Nobody enters a story clean. We come dragging a hungerâsome bruised idea of ourselves. Maybe we donât say it aloud. Maybe we donât even know it yet. But we crack open the book, press start, or settle into a dark theatre because something in us whispers:
âLet me feel like that for a while.â
Thatâs Audience Fantasy. Itâs not about what the character does. Itâs about what we ache to feel through them.
In Tempified, weâve mapped 48 of these longingsâeach one a quiet attempt to make sense of the self. Not because weâre broken, but because weâre still becoming. Each fantasy speaks to a need: freedom, control, connection, purpose. And we chase them through fiction like messages in bottles.
In this article, weâre focusing on just 4 of the 12 audience fantasies for each core temperament: âď¸ Blade, â¤ď¸ Heart, đĄ House, âď¸ Sun
But in the book to come, youâll find the complete set: 12 for each temperament. 48 in total.
Master World-building & Player-Fantasy, where we talk about all the Audience Fantasies.Soon to be published â your world deserves this.
Also, you can also blend two fantasies to shape your experienceâjust like we do when building character archetypes. A game isnât just about freedom or masteryâit might be about mastering through freedom. Belonging through connection. Challenge with rebellion. The mix matters. Itâs in that overlap where unique gameplay, tone, and emotional depth come alive. The same way a character becomes more than a roleâyour experience becomes more than a genre.
So, itâs not just a storytelling tool. Itâs a mapâfor creators, for audiences, and for the parts of us still reaching for something we donât have words for yet.
Below is the list, laced with the ghosts we carry. Use it to understand why you create what you create, what your audience secretly craves, or what your clients are chasing but canât quite name. It doesnât start with plot. It starts with a question:
âWho do I want to feel like right now?â
FANTASIES OF THE âď¸ BLADE
For some people, fantasy doesnât look like magic or escape. It looks like control. Clarity. Power, earned.
These are the people who grew up needing to keep it together. The ones who were told to be smart, be first, be useful. The ones who secretly believe, âIf I can just figure it out, Iâll be okay.â
They crave stories not to softenâbut to sharpen.
Weâve mapped 12 of these Blade-rooted audience fantasies in Tempified. Here are 4. Youâve probably lived at least one of them yourself:
1. Fantasy of âď¸ Challenge
The audience wants to know theyâre strong enough.
Itâs not about winning. Itâs about enduring. Theyâve faced failure, pressure, or just silence when they needed help. Now, they want to watch someone push through the impossible and stand back upâbecause they want to believe they can too.
This fantasy whispers: âI still have more in me.â
Arya, blind and bruised, sparring in silence. No teacher. No sight. Just grit. (Games Of Thrones -HBO)
2. Fantasy of âď¸ Competition
The audience needs to prove itâto someone, maybe just to themselves.
This fantasy isnât petty. Itâs personal. Itâs for the ones who were overlooked, underestimated, or expected to coast. They donât want to destroy others. They want to surpass expectationâtheir fatherâs, their coachâs, the version of themselves from last year.
This fantasy says: âI am not who you think I am.â
Rocky running before dawn. Not chasing anyone. Just proving he can. (United Artists).
3. Fantasy of âď¸ Expertise
The audience wants to stop doubting what they know.
In real life, they second-guess. In fiction, they own the room. They want to feel mastery in their bonesâlike their brain is a weapon, not a liability. This fantasy attracts the perfectionist, the analyst, the quiet one who's sick of not being heard.
This fantasy murmurs: âI know what Iâm doing. Let me show you.â
Dr. House, leaning back, solving the case in ten seconds. No smile. No debate.
4. Fantasy of âď¸ Invention
The audience needs to build something newâbecause the old system failed them.
These are the dreamers with a tool belt and a vendetta. Theyâre tired of being told âitâs always been done this way.â They want to fix, break, or reimagine the worldâespecially when the rules no longer serve.
This fantasy sparks: âThereâs a better wayâand Iâll build it myself.â
Doc Brown, hair wild, muttering âGreat Scott!â beside a machine that shouldnât workâbut does (Back to the Future, Universal).
Each Blade fantasy is a mirror held up to a hidden ache: to be capable, respected, undeniable, brilliant.
These arenât power fantasies in the flashy sense. Theyâre about being seen for what you can doâand having that be enough.
FANTASIES OF THE đĄ HOUSE
Some audiences donât chase escape. They chase stability.
These are the people whoâve been through chaos. Whoâve held things together while others fell apart. Theyâre the steady ones. The quiet ones. The ones who make order because nobody else will. And they donât want fantasy that rips them from the world. They want one that says: âYouâre safe here. You belong.â
In Tempified, we explore 12 House fantasies. Here are 4 to start withârooted in real emotional cravings, not tropes.
đĄ 1. Fantasy of Security
The audience wants to believe it wonât all collapse.
Theyâve lived through instabilityâdivorces, layoffs, loved ones with chaos in their wake. In fiction, they crave a space that holds. They donât care if itâs perfectâthey just want it to last. Characters like them keep the fridge stocked, the routines sacred. They want the fantasy where home still means something.
This fantasy hums: âIâll be okay as long as Iâm not alone.â
Marge Simpson, arms around her kidsâwell, not Bart. Heâs usually the reason sheâs clinging so hard to the feeling of security in the first place. Thank god, Homer is here. Kind of.
đĄ 2. Fantasy of Belonging
The audience needs to stop feeling like the odd one out.
In real life, theyâve been the weirdo at school, the quiet one in meetings, the person who doesnât "fit." What they crave isnât wild reinventionâitâs inclusion. Not being the special one. Just one of them.
This fantasy says: âPlease let this be the moment I belong.â
Samwell Tarly, exiled by his family for loving books more than bladesâenduring the Nightâs Watch, but finally belonging in the library, where reading actually saves lives (Games Of Thrones, HBO).
đĄ 3. Fantasy of Ordinariness
The audience wants boring. Boring sounds peaceful.
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