Romantic Angst and D&D

[mmadsen]

http://philippe.tromeur.free.fr/whrpg.htm

The Wuthering Heights RPG is quite amusing. I personally enjoyed this step in character generation:

He then chooses a feature floating in the wind (hair / coat / scarf / kilt / whatever).

And I think everyone loves the Problem Table:

01-04 You are without a family
05-08 You are a republican
09-12 You are a socialist
13-15 You are a Baptist / Methodist
16-18 You are a monk or pastor
19-22 You are an homosexual
23-25 You are an alcoholic (5 pints a day)
26-28 You are a drug addict (1 hour a day)
29-31 You are honest
32-35 You are in love with someone from your family (Mother, Brother ...)
36-36 You are a sex addict (once a day)
37-38 You smoke (12 hours a day)
39-40 You gamble (2 hours a day)
41-41 You play the bagpipes (1 hour a day)
42-44 You sing (1 hour a day)
45-48 You play the piano (1 hour a day)
49-52 You are a poet (4 hours a day)
53-56 You read too much (8 hours a day)
57-59 You dress improperly
60-60 You are poor
61-64 You have ill health (double your Oldness but not your Age )
65-66 You are old (double your Oldness , with your Age )
67-70 You are naive
71-73 You are a bad guy
74-74 You are a Muslim (or Buddhist)
75-77 You are a catholic
78-78 You are a foreigner (French, German...)
79-79 You are a Jew or Gypsy (no nationality)
80-81 You are obsessed with the occult
82-83 You are ugly
84-85 You have a bad sight
86-88 You are small
89-90 You are bald
91-92 You are thin
93-94 You are fat
95-96 You are Irish
97-97 You are mute
98-98 You are haemophiliac (triple your Oldness only when Wounded )
99-99 You are deaf
00-00 You are an albino (without a big sword)

 

[LostSoul]

Any DMs want to share how they build a romance hook to make sure the player takes a good bite?

This worked for me in the past.

Find the player who is most open to a romance. Throw him some little flings and such; try and make them unfulfilling.

When you introduce the romantic interest, either describe her as someone the player thinks is hot, or as vaguely as possible, letting the player fill in the blanks.

Don't make the romantic interest fall for the PC right away. Have them be friends for a while.

Make the NPC competent, a valuable asset for the PC (not the party, that doesn't matter). For example, I gave the PC a bonus to his gambling skill whenever the two of them worked together. You could do this with Bluff, or Diplomacy, or even let them communicate with Innuendo even if they don't have any ranks in the skill.

Slowly develop the NPC. Reveal secrets about her over time. These can lead to adventure! or not.

When it's time (like the night before a big battle), have them fall into each other's arms.

And don't go into details about the relationship. Talk about it in 3rd person; don't speak from the NPC's mouth. Let the player fill in the blanks.

If it works, hopefully the other players will be jealous and try and find their own romance.

 

[mmadsen]

In addition to the Wuthering Heights RPG, there's a thread about d20 Jane Austen over at rpg.net. The off-the-cuff game design stems from a simple idea: convert all physical stats and combat rules to social stats and social combat rules. Amusing, but I'd rather find a way to integrate social climbing into a game that already has action and adventure.

 

[mmadsen]

I don't buy Dragon magazine, but didn't a recent issue have rules for "withering" insults, etc.? And other games have rules for social interaction, right? I don't have Dying Earth, but it revolves around scheming, bluffing, etc., right? And Lace & Steel had rules for witty repartee damaging an enemy's self esteem. Any others?