Nightmare Man - Where's he from ?

[Dark Whisper]

Well, the thread's title says it; where's the Nightmare Man from ? Where did he live before landing in Ravenloft ?

What was he, how did he become a darklord ? Where can I find his backstory ?

I think I once read somthing about his backstory (him being a dispassionate painter or something), but I can't remember where, if it was canon or not or if it was just a thought I once had.

So if you have any idea where I can find information (canon, non-canon or your own stuff / ideas), let me know.

Thanks.

[Shadow]

In The Book of Secrets there is a backstory provided for the Nightmare Man (in the section on The Order of Twighlight). Basically, the Nightmare Man was an eccentric/insane artist who tapped into the dream plane. However, keep two things in mind: 1. The Book of Secrets is non-canon 2. The Story is told by a dream spawn (presumably sent by the Nightmare Man himself). As such you can't really assume that the story is completely accurate, since it is told through the Nightmare Man's point of view. For my game, I'm using the basic story presented in the Book of Secrets, but changing it a little to make it more sinister.

[Catman Jim]

The Nightmare Lands Boxed Set has the most 'canon' information available.

[Corrupted_Loremaster]

It has also been said that statiscally, a severely scaled back version of the Dream Larva from the Epic Level Handbook might be a good place to start if you actually wanted to put stats to him. And when I say severely scaled back, I mean it.

[The Lesser Evil]

The boxed set The Nightmare Lands has stats for the Nightmare Man, but it doesn't have any all-telling backstory for this entity, letting him remain mysterious. He seems to be cursed to participate in dreams as a meddler from afar or an observer. The Nightmare Man apparently doesn't dream, and he lacks the imagination and ability to create like any mortal artist has. In 3E, I'd probably peg him as an outsider.

[Dark Whisper]

In The Book of Secrets there is a backstory provided for the Nightmare Man (in the section on The Order of Twighlight).

Yes, that's what I meant - and it explains, why I didn't find it while glancing at the tables of content of the various netbooks.

The Story is told by a dream spawn

Really ? I thought it was an Abber. I'll have to reread it, obviously.

. For my game, I'm using the basic story presented in the Book of Secrets, but changing it a little to make it more sinister.

Really ? Care to share ?

a severely scaled back version of the Dream Larva from the Epic Level Handbook might be a good place to start if you actually wanted to put stats to him

Hmm, interesting. ALthough I currently don't need any stats for him - I just want to hint a bit at the NM's backstory for the moment - I'll take a look at it.


Thanks for your help; if you have anything else you'd like to share, I would like to read it.

[Rotipher of the FoS]

The Nightmare Man is one of the most cryptic of all the Ravenloft lords, as seems fitting for an entity whose power lies in the ephemeral realm of dreams. Heck, we don't even know for sure that he's the leader of the Nightmare Court: he's the strongest of the lot, but not by much, and with domain lords, it's sometimes the most cunning or wicked who's *really* in charge.

FWIW, I've toyed with the notion that the Nightmare Court was an early experiment by the DPs, when they were still working out what a "domain lord" should be. (The Nightmare Lands was actually the first RL Island, in this homebrew history; its "origin" in the published timeline merely marks the start of a brief period in which it was temporarily joined to the Core, only to break free again later.) Before they'd determined that collecting villains from the Material Plane was a better strategy, my campaign's DPs tried to *create* an "ideal darklord" in the form of the Nightmare Man -- basically a construct designed to terrorize people via their dreams -- out of the same ethereal mists they built the demiplane, itself, out of. But he didn't work out as planned: having the psyche of a construct, he had no real emotions or imagination of his own, so couldn't easily anticipate what would or would not incite a person's darkest fears. In an attempt to fulfill the demands of his Dark Power creators, the Nightmare Man spawned five minions to evoke the various dreads that seemed to haunt people in the (natural) nightmares he'd observed -- guilt, terror, helplessness, confusion, suspicion -- but he never truly mastered the knack of anticipating human fears, himself; he could learn by observation how to horrify an already-tormented dreamer, but he had no intuitive sense of what fears to play upon. Eventually, the DPs gave up on the idea of *making* darklords, and went back to abducting them ... but they kept the Nightmare Court around, because their presence helps keep the overall morale of Ravenloft's population low.

[Shadow]

Oops...the information about the Nightmare Man was found in the Book of Shadows Netbook, not the Book of Secrets.

The Story is told by a dream spawn

Really ? I thought it was an Abber. I'll have to reread it, obviously.

If you read the last paragraph, it tells that the Abber Shaman was really a dream spawn. Hmmm...I sense this could lead to some interesting plot hooks involving the Order of Twilight.

For my game, I'm using the basic story presented in the Book of Secrets, but changing it a little to make it more sinister.

Really ? Care to share ?

Basically I'm using the story of the Nightmare Man originally being Armand Tyarré, a talented, but eccentric painter. Unknowingly, Armand was so talented that he was able to draw inspiration from the plane of dreams (like his personal muse).
In the netbook backstory, Armand is so absent minded and into his work that he paints outside while his house is burning (and every one inside)! I thought that this was a little to outlandish (even for an artist); I thought that the netbook backstory made Armand a little too insane too soon, so I changed it a little. See, because of his talent, as well as his spirit of non-confomity, Armand had made some powerful rivals. After the mansion burnt, killing everyone but Armand foul play was suspected. Afterall, there were many people that would profit either politically or economically from their demise. However, no one could find out who started the fire. Someone had to be blamed...a scapegoat was needed. Seizing the opportunity, Armands rivals blamed him: "He could profit from the inheritance...He was the only who survived the fire. Armand is to blame!" So Armand was thrown in prison. Although, absent minded, he was not stupid. Armand knew he had been blamed because out of spite by his rivals. So as he learned tap into the dream plane to summon and control dream-creatures (as described in the netbook), Armand used them to get revenge against his rivals who had sent him to prison and who had wronged him.