Source: M. A. Lloyd
The Path of Dreams allows the manipulation of dreams and access to the Dreamworld. I include altered consciousness in general; particularly the powers attributed to hypnosis or ESP. Much of the path is fairly modern, linked to Victorian era spiritualism, mesmerism, the concept of the subconscious and the development of psychotherapy. But many traditions do use drugs to induce altered states, and the Dreamworld has similarities to some traditional spirit worlds. The cinematic Hypnosis! skill should have a default to the Path of Dreams.
Allows the magician to enter the dreams of the target. As VO p74, except the casting time is the standard one hour. The effect ends early if the sleeper awakens.
Allows the magician to enter the Dreamworld. As VO p74, except the duration is the standard 1 day if the magician doesn't end it first.
The target becomes aware the ritual. It is the psychic equivalent of shouting his name. This can awaken sleeping entities, be used as a prearranged signal, or attract the attention of a usually indifferent power.
The target can not recall something specified by the magician. Note the intrinsic limit, the magician has to know what to specify. Suppressing important memories requires a success margin; 5 for something thought about at least daily (the route to work, his bride's eye color), 10 for something currently very important (what his job is, that he got married last week), 15 for something central to his life (the craft he has practiced for 40 years, the name of his true love). Once the duration ends the memory is recalled normally. If nothing reminds him of that incident all those years ago....
On a backlash the GM selects something of similar significance for the magician to forget.
As VO p74. It works like most protection rituals: effects from the dream world cannot affect anything in the area without first winning a quick contest with the Dream Sanctum.
This ritual may target individuals (use number of target modifiers) or an area (targets anyone who spends the 3d minute induction time in it). Targets who fail to resist drop into deep natural sleep within 3d minutes. Small disturbances do not wake them, though major ones will. Otherwise, they sleep for the duration (maximum 24 hours), plus any further time they need to awaken fully rested. As a targeted ritual it can backlash and put the magician to sleep. It is safe as an area effect.
The target falls under the influence of a mind-altering drug familiar to the magician. If the drug can have a variable effect, the magician can encourage a particular one by shifting any rolls to determine it by up to half the success margin. The effect must be attached to a potion, incense, injection or other plausible route of administration, which gives a +3 if it delivers even symbolic amounts of the actual drug. The usual use is to set the topic of a hallucination, but causing a sip of watered wine to induce profound drunken stupor is also popular.
Inflicts terrifying nightmares. As VO p74, except the casting time is the standard one hour. The terrors recur any time the target enters REM sleep during the duration. Recasting is not required to get a multi-day duration.
Nonstandard Duration. Hostile. Resisted by Will or Path of Dreams.
Imprisons the target in the Dreamworld. As VO p74.
This is a somewhat dangerous form of travel. The subject's physical body enters the dream world! If cast on someone other than the caster, it is ALWAYS a hostile ritual, even if the subject agrees. Someplace in the back of the subject's mind recognizes it's body is being moved physically into a place where nightmares are real, and fights this. (The GM may also assign a will roll on the caster if he tries to cast it on himself if desired.)
The subjects may fall asleep as they enter the dreamworld, at their discretion. Being asleep in the dreamworld allows their dreamsleves to funtion normally. An awake subject is out of phase with the dreamworld and is at -2 IQ and -4 DX. The drawback to being asleep is when the subject exits the dreamworld he will be in deep sleep where he emerges.
The dreamworld is disorienting, particularly to anyone walking through it awake. There are many dangers there, particularly for the unawary.
Time moves differently in Dream and real worlds, the subject MUST remain in the Dream world for a subjective 100 - (Dreamjump skill x 2) turns and a maximum of Dream jumpskill x 5 minutes.
The subject can sense the real world at an alertness + IQ roll (Acute senses do NOT help here) with a penalty of -5 to IQ if the subject is not at least a 3rd level initiate. (An awake non-initiate would have to make rolls to see where he was at -7). A person can always make out the immediate terrain of the real world, but not necessarily be able to see beyond that.
Travel speed isn't quite the legendary 'Speed of Thought', but is pretty fast. Caster's skill x 10 mph plus 5 mph per point of success. A skill of 17 and a roll of 11 nets a speed of 200 mph.
In a Voodoo/Space crossover campaign, the GM may opt to vary the ritual to allow interstellar travel rates of travel.
The distance and speed of travel indicate the real world time the body is in the dreamworld.
Example: Mary has a 200 mph speed and the place she wants to emerge at is 50 miles away. Assuming she gets there, She will pop out there 15 minutes after she left real world. She will have to spend at least 66 seconds dreamworld time before she can leave, but could spend up to one hour and 25 minutes (17 x 5 minutes) there if she wished.
To exit, the subject simply makes a will roll, and his body returns to the real world, awake or asleep, as determined at entry time.
Popping into a solid object unintentionally is next to impossible, as you DO sense the immediate surroundings of the real world. On a critical failure on the exit roll, a roll of 4- or 17+ indicates a solid object intersection happened. The GM may use his or her own discretion as to what occurs, though generally any part of the body that suffers this should be considered destroyed.
Inflicts a mental illness. In many traditions (including modern medicine) there is no hard boundary between mental and physical illness. Malaise can produce either, but as a psychological effect Madness allows more precise control - selecting the topic of a phobia or an obsession, or distinguishing between On the Edge and active suicide for example.
This Mystery allows the mage to create physical objects from intangible sources. The resulting objects are permanent, of the best quality, and often have minor magical properties reflecting their source metaphorically. The mage needs a craft skill (at 12) that could make a similar object; and if not the actual thing he wishes to objectify, at least a symbol of it. For example to make a gown of moonbeams he will need Weaving skill and a clear night with the moon visible. To create a sword from the courage of a dragon he will need Blacksmith and a dragon making a heroic speech - though the heart of a dragon will probably work.
One useful feature of this Mystery is it provides a source for the really strange artifacts that litter some tales. The properties of the object are up to the GM, and may not be quite what the creator wanted. For that matter there is nothing to say the mage wanted anything but a sharp knife when he conjured up the dagger of a maiden's scorn, but that doesn't mean it goes away once he is done with it.
The target immediately drops into a dream state (sleepwalking if he is moving when this happens) and dreams about a temptation selected by the mage. The GM sums the point costs of any advantages and disadvantages that incline the target toward or away from the temptation, and the target must make a Will roll modified by that sum (and you thought -15 point Lecherousness would never be a serious problem...). If it fails, he surrenders to the dream temptation, and will never awaken, eventually wasting away (GM option: magic or advanced technology may awaken him with a blank mind). The dream lover is popular, but the vision of heaven or of a peaceful life is nearly as common in modern tales.