That's an interesting question.

My first thought when I considered this was a cringe and "eww". But why? I think that telling a story like that requires a high level of intimacy, trust, self confidence/acceptance, consent and willingness from all participants. That combination of things may be the hard part. I think it would also take a lot of skill to not make it awkward.

For a lot of us, I'd guess that our sexuality may be an area that we're not 100% confident about and accessing the level of vulnerability required to take a game like this seriously would be challenging. And it most likely wouldn't be just you and your partner. You'd probably need a GM and maybe another couple to round things out, so maybe it creates a subset of himan relationships that's pretty small?

Then I think about conflict in the context of the story. What would it be in this case? Something like Bridgerton comes to mind, but really you could do a lot with characters overcoming external forces to protect each other.

For me, I don't think I'd enjoy it at all. My girlfriend isn't into rpgs and she already laughs at me enough when I'm naked....(joke). But it's good territory for someone to design a game for couples or something.

Edit: I typed all of this out and THEN realized there was an article linked and it wasn't just OP asking a question, so I'm going to read that now. It's early...

...Because most of us play TTRPGs with friends and strangers with whom we're super not interested in either? And if we were, we'd just actually be interacting with each other rather than doing so through a TTRPG of all things.

Plenty of people within sexual relationships do sexual roleplaying with each other, to the point that it's a trope. People are definitely interested in sexual roleplaying.

As for why there's no TTRPG market for it, I can think of at least two barriers. One: people generally aren't interested in doing sexual roleplaying outside the boundaries of an already-sexual relationship. Two: people who do sexual roleplaying within already-sexual relationships aren't interested in buying a rulebook for it.

In casual sexual encounters, you'd never be able to expect someone else to know the rules, so even if they were interested, you'd have to teach them on the spot. In committed relationships, the structure of a ruleset is probably not necessary.

I could see there being a successful but small market, within the larger market of sex toys and games, for one-pagers that people in actively sexual relationships could buy to aid roleplaying with fun prompts or genre-specific character concepts.

It's more of a stretch, but there are two groups of people who regularly do improv with strangers/acquaintances in sexual situations. One is porn actors. Kinda silly, but maybe there's a market for a sex-TTRPG-based entertainment property in porn, in the style of D&D podcasts/shows. The other is cybersex chat room users. There could be something that caters to them, and chat rooms could facilitate connections between users that prefer particular systems, like you can do on Roll20 ("LFG").

I was just talking about this article in one TTRPG group yesterday, so I'll copy my notes from there, and also add some extras:

"

The tabletop roleplaying game feels like the perfect landscape for romance and sex stories to thrive within - especially when it comes to more modern TRPGs, where the goal is often to develop bonds between characters rather than win battles.

I wish they'd elaborate on this rather than list their wishes and examples of TTRPGs that don't quite get to it.

Putting the pen in the players’ hands gives them the opportunity to create the kinds of romantic and/or sexual narratives that they haven’t found elsewhere. Being able to play out those fictional stories themselves, without the looming creative dampener of a film executive or video game publisher, could be extremely liberating for players. Or it could just be an excuse to create your own playable White Lotus fan fiction.

This feels more like an endorsement for fanfics, independent writing or any sort of creation. And on that front I agree completely, as I've genereally given up on any sort of representation or genuine heartfelt creation that comes from a major studio or production, preferring small time artists instead. But extending that logic to TTRPGs don't make sense to me, because they aren't stories with characters, they're cooperative worldbuilding with real people, and people aren't predictable, controllable or easily manageable.

Personally speaking, I don't enjoy the thought of romance in TTRPGs, much less intimacy, for that exact reason. We already have to worry about lines, veils, and several other personal issues and barriers, not to mention trusting each other enough to be open about those subject matters and about opening ourselves, not to count the possibility of "bleeding". Adding a dedicated focus on romance and sex on top of that is yet another deep layer of discomfort and vulnerability that I doubt most people are ready for.

Are those themes viable in TTRPGs? Definitely so. Is it the ideal medium for it? Absolutely not, IMO.

"

Adding to that, I don't think it is a coincidence that the games mentioned in the article somewhat succeed at having romantic relationships, much like other games succeed in having combat or violence; Because they're torrid, somewhat thoughtless and ultimately shallow (These aren't negative points).

No one is going to think of all the consequences or developments of having a fight in D&D or Masks or Blades, much like no one is going to overly elaborate on their feelings and thoughts in Monsterhearts or TSL. You're going to sink in those intense feelings of a flash crush or fight, deal with it then move on.

An actual romance would, first of all, involve genuine deep feelings between two characters, something you can't just write on a sheet of paper or mandate, and then develop those with personal, intimate actions and declarations.

I wouldn't say its impossible, but its far from easy or optimal.

I've heard a lot of good things about duet TTRPGs. That format seems perfect for a sex/romance-themed game. Any larger than that and I feel like things get a little too chaotic to focus on individual relationships.

It's one thing if you're playing a duet RPG with a GM and solo player (or GM-less duet ttrpg, not sure of that exists?). But the last thing i'm interested in is 'exploring sex and romance' while I'm sitting around a dinner table with my sister, my brother in law, and three friends I have zero interest in. All while half the table is munching on Cheetos.

The tabletop roleplaying game feels like the perfect landscape for romance and sex stories to thrive within - especially when it comes to more modern TRPGs, where the goal is often to develop bonds between characters rather than win battles. I wish the article would actually go more in to depth what it exactly is about TTRPGs that make them "the perfect landscape" for romance and sex stories. The author just states it as a truth to accept rather than ever talk about it.

I'd also challenge the idea that modern TTRPGs are not about winning battles. D&D is still by a mile the most popular game, followed by the likes of Call of Cthulhu that focuses on solving mysteries and overcoming the mythos, with Paizo games following behind being, at their core, about the same stuff as D&D. You can say what you want, but the modern TTRPG audience is still all about that winning battles game.

So funny thing, owning a bunch of the itch.io bundles from the last few years, there are plenty of games out there about relationships, romance, and sex... But they are not easy to find because, well, that is not what the majority of our current crowd wants. It's not that romance and sex is under-served, it is that there is a very small audience for it in the RPG sphere.

I think if you are in to this kind of content that is great for you but understand that it is something that makes a lot of people uncomfortable even to engage with in private by themselves... Bringing it to a table of friends in an environment where the writing is very often in first person. That is a big barrier to break.

I'd actually strongly disagree with the assumption that "The tabletop roleplaying game feels like the perfect landscape for romance and sex stories to thrive within" - I think these kind of games, backed up by having read some of the romance games from the bundles, actually move away from the classic TTRPG space and in to some new, cool, experimental spaces, but not in the classic sense of "sit around a table and play characters and tell a story together".

Trying to sell a TTRPG about sex and romance is also going to be a hurdle to overcome. It is a hard thing to put in a hobby store on the front of a webpage in a hobby that is often sold alongside board games, minifigures, and pokemon cards.

Honestly this feels a bit like the classic "Why aren't other people taking their time and effort to make the thing I specifically want, even if the thing I want is super niche and won't make money". What is the old adage? If the game doesn't exist, you are now on the hook to make it?

I dunno, this is just some very messy immediate thoughts on the thing.

I think a lot ofPBTA games have romance mechanics. Monsterhearts comes to mind.

Personally, I find myself a lot more comfortable doing romance roleplay when I am, say roleplaying on a fourm, chat, roleblox, or mmorpg. Something rather informal and anonymous. But then, when I do TTRPGs, I often feel a bit more shy doing romance because I know the people I'm roleplaying with. Even If I just met the people online, it still feels a bit weird.

as some who has run sex ttrpgs it gets awkward, you basically wind up with two game. the sex/romance and the rpg. it hard to say "ok now roll for orgasm" or "ok now rp to seduce the fictional character of a real person you are talking to".

In addition to the relationship dynamics everyone else is talking about, I'd like to point out the marketing problem - most tabletop games are sold in kid-friendly venues. Along with the much smaller market, such a producer would run into the same issue as other M-rated games: very few vendors would actually carry it.