Love and the DnD experience

[DonTadow]

Within the right context with players on the same page, it can make for some compelling stuff. How about the high-level cleric who the Overking wants to marry into a political position who falls in love with a paladin from a faraway land who is secretly a cursed princess? And how about after they get engaged the cleric has to decide if he's going to accept the power of apotheosis, and how will that affect their relationship? Or the elven champion who falls for the outcast elvish prince who loses all hope when his bow-hand is cut-off, who becomes her teacher and then more than that? Or the rogue who falls for the dragon-in-human-form master-smith, after their shared interest in serving good without following the law? No to mention the cleric's paladin cohort who secretly marries the cleric's sister and who he accidentally discovers while they're...ahem...enjoying their marital priveleges?

It can be a total blast when handled well and when everyone's interested. But that's a big 'if', so to speak.

The WOTC article on Tuesdays Front page is a really good example of why love shoudlnt be taken too far in a game. It takes the focus from the game being about a group of individuals to focusing too much on one or two individuals for too long a period of in game time. Sure this is great if you regulate long love dialogue to outside of the game, but what about the other 4 players at the table whom are bored to tears during these love trist interactions?

 

[Zweihänder]

Plot devices. In the end, that's what the average DM is going to use them as, so why beat around the bush?

I don't mean this as a slight against in-game romance. It can add a level of realism, or at the very least depth, to many games. I, for example, wouldn't be nearly as "in to" my Gnomish Warlock Cheebo Mahtou (yes named after the band, yes it was originally a joke) if I didn't have to worry about his relationship with the Azir of the desert nation Narjanub, especially since they originally met (and fell in love) whilst the Azir was under cover as a horse trader. Everyone in their nation looks the other way with regards to their relationship, but they still have to deal with the several hang-ups; chief among them is the Azir's marriage to a woman. In general: wacky fun!

 

[Asmor]

dwarven barbarian - human sage specializing in dwarven barbarians

Am I the only one who thinks of Jane Goodall when I hear that? Kinky! O_O

Love is an illusion. To be more precise, it's like a Phantasmal Killer. First you roll your save if you believe in it, then to see if your heart gets ripped out.

I hope you don't mind, but I'm totally stealing that quote. Will give you credit, of course.

And just so this isn't completely off topic, it's never come up in my game, and unless one of the players is feeling frisky I don't really have any intention of it. Aside from a "you pay the harlot 5 gold and head back to the inn" or "You share a romantic dinner" and a fade to black, I probably wouldn't get too into it. Not because I have anything against it, mind you, I just am not confident in roleplaying that sort of thing.

 

[MoogleEmpMog]

With the groups I currently play with, no, I wouldn't use a romantic subplot. The players just wouldn't be into it.

I have, however, played an entire soap opera 'game' (not that it had any rules or such) that ran for over a hundred sessions and was almost entirely romance-based (well, relationships of all stripes, but romance was a big part of it), although it had fighting and giant robots thrown in every dozen sessions or so.

I think the tale of love is told far to little. I'd rather see more love than violence. Isn't action in most RPGs the same thing over and over again? Kill monsters and take their stuff...a perfect console game.

Actually, the aforementioned soap opera game was based on a console game. Most console games (console RPGs, at least) have very strong romance subplots, and in some cases (FF8, Xenogears) the romance is arguably the central element of the story.

 

[DonTadow]

With the groups I currently play with, no, I wouldn't use a romantic subplot. The players just wouldn't be into it.

I have, however, played an entire soap opera 'game' (not that it had any rules or such) that ran for over a hundred sessions and was almost entirely romance-based (well, relationships of all stripes, but romance was a big part of it), although it had fighting and giant robots thrown in every dozen sessions or so.



Actually, the aforementioned soap opera game was based on a console game. Most console games (console RPGs, at least) have very strong romance subplots, and in some cases (FF8, Xenogears) the romance is arguably the central element of the story.

Final Fantasy 8 is universally treated as the worst of the franchise because of its "love" subplot.

 

[Aurora]

This thread is royally cracking me up. We have "romance" going on in the campaign I am currently in. PC to PC. My character and a male friend's character. And my husband happens to be the DM of said game. It hasn't created anything "wierd" in the game. At least to me anyways, you could ask Enkhidu if it ever has for him (he's around here somewhere). If anything, it has been a driving force behind much of the goings on. You can see that in the story hour. In our game, it does mainly run in the background, but currently is in the forefront because DM has re-introduced an NPC that has flirted with my character in the past and is making quite a nice love triangle.
I guess I can't see true role-playing without the love element. It is a part of life. Unless your people like hack and slash gaming I would say the game is lacking if it has never been there. I love the role-playing aspect of gaming and I want it to be complete.
I agree with previous posters that it depends on the people's maturity in your group. We are all adults (I am the youngest player at 29). So, I guess we can incorporate things like this without it getting "wierd".

 

[Wolv0rine]

Eh, whenever the topic of "romance" in gaming comes up, it seems like a lot of people immediately think sex. Love, romance, and sex just aren't the same thing. Often connected, yes, and often come paired with one or both of the others, sure, but they aren't the same thing.
I may be just me (or me and a few others, I'm not the only one to say so, in essence) but reducing something like romance to a simple plot device seems like a cheap cop-out to me. If you deal with character development at all, then romance is a simple, and logical move. If you have a character, you develop that character, yet that character has no interest in his life in love or romance, then your character has a severe mental problem. Sure, it can easily become thorny with the group players. Some are just too juvinile to approach the subject without only seeing "I want to bang the barmaid! Yeah! High-5 baby!" And that's sad.
And it doesn't have to be a case of "Joe's character's got a love interest, and he takes up the whole game session!" That's just sloppy play by the players AND the DM.

 

[Aurora]

Nicely put Wolv0rine.

 

[MoogleEmpMog]

Final Fantasy 8 is universally treated as the worst of the franchise because of its "love" subplot.

If by "universally treated" you mean "often panned on the internet but sold more copies than any other FF game except FF7 (and possibly FFX, since I haven't seen the more recent numbers)," then yes.

 

[DonTadow]

If by "universally treated" you mean "often panned on the internet but sold more copies than any other FF game except FF7 (and possibly FFX, since I haven't seen the more recent numbers)," then yes.

No panned meaning every poll I've ever seen about best final fantasies. People usually have good arguments between final fantasy 6 and 7 (and you get afew japaense gamers who push 3 to the top of some polls) but 8 usually ranks last.

Wow, plus those stats aren't all too hot either. OUt of all of the next generation final fantasy's part 8 ranks in sales slightly aboe part 9. That means 7, 10, and x2 all rank above part 8. Its not fair to compare ps game sales to nintendo game sales becuase you're tlaking about two different game eras. but in terms of a better game 1-6 usually outrank 8.