I was in a Traveler game a year or two back. The party decided to split up, my character and another stayed with the ship to make sure no one stole it while the others went into the city for supplies and to meet with one of the contacts. I spent a good two hours twiddling my thumbs.
Now, I think the GM could have split this up a little better so it was not such a long chunk of time all at once. The GM also had a very strict no other books at the table rule. Meaning, I could not look at some other role playing book because, obviously, I am not paying attention to the game. So that just made it even worse.
I tried to talk to the GM about it afterward suggesting a sort of gentleman's agreement, he would not screw with the ship and we would not split the party up. His response was a very angry tirade that I should even suggest such a thing.
I digress.
Sure, splitting the party in the middle of a dungeon crawl is a bad idea. Who is trying to romance one of the orcs in the next 10' x 10' room? Srsly. Another problem is why no one ever falls for the Succubus. If you just ignore romance and sexuality throughout the game and then suddenly present a Succubus out of the blue, of course your players are going to be suspicious.
Certainly when players get 'in town' they often go their own way. But those events, whether its tending to personal business, securing supplies, joining a guild or whatever, i try to speed along and these are given less detail then planned roleplay situations, where as when the actual plot hooks come back into play, yes i try to bring the party back together.
I also play alot of urban adventures, and that means there are encounters in an urban setting also. And given the goal of my encounters is almost always to make a full party fearful they will not win (but in then end for them to pull through) it is an extremely dangerous situation for just one or two pc's to be in. So when the plot hooks come back, its time to bring the party together again.
We obviously run two very different types of games. :) Even my planned roleplay situations are not designed for the entire party, but instead are set up for whoever gets there first - if it's the whole party, great; if it's only one or two PCs, great.
I've also found that when Bad Things happen to only a portion of the party, the players whose characters are not involved are just as afraid as they would be if their character was there.
And if only a part of the party walks into a very dangerous situation, well, that's the way it goes sometimes. Like this past Friday night when the PCs went to a tavern to try and get clues. I knew who/what was in the tavern, but I didn't expect the PCs to go into the tavern. They took care of the assortment of 3rd level warriors with little difficulty, but the lone 9th level watch captain handed them their butts on a silver platter. The rogue barely escaped with 4 hp left, and the fighter was down to just barely over half her hp left. Finally one of the PCs had the bright idea to run. If they had've stood and fought, somebody would have died. That's the way it goes.
Another problem is why no one ever falls for the Succubus. If you just ignore romance and sexuality throughout the game and then suddenly present a Succubus out of the blue, of course your players are going to be suspicious.
Exactly! "Woah! Hot naked chick just appeared! She must be a Succubus! Get her guys!" *dogpile on the Succubus, and not in a sexy way*
Seriously though, splitting the party has to be managed just right. Your GM in the Traveler game didn't handle it well. When my players split their party, while I deal with one of the sub-groups I keep my eyes on the other players. When I see them starting to get fidgety, I say, "Ok, hold that there and let me get to these guys for a while." Wash, rinse, repeat. Works like a charm every time, and has done so for over 30 years of GMing.
An idea I have been meaning to try is when the group splits up, whatever NPCs the PC Group A encounters are run by PC Group B. I will give Group B what the NPC's personalities are like and what they know and then let the players play it out among themselves. This frees me up some and keeps more people involved.
I have not tried it yet as I have been playing with very small groups (just 2 in my current campaign).
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Personally as a player, I'm far more entertained watching the bard try to pick up a bedtime companion than paying attention to the ranger going out on his own to hunt. I agree, CourtFool, romance is no more disruptive than anything else. I'd never ignore it in a game.
Doesn't that depend on what the ranger is "hunting" :D
But back on topic and not directed at anyone. Personally i always try to included romance in all the games I run in or play in. Romance and sex play such a large part of our lives, that PC's seem incomplete to me if they have no views on the topic and never engage in them. Just my opinion of course.
The most interesting romantic elements I've played out in recent games involved frustrated, inconvenient romantic relationships. Because they never went anywhere "physical", there was no awkwardness on-camera. Sexual tension influenced the characters' actions and gave them dimension: This tension could be maintained, as the characters' feelings were never consummated.
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Yeah I have seen such things. In fact it happened to me once. The guy I was living with and I was in the same scifi game. My agent/assassin character got involved with his real life best friends character. My BF at the time ended up get jealous he wouldn't admit...I think it's also one of the most difficult parts of separating the player from the character. The obvious problematic situation is when you have a female character played by a heterosexual male player, being in a romantic role play scenario with a male character played by another heterosexual male player. If you can't separate the character from the player, this could get awkward or repellent for all parties. If you can, it can be a rewarding role play experience that adds depth to the characters.True. I also think the face-to-face aspect of a tabletop game is one of things that makes it awkward for some. When you're playing WoW, it really doesn't hit you that the hot night elf chick is actually played by a guy. At the table, it's impossible to ignore that the cute halfling rogue is being played by the burly bearded dude sitting across from you. Or that the very handsome male wizard is being played by a girl. Not everyone can get past that sort of thing, but it sure opens up more roleplay opportunities if you can. (Like I need to tell you this, Sean... :D )Another complication I've seen happen at the gaming table is when an in-character couple has better chemistry then real life couple they're part of. For instance, let's say that Louis and Lisa are a real life couple that game together. Lisa's character is dating Jake's character, not Louis's. If Jake and Lisa's characters are a better couple than Louis and Lisa are (or at least more flirtatious and affectionate), that can be an awkward situation for a party as well. And I'm sure we all have "GM's girlfriend" horror stories.
And yes, I know, but it was worth adding to the discussion, Connie. :P
This strikes at something my wife and I have discussed before and both hold to now. As it stands, we consider our characters an extension of ourselves and tend to get very involved. As well, when we do roleplay romantic situations, we tend to get very involved.
Because of this, we've both agreed that any romantic RP should stay within our own characters. We know a lot of couples that have no issue with roleplaying romance outside of their relationship, but we've found we're just not one of those couples. We're selfish and get jealous. We want all of each other and not to share it, heh.
I guess the point of this is that this is DEFINITELY one of those things that a couple needs to sit down and discuss OPENLY AND HONESTLY.
As for the romance option of RP, my wife and I tend to stick to roleplaying romantic things in our e-mails. Tabletop we tend to flirt at times but thats about it.
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Sucubi are smarter than just walking about as a lesbian stripper ninja.
Imagine the mousy girl who's at the magic shop. Her uncle has her work the counter. She's bashful, flirting, but very very shy. (Read geeky girl.) Until you try and date her, then...watch out!
Turns out her older 'uncle' was her last victim and she's been rotating her victim/family out from the shop as her cover.
But who knows, maybe you can win her heart over. Or loose your soul trying. Fun either way.
Edit: I know what your thinking. Kill her and raid her shop. Problem is her shop was mostly illusion. (mostly) And she's been 'selling' you her personal treasures. And the money? It's in hell somewhere now.
Sucubi are smarter than just walking about as a lesbian stripper ninja.
Imagine the mousy girl who's at the magic shop. Her uncle has her work the counter. She's bashful, flirting, but very very shy. (Read geeky girl.) Until you try and date her, then...watch out!
Turns out her older 'uncle' was her last victim and she's been rotating her victim/family out from the shop as her cover.
But who knows, maybe you can win her heart over. Or loose your soul trying. Fun either way.
Edit: I know what your thinking. Kill her and raid her shop. Problem is her shop was mostly illusion. (mostly) And she's been 'selling' you her personal treasures. And the money? It's in hell somewhere now.
That's a very good scenario, and similar to one I've used before. In one I used, the succubus was masquerading as a human slave girl the guy took everywhere he went. He was of course evil, and she was aiding him. But the PCs wanted to rescue the poor girl, and of course she wanted to kiss them in order to say thank you...
But if you run a game in which romance does not play any significant part, and you suddenly throw in a mousy, bashful girl flirting with the PCs, that flirting part is going to raise alarm bells, because romance doesn't happen in the game.
This strikes at something my wife and I have discussed before and both hold to now. As it stands, we consider our characters an extension of ourselves and tend to get very involved. As well, when we do roleplay romantic situations, we tend to get very involved.
Because of this, we've both agreed that any romantic RP should stay within our own characters. We know a lot of couples that have no issue with roleplaying romance outside of their relationship, but we've found we're just not one of those couples. We're selfish and get jealous. We want all of each other and not to share it, heh.
I guess the point of this is that this is DEFINITELY one of those things that a couple needs to sit down and discuss OPENLY AND HONESTLY.
As for the romance option of RP, my wife and I tend to stick to roleplaying romantic things in our e-mails. Tabletop we tend to flirt at times but thats about it.
And that's a good point to, for couples that game. As for me and ArielManx, we aren't bothered by it, but that doesn't mean we haven't discussed it to make sure of that. But after 10 years of marriage/12 years together, we haven't found anything yet that makes us jealous of the other when it comes to roleplaying.
Well, she gets jealous if I get new dice and she doesn't, but that's something completely different...
But couples should talk about these things before it suddenly happens. I know that I as a GM would not want to be responsible for causing jealousy or disharmony in a relationship by throwing in-character flirting at one or the other character.
But if you run a game in which romance does not play any significant part, and you suddenly throw in a mousy, bashful girl flirting with the PCs, that flirting part is going to raise alarm bells, because romance doesn't happen in the game.
My thoughts as well.
One thing I don't like when romance gets included is when a player is obviously using their character as a way of vicariously cheating on their partner. I don't mean it where both play and don't get jealous - that's fine and healthy. I mean where one plays, the other doesn't, and the player has their character flirt with EVERYTHING as a means of sort of getting away with something against their real life partner. That's an ugly scene.
One thing I don't like when romance gets included is when a player is obviously using their character as a way of vicariously cheating on their partner. I don't mean it where both play and don't get jealous - that's fine and healthy. I mean where one plays, the other doesn't, and the player has their character flirt with EVERYTHING as a means of sort of getting away with something against their real life partner. That's an ugly scene.
I have seen that happen, and you are right, it's a very ugly scene. Especially when it's done maliciously right in front of the real-life partner.
For those following this series of articles, my fourth installment just went up: What’s Love Got To Do With It, Part IV: Your Taboo Is My Vanilla. Possibly NSFW, if you don't want the boss looking over your shoulder and seeing mention of vampire sex. :D
Connie
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For those following this series of articles, my fourth installment just went up: What’s Love Got To Do With It, Part IV: Your Taboo Is My Vanilla. Possibly NSFW, if you don't want the boss looking over your shoulder and seeing mention of vampire sex. :D
Connie
The title just sounds dirty. :D
The title just sounds dirty. :D
It does, but fortunately (or unfortunately, depending on what you're looking for...) the article actually is no where near as naughty as the title makes it sound. :D
--lesbian stripper ninja--
That sounds like a title to a 'C' movie that somehow found its way into the bargain bin of your local movie rental shop.
Were it a character, its grapple bonus with improvised weapons would be impressive-- If you could see it coming.
I'm of the agreement with most of the ideas in the thread (yeah, it's a wordier "me too"), and I do hope that one day I can get into a game that can run the span like that instead of the crush-loot-sell-upgrade cycle..
But then again, a balanced (mature)mixed group is a rarity, is it not?
--lesbian stripper ninja--That sounds like a title to a 'C' movie that somehow found its way into the bargain bin of your local movie rental shop.
Were it a character, its grapple bonus with improvised weapons would be impressive-- If you could see it coming.
I'm of the agreement with most of the ideas in the thread (yeah, it's a wordier "me too"), and I do hope that one day I can get into a game that can run the span like that instead of the crush-loot-sell-upgrade cycle..
But then again, a balanced (mature)mixed group is a rarity, is it not?
That's why you must make the most of it.
Which forum is that, CourtFool?If you think I am perverted here, DON'T GO THERE!
You have been warned.
** spoiler omitted **
Holy crap!