Housekeeping

an Empty Spaces TTRPG by @tiiimezombie

v1.0.0

A game for friends to play over VC

Witches may be found in many places, such as a forest homestead or a city-skirting manor. Witches live alone - craving silence to work on magical mastery. Witches also tend to house one or more magical constructs that assist in the upkeep of Her domicile.

One of you will be The Witch, the rest are Her dolls. It should be obvious who is who.

The Witch/Dolls' Mistress should determine a task around Her homestead for a given doll to complete - something that may take 10 seconds to 2 minutes. She will not voice this duration. Tasks may include:

Ironing a dress
Dusting a shelf
Washing one or more dishes
Watering one or more flowers

For best results, a Witch must balance specificity of the instructions while trusting a good doll knows the heart of a Witch's command.

The doll closes its eyes and remains silent during that interval, imagines itself completing the task. The Witch should have an actual timer running to determine if the amount of time taken by the doll is sensible.

When the doll believes their task is complete, it should report back to the Witch. A Witch may ask:

clarifying details to confirm the task's completion was to Her standards
what part of the task was most satisfying
what flavor of tea it prefers
what task it would like to do next
why a task took much longer to complete than it should have
why the doll is speaking out of turn
(rhetorically) why the doll believes its excuse is worth hearing

Dolls that do exactly as well as expected receive reward of accomplishment itself.

Dolls that do well should be praised. A doll that does exceptionally well could be allowed a small break to be Still, granted an especially delightful clothing accessory, or have part of its body restored to newness.

Dolls that do poorly should be rebuked. A doll that does very poorly could be isolated, given tasks that will degrade its body quicker, or have its clothes downgraded to that of a lesser quality.

Principles:

A Witch is always correct. A good Witch loves each doll very much. A wise Witch will cater tasks to the demonstrated skill of Her dolls, but need not coddle them. A kind Witch may forgive a doll's errors when doing so would reinforce its bond. A Witch may call for details or assistance from a dolls while it is mid-task, but a just Witch will factor interruptions into a doll's later evaluation.

A doll's joy comes from following its Mistress's requests. A doll's hope comes from the Purpose a task provides them. A doll's peace comes from the brief Stillness its Mistress allows it between tasks.

Dolls cannot contradict a Witch. Dolls are not people, and use it/its/this one as pronouns. Dolls refer to their Witch as 'Mistress'. Dolls act with precision and grace; every attempt is their best, even in cases where their body fails them. Dolls do not speak over other dolls - this is rude and disrespectful to the Witch. A doll's speech is extremely polite and respectful. Some Witches have noted their dolls express disapproval through slight inefficiencies or uniform infractions, moreso than anything spoken.

Conduct:

The Dolls' Mistress may also have all dolls break for tea or another indulgent suspension of ongoing tasks. This is a welcome relief for all dolls to partake in the Mistress's presence and chatter idly about the homestead and/or (fantasy) world at large. Some Witches use the time to re-evaluate the importance of ongoing tasks and plan for what items need more attention.

A Witch's house is never fully silent. Ambient noises include the ticking of clockwork hearts, the clacking of high heels on title, the gentlest "awawa" in times of a doll's overwhelming satisfaction.

The Dolls' Mistress has final say in all things, including deciding when play has concluded. Her dolls cannot suggest something so above their station.

[ What is Empty Spaces? ]

Empty Spaces is a loose collection of archetype relationships. Archetypes such as Witches and Dolls and Moths and Angels and more. Angels being a Purpose-created being with an everpresent reminder of their authority's encoded conduct, for example. There are many stories I love about a "person" - a "human" - learning that they haven't failed to be human, it was just never on the table for them. They Become a doll - an object of beauty and value that serves someone who cherishes them. Empty Spaces is decentralized as a fanfic concept (unlike HDG for example), so authors can spin things their own way, and at the time of writing the website security cert expired so I don't really want to link it. All said, look it up yourself, maybe it hits you hard in the same way :).

Inspired by a multitude of Doll/Witch fanfics on Tumblr.