Safety

Safe Play - Lines and Veils, X-Card, Script Change

Please, everybody should subscribe to this thread to get notifications even while dealing with other things.

Before play, if there are any things you do not want to see in the game, make that clear here. You don't need to explain why, we will all respect your boundaries.

Let's keep this thread as a tidy list. Discussions about things (before or after adding them to this list) can go elsewhere, including in Private Message to the GM if needed.

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During play, if anything unforeseen comes up and makes you feel unsafe or unhappy (maybe we forgot one of the things vetoed before, maybe recent trauma has left a raw spot, maybe you just never thought this would come up), speak up immediately and we will adjust what is happening to remove the discomfort. This is often called the X-Card, (or Script Change, which is a slightly more complicated and defined version thereof) you can read the details on those links, but basically it boils down to:

If unwelcome topics come up, tap the card, hold up your hands in and X or post "X-Card" to this thread and the thread where the offending material occurred ---as appropriate to the medium you are playing in--- and everyone involved in the scene will stop.

In Play by Post the game may have moved quite far before you read the problem material. If the situation is concluded, think about if you need to have it removed or if it is OK to just not go there again, include that fact in your objection. Either way, that scene will not continue till the problem is resolved.

Again, you don't have to explain why the subject is a problem, but I may ask you to clarify.

For instance:
That way we can avoid the actual problem.

Sometimes you don't mind a thing happening, but just don't want to hear the details. Use the same mechanisms above, but ask that it be done 'off-screen', 'behind a veil', or just 'fade to black'.

Wheaton's Law always applies and makes all this work.
• Don't be a dick.
• Respect your fellow players.
• Be a Fan of the players' Characters.

These don't always need to be about 'safety' as such.

I'm adding a hard line:

No time shenanigans. Time travel or time manipulation breaks stories, it is impossible to make sense of consequences when such things are on the table. No 'alternate dimensions' either, though there may be things that appear like them.

My usual lines and veils are:

- Lines (don't wanna see): rape, violence to children.
- Veils (it's okay if it happens off screen, don't need to go explicit): torture.

- Lines: Rape, Violence to children, Violence to dogs

@Delirium: Pursuant to our discussion about the Tainted [ref]: Are you OK for Emma to be pushed to darker places? Do you want to talk about lines and such first? Two of your Relationships are in peril as we speak, David has been having issues for a few days now, and your choices have had Emma not tackle whatever is going on, and we knowingly put Henry in a dangerous situation. Are you OK for me to take the logical next steps with these plots? Do you want to talk about them first? I won't end your Relationships out of the blue, for instance: the cult won't sacrifice Henry without your being able to do anything about it, but there have been ample hints that there is an issue with David that have been actively left for later.

You seemed to be a bit in denial that Emma was in trouble when she was caught, red-handed, breaking into a secret treasure vault. ([ref], and around there.) I just want to make sure we are on the same page about consequences of your character's actions.

The consequences for your actions might fall upon those close to you, sometimes the other PCs, sometimes NCPs, and, especially in the case of the Aware, on their Relationships.

Done.
I have been hinting, but I strongly suggest Emma make a plan to talk to her husband.

OK. Glad to see my 'promotion issues' are not going to be a problem. You will have a chance to try fix it... or make it worse (not saying anything... but I have met you:), so it may come to that.

I care less about his job than about what this does to your relationship, though.