Lightning Abductions and the Shattered Crowns Playtest
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joewcarson
@joewcarson ยท Sep 4, 2026
was hanging out outside with neighbors Brandon and Leslie and their friends Erik and his wife were across the street? They lived there now. It was night time and pretty late. We all had a couple of drinks and then Brandon was going to play test the game I made shattered crowns with some people and asked if I wanted to join, which gave me ultimate pleasure people were actually playing my game without me. I went over to his house and played from there with 9 other people. The plates went pretty good, some new things I recently added didnโt work right, like squires knockback and some new summons I added not having art. Game ended and was getting late and Leslie and her friend were on the couch so I said goodnight and walked outside. There was a flash in the sky and I realized it was lightning! very rare for San Diego, and it kept going like heat lightning above, but sometimes cooler like a โmushroomโ lightning that was red in color. I yelled back to Brandon and Leslie to come check this out and then went over to my apartment next door to get Nikki. I heard the pitterpatter of rain drops on the roof starting. I opened the door and our living room was like an indoor/outdoor deck and Nikki just fished grilling up a bunch of chicken and was eating from the couch. I told her to come check this out, but we could kind of see it right from the couch because we were pretty much in our living room with no roof. The lightning was amazing and started getting cooler. Then it turned into like we were viewing it on tv and in the distant the lightning seemed to be picking up little figures and look more like abductions than lightning. Then we saw it was getting closer and larger and thatโs exactly what it looked like was happening: the lightning was striking the ground, on a human outline figure and then the human would be slowly pulled upwards to the sky. It kept getting closer and larger under we were getting really freaked out it was coming straight at us and we were next. Then it hit us, me specifically, and on this tv screen view we had it went dark and then played this weird animated video of me and my body like tearing apart and coming back together and then Nikkiโs mom Rachel doing the same next to me. Then me like taking her heart and putting it back in her body and just this weird anime style animation, but me and Nikki were still there in our living room but like forced to watch and almost screaming like โomg omg omg! Wtf is going on!?!?โ It was crazy, absolutely crazy experience. I just woke up IRL with absolute chills and still have them as I recollect this dream and write it down. 10/10 vivid and just wild wild dream and experience.
55 keywords tagged
๐ค Brandon๐ค Leslie๐ค Erik Soderholm๐ค wife๐ค Nikki Edwards๐ค Rachel
๐ San Diego๐ neighbor's house๐ apartment๐ living room๐ street๐ sky
๐ pleasure๐ pride๐ awe๐ dread๐ panic๐ excitement๐ shock
โก hang outโก playโก joinโก walkโก yellโก openโก grillโก eatโก watchโก screamโก strikeโก pullโก tear apartโก wake
โฆ creative prideโฆ abductionโฆ supernaturalโฆ body horrorโฆ animationโฆ apocalypseโฆ vivid dreamโฆ alternate realityโฆ vulnerabilityโฆ night
๐ฎ drink๐ฎ game๐ฎ couch๐ฎ lightning๐ฎ rain๐ฎ roof๐ฎ chicken๐ฎ television๐ฎ heart๐ฎ deck
๐ฏ playtesting๐ฏ grilling
โง AI Analysis: This dream places you in a rare moment of pure creative validation โ watching others genuinely enjoy a game you built without you having to be involved is a form of wish fulfillment that speaks to a deep need for your work to stand on its own. The shift from that warm, grounded social setting into something cosmically threatening โ lightning that abducts, an animated sequence of your body shattering and reassembling beside Nikki's mom โ suggests that moments of peak satisfaction can quickly give way to anxiety about loss of control or being consumed by forces larger than yourself. The fact that you and Nikki were forced to watch together, almost as witnesses to your own undoing, points to a tension between wanting to share extraordinary experiences with her and a fear that those same forces could pull you both apart.