D&D General Ravenloft, horror, & safety tools...

[overgeeked]

I have expressed this view in the past, but I think safety tools are not a good idea (probably not for reasons people assume). If people find use in them, by all means they should use them. But I think it actually increases issues surrounding mental health at the table rather than diminishes them (just as someone who has had issues with PTSD, it is way, way more complicated than safety tools make out, and if it is something you are dealing with, I think it is the kind of thing one needs to seek professional help for, not put the burden on people at your table). Just to be clear here as this often gets misunderstood. I think if someone at the table is experiencing any kind of distress, compassion and empathy are what is called for. But as a GM and fellow-player, I am not, and cannot be your doctor or therapist. And game designers are not mental health professionals either. Something like having a panic attack for example, cannot be reduced to a simple trigger to be avoided (something as vague as going down the wrong series of thoughts can set you off; or even just the overall mood in the room). Horror is probably a genre to avoid if you have these kinds of issues (I love horror but simply had to avoid horror movies for several years until I was able to watch them again).

Safety tools aren’t designed to replace a therapist or to turn the DM and other players into mental health professionals. They’re designed specifically to avoid blundering into someone’s fears, phobias, and traumas...specifically to avoid the players having mental health episodes at the table. They’re designed so that a table can be a welcoming place for any and all. It sounds like you want to exclude anyone with any mental health problems from gaming. Hint: there’s a lot more mental health issues in any given population than are openly spoken about.

 

[Bedrockgames]

It sounds like you want to exclude anyone with any mental health problems from gaming. Hint: there’s a lot more mental health issues in any given population than are openly spoken about.

please read my post. This is not what I said at all. I mentioned having ptsd myself. I am coming at this from a view that safety tools do more harm than good

 

[overgeeked]

please read my post. This is not what I said at all. I mentioned having ptsd myself. I am coming at this from a view that safety tools do more harm than good

Right. I did read your post. I have mental health issues as well. I completely disagree with your premise. I can see no downside to using safety tools.

 

[Morrus]

Some people decry safety tools because they ‘know their players’ and therefore ‘don’t need them’ or similar reasons.

But even people who don’t use safety tools often do without realising it. Knowing your friends and informally developing a relationship and expectations over a period of years is a safety tool, one which the whole of society uses every day. It’s just not a formally written one. You still have boundaries, which you have developed over time, and probably don’t speak about specifically, but they’re there. Nobody interacts with others with no boundaries at all.

 

[Professor Murder]

I feel it is a mistake to define safety tools as existing only during play, when planning between players and GMs also act as such.

 

[Stefano Rinaldelli]

i would love to know the logic of someone who signs up for Ravenloft and then expects stuff like "Consent in Gaming" lol

This is the dawning of the Age of Susceptibility...

 

[Steampunkette]

I'm with @Morrus , here. And @Professor Murder. And @overgeeked.

The idea that safety tools are a bad thing or an example of people trying to therapize at the table is ludicrous on it's face.

Yeah. Not every person has a Bucky Barnes style "Do not say these 11 words in a specific order and I'll be fine" trigger situation. And PTSD and other forms of mental or emotional discomfort can be triggered by things that aren't encapsulated in a consent sheet.

But damn it, that consent sheet is a -start-. It's a good solid way to plan around your players' discomfort and avoid some triggers or just outright uncomfortable topics to make sure people at the table all have the best shot at having a good time, together. Is it perfect? No. Nothing can ever be, because the reality is that everyone has their own specific issues that are as varied as grains of sand in the Sahara.

Doesn't mean we should cast all boundaries aside and embrace the idea that we've got "No choice" but to emotionally harm the people around us. Something is better than nothing.

 

[TheSword]

I recently started a session zero with new players who I didn’t know before. I went through some safety tool / veils questions first.

To be honest it was an excruciating 15 minutes that made the people being asked the questions uncomfortable... as if they should be bothered by the topics I was asking about... and uncomfortable for me for asking if these things are acceptable or not.

Asking a mixed group of players that have watched and enjoyed game of thrones whether they object to the presence of sex workers in a medieval fantasy world was quite surreal.

I should have just said, email me if there’s anything I need to know. Then used my common sense from then on.

 

[Professor Murder]

Like any metagaming concept, I would say ask yourself this: Who is this inviting to my table? Who is this discouraging from joining my table?

 

[Steampunkette]

I recently started a session zero with new players who I didn’t know before. I went through some safety tool / veils questions first.

To be honest it was an excruciating 15 minutes that made the people being asked the questions uncomfortable... as if they should be bothered by the topics I was asking about... and uncomfortable for me for asking if these things are acceptable or not.

Asking a mixed group of players that have watched and enjoyed game of thrones whether they object to the presence of sex workers in a medieval fantasy world was quite surreal.

I should have just said, email me if there’s anything I need to know. Then used my common sense from then on.

If it helps?

I generally try to avoid talking about the consent sheets and topics included in them during the session 0. I just send it to each player and ask that they get it back to me at some point. Most of the session 0 is dedicated to getting to know the people in the group and prod them for ideas of what they hope to achieve, ideas for their character's arc, and setting detailing/Q&A about the game.