I've had an idea for a while of having a play where each character has a number and those numbers determine which scene they appear in.

For example my current idea is to have 12 characters and 12 scenes where the characters that appear in each scene are the factors of that scene number. Though for the story I'm working on the scenes go backwards starting at 12.

So I was curious what people thought about the idea and if they noticed any interesting implications? Also if they had any ideas of stories and setups that would suit this dynamic?

I liked this an exercise in general because while the rules were fairly simple to define I didn't know where they were going ahead of time so there was a lot to discover about the story. Like how from where people appear you get some idea of their relationship.

For example by necessity because 1 is a factor of every number character 1 appears in every scene so they're functionally the protagonist, it also means in the backwards version they slowly become more isolated over the course of the play until they're finally alone in the final scene.

While any character over 6 only appears once. So these are people 1 probably doesn't know as well or is going out of their way to see.

The primes would be characters that 1 meets alone. So these would be people that 1 is closer to, or at least close enough to see them without anyone else there. These are people 1 knows directly.

While the composit numbers would be people that 1 knows through their other factors. So for example person 4 is someone 1 knows through 2 as opposed to directly. While person 6 is someone 2 and 3 have in common and so on.

Then building that up into finding a premise that relates to that structure, I came up with the idea of setting the play at a wedding between 2 and 3, who are both personal friends with character 1. Then that divides the rest of characters into 4 groups.

5,7 and 11 are characters neither 2 or 3 know that 1 interacts with so for example various background wedding staff (caterers etc).

4, 8 and 10 would be people 1 knows through 2 but not 3. So 2's side of the family and the inverse would be true for 9. Implying that 2 has a larger family or more friends.

The 6 and 12 are people both 2 and 3 knows so that could be roles filled by wedding staff that they do speak to, like a wedding photogropher and the priest.

Though this does raise questions I've yet to figure out about how 5 fits into 10.