one of my very favorite obscure story tropes is when there’s an episode/plotline/tabletop campaign session where the conceit is ‘each member of the gang gets trapped in a specially tailored dream/nightmare/illusory mindscape and has to break out’
my favorite addition to this trope is when the gang has to pass through everyone’s specially tailored nightmare scape and it’s just one gut punching trauma after the next that their friends help them through
Some good twists on these:
Nightmares:
- one party member’s nightmare seems like a perfectly normal and even pleasant scenario until the rest of the party realizes that what’s normal and pleasant for them is terrifying for the other member.
-the happy-go-lucky character who told everyone their fear is something benign like “ducks” actually has a massive and crushing trauma nightmare scenario they never told anyone about because they didn’t want to be a burden/still can’t trust.
- villain tries to make a nightmare scenario for someone and it backfires because they didn’t realize that guy is a grade-A Freak and they love it.
“ideal life” illusions
- villain attempts to make what they think will be an ideal dream life only for the protagonist to immediately point out a glaring flaw or get mad because they know damn well life isn’t like this
-a party member struggles to break free from the illusion because it’s just like regular life for them
- party discovers someone in the group has been not entirely honest about who they are when their ideal life doesn’t match thier projected persona at all.
-the illusion is exactly the same as real life save for one glaring but inconsequential difference, like someone having a different hair color.
- that one asshole who doesn’t fall for it and mocks the nightmare right back until the hero rescues them
