Ah, romance

[Hermit]

Best left to blue booking in some folks opinions, and sometimes assumed off panel, Romance is nevertheless a common element in the super hero genre. Be it dark knights and spider guys attracted to thiefs with cat motiffs, nosey reporters with a penchant for being thrown off buildings taking the hearts of caped wonders, or fellow super heroes forging romances within their own team between saving the world sessions; Romance, like excrement and little green apples, happens.

 

I've noticed the romances my own Players' Characterss' have had tend to be with equals, that is, other superhumans. This is in part my fault, if an NPC intrigues me long enough, it's possible he/she is going to get super powers eventually of their own (I'm trying to fight the habit) but even then, it seems a preference among the players.

 

I'm trying to think on why. Maybe it's a bit of relief that someone can "Take care of themselves". Or maybe it's that whole 'equal partners' thing.

[Hugh Neilson]

The non-powered characters also tend to get less "panel time" in most campaigns. Generally, I find non-powered romantic partners tend to be part of the character design (DNPC) more often than they build up relationships during the game.

[OddHat]

The DNPC serves a different story function than the superpowered romantic partner. Lois is (or used to be) there so that Clark can say to himself "You may not be willing to give me the time of day now, but one look at me in skin tight spandex and it's flying over the rooftops until the dramatic cut away time!"

 

Other super-powered partners are in many mays a more mature form of romantic interest (not that real life and comics aren't full of hormonal angst, and better for it).

 

As a GM, convincingly role-playing romantic interests for players of the same sex is something I'm just not good at. My male players tend to have DNPC romances (mostly off screen), stable marriages if supers (easier to role play), or to be romantically linked to other players (great role playing here, and less work for me.)

[Blue]

It helps in my game that I have so many female NPCs. This happens because I'm better at drawing women and I generally make what I draw. It works out well, because all but one player are men and therefore most of the characters are men. So there's minor PC/NPC fraternizing. I think the game could use a little more, without making the NPCs hit on the players, that won't happen much.

[OddHat]

I've been lucky in that I usually have a few female players, sometimes more female players than male. My wife and I game together (she occasionally GMs), and we have a few "gaming couple" friends. It makes romantic entanglements easier to work into the game setting.

[Ghost Archer]

My case is just the opposite of Blue's. Most of my players are female and because of this, romance plays a large part of team dynamics. It's not difficult to play a romance when the player is female and if it's a male player, my co-GM is female so that works out nicely. I do have one female player that plays a gay male...that's a bit confusing... Also, since all of our gaming it done online, it effectively works out as one long 'bluebook'.

[st barbara]

Unfortunately the stories in our game are so heavily plotted that we don't seem to have time for romance. I imagine that it might make an interesting idea and it is so obvious that i'm surprised at myself for not suggesting it to my Referee long ago. A litle not so secret romance for "St Barbara" might be a lot of fun, especially if it is scandelous or turns out to be with a villain/villainess.

[zornwil]

Not much romance going on - players don't seem too attracted to it. As GM I introduce it here and there for "realism" and see how it goes. What has gone on has been mixed as far as whether with regular people or other superbeings.

 

Hmm, well, no, actually there's been more of it in this campaign lately. The non-human-but-who-knows-what-he-is shapeshifter met a woman like him (of his species) after being haplessly pursued by a human who didn't get it. Now he and the shapeshifter woman are dating, if in their own weird way.

 

The mentalist superwoman is dating an equal, another superhero; she's commonly pursued by men and ignores most as it's been a problem all her life.

 

he male-human-who-turned-out-to-be-an-alien is in a vague relationship with a human woman; he has some but not much interest and she's a busy professional, so it's gone slowly; in the meantime, a supervillainess in prison who shares some properties of one of his forms (he can turn to stone, inf act that's how he started out, just his stone and human forms) is romantically obsessed with him (can you say stalker?).

 

The robot remains unattached, though relatively new in the campaign.

 

The mage/scientist has a wife he's absolutely dedicated to, though a few women have made passes at him. She's a super as well, they met at Xaviers' New School for the Gifted.

 

So yeah, there's been some. Little of it has been in the middle of the plots going on, though, it's mostly been one of the "other" parts of their lives.

[lemming]

Originally posted by zornwil

The mentalist superwoman is dating an equal, another superhero; she's commonly pursued by men and ignores most as it's been a problem all her life.

And it's a surprise that he still dates her after that possesion issue.

 

[/b]The male-human-who-turned-out-to-be-an-alien is in a vague relationship with a human woman; he has some but not much interest and she's a busy professional, so it's gone slowly; in the meantime, a supervillainess in prison who shares some properties of one of his forms (he can turn to stone, inf act that's how he started out, just his stone and human forms) is romantically obsessed with him (can you say stalker?). [/b]

If Laughton would just agree to the visit to the Club Med facility, I'm sure we can work everything out.

[lemming]

Not much romance going on in my current campaign. Need a bit more regularity first.

 

Though one of the speedster's is kind of dating a woman who's turned out to be an alien who's been stranded on earth for the last 20 years. She's been manipulating the tech markets to advance tech along. Of course, he has a girlfriend in his secret ID, so I think something interesting will happen later.

 

I think there are some other possibilities, but we'll see.

[Theron]

Our Silver Age game has had a fair bit of romantic entanglements. The most noteworthy was between my PC, Troubadour (a noted womanizer, who had a hunted composed entirely of his ex-girlfriends) and Gorgon, an NPC heroine on the team. They were set up from the start to play on the Green Arrow/Black Canary schtick and it worked pretty well (especially since her secret ID was the crusading District Attorney and Troubadour was a bit of a radical liberal). When her identity was exposed and most of her superpowered convictions overturned, they hit the road together to "find America" (I felt like it was time to play a new PC and the circumstances allowed for a graceful exit).

 

Since my current PC is pretty much stuck in his radiation suit, I don't expect him to have much in the way of romance.

[Hermit]

My own gaming group has two lady players, and I've noticed they tend to pick out which male NPCs they will show interest in. They even tease each other bout it once they found out their trend.

"Dibs."

"That's mine. The tall one, with the hair."

and so forth.

 

Methinks they're just a wee bit overconfident about their characters' high comeliness scores

[Ghost Archer]

We've had a few romances over the 20 some years...

 

Ghost Archer (PC) and Hellcat (PC): short lived fling that ended when Hellcat returned to her own world.

 

Ghost Archer (PC) and Willow Witch (NPC): long term relationship the ended when the GM kidnapped her then left the area.

 

Ghost Archer (PC) and Thistle Grey (PC): love of Archer’s life, killed protecting him then resurrected as the Avatar of Ishtar and no longer interested in the mortal life.

 

Ghost Archer (PC) and Sable (PC): Sable returned Archer to the land of the living after his loss of Thistle but for each it was purely physical.

 

Ghost Archer (PC) and Raven Fireoak (PC): currently married with three natural children and six adopted.

 

War Eagle (PC) and Bora (NPC): torrid love affair that ended and marriage followed closely by Bora’s repeated attempts to make herself a widow.

 

Daimon (PC) and Sarah Brittany Harrison (NPC): ended in the death of a pregnant Sarah but daughter Brittany survived

 

Daimon (PC) and Psylocke (NPC): long term relationship that will end in marriage one day. Psylocke has become a surrogate mother to Daimon’s daughter, Brittany.

 

Sarge (PC) and Lucifer (PC): hot affair resulted in Sarge breaking Lucifer’s heart and her running away from everyone. Her fate is unknown.

 

Icehawk (PC) and Pam Portis (ex NPC now PC): billionaire meets stripper. Married very happily with a baby girl.

 

Probe (PC) and Samantha Vicks (ex NPC now PC): Both are Blood and cousins. Probe was looking for her and once he found her they began a very secret affair.

 

The Cat (PC) and Linda Parker (NPC): Teen genius meets material girl. Married with a little baby boy that barks.

 

Death Maiden (PC) and William Sean Thornton (NPC): Demon girl meets movie star in her human form as she is thinking about leaping to her death. Currently living together with the demon side trying to hide it from her team mates.

 

Capricorn (NPC) and B (NPC): Zodiac’s magical satyr and the Seattle Hunt’s resident faery. They have a little girl but daddy is very much out of the picture.

 

Lady Rogue (PC) and Tsarsaidor (NPC): Started when Tsarsaidor was using Rogue as a wedge between the bowman and Thistle Grey. The whole thing backfired when the dragon realized he was in love with the water girl. They live in a tree house together very happily.

 

Everith (PC) and Psion (PC): fallen angel and a law student. Very sweet and confusing for the poor human.

 

Galileo (PC) and Cheeto (PC): Dragon and cat-girl, both players have moved on but left a happy couple.

 

Star (NPC) and William Washburn (NPC): Alien and the bum...whereabouts unknown.

 

Emma Morrow (NPC) and Kevin Wilson (NPC): con-woman and thief find love while working as housekeeper and butler for the Wild Hunt.

 

Nat Ryan (PC) and Wren Collins (PC) and Jessy Fireoak (PC) and Matt Doppler (PC): Nat wants Wren, Jessy wants Nat, Matt wants Wren, and Wren wants Nat. Teens, yeesh!!

[BoloOfEarth]

I have two female players and three (until last week, was four) male players, and I GM (I'm male). All players have played characters of the same gender (though not all human).

 

Romances in my campaigns happen somewhat randomly, and all between PCs and NPCs. We had a great romance between one male PC and Snafu, an NPC villainess subconsciously based off Marvel's Black Cat, that ended when Snafu discovered she was causing progressively worse (and potentially fatal) bad luck for the PC.

 

The same male player had a character who had a romance with Howler that eventually ended with their marriage (and of course, a major-league superbattle in the church).

 

We also had a female PC who hooked up with a male PRIMUS agent (NPC), this in a campaign where the heroes altenately derided or detested PRIMUS. The PRIMUS agent eventually became a superhero when he was forced out of PRIMUS; a PC stole a villain's armored battlesuit and modified it enough to disguise it's origin.

 

I have a bit of difficulty playing female NPCs in PC romances, though for some reason I can play flirtatious, sometimes slutty NPC supervillains well enough to entertain the players.

[zornwil]

Originally posted by lemming

And it's a surprise that he still dates her after that possesion issue.

 

 

If Laughton would just agree to the visit to the Club Med facility, I'm sure we can work everything out.

 

Re the first comment, it's not like he hasn't had and/or seen some pretty flakey stuff along those lines.

 

You know, Laughton doesn't always wear his tinfoil hat.

[Spectrum]

In most of the games I've been in, romance is seldom played out. For me it's something I like to play out and I sometimes incorporate a love interest into character backgrounds if I think it works. My character Spectrum that I've turned into a member of a NPC team of mutants for a game I'm not sure I'll run or not (I've never GMed before and feel a lack of inspiration), is involved with one of his team mates (ther're almost like the Cyclops and Phoenix of the team) and are key elements to a major plot I've been developing. What I like about thier set up is that thier powers are polar oposites (He has light based powers, her's are darkness based. Cliched? Probably, but it works and I like it).

[lemming]

Originally posted by zornwil

Re the first comment, it's not like he hasn't had and/or seen some pretty flakey stuff along those lines.

 

You know, Laughton doesn't always wear his tinfoil hat.

First comment: Well, Spectrum is just feeling pretty lucky.

Second comment: I could punch through the tinfoil hat anyway, but I feel that the love needs to earned rather than just given away.

 

[Supreme Serpent]

We've had various romances over the years. Some PC-PC, some PC-powered NPC, some PC-normal NPC. I like it being part of the game - would feel odd without it having at least some presence in the game.

[Tech]

In the multi-GM campaign I'm in, I'd have to say there's a fair amount of romance. There's 3-5 guys (depends on who makes it to the games) and 2 ladies in the group, one of them a teenager. We've had a guy who's already married and that it played out here and there. I had a character who started single, had a romance and got married and now has children. There are numerous male and female characters who occasionally go on dates and finally, one on-going open romance. Adventures, whether silly and fun, serious, spooky or inbetween are still high. Of course, there are episodes with no romance and some where it's quite there.

[Christougher]

Romance. Can't live with it, can't live without it.

 

Black Widow, my female martial artist with the Doc Ock shtick tended to be fairly casual about her relationships before getting involved with Frostbite, a teammate. They actually joined the Mile High Club while on a mission. When she found out she was pregnant, she left him with a goodbye note that gave him more questions than answers. Eventually they got back together and she settled down a little bit. She's mostly retired now.

 

Raptor got dragged off to Anime World as part of what should have been a one-shot game that went horribly, horribly wrong. When he first met the village chieftain's daugher, he rolled a 3 for reaction - Love at first sight. When she started to burn END to ignore him, the players figured it might work out. She got pregnant, they got married, and then had sex. Yes, in that order.

 

Moondrake is another player's martial artist, raised by Chinese monks since he was a baby. My martial artist Hope was raised by him in an alternate future timeline, and now has a huge crush on him in the present. Sadly, she was raised almost exactly like he was, so he's never noticed it, and she won't tell him.

 

And then there's Valentine, Cupid's daughter. Her sphere of influence is Romance...

[umbra]

I like romance in the games I play in, though I have found it's better to have your character fall in love with an NPC. Sometimes PC to PC romances can get messy. When in a game I tend to lean more towards romances with either highly skilled or powered people, as they have their own stuff to deal with so aren't hanging around all the time (thus making the GM's life easier and keeping the romance fresh). If you know your players are interested in romance, you might want to ask them what "type" their characters might be interested in, though just running across someone by chance is fun too. Just never force a romance on someone, as that could lead to some uncomfortable moments (I'm speaking from experience here, as a female who played in a game run by a male GM).

[Supreme Serpent]

PC to NPC romances can also be more convenient in longer campaigns, such as when player A in romance wants to change characters. And an NPC love interest is usually much more malleable to the GM's plots...

[Mayday]

In my tabletop games romance almost never comes up, and if it does usually only because one of the group is a flirt but it never develops into anything more.

 

In online games and MUSHs that feature more out of costume time, romance is a common thing. I've had several characters marry although I never created anyone intending to look for love. Except for the one, but she was a serial killer with a black widow mindset so I don't think that quite counts.

[Vondy]

Now that I'm running my game PBEM I've had a huge jump in the romance quotient. Its easier for the guys when they don't have to look at by big moses wrath of G-d beard when thinking about an npc hottie. Kills the mood.

[Ghost who Walks]

Glad I'm not the only GM "wasting" time on the "Mushy Stuff" (Comment from a player, long ago)

 

I'm not sure if its a male player vs. female player thing, I've had both types of players get pretty involved in them. You have to run them a bit different.

 

I tend to view romances in one of two ways, either they develop an expand, growing more complicated, or they wither and die. Much Like real life.

 

I tend to view it as a pretty important disadvantage, I've had Romances call in the middle of team meetings, show up at emergency meetings because they were on a date, and have them canish in a poof of smoke.

 

Getting back to the original comment, it does seem that most Champions romances are "super vs. super". I have them to, but they tend to be very chaotic, with twice as many hunteds showing up every week.

 

"Super vs. Normal" romances are usually a bit more normal, and calmer. They also tend to last longer. There are only three real variations here: Public ID hero, romance is attacted to fame. Secret ID hero, romance is attracted to knowing the secret. Secret ID hero, romance does not know the secret, may honestly care about the hero.

 

Some variations on a theme include having the public ID superhero married to the secret ID superheroine. Another is the touch range mind controller married to the Most Beautiful Woman on Earth , and wondering if his powers might be the cause. (she says she loves him for his mind).

 

Kids make great DNPC's. You can put them into all sorts of trouble, and the players rarely complain. I've had natural born kids, adopted kids, kids fathered by the supervillain who abducted the missus, kids concieved in one night stands, kids who are actually clones of the hero, kids who are actually clones of the heroine's mother, and my favorite...kids that another hero fathered, who then dumped on another PC.

 

I'm thinking of sticking them all in the same school.

 

Am I the only GM that had a player date Fiacho?