Lozenge Plot
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Basic Information

William S. Gilbert, the writing half of Gilbert and Sullivan, was fond of a gimmick in which an artificial device alters a character's personality, usually making it the exact opposite. His partner, composer Sir Arthur Sullivan, detested this gimmick and called it "The Lozenge Plot" after one version where the device was a magic lozenge which swallowed had the effect.

They had already done a version of this in their operetta The Sorceror, where the "lozenge" was a love potion which causes people to fall in love with the wrong partners. Gilbert also used similar devices in his non-Sullivan operetta The Mountebanks and his comedy The Palace of Truth, in which a magical castle compells all within it to tell the absolute truth. The Jim Carrey comedy Liar, Liar also played with a similar theme.

Sources

Game and Story Use

  • It's probably a bad idea to inflict this kind of personality change on a PC, unless the player enjoys acting the part.
    • Having an NPC change personalities, however, could be fun.
  • The most obvious example of this type of thing in a role-playing game is the venerable Helm of Alignment Change.
  • But then again, we mustn't overlook the traditional love potion
  • Instead of changing a person's character, one version of the "Magic Lozenge" might reveal it, by removing the person's inhibitions and self-censoring abilities.
    • Alcohol can do that sometimes; no magic required.
      • Which is the plot of Donizetti's opera L'elisr d'amore ("The Elixir of Love")
        • Which Gilbert parodied in his first success, Dulcamara, or the Little Duck and the Great Quack. He really liked that plot.
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