Have you tried this patron romance idea? How did it work?

[Quartz]

Many, many years ago, I started a campaign set in ICE's Shadow World. One of the plotlines was to be a romance between the PC's patrons and someone else. The 'someone else' was a woman (Lord of Essence / K'ta'viir for those who remember) who was magically trapped somehow. The PCs found her early on and gained her trust and were the only ones who could reach her, albeit only indirectly. Then the patrons (Andraax (good guy), Lorgalis (BBEG), and Ondoval (UBEG)) would appear. Of course, the PCs wouldn't know who they were at first, and they absolutely wouldn't know that the evil guys were evil! This seemed a good excuse to get the PCs involved with the real movers and shakers from the start. The patrons would send PCs on missions to help release the woman, to impress her, and for their own ends. To start with, the patrons wouldn't know about each others' involvement. I had the vague idea that Ondoval would redeem himself at some point or the PCs would be able to engineer a take-down of Ondoval by Andraax, but the campaign fizzled.

Have you tried anything like this? How did it work out?

 

[Quartz]

Anyone?

 

[saskganesh]

So 3 NPCs are rivals for another NPCs affections?

It seems fine, but with 3 rival suitors -* all seeking to involve the party * - it seems like a lot of work for not much payoff, unless the players get invested in the situation, by choosing to back one patron no matter what, or by manipulating all three, or by getting involved in the romance itself.

As you say your game fizzled.