Draco Starkiller, mercenary extraordinaire, had toughed out the worst the galaxy could throw at him. With a hearty laugh, he battled to the death blood-thirsty space mutants, gun-toting pirates, and nightmarish death-robots. Without a second thought he blasted off to the far reaches of explored space and beyond. He even sold the movie rights and made a tidy profit from it all.

And Wingnut had never seen him so terrified.

"Oh, for Hawking's sake," the primly-dressed, goggle-eyed scientist said. "Why don't you just go talk to her?"

"I-I can't," Draco said, his mighty frame heaving an even mightier sigh. "Every time I get within ten meters of her, my brain turns to mush."

More than usual, Wingnut added silently,

"Okay," he said aloud. "Let's look at this logically, You see her every day walking her schnauzer through the park, right? Maybe you just need an icebreaker, something that'd attract her attention."

"But I already have my rippling muscles." Draco struck a pose and flexed prodigiously.

Wingnut rolled his eyes, "I mean something a little less, um, overwhelming. How about a pet? You could walk it through the park when she's there, and it'll give you something in common to talk to her about."

"That's a great idea!" Draco said, instantly brightening. "The pet store just got a shipment of nine-foot Venusian slug monsters! I'll go down there right now!"

Before the scientist could say anything else, Draco was out the door. Wingnut sighed as he watched his friend's retreating back, wondering idly if Draco knew slug monsters were notorious for eating their owners.

There are very few aspects of role-playing a character that make GMs and players cringe more than romance. Even many experienced groups have trouble working with such gentler emotions in their PCs. This article is designed to help gamers introduce and use romantic themes in an ongoing RPG campaign.

A Basic Definition

In common usage, "romance" refers to a type of love affair that generates excitement and adventure. This definition applies well to the type of romance that should be found in a game campaign. The physical aspects of such a relationship, if they are there at all, are best downplayed. Rather, the emotional context should be stressed. Romance in the game should be a source of whimsy, humor, and excitement.

Romantic themes seem to be the one great unexplored source of motivation and adventure in role-playing games. This is unfortunate, for romance can be a welcome change of pace from the hackneyed revenge-and-greed plots that seem to dominate most RPG scenarios. Romantic involvements can also add whole new dimensions to PCs and NPCs alike, making them more "real" and fun to play.

Getting Started

The most practical advice is to observe how romance is handled in other media. Books, movies, and TV programs deal with romance on a regular basis, and can serve as sources to draw ideas and methods from.

When introducing and running romances in the game, there are eight fundamental guidelines to keep in mind.

Romance Is Voluntary

First of all, don't push romantic themes onto anybody who doesn't want them. Experience has shown that most players will respond positively to such plots when introduced, but some will remain uncomfortable with the idea. It's good to assess how you think your players will respond beforehand. A player should always be able to choose which romances his/her PC gets involved in, if at all. Even if it's an NPC, not a PC, who's aggressively seeking romance, the character should always have the option of backing out of it if it's to the player's distaste.

Romance Is Role-playing

Romance works best as a role-playing activity. It should not be reduced to charts and tables and dice throwing; this will detract from the atmosphere and spontaneity that romance brings to the game. Romance is a character-oriented endeavor, and requires players who enjoy playing out the nuances of their PCs. Power-hungry dice-throwers or nit-picking rules lawyers make poor choices for amorous subjects.

Romance Is Gradual

Don't throw romantic themes and plots at your players all at once, especially if they are new to the concept. Work it in subtly over several game sessions. Let potential character relationships take whatever time necessary to develop and reach fruition.

Romance Is Proportion

Romance should almost never dominate the main thrust of a game adventure. At best, it should be a subplot or a side adventure. In an already established game romance, most aspects of the love affair should remain "offstage" and in the background, and should be addressed only when it has some bearing on the current situation.

Romance Is Texture

Love and passion are boring if they exist in a vacuum. When amorous situations come to the fore in a scenario, it is up to the GM to provide an appropriate backdrop. Small, subtle things work well in such situations for provoking the appropriate atmosphere. A talk on a star-lit balcony, the shy gift of a single rose, or a passionate kiss before a do-or-die battle are all good examples of romantic texture.

Romance Is Passion

Remember that romance and love are the realms of intense emotions. Characters will care a great deal about their love-interests, and will place a high priority on their well-being. This goes back to the second point above; only players who are willing to role-play their characters will act this out properly. A PC whose True Love has just been kidnapped by a ruthless horde of drooling space mutants will not just shrug his shoulders and order another beer!

Romance Isn't all Bliss

In literature and cinema, romance is a magnet for trouble. There's no reason why this shouldn't be the case with role-playing adventures. Adversity in relationship will add a lot to a player's suspension of disbelief. This applies both to internal conflicts (personality clashes between the lovers) or external troubles (a jealous ex-girlfriend trying to come between them). The referee can use these incidents in a romantic relationship as texture, as incidental events, or as adventure hooks.

The Comfort Factor

This is perhaps the most important rule to keep in mind when running romances in a role-playing setting. Do not address any aspect of a romantic relationship that you are uncomfortable with. Remember that the purpose of adding romance to a game is to enhance the enjoyment of it, not to embarrass anyone.

The PC-NPC Relationship

The PC-NPC relationship requires special effort for both the participating player and the GM. Despite this, it can be a rewarding and intriguing experience to play. The rest of this article focuses on this type of romance exclusively. (The other types, PC-PC and NPC-NPC romances, usually require minimal effort by the GM, as the former is completely out of his hands and the latter gives him complete creative control.) This kind of interaction requires a special type of NPC, referred to here as the Romantic Foil.

There are two types of philosophies when it comes to developing Romantic Foils. One states that the Foil should be specially prepared and customized beforehand to suit the specific needs of a particular PC. The other implies that a Foil should be fleshed out from an already established NPC that the PC has taken an interest in. Both have their advantages and disadvantages.

The Custom-Designed Foil

This Foil is designed before his or her introduction into the campaign, with a specific PC in mind. A referee assesses the personality of the PC and puts what he thinks will be complementary attributes into the Foil. He then introduces the Foil in such a way so as to be conducive to a romantic meeting. In other words, custom-designed foils are usually used when the GM, as opposed to the player, wants to initiate a PC/NPC romance.

For example, a player has a character called Deadeye, a hard-bitten bounty-hunter as efficient as he is nasty in combat. However, he is often plagued by his conscience and has moral doubts about what he does. He also has a personal (if loose) code of honor. The GM decides a romantic interest might be interesting for such a character, and sets about designing Deadeye's Romantic Foil. The GM assesses that Deadeye's amorous opposite will have to be able to handle herself well in combat (to keep up with the bounty hunter's dangerous lifestyle), be strong-willed (to deal with Deadeye's mood swings), and have a firm moral center (to help with the PC's crises of conscience).

The NPC turns out to be a Federal Marshal for the local government. She is very capable and efficient, handling herself well under stressful conditions. She has not yet been in her job long enough to grow cynical, and still believes in the principles of the law.

The main personality established, the GM then adds some character quirks and background history to flesh her out fully. As a way of introducing the characters, the GM decides to have the Foil assigned to the case that Deadeye's party is currently involved in as independent contractors. As a matter of professional courtesy, she consults the party, and her eye is drawn to the quiet, brooding man in the corner...

The main disadvantage of this strategy is that the PC might not be taken with the Foil and refuses to get involved with him or her no matter what the GM tries. A lot of design work has then gone for naught. Though the NPC is still a useful, well fleshed-out character, she will not become as prominent a factor in the game as the GM would have liked.

The Incidental Foil

These Foils are not designed as such, and are originally meant for other, more standard NPC roles in an adventure. They can be just as well or poorly developed as any other character in an ongoing campaign. They become Foils only when a PC takes a serious romantic interest in them. More often than not, Incidental Foils are used when the player (as opposed to the GM) decides to initiate a PC/NPC romance.

For example, the PC party frequently patrons a tavern, the Cracked Reactor. The GM, on a whim, decides to have them waited on regularly by a waitress intended as a source for rumors. He gives her a name (Monica) and enough character tags (brunette, streetwise, sarcastic) to disguise her true role as a plot device. However, over the course of several visits, one of the PCs strikes up conversations with her, wanting to know her opinions, background, etc.

During the next several game sessions when the PC talks with her, the GM improvises on her background so that (for example) she's working her way through college to become an xenobiologist and she hates being cooped up in any one place for any lengthy amount of time. The PC eventually asks her for a date, and Monica the plot-device waitress graduates from an incidental NPC to a Romantic Foil.

The Incidental Foil requires good improvisation skills on the part of the GM. Quite often the potential Foil isn't fleshed out enough to be interesting without some fast invention. Also, experience has shown that the objects of affection PC single out on a whim can sometimes be wildly mismatched and difficult at first to work through (imagine Deadeye and Monica on a first date). However, such couplings can sometimes be intriguing if the time is taken to play them out properly.

It is important to point out that a Romantic Foil, by necessity, must be a fully developed, three-dimensional NPC. The Foils, no matter the amount of affection for a PC, will have their own goals and agenda. Sometimes what they're willing to compromise these for the sake of the PCs sometimes not. It is up to the GM to determine, based on the Foil's personality and will, how that will affect the relationship.

The Initial Encounter

This is not necessarily the first time the characters meet, but the first time they make their feelings known to each other, potentially sparking a love affair. For GM and players new to the concepts of romance, this can be the most difficult aspect to play out satisfactorily.

First, the GM must take the personalities of both the PC and the Foil into consideration. How would they go about expressing themselves? Would one character come straight out and tell the other what he or she feels? Or will the character be shy and roundabout about it? Will they talk, write notes, or sky-write to each other?

Another factor to keep in mind is the setting in which the encounter takes place. The surroundings should be conducive to the drama of the moment. A hospital room where one of the characters has just emerged from a life-threatening coma can be just as appropriate as a candle-lit gourmet dinner, depending on the circumstance surrounding the characters.

It's not necessary to role-play out every word and action of these (or other) romantic encounters between the PC and the Foil. As stated earlier, subtlety can go a long way. With the hospital room example above, all the GM really has to say is, "she hugs you and whispers how worried she was about you. She blurts out feelings she has had about you that she has kept hidden for months." After the scene is played out, "fade to black" with it and move on to other events.

Romance And The Campaign

Think Leia and Han. Think Belle and the Beast. Think Conan and Belit.

Remember that a role-playing game, no matter its genre or tone, is a source of exciting adventure and escapism. A romance between characters in the game should reflect this. Drama is the key word in running game romances over a long period of time. The love affair should not remain static from adventure to adventure. The GM should do his or her best not to let the circumstances get boring and lose the player's interest.

This is not to say that the couple should face an emotional crisis in every game session. The GM should keep things toned down and in proportion unless the love affair figures prominently in the adventure's events. In one adventure, for instance, the lovers may be in the midst of a petty quarrel, while in another they might be hunting for anniversary gifts.

Romantic subplots may also be carried from scenario to scenario. These are a bit more involved and will take more effort to resolve. An old lover of the Foil might show up and try repeatedly to win him or her back. Or the Foil may be resentful that the PC is constantly going out on missions instead of spending time with him or her.

A Romantic Foil can also be used as an adventure hook, where he or she figures prominently in an ongoing scenario. This should be done infrequently at best, as the PC will quickly grow tired of a Foil who is always precipitating trouble for the party. Adventures involving Foils as major NPCs can range from the tried-but-true "rescue-the-princess" scenario to having to deal with the Foil's secret criminal past when it catches up to him or her.

Other examples of Romantic Foil subplots and hooks include: the Foil's dependent children, ("I can't go battle the Emperor of the Undead with you guys. We couldn't find a babysitter."), the Foil's deadbeat relatives, ("I don't care if he is your uncle, he can't come with us into the trans-dimensional energy vortex!"), philosophical, social or religious differences, ("Either we have a traditional Klingon wedding, or we won't get married at all!"), personality clashes, ("You want me to learn how to use a gun? Eeeww! Gross!"), cultural schisms, ("But where I come from, everyone has twelve wives."), murder plots, ("Me? Put cyanide in your drink? Don't be silly, dear!"), elaborate extortion, blackmail, or theft plots, ("What do you mean Sandra and the starship are gone?"), and the old soap-opera stand-by, infidelity ("You? The only one? Bwa-ha-ha-ha!!!"). Note that the last several examples can be perpetrated as easily by the PC as by the Foil.

Marriage

Once romance is allowed to become part of a campaign, a marriage between characters is almost inevitable. In many ways it can be considered the ultimate romance-related adventure. Weddings make terrific back-drops for scenarios (What kind of wedding are the romantic principals going to have? What kind of gifts are they going to get? And what better time for those terrorists to take revenge on the party than when the couple is taking their vows?), and marriage will present a whole new set of challenges for the PC. The character will now always have to consider the well-being of his or her spouse before engaging in a course of action. Mortgages, sharing accommodations, and even pregnancy and children may have to be addressed in the long run.

The Inevitable

Eventually, the interest in a game romance fades and the player and/or the GM will want to move on to new things. Game romances can end in several ways: a voluntary breakup, a death, or "happily ever after."

The Voluntary Break-Up For one reason or another the romance isn't working out, and one of the principals decides to bow out. This will occur more often through the PC than through the Foil. Sometimes the break-up is amicable, sometimes not. The GM will have to decide precisely how the Foil will react, based on circumstances and the NPC's personality.

Death

One of the principals of the love affair meets an untimely end. In all likelihood this will be the Foil as opposed to the PC. The GM is advised not to use this plot device too often. A player whose PC keeps having lovers die on him will get frustrated. Also, over-using such deaths tend to detract from the drama of such situations, as they start becoming routine.

"Happily Ever After"

The PC decides to quit adventuring and settle down with the Foil. This doesn't occur often (in seventeen years of being a GM, I've seen it happen only once), but it does happen. Basically both the PC and the Foil character are retired and allowed fade into blissful obscurity.

Interspecies Romance

This refers to a human/alien romance. In most science-fiction and fantasy games, there are a number of intriguing near-human and humanoid races. Experience has shown that many players respond enthusiastically to the exotic when it comes to amorous venues for their characters.

These are difficult relationships to run, even for GMs and players who are experienced at handling love affairs between characters. The non-human Foil must be human enough to be attractive and yet foreign enough to remain alien in flavor. The GM must not only remember who the Foil is in terms of personality and motives, but must also keep in mind what the Foil is in terms of physiology and mentality.

Besides the usual personality and cultural conflicts, the couple may also have to deal with very basic biological and psychological differences. However, running such an fascinating relationship can be rewarding, both in terms of fun and player interest, if handled properly. (For a great example of a human/non-human romance, the reader is directed toward the novel The Uplift War by David Brin.)

Another situation occasionally comes up when a PC is a non-human and becomes involved in a romance with another of his/her/its species. Like the human/non-human love affair discussed above, this presents many unique challenges - not only for the Referee but for the player as well. How does the PC's particular race handle courtship and mating? Just what does love mean for that particular species? What instincts and taboos are involved?

Fantasy Romance

The fantasy genre has a long tradition of mixing love stories with fantastic elements, and is probably the easiest genre to work romantic themes in. Dashing knights and fair maidens, winsome sorceresses and swashbuckling thieves, barbarian princesses and cursed warriors - fantasy campaigns are bursting with potential Romantic Foils.

Fantasy settings offer a number of unique obstacles to potential lovers a GM can use. The most of these is the magical curse, often cast by a jealous wizard or godling, designed to somehow keep the lovers apart. The curse usually takes the form of transforming one or both of the principals into creatures, like frogs, birds, or hideous monsters. Sometimes the curse can take other forms, such as eternal sleep, physical separation, or terrible calamities befalling their homelands every time they are together. Entire series of adventures can be woven around the efforts of a PC to break such a curse and reunite with his or her beloved.

In some high-magic settings, powerful emotions can become physically manifest, taking on a magical reality all their own. Folklore makes much ado about the power of true love being able to break darkling spells, but in a fantasy campaign such an occurrence should be as rare as true love itself. Rather, love-based magic can take the form of a kind of spectral "link" between the PC and the Foil. One may be able to sense when the other is in danger, or when separated, they may be able to visit each other in their dreams. If one of the lovers dies, it may even be possible for the deceased to return very briefly in spirit form to save the other during a moment of dire crisis.

Interspecies romance is a very common theme in fantasy campaigns, especially human-elf, human-faerie and human-monster loves. The last is especially interesting, as the monster's outcast status among humans will lend a Romeo-and-Juliet kind of forbidden aspect to the romance. The most common monstrous lovers tend to be orcs, dragons, and cursed creatures such as werebeasts.

Science Fiction Romance

It is science fiction settings, especially ones well-populated with alien races, that really allow interspecies romance to come into its own. Fantasy races may be exotic, but in the end most of their reactions and emotions fit into the familiar spectrum of the human norm. Alien races are not so restricted, and may have very unpredictable passions when it comes to love and romance.

One of the more exotic romantic venues in science fiction that a GM may wish to explore is artificial intelligence. Sentient machines and robots may develop emotions of their own, or try to emulate their human makers in every way possible - including romance.

Either way, one of these machines may fall in love with a human and all sorts of game complications may ensue as a result. A sentient starship computer, for example, may have the vessel execute wild and dangerous maneuvers to impress the PC pilot it has fallen in love with. The rest of the crew, having narrowly avoided becoming greasy smears, may not be so flattered.

Psionics may also have a bearing on romances if such powers are present in your game world. Certain abilities could seriously complicate some subplots ("How did she know I was cheating on her? It's not as if she could read my mi- D'OH!"). In a more positive light, some powers could create a psychic "link" between the lovers, much like the spectral link discussed in the previous section.

Cyberpunk

Of all the various gaming genres, cyberpunk is the most difficult to introduce romantic themes into. Cyberpunk dystopias are hard, dirty, cynical and tragic places, and many PCs tend to reflect that worldview. However, a sincere romance would have that much more resonance in such a world: it would be a true rebellion against the chrome and profit morality of the megacorps, and may give an otherwise hopeless character a much-needed shot of humanity.

Horror Romance

In literature and films, horror and romantic themes go together like salt and pepper - you'll rarely find one without the other. As a fear-inducing dramatic device, nothing beats having a victim's horrific encounter witnessed through the eyes of a loved one.

In "monster hunter" RPGs like Call of Cthulhu and Chill, the GM can use a game romance for just this purpose. The ongoing potential danger to the Romantic Foil due to the PC's activities should be a constant source of anxiety, and such relationships can easily end in shocking tragedy. If the PC does meet a gruesome end, the horrified reactions of the victim's beloved can help drive home the terror of such a state to the rest of the party.

In "personal" horror games such as Vampire: The Masquerade, romance takes on a very different resonance. The PCs themselves play the monsters, and may instigate such tragedies upon others (especially if they have to seduce and kill innocents in order to survive).

Because of this, personal horror campaigns are difficult to run serious romantic themes in, but when you can get away with it, they add a great deal of dimension to the PC involved. One of the Accursed may cling to a mortal lover as his sole remaining link to his long-forsaken humanity, or two immortal creatures may share a quirky, doom-ridden romance that spans centuries.

Other Genres

A few quick notes about running romances in other types of RPGs:

Superheroes

One of the great strengths of the superhero genre is that it encompasses nearly all others, and can lead to some truly bizarre love matches. In a standard campaign, it is perfectly within established conventions to have, say, a cybernetic elf date an alien vampire, or a mutated dolphin man develop a crush on a robot sorceress. The GM should feel free to let his imagination run wild when creating Foils.

Western and Victorian

One thing a GM must keep in mind when running adventures in these settings, whether historically accurate or fantasy variants, is that the people at the time had very different ideas of what was and was not acceptable in romantic relationship. This was especially true of upper society, where a couple was expected to go through months of chaperoned "outings" without so much as kissing and it was scandalous for a woman to show her ankle in public.

Time Travel and Alternate Worlds

These adventures offer two tried-and-true spins a GM can put on PC-NPC romances: the "grandmother" paradox, where the PC goes back in time and becomes his own ancestor, and the Edith Keeler Effect, where the time traveler falls in love with someone who is doomed by history to die. Also, if a Foil of a PC died in the past, the GM may want him to meet a past or alternate-world version of her to generate some interesting role-playing encounters.

Final Comments

The addition of romantic themes to an adventure scenario can greatly enhance everyone's enjoyment of the game. Running a game romance between a PC and an NPC can be challenging and intriguing for GM and players alike.

The next day, Draco strode into Wingnut's warehouse laboratory whistling happily. Wingnut looked up from his latest invention-in-progress, a plutonium-enriched cake frosting.

"Everything work out with you and that woman, then?" he asked.

The massively-muscled mercenary stopped to admire his perfectly-combed hair in a mirror, humming a cheery tune.

"Not exactly."

"Then what are you so happy about?"

Draco's smile sparkled, Wingnut idly wondered how he did that in the lab's dim lighting.

"Well," the mercenary began. "I followed your advice, got the slug monster, and took it for a walk in the park. Sure enough, the woman stopped to admire Sluggy (that's what I named it, by the way), saying my new pet was really cute, as giant theropods go."

"And?"

"And then Sluggy kind of ate her dog, tore through the park, terrorized several kids, and demolished what turned out to be her car."

"Good grief! What are you smiling about, then?"

"Well, it turns out slug monsters are sentient, and Sluggy's female. We got to talking, and, well..."

"You didn't."

"She is kind of cute, in a slimy sort of way. We're going out Friday. Which reminds me: can I, uh, borrow your car Friday night?"

Wingnut just sighed.