Casting Shadows

#RPGaDAY2025 has found its way to its 29th prompt in the usual way, moving forward inexorably in an unbroken line from the first day to this one. That prompt, exemplifies that description, of course, and it is connect. In gaming, it is common to point out the type of friendships we form as a result of being in the hobby together. I certainly find that to be true, though experience tells me that most shared activities lead to friendships – even work. What differs a little from other things, though might be the range of experiences we might have together when the imagination is the only boundary on what we do. Over time, we grow connected to the person behind the masks of character. In the variations and the repetitions, in the actions, reactions, and interactions, we see the real person revealed. Their regular lives shape them and require compliance to a form, gaming sets them free – if they choose. We, if we look, can see that. More importantly, being witnesses, we can remember those moments and keep them alive.

Day 29: Connect

In a campaign of discovering secret shenanigans, uncovering murderous intent, and preventing the overthrow of good for all by the forces of self-serving greed and evil, there are many ways to consider the prompt of “connect.” The characters, called globetrotters in Leagues of Adventure games like Leagues of Cthulhu, form relationships with a patron or patrons, with allies and followers, with contacts, and with the people they travel the world to meet. Their journeys across their slowly shrinking world forge connections of communication, culture, and care which matter. Their stand against the weak-souled thugs and bootlickers of villainy extends a hand for those just coming around to see the fight for what it is a chance to join in, and for those trapped in the lies of the parasites who see themselves as kings and predators to pull themselves free. In a game of cosmic horror played to see through the eyes of its characters, the connections we make in and out of that game are one magic of play.

Each character is a bridge in time between the dwindling past, the endless present, and the future being formed each passing moment. Each passed torch of understanding, earned wisdom, cherished memory, effective tactic, insightful strategy, and foundational philosophy connects the possibilities of the past to the realities of the present and the potential of the future so that each separate bridge is a strand in a vast web of connections – none of which ever need to be lost if we remember to reach out a hand and to accept the hand reaching toward us.

Our games are words, imagery, expressions, and memories, bound in camaraderie and fueled by chance and creativity. They are fragile and easily lost and tossed about by the winds of circumstance… unless given weight by the connections we make along the way.

See you tomorrow for Day 30: Experience