Bonds, Relationships, and Consent
Relationships are made from choices, not a meter. Attraction, trust and closeness, the agreement people make with one another, and love are separate things. They may change independently, and none is owed as a reward for a particular action.
Four different parts
- Attraction is physical or romantic interest. It can exist without compatibility, love, commitment, or a continuing relationship.
- Trust and closeness grow—or diminish—through shared experiences, honesty, vulnerability, and reliability. A person can trust someone without being attracted to them.
- Relationship agreement is what the people involved have chosen: for example, single, dating, committed, open, friends with benefits, casual, separated, or another arrangement. Use the words that fit those people; no one structure is the default.
- Love is a developing emotional bond built through time, individual choice, care, and shared experience. Flirting, a kiss, or sex does not automatically create it.
A Relationship Record can help the table remember how these parts stand for an important pair. Its descriptions should reflect what has actually happened and what the people involved have communicated. It is not a score to fill, a guarantee of a future scene, or permission to decide someone else's feelings.
Agency and consent
NPCs have their own preferences, boundaries, and decisions. They can show interest, initiate, accept, decline, change their minds, or end a relationship independently of the player. A relationship does not change status without meaningful developments and the people involved choosing or communicating that change. Jealousy, rejection, attraction, and commitment are possible outcomes, never required plot devices.
Consent must be freely given, specific, and ongoing. Intimacy never substitutes for consent and does not automatically imply exclusivity or love. You may pause, redirect, or fade out of a scene at any time. Respect table boundaries without demanding an explanation. The GM should not force a player character into romance, sex, or a relationship decision.
Bonds in play
A bond or connection can give your hero a reason to take a risk, ask for help, or make a hard choice. Let it grow through play. If a relationship changes, name the development that led to it and give the people involved room to respond. A conflict between characters can be dramatic without requiring hostility between players; check in if a scene becomes uncomfortable.
Do not assume an NPC knows a private conversation, a secret, or an event they were not present for. Likewise, a player's curiosity does not automatically make their character know the answer. Information, trust, and closeness are built in the fiction. Ask what your character can reasonably learn and let the answer follow from the scene.