Unforeseen Dorwinion love interest

[Corvo]

This is a direct consequence of this viewtopic.php?f=7&t=1484

2947, princess Una of Dorwinion, with his father King Ulfast, young hotheaded brother and foreboding guard captain is spending the winter in Dale, at the court of king Bard.
Many already know that the King is smitten by the beautiful princess; few imagine that they will marry the next year. But we aren't here for Una and Bard, there is another romance brewing...

We played the competitions from "The Crossing of the Celduin" as the tournament in honor of the Dorwinion royal guests. And we used the banquet rules from RichH's "Guide to Dale".

There were two unforeseen events for The King's Men, my all Barding, all Warden "Arthurian" fellowship.
1- the PCs initially weren't interest in the competitions, but some taunting from rivals, some bickering and a lot of pride made them compete. In the end the Archer won the archery contest, the Spearman won the cavalry one, and the Swordmaster won the melee. They spent A LOT of hope points. Great rejoicing for Dale.
2- the Archer (Wordweaver, Lordly, Clever) happened to dance with fair Lehda, a lady in waiting of princess Una.
She turned to be a most fascinating woman, and he fell in love with her.

It was totally unforeseen (she was a random NPC I randomized on the spot): do you have any interesting idea for future events?

[Hermes Serpent]

Long distance romances are fraught with danger, but with the royal party secure in Dale for a season there is the possibility of other possible suitors - the Guard Captain or hot-headed prince, maybe another Dalesman, perhaps someone of higher Standing/Status/rank.

After the Winter and wedding festivities perhaps the lady-in-waiting must return home to a husband arranged for her by her family, will the lovers run away to lead a life of adventure?

Look to literature, probably Shakespeare, for stories of star-crossed lovers and suitable plots.

[Glorelendil]

I read the title and thought that Internet bride brokers were muscling in on the kitchen remodelers.

Was going to write a sim to figure out who to bet on.

[Corvo]

I read the title and thought that Internet bride brokers were muscling in on the kitchen remodelers.

Was going to write a sim to figure out who to bet on.

Ok, maybe I'll edit the thread's title

[Rich H]

And we used the banquet rules from RichH's "Guide to Dale".

How did you find them, were they useful to you?

[Corvo]

And we used the banquet rules from RichH's "Guide to Dale".

How did you find them, were they useful to you?

Yes, they were*.

The group leader commented: "sirs, we are in a different type of battlefield".
The players enjoyed the challenges they were faced with: discussions, storytelling, singing, choking on his own food (consequence of an Eye-rune )
Lehda is the result of "A Lady Requests a Dance" random event. When the player said "a lady asking me to dance? Sure she's some old aunt of mine!" I quickly rolled some feat dices to generate the character:
-did they know each other? No
-where is she from? Dorwinion
-is she an old aunt? No
-is she attractive? G-rune

I realized destiny was telling me something


*Only modifications I made was:
1-using "lowest of Courtesy and Songs" for dancing in lieu of "lowest of Athletics and Songs": Athletics is already very important in the Strength and Riding contests.
2-adding some riddle contest to the jester's repertoire

[Rich H]

Cool stuff.

I think using Courtesy is a great idea, nice one.

[Otaku-sempai]

If the Archer (or the group as a whole) has an enemy who discovers the relationship with the lady, she could be kidnapped or otherwise used against the party.

[Corvo]

I realize that I was unclear about an important piece of information.
We aren't in a love affair yet, we are still in a courting phase.

It's the Hero who fell in love for the fair lady, not the contrary.
To be fair, he managed to keep his composure admirably, yet his heart is captivated. The feelings of the lady remain a mystery: after all she's a lady of the court, used to hide her emotions.
She's showing him some favour, that's sure, but nothing compromising yet.
Is she toying with him? Or is she falling in love?

[The Duellist]

We aren't in a love affair yet, we are still in a courting phase.
[...]
Is she toying with him? Or is she falling in love?

Greetings Corvo (and everyone else, as this is my first post on the board!),

if you think that a love affair could be a good twist for your campaign (and your Player), go on with it and let the things "go by themselves". Let your Player RPing some courting with the beautiful Lehda, maybe confronting other suitor to the heart of the lady... you could end with some unexpected twist. In the end, a broken heart is always a grievous wound to heal.

Instead, if a cruel cold-hearted lady waiting only for the good man to use in her courtly schemes seems a better choice for the story your Players are going to face, so let her be. At some point, if our Hero's heart has been enmeshed enough, he could even be tempted to turn against his own companions...
I don't know if a similar NPC would work well in your campaign, maybe a mistress like this could prove over the top, but you know it better than me!

Anyway, even if I'm not a big fan of "in-game romance" (in my experience as RP and Master they too often turns out to be a "bidimensional-wannabe-love-dreams" which are more boring than anything else), I think that TOR is one of the few settings where those kind of heavy-RP events could potentially shine.