Quote from: Ravenswing;833044Couldn't say.  Another factor, of course, may well be the gender composition of the group.  For my part, other than a single semester in the late 70s with the Northeastern University gaming group, I've never GMed a campaign without at least one woman in it, and I think it's been at least twenty years since any group I've run's dropped below 50:50.  I'm trying to think back on the last all-male group in which I've been a player, and I can't think of one more recent than 1985.

From 1977 to 1997, my group was 50-50 male-female, even though at times it was very large. That group was disbanded, and my groups now, while not 50-50, almost always have at least one woman.

-clash

- Bluebooking is a great tool for this. One of the players in my current campaign uses this a lot, and it works really well.

- As people have already said in this thread, you don't need to get explicit. The main thing is the relationship, and how it affects the characters' development, and plot opportunities (but please avoid the fridging cliché).


- Two good posts from this thread, that deserve to be highlighted:

Quote from: Gabriel2;831645Play the NPC.  Don't play a "romantic NPC."  Just have the characters talk about things they would logically talk about.  If the player is actively seeking out the NPC to build their relationship, then you're doing it right.

It means getting into the NPC.  It means coming up with their hopes and dreams and little anecdotes about their life.  I've always found it helps if the NPC has some kind of tragic secret or something dark in their life, but that's far from a true requirement.

and

Quote from: flyingmice;831688All romances are different because what people want from their romances are different. Take the player's lead on this. Apparently, something about the way you have played the NPC has attracted their character. There is no reason to assume the NPC even knows this, let alone reciprocates, but that is entirely up to you.

It could be a slow, gradually increasing romance. One of my players' characters in my Sunday IRC game has been in love with an NPC for years, but for one reason or another - mainly to do with her position - they did not communicate this openly. When she left that position, things opened up, and now they are a tightly bound couple. Another of my players' characters prefers whirlwind romances. She is married to one NPC, affianced to another, and romancing a third with an eye to marriage - the culture permits multiple marriages. Still another player's character responded to an NPC who openly pursued her. She pushed him off while flirting with him, until he left his career to follow her, after which they became a tight couple.

The thing is, let the PC dictate the pace and the style of the romance. They know what they are comfortable with. Since the NPC has attracted the PC already, play the character as they have been played already, but add, when appropriate, flirtations or clever quips or sincere and deep confessions, or whatever it is the PC wants out of that relationship, as appropriate to the character. Do not change the character - reveal another dimension of that character.

Sex - for our group - is always inferred, never played out. That makes many people feel awkward. Thing is, it's not the sex that's important. They want relationships. Romance. Bonding.

Listen to Clash. Clash is wise.

Quote from: Zevious Zoquis;831693I'd be more inclined to say that the GM could determine "you find beguiling and you are strongly attracted to her/him."  Then, it would be up to me to respond to that.  If I didn't want to proceed in a romantic way it might come down to a test of my characters willpower to resist the attraction.  I just feel like "love" is something that happens outside of our control and therefore is more of a nature thing that the GM would manage.  

I'm inclined to agree with you.  Infatuation (or true love, if you prefer) can seem like the effect of a spell.  While it may seem a bit heavy handed of the Game Master, I don't think it would inhibit immersion.  

Why not have the PC or NPC set up an actual date (meeting for coffee, going out to dinner, a movie, etc.)?  During the date, spend a couple minutes on small talk before moving on to the next scene or have something exciting happen on the date.  

Put it this way: if you wouldn't be entertained watching it on TV, it's not worth portraying during the game.  Maybe compromise by narrating a montage with suggestions from the player?

VS

The players in the campaign I'm running have different takes on romance:

- The rogue and former pirate has a similar approach to Bronn in Game of Thrones. He's a regular at brothels and has not really shown serious interest in a regular relationship. It's just not the character's style so far, but the player hasn't ruled it out.

- The bard comes from a great noble house, thus making him a highly desirable target for marriage. Even his family is pressuring him into choosing one of many courtiers. While he acknowledges that it's his (eventual) duty as a family member, he keeps finding excuses to avoid this fate until he finds a worthy candidate that he actually likes. We've also had a lot of fun roleplaying his encounters with potential candidates (the daughter of a medieval mafia don, the courtier who secretly engages in forbidden magic, etc).


- The half elf archer, bastard daughter of a elven noble, had a relationship with a half elf NPC that was presented to her by other PCs. While they liked each other and it was the first romance for both character (their naivety was hilarious to play at the table), the PC eventually abandoned him for a priestess.

That new relationship has been very interesting to play, as it grew over years of campaign sessions until the player told me that her character had realized she loved the NPC. The player is also aware that it could have serious consequences in the campaign, both for her and the NPC (who is an important religious leader with many political enemies).

I run romance exactly like I run every other roleplaying in the game, save that in almost all cases the actual 'sexy time' will fade-to-black rather than require any explicit detail.

I'm amazed at how long this thread has been going, and how many good ideas and nice examples from actual play that has shown up. I'd never imagined there'd be so many people who actually played out romance on the table.

Quote from: RPGPundit;833770I run romance exactly like I run every other roleplaying in the game, save that in almost all cases the actual 'sexy time' will fade-to-black rather than require any explicit detail.

I don't think I'll go so far as to even fade to black. Any sexy stuff will have to be strongly implied rather than actually involved in the game, as per Dumas' books.

Quote from: Battle Mad Ronin;833777I'm amazed at how long this thread has been going, and how many good ideas and nice examples from actual play that has shown up. I'd never imagined there'd be so many people who actually played out romance on the table.



I don't think I'll go so far as to even fade to black. Any sexy stuff will have to be strongly implied rather than actually involved in the game, as per Dumas' books.

What? No sex on graph paper for you? :rotfl:

Quote from: Exploderwizard;833805What? No sex on graph paper for you? :rotfl:

Roll to orgasm.

Imagine the potential for the miniatures line and battlemaps!

There were also differing levels of romance in my games.  A lot of them don't really feature much romance at all; in some cases you get a rare romantic tryst; while a few (like my Legion campaign, some of my Amber campaigns, etc.) are like a fucking soap-opera.

Quote from: Battle Mad Ronin;833777I'm amazed at how long this thread has been going, and how many good ideas and nice examples from actual play that has shown up. I'd never imagined there'd be so many people who actually played out romance on the table.

Yep.  My overwhelming experience of such threads is that the folks who'll go so far as to say "Eh, I've got no problem with it" -- never mind those who actually profess enthusiasm for the subject -- are drowned out by the That Mushy Stuff Doesn't Belong In Our He-Man Hobby crowd.  (Then again, maybe it was just TBP that was so hostile to the concept.)  It's gratifying.

Quote from: RPGPundit;833989There were also differing levels of romance in my games.  A lot of them don't really feature much romance at all; in some cases you get a rare romantic tryst; while a few (like my Legion campaign, some of my Amber campaigns, etc.) are like a fucking soap-opera.

I would agree. It depends entirely on the campaign. My long running StarCluster IRC game, which has been running since 2003, is pretty much a soap opera, while a recent game of paratroopers in WWII had very little- and before you assume, my military games have seen some of our most torrid relationships.

-clash

The Legion campaign wasn't just a soap opera, it was like a WB-network teenage-soap-opera.  Which I guess is pretty fitting with the particular genre of the comic.

Quote from: RPGPundit;834477The Legion campaign wasn't just a soap opera, it was like a WB-network teenage-soap-opera.  Which I guess is pretty fitting with the particular genre of the comic.

The Collegium Arcana game is similar, in that the characters are all teen students.  It just gets very gothic horror layered on top. Bloody Ghosts, secret orders, hidden ritual, nasty history, secret rooms, ancient fueds, on top of Harry Potter age.

Quote from: LordVreeg;834620The Collegium Arcana game is similar, in that the characters are all teen students.  It just gets very gothic horror layered on top. Bloody Ghosts, secret orders, hidden ritual, nasty history, secret rooms, ancient fueds, on top of Harry Potter age.

Yeah, I guess any game where the PCs are teenagers is likely to have that.

Ironically, the games I ran or played in when I actually WAS a teenager didn't have that at all.

Quote from: RPGPundit;835079Yeah, I guess any game where the PCs are teenagers is likely to have that.

Ironically, the games I ran or played in when I actually WAS a teenager didn't have that at all.

That's why they're Fantasy Role Playing Games.