Is this homebrew Dream Influence Points mechanic effective?
For my Call of Cthulhu 7e game, I've used dream sequences for setting the tone, imparting subtle clues for the plot, and character development. They've convenient for dialing up the horror aspects or really focusing on an aspect of one investigator in ways that may not otherwise be appropriate at that stage in the game (such as towards the beginning, when still laying the framework).
However, one issue is that dream sequences are very much one-on-one. When you're going over a dream with one player, the other players don't have much to do except for watch, which isn't particularly what you want to be doing with the time you've set aside for playing.
Therefore, in an attempt to get the rest of the party more involved and keep everyone invested in what's going on that, I've written up a new mechanic, which I'm calling Dream Influence points at the moment. Here are the mechanics:
Mechanic: Dream Influence Points
Each investigator starts the night with two Dream Influence points. These allow the investigator to gain insight into and influence the dreams of the other investigators around them.
At any time during a dream sequence of another investigator, a player may choose to spend a Dream Influence point to change an aspect of that investigator's dream. They can be spent in the following ways:
- Turn a failure into a success. If the investigator experiencing the dream fails a skill check, another investigator may spend one Dream Influence point to turn that failure into a regular success. This does not apply to Luck checks.
- Increase the level of a success. If the investigator experiencing the dream succeeds on a skill check, another investigator may spend one Dream Influence point to increase the level of that success, such as turning a regular success into a Hard success, or a Hard success into an Extreme success. This does not apply to Luck checks.
- Enter the dream. An investigator may spend two Dream Influence points to entirely enter the dream of another investigator. If the investigator spending the Dream Influence points has not yet completed a dream sequence for that night, this may result in that investigator not experiencing a solo dream sequence.
Dream Influence points may not be spent to influence your own dream.
Depending on how many Dream Influence points were spent, the investigator influencing the dream of another investigator will be aware of portions of the dream that they influenced. If one Dream Influence point was spent, the investigator spending the point will recall the events directly surrounding the moment of influence. If two Dream Influence points are spent on the same dream, the investigator spending those points will have a vague overview of the entire dream of the other investigator, but will clearly recall the events directly surrounding the moments of influence.
If you enter the dream of another investigator, you will clearly recall the events of the dream after your entrance, but will only vaguely be aware of what transpired beforehand.
I haven't yet put it into practice, though. Before doing so, I'd like to get some feedback on it, from both my party specifically and from other TTRPG folks generally.
My main question is, will this achieve my goal of keeping everyone invested? Does this mechanic keep the other players involved in the dream sequences of other players if they know they can influence them?
Other feedback, such as whether the specific ways of spending Dream Influence points are balanced, would also be appreciated.
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