Casting Shadows

This is the 14th day of #RPGaDay2026 and it is Friday. We dodged a bullet with yesterday not falling on this date! Today our prompt is Regard and the tone shifts from some of the darker prompts of earlier this week. Our weekly filter is still the very neutral ‘Associates.’ I guess it is up to you how to take the remaining daily filters. Today’s is ‘Loving and Giving,’ so that is harder to turn to the dark side, as it were.

So how about we throw in a suspicion of nepotism as our connection to Regard? It doesn’t have to be true, but to lend a bit more truth to the feel of this collection of interns, it’s just the sort of thing that shows up in the real world. “So and So only got this job because they know someone…”

Let’s assume it is both true and irrelevant because the person in question is also in ideal fit for the job. The best of both worlds. A dream come true you might say…

Who would such a rumor spread about? I suppose a quick way to frame it that play could add more nuance to would be to say that they are more adept with the theory and equipment than they are with their associates. While they might hold everyone in high regard, it might be that they show it by working hard, getting good results, and not making trouble. That their is already a loner in the group of interns, and someone working overtime to help others, it could be a very survivable uncomfortable position instead of just being uncomfortable.

If we made the decision to have a character like this in the group, what would we be looking for in terms of the play experience? part of it, of course would be that a decision like this during shared chargen would be indicating a type of interpersonal friction for the characters that the assembled players find compelling. Beyond that surface level choice, we have the environments of the dreams the players will visit and the things that they take in their with them – things like their Shadow. That obstructive element of each personality is part of what makes you who you are, but it also interposes things to shift you toward something else or stop you entirely.

What sort of Shadow would lend interesting weight to experiences in the dreamsharing of the game? It doesn’t have to be a malevolent and highly active force. It can be more subtle than that and make its interference in the character’s understanding of what is happening more like a puzzle that initially they would be unaware even exists. We don’t think of ourselves as Persona and Shadow. We think of ourselves as a string of accomplishments, of private thoughts, as a name, as a cog in a wheel of relationships, and so on. In the dream, however, while some things are abstract and obscure, there is an underlying impetus to reveal as well.

We already have some fascinating ones, at least one which does not seem to be all that bad in isolation – just in opposition. For this person, and their focus on the technical, on the job, rather than the people, what might a Shadow magnify or use to shape the experience?

Sorting through, I think the one that grabs me the most is Key 3 – The Empress. What holds this suspected Nepo Hire back or gets in their way? Satisfaction and a sense of fulfillment. The job – as is – is enough. How can that interject itself into a dream dive with a measure of urgency or importance? What are the insidious ways a sense of everything being what we want can undermine the ability to make it even better? How might that sabotage the character and those who team with them?

How would all of this interact with someone who is genuinely kind and supportive, if a little quiet and focused on the job? It’s an interesting twist, I think. Lots of work in the background to keep things… just as they are or were designed to be. Finding or posting documentation which demonstrates how to navigate the system or the office space as it is rather than change, update, or improve it. Putting off updates to hardware and software, because of stability concerns…

Tomorrow is Saturday, August 15th and our prompt is Endurance. The weekly filter is of course Associates, while our daily filter will change to ‘works hard for a living.’

What is a cool #RPGaDAY2026 post you have seen this week? Share it below or somewhere else on social media~