First Off, Amazing Design. . i feel like it could've possibly been put together by a dreamer, maybe even Randolph Carter.

i also love the fact, that they kept it pretty close to the design of the Chaosium dreamlands map, just turned on it's side.

So, that aside, i think this is the 1st sideboard that will feel comfortable without any corresponding ancient one in play. The board itself is driving you to it, it doesn't require anything else, not a mystery, not a prelude, not an epic monster. the simple fact that having the dream portals pop up on the main board, which causes the gates to come into the dreamlands is basically forcing you over there.

I love the theme so much. However, there seems to be a disconnection from what i had originally imagined for the dreamlands. that being, the dreamlands you is a corporeal identity, connection only through your mind to your waking self. Unless you're able to find another way into the dreamlands, the sleeping you is safely at home or wherever, sleeping..

To reach the Dreamlands, a sleeper must find an unusual stairway in a conventional dream and walk down the Seventy Steps of Light Slumber to face the judgment of powerful gatekeepers named Nasht and Kaman-Tha . If judged worthy (i.e., able to survive the dangers of the Dreamlands), the dreamer is allowed to descend the Seven Hundred Steps of Deeper Slumber and emerges in the Enchanted Wood . When a person enters the Dreamlands in this way, he leaves his physical body safely in the waking world. Should he be killed during his travels, his corporeal body will only suffer a shock. Sometimes, however, this can be fatal; "dream death" of this kind makes return to the Dreamlands impossible. Waking up causes a person's "dream self" to disappear, and the individual may have difficulty recalling anything learned or experienced during his time asleep (similar to conventional dreaming).

in this iteration, it seems as though the awake you and the sleeping you is the same character, which if you're going to die in the dreamlands you will die in the waking world instead.. being a total flavor nerd, i think this kind of takes away away from the flavor a bit..

it would be good if you could say, for instance, only lose sanity in the dreamlands, and when you've gone to 0 sanity, you're expelled from the dreamlands, suffer some kind of trauma, maybe a madness condition and a -1 to willpower.. i'm not going to sit here and say what they should have done better or whatnot, because of course it is an expansion to my favorite game, and it's my favorite sub-genre of the Cthulhu Mythos.

Curious on other people's opinions..

edit: There's a cat's face on the sideboard, near the City of Ulthar.. win

Having read some of the dream oriented stories of Lovecraft my impression have been that the body have been missing while in the dream so their physical body actually been in the dreamlands. But it's been a while since I read any such story so I can't point to any specific story.

I take it as kinda a Matrix thing...die in the dream, you die in real life. Your fleshy body isn't gonna get a whole lot done if your dreaming mind got destroyed. Permanent coma.

Is there a pic of the sideboard anyplace?

Is there a pic of the sideboard anyplace?

Yes: https://www.boardgamegeek.com/image/3267143/eldritch-horror-dreamlands

I take it as kinda a Matrix thing...die in the dream, you die in real life. Your fleshy body isn't gonna get a whole lot done if your dreaming mind got destroyed. Permanent coma.

nooooo. dreamers don't die in the waking world. there are instances of dream death, but it's quite rare. usually you wake up with very little memory of events that took place. it's mostly depending on the strength of the dreamer, at least typically in the chaosium realm.