So to begin I think we all know a few things:
We don’t need money. It doesn’t take fame. We don’t even need a credit card to ride this train.
That’s right, we’re talking about the Power of Love!
So Huey Lewis aside, let’s talk about something that came up on Twitter recently that seemed to cause a bit of controversy (because what doesn’t with TTRPGs recently?). The idea was about trying to come up with a mechanic for the way that “love” affects characters, specifically in Dungeons & Dragons. So before I tackle my own thoughts about using “love” in D&D, I want to talk about pros and cons for even having love as a mechanic in games.
Pros
MASKS, copyright Magpie Games
So first things first, love, in all its forms, has a real power that I think can be seen in our own real world. The mother able to perform feats of strength to save their child is a prime example of how the love and cbonds we have can have real effects on us. The relationships we have also can have concrete effects on our actions as well. The influence others have over us as well as the influence we have over others can shape our very actions and thoughts.
One major example of “love” done well, in my opinion of course, is the game MASKS by Magpie Games. Within MASKS, there is the mechanic of influence which represents how various player characters and even NPCs can affect the actions of the characters. This influence can be used for a variety of reasons, but given the narrative focus of a game like MASKS, it leaves a lot open to interpretation which I think leads us into the biggest con when it comes to “Mechanic-izing” love.
Cons
The biggest and most major con in my book is the idea of trying to “quantify” love, especially in a role playing game. Obviously, we all know that part of the allure of TTRPGs is the actual role-playing. However, recently I have seemed like there is an odd push to give everything a rule or mechanic instead of leaving it up to the GMs and Players.
For instance, D&D sometimes has a problem trying to make rules for various role-playing focuses. A major example of this being the lack of rules and mechanics for social encounters. I will say though that I am 100% of the mindset that social interactions shouldn’t *have* mechanics.
The more you “quantify”, the more you take from the roleplaying aspect of games like D&D (we can also talk about how D&D at the end of the day is a combat simulator, but we’ll save that for another post).
Conclusion
To wrap up my arguments in a neat-ish bow, I think that when it comes to something like “love”, for some games, there is no need to come up with mechanics to give in game support. For D&D in particular a simple advantage/disadvantage roll would suffice but anything more would feel disingenuous.
That being said, there are so many narrative based games (especially those using the Powered by the Apocalypse system) that would have more “rules light” or narrative ways to incorporate love and relationships. Love is something that is chaotic and messy and I think any attempts to put it into a box would not be the best idea, let it be chaotic and let it be messy.
As always, keep wandering!
-Mike