Summary
As a Dungeon Master (DM), you have to be prepared to roleplay just about anything for yourDungeons & Dragonsparty. The players can adore a NPC that you never intended to have show up again. You can offhandedly mention there’s a bard performing in the town square only to be met with questions about what they’re singing, are they dancing, are they cute?
Along with all the scenarios, the idea of roleplaying romance and relationships can seem very daunting. But with some planning and very open conversations with your players and understanding everyone’s expectations, it can go from feeling awkward to being a smooth and fun addition to your campaign.
Consent is the most important thing in any D&D campaign. If a player is not comfortable with romance or says no, then the answer is no.
8Everything Starts With Session Zero
The very first thing, if you haven’t started your campaign yet or are looking to start a new one, isto start early with session zero. This is the first meeting everyone has before the campaign officially starts.
This is when you should be asking about everyone’s preferences and if there is anything a player or the group does not want to experience while playing in the campaign. This is also when you’re able to discuss how the players would prefer to handle romance. Are they all for it? Do they want things to stay very PG-13? Set boundaries from the very beginning and respect them throughout the entire campaign.
If you have already been running a campaign and the question of romance comes up, there’s no reason why you can’t set aside time to run something similar to a session zero or pause the game and ask everyone how they want to move forward.
7Communicate Above Table
Another great way to get more comfortable roleplaying romance is to keep up communication with any of the players who are currently in a relationship with an NPC, or pursuing one. This helps keep you both within any established boundaries and, overall, just making sure that you and the players are having fun.
You can also check in with players after the sessions and be sure that everyone is good, like you can after combat or even events like a player character’s death. This reaffirms that everyone is okay with how the romance is being handled, including the players who aren’t involved who are sitting at the table, listening in.
6Practice Makes Perfect
Once you know where everyone stands on romance in your campaign, you may always practice. In between sessions, like you would practice any other kind of roleplay, play through imagined scenarios in your mind.
How would a certain NPC flirt with a certain character? How would an NPC react to being courted? Even if you feel a little silly asking those questions or coming up with those answers, that’s part of the job of a DM, whether it’s about love or not. Don’t you run combat scenarios in your head? Orpractice accents for your NPCs? It’s all the same thing.
5Think How You’d Want To Be Flirted With
One of the best ways to bring good romance into a campaign is to think how you’d want to be approached, flirted with, or how you’d want dates to go. Everyone has their fantasies about being swept off their feet or how they’d want to be treated. And although you may have to de-modernize some things, like, let’s say, a date to an arcade, you may still have a date filled with games.
This basically follows the ‘treat others the way you wish to be treated’ unwritten but well-known rule. So, if you’d want to be respected and listened to in a relationship, have your NPC treat player characters with those same traits.
4Be Immersed In The Character
There are plenty of times that NPCs are vastly different from their Dungeon Masters. At least, they should be since DMs often have to roleplay bad guys. But if an NPC is a flirt and you just aren’t, just remind yourself that you’re putting on a different pair of shoes and you have to fill them out.
Think how that NPC would act. What would they say and do? Are they confident and suave? Are they meek and embarrassed? It can be harder to do than say, but don’t overthink it and let yourself be taken away by your NPCs and how they would proceed in a scene.
3Watch Some Good Romantic Media
Do you feel like you are having a hard time when your players are trying to have a romantic moment with your NPCs? Give yourself homework after a session andpick one or a handful of romantic movies, shows, or other media sources to watch.
Not to make it seem like there’s only one love story in the world to watch, but pick something like Titanic and really focus on what’s working between Jack and Rose. Or if you pick a romantic comedy, what ultimately brings the protagonists together? Use movies, shows, anime, anything as inspiration to help put you in that mindset.
2Write Down One-Liners
While watching something with a romantic scene, whether it’s part of your ‘homework’ or not, write down phrases and sayings that you really like. you’re able to also take to the internet and search anything that you’d like to incorporate in your roleplay.
Is your NPC a funny, flirty bard? Write down jokes that mimic that to use or alter so it best fits their personality. Would your character recite love poems? Well, then you can look up poetry that matches the personality of your NPC and add in details about your player’s character. Nothing wrong with getting a little help, especially if you run a private session that’s not recorded or streamed.
1The Good Old Fade To Black
Most of these tips are just about saying and doing romantic things. But, if your party has agreed, and they want things to be more physical, then you can always use a ‘fade to black’ moment. It’s one of the easiest and oldest tricks in the book. And the reason for that is because it’s very effective.
If you’ve never used a fade to black, it’s pretty simple. Your love birds can be talking and flirting and if they decide to spend some time together, you can narrate that they go to a room and close the door behind them. That’s it. Everyone knows what went down, but you don’t have to describe anything in too much detail and the players who aren’t involved don’t have to sit there awkwardly waiting for the deed to be done.
