‘Social Contract’ “Move”
When you sit down to play a role-playing game as a group, roll+bond…
*We are here to have fun and to tell a story. We play to find out what happens.
*This game is a collaboration that everyone owns a slice of. All are required to be civil and communicate clearly so we can stay friendly and have fun.
*Communication is key. If anything makes you uncomfortable, tell us about it immediately. If you have plans for your character or want a situation to work out differently, or have a cool idea you want as part of the campaign: tell us about it. We’re all a part of this together, even if our character’s motives and ideals clash.
*Everyone has their own role in the role-playing game. The GM is and should be trying to make the fiction interesting, and yes, dangerous,but he’s there to help portray a fantastical world: not kill all players. While healthy competition is encouraged, everyone should be comfortable with events inside the fiction, especially when it comes to player versus player interaction.
Looks good, but I would change that third point:
*Communication is key. If you have plans for your character or want a situation to work out differently, or have a cool idea you want as part of the campaign: tell us about it. We’re all a part of this together, even if our character’s motives and ideals clash.
Forcing players to bring up uncomfortable things immediately may make things even more uncomfortable.
That’s a good point.
Have you ever heard about the X-Card?
http://tinyurl.com/x-card-rpg
The author is easily accessible through G+ if someone is interested ^^
Harrison s, I like this ^^
Yup. I was thinking of the X-Card too Ezio Melega. Currently that part of the move blends uncomfortable/emotional X-Card stuff and regular communication. I would suggest splitting them up.
I suggest: “if anything makes you uncomfortable, tell us about it so we can gossip when you leave the room.”
I like the spirit of this.
That said, I hope that this stuff is sort unspoken for most players and GMs out there.
Ideally, nothing should ever happen at your game table that would trigger this move, dispute how the trigger is actually worded.
Here’s to a great game-session!
Is this a “7-9: choose one” type move??
My $0.02: If you think an “x card” is necessary you are playing the wrong game or with the wrong group.
Maybe I’m just playing with a group I don’t know… yet ^^
I would not use it with my regular, known, group of friends, not even for the heaviest, most gut wrenching nordic style game.
But since I run a lot of demos and a lot of convention games with people I never met before, and often that haven’t met before each other, that don’t really know how to communicate with each other… in those situations it is an useful tool to be sure everyone at the table is safe and having fun for a few hours.
Wynand Louw Not even with a Con game or a new group?
Ezio Melega I hear you. When I GM with new okes I usually say something like “We run a PG-rated table”. If I play and something comes up, I just don’t play with them again without making a scene. (With “something” I mean anything I would not want my kids to hear. Of course everybody has his own boundaries in this regard.) And there are some games I don’t play, because my “something” is baked into it from the start.
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Wynand Louw exactly ^^
But not always talking before suffices. People can have different ideas of what PG means, can be socially pressured or can, simply, miscomunicate.
Mechanics like the X-Card help smooth down these eventualities.
It is an useful tool when you need a quiet, not-usettling, safe game, that isn’t automatically a better game, but it’s just what it is usually needed at cons ^^
Thanks everybody! I wrote this last night at 3 am after a bout of insomnia, so I’m glad it made as much sense as it did. Mostly just wanted a rule or something to encourage continued conversation and feedback around the table. I’m running several campaigns (dungeon world and otherwise), and I don’t usually have a problem with this, but since I use roll20 often I want something in the back-pocket :). Additionally, I’d heard of ‘the x card’ term but not what the heck it actually is until now haha.