Do you include romance in your game's setting?
Wheel of Time fucking sucks
>games?Anyways, yes. Usually not between players, though. A lot of people can't separate IC from OOC and then it gets weird or creepy or just blatant flirting at the table.But obviously unless you're playing in a setting with nothing but rape as a form of conception, humans and elves and most playable races are going to have romance just because it's arguably the most widespread shared feeling between all kinds of people. Romance is also core to many fantasy stories anyway.A quest where you're saving a damsel and they marry your party's Fighter or Paladin is so ingrained in fantasy stories that it's hard to avoid.Plus it's cool if you're playing a game with long time skips. One party member's children could be that person's next characters, playing alongside the long lived races who were friends of their parents. I like that sort of thing. It's not really possible without romance, at least in a vague sense even if it's not directly roleplayed out.
>>97548666you are a sodomite spammer
My setting involved having people around, who reproduce sexually. There are approximately ~80-ish million individuals currently engaging in activities, with another few million living underground.If we assume that a negligible number of them are a product of bizzaro accidents, then my setting, by default, includes ~80-something million instances of romance having occured at some point.So the answer is yes and also OP is a faggot.
When appropriate.
Romantic attraction is not a single system. it’s an emergent state produced by neurochemistry, endocrine signaling, sensory processing, reward learning, and social cognition networks interacting over time. Phase 1: Lust (Days - Months)This initial stage is driven primarily by the endocrine system. It is less about "romance" and more about basic pheromonal and visual signalling to initiate the mating process. Dominant: >Testosterone / estrogen>Hypothalamic activationGoal: Sexual opportunity detectionKey Drivers: Testosterone and Estrogen. These steroids create the "craving" for sexual gratification. While often associated with gender, both hormones play a role in all humans to drive the initial search for a mate.Phase 2: Romantic Attraction (Months ~2 Years)Dominant:>Dopamine>Norepinephrine>Low serotoninFeatures:>Euphoria>Intrusive thinking>Risk-taking for partnerThis is "romantic love" in the classical sense. This stage mimics the brain activity of addiction. Dopamine (The Reward): This is the "feel-good" neurotransmitter. It creates a feedback loop where thinking about the person provides a hit of euphoria, leading to obsessive focus and high energy.Norepinephrine: This triggers the physiological symptoms: racing heart, sweaty palms, and "butterflies." It’s essentially a heightened state of alertness.Serotonin (The Drop): Serotonin levels drop during early romance. This depletion is similar to levels found in patients with Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD), which explains why you can't stop thinking about your new partner.Phase 3: Attachment (Years - Decades)Dominant:>Oxytocin>Vasopressin>Endogenous opioidsFeatures:>Calm security>Reduced novelty drive>Stress bufferingBreakup or rejection activates:>Dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (same region as physical pain processing)>Endogenous opioid withdrawal-like stateThis is why heartbreak can cause:>Appetite loss>Sleep disruption>Somatic pain sensations
>>97548666>digitsAll right satan, here's my answer: yes but as a background element mostly paraphrased at best.
>>97548666No, but sometimes players do. That is, I don't actively include, but if some player decides to go for it, then okay, it's fine.>>97548726Is randomly bringing up Wheel of Time when no one else is talking about it a habit of yours, or some weird conversation starter, or what are you doing, anon?
>>97548842>soibeard soillennial with quirkchungus wife comicTracks
Wouldn't adventurers have trauma-bond romances and thus unstable? High-intensity environments make "normal" life feel boring or alien. This can lead to a relationship that only functions when the stakes are life-or-death. Most would likely be intense and volatile
>>97548925Exactly, that's what makes it fun to spectate.
>>97548666No because I’ve never experienced romance in my life.But I do say that different species like elves dwarves humans and goblins don’t produce hybrid offspring so racism stat autism doesn’t bog me down.So there’s a table joke that one’s own species is for procreation and everyone else is for recreation.
Occasionally I will have a character develop a crush on another PC or NPC because it gives them more "things to do". It adds depth by realigning their motivations in a way maybe they weren't prepared for, and I think it's fun to play thst sort of thing out.I'm playing a character who is almost certainly on the road to being brutally rejected by a close friend in the near or far future and I'm kind of excited to see how that will effect them based on what else is happening at the time. I love playing characters who are really going through it.
>>97548773From what videogame? Or is this web cartoon?
>>97548998NTA, but The Liar Princess and the Blind Prince (or something like that). Very cute puzzle platformer that sorta feels like you're playing through a storybook. I recommend it.
>>97548998the Liar Princess and the Blind Prince
Romance is for gay fags and it gets in the way of exploration and adventure.
>>97548726>>97548867I got the reference.
>>97548666Yes, but only women's romance when playing with men and men's romance when playing with women.
>>97548867WoT is a western Iseakai harem story. The op image shows the male romance ideal as a harem.It makes sense. Also WoT does suck.
>>97549134>>97549135Big, big thank you.
>>97549252there's also a second game, that's more of a hero's journey
>>97548666There is a very specific group of grown ass men who want to larp as horny teenage girls and I guarantee you it's not the type of people anyone wants to associate with
>>97548785Thanks Rick.
>>97548666>romanceNah, I play games so I can forget how much of a sack of shit I am, not to continue reminding myself of it.
>>97548666Why not but I only have one player who's down in any way
The closest is that in one pulp adventure game my character had a wife who was managing his estate while he was on his constantly prolonging "one last adventure", and he had to write soothing letters and make up excuses to keep money and equipment shipments coming.
>>97548666hail satanI have yet to see it done in a tabletop setting and not be totally awkward. I think it's one of those things that's very hard to do in tabletop, like actual horror .
To see OP's romance go visit /hm/
>>97548666that's literally just Xenoblade 2???
>>97549653OP visibly hurted you
>>97548925>High-intensity environments make "normal" life feel boring or alienRealist cope that has no bearing on the setting
>>97549970Nah, OP is too busy being a faggot to hurt anyone.
>>97548666When I GM, I'm upfront in saying I won't do GM-PC romance but if groups of players are comfortable with PC-PC I'll weave that in. It's yet to happen.The table I play at however has tried GM-PC romance in exactly one session and it was awkward enough that it never happened again.
>>97549970>hurtedESL OP as expected
My character is an Incel King
No, because girls are yucky and have cooties. My players just want to explore dungeons and kill monsters and recover treasures. Romance would make it gay. So don't!
I like how OP is asking about settings not games.I mean, even if you played the most purist COC scenarioes, hard to think there is no romance in big octopus world, no?
>>97552755>falling for itngmi
>>97548925ThisI work an irl dangerous job (my job has a live death tracker hosted by FEMA) which is known to produce trauma bonded relationships, not just in the romantic sense either, coworkers in my field tend to become quick irl friends for life. We are actively advised against forming romantic relationships with our coworkers because not only would it tank morale if we were to break up, if I’m expecting someone to be watching my back, but something happens involving their gf/bf/husband/wife somewhere else, how can I trust that they’re gonna remain level headed enough to keep watching my back?
>>97548666>in your game's settingIt would be kind of alien if romance didn't exist in a setting, don't you think OP?
>>97548785Got a sauce on that?
>>97548666I would not know how to write romance given that I'm a 32 years old kissless virgin
Clearly a higher lovehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k9olaIio3l8
>>97548666Of course, I love nothing more than looking into my fat neckbeard friend's eyes from across the soda-sticky gaming table cluttered with minis and dice, putting on a falsetto and pretending to be a fair half-elf maiden smitten by the charm of his level 7 gnome wizard to an audience of our closest friends as they look on enraptured by the passion of the love story unfolding between our two characters. If he rolls a nat 20 maybe I'll let him fuck my ass while we're at it.
>>97548916>you don't want to roleplay kissing and fucking with your bros instead of killing goblins in cursed ruins? what are you, some kinda soillennial quirkchungus?
>>97553503Exactly.
>>97553503Why not both?
>>97553503if you dont bend your homie over the table and fuck his ass while you play youre a coward
>>97552823>I-I was only pretending to be retarded!
>>97548666In the setting? Yeah, people have to get married and have relationships and shit.In the game? Sometimes. Among players or NPCs, I'll let them do what they want. I don't play out sex scenes, but the players are free to try and flirt with whoever they want (unless they want to flirt with another player who isn't okay with it).
>>97548666In the background, sure, but not in games. There's no appeal for me in getting romantic with my friends. We're all men and have our own spouses.
>>97555981Yeah.
>>97548773>hand holdinganon what the fuck this is a blue board!
>>97555981That's been the meta for years now. Not just here, but the entire internet does it. It's called ragebait.
>>97556970How else do you expect her to guide him around?
>>97550995Beyond the potential discomfort, romance can run into the "Thief stealths ahead/Decker goes online" problem. Something that's very involving for one player, the rest of the table gets to watch. And I say this as a Pendragon GM (where Romance is literally built into the rules) who occasionally gets the urge to break free of the 'roll on the chart' straitjacket. That might not be satisfying, but it at least moves game night ahead for everyone.
>>97548666>harem>romanceit's hard enough to love 1 woman, don't try and pretend it's possible to love multiple
>>97548666>women's smutslop>bad>men's smutslop>goodNeither of those are romance; you just have a porn addiction.
>>97559192The fact that the picture didn't frame any of the two as bad or good (it's just a funny observation) and yet you though that it was made to represent the first frame as "bad" and the second as "good" tells more about your character than anything else.
>>97549206>WoT is a western Iseakai harem story.WoT isn't isekai>inb4 it's native isekaiStill not a thing
>>97558929A leash like a civilized pet owner.
>>97559073>it's hard enough to love 1 woman, don't try and pretend it's possible to love multipleThat's why you get the women to love each other, too. Makes it easier. And hotter.Anyway, polycules aren't that unheard of anymore. Sounds like you just have a skill issue.
>>97559427It's not like you refused his point anon. Personally i subscribe the notion that there's a finite amount of investment a single individual can manage, and people with LOTS of energy in this regard actually exist (and by so capable in handling multiple partners at once) but the investment distribution will always be unequal and always shifting (over time). The truth is that the vast majority of people can only focus emotionally (in a romantic mean) on 1-2 people tops at time, for the most part current year "poly" relationships are just socially accepted adultery with extra steps.t. I have anecdotal experience plus it came to me in a dream
>>97559300>uum achually framing one as fetishizing murder and the other as just being representative of boundless love doesn't hold any value judgementYou are such a monumental idiot that it's unreal.Stop your stuttered attempts at conversation and go change out of your cum-stained underwear you subnormal little dweeb, because God knows that you're nowhere near intelligent enough to pull of whatever you're trying.
>>97549206Bro fucking Narnia is right there. Apparently Star Wars is fucking isekai now. Dumb fuck
>>97548666Demonic propaganda to fool men into thinking that having multiple women around them is paradise.
>>97549140Exploration and adventure are romance, you incel. Quite literally, the two most important aspects of romanticism.
>>97548773This
>>97560514>fetishizing murderI said that you were showing your character previously but now you're just going all-out with your power level here.
>>97548666>Male romance is loving women and benevolence and never ever ever ever liking murderous women This is a degree of delusion I didn't think possible
>>97548666No, that's gay and retarded.Games should be about murdering fantastical manimals and stealing their pulsating rubies.When I DM I punish attempting to get kissy with my alter-egoes.Hexes, imprisonment, plausibly delayed poisoning incidents, etc.I'm not here to ERP with my homies, I'm here to trick them into opening a magic box full of rape and fire, then challenge you to put it back in.If I'm running sexy you should know it's just the lantern on an anglerfish.
>>97563101What, no marrying a princess after killing a dragon?
Current campaign has:>noble PC's NPC sister being married off to another noble despite not really loving him (typical)>that same noble family now wants to marry their eldest daughter to the PCNothing romantic really, just her taking an interest in the PC with normal conversation. If he wants to encourage the union, he can keep getting to know her off-camera, unless she is going to say something plot-relevant.
>>97559415How all women would transport their toys in an ideal world.
>>97563134I am a middle-aged man with food in my beard, a receding hairline, and several black teeth.And statistically, so are you, whatever your therapist says.
>>97563926Just saying, there doesn't seem to be a whole lot of incentive for killing dragons in your game.
>>97563926Wash yourself.
>>97563134>marrying a princess Based
>>97559413World of Tanks added a harem mechanic? Not sure how that ties in with armored combat but sounds cool I guess
>>97564316lmao
>>97563926>Admits to having bad hygiene habitsCrazy work
>>97548666Off screen is the best way to handle romance imho. Play out the initial meeting between the PC and the NPC and then everything else happens off screen unless its significant. Whenever the party is in the town, let the player know they can choose to go off and find their romance while the rest of the party rests and goes shopping for supplies. Let them know that if they do they wont be able to get as good of rest as the other characters, but perhaps give them some sort of buff if they choose to go anyways, bonus points for tying the specific buff into the NPCs character. Say the PC is crushing on a healer, give them some temporary hit points or an extra health potion. PC crushing on a priestess? They come back to the party with a scroll of turn undead
>>97564344I like to vividly describe sex scenes.
>>97564359If you're not pulling your cock out and jizzing all over the table out at least once a session your a bad GM
>>97564372Based and true
>>97560688>Apparently Star Wars is fucking isekai nowAlways has been. Traveling to other planets always counted as isekai and there's been numerous prominent uncontroversial examples from A Princess of Mars to The Vision of Escaflowne to reverse isekai like Urusei Yatsura.It's just not really focused on for certain series.
>>97563146Why double dip like that?
>Mind breaks girls into joining a harem>Hypnotizes chicks to get their way with them>Reincarnates, keeps adult mind and memories, grooms teens into sex>Does absolutely nothing and still has power and girls want his cock>Sometimes all of the above and it's still seen as a hero. I'd say we're even.
>>97559555I'd say a somewhat mitigating factor is different people also have different demands for investment from their partners, creating an effective affection economy based on balancing the polycule's supply and demand.I do still think 95% of the time the polycule is a cope or heading for an inevitable catastrophic collapse, and I never wanna get involved in that mess myself.
>>97548726It has some ok lezdom moments, but otherwise I don't care for it.
