Casting Shadows

This is the nineteenth day of #RPGaDAY2025 and our prompt today is destiny. I like the idea of destiny, especially as an in-character notion that comes up in conversation in play, that NPCs govern their lives by, that characters wonder about, that conmen and cultists and high school coaches all draw on to get results, regardless of whether a destiny of any sort is affecting play in any way.

Day 19: Destiny

For me, at the table it has turned out to be quite important to overall satisfaction if the characters over time come to feel both recognizable like people you know and distinct from the people who play them. Part of attaining that is often that the player can think about the character as that character would be thinking about themselves. What do their successes, draws, and failures mean to them as a person? What did the last few days mean to them in terms of motivation, of confidence, and a sense of progress? What regrets are forming? What needs for revenge are metastasizing? What beliefs are shifting or deflating?

What do they now believe, wish to believe, or fear that their role is in what is happening because of, happening to, and happening around them?

In a similar fashion the tools of the game, like dice, play a significant role in all of this as well, and what they contribute to play in many ways can foster a sort of relationship between the player, “the dice,” and the character which can helpfully cross the streams of real world destiny with ideas of the game world’s destiny to synchronize the thoughts of the characters and the players in moments of tension when the chips are down and prayers to whatever wherever are offered in hopes of a good turn of fate.

In a cosmic horror game like is being suggested through these daily posts, the uncaring universe of the mythos is not really the place for destiny as an actual consideration, but human nature and insignificance makes it a vibrant and compelling idea for the characters of the world to firmly believe in. Their struggles as tiny figures on a stage too vast for them to comprehend may even have them proving the truth of predestination if the dice play along and the ramblings and writings of prophetic mystics are ambiguous enough.

See you tomorrow for Day 20: Enter