How often do sex and romance come up in your games?

[Randomthoughts]

In my current (all-guy) gaming group, rarely for sex and never (so far) for romance. Nothing explicit; when something happens, the camera "fades to black".

While gaming in high school and college, there was more of both but even then not more than occasionally.

 

[(Psi)SeveredHead]

Same as many posters above - virtually no sex, no romance. I am personally extremely tired of "boy meets girl" stories, or more to the point, being in thrillers and fantasy novels that I otherwise enjoy.

 

[Lord Mhoram]

Romance happens occasionally.

Sex itself is never discussed in general, and the "fling with the barmaid" kind of thing - never. Pretty much all the players feel that premarital sex is something we would never do, so that attitude filters to our character.

If two characters are having a romance - the actual physical stuff only happens after a marraige.

 

[halfjack]

Depends on the game. Some games are about relationships, and it would be a bit weird if they didn't come up. Some games have mechanical support for them (a lot of games do, for that matter) and so if it comes up it's going to have plenty of focus. Some just have settings or themes that flat-out work better with them -- if Peter Parker had no love interest, Spiderman would be just another competence fantasy, and that would undermine a lot of what makes supers interesting (some would say the only thing).

Most interesting stories are about people. It would seem kind of weird to decide to role-play (pretend to be another person) and ignore relationships.

On the other hand, if the game is about killing things than let's focus on that.

 

[the Jester]

Sex is fairly common.

Love and/or romance is fairly rare.

 

[Lwaxy]

Pretty much all the players feel that premarital sex is something we would never do, so that attitude filters to our character.

I take it no one players evil characters/scoundrels then?

A long time ago we had a PC thief/ranger who thought nothing of using everyone and everything to get what he wanted. He was fine in the group (they were his friends) but everyone else was treated like an accessory. Especially any females. He thought nothing of seducing them and to pull promises out of the blue he wouldn't have been able to keep even if he had wanted.

What the GM did was quite funny. A few years into the campaign, the PC was "hunted down" by a large group of women who were either pregnant or had small children. The church could verify they were all his and the kingdom had a strict rule that you had to take care of your offspring, even if it just meant paying for them. Well, he was the richest of us before that

Changed the PC's attitude, too, he actually cared for the kids afterward.

The player was a practicing Muslim btw who wouldn't have thought of doing anything like that in RL. He wanted to have a PC totally different from himself. Worked out great for the game.

 

[Umbran]

Sex almost never comes up.

Romance comes up, maybe once a campaign or so?

 

[Desdichado]

Frequently, but never seriously, and it rarely consumes more than a few seconds of game-time at a time. In Rise of the Runelords, for example, I decided on a whim that my character was fascinated with Ameiko and would flirt with her as much as possible.

Other than a few jokes here and there, it never really amounted to anything. And then a later adventure path revealed that she was the heir to an empire out east. Poor Nestor never had a chance, and he never even knew it!

 

[steeldragons]

Depends on the group/players really.

In my world setting fo Orea, satyrs are a playable PC race. So oftentimes, the player that wants tto be a satyr is...well...a "playuh"...horny lil' goats. But then there've been PCs who are particuarly randy beings of any race.

Homosexuality is a kinda regular occurrance, viewed as normal in some societies less so in others. Elves, in general, are pretty "free love" kinda folks.

There's a lot of flirting, "hitting on", double entendre, perhaps the occasional rendezvous. But like many here, it sounds like, that's the "fade to black" or "[jump to] so the following morning..." Nothing particularly sexual is ever "seen" at the table.

There have been times when two PCs have started something...that seems a bit more common in my games than a PC and NPC becoming involved. Even a marriage or two...but generally, it levels out at the "serious committed relationships" stage and doesn't often get to the full on "wedding/religious union". All kinds of gender (and race) mixes.

I don't mind it (long as the players keep it mature) and it usually lends a bit more drama and tension if, for example, someone ends up wounded badly or dead...or gets captured/separated...or does very well with something (Having reasons to celebrate is just as important as reasons to cry or worry.

But, in the grand scheme of simple numbers of characters (PC and NPC) and interactions that there have been over the years, the number of actual relationship/romance type situations (vs. "one-night-stand" or womanizing) that come up and been a part of play is fairly minor (versus just two players saying "and our PCs are a couple"...but then they never show/RP that and its effectively the same as the vast majority NOT being a couple).

 

[Jon_Dahl]

I once tried to insert some sexual elements to my games but it worked out poorly. One of the PCs was a cleric of Olidammara, the deity of wine and song. I thought to myself that such PC should have a fairly active sexual life but somehow we both were somewhat uncomfortable about the whole situation. It's a bit hard to explain but it simply felt embarassing to talk about such private things in game context.

Killing creatures and taking their stuff is much more in my comfort zone and I think my players agree.