Something weird has happened on the way to the end of my current Forgotten Realms campaign. Granted, I'm not sure when that will occur, but it is in the offing, somewhere out there...
First, in a big, semi-random battle that occurred in the city of Iraiebor that my group found itself in, one of the players sacrificed himself to give the group the (he hoped) advantage over the monster they fought. The next character he rolled up is a decidedly different character. And while both characters he's played in the campaign have been mysterious, his new character has a very dark history. Along with this is a darker combat style. Not that any of this is a problem, but it seems this was the, intended or not, change of tone in my campaign.
As a quick bit of background, my current campaign involves saving Faerun (and the Forgotten Realms) from the 4th edition events from ever occurring. One of my PC's (who just returned to the game two weeks ago) is a diviner who has had visions of the future of the world from a very young age and has pieced together what the consequences are of the future, and that Shar and Cyric are behind the disasters ahead. What began with the group joining together under the banner of a neophyte Harper agent hopeful trying to find some potionmakers using shadow magic came to encompass a ranger dedicated to Selune becoming embroiled in the schemes of her goddess's greatest enemy, a paladin dedicated to Mystra, and a cursed elf seeking, well, everything. But with the ranger of Selune and the paladin of Mystra, the campaigned had a very decided "light" to it.
Then first, the aforementioned battle occurred. Followed, recently, by the player of the ranger of Selune (a character from the very first game of the campaign) telling me that he was getting tired of playing the character and had a new idea he wanted to try out. Without details, this new character is in more than a few ways the polar opposite of his current character. Enough so that a few of my other players who know what he intends to play have mentioned that they foresee that this character will be difficult to get along with. And while I don't necessarily see this as an issue (but am wary of this), I can also see the individual's who are concerned with this point-of-view. This new character is essentially described as a loner in the backstory the player has written. Difficult to get along with. Problems with authority. In fact, if this were an actual person, he'd be on a watchlist for becoming a mass murderer, if such a list ever existed. Now, I hope that the player uses the game (when the character joins in) to give nuance to the character, and that they show growth. Otherwise, I'm afraid that there's going to be a fragging in my game, to use a Vietnam War term.
Regardless of that, I have two players who have gone to the "dark side," if you will. So, I'm going to have to change the tone of my game to match as well. The endgame is still the same, stopping Shar and Cyric, but how to get there will have to change drastically. I have to go from heroic to anti-heroic, while still trying to keep the group together. It's like going from the Captain America to the Punisher. Am I up to it? Will it invigorate the campaign? I guess let's find out!
