I was thinking about an interesting limitation for a mind control story. Most of existing ones tend to be boring in two ways: unlimited power without challenges and protagonists that have no indication of inner struggles or morals and just fucks everything he can. I do understand that this is what mind control fantasy is often about... but this usually results in uninteresting stories with meaningless choices. My idea for the story is that: Protagonist gets power to control minds of others in one way or another. But there are a problem: It works only on relatives. And there are another problem: unlike protagonists from majority of such stories our protagonist didn't have serious incest fantasies and\or doesn't want to treat his sisters\cousins\etc as pieces of meat. And yet he knows that any orders will be followed and temptation becomes stronger and stronger... Is this an interesting concept for the story?
It certainly can be. It's got that "Power Corrupts" angle to it that all mind control stories have, but at the same time the situation is complicated by the fact that he can't change the world. Incest is still a taboo to everyone else and if anyone ever found out about it (outside of his blood relatives) there wouldn't be a whole heck of a lot he could do about it. It does add an obstacle that other Mind Control stories severely lack.
Just spitballing - You could add in other limitations too. Like, just one person at a time. Meaning that they would still have to sneak around, and getting into threesomes would require some real maneuvering (like mind controlling Mom into actually seducing Sis, or bribing her). Or, people can't be controlled into doing things they really don't want to. So, while mind controlled, they would have to be seduced and eased into any strange ideas... talk about how it'd feel, and find an angle why they would want to do something. Would allow for more personality and reluctance. Maybe the 'hero' can hard time erase memory in this circumstance, or just blur it. (But don't you think your daughter is *attractive*, Mom? We talked about how you like to look at girls her age - her friends. And, Sis, you know Mom holds the purse strings, right? She's paying for college, your car, your cell phone... maybe you owe her a bit...) Dunno if either works for you, and those are just examples - but in principle I think most would agree that limits on mind control are needed for a dynamic plot.
To add on limitations, it could also be triggered only if the protagonist is emotionally involved. So, in the beginning, it would have to be something that they say during an argument.
Currently, my basic outline of story goes like this 1) Protagonists has a desire to have mind control power and actively seeks it 2) He finds someone who grants him this power (succubus/incubus, lust god/goddess, mischievous fairy, etc) 3) He is then informed that it works ONLY on close relatives and that he'll have with this power forever 4) He is not very enthusiastic about using mind control on family members... at least at first Going from there are questions. Who falls in a relative category? Maybe there are diminishing returns? Sister - full control, Cousin - limited effect, 2nd cousin - very minor effect, beyond that nothing. How orders are given? Elaborate ritual? Verbal order? Mental order? Maybe a vague thought is enough? (think "I'd love to see my sister naked" and she starts stripping) What kind of mind control is it? (On the scale from merely controlling someone's else body against their will to total memory and personality rewrites.)
