Harbinger of Chaos (Godbound)

 Last night seemed to be the climactic finale of the ongoing Godbound game. I have some thoughts.

The previous session ended with a couple PCs and a shadowy person in the special chamber with access to divine realms and their vacated thrones (in the campaign, the gods were sorta kicked out of their positions, making things up for grabs). Once PC had already claimed a throne. All the others were waiting outside.

At the moment the session ended, no one seemed aware that the shadowy figure was Beryn, big-bad threat of the campaign. This is where I feel weird about things, because that little detail came up OOC and it changed everything.

If the PCs had been aware at the time, they probably would have started a fight outside the chamber when they saw him. That didn't happen. But suddenly because the players were aware, they wanted to be able to plan before the conflict (with downtime glossed over previous) so they could go into the next session guns-blazing and as prepared as possible.

In my mind, this felt like all the players suddenly metagaming. And the GM didn't oppose any of this - I think he may have kind of wanted to get the confrontation too, but didn't convey anything that would have sparked it previously, so allowed it to develop this way.

And I'm not innocent either. I tried to limit myself to "okay, what if Kara realized this is Beryn at this very moment" instead of playing as if I knew he would be there. But if I had genuinely picked up ICly where things left off, Kara would have no reason to suspect him. Maybe if he had been described as looking or sounding like Beryn, but that hadn't come up.

So the intervening week between sessions was very uncomfortable for me as some of the players were planning the hell out of things and I was trying not to get sucked in too much.

In the end I came up with actions for my character that 1) didn't rely much on the back-RP, 2) fit the character, 3) were personally satisfying. I still wish things had played out a bit more smoothly. Even an in-game hint that this figure was Beryn or we recognized him would have made the shift more organic.

I also feel a little awkward that Kara's first act upon claiming the throne of 'Anarchy and Bloodlust' was able to fully pacify Beryn and end the ongoing fight. I can see how godly power could trump not-quite-deity godbound, but I expected he could spend effort to resist or something. Granted, if the fight had played out in full, it might have lasted another session or two, so that may be the better outcoming OOC, but some people planned a lot (too much) and I hope it didn't feel to them like I stole their thunder.

So now it sort of feels like campaign epilogue time. And things are still a bit awkward. Seraphiel, being first to a throne, gets to dole out godly portfolios to petitioners new and old. Kara gets to play (devil's) advocate against them, but isn't the one making the choice. So rewriting the Cylorod pantheon is up to campaign players. I'm not sure how much bearing that will have on anything. I know there's a future-set game lined up, so it change the pantheon names for that, but being Starfinder it should focus less on the gods of the setting.

Kara gets to be goddess of Chaos and... well... Murder at the moment. I'm a little torn. Night or Shadows are things she would actually prefer to Bloodlust-turned-Murder, but as a player I see some ironic appeal in having the character deal with an aspect she doesn't necessarily want. Someone who, at least in her mortal life, hasn't killed anyone becoming a patron to assassins is kind of an interesting idea. Either way, I don't expect to really be playing her past this point, so the decision may be academic, but it's still on my mind.

Other players are making pitches for their characters to take up certain roles in the pantheon. I suspect Seraphiel will favor companions from the campaign over the previous deities, but we'll see. I'm put off my one particular player's behavior - things don't instantly cater to her, so everyone just MUST be out to get her. This isn't new, though. And I sort of understand where such feelings come from. My gut reaction, though, is always along the lines of "I'm too old to deal with this shit and you're too old to be acting this way. Show a little bit of empathy over egotism and maybe things will work better for you." Ugh.

So Kara had a good run. She managed to be perhaps my most chaotic-neutral character. She was perfect for me in this campaign, letting me focus on the good and gloss over any flaws.

Thank you, birb!