Viewpoint What's your opinion on soulmates as a theme in roleplays?

[Seaquill]

Hello RPN,

I am looking to create a roleplay and was thinking about this. I think if done right it can be an interesting concept to work with, and I don't think it has to be finite to romance. On the other hand I can see where people find it stuffy or limiting. I am curious about how people here feel about it. What are your experience with roleplays involving soulmates? Do you like the them, why or why not?

 

[Steve Jobs]

Like anything else, it depends on execution more than premise for me. I haven't participated in a soulmate RP before but I think that there is potential as long as there are actual stakes attached to being with (or not being with) your character's soulmate.

 

[BriiAngelic]

While I’ve never done a soulmate rp before I do love anything that gives expectations in rps. Because like it or not the characters themselves are going to react to things because of how they perceive it. Someone who loves the idea will lean into it and suffer if they’re in a bond the other doesn’t want.
Some will hate the idea and do their best to disprove it or reject it perhaps even at the cost of their happiness. Each person has to take that concept / sensation / ideal and react to it daily. If they change their stance it could make for a fun and interesting character arc, or even outside pressures could be affected by its inclusion.

 

[Jannah]

It can work. Just depends how it's executed I think. It's one of those concepts that requires a lot of communication.

 

[EggB]

I think it's fun! But especially if there's a plot outside of it/surrounding it. I'm a sucker for interesting character relations, and that seems like a very interesting point of conflict to delve into
Also hello again seaquill! ^^

 

[apocalypse tv]

Like anything else, it depends on execution more than premise for me. I haven't participated in a soulmate RP before but I think that there is potential as long as there are actual stakes attached to being with (or not being with) your character's soulmate.

i totally agree with what's being said here - execution matters more than premise. the soulmates trope has been around forever and has been played out so many times - i think what's important is to do something interesting with it. personally, i feel like this kind of cliche is most successful when it's either a) subverted or b) brought to its most extreme logical conclusion! it's super interesting to start with a simple concept like "everyone has a fated someone" and really examine how that would cause friction and change not only to the characters themselves, but the wider world setting around them - the legal system, the societal concept of love, and even data privacy could come into play here.

so basically that's all just to say i don't think soulmates are limiting at all in an rp if you think/go about it in the right way. i consider such a sweeping, restrictive concept like that a boon because it gives you such a solid foundation to play around with & work around, world & character building wise.

 

[Idea]

While I think it has some potential, it also has a very big pitfall: By nature, it assumes that the characters need to have built-in chemistry. Now this isn't particularly hard to do if you have good knowledge of your partner's character, but it's all too common that character change, grow or expand in scope and complexity as the roleplay goes on, in some cases it is even only developed during the roleplay itself! As a result, just meeting this basic requirement, while simple on the surface, can actually not pan out if you're not continually paying attention to it, and even if you are it may end up feeling too artificial.

You could try to get around this by making a "soulmates but not really" type of plot, but like many twists that completely up-end the very concept a story is built on this can really be hit or miss and lose the people who were interested in trope played straight, who became invested in the pairing.

Like others have said, ideas such as these really depend on the execution and one could say the context. There could be a surrounding plot, or the story could be about how the soulmates come to realize they are soulmates, or about the implications of there being such a thing as 'soulmates' etc... That being said, I think most definitely the best way to go about it is to embrace it. Bring us the badass battles of a perfectly synched duo battle where they complement each other, give us the crapton of cheesy romance where the characters intentionally or accidentally just absolutely meet the other's needs, let us see pretend lovers realize how perfect they are for one another, give us mistakes in the system that lead the real soulmate pairing to meet each other but be 'assigned' to the wrong person officially etc...

Now admittedly most experience I have with this trope is rather 'ancient history' if you will, some 1x1s back when they were more romance-focused and my first group roleplay that I Gmed was a sort of soulmates RP that I took over (with permission) after the original GM couldn't run it anymore with pairings of yandere characters and 'victims'. Nonetheless, were my two cents for this discussion, I think if you want soulmates done right, you probably want A) to be sure the characters have and keep their synergy and B) to really embrace the notion that the two characters ARE soulmates, instead of trying to dance around it or just stating it without actually making the characters in such a way as for it to fit or dragging your feet.

 

[Edric Blight]

Ah soulmates. I can’t say I’m a huge fan of the idea but it’s always a cute guilty pleasure of mine I wouldn’t mind getting into from time to time. I’ve done various soulmate or soulmate-like RPs in my day and I’d even argue I’ve got a couple of them going now.

Bottom line is this- the idea of soulmates is highly unrealistic, at least to me. But, guess what? We’re on a glorious site called RPNation (short for Roleplay Nation, key word being “roleplay”). Is it unrealistic, cliche, and highly over done? In my opinion- yes! 100%! But in my mind, that’s completely ok!

The way I see it is we use roleplays to escape real life. So in my mind, I don’t care if the plot is unrealistic (to an extent and depending on context) or if whatever I’m doing is deemed “cliche” or “overdone” by what I like the call the “RPN Bourgeoise.”

Bringing it back to the original question tho, I think soulmate plots are ok, I have no problem with them. I typically wouldn’t prefer it over other types of romance, but I wouldn’t outright say no. But I do realize its MANY pitfalls but to those I say, as long as BOTH parties in the RP are loving it and enjoying it, then great! So what if the writing is “crappy” to you, or so what if it’s a “lazy” or “overdone” plot? (I use “you” in general terms, not OP or anyone in this thread or on the site specifically).

There’s definitely potential with soulmate RPs. Whether it works or not is based off of the players involved. It’s gotta work for all parties involved. This seemingly outrageous and unrealistic romance plot can TOTALLY work if done right, right meaning the right way by both members of the RP, not what’s seen as “right” by the general public, if that makes sense.

But I also must say, I do VERY MUCH prefer slow burns and building actual chemistry between the characters first before saying “ok! These two love each other forever because they’re soulmates!” Like I said tho, that’s not to say I am opposed to soulmates. I just find me (and most people I think?) seem to prefer the more slower and “realistic” if you will, chemistry building between the two potential lovers.

Did I really add anything to this conversation? Probably not. Did I ramble and not bother organizing my thoughts in this post? Yea, but I just thought I’d give my two cents on the topic of soulmates. Whether or not anyone reads or agrees/disagrees is fine. Everyone’s entitled to their opinion. But I did wanna get my thoughts down.

Bottom line is soulmate plots can be executed in so many different ways. There are good and bad but I say no matter how “stupid” or unrealistic it may seem, the most important thing at the end of the day is if the players are engaged with the story and enjoy writing. Lord knows my writing and plots are often shit, but I don’t mind knowing that both me and my partner are having a blast writing a silly little story.

So I guess, yea, I like soulmates, but they’re definitely not my go to and towards the bottom of the list of pairings I’d play.

 

[mishal]

I was never very interested in them, but the last high-stakes action story I did (lasted about 10 months) had some sort of cosmic soul bond as a background element between my character and someone else's. I ended up really liking it, because it kept tying back into recurring symbolism and it wasn't totally in your face. It was pretty subtle and just emphasized how the characters were like beacons to each other. I'd do another plot like it.