First off, welcome to the boards!
Now, to the question. Romance has come up in my campaign quite a bit. We've never had any trouble with spousal issues, but maybe I've just been lucky enough to have mature players through the years.
Generally, I think romance adds a certain something to the game- after all, most of the classics have romance in them (often leading to tradgedy- see everything from
Romeo and Juliet on). Not everyone enjoys that stuff, but my group usually likes a certain level of it.
I've had a number of interesting romantic situations over the years, such as the evil undead conjurer pc who seduced the rich necrophiliac by offering to play dead. My favorite, though, was this situation:
The two pcs involved in the romance were Egypt (female human? maybe half-elf, can't remember, this was about 14 years ago- ranger, CG) and Carrion (male human cleric of Nerull, NE). They were deeply in love- their relationship had developed over considerable time, and started as an unfriendly rivalry. By this time they were in love and were 'together' (though not married).
Now, this was in the 2e days. I had heavily detailed and customized priests of every god in the campaign (a modified Greyhawk pantheon). Carrion's god, Nerull, the Reaper, existed to kill all life. After everything else was extinguished, he would destroy himself, bringing utter annihilation to all life. His priests were to emulate this attitude- among other things, they were forbidden to accept healing. If they were to die, so be it. All things die.
The party Egypt and Carrion traveled with was a huge group of adventurers called the Knights of Sanctuary. The Knights of Sanctuary had performed a fantastic feat for a council of the gods, and they were each granted a desire- basically, a
wish. I don't even remember what any of the other pcs asked for- Egypt asked to become pregnant with Carrion's child, lest she lose him completely when he died. (Of course, a cleric of Nerull was not permitted return from death.)
The council of gods, of course, was true to their bargain and granted her wish. But Nerull was most displeased, for the biggest sin of all to the Reaper, was to bring new life. Carrion knew this, and brooded upon it.
Immediately after the conclusion of the adventure, Egypt and Carrion went on vacation from the party for a few weeks to try to get her pregnant (among other things). On the last day of their vacation, Carrion walked up to Egypt.
"Egypt," he said, "I love you," and he pulled out his scythe and struck to kill.
She didn't know what to do and didn't want to fight him. She tried to fend him off, but he was relentless, and finally she started fighting back, but it was too late. He'd whittled her down enough that she could only stand another round or two of his blows, and she couldn't take him out in that time.
So Carrion threw his scythe aside, spread his arms and demanded she kill him.
She didn't understand; so he explained; and then, weeping, she killed him.
It was the most poignant and intense roleplaying I've ever had the good fortune to experience. If that don't add to a game- and the romance was there for
months- I don't know what does.
***
Presently, in my epic-level campaign, we have the following romantic entanglements:
*Orbius (cohort) is sweet on Jezebel. He's played by the player who runs Lester, the pc who's cohort he (Orbius) is. (Lester himself is without romantic entanglements.)
*Jezebel (cohort), not quite 18, has pretty much got Orbius wrapped around her finger. She's quite sweet on him, too. Jezebel is Sybele's cohort and daughter. And oh, yeah, she's a half-dragon.
*Sybele (pc) is Jezebel's mom and the mother of twins by Thrush. She's a pc. She's also a total slut (she has a half-dragon love child, after all) and has even fondled a troll for information. She's willing to proposition anyone or anything and to follow through, but she's much more subdued with Thrush around, mostly cuz he'd prolly kill anyone who he saw touch her. I'm not sure, but I think Sybele humors Thrush because he's convenient, and also maybe a little scary. (?)
*Thrush (npc) is Sybele's fiance. He's an epic level fighter the pcs picked up in a dungeon he'd been trapped in for years, serving the Bile Lords. Sybele seduced him and hey presto, an encounter designed to be an extremely challenging adversary suddenly becomes an extremely challenging
ally. Hadn't anticipated that, love it, ran with it and he's still with them five levels later. I think she likes him, but he loves her with a wild, immature love- the kind of love that makes you cut off heads when the wrong stuff comes out of their mouths about your girl.
*Angelfire (pc), a powerful psychic warrior/cleric/templar of Coila. She's fallen madly in love at first sight with her new cohort, Londo. Her player runs both Angel and Londo.
*Londo (cohort of Angelfire)- fell madly in love with Angel at first sight. She's an evil cleric; he's an evil blackguard of her god. Works out. Their romance has been leading in interesting directions; they conspire against each other for their own good. It's both amazing and inventive. I like it.
Anyway, with the right group, a little romance goes a long way. It's not the focus of the game (usually; a while back there was a whole game devoted to a wedding, including a bachelor party, gifts, all sorts of stuff), but it pops up in interesting ways and it adds a certain depth that I really like. I can totally see why some folks wouldn't be entirely comfortable rping that kinda stuff, but I'm fortunate to play with friends with whom I am on very close terms (we can talk comfortably about even uncomfortable things, if ya catch my drift).
