Really silly idea i had. Shipping Quest! i.e. where you have a bunch of bored ROBs
forcing recruiting you to help them bring their OTP to fruition. The only problem, is that the ROBs can't agree on exactly
what pairing is the best. Thus, the ship you choose and the methods through which you brought it to fruition may well result in different reactions from different ROBs, resulting in you obtaining buffs and debuffs for your next matchmaking attempt.
The two things the ROBs do agree upon is that you're not allowed to solve the non-romance plot-threads. Like, if you get a mission to hookup, say, Shinji and Asuka from NGE, pre-first-kiss-scene, you are not allowed to solve the SEELE or the Gendo plotlines. As in, you'll probably affect it, but you're not allowed to solve it, and perhaps you may be rewarded/penalized by some of the ROBs based on the degree to which you derail those other plotlines.
Well, sort of; if the mission is to hook up, say, Sakumo and Tsunade pre-canon, than you'll probably canoodle canon up the rosebud; but that's fine as long as you don't suddenly derail the Great Wars, or Zetsu's whole scheme too much by the time the mission ends (and it ends when you succeed in accomplishing your objective).
The second is that you should try to avoid changing personalities too much. So unless it's an AU, no edgy Naruto or suave Harry. About the pesky character flaws standing in your way... Sure, you can 'fix them' -- not through mind-control, but through a plethora of schemes that can range from a curse that only lifts when the character learns their lesson, or through inserting yourself as a short-term foil or antagonist or mentor, or whatever else QQ cooks up. So, like, if you want to fix, say, Asuka's hedgehog tendencies (to borrow from the show's metaphors), then that's fine. On the other hand, do try to keep core character traits: so if, say, Snape and Lily, then I expect that his acerbic nature will can never quite be curbed, and his cruelty and pettiness can only be contained or directed, not removed.
And i suppose it would only make sense to have at least one ROB wanting to keep the characters' personalities as close to cannon as possible (is that logical? not really; but it does serve as a way of keeping the players in check)
The goals can range from 'get X and Y to kiss' to 'get X and Y to get in a steady relationship' to something entirely lewder
, like interdigitation. The methods... I'm leaning towards a 'cards' system, with cards being along the lines of 'create and inhabit an adult OC on the mission starts', or 'create and inhabit an important character's OC relative', and the settings can range from pre-canon, day 1 of canon, or pre-post a certain point in time (oriented by episode, or chapter, or book...). Naturally, a time-limit should be implemented. Cards can be obtained from pleasing specific ROBs, creative/amusing solutions, occasionally from crit-rolls (i.e. if one of your actions succeed spectacularly), or completing hidden objectives (which will be hinted at, but not explicitly stated).
Cards can be reusable (but with a cooldown), or have a one-time use; i expect that most of the more powerful cards will be one-time to keep things interesting (for example, i imagine there can a powerful 'bolster self-confidence' that you may use to, for example, get Hinata to approach Naruto earlier, with the things acting less as mind-control and more like a mix between inspiration, moods, and undetectable drugs), with options of being able to obtain them again later (for instance, a rare/legendary card that make x copies of one card you have used in the past).
As for the difficulty... Well, I suppose that one could either go through every fandom and assign a value for every pairing (which is horribly impractical), or one could just assign a difficulty level, which i think can act as either a malus for all rolls on the mission. Then again, say, helping Ozpin and Salem make up during the start of RWBY season 1 is definitely going to be much, much harder than, i dunno, hooking up Ruby and Jaune during early stages of the show, and that should probably be represented in the mechanics to avoid accusations of the QM being arbitrary. The last thing anyone wants is to ignite a shipping war in the threads
Addendum: well, outside of the the ROBs -- they can't agree, and so, those shippers have waged war for aeons once they figured out how to send people/entities to a fictional universe. Their compromise is to make you hop into the same universe -- or derivatives of it -- several times independently if they (well, QQ really) wish. By that i mean, for instance, you can hop into Harry Potter and hook up Snape and Lily, and then a few missions later come back to a canon HP where Snape will still be wallowing in a cesspit of misery and regret, while Lily will be nine feet under, for you to try hooking up, i dunno, Luna and Neville.
And I'm sure that if someone writes a good omake on what happens once the players have left, then you can reward them by allowing them to hop right back in -- so long as the omake is high-quality and plausible.
Now, the ROBs are looking to be entertained, so creative solutions are generally encouraged and rewarded, though i think that the personalities and values of the ROBs should still play a role, just to keep things spicy and predictable.
Anyhow, due to a lack of time (and knowledge; i don't really consume much new material nowadays, and back when i did in my teenage years, i was kinda crap at character analysis) i highly doubt i will ever get to running a quest this... ambitious. Still, it was a funny idea, and if someone wants to chat about potential mechanics or to give it a try running it themselves, feel free to do so
