I know my opinion on RPG safety tools. I want yours!

I want to see what people have to say on the topic.

They're a blatant attempt to extend the arm of control to people's private tables?

I do think there should probably be some clarity in what a game will be about before people join.  A game of shockingly brutal horror is probably not safe for anyone nor should it be.

People play the way they want. I don't use them.

People in other forums have advocated having them be a requirement to run a game at conventions. I disagree with this and got banned in another place for voicing said opposition.

While I admire the intent behind them. I question their application of them. It seems to me to invite another way for some random troll to come along and upend the table on any game they take a disliking to. They enable this bad behavior.

The most popular of the RPG safety tools were given space in the Fate Accessibility Toolkit. And I honestly question the motivation of why. Why anyone would put them in a book specifically made to address disabled characters and disabled gamers. They seem completely off-topic.

What I really dislike about safety tool zealots is the assumption that we've all been running offensive games for decades and we need to be taught how to not be an asshole, and thankfully the safety tool zealot is here to save us from ourselves. It's pure projection.

As for the tools themselves, I think they're generally unnecessary. The game and setting describe what you can expect. Does the setting have slavery or torture? Okay, then these topics might come up. The group can discuss these things and agree what to include and exclude, if they care. If it's a public/open group, then the GM can tell people what's on the table. We did this before safety tools.

As for the X Card specifically, if someone needs it, they probably shouldn't be playing games of the imagination with others. They have bigger issues that need sorting out before sitting down at a table to play an RPG. It's a game, not your personal therapy session. It's also just poorly thought out. Go read the X Card creator's instructions on how to use it. He encourages you to use the X Card to veto anything from an awkward NPC name, to funny elves, to sexual violence. I think it's irresponsible to bundle all those things together and claim that this magic piece of paper will make you "safe."

I always play with a helmet, knee and elbow pads, and a mouth guard and cup in case the DM decides to make people do physical challenges to pass the strength check instead of letting us roll dice to decide.
Other than those things, I think we need some safety dice so they won't cut you or fall on the table and smash your toes.
Safety pencils because you don't want the graphite to break off and get into your eye.
And some safety deodorant because.. well.. some people need to freshen up.

I don't mind the "X Card". If they don't like the direction, then it's a very simple tool that needs no other discussion around it. You just move on.

The X card should be used very rarely, if at all, but it provides a very simple safety valve for anyone who does need it & for whatever reasons. And it can give you more space to push the boundaries and limits as an edgy edgelord Game Master, if that's what you're after.

Anything beyond that is probably dumb. I don't see the need for it.

Quote from: Darrin Kelley on June 01, 2022, 01:42:04 PM
I know my opinion on RPG safety tools. I want yours!

I want to see what people have to say on the topic.

Don't use them, wont use them.  If a player asks to use them they will be asked to leave.

Player's consent is only "Do you want to play in my game? Yes/No"   

That's it.  Can't handle the game? Leave, I am not changing it for you.

*Edit* I don't see them discussed much anymore, not even over at the big purple turd, so I think they never caught on because people don't need them and they will eventually fade away for good.

Like many modern "innovations" this is a misguided attempt to control TTRPG horror stories.  Adding a card mechanism to trigger that is unnecessary and solves nothing not already covered with resolving the issue by conversation or removing yourself from the table.

If I'm in a game with an X-card I plan on hitting it the next time I fail a critical roll, or it looks like my character is about to go down. "Sorry, I am terribly terrified of failure, and I thought this was a safe space. In fact, questioning my use of the X-card is invalidating my lived experience. How dare you!"

Quote from: Palleon on June 01, 2022, 02:31:34 PM
Like many modern "innovations" this is a misguided attempt to control TTRPG horror stories.  Adding a card mechanism to trigger that is unnecessary and solves nothing not already covered with resolving the issue by conversation or removing yourself from the table.

Yep.  The scumbags running those horror story games aren't going to be using safety tools and those problems will still exist. 

Quote from: Darrin Kelley on June 01, 2022, 02:12:25 PM
...
While I admire the intent behind them. I question their application of them. It seems to me to invite another way for some random troll to come along and upend the table on any game they take a disliking to. They enable this bad behavior.
...

I don't admire the intent. It is the grasping hands of mentally disturbed people to exert control on the PRG hobby by trying to shame people in submission.

"..."Safety tools" will end up making people less safe by undermining cultural standards for what one can reasonably expect at a game table. "

Player Character Rapeyness is a no-no in this establishment, and sexytime is fade to black. No need for overly graphic descriptions: I can say "You see NPC#2 being tortured on The Rack of Pain! ..." and everyone gets the idea.

This is Not Hard.

Safety and consent tools? I am running an elfgame not a BDSM session...

It used to be that when people told their bad GM stories (Which were often told as a kind of badge of honor of: "'I survived the game of a weirdo GM..." ) that was the signal of someone to avoid.

These kinds of people quickly found themselves on the outside fringes of whatever local RPG scene there was. Outcast for their bad behavior. If they wanted acceptance they had to learn what proper behavior was, and then slowly, over time, earn peoples trust.

"Safety tools" do not instill, nor are they a substitute for, proper behavior. You're just handing someone a list of what they can get away with...

For me the only thing "Safety tools" are good for is as a nice visible red flag for avoiding GM's that say they make use of them, and as a way to weed out potential problem players that want them to be used (We're playing an elfgame, this is not a group therapy substitute...)

So they are not totally useless within the hobby...

Tools for narcissists to gain power and leverage.

If you want to use them in your game, go ahead.  I won't use them in mine and I won't play in a game that does.  As others have mentioned I think they don't solve any problem that couldn't be solved by having an adult conversation beforehand. That's why before I start any game I let the players know what to expect and I ask them to raise any concerns at that time. 

Then again, my gaming these days is solely with a static pool of players that have all known each other for 10+ years.  I already know that Bob doesn't like full on gore-porn levels of violence and that animal cruelty tweaks Joe but he's ok with it if it's not excessive or out of genre.  Since we're all friends, I respect that and they trust me to not cross those lines without a very good reason (like in a horror game where I need Bob to feel unsettled).  Even then I do it sparingly because otherwise it's not fun and that's what we're there for, to have fun.

Quote from: GhostNinja on June 01, 2022, 02:24:35 PM
*Edit* I don't see them discussed much anymore, not even over at the big purple turd, so I think they never caught on because people don't need them and they will eventually fade away for good.

I buy a lot of indie/small press titles of various stripes.  I see them mentioned a lot in these.  It's not always a big spiel about it, more akin to the old "what is an RPG" paragraph or sidebar.