Idea Monarch Manor

[bastion]

It seems what I want for this doesn't really work for a group or even 1x1 rp.

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So I've got the basic idea for a roleplay group I want to run, but I'm struggling to lay the foundation.

The basic idea is there's this mansion in an isolated area in the modern day. It's got massive, lush gardens and is home to a wide variety of birds and butterflies, the monarch butterfly being the one it's named for. It looks like it's straight out of someone's fantasy, and those who work there soon realize that it just might be something magical.

What I'm thinking is the mistress of the manor is some kind of being, maybe a demon, maybe a god, who is able to reshape reality. She finds humans who will benefit the manor with their preference, while also being in need of a new love, and by working for her they slowly transform into their true selves, physically, mentally, and spiritually. Her guests are other fantastical beings disguised as humans, who will occasionally grants boons to the workers who earn their favors.

The things I'm struggling with are:

• How overt should the supernatural elements be?
  
  • The players will be informed that their characters will be transforming, but I'm not sure if their characters should notice it or if it should be the whole you don't question it kinda thing
  • In the very original version of this concept it was all out in the open once the humans were hired, maybe that would be better?
• What kind of events can I have to keep it from just being constant casual interaction?
• I'm sure there's more I just can't think of anything right now...

 

[Saurosian]

Answer these questions for yourself:

• What 'character arcs' can player characters go through in this setting?
• What is the vibe? I see two options here. One is a very warm story about self-actualization, growth, love and support - good vibes all around. The other is a bit more horrific: you're being transformed, against your will; sure, it's to make you more like your 'true self' but what if you don't want to be your 'true self'? What if you just don't want to give up control over who or what you are? Is the change less meaningful if it's supernatural in nature? I think you can still give this second story a happy ending but it opens up more opportunities for conflict - I'm not sure if you're looking for that sort of conflict, but if you are, it changes the vibe.

I feel like this roleplay will be very dependent on the development of relationships between your player characters. Maybe, once you've recruited them, you should get all your players to do a bit of one-on-one plotting with each other, to figure out what those relationships will look like at the start and where they might go over time?

 

[nerdy tangents]

Have you seen Encanto? Because it has a very similar vibe, and is a nice combination of good vibes and kinda dark topics.

• SUPERNATUAL - I think going the Encanto route here might be best. The magical nature of the mansion should be made up front in some way although not explicit. In the movie there is a candle that grants magical powers. In this case the guests will grant magical boons. I would say have the workers understand that the guests can grant miracles/blessings/gifts/whatever you choose to call the magic. But in order to have access to these boons you have to do something for them.
• I think the transformation should be more of a internal actualization. So in Encanto the family's gifts are all manifestation of their inner turmoil. And the gifts ebb and grow as the characters confront their inner traumas and become the best versions of themselves. So perhaps in this a gift is more of a catalyst for personal growth. So the transformation would be subtle (in that you rarely realize you are growing as a person until after the fact) but perhaps the gifts/boons/whatever offer a very obvious clue on what they need to work on.
• So this I can definately help you with once you get a bit more of the setting down. Off the top of my head this is a bed and breakfast type dealio? So things like luncheons, book clubs, parties, etc. would be a good place to start.

 

[Saurosian]

Have you seen Encanto? Because it has a very similar vibe, and is a nice combination of good vibes and kinda dark topics.

• SUPERNATUAL - I think going the Encanto route here might be best. The magical nature of the mansion should be made up front in some way although not explicit. In the movie there is a candle that grants magical powers. In this case the guests will grant magical boons. I would say have the workers understand that the guests can grant miracles/blessings/gifts/whatever you choose to call the magic. But in order to have access to these boons you have to do something for them.
• I think the transformation should be more of a internal actualization. So in Encanto the family's gifts are all manifestation of their inner turmoil. And the gifts ebb and grow as the characters confront their inner traumas and become the best versions of themselves. So perhaps in this a gift is more of a catalyst for personal growth. So the transformation would be subtle (in that you rarely realize you are growing as a person until after the fact) but perhaps the gifts/boons/whatever offer a very obvious clue on what they need to work on.
• So this I can definately help you with once you get a bit more of the setting down. Off the top of my head this is a bed and breakfast type dealio? So things like luncheons, book clubs, parties, etc. would be a good place to start.

^^I think this is a good way of going about a good-vibes route. Making the supernatural known up front is probably necessary if you don't want the RP to become a mystery/investigation with some spooky vibes. Mysteries and investigations are really tough to run.

Another thing to consider is how you can give your characters opportunities to face those catalysts and become better versions of themselves. That probably necessitates a bit more of a plot. In Encanto, the house is in trouble! The magic is fading! The candle is going to go out! So maybe the demon/goddess/whatever needs some help? Maybe something's threatening the idyllic magical relam she's preserving? Maybe by turning other people into their 'true selves' she is actually becoming less and less of her own 'true self' (overworking herself? a supernatural price to pay to maintain some cosmic balance?) and your characters will need to eventually team up to help her face her own catalyst and become her own true self! Just make sure you don't make the plot too focused on an NPC, or even on a location. It has to be about your players' characters above all else. The NPCs and the locations are just settings and objects for them to interact with to play out their own arcs.

But maybe you have a different plot. Or maybe it's very slice of life, and the catalysts just come about through interactions between the characters in their own relationships! Which again would require lots of relationship plotting before hand.

 

[bastion]

Okay, finally have some time to sit down and think.

Saurosian to answer your questions. I'm not really sure how to answer the character arcs question, since I'm not entirely sure what you mean.
As for vibe, I definitely want it be warm and good, focused on growth, love, and support. I imagine the transformation not just being from magic, but from the environment and resources the characters are given. It will definitely be more magical slice-of-life than anything else, so thank you for the tip about having the players building relationships ahead of time.

nerdy tangents I have not seen Encanto, but thankfully you've given me enough context that I don't feel lost about what you're talking about
I think you're right that it should be upfront about the supernatural element, especially to maintain the more wholesome vibe I want to go for. Anyone who is invited to work there is told about the magic. They'll also probably be told they may receive gifts from the guests, but it's not something they can ask for or seek out.

What I have in mind for the transformation wouldn't work as subtle, but would be slow. I'm picturing physical transformation into the body you're comfortable in (whether that just be changing physique and bio sex, or changing species), as well as truly overcoming trauma (working through it in a way mundane therapy isn't enough for), and having a life where you don't need to rely on meds for maintaining your health (whether it be managing depression, physical problems, or whatever.)
This definitely comes from me being exhausted with my own situation and wanting the escapism of a magic solution to these struggles, while weaving in realistic elements as well. For instance, the whole getting their true body. It's done through taking magic medicine that transforms the body in a way mundane medicine can't, but it still takes a year or so of taking the medicine for the transformation to be finished because if it were immediate it would be difficult to cope with the sudden change.

As for the setup, it's not actually a business, it's just that the mistress of the manner has guests over for various reasons. Some are "business partners" who stay while they work out deals, others are friends and acquaintances there to relax or do business in the area, that kinda stuff. I imagine sometimes the guests act up, and it's up to the headstaff (who've been gifted many boons over the years, as well as grown in power through their connection to the mistress) to handle them, since the mistress needs to devote all her magic to maintaining the grounds.

 

[nerdy tangents]

bastion so the first thing I would say is not to limit the types of transformations. As that seems to be a personal thing each player has to come up themselves.

especially as you are pulling from a personal experience of your own you don’t want to pigeonhole people into trying to recreate it who do not have your same personal experience.

(At lunch will continue my thought after I eat)

 

[nerdy tangents]

So to continue what I would do is have your players pitch what kind of issues their characters have that require magical intervention. I would be careful not to limit this cuz you don’t want to run the risk of sort of armchair psycho-analyze characters.

So let’s say the person wants magic to help them with their romantic relationships. The surface level gift could be making them more physically attractive. But this ultimately leaves them as unhappy and put in more and more unpleasant relationships.

The point of the transformation is to understand inner beauty. It’s not until they learn to view themselves as pretty/worthy/whatever their inner conflict is they are made happy.

Now that’s a physical issue but say the person is just anxious. Okay their gift makes say yes to anything. The idea being they always say no out of fear. But again it’s not as simple as just saying yes, they have to actually work out why they are so anxious. What is a reasonable fear and what is unreasonable.

That would be a bit more subtle and might reveal as time goes on.

The idea is people are given what seems a superficial fix to a deeper problem.

I feel unloveable so I become hot. I feel weak so I get super strength. I feel scared so I must say yes to new experiences.

But these are not addressing the core issues. They do however reveal what those core issues are through shenanigans.

 

[bastion]

nerdy tangents I see what you're going for, but I'm not going for double-edged gifts. I don't want the transformations and such to be about teaching them, I want them to be able helping them reach a place they couldn't normally.

So in the car if the person who needs to learn self-love, they'd be receiving magical help to overcome those negative thoughts constantly telling them they're unworthy of love. It wouldn't be a magical instant cure, just a supplement to aid them.

In the case of overcoming anxiety, it could be about helping the brain correct the chemicals it needs to produce or whatever goes into causing clinical anxiety, or helping work through the root fears.

The point is I want it to be about these characters receiving magical help to become their true self, without being held back by the limitations of mundane medicine and therapy.

 

[Saurosian]

I don't think I'll have much more to add to this conversation but I will definitely be following along as you develop this. Very interesting, because it strikes me that you're trying to minimize conflict in the roleplay, which is something that most roleplays rely on, regardless of their tone! So I will be very interested to see how you tackle this.

 

[bastion]

I don't think I'll have much more to add to this conversation but I will definitely be following along as you develop this. Very interesting, because it strikes me that you're trying to minimize conflict in the roleplay, which is something that most roleplays rely on, regardless of their tone! So I will be very interested to see how you tackle this.

Thank you for the help, you've done enough by helping get started!

And yeah I definitely need to think about how I want to bring in conflict beyond character interaction. I think there will be incidents with unruly guests but I'm not sure what else.

 

[nerdy tangents]

bastion so I think the big problem your running into is that you have an idea for a character you want to play and you have an idea for their individual arc, like how they get to fix their problems through magic and how that works through the mechanics of the story.

The problem is a group isn't just about one individual character. It is about making a setting that everyone can enjoy, and you're not really doing that. You are very much focused on what you want to get out of your own individual character's arc.

I think this might actually be better as a stand alone story that you write for your own personal catharsis.

 

[bastion]

nerdy tangents I'm not sure how you came to that conclusion from my last response. Maybe I worded things poorly, maybe I'm just not understanding what you're trying to convey.

Mostly I just don't understand how having magic therapy means it won't work for a group, but having superficial "fixes" to "teach" them lessons does.

I don't know, I'm gonna think about this more.

 

[nerdy tangents]

bastion A good example of this actually is the book Dreadnaught. It's a superhero story about a trangirl who is given a superhero mantle (basically it's magic) that transforms her into her "true self". She becomes a teenage girl with superman like powers and she's ecstatic. At first.

But it turns out being magically turned into a girl actually doesn't make her life all that much better. Her dad freaks out. Her mom doesn't know what to do with her. The other superheroes think she's a freak or a liability. Her best friend turns out to be misogynistic garbage. And also there's an actual plot that isn't important.

The point is she absolutely got her magical fix. She wanted to be turned into a girl and she got her wish. But in doing so she realized that her issues were a lot more complicated then just "I was in the wrong body."

That's kinda what I meant by having the magic fix the surface level problem first. If the character wants to transition, fine they can transition. Then have them face the fact that their entire life doesn't automatically get better just cuz one thing is different.


You are looking at this purely from the perspective of what you want to get out of the premise. That's not gonna work in a group because what you want isn't important. I have done any number of groups (and far more 1x1s) over the years. The first thing ya gotta learn is that the roleplay isn't about you. There will never be a way to make a narrative you want exactly how you want it. It's always gotta be something that other people can latch onto as well.

And right now it seems there isn't as much for other people to lash onto as there is things your trying to work out for yourself.

 

[bastion]

nerdy tangents thank you for the feedback. I didn't think I would be the only one this kind of angle with the magic would appeal to, but maybe that's because this is inspired by a rp I did with a partner in the past that, in retrospect, is probably pretty specific to our interests. I'll be putting this idea aside for now.

 

[nerdy tangents]

nerdy tangents thank you for the feedback. I didn't think I would be the only one this kind of angle with the magic would appeal to, but maybe that's because this is inspired by a rp I did with a partner in the past that, in retrospect, is probably pretty specific to our interests. I'll be putting this idea aside for now.

Yeah this kinda thing at absolute best is a 1x1 where both of you are in the same headspace, and even that's gonna be a difficult balance to find. For groups you generally want to go for the widest appeal possible. You don't want to generalize to the point of making the idea generic. But you also don't want to make something so specific only like two people are gonna be interested.