EPISODE 8: ROMANCE IN YOUR CAMPAIGN
Grab your coffee / tea and stay a while! This is a series where myself and my DM, GloriousGe0rge, talk about our experiences with various D&D subjects related to running a campaign.

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➤ INTRO TRANSCRIPT:
Whether you like it or not, romance is a staple of many RPGs in the past 10 or so years. Look at all of the top RPGs out there – Mass Effect, The Witcher, Dragon Age – and now even the developers for Baldur’s Gate 3 said romance was a huge success for their early access. But..obviously video games are different. You are playing through a scripted scene between two characters. Romance in tabletop actual play can sometimes get a little awkward.

I know this is something that isn’t at every table – AND THAT’S OK. It really depends on what your players want out of their campaign. And, to be honest, not everyone wants romance. And we’re not here to persuade you one way or another for adding this into your tabletop stories. We simply want to share our experiences. I’ve had elements of romance come up in my campaigns with George, but also in my VTM, Kids on Bikes, and others.

Before we get into this topic, I want to say first and foremost – any tabletop group absolutely needs to set lines and veils for their table. To summarize, this means that you need all players to express if they have any topics that cross a line for them and should not be brought into the game. Veils are where if a scene with something uncomfortable shows up, the scene should not be described in detail and should “fade to black”.

For some, some elements of romance (i.e. – sex) can be a line or veil. So make sure you discuss these things with all players and DMs before getting into these topics.