Discussion Is it posible to write a good harem with over 50 women?

Problem is you seem to be arguing for a completely different type of harem story.
The OP seem to have mostly been talking about harem as a genre rather than as a setting, those may overlap but they are still not quite the same thing.
For example if a story takes place in a imperial harem but all the focus is on just one or two of the girls then it is questionable if it is harem genre.

 

I disagree. If the OP was completely disregarding the possibility for type of harem story I was talking about, then he wouldn't have said this:

These are the points that OP thinks are necessary for a harem story with a harem of that size to work. He then asked for our opinion on what would be necessary for a story with a harem of that size to work. I am saying that I think the story would work without points 4 and 5 (and therefore point 1 by proxxy), and gave the points I believe would be necessary.

His list wasn't a precondition for the type of harem we should be talking about, it was an example to start the conversation

 

But he specifically mentions them all as being heroines, not just members of a harem.

 

That's true, but I think it's just to do with his initial bias about how he thinks the harem would need to be to work. In his model, all of the harem members are heroines, so of course he will instinctively refer to them as such.

 

Actually, he is right. When I said, heroines, I wasn't speaking about mob characters but actual characters with a name, personality, dream, motivation, strengths, and flaws.

 

If you say so, then fine. But I don't think it reads that way for the reasons I gave here:

 

A good harem story with over 50 characters would require at least 30 books. Good luck to whoever plans on doing such a thing.

 

The OP did when he said he wanted to flesh them out and give them as much screen time as possible.

 

Is it possible? Yes.

Although the likely hood of a written balanced harem is quite low.

Unless the MC is immortal or has multiple lives, can split/ clone themselves. Or has a perk to satisfy 50+ partners (male/female/neutral)

I'm of the opinion that the story will face hurdles.

Any type of harem actually, reverse or just a party. Something just has to tie all the characters and the story together.

Otherwise your just writing individual stories, with a reoccurring MC.

 

I don't think most cultivation novel authors can write a half decent romance story, so I view harems as an obstacle to my enjoyment. I wanted to check out Ancient Strengthening Technique, went to the MC's wiki page and saw a scrollable list of waifus and children, I noped out immediately. At that point the novel would mostly consist of endless skirt-chasing escapades.

 

I mean you could just use Genghis Khan as a template, the guy had a harem of over 2000 to 3000 women.

Roughly 16 million men are estimated to be his descendants. Which is about 8% of China's Central Asia population.

Not sure how accurate that is. But there's an idea

Edit: I was referencing this article while on mobile. 10 Largest Harems in History Genghis Khan was 6th

 

Read:

 

16mil out of 1.38bil would be closer to 1.1-1.2% I think, unless china went through a total collapse recently that I didn't hear about.

 

Now I am thinking of a tentacle monster as a harem protagonist.

 

My bad, article said Central Asia, and I probably read it as China. I edited my post to reflect the correction.

Or you could have Bunshins like Naruto and have a party. [You can still keep the tentacles if you want]

 

That is exactly what he would have said though? It is pretty clear what kind of harem story he is thinking about as he said it was necessary rather than using a less certain phrase like "I think". Not to mention he said a good harem rather than harem as a background setting.

 

Can you really not see how this can easily be read as meaning "I think it's possible, but here are some things it needs to work. Do you think it's possible? What things do you think it needs?"?

And who are you to distinguish whether a harem as a background setting isn't a good harem? I think that a large harem like how I mentioned could be a very good and meaningful addition to the story. The fact that the mc has such a harem and treats it in such a way is indicitive of his character, and the harem itself would play a major part in the setting. Not to mention it would still be a harem in the sense you are all talking about, since the mc would obviously have some favourite harem members who could act as heroines.

 

He said it needs it, that was clearly not part of the question. Also it can't be a good harem because it is unused, it is the same as a generic unnamed classmate can't be a good character. The heroines might be good but as a harem of some size it would largely just be a detail and wouldn't possess any virtue to make it good as a whole.

 

If I say "I think we can do cold fusion. However, we will need a strong magnet for it to work. What do you think? Is it possible and if yes, what do we need?" then it is clear that the magnet is an assumed necessary precondition, not a goal, and the question is asking for other solutions.

If I say "I think it is possible to make a good ad to fit this billboard. However, it will need to be AxB metres in size. What do you think? Is it possible and if yes, what do we need?" then it is clear the size is the goal and the question is asking for solutions to reach that goal, not alternate sizes.

Ultimately, the form of the question is ambiguous. But with points like this:

which clearly seem to be a solution to the problem of a large harem, rather than an endgoal which all good harems must have to be good, and the others could swing either way, then my interpretation seems to be the obvious one...

An unnamed classmmate may not be a good character, but the class (or school if you want more characters) itself can be a great part of the story. Similarly, one particular harem member may not be a good character, but the harem itself can be a great part of the story.

How are you defining "virtue" and "good"? I've explained multiple times how such a large harem could be a boon to the story.

 

It's possible, but the amount of work that would entail...I don't love harem enough that much to attempt it.