HeroQuesting during hypnosis

[Adam Dray]

My reaction to this is similar to if you'd said, "I want to use some professional-sized fireworks and dynamite caps to add a real bang to my LARP! It'll be very cool!"  Yes, such a thing could be done safely but as a member of a community, I want its members to pursue its goals safely and sanely (and consensually). For hypnosis, consent isn't enough to get my blessing (whether or not you want it or care about it). I also want reassurances that you're being safe and you and the other participants are properly informed about the risks.

Like Fred, I'm pretty ignorant about the real risks, if any, that hypnosis presents. I recognize that, just because I am ignorant, it doesn't mean you are. Alexander seems to assure us that a little game hypnosis isn't that big a deal, and it's probably a better use than stage practice. Just make sure you and your friends are informed and careful, that's all. =)

[matthijs]

Other than the safety issue, Matthijis, you seem to be looking for something else here. But I'm not sure what, precisely. Your initial query was pretty vague. Can you ask some more narrow questions that you'd like feedback on?

I'm specifically looking for other people who have experience with using hypnosis in role-playing, in order to share information and experiences with them.

In addition, I offered this as a suggestion for enhancing HeroQuest.

[newsalor]

Hmm, I don't know it this applies, but I've tried to use lucid dreaming to enhance my Orlanthi campaign. I don't know how this relates to the range of experiences possible in a state such as you described. However, I'll sum up my experiences briefly.

Now, I haven't done anything that would have effected my campaign very much, because I'm not an expert yet. Nonetheless, I'll tell you of my 3 experiences.

• Question
This happened one sunday morning when I had the time to induce a lucid dream. In the dream I wanted to meet Greg Stafford to ask him about EWF, because we have a PC who is messing about with dragons and Orlanth Dragonfriend (he wishes). I met Greg in a dream environment consisting of an old yellow building with a garage full of old Glorantha publications. Apparently he lived in this house. Anyway, I asked him to tell me about EWF and he said that they are spineless. I spotted Zin Letters among the magazines and got too exited to remember that I was dreaming, so the dreamscape shifted forward. . . The next time our group was playing I realized that in order to re-found the cult of Orlanth Dragonfriend, the PC needs to replace his spine with an EWF artifact (a staff of dragonbone that spits lightning) that had been in his possession for some time. 

• Nice View
In another dream another time, I decided that I'd like to see Sartar. The dreamscape shifted so that I was looking at the lands of the PCs clan. It looked cool and even had the forest that wasn't in any of our maps. I flew to Kerofin and it was cool. Flying tends to be. I didn't see much of Sartar on the way, because it was quite a blur. Flying up Kerofin ended me up in another dream, so that was that.

• Hello Mister NPC
In this dream I tried to create a NPC while dreaming. I have to say that I couldn't speak to him as I summoned him from the dreamstuff, but that was propably a result of my method. If I had searched for him instead of just "summoning" him out of nothing, interaction would have been more propable. Anyway, flashes of his past flickered in the dream, but I had to stop it, because becoming a passive watcher in the dream tends to make you lose your lucidity. After I had woken up, I had to finish and flesh out the NPC of course, but I liked the way he turned out. Besides, now I know how cool aluminum looks like in my Glorantha. ;)

These are just small experiments that I did a while back with lucid dreaming. Work, studies in the University and stuff like that have kept my lucid dreams pretty rare as I have not had the time to practice the induction techniques.

Anyway, I consider the tests worthwhile. Controlled lucid dreams seem to be a potentially powerful way of visualizing and brainstorming stuff related to RPGs, but the insights gained propably don't filter to other members of the gaming group as the dreams are understandably solitary activity.

[newsalor]

Damn, we don't seem to have an editing option anymore.

I forgot to say that perhaps you could try map out a heroquest or myth in lucid dream before running it for a group or perhaps a new myth could be created by making up some of the participants and the topic of a myth and then have a lucid dream about it. Those two options could be some kind of practical / creative applications of lucid dreaming related to Gloranthan heroquests.

I can't say that I can guess how either of those could turn out. A lot of rewriting would still be needed I guess. That and I don't know how this relates to the state achieved by hypnotism.