To be a god

“Do you want to be a god?”

There I was, minding my own business, standing in the lobby area of the hotel at a con when this woman who I hadn’t noticed before looked expectantly at me. 

“Of course” I replied. 

Well, really?  How else was I supposed to reply to that question?

“Then come with me!” She said, and turned toward the game room. 

I sat down at a table with a couple of other players, and was offered my choice of a number of pre-generated characters, while at the same time being told about the game and its world.  We were all members of the same family.  Of the available characters I chose Caleb Marsh the Baron (least god) of Moths.  Much like myself, Caleb had been minding his own business on Boston’s Commons shortly after the end of the American war for independence when a being of great power came looking around for someone of great honor and nobility to take the mantle of the god of moths.  Caleb glibly convinced this being that he was just the sort of chap he was looking for.  200 years later Caleb found himself as the head of the Marsh Corporation, an immensely powerful multinational, a playboy jetsetter, and an apparently ageless god.  His best friend is an amoral ivy plant who he plays frequent games of poker with (they both cheat). 

For the next 3 hours the group of us encountered rival gods, and fought against a being that was trying to prevent our Imperator (patron greater god) from becoming.  One notable event included dueling to a standstill the regent of war (or battle?) much to her shock.  Caleb didn’t spend much of his godly power on developing a great link with my moths, he spent it on himself!  Later, using the resources of his multinational, he traveled not only across the world (it’s flat you know) but to another that hung from Yggdrasil to steal an extremely rare painting.  At the very end, as we were putting the conditions in place for our Imperator to be born we realized that the sun was shining from the wrong direction.  With only moments to go, both in and out of game, I spent the last of my power for the session into forcing the sun to shift to where I needed it.  Had this not been a one-shot, there would have been hell to pay with the regent of the sun, I’m sure. 

The game ended moments later, as we had to give up the table for another game, but our Imperator was safely born, and life would continue on. It was my first and last time ever playing Nobilis, and it was amazing.  I bought the book just as soon as my FLGS could get it in stock, devoured it, and then was completely unable to get anyone interested in playing it.  It’s still the most gorgeous role playing book I’ve ever seen, and I would love to someday play again.