In Dungeons & Dragons, players can experience a wonderful wish-fulfillment fantasy. Slaying powerful monsters. Accruing fortune and status. Getting reliable restful sleep. Meeting a special someone to settle down with. The latter is explored in the Kickstarter campaign for Dungeons & Datemates, a new fantasy supplement by Fiona Shade Stories.
The Dungeons & Datemates Kickstarter
According to the campaign page, Dungeons & Datemates is a 70+ page booklet that contains everything you need for character-driven romance in a fantasy setting. The book contains queer-friendly romantic options, including four guys, four girls, and four nonbinary partners.
All twelve of these NPCs are fully fleshed out characters. Each one has original artwork, rich backstories, roleplay guides to help GMs portray them, story hooks, and statblocks. For those that play non-D&D TTRPGs, the material in this booklet is system-neutral.
Interestingly, Dungeons & Datemates takes these characters one step further. Each character has distinct flaws and motivations. These traits need to be navigated if a character wishes to pursue a relationship. In addition, the relationship is explored through three distinct stages: Flirting, Baggage, and Dating. There are even Gift Guides and sample romance scenes.
There are three different pledge tiers for Dungeons & Datemates. They are as follows:
- PDF for $15: Gets you a PDF of the booklet.
- Datemates + Adventure College for $20: Gets you PDFs of Dungeons & Datemates and Adventure College Student Handbook.
- Datemates PDF + AC At-Cost Book + Cards for $25: Everything above, a link to order a softcover copy of Adventure College Student Handbook, and PDFs of fillable 5e reference cards.
Lastly, Dungeons & Datemates has several stretch goals. These include sci-fi variants of the characters, perfect for games in Cyberpunk RED or Starfinder, tie-in material to Stellara Books' Kinks & Cantrips sourcebook, Pathfinder 2e compatibility, and potentially getting the ball rolling on a dating sim videogame.
At time of writing the Dungeons & Datemates campaign has raised $1,680, more than tripling its initial funding goal of $500. The campaign concludes on May 16.
