Hello all,
I play and run games for various groups, and one of my groups is somewhat interested in playing Masks. The thing that makes it a harder game to run is the playbooks that have relationship status that deal with having feelings for another character like the Doomed’s “I want to kiss _ before I die” and such.
For various reasons with this group, PC on PC romance is an option that is uncomfortable and therefore a complete no go.
Have any of you guys made alternate questions that would remedy this problem? What would you suggest?
https://docs.google.com/document/d/18D2OgX0Jhc_zlVpgijjoVkl4yjqptxWaCpr_q5afeUo/edit
Ive had a few variations on that question used that are not romantic. ie “I want X to be there when my doom comes” or “I want to spend my time with X Before i die” etc.
This also was thrown in when talking about the Bulls “Love” with Love able to be different types, such as best friend. A Example of that normally used was Beast Boy and Cyborg from Teen Titans
Yeah, The Bull’s Love can totally be platonic or otherwise non romantic. It just has to be a close bond that they care about.
Re: romantic relationships, look at how the relationship entry fits in with the playbook theme and try to capture the important parts without the romance.
E.g., the important part of that Doomed relationship is the wistful, defeatist longing in it. They don’t know how to stop their Doom (at least not yet), and that drives them to try and forge some kind of close connection before it arrives. It gives them a goal other than surviving, and someone to care about, even if that person doesn’t quite understand that yet.
You can still have that without the romantic undertone, by reframing the type of connection the Doomed wants to make. E.g., “I want to re-earn _____‘s trust before my Doom comes,” or “I want to save ____ from the future I see for them before I must face my own.”
The relationships all speak to their playbooks’ themes, so I wouldn’t just replace them with random things off a list (no offense), but I think you can replace romance with another flavor of relationship without really losing anything.
I have a group that doesn’t do romance much either. (Monsterhearts was a big nope for them!) We tend to just gloss over those things, but I like the idea of changing the desire to something platonic instead, as it keeps the longing of the connection but eliminates the romance.