How do I tastefully add romantic interests/ relations to my campaigns?
>>45021279
Just don't fetishize it or make it overtly lewd. Other than that as long as you don't go crazy with it that's fine.
>>45021279
Get into the mindset. Imagine yourself being romantically interested in the character. But don't be a weirdo.
>>45021279
>>45021336
Forgot to say. As for the individuals themselves, just have the romancer show up or spend time with the romancee and hopefully try to show chemistry between them. Don't take over any current plot points, just have it build in the background. Or in the foreground if everyone at the table is cool with it. Point I'm stumbling around is don't force it and let it develop on its own.
Make them chaste and distant
She's a motivation, not some sex object.
Worked for me.
She was the inspiration for my paladin and when we all did solo-games for each other to give the gm a break some qt shit happened.
>>45022452
*chaste as in "don't bring up sex in game"
Let the players figure that shit out on their own.
>>45021279
You don't unless the players are really REALLY asking for it
And even then it's probably still not worth it
>>45022579
Dykes are gross, fuck off with your beta fetish
>>45022765
>prefering the thinking man's fetish
>>45021279
Run them as background elements, especially during downtime and time skips. "You spend several evenings over the course of the month with Love Interest, who is ecstatic over the tales you spin of your adventures." "During the months following your victory, you find yourself drop to Miss Interest. After several weeks of courting, you both agree to elope, using money from your adventure to buy a plot of land outside the city. However, just as this love affair begins, the call of adventure catches your ear once again."
Obviously these would involve more input from the player, maybe a few appropriate social checks here and there depending on the system, but it prevents things from getting too awkward while letting the player character have some happiness on the side.
>>45022808
Two men going at it is good and pure
Woman are as incapable of fornication as they are of love
>>45022895
Women only love one thing, and it's hurting you
>>45022579
>this campaign and subsequent campaigns were being posted on /tg/ before princess/ladyknight was even a meme
How long have I been on this fucking board?
>>45022913
Dykes are legit horrible people
>>45022984
Who hurt you anon?
You can make them an endgame goal for the character.
I've played in games where romance/love interests are actually in game and even as NPCs but it's pretty tricky to handle. Too often it just devolves into magical realm.
>>45021279
Obviously you should try and force it on the characters aso much as possible, also try to cater to your own fetishes while ignoring theirs.
>>45023253
I think it's best for everyone if you don't cater to anybody's fetishes. Or know them.
![[TRIGGER WARNING].gif](https://i.imgur.com/IowmZpF.gif "[TRIGGER WARNING].gif")
>>45021279
I dunno man just roleplay like normal people and let it come up as it comes up. I've had PCs have casual hookups with this and that, flings, serious relations, helped get NPCs together or watched their relationships grow through the fights and the understandings, some are raising kids, some have lost someone, etc etc etc. I mean it's mostly a city-based game, not a world adventure, but even then just... you know, act like a normal human?
One previous campaign I had with divine beings had one demon grunt girl decide to fancy herself a knight to some older literal ice queen.It literally melted her heart by the end and she left Hell.
>>45021279
If you want tasteful, then do not emphasize sex or magical realm stuff. While I would say it's important from a psychological perspective to know if the character and the love interest are having sex, or if they are remaining chaste until marriage/anything like that, it is *not* important that we know what all their weird little kinks are.
I mean, if your group likes that kind of joking around, go for it, but remember that the emphasis should be on the two character's emotional connection over their physical one.
Also, consider in particular how the L.I. can add to the plot. Arthurian romance is full of this: the Lady always needs her Knight to go do something spectacularly awesome to show what a rad knight he is so they can get married. Sometimes she comes along too! So the Love Interest can be a quest giver. They can get kidnapped/threatened, but that tends to turn players off, so save that for *really* important end of the campaign type stuff.
The Love Interest can offer advice, too. It's not uncommon for people to turn to their Significant Others in real life, why not in elf games too? When faced with hard choice, or just in need of some morale support, make the Love Interest available to let the player know what they think of the situation. This can be a good way to drop hints as a GM, and it can provide for good role play opportunities if the character is at odds with the love interest.
I'd strongly recommend looking at the rpg Pendragon, it has extensive rules about Arthurian-style romance, including how two nobles would court each other, and ways for player knights to become inspired by their lady love to get bonuses in combat.
![2008-03-24-93843[1].jpg](https://i.imgur.com/4IQ1XCB.jpg "2008-03-24-93843[1].jpg")
Personally, I can't stand romance in any of my media. If you're not going to make it the central focus of the story and you're not going to make it lewd, what the fuck is even the point.
Whether it's boardgames, vidya, tv shows or movies, romances are always shoehorned into them to make them artifically more "deep" and add artificial connections between characters without having to put in effort. More often than not, romantic subplots feel more like a distraction to the story than a real addition or deepening.
I think James Cameron's interpretation of Titanic is a perfect example of this bullshit. "So we have the greatest naval disaster in history, a ship deemed unsinkable is hit by an iceberg and sinks. How do we make this great human tragedy interesting? Oh, I know! Let's add in some starstruck lovers! The plebs will eat this shit right up!". And considering it was the highest grossing film of all time when it was released, Cameron was right: plebs will eat up anything involving a love story, even if it's barely inspired and distracts from what should be the main theme. At this point the ship after which the movie is named is little more than window dressing.
tl;dr: Unless you're playing a romantically themed campaign (I guess you could pull that off with MAID or something), why even bother with romance?
>>45025518
Romance is slaying dragons for women, simple as that.
>>45025588
>Romance is dragons slaying women for men
>>45021279
1 Don't force it.
Give the players room to make it happen between their characters naturally, rather than just planting obvious DMPC sexbombs or whatever in your sessions, that shit is creepy as hell.
2 Let the players explore adult themes, but focus on the social impact and group dynamic aspect of it, don't focus on the acts.
3 Always fade to black.
>>45025518
>What are emotions?
Fuck you, if you don't include emotions and other human flaws in your fiction you're left with worldbuilding and trivia wankery
Why bother with romance? Why bother with money, eating, sleeping, resting or other things that are part of being human? If they're not central to the campaign hurrdurr.
Without human motivations like personal flaws, emotions, aspirations and so on the rpg characters just become one-dimensional player inserts that only exist as an excuse to read adventure modules and have cheetos in your buddy's basement every thursday.
It fucking floors me how someone can say that romance should just be excluded from a hobby that consists of participating in fiction about people.
>>45022968
not very long. now stop being dramatic and stay here forever.
It's all about your group. Can your players enjoy RPing romantic relations with themselves or NPCs you control without finding it awkward or uncomfortable? Okay, cool. Otherwise, it's honestly not worth it.
>>45021279
Romance, sex and love in rpgs tends to be really fucking lame if there's not at least a tiiiiny bit of self-insertion going on. The player needs to respond to it, not just the character, otherwise it just becomes some boring tedious thing that amounts to another npc to try to milk benefits from.
This is why it's very often a terrible idea to attempt it in the typical all-male group where it inevitably gets really awkward or really bland.
In the mixed groups I DM for, romance/flings/affairs/sex etc are all very common between player characters or npcs because, surprise surprise, it's a pretty major thing for most people.
This does not mean that it turns into porno evening or anything though, 99% of the time it's not something that's described in sticky detail or acted out, but just what's needed to give the players something to keep in mind during their other interactions.
Nobody wants to sit around the table hearing exactly how you fictionfuck each other, but it can be great fun to play out the aftermath of the sorceress finally getting the paladin in the sack and realizing he's useless, or the uptight noble getting proper fucked and mellowing out a bit.
MOST if not all of the resistance against adult themes in role-playing sessions stem from the fact that most groups are just guys, or super awkward.
Some guys say that they'll respond 100% the same to their guy friend or leering neckbeard DM's character coming on to them as when it's the character that's actually played by a woman who's trying to flirt.
Those people are either
a: Fucking lying
b: the people who really want to make female characters and hit on their friends characters
c: never actually experienced it in role-playing.
>>45025634
This. Make believable and lovable NPCs, but don't push it.
>>45025688
>Romance is literally the only emotion around
You're everything wrong with the modern age. Seriously, "I want to fuck the pretty lady" under a thin veil of wankery is as superficial as emotions, and by extent roleplay, can get.
there is nothing wrong with homosexuals, but I'm starting to see yuri shipping itself as pure magical realm.
I mean shippers act just as pervy and sex driven as any other magical realmer could be. Its just considered "more ok" even when it goes out of the realm of reason. Maybe if its done with the same chasteness some are suggesting with hetro relationships exp subtle if your setting is primitive enough. But usually it just breaks emersion by having the whole setting go"SQUEE!" at it. Like some romantic comedy.
>>45025715
You have my word.
>>45025789
Underrated post I say.
>>45025789
What I'm getting from this post is that "men cannot into romance"
>>45025688
The difference between eating and sleeping compared to romance is substantial in a role playing setting.
Imagine if every time your players decided to eat you had to say how the food is feeling as you cut it up, chewed it and swallowed.
>The steak shutters slightly as your knife pierces it, it's moist center steaming lightly as you lift the single pink slice to your mouth. Hot juices sputter wonderfully over your tastebuds, the piece offering only slight resistance as its broken down between grinding teeth.
It'd be awkward honestly.
>>45025789
I couldn't even imagine a female character (played by a male) hitting on a male character (also played by a male). That would be about the most awkward thing in the god damn world.
>>45027895
I would pay money for a DM to put that level of detail into everything the PCs did
>>45025789
>MOST if not all of the resistance against adult themes in role-playing sessions stem from the fact that most groups are just guys, or super awkward.
Well I would think that the resistance typically stems from the fact that role playing sex in a group of just guys IS super awkward. Not one or the other specifically.
I'm running a group now with 2 girls and 3 guys in it. I would like to add some romance to get one of the girls a little more involved (she's just playing a quiet ranger type who shoots everything and says nothing) but I don't want it to be too hamfisted, or make it seem like I'm hitting on her (not because she isn't a total qt but I don't want to seem like I'm giving her any preference). We've actually gone on a few dates, so I really really want to avoid looking like I'm trying to fit relationship stuff/fantasies into D&D.
>>45028005
But anon, that is what you're doing
>>45028037
What I'm saying is; I don't want to make an NPC character who crudely asks her character for a fucking blowjob, and then I wink at her from across the table.
>>45027893
More like "romance between characters played by straight male players tends to be awkward as hell" and generally don't add much in the way of fun drama or excitement to the sessions.
>>45027951
That was kind of my point. The only people who insist that it's not super awkward and that it's just being in character are the guys who always end up playing hot elf chicks who hit on other party members.
It's one of the reasons I strongly urge players to stick to their own sex when it comes to making characters, I'm not saying nobody can pull it off, I'm just saying that the other players respond differently to it and it kind of creates a weird mood. If you have 3 female characters in the party and 1 of them is played by a guy and 2 are played by women, nobody has to guess which one gets treated completely different by the rest of the group.
>>45027895
That's a bullshit argument since nobody spends an entire session describing how they chew, why would they spend an entire session describing a sex act? Both are important biological urges that can inform the characters behaviour and goals tons, but it's not very interesting to describe in depth. That doesn't mean we should just ignore it and play robots with no motivations other than logic.
>>45026079
>I don't have a leg to stand on so I'll just put words in your mouth.
You can't relate to people having emotions, which is your problem, don't try to pretend like you're somehow taking the high road by throwing the entire theme out.
>>45028005
So don't role-play the sex act. We don't do that either. Most of the time it's just the players telling each other briefly about how it was or how they act, not specifically what they do.
In one of my current groups two characters have a pretty tense and grumpy dynamic between them that largely stems from the fact that he is a selfish prick whenever they fuck, but she can't quite bring herself to tell him off. But they've never actually acted out the fucksessions.
Also, doing it between the DM and a player is not a great idea, it's a lot more fun (and equal) when it happens between characters.
Maybe just have it happen between some npcs or include it as background stuff and so on to give the players an opening to have their characters talk about/approach those themes on their own? If you make some npc hit on a character, the player might feel obligated to respond in a certain way because they're worried about it being some plot hook and that they're shooting down the fun for the whole group if they don't play along. So don't do that.
>>45028005
>Girl I've been on dates with is in my D&D group but doesn't seem very involved in the game, maybe I should romance her in D&D?
Jesus Christ it's a miracle we survived as a species with geniuses like you in the gene-pool.
>>45025600
So dragons all want the D, that's why they kidnap women.
>>45028380
Nah, she's just really shy. Has a hard time talking in the group. She does enjoy it.
>>45028384
>I said Slay the dragon not Lay the dragon!
>But Sire, she was the one instigating it!
Why do so many people on this board want to roleplay romance with other greasy neckbeards? Are you missing the part of the brain that tells you how weird that is?
Just make some npcs that are potentially attractive and see whetger PCs will be interested in any.
>>45030467
There is absolutely nothing wrong wanting to roleplay a tender relationship with your bros
Don't force them on players.
>>45033089
>>45030467
Anon, there's nothing wrong with liking a cute feminine dick.
>>45028067
Then don't.
Every NPC is a potential love interest, but beyond offhandedly mentioning the glances and giggles it's on the player to decide whether or not to get into it.They never do, courtship isn't killing things.
