Had an idea for what will probably be an RPG, but might also be a story. I was thinking about the old supernatural urban sitcoms, like
Bewitched,
I Dream of Jeanie and (despite the sci-fi trappings)
My Favorite Martian.
( Here's a brief digression, where I analyze the three shows and which one I like best, but it's not important for understanding my idea.Collapse )What I'd like is a conflict between potential individual power and widespread social power, an outcast minority that can fulfill fleeting personal desires, but can't easily escape their outcast status, because the mundane majority is overwhelmingly more common and much more judgmental about who they will allow "in". Since aliens and witches have been done to death, I want something lower key: slightly supernatural outcasts with innate powers that can't be denied, but that put a strain on their relationships.
What I came up with was "Evil Twins". Everyone has a spirit double, just as some folk beliefs suggest, but for some people, this spirit is free to roam, possibly useful, but possibly also a source of trouble. I imagine four types of twins:
- Dead Twins:
This is the bulk of humanity; their spirit doubles don't roam or do anything important, normally, and most people are simply unaware of spirit doubles, except as a superstition. - Chaotic Twins:
People with bad luck have twins that occasionally try to fulfill repressed desires, or get even with their physical half for repressing those desires. - Vengeful Twins:
Poltergeists and the like are spirit doubles that punish others for perceived slights. - Helpful Twins:
People with (mostly) full control over their twins don't have as many problems as those with chaotic or vengeful twins, but they often have less ambition, since they can use their twins to fulfill short-term desires.
Having a fully-functioning "twin" is like being able to teleport invisibly to another location. Normally, twins don't cause physical changes, they cause sensations, making people think they have been kicked, pinched, tickled, kissed. The right kind of sensation at the right moment can cause things to happen: people might stumble, get angry, get scared, feel good about the world. Sometimes, twins can have more of an effect, actually picking something up, becoming briefly visible, giving the physical twin brief flashes of sensation (clairvoyance.)
For a role-playing game, at least one player must have a character with a "Dead Twin" and one player must have a character with a Chaotic, Vengeful or Helpful Twin, and the two characters must have some kind of relationship they are trying to maintain. The supernatural events surrounding spirit twin activity places a strain on their relationship. For a story, I think I would concentrate on a married couple with one normal person (with a Dead Twin) and one with a Chaotic Twin, which neither person is aware of at first. This causes a few problems, and hilarity ensues. A long-lost relative with a Helpful Twin shows up to explain what's going on, and this puts pressure on the couple; the pressure increases when they have a child, and the child turns out to have a Twin, too, which will turn Chaotic or Vengeful unless properly taught... but this means their child will be an outcast. Doesn't it?
