The indie ttrpg community really really needs to start talking more seriously about player safety for kingdom processing roleplay.
I want to start by stressing that I really like KP roleplay. I'm a big fan of single player KP games already, I love Breath of Evil and Dragon Citadel, and I think the whole independent roleplaying KP world stuff is really cool. I keep seeing amateur mages circulating so many cool hacks to implement real KP game mechanics into their cursed cartridges like character creation and pause powers and NPCs, and crafting and mailing out cursed carts to your play group is very #aesthetic. Really cool.
And I think the POTENTIAL of LARP in a custom KP world with its own setting and its own stakes and real powers is really exciting. But it's also really dangerous!
Don't scroll, I'm not talking about dangerous the way you think.
That's why I wanted to stress up top that I know KP games, I play KP games.
When you exit the game back to the upper world, it's "like it never happened." No physical injuries or changes, back in your old body exactly as you left it at the moment you clicked play and got pulled in. But the experiences inside are still real.
BoE fans are going to know exactly what I'm getting at here, but I'll inform everyone else who's not a horror game buff as an example: In the beta version of BoE, you literally could not quit out of the game except in bunker rooms. And I don't mean couldn't save your progress, I mean the menu bangle did not have a quit option.
There were beta players who got stuck inside for hours, literally over 24 hours in one case, being stalked and attacked and mauled by demons. Beta players got diagnosed with PTSD. The company was sued.
You can't say it's "like it never happened," when you're really in the game. And frankly, I think people talking like it is are irresponsible.
I've literally seen people saying that it's "immature" to act like this is a problem, that it's no different from upper world LARP or even from playing D&D at a table, it's just storytelling, it's YOUR responsibility to separate the fiction from your real feelings, etc etc etc, and it's kinda fucked up!
I think some people in the community use the argument that it's just roleplay to vent or get away with certain things that feels "consequence-free" when it's inside a KP world, or that they can convince their play group is consequence-free. You can say you've got lines and veils and X cards and all the stuff you'd use for safety at a tabletop game, but those measures are not good enough for KPRP. It's a different experience.
You know the phrase "what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas?" A lot of people in the community are talking like that about KPRP, that what happens in the KP world "stays" in the world, and it's really irresponsible. So I want to suggest, respectfully, a mindset of safety conscious play that I'm calling "NO VEGAS." We aren't going to Vegas. We're going to a pocket dimension that's just as "real" for us and our experiences as the upper world. So here's the rule:
Treat everything you're planning to do inside as if you were planning to do it for real, in real life.
Yes, you have PHYSICAL safety measures, you can appreciate the reality of those. So no one can get "killed" if you're doing a combat oriented game, for example. But you're still going to be fighting "for real!" It still hurts and it can still be an upsetting experience to be seriously injrued, or to get attacked and hurt by your own friends, potentially lethally! So negotiate and discuss the play as if you were taking up MMA in real life. Listen to each other's concerns and accept boundaries and take respectful combat and good sporting conduct SERIOUSLY, as if you were going to full contact spar for real.
If you're planning a highly emotional relationship oriented game, this is even more important! Play-acting emotionally intense dialogue is a lot like mundane-world LARP, but anything your characters do with each other physically, negotiate it as if you are really going to do it in real life. That means taking consent and boundaries completely seriously at all times, and and it means respecting the feelings of any other romantic partners involved to the SAME degree as if it were real physical intimacy in the upper world, outside the game.
I cannot BELIEVE I have to say this, but if your "character" has sex with a friend's "character," you need to take that seriously as if you were doing it out of character. If your romantic partner is upset about it because you didn't talk about it with them, frankly they're fucking right to be! (I'm not going to name names regarding any recent drama, I've seen this happen way more than once anyway, please do not name any names in comments.)
And this is another big one. Playing a character of another gender at a D&D table or something is one thing. Lots of people do that casually. And doing it in upper world LARP is costumes and theater. But KPRP with changed or conjured bodies is genuinely a really different situation on a really personal level. Anyone who's messed with custom characters in KP games knows what I'm talking about, it can be a stunning, alien, surprisingly intense experience just walking around as a person you're not familiar with.
"No Vegas" applies here: treat it the same as your coplayer experimenting with their gender in real life. That means being respectful of their preferences, of how they want to talk about it, and ESPECIALLY being respectful of their wishes on who gets to know and who doesn't. (Again, I've seen this happen a lot, PLEEEAAASE no naming names on this either, I really should not have to explain why.)
They might not have any complicated feelings at all and just be messing around! That's fine! But even then you STILL treat it with the same respect and the same privacy, again, just like if they were doing it "in real life" outside the game.
Lastly for amateur mages and GMs setting up your KP worlds: don't make the same mistake as the BoE beta. Make sure your players can always exit at any time. You wouldn't physically lock your players in your room for a normal game, don't lock them in your cartridges for KPRP. There is NO justifiable reason to do so, ever.
We're all here to play games. We're all here to tell stories. We're exploring ideas for fun and we're very used to relying on the barrier of fiction to make it easier to do so. But please appreciate how visceral and how personal these experiences of play can be. I always call it "the upper world" and not "the real world" because as I said, the experiences are real. Respect that when you discuss and play your games. No Vegas.
vaporwave
turnnoffyourmind
discoholicmusic
jbbartram-illu
dailybridgerton
gummygunk
izzy806
dededos
