Conduct and Themes Policy
Since One Last Fire is intended to be a suspenseful and emotionally heavy game, some unsettling themes may occur. To ensure that everyone feels safe and comfortable when playing the game, the GM team have written a Conduct & Themes Policy, which is designed to inform you of acceptable conduct when playing the game, as well as potentially sensitive themes that may occur.
Our policy is based on the Oxford University Role Playing Game Society's Conduct and Acceptable Themes Policy, and it is expected that all players and GMs will be familiar with this policy when playing One Last Fire. When in and out of character, all players and GMs are expected to conduct themselves in a respectful manner toward all other players and GMs and in accordance with the Society's Conduct and Acceptable Themes Policy, as well as the University policies mentioned within it.
We ask that above all, players and GMs uphold a supportive and respectful environment where participants can feel comfortable discussing sensitive themes both in and out of character. The spirit of the policy is always more authoritative than the exact wording, and so legalistic attempts to defend breaches of acceptable behaviour will be interpreted as being in bad faith and will not be accepted.
If players ever have a concern that the CAT policy has been breached, you may reach out to any member of the One Last Fire GM team. In the event that players have a concern about a particular GM, please contact the CAMPO, Peyton at gm_peyton@onelastfire.oxfordrpg.com.
Minimum Age
You must be 16 or over to take part in the game.
Photographs, Artwork and Fanfic
It is important to have someone's consent before writing fanfic or making artwork involving their character or NPC. If you wish to draw artwork or write fanfic about another character or an NPC, please ask the character's player or the relevant GM whether they would be alright with that, and you should give them a heads up as to the type of artwork or fanfic that you plan on creating. If they say they're not okay with it, you must respect their decision.
Given that this is a Discord game with no video element, photographs of the players will not be requested by GMs and will not be taken during sessions.
Potentially Sensitive Themes
Mild horror and reference to traumatic events. Some horror situated around injury and death may occur.
Memory loss/forced amnesia or tampering of memory. This would take place with player consent only, affecting only PCs whose player selected the Mindbender quirk during character creation.
Censorship of press and speech, mainly through the actions of NPCs, but PCs may also have an impact on what is censored in the Library.
Reference to real world events and/or people. This will occur throughout the game because many of the Library Incarnations and character backgrounds will have references to historical events and eras. Note that PCs and NPCs will not be real historical figures or have the power to radically change history.
Emotional manipulation and scheming. This may occur and may be referenced.
Ritualistic sacrifice and self-harm may occur, but this will be for reasons other than depression or other mental illness.
Romantic relationships. These may occur between player characters if both parties consent on an IC AND OC level. A player and their character can choose to opt out of a relationship/romantic encounter at any point.
Sexual themes and content are something we wish to avoid both in Uptime and in Downtime. If players want to deal with these themes, actions related to them should be implied only, and should be treated with a ‘fade to black’ even in turnsheets.
Appendix A: Topics not permitted
The following themes will not be permitted in Official OURPGSoc Events:
Sexual assault, sexual coercion or any other form of non-consensual sexual activity
Sexual activity with those lacking the capacity to consent e.g. children
Sexual harassment
Use of real-world discriminatory slurs
Appendix B: Topics requiring careful handling
For the following themes related to discrimination:
Player characters are encouraged to come from different historically-inspired time periods and places where different types of discrimination did in fact occur. These characters may come in with their own unique prejudices.
If PCs wish to explore their prejudices in character backstories (in Uptime or Downtime) this should generally not be a part of the character's main plot line or their main character trait. PCs who intend to use conquering misconceptions and prejudices laid against them as a plot point will need to proceed with permission of those they are RPing with.
Roleplaying prejudices should not involve other people without their explicit OC consent (i.e. make an OC statement explaining what you will say or do beforehand).
Additionally, we will NOT tolerate the role-playing of slurs or other inappropriate behaviour relating to gender, sex, sexuality, gender identity, physical disability or mental health, real-world ethnicity or race, and nationality, religion or faith.
When generating a character for One Last Fire, if you have any questions or concerns about playing a character who is prejudiced or has been prejudiced against by others, please contact the GM team with your character concept. We will let you know whether it breaches anything within this policy or if we have suggestions for RPing them in a way which respects other players and player characters.
Discrimination on the basis of gender or sex- This will be explored in the game according to the previous statement.
Discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation e.g. homophobia-This will be explored in the game according to the previous statement.
Discrimination on the basis of gender identity e.g. transphobia-This will be explored in the game according to the previous statement.
Discrimination on the basis of physical disability or mental health condition-This will be explored in the game according to the previous statement.
Discrimination on the basis of real-world ethnicity or race-This will be explored in the game according to the previous statement.
Discrimination on the basis of nationality, religion or faith-This will be explored in the game according to the previous statement.
The following list contains topics that may require careful handling. GMs should
make a judgment call as to whether such themes are needed to deliver a better
game. Even for themes passing this criterion, GMs may wish to consider if they
can be addressed “off screen” (e.g. fade to black). The following list may be
added to by majority vote of the committee, and both added to and removed
from during General Meetings by majority vote. If a topic from Appendix B is
declared to be included in a game, this declaration must include warnings of
how that topic is expected to be portrayed or manifest itself during the game.
Self-harm-may occur under specific circumstances (i.e. under context of ritual sacrifice, bloodletting for solving puzzles and completing ceremonies). Never will be for purposes associated with mental illness.
Consensual sexual activity-for any players AND characters over 18 it may occur, dealt with a 'fade to black'
Extreme violence-may be implied in setting, but will not be featured (extensive exploration of violent topics) during the main game.
Extreme gore- may occur due to destruction of Libraries and the people within them. Any descriptions of this will be kept to a minimum and prefaced with a trigger warning and blacked out (if in Discord).
Miscarriage and stillbirth-this will not be explored in the game.
Eating disorders- This will not occur in the course of the game.
Forced abortion- This will not occur in the course of the game.
Incest - This will not occur in the course of the game.
Torture - This will not occur in the course of the game.
Cannibalism -This may occur but will not involve PCs or other humanoid characters.
Slavery or human trafficking - This will not be explored in the game.
1)
Mind Control or other means of removing agency-This may occur in game for those who have taken the Mindbender quirk. However, all roleplaying effects will always be optional and would only last the length of an isolated event in Uptime (5-20 minutes).
Domestic abuse- This will not be explored in the game.
Genital mutilation-This will not be explored in the game.
Animal abuse- This may be explored and/or implied as part of NPC backstory but will not be a main theme over the course of the game.
Child abuse- Themes of child abandonment may occur in-game. Abandonment will be explored through NPC storylines or PC backstories, NOT main plot. Other forms of child abuse will NOT be explored.
Eugenics- This will not be explored in the game.
Genocide- This will not be explored in the game.
Genocide denial- This will not be explored in the game.
2)
Appendix C: Topics which should be handled sensitively
The following list contains topics that are likely to appear in many games or
may arise unpredictably and therefore their inclusion does not need necessarily
to be declared at the start of the game. However, these themes should still be
handled sensitively, and GMs should consider whether or not an explicit note
about how these topics will manifest themselves in a game is necessary.
Mental illness-This is very likely to occur in game. It may occur in player-driven plot lines and will be handled with respect and care. If any depiction of mental illness makes other players or GMs uncomfortable, it will be disallowed.
Physical disability- This will occur in-game either as PC disabilities at game start and/or in the form of prosthetics, even though it is not one of the main themes we are looking to tackle. Depictions of physical disability will be handled in a genuine manner, respecting it as a character trait or means for personal exploration.
Suicide- This will only occur in specific instances such as ritual sacrifices or a character sacrificing themselves to save someone else. It will never be depicted as an outcome of depression or other mental illnesses.
Degenerative diseases or cancer- We will not explore this in-game or in backstories. However, it may occur if player characters craft slow-acting poisons that are reminiscent as degenerative diseases. This will be handled on a player consent basis and all poisons will be curable.
Drug or alcohol addiction- This will not be explored in game.
Gambling- May occur in character backstories. May occur in game if PCs wish to engage in gambling.
Homelessness- May occur in character backstory, but for the duration of the game no PCs will be homeless. Certain Library settings may feature homeless or displaced NPCs with a focus on resolving their homelessness.
Real-world current figures and events- We will reference real-world cultures, time periods, and places but not real-world current figures and events. It will not occur in this game at any point.
Real-world historical figures and events- Will be referenced throughout the game, this game is heavily inspired by libraries across different historical time periods. Specific references to historical figures will not be used. Historical events will be used as a setting only, and we will not follow the timeline of real-world events.
3)
Terrorism in all its forms, including state terrorism- This will not occur in game.
Indiscriminate violence-This will occur in game in the form of widespread destruction and death from burning, bombing, flooding etc. It is both mechanically and narratively part of the game.
Other real-world biases and discrimination not covered within Appendix B4)