I Made Dating WORK in D&D

Art by Fishtail! Discord username: Fishtail

[MangocheeseLlama]

“So I watched a bunch of harem anime to learn what NOT to do” - Blaine 2023

[birdup_]

“Dnd players usually make idealized versions of themselves, as characters”
Me with my sad, drunk, old, half elf paladin

[jgr]

Because of course Blaine had to.

After seeing the vid, I'd just like to add 2 things: 1) don't force romance on your PCs, sometimes they'll just answer "ny character has someone waiting for him at home" or they won't want to have this type of relationship in the game; & 2) beware the trope of giving PCs friends, family or dates just so you have a low hanging target, bc it will make your players shun all further relationship hooks.
Sometimes a friend who symbolises a safe space inside this tactic game is a great boon for the party.
Ah, &, if you have a social session in which no social skills are rolled, you don't have a D&D social session.

[darienb]

As a DM I actually really like it when a player gives their charatcer some kind of love interest in their backstory. It's a great way to have a reoccurring npc in your game. Not to mention it's a prime motivator to make a player character spring into action if they are in danger.

[mikemullen]

Blaine 'The Master Rizzler' picks up yet another girl in a Dungeon.

[PancakePlanet.]

Man imagine needing this.... *aggressively starts writing notes*

[The_Darke_Lorde]

If an NPC your player is dating is known by the PC to be tiugh as nails/a fighter, having them be captured, only for the party to meet the NPC as they're breaking in to save them and ghe NPC's fighting their way out can be neat.

[LancerIthink]

Oh so you think that I PLANED for the romantic subplot... that's cute...

[gahhck_]

The best way I’ve ever seen a DM handle general romance was during one instance where the romance was never planned by anyone.
Was playing a halfling bard and went to the local hunters outlet in the new town.
Place is owned by an NPC who is a Half-Orc. Not human/orc though. Dwarf and orc.
I randomly ended up losing my character voice as the interaction began, and I decided to play it off as if my bard had merely gotten nervous at the sight of the Dwork (yes that’s what the DM called the race).
Fast forward a bit and me and the DM work together to build a narrative for how my bard would eventually get on good terms with the Dwork, and eventually make a good relationship out of it. Unfortunately the story never finished as the campaign fell apart due to everyone’s lives getting hectic (because it was when Covid really hit where the group lived), but, the DM was working on a resolution to the narrative, which is way more chill than most DMs are about romance in campaigns (at least from the horror stories I heard from other players).

[MagnaFae]

In the campaign I currently DM (set in high fantasy Edo-period Japan), three of the PCs have an NPC love interest. The artificer and the rogue are dating a tanuki and a jorōgumo (spider yokai girl) respectively, both of which I introduced as plot hook NPCs with no expectation of romance, and the bard has an ongoing slow-burn with a kitsune from his backstory!

So as a seasoned DM with lots of experience facilitating romance subplots, I can say that while romance in D&D is definitely not for everyone, it can really elevate a campaign when done correctly.

If anyone has questions or just happens to be curious, ask away!

[JamSpaceCloud]

I made it so the barista is a bald and jacked dude that is a gossip lover, and will basically reveal some secrets of random people in the town, which only a few are actually ploy relevant...he is there to basically say "this is very sus" or "this person is this" in a way that isn't just like lore dumping...

[GeorgePtacek]

So far in DnD I’ve seen one main romance happen and that was between my brother’s oblivious Cleric and a dragon. I forget the specifics because it was so long ago and I missed that session due to hockey practice but from what I remember the two were talking and the Cleric was just being a genuinely nice individual to the Silver dragon to the point the DM had him make a charisma check, which he rolled a Nat 20. This made Ellea, the silver dragon, fall for him. For the major battle at the end of that arc Ellea watch over him like a hawk and sometime afterwards she visited us at our base and got more “intimate” with our oblivious Cleric. Now my brother is planning on playing their daughter, a draconic bloodline sorcerer, in either his next campaign or his first Baldur’s Gate 3 play through.

[diamondhamster]

Least Horniest Japanese Bard: "It is time to make everyone from eldritch monsters to cute elf girls pregananante"

[KaminoZan]

If you ever put a "Monster Man-ual" book together, with bara-style artwork... I'll buy it.

Edit to add: That's a promise.

[argentandroid]

Ooh, I just had a thought. A minimal combat murder-mystery campaign centered around a serial killer. The serial killer turns out to be Murder Hobo styled npc that rants and raves about the world and people being a simulation.

[TheNeoVid]

Romance is just about the oldest and most powerful plot hook there is, don't leave out of your arsenal! The one time I played a character motivated by love, it was in an evil campaign. He'd been exiled from his home city due to her influential family pulling strings to get him away from their invaluable daughter. His exiting words during the exile were, "I'll reunite with you even if it has to be at the head of an army!"

[seanr.]

7:02 Wait, is Owlbear copywritten? They're in both D&D and Pathfinder, so I figured they were public domain.

[TaurusWT]

After awhile I started noticing that my DnD characters would usually fall for anybody who is both strong enough to and willing to carry them around.

[alexandruhugyesz]

Not related to romance. Last session we managed to open a chest that we had been carrying for the previous session, and there was a speaking frog. It was enough for us to include it in the party. Now everytime the coDM says "Forg"(the name I gave the frog) it sticks its tongue in my ear, or if it says "ribbit" it means it sticks its tongue in my nose. It is actually funny to roleplay this, especially while having a dialogue with the opponent xD.

[TheConfusedBard]

Thx Blaine! As a new and upcoming dm this could help a lot!