We got to the end of an arc last night and something my player said made me go yes! Basically he said that a lot of the game had gone soap opera with the focus on relationships and characters having beliefs about those. Yeah some of my favorite moments in the game could be classed as that: a brother fighting a brother because he tried to kill him earlier, a teenage daughter rebelling against her parent, a noble having to let down his lover in running away together for the good of the city, and two friends having an argument about honour.
So yeah I think next game if I do love these moments I kind of want to have a situation that would definitely push these kind of moments. But I’ve kind of pulling up blanks, to used to epic fantasy thinking.
So anyone got any Situation and Setting ideas that could push the “soap opera”?
That actually just sounds like every BW game I’ve played ever. My Dark Sun Dwarf Templar had a lover’s triangle that ended in a Duel of Wits that rewrote the other character’s belief. My gifted sorcerer had to stab his uncle to death for betraying his friends and then took his eyes for a sacrifice to an Old God of death and madness. My Samurai in Blossoms are Falling had a Duel of Wits to determine if he showed his affections for his cousin who was betrothed to another or if he was able to hide his true feelings. My Dragonlance half-elf mercenary just went home to talk to her mother and try to explain the time she spent fighting for the dragon army.
Like noclue said, if you point your character’s Beliefs at each other or at the same things/people you can bring the soap opera into any setting or situation.
However, you can’t go too far wrong starting with two powerful families vying with each other for power and influence and then just letting the players fill in all of the details about the relationships and plans that run counter to the families wishes and infighting among the family. Add in a bunch of sex and that is pretty much the plot of most of the major soap operas I can think of as well as several Shakespeare plays.