Dream Hostility
Dream hostility is a measure of how the Mark is reacting to the Jacks intruding on their dream. The higher the hostility, the more aggressive the occupants will be towards the Jacks. In addition, the environment may also become more hazardous with traps and other environmental obstacles. The lower the hostility, the friendlier the occupants will be towards the Jack. Similarly, the environment may be more advantageous towards the Jacks or provide them with trinkets they could use or positive conditions that give them a benefit.
The GM is in charge of controlling the dreams hostility and may keep it hidden from the players if they choose to.
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Most interactions are neutral interactions that don't change the scale. But:
If the Jacks have a positive interaction with the Mark's occupants, the Hostility Scale reduces by 1. This can also decrease when the Jacks do something generally kind toward the environment of the dream.
If the Jacks have a negative interaction with the occupants, the Hostility Scale increases by 1. If the Jacks attack the Mark's occupants the scale increases by 1. Getting into a fight increases the hostility further. The longer the fight draws out, and the number of occupants involved changes how much this increases.
Note that occupants don't immediately become violent if you attack them once.
The Hostility Scale also might increase from scene to scene as you get closer to more vulnerable parts of the Mark's dream.
Hostility Scale
The Hostility scale goes from 0 to 20 with 0 representing a dream where all the occupants team up with the Jacks and 20 representing all the occupants attacking the Jacks on sight. Most dreams start at 10, but this depends on the Mark and their Natures.
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20
I I I I I Allied Friendly Wary Obstructive Violent
There are a few important points that matter along this scale.
At 3 and below, occupants begin to ally with the Jacks and work alongside them without the need for decision rolls, convincing, other occupant interaction are 2 difficulties easier.
At 6 and below, occupants are friendly and all interactions are 1 difficulty easier.
7, 8, 9 and 10 have the occupants acting neutrally towards the Jacks.
At 11 and over, occupants are wary of the Jacks and all interactions are 1 difficulty harder.
At 14 and over, occupants are obstructive and try to get in the way for and work against the Jacks proceeding through the dream, all interactions are 2 difficulty harder.
At 17 and over, occupants will attack the Jacks on sight.
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Turmoil
Some dreams have the Mark in a state of turmoil. This is where not all of the Mark's occupants are on the side of the Mark. In these cases, the hostility scale only works for the occupants allied with the Mark and the Mark's Aura if they have one. This means that even while the dream is friendly, there is still the potential for combat rounds in the dream.
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There are usually a few ways that this can play out.
1. The human like occupants are responsive to the Jacks but there are creatures in the dream that are always hostile towards the Jacks and other occupants. In this case only the human like occupants abide by the hostility scale. E.g. Troopers making their way through an alien bug infested planet.
2. There is some turmoil in the Mark mind, and this is represented by waring groups within the dream. The hostility scale applies to whichever group the Mark is allied to. E.g. The Jacks team up with the Marks Occupants to defend him from an invading army.
3. The Aura is the only one that the hostility scale applies to as all occupants are out to get them. E.g. The Mark is trapped in a recuring nightmare where assassins lie around every corner.
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