Realized I didn't have these; adding them near the front of the book. Feedback is welcome.
Difficult Play and Safety Tools
This game revolves around themes of…
- The use and abuse of power
- Political, cultural, and academic colonialism
- What we become when we are limited by our desires and beliefs rather than our minds or bodies
Any or all of these may result in emotionally difficult play, particularly where they overlap with players’ real-world experiences, and especially for those who have had bad experiences with abuses of power in their lives. To improve the play experience for everyone, there are three rules that apply while you are playing Sorcerously Advanced:
- The Biology Rule: Anyone can leave the play space at any time, for any reason, or for no reason at all, with or without explanation, with no penalty. The GM or players can inquire if they’re concerned – “You ok?” “Did something happen?” – but no clarification is required.
- The Good Friends Rule GMs and players gladly accept the task of adjusting their stories to avoid causing pain or disgust. All participants are mandated to respond to indications of concern or revulsion, such as: Ughhh; Um…; Ew; Oh lord; Hold on; Where is this going; Can we not? Any channel is acceptable: verbal, note passing, text messages, facial expressions, a raised hand, etc. The response should be immediate, and might include: a time-out to discuss with the group, a private conference, or simply asking what to do. Good phrases to remember include “Are we ok?” “Should I wind that back?” “Should we skip this?”
- The Self-Determination Rule: Let others determine their own levels of comfort. If you read pain or disgust in someone’s manner, bring it up – but if they tell you they’re ok, let the matter rest. Everyone has their own reasons for playing RPGs.
These are fairly unstructured rules, are intended to work within the social norms found in many gaming groups. Our hope is that more “natural” interactions will make it easier for people to bring up when they’re uncomfortable before that turns into pain. If you’d like a set of tools with a bit more structure to them, we recommend starting with the Tabletop RPG Safety Toolkit, a free resource. You can find it at
[ https://bit.ly/ttrpgsafetytoolkit https://bit.ly/ttrpgsafetytoolkit]
