Safety Tools

Hey gang, let's use some safety tools to make sure nobody has a bad time. Since we're all strangers essentially, we have no idea what each others' lives are like, so it's important to share at the beginning of the game what kind of things we want to exclude from our story - topics that make you uncomfortable or ruin the fun for you. Also, let's talk about how we will deal with unexpected uncomfortable events when they come up in the game.

Here's the definitions of the tools we are using:

Lines: Lines are hard limits, something we do not want to come up in this game. Lines represent places we don't want to go in roleplaying.

The Lines so far include: sexual abuse, suicide, violence against children.

Veils: A veil is a "pan away" or "fade to black" moment. When we veil something, we're making it a part of the story, but keeping it out of the spotlight. Think of it as a way to still deal with certain themes while avoiding having to describe them in graphic detail.[/color]

The Veils so far include: romance and consensual sex

Script Change: Any time the game is going in a direction that makes you uncomforatble, just post "Pause for a second" and explain what is making you uncomfortable. No justification is necessary, just let us know what the problem is. As a group we will talk about how to adjust on the fly. We can retcon or change things to eliminate the thing ruining your fun, and we can all give input about how we "fix the script" so that we are all satisfied with the result.

ACTION REQUIRED: Please list any topics that you want to handle with care, and let me know if it is a Line or a Veil. You can post them as a reply to this post. We will read each others' lists and agree to avoid the Line topics and put the Veil topics outside of the scene background. If you're not sure about something, just ask! I'm a little new to this too, so let's figure it out together.

Thanks everyone!

Hey folks, I noticed that people haven't mentioned any topics they want to avoid. I have a few!

Lines: Sexual abuse and violence against children. Also, no stealing from another player's characters. If two players decide their characters should fight, it will be handled by roleplay only, not game mechanics. No stealing from party members, all PvP handled narratively.

Veils: consensual sex and romance. It happens in the world, but off-stage.

Any more topics to add?

Common sense is good enough for me. I mean, I don't really feel any need to state things I don't want to see, because a good DM can treat any horrible thing humanity ever invented as an opportunity for PCs to fix injustice and for characters to grow. Most of such topics don't touch me on a personal level so I'm happy with whatever you, as a DM and every player are happy with.
But of course, the real reason I don't feel the need to list every morbid thing in existence is that I see a kind and considerate person who is mindful enough to create this topic and make us feel safe and included. Thank you, sincerely!~

There is one thing though. If anything, I'd probably like to avoid topics of someone taking their own life. I'm not overly sensitive to that, it's just I would rather not think about such things too much right now.

On a side note, stealing from PCs seems to be a fun mechanic, but that's probably because of all the "bullied player took revenge on everyone" stories I watched/read. Can't really think of a "good use" for it in a normal game and not something from r/rpghorrorstories subreddit. And I can see why as a DM you don't want to handle such a thing, especially for a beginner's game. Don't want to use it anyway, just ranting because I can sue me! :)

I too was favouring common sense. It felt excessive to list every horror since they were mostly very unlikely to come up.

Jusika, added your topic to the list. Thanks!

Astroloma: Great, noted that you don't have anything specific to add to the list.