Casting Shadows

#RPGaDAY2025 has reached its twenty-sixth day and the prompt for Day 26 is nemesis. This is a very popular word in and out of gaming, and of course that popularity has caused its meaning to drift to one of lesser stature as a result, like awesome or groovy. Unlike many other words whose ships have sailed and sunk taking their original meaning with them, the meaning of nemesis can still be saved… unless, of course, human nature is the nemesis of that preservative effort. In that case, all meaning is hilariously mutable.

Day 26: Nemesis

Over time, nemesis has come to be conflated with a sworn enemy; the single-serving antagonist. Looking back across that span of time, we find the meaning to be the enemy beyond one’s capacity to overcome. The difference lends weight to why a separate word might exist. It is a wholly different class of character altogether.

Concepts like the original nemesis, when applied in an RPG, can radically alter the entire experience of a campaign. It can lend certainty to the idea of destiny. It can lend weight to a sense of futility, and a desperate sense of martyrdom. It can alter behavior, and put a heavy hand on the scale of experience and perception.

For this campaign pitch, if we were to include a nemesis, how would it best be done? If we take the simplest route and pit the Patron in a conflict with a Nemesis, how far do we take it? At worst, Neslinger could be the white king on the chessboard of determining the future, the characters therefore taking on the roles of the knights and bishops, and the Nemesis the player sitting far beyond the black king – untouchable. By shifting through degrees of intensity toward simple opposition from unbeatable opposition, we might find a satisfying mix of challenge and threat. There is a certain appropriate symmetry in the unbeatable opponent for cosmic horror, but it might not be the best match for what has been proposed so far over these RPGaDAY posts.

Another approach would be to recognize the honest reactions of the characters we play and let that play shape who is and who is not an enemy. As play progresses, the successes and failures of these characters will change the perspective of who each is as an opponent – potentially elevating one to the level of being described as “our nemesis.” Whether that is a purely emotional description or a factually accurate one would be up to play to reveal.

This might suit this campaign best, partly from preference and predilection, and partly from aligning well with the sense of discovery and self-awareness at the heart of the pitch.

See you tomorrow for Day 27: Tactic