Warden's Club Safety Tools

GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS

When you run games with your friends, you already have established boundaries, rapport, and a sense of trust. But when you’re running games at your friendly local game store, nearby convention, or online with some new friends, you’re going in fresh. You and your players need to be able to establish some trust and boundaries quickly, so that you can start playing. 

First, establish a rating for your game and whether it’s appropriate for children, teenagers, or adults, and be upfront about how violent or gory  your games tend to be. At the start of your game make it clear that if anyone feels uncomfortable with anything that’s happening (from you or from another player) they should say something so that you can address the behavior or content. 

Additionally, it would be wise to make a list of any content warnings for your game available on request to those who might want a copy. In general, you should avoid all the topics below in public games.

Frequently Excluded Topics include-sexual violence, animal cruelty, child harm/abuse, torture, sex, racism, homophobia, sexism, transphobia, addiction, mental illness, and suicide.

SAFETY TOOLS

Safety tools are a great way to ensure that gaming tables remain exciting and enjoyable for all players across a variety of backgrounds and sensitivities. For our GMProgram games we require the use of both Lines & Veils as well as The X Card, and an Open Door Policy all of which you can find on the next page. We also recommend familiarizing yourself with The TTRPG Safety Toolkit if you'd like to utilize additional safety tools at any table.The TTRPG Safety Toolkit is a resource co-curated by KiennaShaw and Lauren Bryant-Monk.

The TTRPG Safety Toolkit is a compilation of safety tools that have been designed by members of the tabletop roleplaying games community for use by players and GMs at the table. You can find it at ttrpgsafetytoolkit.com.

LINES & VEILS

Lines and veils are used to set boundaries on content ina game. Lines are hard limits on content, things that theGM or the players don’t want to engage in. Setting up a line means that content won’t show up in the game at all or be alluded to. Veils are soft limits, things that are ok “behind a curtain”, being alluded to but not directly depicted, or having the scenario “fade to black” Lines and veils can be adjusted as needed throughout the game.

For additional nuance in setting boundaries, you may also want to set up “Ask first” for content that is ok to show up in the game but requires a check-in before implementing,and “Yes please” for content you definitely want to include.

We recommend covering the difference between Lines and Veils before your session begins with your players in case this may be their first time playing with these tools.

Then pass around a Lines & Veils sheet (can be our formal sheet, or a simple hand-written T chart where players can write in their boundaries) to everyone - including you! Before beginning the game, review the sheet with everyone's choices aloud with the group and confirm that everyone is comfortable with the choices before proceeding.

THE X CARD

The X Card, a safety tool created by John Stavropoulos, allows anyone in your game (including you) to edit out any content anyone is uncomfortable with as you play. Since most RPGs are improvisational and we won’t know what will happen till it happens, it’s possible the game will go in a direction people don’t want. An X-Card is a simple tool to fix problems as they arise.

Simply place a card with a visible X on the center of your table, and instruct players to raise or tap the card if anything makes anyone uncomfortable in any way while the game is being played. If the card is raised or tapped, pause play and simply ‘edit out’ whatever content is being X-Carded and confirm that everyone at the table is comfortable moving forward before carrying on. This keeps us all having the best time possible!

BREAKS

For games longer than 2 hours or games that have intense content, having a short built-in break is recommended to allow people to stay focused and process. Allow for discussion, bio breaks, or any other needs during this time. 

OPEN DOOR

The Open Door is the assurance that someone can leave or take a break from the game for their own safety and well-being without being judged. State this at the beginning and periodically check in throughout the game.