Stormbreak Policy (Important Message from Staff)

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henrythemad

Artisan
Dear players,

We greet you with hope in our eyes and fire in our hearts. Your plot team has put a lot of time and thought into making sure that our game is safe and fun for everyone. We have a few rules, policies, and expectations we need to go over with you before you decide if this is the game you’re looking for. The game content we are running has mature themes and stories, though these are not the exclusive focus of our game. Due to some of the themes that we will be exploring in this game and disturbing imagery, the Stormbreak game is 18+.

Character History:

We would LOVE for you to have your character be from within the Maelstrom and for you to submit a history of what your character did before the great adventure begins in 2017. Please read through the player’s guide, take a look at the map, and do a deep dive into the race packet that most interests you. We expect our players to be mature enough to NOT use any information that they read in race packets other than their own to form their character and/or influence the knowledge that their character has.

What we are most interested in is exploring the themes that YOU want to explore, to that end, please include what THEMES you are interested in seeing happen in broad strokes (example: Jamie has a sibling who left home after a terrible argument and has turned to a life of crime. Jamie’s player lets us know that they want to be able to convince their wayward sibling that there are better ways, and bring them back towards the path of goodness), and what you definately DO NOT want to see happen (Jamie’s player definitely doesn’t want to have their sibling kill their family, because Jamie’s player isn’t interested in that level of emotional betrayal being played out on stage). We all have personal things in our lives that we draw on to make our characters come alive, but sometimes, you don’t want that to happen on-stage because it is upsetting, or tacky, or well, you just plain don’t want it!

There is a guide in the rulebook as to what to include, or not include, in a character history. At this point we’ll remind you of the salient points:

Your character may not come into game with any formal title, or rank in a house or guild, without express permission from the Plot team. Please note: for guild or house entry level membership we will almost always approve.

Your character may not have been the target of any ritual.

Your character may not have resurrected.

Give the Plot team challenges and conflict we can work with, on stage.

Stormbreak plot would also like to extend to you the following; Submit a character history by March of 2017 and we WILL write a plotline for you involving elements of the History. In addition we will render unto you 300 goblin stamps upon approval of your character history which must abide by all policies, and be between 500 and 2500 words.


Plot Write-ins/Plot Write-ups/In Between Game Action:

Stormbreak is scheduled for three events per year for three years, for a total of nine events. You are encouraged and permitted to submit an In Between Game Action (IBGA) between each event. Below are guidelines that will allow us, your writing team, to provide the best experience that we can.

Quick Guide Pro-Tip: Who, Where, What, When, and So What?

Who: Who are you, and who is your character? Remind us of any skills you feel would be appropriate for the situation, and what relevant relationships your character has (to guilds, your team, to Farmer Rauer Keller whom you helped with the goblins, etc.). Hopefully you have a character history on file with us (which we’ll be updating with events).

Where: Where do you intend on going? Please limit your travels to one major location if you can. If there are solid story reasons why you need to do a whirlwind tour of Maelstrom bay, and your character has the time and means to do so, then

What: What do you INTEND to do? Sometimes your characters results are different than what they intend but give us an idea of what you are trying to do.

When: When are you trying to do this? Right after the event? 2 weeks later, just before the next event? Additionally, let us know when the next event that you are planning on attending is. We assume that everyone is going to come to every event, but if you know for sure you’ll be missing one then we can tailor the response appropriately.

So What? (Also, Purpose): Please state the your purpose. Let us know what you, as the player, are hoping to accomplish. We will be able to better tailor a response for you if we understand what you want to do. You may still have an uphill battle, or may not succeed, but if we know what you are working towards from the beginning we will be better able to craft a good response.

Please keep your writeups to ONE location, and ONE Purpose per Player. If you are doing a joint IBGA with multiple players and have a SECRET purpose, let us know in a separate email, make sure that all players involved are CC’d on the email to for the IBGA. We ask that within one week of the end of the event you send your IBGA and Our goal is to respond at least a week prior to the next event with a bit of story, and if possible to run an encounter related to the story.

What we will not tolerate:

We are a diverse group of players, with diverse OOG histories. Homophobia, sexism, OOG/”real world” racism, religious intolerance, and transphobia WILL NOT be tolerated OOG or IG. We will explain why something you say or do is inappropriate, in some cases this will be all that is needed. In extreme cases, or in situations where conduct or statements are extremely inappropriate you will be asked to leave.

Players are encouraged to bring any statement said in this vein to either the GM, or Customer Service Chair ASAP. We pledge to keep the source confidential if you wish and act immediately and appropriately.

There is no non-consensual sex in Alliance LARP Stories. This is a hard and fast rule that is IN THE RULEBOOK, and I hope that it is abundantly clear that we will enforcing this rule. This is a magical world where characters live for hundreds of years, malevolent creatures dwell beneath the seas, and creatures rise from their graves to consume the living - you suspend your disbelief to see a Griffon flying overhead, you can suspend your disbelief that only consensual sex exists in the world.

Courtesan Guild and Other Mature Situations:

The Cloud Empire has, at player request, a Courtesan Guild component. Though plot does not intend to make this a central story focus, we offer this reminder regarding adult themes: If you involve yourself (there will never be a situation where Plot forces an encounter of this type) in any RP with any member of the Courtesan Guild, or choose to RP any encounter with mature/adult themed situations (beyond hugging or holding hands) you are expected to bear the following in mind:

All participants MUST be 18 or older and must consent. Though we an 18+ chapter it must still be incumbent upon initiator(s) to confirm consent, OOG comfort, and age appropriateness.

For the purpose of this type of RP, watching and overhearing is considered participation.

To the participators of this type of RP: We are, and expect you to be, sex positive. What does sex positive mean? I’m glad you asked. It means accepting that sex is something almost everyone on the planet does. It means honoring the feelings surrounding sex. It means being mature about sex and sexuality and not treating it like a joke because you’re uncomfortable with it. It means respecting your fellow players’ boundaries and comfort levels. It means sex is not shameful.

These are IG ONLY situations. There are NOT real sex professionals involved. There will be ZERO real or onstage sex and ZERO exchange of real money. NO TOUCHING without express permission from the touchee. We do not intend on this being a focus in our game but given the inclusion of a Courtesan Guild we felt it appropriate to clearly define this policy.

These are hard and fast rules and are in place for the safety, comfort, and protection of our players. Breaking them means you will not only be excluded from interactions with this aspect of our game, but you will also be put on probation and potentially banned for this Alliance chapter, immediately.

Concerning Trigger Warnings:

We recognize that many people have situations and events that make a person uncomfortable and it is our hope to help our players avoid situations where this may be occurring. As overtly putting Trigger Warnings for common triggers would spoil the surprise for our other players, we are approaching Triggers from a self-advocacy standing. To that end, please let us know what things make you uncomfortable and we will make every effort to ensure that those types of encounters are not targeted to you, and when they go out for public spectacle, that a marshal or member of staff lets you know in advance so that you may make a choice appropriate to you.

Let us know firstly by putting it in your character history. Secondly, please let us know on the pre-registration notice. If you are concerned about privacy, please go to a member of PLOT staff on site when you arrive at game. We will do our absolute best to remember, but people change all the time, and you will need to remind us EVERY GAME.

Please note that we may still be running some encounters with common triggers, such as fireworks displays, or clown wave battles, but we will do our absolute utmost to notify you as long as we know about it in advance.

In conclusion:

We anticipate a highly inclusive and successful game. We feel that documenting this policy should be FREEING to you, the player, as you understand that there are some basic ground rules, what those ground rules are, and as such can act accordingly. Please feel free to send the GM or HOP a PM or email if you have any questions or concerns. We hope to see you in the spring and make a GREAT STORY together!
 
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Event Start: Please be advised that the Alliance Stormbreak game will be doing a "soft start / soft opening ceremonies." What this means is that we will request all cars off of site by 9 PM and at that time players are welcome to begin role-playing with each other, or killing each other, but that plot will not begin until after opening ceremony. Additionally, we will not run any major plot encounters starting after 1 AM.

We will generate a contrivance to get all characters into the tavern - when you hear a call on Friday night to come to the tavern, please go to the tavern. If your character absolutely would not do this, then put a white headband on and go out of game because we will be performing an opening ceremony at that time where we will be discussing weekend variances, reminding people of who on staff can assist in emergencies, identifying marshals, and just generally saying hello. This will occur when Logistics lets us know that most people have picked up their registration. (you did pre-reg, right?)

Thanks very much looking forward to gaming with you!
Stormbreak Plot
 
Please note that as of now we are no longer writing encounters for NEW character histories for the remainder of Stormbreak's campaign run. Please feel free to send us a history and we will take it into account when tailoring encounters but we will no longer be starting new story arcs based on character histories. There are several that are currently underway and we setting up opportunities to allow players to drive those to (we hope) satisfying conclusions but at this time we do not have the mental space to embark on anything new for the few events we have remaining.

Thank you for your understanding.

Henry the Mad
 
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