After seeing The Pirate Queen on Broadway, I had this idea. Back when that was set, a marriage was performed by tying hands together. There was a 'trial period' for marriage. If either person decided the marriage was not working out, they could say 'I release you' within the given time to end the marriage. It was like a divorce, but it didn't really count like one.

So, I thought: what if our world was like that? I was considering attempting to develop it into an RP, but I wasn't positive of how to do that. Does anyone have any ideas or thoughts? If you think its a dumb idea, feel free to say so. Its just sort of something I'm thinking about.

I believe that your idea would make for an interesting role play conversation piece but I don't really see it as being the basis of a strong plot. I would save this idea and use it in a complete role play.

I agree with Grim Lady that it is not strong enough to be a whole RP. Oddly enough, we have that tradition on the board I Admin on Dovinia (or at least we are suppose to, haha. We have a mod who is developing the area of our board that deals with Culture etc. She brought it to our attention and we thought it was a great idea.

It's called Handfasting and we found info about it regarding Ireland (where are RP is set). We have a couple due to marry and it was to be part of that plot. The trial marriages last a year and a day and then you renew it or not.

This quote above is from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Handfasting

So anyway, you could work it into the cultural life of your RP.

As those before me have said, that alone wouldn't make a strong plot, though it could contribute to much of the main drama.

Yes, Handfasting is the name given to marriage in Wiccan and Pagan religions, so perhaps you could base a RPG off of that genre, if that be your interest. It could be a strong plot, if developed correctly :)

I think it sounds very interesting, but I think if you were to make it thicker, more complex then maybe it would work as a RPG. Like what if it was about parents having their teens married like that as some sort of way to control them. Like once they were tied, they had no will of their own. The whole plot of the RPG could be of them trying to escape and have their own rights and freedoms again.

I knew there was a proper name for it. :)

Thanks for the feedback. I'm considering the idea of using that as a part of a bigger plot. I've just started a new board, however, so my time is now dedicated to that. :)

Again, thanks, everyone!