LARP: 5

"It's really important to me that everyone feel comfortable and understand each other's limits. Are there any particular themes or subject matters you'd prefer I stay away from? What sort of 'rating' do you want this game to be?" Zoe asked.

This was all new to me. Certainly Liam had never once asked about 'limits' or 'ratings.'

"I mean, we're all adults here," I said.

"Nothing comes to mind," Malik said.

"No frogs," Patty said.

"What?" I asked.

"I think they look gross."

I stared at her. "We've been playing together over five years and this is the first I've ever heard of this."

Zoe laughed. "And this is precisely why I ask this sort of thing upfront. Okay... I can avoid frogs, I guess," she said, making a note.

"I mean, we've all seen the werewolf sex scene in Achilles' Tomb 3," I said. "I can't imagine anything in tabletop being more 'risque' than that." I paused. "Although, I guess now I'm wondering what sort of game you expect this to be?"

"I like games to have some level of intrigue, even if I struggle with intrigue themes," Zoe said. "But mostly I just want to know what sort of tone you all are comfortable with. As I said, I imagine this as a heroic fantasy, but if the game goes well I want it to really be a world that feels deep and real to you. If you all are okay with it, I'd really like to try to make it so we feel like we're really in the world."

"I've played with Zoe before," Sandy said. "Romance can make things complicated. It doesn't work in most games. But, Zoe doesn't run 'most games.' Knowing Zoe and how she runs things, I'd encourage you to be open to it."

"I didn't mean to just ask about sex stuff!" Zoe said, blushing some.

She turned and looked at all of us. "I want to be upfront about the tone of this game so you understand why I'm asking this question. I want the main theme of this game to be that there is 'light in the darkness.' I want to know how dark the dark can go, how the contrasts of the game should feel. I don't want this to be a dark game. But sometimes my choices can veer things darker than I planned. I think this game can have intrigue, adventure, and heart, but want to manage the tone early on so it feels right once the game is running."

I'd never had a GM ever talk about 'tone' at all... usually games got so wacky so quickly it wasn't possible to really clearly conceptualize a tone. It kinda sounded like Zoe wanted to run a lot more serious of a game than I was used to.

"I mean if Zoe is good with romanceable npcs then I'd say all for it," Patty said. "I'd love for this to get as wild as Achilles' Tomb 3."

"I'm not really opposed to anything, as I said," Malik said.

"I trust Zoe," Sandy said.

I nodded at that. "I haven't played with you before, Zoe, but I'm happy to give you the benefit of the doubt." I smiled at her.

"Okay, so other than frogs, none of you have any hard limits, and you're okay with exploring more 'adult' themes -- at least up to the level of what happens in Achilles' Tomb 3. This is good to know... but I guess I'll be upfront that I will never present a non-consensual sexual scenario and I will not present scenarios with characters that appear 'child-like.' There will be no three-hundred year old children in my game and even though this is a fantasy setting with some medieval vibes, the world will not have the expectation that teenagers get married off or stuff like that. Basically, even though I want to show light in the darkness, I don't really think it's interesting for a game to explore 'creepy' themes. I don't think anyone here really has that in their vibe from what anyone has said, but basically even if we have the same level of 'raunchiness' as some of the wilder online performative Damsels groups, I think we all know there are limits and just don't expect any of us to run into them. I get the impression you guys just haven't really talked openly about this sort of stuff before, so if you feel like there's stuff making you uncomfortable later, feel free to let me know."

She looked a little flustered. Like she didn't even really want to be saying this, but felt compelled to. I was getting big 'I have kicked people out of games before for not being cool' energy from this little speech. "You guys definitely have a different 'vibe' than my old LARP group," Zoe said. "Have you guys ever LARP'd?"