Not particularly wanting to get involved in the Great ERP Debate (certain people from Co7 probably already know my feelings on that!), I just wanted to bring things back to romance roleplay - or, perhaps to be more exact, romance in roleplay.
I say it that way because I truly feel that romance works best when done in conjunction, alongside and interwoven with a greater story, or multiple stories. Sure, have your little one-on-one scenes where you delve into the private nuances of your characters' interpersonal dynamics; things like that can be great for really cementing the backdrop of a relationship. But I think the most fulfilling time on a broader scale comes when those players apply their characters' romantic interactions to situations beyond them. For example, a rather lengthy plot I participated in (and am still participating in) in TERA involves an extremely elusive antagonist who had a batshit bad guy goal of remaking the Dream and blahblah <insert lots of plot-related stuff that I won't go into because it would take me a year to explain to those unfamiliar with the story>. The point is, there was a massive story going on, involving a number of people, and I always had great fun watching the dynamic of my character and her romantic partner in the context of that plot. It pushed them and pulled them and created great rifts between them that occasionally were pulled back together and the whole thing was fascinating.
I guess what I'm trying to say is that I, personally, find roleplay the most fulfilling when there are multiple layers to it. Don't just roleplay a "they get together" story. Put that into a setting far more complex and have fun testing and stretching and distorting it!
I say it that way because I truly feel that romance works best when done in conjunction, alongside and interwoven with a greater story, or multiple stories. Sure, have your little one-on-one scenes where you delve into the private nuances of your characters' interpersonal dynamics; things like that can be great for really cementing the backdrop of a relationship. But I think the most fulfilling time on a broader scale comes when those players apply their characters' romantic interactions to situations beyond them. For example, a rather lengthy plot I participated in (and am still participating in) in TERA involves an extremely elusive antagonist who had a batshit bad guy goal of remaking the Dream and blahblah <insert lots of plot-related stuff that I won't go into because it would take me a year to explain to those unfamiliar with the story>. The point is, there was a massive story going on, involving a number of people, and I always had great fun watching the dynamic of my character and her romantic partner in the context of that plot. It pushed them and pulled them and created great rifts between them that occasionally were pulled back together and the whole thing was fascinating.
I guess what I'm trying to say is that I, personally, find roleplay the most fulfilling when there are multiple layers to it. Don't just roleplay a "they get together" story. Put that into a setting far more complex and have fun testing and stretching and distorting it!
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"Song dogs barking at the break of dawn, lightning pushes the edges of a thunderstorm; and these streets, quiet as a sleeping army, send their battered dreams to heaven."
Hipparion Tribe (Sagolii)Â - Â Antimony Jhanhi's Wiki
