Social Contract

Note: this page is primarily intended for players in my Dungeons & Dragons campaigns. It contains no world lore and probably won't apply to your group. Of course, feel free to use any or all of this material in your own campaigns.

Let's talk about social contracts.

"What's a social contract?" you may ask.

It's the set of rules that we all follow when we play. Not game rules like taking an action or calculating a bonus, but social rules: don't argue, don't cheat, don't be a jerk, and so on. Some of them are the unspoken rules we follow in our daily social interactions yet others apply only to gaming groups like ourselves.

I know it's funny to say "let's talk" when this is already written down, but I do mean this to be a living document based on open dialogue. We can always add or change or remove rules as we go, so please let me know if you have any ideas!

We're Playing a Game

Game Content, Tone, and Content Warnings

Lines & Veils and X-Cards

What Players Should Expect From Me

What I Expect From Players

Characters

We're Playing a Game

TLDR: if you're not having fun or wish the game were different, please tell me.

This is the basic, fundamental principle at play here. We're playing a game, and games should be fun. If you're not having fun, please let me know. And because our game is a social game, we should all work to ensure that everyone has fun!

And "not having fun" can mean plenty of things. Do you like the game but wish it included more or less combat, more or less dungeon crawling, more or less anything—speak up and I'll do my best to accommodate you.

Game Content, Tone, and Content Warnings

TLDR: my campaigns draw from a variety of genres, but please tell me if you don't like some of them—or what's happening in the game. Lines & Veils and X-Cards are a great way to do that.

The game will be serious but expect levity and comic relief at times. I aim for a tone that is epic and cinematic in feel. My stories take place in a high fantasy setting, like The Lord of the Rings or Game of Thrones. I'm also influenced by plenty of other genres, including mystery, horror, political intrigue, dystopias and utopias, pulp sword and sorcery, action-adventure, sagas, fairy tales, science fiction or steampunk, the occult, satire, piracy, martial arts, dark fantasy, gritty realism, and westerns. If you're interested in exploring other genres, let me know! If you don't like any of those genres, also let me know!

I tell stories with adult content. There will be violence. There may be phobia and stress triggers, prejudice and hatred, suspense, torture, sex, gore, and so on. However, most strong content will be brief or take place in the background and you will not be forced to roleplay through it. I tend to avoid extremely objectionable content altogether.

On the other hand, I will do my best to make our game a fun and safe space. If you're uncomfortable with any game content, including potential game content, please talk to me. You can tell me what to exclude, or maybe include in small amounts.

Lines & Veils and X-Cards

With that in mind, I respect Lines & Veils and X-Cards during play. I'll include links for further reading below, but let's summarize them briefly:

Lines refers to content that we will not include in the game. It is a "line" that we do not cross.
Veils refers to content that happens "off stage". We acknowledge that it happens but we don't focus on it, or we can say that it happens right after the "scene" ends.
The X-Card is a card or note that signals an objection to content. Players can hold or flash or tap the "X-Card"—literally a card with an X on it—or pass me a note with an X, and we'll pause the game and talk about how to exclude that content. Note that we won't talk about whether to exclude it, but how to exclude it.

Let's look at some hypothetical examples:

One player has a fear of spiders and tells me about it before we start playing. That is a line so our story will not include spiders. We may discuss edge cases—related bugs or spider-like beings such as driders—but it's up to that player whether or not we include them.
One player has a fear of rodents, which they never really considered until their character gets swarmed by rats. They pass me a note with an "X" and we pause the game to talk about it. (We can step away from the table or go outside to talk if that's easier, too.) They decide that they're fine with rodents being veiled as "vague squeaks and scurrying shadows in the background". If that original rat swarm was a combat encounter, I'll simply replace it with something else when we resume play.
We can use these techniques for mundane content as well. Let's say that one player finds bartering with merchants awkward or tedious. They throw up their hands and say "do I have to roleplay through this? I hate shopping in real life, I don't want to do it in a game." Of course not! We'd handle that with a veil. Like in a movie or television show, the character heads into a shop, there's a clock wipe, and the character walks out ten minutes later with an armful of goods.

What Players Should Expect From Me

TLDR: I'll try to be fair and run a game that everyone enjoys.

I will do my best to know the rules and apply the rules fairly.

I will try to find a balance between combat and roleplaying, plot and side-quests (or just whatever the players want to do), and so on.

I tend to downplay rules that I see as micromanagement or tedious, like encumbrance, food and drink, ammunition, and magical components/focus as long as that's not being abused. If you like micromanaging your character and want to buy and keep track of everything, that's okay with me!

I tend to award "level-ups" by milestone—that is, when completing a story arc, defeating a boss, clearing a dungeon, etc. Yes, I sometimes give experience points, but they don't actually do anything. ("Welcome to D&D, where everything is made up and the points don't matter.")

I may play a character in order to provide information to the players (part Mr. Exposition, part Haunted House Historian) or if the adventuring party is missing a key role. Consider this character a "supporting cast member"—they will shun the spotlight and should never be a focus of the story.

What I Expect From Players

TLDR: try not to be a jerk. Also play a character who is not a jerk.

Play fairly and don't be a jerk. Being a jerk might include: hogging the spotlight, telling other players what to do, interrupting or being loud during others' turns, and engaging in player-versus-player without consent. Yes, there will be exceptions at times. If you need to remind another player about an important plot point that may affect their action or correct them on a rule, that's fine! We all get excited and cut people off sometimes, or we cross-talk during games. Just don't be a jerk about it.

If you can't make it, let me know as early as possible. I generally won't withhold experience for missing sessions, as not playing is usually enough penalty.

Characters

Play a character with a campaign-appropriate name and non-evil alignment. Your character should fit within the group and be willing to fight and travel alongside them. If you have a great character concept that breaks these rules, we can discuss that!

Let's talk about your character before you do all the work of creating them. This avoids situations where we've got four wizards stepping on each others' toes, or where your idea simply won't work in this campaign. It may help to think of a few different characters and we can find the one that works best. This also applies to your character's background and how you would like to see them develop over the course of the campaign.

I encourage you to fill in your personality traits, ideals, bonds, flaws, and to write a background. You don't need to, but they allow me to write interesting story hooks that involve your character and shine the spotlight on them.

Social Contract

We're Playing a Game

Game Content, Tone, and Content Warnings

Lines & Veils and X-Cards

What Players Should Expect From Me

What I Expect From Players

Characters

Further Reading and Watching