Theme Ontology ☰

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what if I were in a tight spot theme

We imagine what it would be like find ourself if a predicament that goes above and beyond what would be normal to experience in real life.

Ancestors

speculative experience › alternate reality

Child themes (31)

facing a home invader, facing an extraordinary accusation, stranded without food and water, what if I became accessory to a friend's crime, what if I became separated from my parents, what if I became witness to a crime, what if I couldn't distinguish between my enemy and my ally but I had to choose between them, what if I couldn't trust the veracity of my senses, what if I fell into the clutches of a person with malicious intent, what if I got accidentally locked in somewhere, what if I got into trouble in a foreign country, what if I had only one day to live, what if I had to defuse a ticking time bomb, what if I had to endure eternal torment, what if I had to fight to the death, what if I had to have sex in order to save someone, what if I had to operate on myself, what if I killed someone by accident, what if I murdered someone in a fit of rage, what if I saw strange things no one else could see, what if I told the truth and nobody would believe me, what if I was at the mercy of a mad person, what if I was held captive and made an exhibition object, what if I was incapacitated and stuck in the middle of nowhere, what if I was injured and far away from help, what if I was somebody's pet, what if I were all alone in the world, what if I were socially isolated for an extended period of time, what if I were the last of my family line, what if someone dangerous was after me, what it is like to be buried alive

18 total · 9 choice · 8 major · 1 minor

Story	Level	Motivation
ahp3x18	choice	The elderly Englishwoman Mrs. Bracegirdle was dismayed to find that she'd accidentally locked herself in a corpse containing hotel room while traveling in France. She at first took the corpse to be a sleeping man and fretted over what might become of her reputation should she be discovered and news of her being found in the room of another man reach her hometown. After realizing the man was dead, she worried that she might be charged with murder.
columbo1971e10x01	choice	The fraternity brothers Justin Rowe and Cooper Redman hatched the following scheme to knock off their professor before he exposed them as the cheaters.
columbo1971e10x02	choice	The newscaster Budd Clarke told Wade Anders in no uncertain terms that he'd expose Wade for having made a porno film back in the day unless Wade handed his TV presenter spot over to Budd. So Wade killed him.
ds96x11	choice	Benjamin relied on a dangerously insane Dukat to survive after finding himself stranded together with the madman on some far flung planet.
ldr2019e2x05	choice	The train Laird was riding broke down in the middle of nowhere. After stepping off the train, he quickly became lost in the ghoul infested tall grasses flanking the tracks. Then, before he knew it, he heard the train rumble back to life and pull away without him, potentially stranding among the monsters.
ldr2019e2x07	choice	Terence found himself in a life-and-death struggle with a malfunctioning, homicidal robotic maintenance dog, while stuck in a tiny shelter on a desolate and deserted planet.
owgm1x03	choice	Charles made an ill-advised decision to spend the night in the guest bedroom of a seedy gambling house after winning a sizable sum of money at the roulette wheel. He was soon distressed to find that he was locked inside the room. After turning in for the night, he was nearly crushed like a grape in his sleep by the titular bed, which his captors operated as a kind of press, before making a harrowing escape out of the window.
owgm1x21	choice	Sheila was tasked by her employer, Barrington, with showing his famed collection of old manuscripts to three visiting scholars. She found herself in a predicament when Barrington informed her that one of the three was actually a thief intent on stealing the collection. Matters were complicated by the fact that the house was snowed in for the night, and the only other person present was a driver who was reluctant to take her story seriously. In the end, Sheila used her wits to expose the impostor.
voy2x06	choice	The crew had to navigate a region of space that caused Voyager's interior to continually reconfigure itself.
columbo1971e3x02	major	Adrian, in a sudden burst of rage, knocked Rick unconscious with the butt of a trophy cup. Having thus crossed the line to serious felony, he went all in and left Rick to die of asphyxiation in an airtight wine cellar.