With the final week of the Possible Worlds RPG subscription box campaign nearly upon us ( http://ttrpg.link/pw ) let's take a look at DATING.SIM—a light-hearted romance RPG that emulates dating simulation video games and visual novels, illustrated by the talented Sam Mameli! /1

The fact of the matter is that I LOVE both reality dating television and dating sims—especially weirder sims like #HatofulBoyfriend and rules-heavy shows like @AREUTHE1. Mixing visual novels & competitive dating into a single TTRPG has been a white whale of mine for while now. /2

There are two roles at the start of Dating.sim—multiple Suitor players & a single Crown. Suitors compete in-character to win a date with the Crown, & the Crown hosts an in-character dating game, asking the suitors questions to get to know them better before selecting a winner. /3

The dating game can be freeform—with all players simply creating characters and roleplaying them honestly—or the Crown can be assigned specific aspects they're attracted to. These aspects are generated by Suitors at the start of the game before 1/2 of them are drawn at random. /4

The game's winner can either be selected by the Crown or by the group. If attraction cards are at play, the Crown reveals them after interviews and the group comes to a consensus on who they think the best match is. If playing freeform, the Crown just listens to their heart. /5

Either way, once the winner of the dating game is selected, that Suitor will continue to play the character they created. Everyone else abandons their characters and move to sharing narrative control of the Crown character for the remainder of the game. /6

In the second half of the game, the Crown & the Suitor go on a date. The Suitor will GM the date's locations and activities up until a “crux” moment is reached and the path of the date might change—whether due to a conversational response or an action taken by the Crown. /7

Crown players all propose potential crux responses from the Crown & the Suitor chooses the response they prefer—whether in their character’s romantic interests or simply picking the most satisfying story beat for the fiction. This represents the dialogue trees in dating sims! /8

The player whose Crown response is selected marks 1 point for themselves and roleplays the Crown in the scene that follows up until a new crux moment is reached. The proposal & selection process then repeats, with this structure repeating for the remainder of the game. /9

At the end of the game, tally your Crown points. The player with the most points gets to describe what steps the Crown takes following the date. Do they reach out for another? Do they ghost them? Similarly, the Suitor has a final opportunity to respond. Do they reciprocate? /10

There are other aspects in the game—including a fictional "follower number" mechanic—but those are the core elements! Dating.sim's a game ripe for both comedy and drama, & if you made it to the end of this thread, please consider backing it on Kickstarter! http://ttrpg.link/pw