Valentine's Day Pathfinder session

[Gryphonfg]

I'm running a low level Pathfinder group. I looked at the calendar and noticed that Valentine's Day happens to coincide with our game night. So, I was thinking about doing something special and romance related that night. The characters will be 4th level that night. We're doing a horror road trip, trying to cross the land while battling an evil cult that wants to summon Cthulhu. They'll be stopping in a village on the edge of a kingdom. The village is in a forest and is home to a lumber company. North of the village, in the forest is a kingdom of elves and other assorted fey.

The group is large. We have 8 people, though only five or six show up each week. They are mostly good or neutral. Half are human, the rest include a gnome, a dwarf, a kitsune, and a skinwalker. 5 males, 3 females.

Aside from a group of attractive people approaching the party to seduce and assassinate them, I don't have any ideas yet. Any suggestions?

[Arutema]

My first thought is that if someone is playing tabletop games that day instead of out on a date, then having romantic motifs shoved at them is probably the last thing they want anyway.

[Serafina]

My first thought is that if someone is playing tabletop games that day instead of out on a date, then having romantic motifs shoved at them is probably the last thing they want anyway.That's not necessarily the case, I actually run a game with my polycule each year. But even if it's not with people you're in a romantic relationship with, doing a themed game can be fun. Just make sure they're okay with it.

That being said, I don't think your idea really works. "Throw attractive people at them" isn't really that valentines-related, and can quickly turn pointless.

What I'm personally running is for a smaller group, which is probably also different from yours in a lot of ways. Hence, let me recommend you something else:
Pathfinder has several deities related to love. Shelyn for romantic love, but also Arshea for sexuality, Naderi for romantic tragedy, and several evil gods that also go into that territory.
Why not have a plot that revolves around one of those deities (or rather one of their cults, or a minor divine servant, rather than them directly), and getting their assistance for the parties quest?

Now that plot can be a lot of things, depending on how romance-related and dark you want things:
- help someone driven insane by one of the evil cult (possibly due to losing their lover) remember their love
- if you want to be ironic, help to set up and guard a festival for the deity
- coax a priestess out of hiding among the fey (as long as those fey are non-evil, otherwise elsewhere), including by reminding her of the beauty of love even without a romantic partner
- just the classic "help two people get together", bit uninspired though
- have the followers of the deity be infiltrated by the evil cult, and you have to sort that out

[Gryphonfg]

I knew my idea wasn't that good, that's why I came here to ask for help. The coaxing a priestess out of hiding of the fey sounds interesting.

[Nibbens]

Festivals are always interesting events that could naturally occur in a town where events like dances and strange traditions like, kissing under a plant hanging from the ceiling might be the norm.

Love potions exist in PF, and while not so hot for adventurers, could make for interesting plot hooks for some inner-town politics.

Spitball: PC's enter town where local harvest festival (that sounds suspiciously like V-day) is happening. Enjoy the role-play opportunity for the evening. That morning, a girl approaches the party claiming that her boyfriend didn't meet her in their designated place, and hasn't returned home yet, etc etc. Parents don't suspect anything because he often doesn't come home after long periods of work, but the GF knows that this isn't like him. Then she drops a hint about evil magic or a sorcereress addling his mind and wanting to sacrifice him/eat him/kill him , whatever.

Any party worth their stuff should be highly skeptical, wether or not they decide to help the girl.

Then, it's on you to add to the mystery to make the party believe there really IS bad juju going on.

Insert bad-guy, insert misdirection, and insert love potion as you see fit.

This way you have a V-day themed game that doesn't make your party uncomfortable with romance role-play. The romance is in the background, and the adventure is in the forefront.

[Gryphonfg]

How is this for a session? Characters arrive in a village where the Harvest Festival is happening. However, instead of the happy, festive mood they expect, it's a very somber affair. After piecing together some rumors, they discover that the priestess of the goddess of love has cursed the village and left. They track her down to where she's hiding in the forest and have to convince her lift the curse. It turns out that she recently lost the person she loved and in her heartbreak decided that if she can't have love, no one can.

[Psyren]

"The party helps reunite two star-crossed lovers" is the way I'd go with this. I somewhat echo Arutema and Serafina though, you should really make sure people (a) don't have plans/dates that day and (b) see if you can find out (discreetly so as not to ruin the surprise) whether that might even be something they'd be interested in since it's a reminder of the day.

For Nibben's festival idea, I'd actually make that the end of the session - that puts a time limit on the sidequest (find the missing lover before the party starts!) and it gives the party something to celebrate afterwards, complete with a fade-to-black roll in the hay for those so inclined.

[Aetis]

How is this for a session? Characters arrive in a village where the Harvest Festival is happening. However, instead of the happy, festive mood they expect, it's a very somber affair. After piecing together some rumors, they discover that the priestess of the goddess of love has cursed the village and left. They track her down to where she's hiding in the forest and have to convince her lift the curse. It turns out that she recently lost the person she loved and in her heartbreak decided that if she can't have love, no one can.

This is great. I look forward to the best pep talk PCs can come up with.

"There are many fish in the sea..."

[Gryphonfg]

"The party helps reunite two star-crossed lovers" is the way I'd go with this. I somewhat echo Arutema and Serafina though, you should really make sure people (a) don't have plans/dates that day and (b) see if you can find out (discreetly so as not to ruin the surprise) whether that might even be something they'd be interested in since it's a reminder of the day.

As far as (a) goes, I've already sent out a text letting them know that game day is v-day to see if they have plans. With (b), we'll see.

[Calthropstu]

This is great. I look forward to the best pep talk PCs can come up with.

"There are many fish in the sea..."

My group would have one of the PCs attempt to woo her, have her lift the curse, then turn her in to the authorities for cursing the village.

[Gryphonfg]

My group just started and I haven't played with half of them so far, so I'm not sure what they would do. Two of them are playing more charismatic characters, so one of them might try to woo her. Another is playing a orc barbarian with intelligence and wisdom both in the single digits and he is trying to find a wife to start his own tribe. If he's there, he'll probably demand that the priestess marry him (he's already made that demand of every female NPC and PC he's met).

[Afgncaap5]

Hmm, that might make the festival tricky. Perhaps a variation that doesn't necessarily invoke love or romance by name, but instead just brings its themes to bear? Some knight could have her or his fiance abducted by a fairy spirit (I'd homebrew a simple one of your own rather than using a pre-existing one) and might have been cursed in some way (blindness, the inability to draw any of their weapons, etc.) The fairy spirit wants to take the blood of the fiance for a love potion that must be made with the blood of a noble with the hope of using it to court some other member of the fair folk ("the duke of springtime's coming" or something like that.)

The players can help guide the knight, rescue the prince/princess, break the curse on the knight (and/or set it up so that the knight can save the day in spite of the curse... you don't need to draw a sword to punch a smug fairy in the face, after all, and if said punch knocks said fey off a bridge into running water (which, as everyone knows, can banish certain winter-time fairies) then it all works out.)

This can bring in the theme of love, romance, and saving the day without having to rely on the players themselves. Theoretically, the barbarian could still try to find a wife from this scenario, but the knight and betrothed might have something to say about that.

[Pyromancer999]

You could always take some inspiration from Lovecraft's work for the genre he loved most: Cheesy love stories. Apparently that's what he got his start doing and loved most, and there should still be some of the short stories out there somewhere.

Alternatively, if you're knowledgeable about the Cthulhi mythos and your group is too, you could throw in a romance reference from that. There has to be one somewhere.

[prufock]

If your group IS bitter and lonely, I'd make love itself a kind of sickness that has stricken the town. There are fey nearby, right? For whatever reason, whether to distract the town from some other scheme or just for fun, spread love around the town. Either way, people are falling in love with the wrong people, ignoring their chores, neglecting their duties, and basically the town will fall to ruin. The PCs have to get to the bottom of this and reverse the effect (or deal with it some other way).