Great RPG Romances

Just a quick post here on Valentine's Day-- once more indulging in a variant of “Let Me Tell You About My Character...” Anyway, here's some of the top romances from my various campaigns over the years:

1. Lupita and the Seven Fiery Devils (Crux, Exalted)

Lupita is an...interesting...character, to say the least. She has definite ideas about what she wants out of life and those don't necessarily match up with those of the rest of the group. She takes a certain kind of oblivious to a whole new level. Her character began with a lost love she'd sigh over for a short time before pudding would be placed in front of her. In the course of the campaign, she's met a select group of young men, most of whom have developed a large and possibly unrequited crush on her. The problem is that they're all brothers.

Each has a specialty-- one's a professional thug, another a scholar, another a singer, and one's even a “Hero of the People.” This last one doesn't appear to like her and seems bothered that all of his brothers seem to be mooning over her. The brother who might have an edge is a professional chef, but even his constant deliveries of meals (which the group consumes with gusto) hasn't visibly pierced her apparent obliviousness.

2. Qynn Edgefall and Dahlia vro-Hiatus (Steambuckler, Gurps)

Qynn, a reformed Sky-Pirate, also has a dark and tragic lost love in his past-- a woman he'd been unable to save during a pirate raid. That she turned out to be related to another PC memrely deepened the problem. Still he found himself drawn out by Lady Dahlia who had a particular sense of humor and an intense dislike for Atlantaens, despite being one herself. They parried back and forth throughout the several years of the campaign.

Eventually Qynn would discover Dahlia's own dark past, one which kept her from engaging any further in their dalliance. It revealed some of the awfulness of certain forces behind the Atlantaen throne and their occult dealings. Her plans involved the destruction of Atlantae itself, but by the time she had managed to put those things into operation, other potent forces had created a deeper corruption among the nobility. Qynn managed to pull her back from her path of self-destruction at the end. They retired away from public life, raising her son, who would someday be a key player in Atlantaen power politics.

3. Myrnn and don Fernando (Freakish Band of Adventurers, Triad)

Myrnn was a Rakasta wanderer who seemed to focus only on the act of travel, mapping the constellations, and just living. She evaded at first the attentions of don Fernando, a handsome Rakasta aristocrat whose hat dangled saucy tassels. Despite her apparently passive approach, Myrnn managed to save her country and possibly the world with her wish that set new functions into the World Machine. Don Fernando elected to stay with the group, both for adventure and to stay close to Myrnn. During their travels in the Mythic Plane, attempting to gather power for their final confrontation with the potentially destructive power of the Shaddai Returners, she took up the force of light which had been hidden away in the Underworld. Eventually, that child would become the leader of the Rakasta, now joined to the Shaddai. Myrnn and don Fernando would become hero-leaders to them as well.

4. Valarian Simaril and the Lady (Trinity: Swords, Gurps)

Valarian was an Elf from the first days of their arrival in this world. He stood in the second generation, the ones who had managed to overcome some of the powerful Elvish Warbringers who sought to completely remake the world for themselves and the Elves. He fought in other battles, eventually becoming trapped in one of the great trees during a sorcerous conflict. Released by the changing of magic hundreds of years later, he sought to find a solution to the decline of his people.

Along the way, he met the Lady, a former servitor of Death itself (loosely borrowed ideas from The Drinker of Souls by Jo Clayton). Though human, Valarian felt a strong connection to her-- a combination of a kindred soul who had lost her people and a slightly arrogant sense that he could 'rescue' her. Adding to the complications was the unspoken love of one of his fellow PCs for the Lady. When Valarian spoke to him of the matter, Samiir Ajbach, stood aside and kept his feelings to himself. After the group managed to stop the full coming of Murkavan and the release of the power of the Hammer, Sword, and Anvil, Valarian asked The Lady to marry him. They settled in new Elven lands, close to human outposts. The stigma of his wedding to a human would have repercussions in the future.

5. Cedra Byrne and Hayshem Tweet (Trinity: Wars, Gurps)

Cedra Byrne was that most unusual of adventurers, one with a close family and strong ties to a place. She managed to forge a group of more disparate persons together to battle both against the greater rising darkness and especially against its manifestations in the East, her homeland of Crantyle. Hayshem Tweet, on the other hand, was a powerful assassin and servitor of Naveh, the Dark Taker. Cedra knew who Tweet was and continually warned her fellows to avoid him and his plots.

Still, their paths crossed multiple times, and when the forces of Laranian Fanatics overran the capitol, Tweet became a secret ally of the group. He funneled information to them, stuck at powerful individuals and eventually openly joined them in their battle. They fought together against the Arrival of the Hammer-Bearer, the Laranian Crusade and the Lords of Ardor, preventing the absolute destruction of the world. Cedra came to understand Tweet's role, a servant of one of the Twelve gods of the Wheel-- some less savory than others, but all necessary. When Cerda become Lord Protector of the Greater Glory, Tweet retired to wed her and handed his place to another.

Honorable Mentions
-Captain Bergstorff and Captain Babcock
-Avatar and his mindwiped ex-Supervillain girlfriend
-Patriot and the policewoman The Word killed
-Kerza and Loolie
-Jacob Swifttail and his harem of broken hearts