History Main / CosmicChessGame

** The E3 trailer for ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsIII'' has young versions of [[BigBad Master Xehanort]] and [[BigGood Master Erasqus]] playing chess in this manner. Close examination of the pieces shows they have symbols corresponding to various characters the two of them haven't even met yet.

This is a subtrope to DivineConflict. Indeed, it might overlap with CombatByChampion to prevent the gods from duking it out themselves. Gotta maintain the BalanceBetweenGoodAndEvil, you know? Contrast ChessWithDeath. HumanChess is this on a much lower scale.

* Some of the more cynical inhabitants of the ''WebOriginal/OrionsArm'' universe think the [[DeusEstMachina archailects]] are doing this to modosophont life for their own amusement.

* In ''VideoGame/BlazBlue'' all the heroes seem to be controlled by Rachel Alucard or Jubei ([[spoiler:since they're all some combination of Jubei's students, Rachel's "servants" or Kokonoe's subordinates. Or are friends thereof]]) in some roundabout way while all the villains appear to be manipulated by Hazama and Relius Clover ([[spoiler:mostly because they're being [[ForcedIntoEvil extorted]], {{brainwashed}}, {{More Than Mind Control}}led or {{Mind Rape}}d]]). The few exceptions are Arakune (completely insane and almost driven entirely by instinct), Carl Clover (who has his own business with his father), and Bang Shishigami (who's in it to promote [[JusticeWillPrevail JUSTICE]]). Amane Nishiki dabbles in this because he mostly pursues beautiful things (and people), but is also tied in because he adheres to the code of [[spoiler:strict, non-interfering Observance]].[[spoiler:Becomes increasingly complicated when the BigBadDuumvirate between Yuuki Terumi and Hades: Izanami is introduced, with all villains playing off and occasionally directly fighting each other. Some characters' lives are also of cosmic importance because Master Unit: Amaterasu refuses to leave them alone -- and she has grievances with her brother Susano'o as well...]]

*** The ''Literature/Oathbringer'' indicates that the Shard Cultivation is also present, and likely actively working against Odium.

* The gods of ''Literature/GoblinSlayer'', specifically Truth and Illusion, are TabletopGame players: the setting of the story is just one of the many campaigns they have played. It's implied all decisions made in ''Goblin Slayer'', be it good or bad, heroic or villainous, are the result of mere dice rolls. Furthermore, it's hinted that the alternative for this trope is all-out war; attempting the latter a second time will really destroy them. The titular Goblin Slayer is unusual in that his determination and CrazyPrepared nature means that the gods' dice rolls cannot directly affect him, meaning he is effectively ImmuneToFate.

* ''ComicBook/TheMightyThor'': Thor once saw all Asgard asleep, except for his father who was playing chess with a foe. He goes off to the foe's realm to cause trouble and disrupt the game. Sif stops him, and he learns that if he had succeeded, Odin would have forfeited the game -- he has acted as the enemy's piece. Fortunately, the game ended in a draw. The idea comes up again in the ''ComicBook/OriginalSin'' tie-in miniseries ''The Tenth Realm'': [[spoiler:Odin's imprisonment of [[ComicBook/FearItself the Serpent]] in Asgard is represented as a game the two of them are playing, with Odin always winning. When Loki comes to get Odin's assistance, Odin's forfeiture of the game frees the Serpent.]]

* In ''Fanfic/ChildOfTheStorm'', Doctor Stephen Strange uses chess metaphors from time to time, but is basically playing Cosmic Solitaire, making sure that events go the way he wants them to -- and as a mixture of {{Seer|s}} and TimeMaster thanks to [[spoiler:the Time Stone]], he has a lot of scope to make that happen. He actually ''engineers'' an absolutely ''colossal'' GambitPileup [[note]] Put it this way: it's so large that it has ''[[GambitPileup/ChildOfTheStorm its own page]]'' -- literally the ''only'' work to have that distinction[[/note]], and pretty much everything that happens is due to his manipulations, or due to attempts to evade them. His only known limit is that he admits he can't deceive four of the seven Endless at once[[note]] [[ExactWords Which isn't to say he can't manipulate them, just that he can't hide what he's doing]] [[/note]]. Really, this is not much of a limit -- there's a ''reason'' this version of him was a member of the The Omniscient Council Of Vagueness before that page got cut.

* ''Film/JasonAndTheArgonauts'' are watched, challenged and aided by the Gods in Olympus, who plot their movements on a game board.

* In ''Literature/{{Animorphs}}'', the heroes are guided by [[BigGood The Ellimist]], while [[GreaterScopeVillain Crayak]] is behind the Yeerks and other adversaries. They're both godlike beings who've AscendedToAHigherPlaneOfExistence. The reason they're doing this is because they're so morally opposed that they ''would'' be fighting one another, except that as they currently exist, if they tried to fight each other directly it would probably mean the end of all creation, which neither wants. The last time they ''did'' fight physically, they took out entire star systems until they both ran into a black hole, leading to the aforementioned AscendedToAHigherPlaneOfExistence. So, they've agreed to a game of manipulation and guidance, with each bound by inviolable rules (not that both don't try to cheat).

*** The Sequel Series ''Literature/WaxAndWayne'' seems to be following a similar path, as the god [[spoiler:Harmony]] guides the Wax, Wayne and company where they're needed. Unlike how this trope typically plays out, Wax is, especially in the second and third book, entirely aware that [[spoiler:Harmony]] is using him to fight his enemies. The rival god has only been referred to as "Trell", although the exact nature of this conflict isn't totally clear as of the third book.

** Incidentally, Terry Pratchett was an avid tabletop gamer himself in his youth, and apparently a few of the early novels contained plot elements derived from ideas he originally came up with for campaigns. (The Luggage, for example, was a HandWave for how an adventuring party got their loot out of the dungeon.) It's probably best not to think too hard about the metafictional implications of this, particularly since the trope has come full-circle with the release of ''TabletopGame/{{GURPS}} Discworld''.
* ''Literature/FafhrdAndTheGrayMouser'' have their lives often controlled by their sorcerous advisors, Ningauble of the Seven Eyes and Sheelba of the Eyeless Face. Interestingly, Ningauble and Sheelba have more of a friendly rivalry than enmity towards each other.

* Creator/IsaacAsimov wrote a short story in which mankind manages to completely eradicate cockroaches from the planet... at which point the universe ends, because it was just a SimulationGame being played by two gods, where each player creates a species, and the winner is the one whose species survives longest.

* In ''The Aphrodite Inheritance'' (late 70's BBC TV series), ancient greek gods once again treat us as their playthings.

* In Literature/TheBible, the Book of Job concerns the tribulation and suffering of the virtuous and God-fearing Job who undergoes serious ordeals. The reason for this is that, effectively, God and Satan are having a wager to prove or disprove a point. Satan argues that it is easy to praise and thank God when all is going well, and Job is a wealthy man blessed with good family, abundant crops and healthy flocks. Job is then tested to destruction as Satan is allowed to take away his wife, children, prosperity, and finally his health, to push him to the point where he curses rather than praises God. Job and his family become the pieces on the playing table for God and Satan to pursue a divine-level disagreement.

* In ''VideoGame/BlazBlue'' all the heroes seem to be controlled by Rachel Alucard or Jubei ([[spoiler:since they're all some combination of Jubei's students, Rachel's "servants" or Kokonoe's subordinates. Or are friends thereof]]) in some roundabout way while all the villains appear to be manipulated by Hazama and Relius Clover ([[spoiler:mostly because they're being [[ForcedIntoEvil extorted]], {{brainwashed}}, {{More Than Mind Control}}led or {{Mind Rape}}d]]). The few exceptions are Arakune (completely insane and almost driven entirely by instinct), Carl Clover (who has his own business with his father) and Bang Shishigami (who's in it to promote [[JusticeWillPrevail JUSTICE]]). Amane Nishiki dabbles in this because he mostly pursues beautiful things (and people), but is also tied in because he adheres to the code of [[spoiler:strict, non-interfering Observance]].[[spoiler:Becomes increasingly complicated when the BigBadDuumvirate between Yuuki Terumi and Hades: Izanami is introduced, with all villains playing off and occasionally directly fighting each other. Some characters' lives are also of cosmic importance because Master Unit: Amaterasu refuses to leave them alone -- and she has grievances with her brother Susano'o as well...]]

* In ''VideoGame/DeadSpace'', Isaac is guided by [[spoiler:The Red Marker in the form of hallucinations of his dead girlfriend]]. Meanwhile MadScientist Dr. Mercer seems to be getting (un)holy visions from the HiveMind, not to mention the legion of Necromorphs it's sending to kill Isaac. [[spoiler:Ultimately though, both forces are enacting the collective will of [[EldritchAbomination the Brethren Moons]], the originators of both the Markers and the Necromorphs.]]

* ''VideoGame/HercsAdventures'' opens on a chess game between Zeus and Hades. The playable characters are the only pieces Zeus has left.

* The gods of ''Franchise/ShinMegamiTensei'' are always fighting to get humans to believe in them, because human belief is what empowers gods.

* The Grand Game in ''Franchise/TheFearMythos'' is implied to be one of these. The Fears are causing terror, making and breaking alliances with one another and ruining lives for the sake of a game they're playing against one another. Earth is the board and we are the pawns.

* Averted in ''TabletopGame/Exalted''. The Games of Divinity (played by the highest gods, the Incarnae, in the Jade Pleasure Dome in Yu-Shan) ''sounds'' like this, so the game goes out of its way to make it clear that it is not this trope; it has no effect on the lives of mortals and only affects whether it is night or day in Yu-Shan.

* In ''Franchise/StarWars'', Jedi and Sith are guided by opposing parts of the ''same'' entity, The Force. Which is given a {{Deconstruction}} and drives the primary plot of ''VideoGame/KnightsOfTheOldRepublicIITheSithLords''. [[spoiler:Kreia]] is manipulating ''you'' in order to destroy the proverbial playing board.

This is a subtrope to DivineConflict. Indeed, it might overlap with CombatByChampion to prevent the gods from duking it out themselves. Contrast ChessWithDeath. HumanChess is this on a much lower scale.

* ''VideoGame/{{Dissidia|FinalFantasy}}'' has Chaos and Cosmos doing this quite explicitly.