Types of Dreams

I've noticed a marked difference in certain dreams and I'm wondering if there is any actual typology concerning these differences.
In this particular case, I'm talking strictly about non-lucid dreams.

I've noticed some dreams I am myself but often in an unfamiliar or distorted world. Usually there is something puzzling or just annoying going on that is a distorted version of real-life (or similar to real-life) concerns.
These dreams are typically annoying. They also don't make much of a story and contain long strings of repitition at some point.

Then there are the better dreams (even when nightmarish) that seem to be a story. Usually it's more like I'm playing a character in some weird movie than actually being me. There seems to be some history to the character I'm playing and there are other people around who resemble people I know... but are really just more characters.
The plots are interesting but often make little sense or have gaping holes in them when I wake up and view them through a conscious lens.
And even though many of the things that happen in these dreams involve danger or stress, they aren't annoying. They seem more fun.

Is there something physiological that explains why some nights lead to one type of dream and others the other?