The Lantern Hall
Painting: an ancient lexicon open on a carved lectern in a dark chapel of books, glowing runes and symbols lifting off its pages like fireflies.
TermTabletop term2013

Safety tools

Techniques that help a group agree on content and stop play when something is unwelcome. Lines rule topics out, veils keep them off-screen, and the X-card lets anyone tap a card to remove content without explanation. Many groups begin with a Session zero to set expectations.

Techniques that help a group agree on content and stop play when something is unwelcome. Lines rule topics out, veils keep them off-screen, and the X-card lets anyone tap a card to remove content without explanation. Many groups begin with a Session zero to set expectations.

Origin

Lines and Veils was named by Emily Care Boss from ideas in Ron Edwards's Sex & Sorcery (2003); the X-card was created by John Stavropoulos in 2013 for convention play.

Quick answers

What does "Safety tools" mean?
Techniques that help a group agree on content and stop play when something is unwelcome. Lines rule topics out, veils keep them off-screen, and the X-card lets anyone tap a card to remove content without explanation. Many groups begin with a Session zero to set expectations.
Where does the term "Safety tools" come from?
Lines and Veils was named by Emily Care Boss from ideas in Ron Edwards's Sex & Sorcery (2003); the X-card was created by John Stavropoulos in 2013 for convention play.

Nearby in the archive

Session zero

Tabletop term

A meeting before a campaign begins in which the group agrees on tone, themes, rules, scheduling and Safety tools, and often creates characters together. It aims to prevent misunderstandings before they reach the table.

Bleed

General term

Emotional spillover between player and character: feelings from the game carried into real life, or real feelings shaping play. Bleed can be powerful and deliberate, especially in Nordic larp, but it is also a reason for Safety tools.

Game Master

Tabletop term

The player who runs the game: describing the world, voicing every Non-player character, adjudicating rules and deciding what the dice mean. Different games give the role different names, such as Dungeon Master in D&D, Storyteller in Vampire: The Masquerade and Keeper in Call of Cthulhu. The role descends from the neutral umpire of refereed wargames.

Live-Action Roleplay (LARP)

Screen & live genre1977

Roleplaying on your feet: players in costume become their characters in a real place and real time, swinging foam swords in a forest or negotiating vampire politics in a hotel ballroom.

Mentioned in 5 other exhibits