The World of Darkness is a twisted reflection of the worst aspects of our world. When your players step into your Mind’s Eye Theatre: Vampire The Masquerade game, they come prepared to enter a setting where monsters battle monsters for control over the mortal world. They will expect games full of elaborate power struggles and the chance to play creatures struggling against their own inner demons. Due to the nature of the World of Darkness, those game experiences can include content that television or film would consider adult content, material rated R for violence and/or sexual situations.
That kind of content can lead to some intense storytelling and roleplaying experiences, and the responsibility lies with every storytelling team to consider how they handle that difficult subject matter. How a game handles adult subject matter can mean the difference between a rewarding storytelling session and a possibly troubling, uncomfortable, or damaging experience for a player. The trick to handling that content is recognizing what it can do in your story, what affect it can have on players and staff, and implementing structures in your game to help deal with the more troubling content should it become too much.
Caution: Cannibalism Inside! (Or, How Much Caution is Necessary?) You might be asking yourself: is this kind of content monitoring really necessary? After all, as we started out discussing at the top of this essay, this is the World of Darkness. The setting itself is meant to be a terrible world, where the shadows run long and blood can fill the streets in wars between immortal vampires and their horrifying enemies. There is a baseline understanding that games like Vampire: The Masquerade are not for children and, perhaps, not for the faint of heart.
All of that is mostly true. World of Darkness games are set in a realm where things go bump in the night and are often exactly as awful as your nightmares suggest. Still, while players go into these games expecting to interact with intense situations that could terrify them, they also come to the game for a good time. There is a line between being chilled by a frightening, even gruesome event in game and being honestly disturbed out of character. Players opt into the game, choosing to attend and interact with the game content, and should the subject matter step on lines they would rather not cross, not only will the Storytellers potentially lose players, they may also bring harm to someone who came to their game for enjoyment.
That, at the end of the day, does not a healthy game make. The level of comfort of each group should always be assessed by the Storytellers. For some player groups, their threshold for R-rated content might be high, but the old adage really does apply: you’re better safe than sorry. A player who experiences an intense, horrifying experience in character may feel so affected by what happened in game that they carry those feelings of discomfort into their everyday lives. That psychological effect, termed bleed, can cause harm to a player and violates the idea that games should be safe spaces for enjoyable experiences.
You, as the Storyteller, are responsible for creating those safe spaces and maintaining their integrity. It is important to remember that you hold the reins to the carriage; your foot is on the gas. You set the pace for the players and they trust you to create that safe environment for play. You are in charge and lead by example. That is a responsibility that should always be kept in mind. By following a few simple steps, you can put safeguards in place to make sure you’ve done due diligence in at least trying to prevent stepping over any out-of-character lines.
Warning: Dismemberment! (Or, What Content is Considered Adult?) First, let’s address what can be classified as adult content. The fact is, the answer isn’t a simple one. There isn’t a magic list of topics that are considered problematic, since every game group is different. What might be considered troubling content for one group of players might be completely alright with another, and the same can be said for individuals. Content considered problematic to an individual might range in severity too, starting out at simply distasteful or objectionable to the downright psychologically harmful.
For example, A Storyteller might have an entire game gung-ho about exploring a Tzimisce crypt where people are skinned and made into chairs, only to have one player think that flaying people alive steps over their comfort line. Now unless a player has had some personal experience with vivisection, their objection might be a simple Monsters and Mayhem: How to Run Adult Content in Your World of Darkness Game The player might think a vampire using someone as an armchair is awful and doesn’t want to engage with the idea, even though it has no personal stake for them.
Some content, however, can dredge up a player’s memories of a previous life experience and cause discomfort by association. Most players, for example, wouldn’t consider a high-speed chase resulting in a devastating car accident that bad, but for a player who lost a loved one in a bad accident, the roleplay could bring back terrible memories. That kind of reaction to content is not based on abstract distaste for an idea, but on associations that are very real and can be deeply troubling.
That instance, when a storyline element causes a person to experience emotional or psychological distress, is often called a trigger. Again it is important to note that material that may trigger one player might be completely fine with another. For that reason, classifying what content to watch out for is difficult, but still vital to a safe play environment. The simplest way to solve this problem would be to simply poll your players before game begins. The poll should ideally provide a structure for players to tell the Storyteller team which topics they feel are over the line for them.
It’s important to remember when asking these questions that not only are these difficult questions to ask, about sensitive subject material, but you are also addressing players of various degrees of social skill and comfort with communication. Find ways to present the questions without judgment or pressure when possible. Confidential emails or online forms, read only by the Storyteller team, can allow players to feel secure expressing themselves in ways they might not when speaking face-to-face.
Creating a rating system for discomfort (zero being fine and five being extreme discomfort) can allow players to put an understood metric to their comfort with a subject. Whatever system is set up by the Storytelling team should be included in the Setting Style Document created for the game. It usually helps to avoid asking why a player feels discomfort about a particular subject. The act of speaking up about one’s feelings can be hard enough for some players; there is no need to make the process more difficult.
Instead, instituting a noquestions-asked policy regarding particular issues lets players speak up without pressure to explain themselves. Once the players have been polled, Storytellers can then look at the material and mark off the absolute no-go zones. Some basic areas to look out for when polling players include, but are not limited to: Graphic descriptions or depictions of violence: Violence is to be expected in a Mind’s Eye Theatre: Vampire The Masquerade game because, again, it centers on monsters in a dark world.
Yet there are levels to depictions of violence and how they are represented. While some people are perfectly alright with the kind of violence one would see in an action film, the idea of participating in a scene where someone is ritually tortured in a gruesome blood ritual might make a player have to leave a room. Pay attention to scenes including certain kinds of violence (such as torture, mutilation, or cannibalism) or violence enacted against certain groups (children, animals, or the elderly).
Sexual content: This topic is a serious issue in a live-action game, and it can present two separate types of problems. First, how are sexual situations presented in game, i.e. how comfortable are players with sex as played out in game? Second, consider the hard lines players have regarding how sex is treated in the game as a plot point. Carefully consider these subjects before including them: issues of sexual violence, slavery, and anything that might remotely approach what would be considered illegal sexual activity in the real world.
Hatred against a particular group (such as sexism, racism, homophobia, transphobia, or religious discrimination): These issues, while rife with potentially strong storylines, can also provoke responses from those who have experienced such discrimination in their everyday lives. These topics should be approached with the utmost respect for the realworld implications of such hatred and for the potential issues that might come about when players interact with them as part of plot.
When polling players, it is imperative to stress that you are offering them a comfortable way to express their concerns without the need to explain why they feel the way they do. Electronic surveys can reduce confrontation for some player groups, while others might benefit from a one-on-one discussion with a staff member who can address their concerns face-to-face. Consider allowing the players to rate their comfort in certain areas on a sliding scale. For example, if given a scale of one to 10, a player could mark off a one when asked about torture being included in the game, meaning they have no problem with it whatsoever.
Yet later in the poll they might put down a nine when asked about violence against children. That requires no explanation, but instead gives hard lines that the Storytellers can see when planning their future plots. Don’t forget, during this process it is important to talk to the members of the Storytelling staff about their own personal boundaries. Managing difficult content isn’t just for players, after all. No one wants to put a Storyteller in a situation to engage with something that makes them uncomfortable while they’re trying to create a good experience for the players as well.
Talk among the staff and set boundaries before game ever begins with clear lines that should not be crossed. Danger: Boundaries Ahead (Or, Finding the Line in Your Game) Once you’ve heard from the players about what content they might find problematic, it helps to sit down and consider the lowest common threshold that you can use. The players have provided a road map to the outer boundaries they’re willing to approach when it comes to things that go bump in the night, and Storytellers then decide what to do with that information.
In some areas where players have indicated only mild discomfort, a Storyteller may choose to include the material anyway, because it is something they feel is integral to the story they’re telling. However, they’re going into the planning stages of a game forearmed and forewarned about any issues players might have out-of-character with that material before the issues might come up. This information also allows for Storytellers to telegraph to their players before a game begins exactly the kind of content that might come up in play.
A common practice among many gaming and online communities is the inclusion of trigger warnings posted for players to see. These warnings will tell players just what kind of potentially difficult content they might encounter and allow a player to choose whether or not they want to play in that game. This disclosure allows Storytellers to do due diligence by warning players what to expect and letting the player opt out of the game, while still including many shades of R-rated content.
Examples of trigger warnings include: mutilation, claustrophobia, representation of mental illness, violence against children, arachnophobia, or extreme darkness. It is also helpful for a Storytelling staff to consider why a piece of R-rated content is important to their plot in the first place. A Storyteller’s job is not only to present the story they want to tell, but also to present a fun and engaging experience for the players. That does not always mean including the grittiest, darkest content just for the sake of being gritty and dark.
Ask yourself: could this plot point be told a different way, or does the scene need to go really dark to make a point? If, upon inspection, the only reason that the R-rated content is being included is to be shocking, then maybe it’s not necessary after all. It is equally as important to consider whether that material is being presented in a respectful way. If a play group has indicated that they are alright with difficult content, they are essentially telling the Storytellers that the players trust the Storytellers to present that material responsibly.
A Storyteller team should take that trust seriously when planning their game material. If a game is going to include, for example, issues of child abuse, doing a little research about the issue and making sure that it is not treated frivolously during game goes a long way to handling such a sensitive topic with care. Game On: Managing Content During Play After all that planning has been done and the players’ feelings have been considered, the game must go on. Yet anyone who has been a Storyteller for a LARP knows that even the bestlaid plans can go completely awry upon engagement with the players.
No matter how hard you try to manage content before game, players may improvise something on the fly that steps into unacceptable territory for one or more players. There are recommended ways to prepare for such potential situations, and there are techniques to use during the game session to address problems as they happen. Before game begins: 1. Present players with the trigger warnings that were prepared for the game. Make sure that all those who are present are aware of the content they may come across.
Again, forewarned is forearmed. 2. Announce any content that has been vetoed outright from inclusion in the game. For example, if the staff has decided that issues of homophobia are not to be included in the game, make that expressly clear, so that players know not to include it in their role-play. Be as explicit as you feel is necessary to make sure those lines are well understood. Confirm that any decisions made about content are added to the Setting Style Document, so it remains explicitly clear. 3.
Indicate to players that if they become uncomfortable with the content any time during play, they are capable of stepping out of a scene and disengaging with the material. Make certain that players are aware that there ought to be no stigma for disengaging with something that makes them uncomfortable, and that there are simple techniques to resolve scenes without being viscerally engaged with something that pushes their buttons. 4. Explain the use of the Fade to Black technique. (See Vampire: The Masquerade, Chapter Eight: Storytelling: Fade to Black, page 345.) Fade to Black allows players to disengage from the immediate content that is bothering them and permits them to negotiate what happens next in a way that is less uncomfortable.
Often this will involve conversation with the other players involved, or else a Storyteller might step in to mediate the situation (Chapter Eight: Storytelling: Mediation, page 351). It is also important to impress upon players that Fade to Black ought not to be used to try to avoid the consequences of one’s in-game actions, but should be used when a serious need arises. Again, it’s important to remind players that once a fellow player chooses to Fade to Black, they should not have to explain why they feel uncomfortable.
Their choice needs to be respected and diligently addressed. During game: 1. Monitor any NPC elements that are in play to make sure that they aren’t going overboard and including content that is over the comfort line. 2. Keep an eye out for players who may be crossing the content lines set at the beginning of game. Some players may get carried away in their roleplay and stray into territory that has been set as off-limits. If a Storyteller spots that kind of problem during play, a quick stepin before it gets too out of control might save a lot of mediation later on. 3.
If something does occur, be prepared to step in and mediate as necessary. Sometimes players will be able to deal with any uncomfortable interactions on their own, but being ready and open to providing support will go a long way to settle a difficult situation. 4. Note any situations in which players seemed uneasy with gritty, dark, or difficult scenes. Players may not always know their own boundaries until they are presented with them, and sometimes you may stray into uncomfortable territory without ever knowing it.
Mediate if needed on the spot, but certainly note that situation for discussion after game. The Wrap-Up: After Game Equals After Care Once game has wrapped for the evening, it is important to provide players with a structure for feedback on the events of the evening. This feedback might simply be critiques on how the game went, but they can often include personal incidents that a player might want to address with a fellow player or with the Storytellers themselves. It is important to have structures in place for players to do that with one another and with the staff in a way that will make them feel heard.
One way to accomplish this follow-up is to set up a round table discussion after the game, in which players can speak about their experience in-character. This is more than simply a place to regale fellow players with stories of a character’s amazing adventures. The round table allows players to express how a game made them feel, whether there were any parts that were objectionable, and perhaps discuss parts that were completely over the line. There are pros and cons about the round table experience.
On the one hand, having a discussion out in the open can allow a player to find support from other players who agree with them and their conclusions about the session. Some players may feel intimidated by speaking in front of everyone about their feelings, especially if they are concerned about tensions their objections may cause with other players. As a Storyteller, it is important to encourage open dialogue among players, but you can’t guarantee that it will happen. You can take this follow-up a step further by encouraging players to speak to one another about any difficult situations that occurred between them in play and offer to act as mediator should it be necessary.
If a player feels as though she is not being heard or a situation has not been resolved to her satisfaction, encourage players to feel comfortable coming and speaking with you about the problem. It is imperative to resolve in-game issues that develop around difficult content in order to keep games a safe, fun environment for players. Making sure those spaces stay safe is ultimately part of a Storyteller’s job. For that reason, it might become necessary to step in and speak to a player regarding her behavior.
Be firm but understanding about the issue. Listen to both sides of the situation, but make sure to reiterate the boundaries that were established about game content again. While honest mistakes can happen, if you make clear just where the player stepped over the line, you can make sure that the problem won’t happen again. Additionally, take the concept of bleed into account once again when speaking to your players. Feelings brought up in game may have bled over into the way players are interacting with one another out of game.
It may be necessary to help untangle those instances and remind players that actions occurring between characters are not necessarily indicative of negative intentions out of character. Separating those incharacter and out-of-character feelings can deescalate heated disagreements and allow players to unpack their reactions to game events more clearly, so a resolution can be reached. Finally, make yourself available to speak privately with players about any issues they had during play.
This approach might be as simple as an email, but could involve a more in-depth personal conversation as you and the player feel is necessary. Again, a Storyteller’s job is to make sure her players are having fun, and part of that is addressing their concerns. Try to keep in mind that you may be discussing difficult subject matter with that player, so be as understanding as possible. Listen and avoid judgment, and note the feedback for future games. Forewarned Is Forearmed Remember, none of these preparations are completely foolproof.
You may run into a situation that is still triggering or difficult during your game. Yet with a little work before and during play, you can do your best to provide a safe outof-character experience for your gritty World of Darkness players. Shoshana Kessock is a writer, game designer and scholar specializing in tabletop and live action roleplaying experiences. A graduate student at the NYU Game Center, she is the founder of the Living Games Conference, the first academic conference in the US dedicated to live action role-play games in all their forms.
She is also co-founder of Phoenix Outlaw Productions, an independent role-play game design company, with several titles in production for publication. She is the author of Dresden Lives, the Dresden Files LARP book for Evil Hat Productions, as well as such freeform LARPs as SERVICE, The Last Ten Minutes, and Dangers Untold and has staffed and organized LARP events for nearly eight years in the New York/New Jersey area. When she isn’t running and writing games, she travels the world speaking about innovation and design in the LARP community and topics like social action and activism in gaming spaces.
Her first ever LARP was Changeling: the Dreaming.
Originally published in Mind’s Eye Theatre: Storyteller Secrets by By Night Studios. Presented here under Resources for chronicles and live play.