Set your hearts ablaze. Learn to make romance in your tabletop games accessible, fun, and easy for everyone at the table. Including 🔧mechanics,🖋️how-to essays,🎲tables, &🎨art created by leading designers in the field.
Whether you're a seasoned Game Master or a newcomer, this book makes romance accessible, fun, and effortless for everyone at the table. Packed with innovative mechanics, insightful essays, dynamic tables, and stunning art by leading designers in the field, this systemless guide is your key to crafting memorable and heartfelt adventures. Join us on this enchanting journey and make your games bloom with love and connection!
How to GM Romance is a comprehensive toolkit designed to enrich your tabletop RPG experience with engaging romantic storylines. Inside, you'll find:
How-to Advice Essays: Learn from the best! Our book features essays by some of the top game masters and designers in the industry, offering invaluable insights and practical tips for weaving romance into your games seamlessly.
Scenarios, Descriptions, and NPCs: Enhance your campaigns with ready-to-use romantic scenarios, vivid descriptions, and a variety of non-player characters (NPCs) crafted to bring depth and intrigue to your romantic subplots.
Mechanical Tools: Incorporate romance into your games with our robust systems, designed to track and manage romantic relationships with ease:
Romance Tracking: A comprehensive system to monitor the progress and status of romantic relationships in your game.
Dating: Mechanics to simulate dating experiences, adding a layer of realism and fun to your sessions.
Serenades: Creative tools to add musical and poetic expressions of love, enriching the role-playing experience.
Intimacy: Sensitive and thoughtful guidelines to navigate intimate moments with respect and depth.
Disputes: Systems to handle the complexities of fights & breakups, ensuring they add to the narrative without disrupting the game.
With How to GM Romance, you'll have everything you need to create compelling and heartfelt stories that resonate with your players. Let the sparks fly and the love stories unfold at your gaming table!
There are no rewards in this tier; perhaps it's a contribution to the project or credit to a future upgrade; nevertheless, thank you for joining us.
Digital Love - $25 (MSRP $30)
We know you keep your phone/tablet under your pillow at night for reading.
Get the PDF of How to GM Romance.
Hard Cover Kiss -$45 (MSRP $50)
You must be the sort to bring your books around with you, at a a café, in the library, or on a park bench. There is something nice about having a physical book to enjoy, sharing with friends, or even striking up a conversation.
Get the PDF (for under your pillow) and the Hardcover of How to GM Romance (to bring with you).
Tools of a Romantic - $65
We'll take it slow, if anything doesn't feel right, just let me know. This only works if we trust each other.
Get the PDF and Hardcover of How to GM Romance, in addition to a Safety Toolkit Box Set. This will include physical handouts, cards, and dry-erase checklists for you to use at session zero and reusable for future games.
Letters from a Romantic - $100
Nothing quite like a letter of admiration from a secret (or known) admirer.
Get the PDF and Hardcover of How to GM Romance, the Safety Toolkit Box Set. And, our team will collaborate with you to write up to four (4) hand written letters to your characters. These will be wax-sealed and shipped for you (and your party) to enjoy.
Reward Expiration: once the book is printing, we will reach out to collaborate. From that point, you have (1) year to respond, otherwise you forfeit this reward (cause we cannot guarantee the team will be around or available to work on them. Team Reservations: The team holds the right to not write for a character if they deem it inappropriate or problematic (at which point you will be refunded).
Hopeless Romantic - $200 (limit 15 backers)
As my heart beats, thinking of you
See your (1) character immortalized as a romantic in the pages of GMROM. We'll use this character for the flavor text and examples in its assigned chapter (there are 5 chapters so 5 slots). You will also receive the PDF and Hardcover of How to GM Romance, as well as the box set of the Saftey Toolkit.
Reward Expiration: This requires communication and coordination during the development of the book, if we are unable to coordinate with you, we will issue a refund. If we are unable to reach you, you surrender your right to this reward. Team Reservations: The team holds the right to not write for a character if they deem it inappropriate or problematic (at which point you will be refunded).
Friday Strout (she/they) - Project Lead - ENNIE nominated queer millennial seeking to make artistic games which are fun, build community, and educate on differing perspectives through shared experiences. She can be found herehosting an industry newsletter and podcast.
Nala J. Wu (they/them) - Art Director - Proudly demisexual, kinky, and polyam; excited to showcase the diversity of love in this book. Art Director at Hunters Entertainment & award winning illustrator who can be found online @naladraws.
Erika Hill (she/her) - Project Manager - Korean Hawaiian artist specializing in cyphers and nonverbal languages. Working to add her voice to the mix and support other creatives exploring what it means to be a storyteller. Found online @Eyra_Kelalani. [https://twitter.com/Eyra_Kelalani]
Andreas Walters (he/him) - Publisher - Founder and publisher at Metal Weave Games and adding logistics support in financing, printing, crowdfunding, and fulfillment and distribution. Can be found talking publishing and owlbears at @andreas_MWG
Editor
E. R. F. Jordan (she/her) — ENNIE award-winning editor, author and layout designer. Playing and making games until the cows come home, and probably after that, too. [https://erfjordan.com]
System Designers
Friday Strout - ENNIE nominated queer millennial seeking to make artistic games which are fun, build community, and educate on differing perspectives through shared experiences. She can be found herehosting an industry newsletter and podcast.
Christiana Lewis (she/her) - Immigrant, queer, BIMPOC narrative designer and award-winning Actual Play performer. She can be found everywhere @carpechristi but is probably lost in a bookstore somewhere.
Sebastian Yūe (they/them) - Award-winning game designer, writer, editor, and co-author of erotic short fiction. They tell messy, complex stories for messy, complex people. Find them everywhere online as @sebastianyue [http://sebastianyue.ca/ttrpgs].
Alex Roberts (she/her) - Internationally renowned, Diana Jones Award winning and Origins Award nominated game designer best known for her games Star Crossed: The Two Player Game of Forbidden Love and For the Queen (now in its second edition). Find her stuff at [https://helloalexroberts.carrd.co].
Kienna Shaw (she/they) - Narrative designer and writer who wears many hats to make emotionally-driven, theme-focused, and player-first games. Can be found everywhere online as @KiennaS [https://kiennas.com/].
Essayists
Connie Chang (they/he/she) - An ENNIE-nominated, multiple award-winning Chinese-American actual play Game Master for Transplanar RPG, an all-trans, POC-led TTRPG channel, and the game designer behind GODKILLER. They've been on Dimension 20, Polygon, and the New York Times. [https://transplanarrpg.com/]
Cate Osborn (she/they) - Catieosaurus is a certified ADHD sex educator, mental health advocate and full-time content creator. As a professional streamer and TTRPG influencer, she is passionate about opening conversations about neurodiversity and accessibility into the gaming community. [https://catieosaurus.com/]
Alex Teplitz (he/they) – Occasional wizard and full time storyteller, Alex is an NYC-born, LA-based game producer/editor/writer. Find them @alder_mancy or here.
Noordin Ali Kadir (he/him) - An award-winning intersectional, experienced and passionate actor, writer, cultural and sensitivity editor and community organizer. [https://x.com/WerewolfFeels]
Noxweiler Ignatius Berf (he/they/it) - Creative Director of Hunters Entertainment. A film and video professional with over 20 years of industry experience. Has worked as a creative lead on over 20 feature films and countless music video and commercial projects. [https://www.huntersentertainment.com/]
Dillin Apelyan (she/he/they) - A tabletop entertainer and designer who appreciates games that support the variety of stories people are yearning to tell. She is an Actual Play performer on The Atomless, Unprepared Casters, and is the host of the One Shot podcast.[https://superdillin.carrd.co/]
Artists
Emory Kjelsberg (he/him) - a gay, trans, fantasy artist from New England, with a penchant for oddity, intimacy, and spectacle in art and fiction. He is a freelance illustrator whose work and contact information can be found on his website. [https://www.emorykj.com/]
Diana Tsai Santos (they/them) - queer cartoonist and illustrator that enjoys studying art, making fun stories and working with styles and colors. They can be found on all platforms @daitsaisan. [https://daitsaisan.carrd.co/]
Kai Lysander (they/them) - a Los Angeles-based comic artist and illustrator with a passion for working on narrative works. [ https://www.kailysander.com/ ]
Elena M. Benítez (she/her) - Freelance illustrator, historical fashion enthusiast and designated GM. Portfolio and trajectory at https://kyotosparty.com/
Metal Weave Games is an international studio, and will ship its products anywhere around the world. We three global hubs located in the United States, United Kingdom, and Australia. For crowdfunding projects we ship product to each of these hubs, and then ship your product from the nearest hub.
We collect shipping later in the pledge manager, as we further refine the final size and scale of the rewards, but you can expect something close to the following:
Americas
USA - ~$9-12
Canada/MX/South America - $35-40
Europe
UK - $9-15
EU +Nordic states - $17-19
Oceania
Australia $16 -20
New Zealand $19-22
Everywhere else - $35-$45 (feel free to ask us to research or lookup region if it is not clear).
Now that we've funded the guidebook on how to GM romantic sessions, why wouldn't we give you more NPCs with which to create those special moments? We're going to add some Tinder-style dating profiles to the appendices complete with conversation starters, flirtatious dialogue, and beautiful art. That's 3 additional romantic NPCs to choose from, including an undead villain featured in The Vineyard RPG.
I'll be sending the poll soon on which undead smoke show our backers will be able to choose from.
