Is there any way to do player character romance in a ttrpg that doesn't make everyone super uncomfortable? The only examples I've seen are A) a PC has a significant other / wife / husband in their backstory, or B) the character is described as a charmer, who is narratively described as flirting with NPCs without going into too much detail.
I've played RPGs with married couples and I've never even seen them play as characters who are in a relationship because they know it would come across as cringe. It just seems really strange to me that love an romance are such an important part of life and storytelling, and yet there is seemingly no way to include it in an RPG in a way that isn't super uncomfortable, cringey, or even creepy.
This sounds like a purely personal problem.
Have a nice day.
If it's also making everyone else uncomfortable like OP says then is it really a personal problem tho?
No. But I've never encountered a group who find the bare idea of being in the presence of PC relationships being roleplayed 'cringe' and 'super uncomfortable.'
I'm sure they must exist, but it's such a weird hangup, unless 'doing romance' means 'extended scenes of in-character, sexually charged flirting,' and shit. Which yes, is a bit much.
>Is there any way to do player character romance in a ttrpg that doesn't make everyone super uncomfortable?
Long answer is yes!
Short answer is that this
>) the character is described as a charmer, who is narratively described as flirting with NPCs without going into too much detail.
is the only reliable way.
Yes you can. But it relies on having players that actually be mature adults, have actual roleplay skill, and can actually separate themselves from the character they play. The last one is especially important so you don't have to deal with OOC drama if it doesn't go well.
I'll never have this problem because I'll never have a GM I like who'll give me a female monster to romance, nor a fellow player who'll run one while being open for romance. And if I ever will find this kind of setup in a party, I'm pretty sure they'll be awful degenerates with disgusting sexual fantasies. Actual taste for romance between a man and a freaky monster woman is so rare it might as well not exist in public spaces. All teratophiles I've seen are gay or women, or they're into creepy shit like rape. I use writing and daydreaming as an outlet. Keep romance out of elf games.
As long as you don't play with literal teenagers who will get too into it, and have a modicum of sense to toe the line of "cute" and "extremely awkward" it should be fine.
I've seen it done.
The problem's not so much that it's cringe but that it holds the spotlight on the couple and forces the rest of the group to sit around as the couple do couple things. It's not a problem so long as you don't spend too much time on it. Most people are here for action-adventure, not rom-com.
At least, that's my perspective as someone who games with his wife, and another couple in our group besides us.
yeah, I've done it before
I played a noble rake girl, other player was an amnesiac savant muscleman that took too many cracks to the head
they never even so much as kissed but the entire group was aware of their romance just by how they treated each other and how they acted
TL;DR Yes, if you know what subtlety is and aren't a sex-obsessed retard
I want to ERP with my 400 lb sweaty neckbeard DM while he pretends to be a beautiful elven maiden
Thinking of adding a "Village Floozy" character in my next campaign that tries to sleep with the players.
Don't play with spergs and don't be a sperg, simple as.
Yes, but it requires tact, self-awareness, and a bit of extra work. Both characters in the relationship need to retain conflicts, interests, and developments that are separate from each other, while also having elements derived from the relationship. They should not, however, receive more session time than any other interaction. Crucially, they both need to interact with characters outside of the relationship. If a party member is romancing an NPC, that NPC needs to have interactions and connections to the other PCs that aren't just "you're my husband's friend". Common interests that aren't shared by the romantic partner can keep everyone invested in the NPC for different reasons, which means nobody feels the need to switch off when they show up.
But will it ever be as satisfying and well done as this romance was?
It took me so many re-watches to catch that it's her parent's lantern that finds her, and she doesn't even know. This is one of the few films/things that always chokes me the fuck up a bit. This and the Ride of the Rohirrim.
It's one of best romances out of any Disney movie or just movies period.
>But will it ever be as satisfying and well done as this romance was?
Funnily enough? Ganker made one recently.
I know, hear me out. Google 'Snoot Game' and give it a shot.
It's really good.
Snoot Game is amazing. I heard it even inspired a fan game with 3D graphics although I think that one might be vaporware.
>Fellow Snooter on /tg/
My man.
Yes. No need to go into too much detail, fade to black when necessary, and just suffer the cringe when necessary, making it less cringe as time goes by.
I was in a game not long ago, and I was fully intending to romance one of the other PC's, even, if possible. Sadly, it didn't pan out. Could've been sweet.
We had romance happen once in our RPGs campaigns, but he magically transformed her into a dinosaur so it didn't last long.
Yes, but it's also as much dependent on the game and the table, as the player and PC.
You could have a LotR style game where every PC actually has a beautiful elven wife of delicate spirit and strong virtue. There, romance is great. It adds emotional weight to the PC's to contrast to when they face death at the hands of great peril while attempting to save the world.
In other games, it's a 'boys trip' around, killing monsters, looting their corpses, and drinking in taverns. Playing a girl, or a charmer at all, is uncomfortable, much less with any romance occurring.
In my pre-pandemic League scene there was a reasonably attractive regular female player with a serious boyfriend whom she was pregnant by but she would engage in light romantic role play with other PCs and the way those players acted was pathetic.
My post-pandemic online group of super cool people included a couple who's characters seemed to have started out in something resembling a relationship but then those characters both ran into an ambush and died in session 1 so they started new characters who were more different from one another and as they moved toward breaking up IRL, they low key brought some allegories of their personal disputes into the game. It was not romantic.
Back in the day, girlfriends of mine and other regular players would sometimes play. They would usually be very flirtatious in the beginning and I would use it to teach them to be careful who you trust in my games - and if they were other players' girlfriends this would sometimes also make those players jealous which I eat up.
In my earliest serious game, my relatively new at the time girlfriend was one of the core players and it was in fact a majority girl group. The progression of our relationship influenced the flow of the game more than I care to admit in hindsight although I never allowed any romantic relationships in that game either, just baited her into dangerous choices.
>including bastard breeders in your game
Did you at least have your games take place in Sodom and Gomorrah? What kind of low class losers did you play with?
In my last campaign, one of the regulars brought his gf. His character was an edgelord type knight, basically a paladin trying to fall by the end of Session 1. Her character was a bard who was supposed to be his motivation to stay good. This predictably ended with her character doing exactly the opposite until the GM threatened to make them NPC recurring villains. I still wish he had had the balls to do it.
I've married the PC of a friend and it only made the party dynamic more interesting. The only necessary rules are
1. Don't ERP
2. Don't overdo the flirting
3. Don't play with horndogs or prudes
>Don't play with horndogs or prudes
Fine line huh?
Very fine line. The prudes try to shut everything down while the horndogs go so overboard you just want them to shut the fuck up.