Harem Interaction

Supposing you were to entertain a player(s) idea of collecting an actual harem, and that the group as a whole either are in support or permit it. Whether these are political marriages, concubines, war trophies, or literal slaves or a brothel workers. Bear in mind these are adventurers who go on quests very often, but in general stay within the kingdom.

What are some potential challenges, dillema's or rewards to be had? How might the women interact with each other. How would you handle logistics of having a large group of women whether on the go or stationed at a home or a base while adventuring. Have you ever played a game with a harem or part of one?

One of the concubines gets jealous and poisons the pc

*poisons all the other concubines, then regularly doses the PC with a delayed action poison. The antidote is given after a sufficiently pleasing nights of passion, whereupon the next day she gives another dose of poison. She assumes total control of the PC's estates and becomes the new BBEG. With staggeringly good looks and a keen sense for social manipulation, she cannot simply be killed out of hand; the party will be branded criminals of the worst stripe. And besides, she's got excellent guards everywhere to protect her love in his 'time of weakness.'

The problem is that Harems were never intended to travel
Having one would imply the character has settled down.

So at the very least, the character would have to have some sort of stable residence.

Of course, being an adventurer, this would mean the character would be away allot, with all the complications that come from it.

It is perfectly possible that some casanova would try to steal a concubine or two from them
Or someone trying to abduct them.
This would of course mean the player would need to take care of their security, which costs aditional resources.

They would also need some income to just stay alive.

And then there is the issue of jelousy, or of ambitions, with some of the concubines wanting to be the favorite, or even the only one.

For an adventurer on the go, a harem is more trouble than it is worth.

that sounds kinda not fun like at all, and I don't mean like fun is a plague like that kinda kills whatever the fuck else was going on in the game now. like oops sorry guys can't go to stop a mad king poison will kill me if I don't fuck the right way. oh no sorry can't buy gear she has all the cash. oh look she hired sick ass guards so we can't even take her to task or we are the bad guys and I'll die in 2 days.

it's just sounds fucking aweful just retire the character with a timer. I mean what better way to shit on a character that can be fleshed out and had time and effort by both parties put in other than hey you have a leash of 2 sessions before they drop fucking dead.

I absolutely despise the image of a harem that has been built up by so many anime dorks. It’s been diluted into meaning, “I got a bunch of girlfriends” and nothing more.

Two of the wives turn out to be gay.

Have to agree with all of this.

If you have your party "retire" wealthy to set up shop in a city or castle or something and the play revolves around court/social intrigue, then, yeah, that might be fun to play out.

Keep the loyalty of your wives and encourage the bonding between them so they don't tear the household apart from within while also maintaining positive social relations in the community. (Which the wives would be interesting players in, if they're good at that sort of thing and loyal enough to you to act in tandem with you, rather than pursuing their own goals.)

Problem is, if the other players at the table aren't into that or the player who wants the harem isn't into it, it's not going to be much fun to maintain one in a way that would make sense. Best suggestion in the case of a party that wants to continue to freely adventure is for the dude who wants one to have a wife in different places and count on the different wives not finding out about each other or to find a pair of women into the idea of a triad relationship and aren't particularly fussed if their husband isn't around much.

‘Harem’ means ‘forbidden’, and refers to the harem being forbidden for outsiders. Only the enuchs and the sultan got to see any of the harem wives outside of state functions and other ceremonial occasions.
The purpose was to be absolutely sure any children produced by the harem wives were actually the sultan’s, to avoid any doubt of the designated heir’s legitimacy (the sultan choose his heir from among his chrildren, again to avoid issues of legitimacy.

How this would work for a mobile hero is a good question. Maybe the guy has a wagon or ship (or airship, or pocket dimension) where the wives and children live while he travels.

Remember lots of scheming, child murder and jockeying for being the husband’s favorite to keep things interesting. Add hot lesbian romance if that’s your thing.

And women who live close together tend to synchronize their periods - even modern science can’t explain why. Have fun with a harem full of bored, frustrated women with nothing better to do than plot and scheme all going aggro at the same time each month.

The players might also just have their own stronghold to return to after a good days/weeks of adventuring. Where they store all their loot and treasure. Possibly oculd have magical guards looking over the harem as well.

>die in 2 days.
No, she keeps you alive if you only sleep with her, did you miss that part?
(It's more suited to an NPC desu)

How would you guys make sex work?
I had my players do some strength, dexterity & constitution checks/saves and had fun describing the encounter.
>The young maid offers you a rather toothy cock sucking.
>Your fine dexterity has deeply aroused your mate.
>You don't last long in the sheets but the drow is very satisfied.
>You wake to a tiny pastry on your bedside.
I don't know what kind of gameplay rewards to give. Maybe inspiration (5e)?

>And women who live close together tend to synchronize their periods - even modern science can’t explain why. Have fun with a harem full of bored, frustrated women with nothing better to do than plot and scheme all going aggro at the same time each month.

The reason why modern science can't explain why is because it's a myth. One of the biggest studies to suggest that groups of women living together have their periods at the same time is an outdated one from the 1970s that used flawed models and fudged details.

In fact, more recent studies suggest when groups of women live together, their cycles tend to diverge.

I've had a game for all-female PCs, where they were all part of the Sultan's harem. That was actually pretty amusing, because each was fairly powerful in their own right and eventually talked another girl into joining.

The Sultan basically collected women with class-levels as trophies. (He didn't have any real power himself, but had a direct line to several Djinns.) Strangely, the girls never bothered to rebel even though that seemed like an obvious plot hook.

Was he:
Rich
Handsome
Not an Asshole

Those three factors have a huge effect

He was rich, but he was also a fat oily bastard. To be fair, he was stupendously fucking rich. As in, obscenely rich. He *was* smart enough to use his bound Djinn cleverly, however.

For the record, the PCs were an Elven Sorceress, an Aasimar Cleric, a Human Monk who wore a china dress all the time, and a half-Elven Summoner. Their collective Charisma (None had less than 16) could power a small country. For the record, I think the Monk was hottest.

I'm going to need some story time on this
and some more detailed descriptions

All right, since I'm here. All four girls were part of the harem of Sultan Rafeer of Shintok. The Sultan's rule was mostly unchallenged because of the bound Djinn his ancestor had slaved to his bloodline, which meant that every year he had access to a few Wishes which he mainly used for great landscaping projects. (Like creating oases.)

The Elven sorceress was actually the youngest member of the harem. She was a green-haired, pale-skinned (and very busty) elf from the North, who'd wandered all the way South and simply never decided to leave. She was actually kind of a spoilt Daddy's girl, but made up for it by being incredibly powerful.

The Aasimar Cleric was actually a (former) Cleric of Iomedae. She'd come South with a crusade, which was eventually defeated after a hasty alliance between the various caliphs and their elemental allies. She suffered something of a crisis of faith while being kept as a prisoner in the Sultan's palace, converted to the worship of Desna, and effectively went native. Basically a tall, blonde lady knight who tended to wear very poofy gowns in time with her mithril armor (It's hot in the desert) and still styled herself as not-quite-a-Paladin. Bustier than the Sorceress.

The Monk was actually a runaway from her monastery. She traveled a long way, won the annual tournament, and - when offered the use of a Wish, simply decided to stay on after she was seduced by the Sultan. She's pretty much the very concept of a seductive brunette who constantly wore silk cheongsams and qipaos, but had a very impressive martial arts regalia that mostly consisted of jade and mithril. Her fighting style was almost entirely based on acrobatic kicks, flips and so on.

(Continued)

I'll add that the Monk preferred to wear a jade mask whenever she went into battle. This was because she was very, very vain, and regarded her face as her fortune. This didn't mean she was any less lethal, however.

The last one, the Summoner, was an albino (and very gothy) half-elf who styled herself as a Necromancer. She'd been driven South after growing up as an outcast, then served first as the Sultan's Vizier then in his bed.

(I'll point out that all the ladies are Level 8.)

What I understand from this pic is that they had a horrible life with their husband. Since it's about conquest, I guess he married them after conquering their land.

>Remember lots of scheming, child murder and jockeying for being the husband’s favorite to keep things interesting. Add hot lesbian romance if that’s your thing.
And drugs. Lots of em.

Sounds comfy.

I'll note that these four girls weren't his entire harem, but they were his favorite (and the highest level). They'd formed a ruthless power bloc against the others, and while not all had a head for politics, they held their ground through their massive personal power.

The campaign actually started with them 'relaxing' with the Sultan when assassins burst in to kill him. The assassins were very, very unpleasantly surprised when they realized that the Sultan didn't need bodyguards: His harem *was* his personal guard, and they promptly butchered the assassins in short order. It turns out that the assassins had come for the key to the Sultan's vault, because he held part of a legendary artifact (the Rod of Seven Parts).

Distressingly, at this time, the power of the Sultan's bound elementals were also beginning to diminish. The problems were linked, and the girls decided to head off to find out why. So they took that part of the Rod, and set off for adventure. (Pic related, the Monk. NSFW.)

I'll spare you the entire story (Pic related, the Summoner) but ultimately, it turned out that there was a planned insurrection manipulated by demonic powers, intending to free the Demon Queen from bondage. Freeing her would unleash a storm unlike any other across the land, draw away the powers of the Elemental Courts, and basically break the powers of the Caliphs.

The girls tracked down the other parts of the Rod, and - after a sidetreck to steal a single precious vial of Sun Orchid Elixir - they eventually met the Demon Queen herself. A powerful Wizard actually planned to free her in order to exact change upon a realm he felt had fallen into stasis, and he pleaded for the girls to be 'heroes of a new order' instead of the 'pampered lapdogs of the Sultan, to be cast aside when he tired of them'.

They basically shrugged off his explanation and killed both him and an avatar of the Demon Queen, which led to the Rod being shattered into component parts and scattered across the Planes. Interestingly enough, they convinced a lovely desert Ranger who'd been their guide and supporter that she could live in comfort beyond imagining. After all four girls worked on her, she tentatively agreed to follow them back home.

Once they'd come home at last, they greeted their husband in the bedroom with the new 'toys' (Various magic items and equipment) they'd picked up along the way, as well as their new member. Then they had a lot of sex, and - presumably - lived happily ever after.

Anyway, for those who were curious - the girls basically acted like four best friends / sisters who all just happened to be married to the same man. Note that they weren't polyamorous (i.e. they weren't attracted to each other), they just all liked the Sultan. As the DM, I never could get a straight answer out of *why* they liked him, however. I think they just found it immensely fun / novel as a setup for once.

Also, the Ranger. Sorry, I misspoke earlier, the Ranger was actually the youngest member of the harem (About 18 - 19, I'd say?).

Thanks user. That was a good read

Small harems aren't just easier but better because you get to spend more time with each woman and less get neglected.

Thanks. This was good.

Now this is some comfy RP. Am jelly, wish my group could be this chill about anything.

How many of the players were actual women

Nah. Poisoning each other to death is unseemly. Only the pregnant ones get poisoned, and only strongly enough to cause a miscarriage.