Romance in RPGs

When I began thinking about setting up a new campaign world, one of the things that I wanted to do was consider the passage of time as a real-world event. In other words, I thought it might be interesting if the PCs eventually had kids, who would in turn become new PCs when they came of age. This means coming up with neat "Dynasty" rules to allow the benefits from the parents to accrue to their children.

It also means getting the players interested in role-playing romantic involvements with their characters. I don't mean full-on Book of Erotic Fantasy/GUCK stuff here. I just mean some acknowledgement of relationships. And therein lies the challenge.

So, my question is, how do you deal with this subject in your campaign? Do you use some form of award system (action points/XP) for role-playing these things? I was thinking about making a series of feats that you could take for free, so long as you met the prerequisite, such as In Love, and One True Love, that gave you some benefits for playing the romantic. Any thoughts on that?

Raven Crowking

It's been my experience that it is really hard, if not impossible, to force players that aren't interested in in-game romance to take part in it. The primary suggestion I think I would have for you is to poll your players first and find out how interested, if at all, they would be in such a campaign. If they aren't interested no bonuses or freebies you toss at them are going to really get them into it.

If you (or your players) are not interested in the Book of Erotic Fantasy then perhaps you might want to look into Green Ronin's upcoming Blue Rose: The Roleplaying Game of Romantic Fantasy.
http://www.greenronin.com/cgi-bin/product.cgi?prodid=1701

Hunter

I think it depends a lot on the kind of players you've got.

Are you more concerned about a means of gauging the characters' success in relationships and romance, or are you looking for some means of enticing the players into it?

If your players just aren't into it, I'm not sure some kind of bonus points system is the way to encourage it. Their actions will end up reflecting their focus on the mechanics, not the roleplaying goals.

Instead, just make the process fun. Wrap your plotlines around the possibilities of courtship. Who are the significant NPCs in your campaign right now? Would any of them make possible romantic relationships? If not, start introducing NPCs that could play that role. Make your characters' would-be spouses significant NPCs in the campaign well in advance of any possible relationships. In short, make it real for the players.

Also, gently remind players of the tangible benefits of "setting up house". Having a legacy they can play later on is a huge motiviation for some players. And it really connects them to their characters.

zog

hunter1828 said:

It's been my experience that it is really hard, if not impossible, to force players that aren't interested in in-game romance to take part in it. The primary suggestion I think I would have for you is to poll your players first and find out how interested, if at all, they would be in such a campaign. If they aren't interested no bonuses or freebies you toss at them are going to really get them into it.

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Please note that I'm not trying to force them. What I am looking for are in-game ideas that will encourage them.

If you (or your players) are not interested in the Book of Erotic Fantasy then perhaps you might want to look into Green Ronin's upcoming Blue Rose: The Roleplaying Game of Romantic Fantasy.
http://www.greenronin.com/cgi-bin/product.cgi?prodid=1701

Click to expand...

Thanks. I've found Green Ronin to be a pretty good company!

I actually found a lot of useful things in the Book of Erotic Fantasy, which could be tweaked into a standard campaign. I do think that one of the reason that most player's won't play the romantic is because they think anything they give the DM to use against them is a bad thing....so I'd like to try to reverse that notion. Also, I think it would be fun if the elf ended up adventuring with the human's grandchild in 100 years.....

RC

I've been involved in two campaigns where PC romance was involved. I ran a D&D game for several years where my wife's character was involved with another player's PC, and in a DC Heroes game, my character and the PC of the wife of the guy who ran the above mentioned character got married. We roleplayed the whole thing out, with all the players in the DC Heroes campaign present, and the GM (her husband) performed the ceremony as Guy Gardner. No players were "forced" to roleplay a romantic involvement, they just evolved...like in real life...

Now that I think about it, that is kinda weird...

Well, my problem would be:
Roleplaying romantic interaction when all game members are male?
Somehow, it is not as easy. But in addition, all other players would make stupid comments. (Well, okay, they would probably be also funny, but certainly disrupt the atmosphere of romance. This might not apply to everyones group)

CarlZog said:

Are you more concerned about a means of gauging the characters' success in relationships and romance, or are you looking for some means of enticing the players into it?

If your players just aren't into it, I'm not sure some kind of bonus points system is the way to encourage it. Their actions will end up reflecting their focus on the mechanics, not the roleplaying goals.

Click to expand...

I have found that, at some point, mechanics influence roleplaying goals. A certain level of metagaming always occurs. What I would like to do is not only offer encouragement, but counteract the metagame reasons not to become romantically involved. If that makes sense?

Instead, just make the process fun. Wrap your plotlines around the possibilities of courtship. Who are the significant NPCs in your campaign right now? Would any of them make possible romantic relationships? If not, start introducing NPCs that could play that role. Make your characters' would-be spouses significant NPCs in the campaign well in advance of any possible relationships. In short, make it real for the players.

Also, gently remind players of the tangible benefits of "setting up house". Having a legacy they can play later on is a huge motiviation for some players. And it really connects them to their characters.

Click to expand...

Always good advice.

RC

Love, sex, child-birth, buying a house, etc... are all events and encounters, they should not be any different than any other. The DM sets the DC for the event players interact with the event, rolls are made and you have success and failure, the DM informs the players of the outcome.

I keep sex as side-bar.

I'm not particularly concerned with the romantic element of campaigns, but I am making a special effort to move time along during my current game. Adventures aren't taking place immediately after one another; I'm spacing them out over the course of months.

I've got couple reasons for this:

• It seems silly for PC's to be rank amateurs at age 18, 15th level at 20. I want to have them advance in levels over time.
• Creation of magic items, etc take time. I want to give the PC's the time to use their skills and abilities.
• Allowing time for PC's to take care of important in-character goals - this could be romance, it could be political, or it could be research-related.

hunter1828 said:

It's been my experience that it is really hard, if not impossible, to force players that aren't interested in in-game romance to take part in it.

Click to expand...

Exactly! You can't make the horses drink... So don't try to force them!

With Wayne's character, it's easy: toss in a few willing barmaids (the fresher the better), describe some short skirts and flirty moves, and he'll be hitting on them in no time! After a few of those, roll on yer tables, and you're done! With Steve's PC, though, it's harder. He's abstinent! Here, you'll have to provide a woman who doesn't fool around (and isn't a Succubus), and slowly try to work her in. Then sit back and see if anything happens!

In any case, ask your players what kinds of girls their PCs could go for... The Players are always your best source of information about their PCs! Then, try to find a place to fit in suitable NPCs, and make them available. Remember: The NPC has to be suited to the PC. Some players like forward (wo-)men, some like'm more demure.

But in the final analysis, if the PLAYERS don't wanna do Romantic Adventures, then you just can't make'm! Don't even try! (You can have the NPCs start dating someone else very similar to the PCs, in an obvious attempt to make them jealous, though)!

Anyway, as for "Free Feats", if you do that, it has to be something pretty weak, or not-often-used, or else you "hafta" explain how every NPC peasant has it (or why they don't) when they fall in love, too!

One thing you could do is to allow the "In Love" Feat to allow the addition of ONE (1) skill to the PC's Class Skill list, with the proviso that it is something of great interest to the NPC Love-interest... and then simply make sure that the NPC's interest is something that the PC has expressed interest in learning! (For instance, suppose that the Ranger has oft complained that "Rangers should have Balance as a Class Skill! How else are they gonna keep from falling off cliffs?!" So, make the NPC Love-Interest someone with a +20 Balance skill, who offers to train them on tightrope walking...)

Another idea is the "not-often-used" idea, such as receiving a major save bonus whenever the LI (Love-Interest) is in need of assistance, or a +4 to STR when they're threatened ("The Strength of ten men" would actually be +100, but the +50 modifier is probably just a bit much! )

Then, of course, you should introduce such Feats to the PCs by having an NPC Commoner, in love, with them... When the PCs get whacked in the head by the Commoner's "sack of rocks", and are knocked out, they may wonder how & why... The other peasants just sigh and respond: "Ah! He has the strength of a man in love, M'Lord!"