High Level Games
High Level Games
  • Home
  • Blog
  • Store
    • Storytellers Vault Products
    • Fantasy One-Page Adventures
    • DMs Guild Products
  • Podcasts
  • Video
  • Trusted Resources
  • Join The Team
  • About
  • Contact
    • Star Trek Adventures
  • Home
  • Blog
  • Store
    • Storytellers Vault Products
    • Fantasy One-Page Adventures
    • DMs Guild Products
  • Podcasts
  • Video
  • Trusted Resources
  • Join The Team
  • About
  • Contact
    • Star Trek Adventures

Welcome to the High Level Games Blog, News, and other stuff to take your games to the next level!

Best Selling RPGs - Available Now @ DriveThruRPG.com

In Sickness And In Health 'Til Failed Death Saves Do Us Part! A Short Primer On How To Deal With Love In Role-Playing Games

31/8/2016

3 Comments

 
Picture
​Love is in the air.
            Ah, to be young and in love…
            Make love, not war!
            I love the smell of napalm in the morning...
 
            That 4-letter word is such a big part of everyday life; it’s bound to make its way into our gaming in one form or another.
 
            Whilst the land of playfully cutting NPCs’ heads off via dice rolling is at least somewhat different from our very own 9-to-5 corporate existence, love in gaming bears at least a somewhat significant resemblance to its real life counterpart. Dealing with love in a less stressful environment can even get people to learn a thing or two and deal with love’s treacherous meanders more easily. Hey, look at that! We’re playing AND learning!
 
            As such, here are a few pointers (mostly from a GMing POV) to bear in mind when dealing with the big L in your role-playing sessions.
 
1. KNOW YOUR AUDIENCE
           
            I could just leave it at this, seeing as it’s such an all-encompassing statement. Everything else I’m about to go through will bounce off of it in some shape or form, but we’re still doing listicles, not one-sticles.
 
            It’s very important to know who the people around you are and what their expectations from the game itself mean when tackling something as important as love. This is why I’ve personally found that the best in-character love stories occur when those role-playing know each other well outside of the game itself, aware of what makes the other guy/gal tick as well as what ticks them off, how and when to push their buttons and where to stop. Now that doesn’t mean you should only do this with people you know, that might mean you’ll never get a role-playing session...
 
            Love as a whole is difficult to even write about and get right, let alone trying to improvise a story on the go – don’t make it even harder by assuming stuff about your players. Take the time to get to know both them (the player) AS WELL AS their characters (one doesn’t necessarily merge with the other), feel around a bit, experiment and only then try to really go all out lovin’ within the campaign. On the other hand, if the players themselves start a love story, don’t discourage it – see where it takes them and why, and try to be the best catalyst for their plans and ideas.
           
There’s no harm in going all nun-style with a ruler on them when they cross the line, but you need to find out where the line IS first.
 
2. DON’T BE A D*CK
           
            AKA Wheaton’s law (or otherwise the only commandment Moses ever needed to bring down the mountain in the first place), this one’s pretty wide when it comes down to it (...phrasing?).
 
            Already linked to the first point, there are many facets to what this could mean, but it boils down to you as a GM not hurting, but enriching a love story as it develops/breaks apart. Someone sacrificing themselves for another in the thick of battle, or taking a punishment for their loved one will mean much more than someone’s betrothed dying after having slipped on a banana peel (unless this is Toon, the role-playing game). Anything and everything you do must make sense not only within the story itself, but even when you look at it from the outside. Sure, throwing a monkey wrench into the whole thing is great, if anything a little adversity makes it all the more rewarding in the end, but dropping a piano on someone out of the blue might skew towards poor-taste (unless this IS Toon, the role-playing game).
 
            If you do, however, go off the deep end and get your players themselves pissed at you for something you’ve done, just blame it on the NPCs. You just make them up and set them loose upon the unsuspecting world, right?
           
It’s like ventriloquism – that puppet’s got a mind of its own, I swear!
 
3. FREE YOUR MIND!
           
            We live in a day and age when the people around us are as varied as… well… the people around us, really. What this means for you is that some of your players might have a whole other view on who and why someone should/could be in love than you do. Unless you’re pushing 60 or have been living under a rock for the past two decades or so, that’s a good thing!
           
Seriously, if you draw the line at something like this yet are OK with your PCs murdering innocent bystanders, you need to rethink some stuff. The caveat to this, as to all love stories, really, is for everything to be done in good taste, something that – again – links to the first point of this list. Whilst people tend to explore more in gaming than they would in real life, this should only be done to the extent that they’re not making everybody else uncomfortable.
           
That being said, I can think of at least 10 ways a bi character would have gotten me out of some damn difficult situations over the past few sessions…
 
4. REALLY FREE YOUR MIND!
           
            Careening off the previous entry, and taking it to the extreme, we all know role-playing sessions can be over the top. As well they should be. Where else am I going to ride a woolly mammoth into battle, singing “Come all ye deadful” on a giant harp made from the bones of my enemies?
 
            My cloning experiments haven’t gone all that well lately and I’ve yet to amass nearly enough bones for a giant harp!
           
If you like to push the limits of your imagination (and why wouldn’t you?), role-playing might even be a good place to find new things to spice up the ol’ under-the-sheets action.
 
            While I’ve been blessed with an amazing group that really likes to push the envelope when it comes to stuff like this (Sword-sex, anyone? Don’t ask…), your mileage may vary. But, if your players DO want to go all the way with their love/love-making (well, that sounded like I was 12…), you may end up with some laugh-out-loud moments if a pack of orcs shows up right as the thief and the mage are going at it while reading Contortionist’s’ Weekly…
           
What this point really wants to hammer home is that you shouldn’t miss out on some good times/great set-pieces (as weird as that sounds) just because something like that wouldn’t happen in real life. Yeah, YOU can’t possibly reach that way, but why shouldn’t Mubandi, Son-of-Snake-Hands be able to?
 
5. CHARACTERS =/= PLAYERS
           
            As true as it always is, there should be some clear rules/discussions about this kind of thing when dealing with love and relationships within games. Many a friendship might be lost if a love story goes awry for character-related reasons, not to mention broken hearts if people take these things a little too seriously.
           
Let everyone know that what their characters do is contained within the game itself and that they should not get their feelings mixed with/hurt by something that happens entirely inside their heads. This is true for role-playing in general (I for one know a thing or two about betrayal… I don’t wanna talk about it…), but even more sensitive when two people lose themselves in the characters they’ve created and played for a long time.
           
The good outcome may yet happen – two players starting a love story inside the game, then seeing it spill into real life and them getting married a few years later, having kids, a dog, a house in the suburbs, teaching their kids how to role-play, and where am I going with this?
           
It should all be clear to everyone involved. Take the time to talk it over, out of character, make sure they all know where everyone else is. This doesn’t include letting people in on the betrayal about to happen right after the next kiss, though… Good plot-twist tip there, just blame it on mind-control or something, that’ll get everyone off the hook. Just make sure it makes sense, will ya?
 
            As a happily married man (I wasn’t forced to write that - he says, furiously blinking in Morse code), I know that love can give you wings and make you want to run away screaming at times (very rarely, though - Morse, Morse, Morse…). Those ups and downs are worth it in the long run, they add spice and uncertainty and give you something to fight for. When your players’ characters take the time to think things through, see how far they’ve gotten, talk about a future together, even retiring and so on, THAT’S when you know you’ve steered things into the right direction.
 
Also tell us how you did it, alright?
            We DID give you a few pointers after all…
 
 
Writer, gamer, and - provided he's got the time for it - loving husband, Costin does not rule out sacrifices to the Great Old Ones in order to get into the gaming industry. He's been role-playing for the better part of 6 years, but has been a joker, gamer and storyteller for as long as he can remember.
 
His greatest pride is once improvising a 4-way argument between a grave digger, a dyslexic man, an adopted child and a sheep, all by himself. That moment is also the closest he's ever come to giving himself a role-playing aneurysm... thus far.
   

Savage Worlds: Fast, Furious, and Fun! - Available Now @ DriveThruRPG.com
3 Comments
Greg
31/8/2016 08:23:07 am

Is this you Quinn...

Reply
VP Quinn
31/8/2016 08:42:03 am

Nope, one of Columnists, Costin. His bio is at the bottom.

Reply
Larch of Entwort
1/9/2016 07:09:25 am

Long ago.. Long enough ago that it was three brothers playing. I had a Name Level PC [in Dual class] Who started a Stronghold/ His first wife was the leader of the local tribe [of giant lynxes, hey he was a druid].
He started collecting wives like treasure [he lost his mother young, so that actually was in character]. Luckily, he was able to keep his Socially Ranking half-elf mage wife in the Style to which she was acustomed. He gave her the throne to his city Trentwort, and the treasury created from it's massive perfume industry. It was called the Sealy Court, that gave him plenty of room for his other six wives, and twenty-two children. Some of those children which where giant lynxes. One son whose life Larch saved in vitro, was fated to die above the fish market. he did fighting invading Wako. Then his soul go trapped in an expermental Tiger amber golom, guess who his mother was.
Yup.. Three Brothers Audiance.

Reply



Leave a Reply.

    All blog materials created and developed by the staff here at High Level Games 

    ​

    Picture
    Click here to support our community for as a little as $1.00 for exclusive content, free downloadable stuff, and even discounts on role-playing game items.

    Archives

    February 2021
    November 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016

    Categories

    All
    13th Age
    2d20
    2nd Edition
    3.5 Edition
    3Deep
    4th Edition
    5th Edition
    7th Sea
    Acquisitions Inc
    Actual Play
    AD&D
    AdventureLookUp.com
    Adventurers!
    Aether Sea
    A+ Fantasy
    After Collapse
    Alignment
    Amazing Tales
    Amazon
    Anima: Beyond Fantasy
    Anime
    Apocalypse World
    Atomic Robo
    Australian
    Award Winning
    Basic Fantasy
    Belly Of The Beast
    Big Eyes Small Mouth
    Black Lives Matter
    Black Void
    Blades In The Dark
    Blood Pangea
    Board Games
    Book Of Exalted Darkness
    BrigadeCon
    Burning Wheel RPG
    Call Of Cthulhu
    Capers RPG
    Casual Roleplaying
    Changeling: The Dreaming
    Chaosium
    Character Arcs
    Character Creation
    Chris Spivey
    Cinematic RP
    Classics
    Comic-books
    Conventions
    Corvus Belli: Infinity
    Crawl
    Creators
    Critical Role
    Cthulhutech
    D100 Dungeon
    D20
    D&D
    D&D Beyond
    Deadlands
    Defenders Of Tokyo
    Degenesis
    Detako Saga
    Discord
    DMsGuild.com
    Dnd
    Dndbeyond
    Doctor-who
    Double-cross
    Dread
    Dresden-files
    DriveThruRPG.com
    Dr. Who
    Dungeon Crawl Classics
    Dungeons
    Dungeons And Dragons
    Dungeon Slayers
    Dungeon World
    Dystopia Rising
    Encounters
    Era: The Consortium
    Era: The Empowered
    Esper Genesis
    Evil Hat
    Exalted
    Faith RPG
    Fandom
    Fantasy-age
    Fantasy-flight
    Fantasy Grounds
    FATE
    Fate Accelerated Edition
    Fate Core
    Fate Rpg
    Fate-rpg
    Final Fantasy
    Forgotten Realms
    Fragged Empire
    Free League Publishing
    Furries
    Game Design
    Game Lore
    Gencon
    Ghosts Of NPCs Past
    GMTips
    Golden-sky-stories
    GoodmanGames.com
    Grognards
    GUMSHOE
    GURPS
    GURPS Lite
    Halloween
    Harlem Unbound
    Harry-potter
    Hero Builder
    Heroes Against Darkness
    Heroes-unlimited
    HERO System
    High Level Games
    Historical Fantasy
    HLG Con 2018
    HLG Reviews
    Homebrew
    Humble Bundle
    Indie
    Interface Zero 2.0
    Interview
    Invisible Suns
    Japanese RPGs
    JRR Tolkien
    Kickstarter
    KoboldPress.com
    KULT
    L5R
    Lankhmar
    LARP
    Lasers And Feelings
    Legendlore
    Legend Of The Five Rings
    LexOccultum
    LOTR
    Low Magic
    Mage
    Mage: The Awakening
    Magic And Steel
    MAID
    Mayhem
    Mazes And Minotaurs
    Meikyuu Kingdom
    Mekton Zero
    Mental Health
    Middle Earth
    Mighty Narwhal
    Mini Six
    Modern Adventures RPG
    Modiphius
    Monarchies Of Mau
    Monsterhearts
    Monte Cook Games
    Morra
    Mummy: The Curse
    Mutants And Masterminds
    Mythender
    Narrative Games
    Nechronica
    Night's Black Agents
    Novel
    NPC
    Numenara
    Odyssey Of The Dragonlords
    One Shot
    Online Gaming
    Orun
    OSCRIC
    Osr
    OVA
    Palladium
    Pathfinder
    Pathfinder 2.0
    PbtA
    PDQ
    Pire: The Masquerade 5th Edition
    Play By Post
    Player Tips
    Podcast
    Powered By Apocalypse
    Power Outage RPG
    Preview
    Promethean: The Created
    Pugmire
    Pulp
    Puzzles
    Questlings
    Ravenloft
    Ravnica
    Red Markets: A Game Of Economic Horror
    Research
    Review
    Review Article
    Rifts
    Risus
    Role Play
    Roll20
    Romance Of The Perilous Land
    Ryuutama
    Satanic Panic
    Savage Rifts
    Savage Tokusatsu
    Savage Worlds
    Seeds Of Wars
    Setting
    Settings
    Settlement Building
    Shadowrun
    SIGMATA
    Snowhaven
    Social Combat
    Social Systems
    Solo Play
    Standard Roleplay System
    Star Trek Adventures
    Star Wars
    Storytellers Vault
    Suited RPG
    Summerland
    Supplements
    System Design
    Table Top
    Tabletop Simulator
    Tales From The Loop
    Tales Of Equestria
    Talislanta
    Tariffs
    Teenagers From Outerspace
    Ten Candles
    Tenra Bansho Zero
    The Dark Eye
    The End Of The World RPG
    The Great Long Dark
    The One Ring
    The Very Important Task
    Titan Effect
    To The Temple Of Doom
    Trial Of Cthulhu
    Trinity Continuum
    TSR Marvel Super Heroes
    Ttrpg
    Twitch
    USTR
    Va
    Valiant Rpg
    Vampire: The Masquerade
    Video Games
    Villian
    Volo
    Vs Ghosts
    Warhammer
    Warhammer 40K
    Werewolf: The Apocalypse
    Westbound RPG
    Wild West
    World Building
    World Of Darkness
    Writing Tips
    Year Zero
    Zweihander

    RSS Feed

Proudly powered by Weebly