Qlippoth
Explorer
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Romantic Angst and D&D
- Thread starter NewLifeForm
- Start date
Old Fezziwig
hell yes bro
Re: Must...stop...surfing...
Holy Mother of God! That's uproarious! Even funnier because I've got a stack of papers on Wuthering Heights just waiting to be graded.
Best,
tKL
Qlippoth said:
Holy Mother of God! That's uproarious! Even funnier because I've got a stack of papers on Wuthering Heights just waiting to be graded.
Best,
tKL
Great link Qlippoth! Absolutely hilarious.
Tangential to and often overlapping forbidden love, there is the classic love triangle. There's nothing but pain and melodrama all around when the love triangle rears its ugly head. One benefit is that it's not hard to set up a love triangle were there is no clear "right" thing to do for anyone involved, and then you can always squeeze a mortal duel or two out of it.
Three tried and true love triangle idea seeds:
1. The betrothed: Someone has been promised to marry someone else, but then they fall in love (not with their betrothed of course). Political alliances are on the line. Families grow anxious. Intrigue and secret trysts ensue.
2. The dark stranger: The old, reliable, dependable love interest suddenly becomes less desirable when the mysterious, dark, stranger shows up on the scene. Sometimes people like a little danger, mystique, and excitement, in their romance. Of course the old dependable lover sees the dark newcomer for what he/she is, a callous user who plays with lovers like toys, and knows that what's really best for his beloved is for her/him to stay with him/her. To the partner, however, the dark stranger presents a whole new lease on life. He/she makes him/her truly feel alive in a way that the old reliable person never could.
3. The second life: Two people find true love. They become seperated and one of them believes the other to be dead. In truth the other person is desperately trying to get back to their soulmate (who is the only thing they live for in their terrible predicament). When the person who was presumed dead finally gets back to his/her beloved, he/she discovers that the other person has moved on to a new life, and a new love (add in children to really make things ugly).
Tangential to and often overlapping forbidden love, there is the classic love triangle. There's nothing but pain and melodrama all around when the love triangle rears its ugly head. One benefit is that it's not hard to set up a love triangle were there is no clear "right" thing to do for anyone involved, and then you can always squeeze a mortal duel or two out of it.
Three tried and true love triangle idea seeds:
1. The betrothed: Someone has been promised to marry someone else, but then they fall in love (not with their betrothed of course). Political alliances are on the line. Families grow anxious. Intrigue and secret trysts ensue.
2. The dark stranger: The old, reliable, dependable love interest suddenly becomes less desirable when the mysterious, dark, stranger shows up on the scene. Sometimes people like a little danger, mystique, and excitement, in their romance. Of course the old dependable lover sees the dark newcomer for what he/she is, a callous user who plays with lovers like toys, and knows that what's really best for his beloved is for her/him to stay with him/her. To the partner, however, the dark stranger presents a whole new lease on life. He/she makes him/her truly feel alive in a way that the old reliable person never could.
3. The second life: Two people find true love. They become seperated and one of them believes the other to be dead. In truth the other person is desperately trying to get back to their soulmate (who is the only thing they live for in their terrible predicament). When the person who was presumed dead finally gets back to his/her beloved, he/she discovers that the other person has moved on to a new life, and a new love (add in children to really make things ugly).
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LostSoul
Adventurer
Usually when you've got characters with angst, it's because they can't face something about themselves. They have some kind of minor emotional problem.
Maybe the promiscuous bard is too afraid to let anyone get close, so he leaves before he can form an emotional bond. Maybe the grizzled fighter has seen so much death and violence that he's lost his faith in life and love.
I played an NPC once who was another character's old friend. I told the PC that he was in love with her, but she never reciprocated. Over time, the two of them got closer, but not without problems. She tried to sabotage the relationship (by sleeping with one of their enemies, for example, and by pushing the PC away); but in the end, the situation they were in was so emotionally intense that they got together.
Of course I 3rd-personed the relationship stuff.
Maybe the promiscuous bard is too afraid to let anyone get close, so he leaves before he can form an emotional bond. Maybe the grizzled fighter has seen so much death and violence that he's lost his faith in life and love.
I played an NPC once who was another character's old friend. I told the PC that he was in love with her, but she never reciprocated. Over time, the two of them got closer, but not without problems. She tried to sabotage the relationship (by sleeping with one of their enemies, for example, and by pushing the PC away); but in the end, the situation they were in was so emotionally intense that they got together.
Of course I 3rd-personed the relationship stuff.
Jeremy Ackerman-Yost
Explorer
Love Triangles & Bulls in an Emotional China Shoppe
Triangles are at least as potentially angsty as forbidden love, but they sound like the kind of situation NewLifeForm was saying he tends to bull through with logic.
We may have to work slowly with him to erode such a rational and level-headed tendency before we can jump right into Triangles.
Triangles are at least as potentially angsty as forbidden love, but they sound like the kind of situation NewLifeForm was saying he tends to bull through with logic.
We may have to work slowly with him to erode such a rational and level-headed tendency before we can jump right into Triangles.
LostSoul
Adventurer
Re: Love Triangles & Bulls in an Emotional China Shoppe
Love has nothing to do with the rational mind!
Angst is all about character flaws. Exploit these.
Canis said:We may have to work slowly with him to erode such a rational and level-headed tendency before we can jump right into Triangles.
Love has nothing to do with the rational mind!
Angst is all about character flaws. Exploit these.
Jeremy Ackerman-Yost
Explorer
Re: Re: Love Triangles & Bulls in an Emotional China Shoppe
You wink, implying facetiousness, yet that's probably a true statement.
I'm certainly not rational about the people I love. And I'm particularly irrational in regard to the woman I love romantically.
There's definitely something about love which overrides the rational mind (Clarification: I'm talking about love, not lust. Huge difference.)
LostSoul said:Love has nothing to do with the rational mind!
You wink, implying facetiousness, yet that's probably a true statement.
I'm certainly not rational about the people I love. And I'm particularly irrational in regard to the woman I love romantically.
There's definitely something about love which overrides the rational mind (Clarification: I'm talking about love, not lust. Huge difference.)
LostSoul
Adventurer
Re: Re: Re: Love Triangles & Bulls in an Emotional China Shoppe
Oh no, I didn't mean to imply that. (Just kidding with that wink ). I'm just not used to using any other "smilely" other than the wink. What I meant with the wink was that love has nothing to do with rational, logical thinking; and ain't that just a funny thing?
As an aside, I don't think any emotions are logical. Anger, sadness, mourning, hapiness, whatever: none of it is rational.
Canis said:
Oh no, I didn't mean to imply that.
(Just kidding with that wink ). I'm just not used to using any other "smilely" other than the wink. What I meant with the wink was that love has nothing to do with rational, logical thinking; and ain't that just a funny thing?As an aside, I don't think any emotions are logical. Anger, sadness, mourning, hapiness, whatever: none of it is rational.
Jeremy Ackerman-Yost
Explorer
Re: Re: Re: Re: Love Triangles & Bulls in an Emotional China Shoppe
True, but they are easier to rationalize.
If I look at it, I can figure out why I'm angry, or happy, or sad.
Love just is, without much to explain it. [/hijack]
LostSoul said:
True, but they are easier to rationalize.
If I look at it, I can figure out why I'm angry, or happy, or sad.
Love just is, without much to explain it. [/hijack]
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