Safewords in Gaming

[Callan S.]

Hello List, welcome to the forge!

I think what your talking about are character life and death management and also managing what is being contributed to the game (blacksmith become slave contribution, for example).

This is a little different as its more about stopping play in a sudden and clear way. For example, in D&D, if I get hacked to death by an orcs sword...that's okay, my PC dies but I don't personally find it horrible or disturbing. Your points system applies to that sort of death.

Now, if some NPC suddenly snatches up a puppy in his hands and approaches a lathe...this doesn't affect whether my characters lives or dies...it wouldn't even change him like become a slave would change a blacksmith. This is a matter of stopping play sharply for another reason. While with my characters life or something that's important to how he lives (ie, being a blacksmith or whatever), its clear that those things are important to me. Now, if the GM's got an NPC doing this stuff, its clear he doesn't realise this is something that's important to me and I need to tell him in a way that is clear and consise, and to stop this happening now and start discussion on the topic.

[Doug Ruff]

Who on earth are you guys roleplaying with, where if you say "Doug, jesus, knock it off and I'm not talking in character," they'll think you're still playing?

-Vincent
who intends no offense to people named Doug.

Erm, you're playing with someone called Doug?

(And no offence taken in the slightest, I read this post and LOL.)

More seriously, there seems to be a difference between safewords in LARP and tabletop. I suspect this is because a LARP is a more physical activity, and use of a safeword is in itself more likely to break the rhythm of the game.

So, if you want a 'safeword' in tabletop, perhaps it should be a physical action?

For example, everyone has a special token that they can place on the table if they need to interupt the flow of the game. Or there is a single object on the table, picking it up signifies a time-out.

(Of course, this presupposes the need for a special time-out mechanism in the first place.)

And, List, welcome to the Forge! I like the Legend Role as a means of addressing the specific problem of character integrity.

How would you deal with a situation where the player suddenly realised that they wanted such a Legend Role for their character, and the current situation put it at threat? Or they realised this because it was now being threatened and they needed to defend it?

[xiombarg]

I imagine that either of these can be exported to the general case-- is this more what you had in mind, Marco?

I dunno about Marco, but I find the concept interesting.

Are you suggesting, then, say, when you reach a scene that makes you uncomfortable, instead of simply stopping play with a safeword, you cry out the safeword (in this case "You Should Be Dead Point!"), gain a TSBDP, and the play shiftsa way from the scene? I could see that working -- it's really just a game-mechanical extension of the safeword concept.