How often in your campaigns do your PCs end up having romantic relationships?

Ive run adventures where there npc have had romantic relationships as part of the plot, but never have the PCs had involved.

Seldom.

Occasionally the PC-to-NPC relationship, but rarely PC-PC.

Depends on the campaign. I've had a few where it has happened, and many where it has not. When it has happened it has allways been out of the blue. Unforeseen. Someone will just click with an NPC and things take off from there.

Ive heard of some pretty epic campaigns revolving around such. But never seen one personally.

Quote from: finarvyn;1033637Occasionally the PC-to-NPC relationship, but rarely PC-PC.

That's my experience as well. I follow the players' lead generally, with an occasional infatuation of my own devising designed to set up future plot hooks/twists more than create actual in-game romance.

I used to avoid it like the plague, but I started incorporating more romance and it works great.

Quote from: RPGPundit;1033630How often in your campaigns do your PCs end up having romantic relationships?

Rarely. Gaming is already terribly awkward and nerdy. I dont' want to play/GM out a romance and make it worse.

Quote from: Ratman_tf;1033680I dont' want to play/GM out a romance and make it worse.

If it doesn't work for you, then it doesn't work for you. But what I have found is adjusting to the group's comfort level is pretty important for the reason you mention. I think if there is ever a time to do second person or OOC (or whatever distance helps), romance would be where a place to consider that. This can also be a good time to ham things up because that can make it less awkward as well. Sometimes just establishing that a character is involved with an NPC between sessions is enough. I think it can be good for giving players a sense of connection to the world, especially if they have children or marry into a family. It just creates a lot of interesting room for developments and drama.

I neither encourage nor discourage it. If it happens organically, I roll with it.  I try to base my characters on either people I know or characters from other media, and try to respond in ways that I think those indviduals would (so in other words a romance doesn't happen just because a PC pursues it).

I do not play out sexy time in any way, shape, or form.

Never as a focus, but characters will pursue romance the same way that they will make friends, as seems realistic. As most people who aren't playing a 'storygame' we are playing a game, not writing a plot, but on the other hand we are also not just playing board game pieces. Characters have social interactions and we try to make their behavior realistic. But the characters are usually young adventurous go-getters trying to make that big score that lets them leave their dirt-farmer pasts behind. So many of them have the mindset of 'once I know I'm going to survive making that big score, I will settle down and look for a spouse.'

Quote from: Ratman_tf;1033680Rarely. Gaming is already terribly awkward and nerdy. I dont' want to play/GM out a romance and make it worse.

  I believe this is one of the reasons 'bluebooking' was invented. It worked out in the SW Saga Edition game I was part of, where the romance was handled almost entirely by email between myself and the GM.

Yes, sometimes, quite often in the past, but not much in my current megadungeon-centric open-table campaign. It's more common with a long term group.

Not everything IRL should happen at the TBL.

Quote from: EOTB;1033692Not everything IRL should happen at the TBL.

I roll to poop.

To be serious, romance and sex and attraction and junk are good motivators. Probably prime motivators for people. I've got a scenario rolling around in my head that's a mashup between Romeo And Juliet and The Outrageous Okona that I have yet to hammer into an adventure. If I do, it's not going to be PC to PC or PC to NPC, but the characters dealing with the situation that develops when two opposing factions have a "forbidden love" thing going on.