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The Macro Power Fantasy Quotient (MPFQ) Framework ​

1. Purpose ​

The framework provides a language to define the level and feel of a power fantasy, allowing creators to precisely calibrate the narrative's feel. The goal is to describe and control the levers that make a story feel satisfyingly empowering to its target audience. The Macro version specifically describes the feel of the entire story, taking into account multiple elements holistically. The stronger elements should dominate but the smaller elements contribute. It's important to be intentional in deciding your overall feel and how the elements read to the end user regardless of the number of elements and whether they contradict.

2. 7 Axes ​

Each axis is rated on a 0-4 scale.

2.1. Type ​

  • 0: None: No real power or anti-power fantasy.
  • 1: Neutral: Fundamentally fair power, the MC is able to apply his strengths to get fair outcomes.
  • 2: Special: The MC is extraordinary in some way, his strengths are "cheatcodes" which he can use to dominate his enemies.
  • 3: Apex: The MC is at the top, and dominant with incredible ability, position, or birthright.
  • 4: External: The MC is put into a very privileged position, the system is setup in such a way that it's inadvertently helping him without him needing to interact with it. He doesn't even need a cheatcode because the enire game field is already heavily imbalanced in his favor.

2.2. Reward ​

  • 0: Rejection: The setting actively punishes or hates the MC.
  • 1: Indifference: The setting is largely unaware of or unimpressed by the MC.
  • 2: Grudging Respect: Key figures acknowledge his power but resist or resent him for it.
  • 3: Standard Recognition: People are naturally drawn to the MC; potential love interests desire him, others want to follow him. The system gives him the appropriate rewards (eg medals, promotions, recognition).
  • 4. Worship: The cast sees him as a godlike figure. His actions are met with devotion to the point of self sacrifice, and his desires are fulfilled with enthusiasm, even by former enemies. Social structures arise to sanctify his status. The plot generates creative and special narrative rewards.

2.3. Agency ​

  • 0: Reactive: Can only react to events; possesses no meaningful agency.
  • 1: Struggle: Can only achieve goals through emotionally costly and uncertain effort.
  • 2: Strategic: Can reliably succeed through clever planning, resource management, and calculated risk.
  • 3: Dominant: Can overcome most obstacles with overwhelming force or influence. Failure is temporary.
  • 4: Effortless: The narrative reshapes itself around the protagonist's desires. Their will is effectively reality.

2.4. Focus (Narrative Pervasiveness) ​

  • 0: None: Not a power fantasy or it's irrelevant to the overall narrative.
  • 1: Incidental: The power dynamic occasionally influences events but is not a constant presence.
  • 2: Thematic: The power is a recurring theme, but many scenes can be understood without its context.
  • 3: Pervasive: Most scenes are directly shaped or colored by the power dynamic. An understanding of the power is necessary to fully appreciate the majority of the narrative.
  • 4: Totalizing: The story is indivorcible from the experience of wielding power. Even if the story is about something else and the power fantasy is in the background, it is influencing every aspect of the story and making the reader feel very powerful.

2.5. Selfishness ​

  • 0: Absolute Good: The MC is an absolute hero with no doubts about his righteousness.
  • 1: Righteous: The protagonist is overall good, any negative impacts are glossed over and good intentions are prominent.
  • 2: Ambiguous: A genuine mix of selfish and noble motives. The narrative does not cast judgment.
  • 3: Rationalized: The protagonist's cause is self-serving or ambiguous, but he (and the narrative) creates sophisticated justifications for his actions.
  • 4: Villainous: The protagonist is explicitly selfish, cruel, or transgressive. The fantasy is in the freedom of total disregard for morality.

Narrative Impact: 3 and 4 are more power fantasy they frames the MC's power as the source of morality itself, rather than being subservient to the community. Being right is not what gives power, but the more absolute "I have power, therefore I define what is right." They have the freedom to construct their own morality from selfish intentions.

2.6. Challenge ​

  • 0: Insurmountable: The challenges are designed to break the protagonist (Anti-Power Fantasy).
  • 1: Existential: Enemies are competent and pose a real risk of failure.
  • 2: Formidable: Challenges require the full and clever application of the MC's power and intellect to overcome.
  • 3: Showcase: Obstacles appear credible and dangerous but are ultimately designed to be satisfyingly overcome, making the protagonist look impressive and powerful.
  • 4: Performance: "Challenges" are trivial in difficulty but high in narrative value. They're built up to be emotionally worthwhile, but fundamentally they exist only to be comically or effortlessly swatted aside to demonstrate the MC's overwhelming superiority.

2.7: Realism & Relatability ​

This measures how alien the power fantasy feels. Note that this is not a measure of how realistic and fantastical a setting is, but how specifically about how the power fantasy feels. If it feels pandery, like the elements are a thin excuse to set up the power fantasy, or if it's part of a world that feels human.

0: Absurd: The power fantasies are nonsensical and feel like a joke. 1: Alien: The power fantasies are alien and excessive. 2: Obvious: The power fantasies are easily seen-through as setup for audience enjoyment. 3: Natural: The power dynamic arises from naturally from unrelated situations and systems, and don't appear to be just there for fanservice. 4: Grounded: The power dynamics are fully conventional and real. You can find this power in our world.

3. Calculating and Using the PFQ ​

The final PFQ score is a holistic assessment out of 100, not a simple sum. The axes are a diagnostic tool to understand a story's specific "flavor."

The Element Power Fantasy Quotient (EPFQ) Framework ​

1. Purpose ​

A power fantasy narrative are made up of power fantasy elements, a high MPFQ story generally have multiple elements in play at once. eg, a protagonist can be rich, have super powers, AND be part of a superior race. All of these at once can add to the power fantasy feeling of a story, but each can be justified individually.

2. 3 Axes ​

Each axis is rated on a 0-4 scale.

2.1. Privilege ​

  • 0: Hindrance Engine: This isn't a privilege at all.
  • 1: Neutral: No generated edges/hindrances; relies on personal effort (e.g., skills in a fair system; no buffs, no boosts).
  • 2: Special: The system has exceptions for you, granting you an advantage not available to most (e.g., noble birth, extraordinary beauty, rare talent, wealth, superpowers).
  • 3: Apex Dominance: The protagonist possesses a supreme, advantage within a recognizable system of power. Others are devoted to him because of what his power can do for them or to them. Their loyalty is a rational response to his supreme capability. Examples: King, CEO, Most popular kid in class.
  • 4: Ontological: The MC belongs to a group of people with a vast, creative, and unusual power differential to the lower group. The situation makes the his class the object of desire for validation and favor from the lower group. He doesn't have to do anything for people to desire his validation. eg, master/oppressed group, savior from problems, granter of salvation/boons, etc. Be careful that it's legitimate desire for favor and love from the MC and not being used by a golddigger. It's about the system being structured to make willing, personal devotion the logical response from others.
    Tests For Level 4 ​
    • Must not be unique to the protagonist (multiple people, or a whole race/class/group of people must have this privilege), no "chosen one"
    • Must be effortless, he must not be required to have any special achievements to deserve this privilege
    • Must seek his favor and validation, a choice or judgement on his part not an aura effect like a battery

2.2: Contrivance ​

This measures the perceived authenticity and structural integrity of the power fantasy. A lower score signifies a more contrived, less believable world. A "layer" is a link in a causal chain that explains the existence of a power dynamic. The more layers a world has, the more its power structures feel like an inevitable, emergent property of reality, thus reducing the feeling of authorial contrivance.

A multi-layer system can add crucial layers of history and bureaucracy. Power feels more grounded if it is codified, regulated, and part of a living, breathing civilization. A layer of social reality, of mundane process, makes the fantasy feel more real, not less. It removes the whiff of the author just anointing a "Chosen One" and instead makes the protagonist a legitimate participant in a world with history, rules, and consequences.

0: Absurd: The rules are nonsensical and feel like a joke. 1: Transparent: The world is a paper-thin excuse, transparently reverse-engineered to create the fantasy 2: Single Layer: The world relies on standard genre tropes (e.g., "The Chosen One" prophecy) without deep justification. 3: Integrated System (2-Layer): The power dynamic arises from a well-developed and logical system with its own internal history and rules. The system itself is the foundational layer. 4: Disguised (3+ Layers): The power dynamic is the emergent, rational outcome response to deeper, more fundamental, and impersonal situations. This multi-layered causality makes the system feel found, not given, preventing the sense of authorial contrivance and pandering. The power dynamic is an emergent property or a deliberate reaction to a foundational premise that is separate from, and indifferent or hostile to, the protagonist's personal fulfillment. The system providing the power was created for a purpose other than to simply grant that power. This causal misalignment is the "disguise," making the power feel like a natural side effect. ##### Tests For Level 4 - The devotional behavior is an indirect, structurally incentivized outcome. - The structural incentive itself is an indirect, structurally rational outcome of a more basic situation, and so forth, all indirectly rational outcome of situations that are basic. - The top layer, the premise, should stick to a conventional trope to avoid it being seen as contrived from the start unless the user explicitly asks for otherwise. Special exclusion: Do not suggest reality rifts, please no. - The power is not the point of the system; it's a byproduct of its separate, unrelated goal. - Test whether the causality is actually misaligned through the layers.

2.3. Focus (Narrative Pervasiveness) ​

  • 0: None: The power system is irrelevant to the story.
  • 1: Incidental: The power dynamic occasionally influences events but is not a constant presence.
  • 2: Thematic: The power is a recurring theme, but many scenes can be understood without its context.
  • 3: Pervasive: Most scenes are directly shaped or colored by the power dynamic. An understanding of the power is necessary to fully appreciate the majority of the narrative.
  • 4: Pervasive: Every narrative element—plot, character interactions, world-building, internal monologue—is filtered through the lens of the MC's power. The story is fundamentally about the experience of wielding that power.