Hi all! Just gotten back into ACNH after a while absent. I used to use the website below to view villager layouts to find where their "free" 2x1 and 1x1 spots were, to help with furniture gifting. Looks like it's down now, or at least I can't access it, but just wondering if anyone knows of anywhere that holds that information in its absence?
I’ve been running a campaign for my 4-player table of close friends for 2 years. It’s a 1-20 high fantasy setting, and so far the table has enjoyed it. This post concerns the last session we had, though.
One of my PCs was the chosen of a God of Fear and Doubt. They got very close over their time together, until campaign events forced them to separate. Last session was their reunion.
This God is, intentionally, a flawed NPC. I try to write my Gods as consequences of their domains, and one of the things that came up in their argument was his lack of true action during the separation. Granted, he tried to reach out to her but wasn’t able to reforge their prior mental bond, and pursued some dead ends for problem the PCs are currently helping this group of Gods solve, but it’s not unfair to say that he could’ve done more to get back in contact with this PC or solve the issue, especially considering the things the PC has been through in the meanwhile.
The reunion did… not go well. He failed to justify himself, as he has indeed been overthinking his actions, and now whatever bond was there has been broken down to her viewing him as a tool for power despite becoming his chosen again. In fact the whole session became an inflection point of this PC and the party as a whole disavowing the Gods due to them both relying on the players to do their work, and in the case of some Gods, not respecting them enough for it. It’s an interesting plot-line to follow and my players role-played it really well.
It’s also… not what I intended.
The God is a flawed character, but I feel like his lack of justifying his actions was my mistake as a GM for not preparing what these Gods were doing in the players’ absence enough. Similarly the Gods not taking enough actions against the BBEG in past is a theme, but these Gods specifically were meant to be the ones trying to help.
In summary I feel like my GM errors - bad rp explanations, lack of foresight and planning of NPC actions - have influenced the meta text in a way I didn’t intend to the point of breaking down a prior close in character relationship. My general fear I’m bad at roleplaying NPCs has also not helped the situation, and my confidence in portraying the world has been knocked.
I checked in with the player that had the reunion about how he found the session as it was important for his character, and his stance was that it’s an unexpected direction for her but he’s far from disappointed. I feel like telling my table my own disappointment would invalidate what was, for them, in character rp with consequences for their in world opinions. Otherwise my first step so far has always been “talk to the table about my concerns”.
Maybe I’m bad at handling rp conflict when I’ve not planned it, maybe it’s that I have doubts about my own rp already, or maybe it’s just hard to accept a direction I didn’t plan for (beyond plans not surviving the players, but whole campaign tone wise). Regardless, I still feel a knot in my chest today that I can’t dismiss over how I handled the session and how I can… unpick it to respect the PC actions and opinions while trying to remain true to the NPCs I intentionally wrote as flawed but “human” rather than… just plain wrong. Our next session is in 2 weeks and it feels like I’ve broken the pre-established tone beyond repair, and I’m struggling to come to terms with it emotionally.
