How to do Romance?

[balterkn]

The best romances in-character in groups I've DM'ed have been those in which the Players brought the focus to the table.

In one case, the party Cleric/Mage (2e) had saved an NPC and her son in an early adventure. During an overland trek, he ended up being the PC that most often took care of her (in reality, he was the Player that remembered she was there). A few sessions (3 or so) and 4-ish game months later, he asked about the relationship with the NPC. Very little spotlight was given to the romance, other than what he would occasionally give (e.g. when PCs were asked what they were doing for an evening, he incorporated the NPC into the plan - "at the theater", "at dinner", or "walking the romantic bridge" mentioned in the town description). Ultimately, the characters married. The PC continued to develop the NPC (2e style, no class, but skill progression out to be one of the craft guildmasters of a city). No kids before the campaign ended (about 18 months, bi-weekly; we had one female player, and 3 male players - only the one romance, the rest were more typical treasure hunters).

Another case, the party cleric (2e) took on one of the NPCs in the party (2 player group, the players recruited NPCs to handle the 6-8 character expectation in many 1/2e adventures) to manage her for better game flow. Although this was typically the "PC runs them in battle and the DM does the role-play", he was adept at having two different personalities. Eventually, he maneuvered them to be dating and then married. Similar to the previous case, very little spotlight was given to the relationship - most of it was given as background dressing - "oh, we're out doing some freebase climbing" or "for the state dinner, we coordinate our outfits and come as an obvious couple". The PC ended up being a ruler of a small nation, and thus did end up having kids. The other player wasn't interested in romancing the NPCs, but didn't have a problem with the in game romances. We were all male players. This campaign was about 24 months of weekly play.

In both cases, talking outside the game session, the players expressed far greater detail about the relationship of the characters than what happened in session. I was all for letting them have their rich fantasy life, so long as I didn't need to play directly in it

 

[Campbell]

Eat lots of onions, mustard, and sour cream Doritos(TM), then give him a deep probing tongue-kiss. After that, everything else you do romance-wise after that will seem at worst "not so bad."

Just be careful dude. This solution could lead to *bigger* issues.

 

[Herobizkit]

Depending on the players, you could run something like this:

Random "Girl In Distress" cries, sobs, and begs PCs to do something about her ex-lover constantly interfering in her new relationship... and see where that goes. If they take this plot line "seriously", you have a potential hook. If they decide to go and kill him, romance ain't their bag.

Whoever is the player that shows the most interest in helping her love quandry, have the word put out by NPCs about how effective the player (and his group) was, and start having MORE people come to bug them for help... specifically, for love/romance issues. Not *all* the time, but at least once per session. Have recurring jilted lovers, ex-wives, angry priests, humanoid monsters ("My girl left town with an orc. At least, that's what this letter says... what's he got that I don't got?")

I realize this has the potential to be silly, but romance is silly, and unless you're trying to write The Next Great Romance Novel, you can leave out the passion.

Heck, you might even watch the movie "Hitch" to get some inspiration.

 

[TarionzCousin]

When I was in college, my players wanted to visit whorehouses festhalls in Waterdeep. One horribly itchy rash cured them of that notion.

 

[Aholibamah]

Lots of good advice here. I've run a number of successful in-game romances. My players were the sort who demanded such things, however. So YMMV.

Keeping that in mind, here's another piece of advice: let the player pick their romantic interest. It's all well and good to throw someone in their path, but if they don't take the bait, let it be. And if they instead show interest in someone else, roll with it. The only thing worse than railroading the adventure is trying to railroad the characters' emotions.

- Brian

How odd, very similar to my own experience. And I quite agree. For instance the minor npc/sideline quest peasant girl in one of my first sessions in my current campaign became a major love interest for one of the characters. Not planned by me at all. Partly damsel in distress but also admiration of her courage (in spite of being a non-adventuring npc). I was surprised but unless it's utterly ridiculous I try to respond to what my players like in such situations.