands!
Aye, it's a few months since I posted I thought next one would have been Dreamlands. ..
Hey, who do you think will be included as Investigators in this expansion?
By my count we have 7 men and 5 women to go, which is weird - I always thought there was gender balance.
Anyway assuming they would go for gender balance in the next small expansion (4 investigators), here are my guesses:
Amanda Sharpe and Luke Robinson (confirmed)
Carolyn Fern
Gloria Goldberg
Vincent Lee
"Ashcan" Pete
William Yorick
Daryl Simmonds
leaving
Rita Young
Kate Winthrop
Roland Banks
Bob Jenkins
think Gloria would be a good fit for Dreamlands, and assuming Carolyn and Vincent would go together. Others are based on projected ability, but who knows?
yall laughed at me! ha ha ha, yalllll laughed at me! well, guess who's going to the dreamlands!
Whoall? Most people also thought it's Dreamlands.
everyone said it was going to be Dunwhich.. then Dunwhich expansion was announced for Arkham TCG and i knew it was gonna be dreamlands
Ooof, right in the wallet.
Edit: Also, what stories should I read as reference material?
One of the arkham horror novels features the dreamlands a lot, I think it book 2 of the dark waters trilogy. It also has Luke Robinson in it.
Ooof, right in the wallet.
Edit: Also, what stories should I read as reference material?
One of the arkham horror novels features the dreamlands a lot, I think it book 2 of the dark waters trilogy. It also has Luke Robinson in it.
Read (if you can) Dreamquest of Unknown Kadath.. it will literally take you EVERYWHERE! it's a difficult read, and was a first draft. it's very dry, but it's one of my favorites, even for all of it's flaws.
other than that, read some of Chaosium's Dreamlands PDFs for the Call of Cthulhu RPG
Edited by iGniGhted