Preludes & Nocturnes (Issues 1-9)

Morpheus is released from a prison intended for his older sister, Death. He travels around to collects his artifacts: his Mask from a demon in Hell, his Bag of Sand from John Constantine's ex-girlfriend, and his Gemstone from Dr. Dee. He reabsorbs the power of his artifacts and then takes his revenge on his ancient jailor. Afterwards, he tells his sister he doesn't know what to do next. She tells him to get a life.

Doll's House (Issues 10-16)

Dream's sister/brother Desire sets up a situation where Dream will be tricked into killing the grand-daughter of Unity Kinkaid, Rose Walker. Unity had been impregnated by Desire while she slept many years ago. In the end, Unity Kinkaid gives her life to save Rose's and thus prevents Morpheus from shedding family blood, a big Endless no-no.

In the process, Morpheus also collects four errant Dreams: Fiddler's Green, the Corinthian, and Brute & Glob. He also "kills" the '70's Sandman, Hector Hall. Hector and his wife, Lyta Hall (the daughter of the Fury, a 40's heroine) had been living on in a dream-world in the mind of Jed Walker (sectioned off from the rest of the Dreaming by Brute and Glob). Hector had been dead, but not before getting Lyta Hall pregnant. Morpheus claims her unborn son as his own (against her wishes) and vows to return for him.

In an interlude, Robert (Hob) Gadling decides not to die, and he and Morpheus have an encounter with Lady Johanna Constantine. Morpheus and Gadling form a friendship that has lasted hundreds of years.

Dream Country (issues 17-20)

In "Calliope", Morpheus rescues his ex-lover, one of the Muses (and mother of his son, Orpheus).

"A Dream of a Thousand Cats" tells of a time when cats ruled the world, a time that cats dream will return again.

"A Midsummer Nights' Dream" tells of how the Faerie made one last visit to the mortal world to see the very first performance of the titular play.

"Facade" shows the death of Urania Blackwell, the Metamorphic Girl.

Seasons of Mist (Sandman game #1)

Lucifer decides to abdicate the throne of Hell. In fact, he goes further and boots everyone out (demons and damned alike), locks the doors and brings the key to Morpheus. This is the point where the game-world begins to diverge from the world of the comics. Nothing in the comics from this point can be trusted.

· It is Aphrodite that ends up with the Key to Hell and re-opens the gates with herself as Queen. She invites the demons and damned back. Hell is now owned and operated by the Goddess of Love, for the Greek Pantheon.

· Queen Titania of Faerie and Hecate, the Greek goddess of magic bring magic back to the mortal world, which makes the place hospitable for the Faerie again, and allows mortals access to sorcery.

· Cyberspace, the world's first truly sentient AI is made a God of AI's.

A Game of You (Issues 32-37)

The events described in these issues remain more-or-less intact. A tiny fantasy-like Dream-realm (or 'skerry') has been usurped by the Cuckoo, an extra-dimensional interloper. Morpheus dismantles the skerry and releases the fully-grown Cuckoo. We are also introduced to the sorceress Thessaly, and very briefly to Alianora, the first ruler of the skerry who had made the original compact with the dream-king that created the tiny dream-realm so long ago.

A Game of You (Sandman game #2)

The barrier that separates the Dreamworld from the Mortal Realm is dissolving. Gods, magi, dream-creatures and certain Endless gather together to find out WHY and stop the process.

· The walls between the realms are shored up, and the portions of the world that had been changed are restored. A permanent portal was created between the Dreaming and the Mortal world.

· The Cuckoo, responsible for changing the mortal world to match the tiny dream-skerry it had inhabited, is found skulking in the minds of the others and destroyed.

· Lucifer is hunted down, stripped of his divine nature and then killed by the Archangel Gabriel.

· John Constantine sacrifices his own life so that Delirium could be restored to Delight.

· Moved by the sacrifice, Morpheus turns John Constantine into a Dream, which saves the man from the two demons that awaited his soul in Hell.

· Queen Titania and her co-hort Auberon are forced out of office by a Faerie Election. First, Shakespeare's son Hamnet (who had been living with the Fae since he was 11) is elected and he decrees that he is finally free to return to his mortal life. He then abdicates and leaves Faerie forever. A scramble for power leaves relative youngster Indigo as the new Queen.

· Titania and Auberon are elevated to Godhood. They are the Gods of Faerie, a concept that still makes my brain hurt.

· The ancient god Nyarlahotep very nearly managed to destroy the universe by feeding the inhabitants of the game into the maw of the thing at the center of the universe. So close!

· Many children are bred and born as gods, faerie and human alike realize that a nine-month gestation period really zips by in Faerie.

World's End Tavern (Sandman 'game' #2.5)

Travelers from all worlds and all time are stranded in a unique Tavern as a reality storm rages outside. The only form of currency accepted are the stories they told to pass the time. After the storm was over and they emerged, some found that their stories were true.

Brief Lives (Sandman game #3)

This game didn't have a single main plot, and instead was the confluence of several larger and many personal stories:

· The Archangel Gabriel slammed the gates of Heaven shut when Death brought the ghost of Lucifer there to his final resting place. The Angels stuck outside, were cut off from The Voice. Ultimately, it was discovered that Lucifer's arrival at the gate had been a test to see if the Angels were capable of free-will. The Angels found an older way back in and Gabriel was cast out, a newly fallen angel.

· Human magi had become as powerful as Gods due to the return of Magic, but he EARTH itself was in turmoil due to the quick changes these magi could bring about. Many Gods, especially those connected to Nature, wondered if mortals had become TOO powerful. Morpheus and the other Powers finally decided to constrict the portal between the Dreaming and the Mortal World, reducing the available magic in the world, (but not as much as it had been restricted, prior to the portal's opening.)

· The tricksters - Loki, Coyote and Raven - pranked Heaven by stealing St. Peter's book. St. Peter never got it back, realizing that the book was inessential to his own duties.

· Queen Indigo of Faerie held a birthday party for Delight and also needed to renegotiate the tithe that Faerie owed to Hell (both realms now under new management). It is unclear whether they came to a new agreement, or if they intend to honor it.

· Among all this, a Demon was found to have been the using the Godkiller Sword to murder some of the older or less-powerful gods. Once this plot was discovered, the Demon was stopped by a rather large posse.

· Morpheus takes the opportunity to 'release' his only son, Orpheus, who had begged him to end his immortal life as a disembodied head. Calliope and Delight were there for that final scene. Morpheus knows that by spilling family blood, he has committed a mortal sin, and there there will be a reckoning one day.

· Cyberspace, the AI God, through his alliance with the Greening and his convergence with Earth's Green Lantern (Kyle Rainer) was reborn as Design of the Endless. Now there are eight Endless – one too many.

· A Murder of Ravens, including Mathew, Hugin & Munin, Wasichu-Raven, and two Crow-Girls convened. Many important things were discussed and many shiny gifts were exchanged.

The Wake (Sandman game #4)

It has been 6 years since the events of the last Sandman game, and 12 years since Morpheus was handed the Key to Hell. One of the Endless has passed on. Mourners and others gather in the necropolis Litharge, a city devoted to the dead, to pay their respects to the late D--.