#letting the pokemon polyhedral hack cool off for a while was a good idea because the romance/bonding mechanic was kicking my ass

[angorwhosebabyisthis]

have been trying to make more of an effort to use romance-neutral options/language when the option for romance comes up in a mechanical capacity in one of my games/hacks (whether as an actual function in the game, or just 'here's a table of prompts for the tone a dynamic or interaction might have'). i very much want to incorporate the possibility for romance to be A Part of My Games beyond 'idk throw it in during the roleplay i guess' if a player wants that; but i don't want to push people to include romance in games not themed around it if they don't want to, and i don't want them to be excluded from part of the game if a specific romantic dynamic would be a nope.

problem is, 'this option is called a bond: you can choose between romantic, platonic, familial, or Something Else or you can roll to see which you get' has mostly worked pretty well so far! but when feasible and appropriate for the format, i'd like to try to be inclusive of polyam and other more-than-two options, and i can't seem to find a good substitute for 'polycule' without romantic connotations. hm.