Oppression Aware Podcast, Fairy Tales, and Games

Limits are places we don’t want to go in a game. They can be triggers, phobias, things that bring up unpleasant memories, or just content that makes it harder for us to enjoy the game. Each person has their own limits. When we play games together as a group, we combine our limits so that we can create a space where all participants are able to fully enjoy and participate in the game.

This article is a list of limits for Unfamiliar Heroes games. It includes both the limits that I have for the Writing Alchemy podcast and a list of my personal limits as a participant, editor, and producer. Please be aware that this list is not final. Instead, it is a starting point for conversations with game participants. Each game will start out with participants getting an opportunity to make additions and changes to this list.

In addition, there are other emotional safety tools that will be used during game play to allow the group to respond to the needs of participants in the moment. So even if someone forgets to put something on the list, or if they suddenly realize during game play that they aren’t actually up for exploring a certain type of content, the group can make changes to help accommodate their changing needs.

I do want to say that limits, like other emotional safety tools, don’t work equally well for all people. Limits focus on removing triggering and upsetting content, however this process can be harmful for some people. “PTSD, Access to Role-playing Games, and the Luxton Technique” by P.H. Lee presents an alternative technique that makes space for traumatic experience by centering the trauma of players in storytelling (for example, by giving them power over the way the story situation is resolved). For those people who experience limits negatively, I’m happy to explore alternatives.

Content warning: Please be aware that this is a list of intense topics that can be triggering or upsetting.

 

 

Things that Won’t Be in the Game

These are things that won’t be part of the game at all. They are frequently referred to lines or hard limits.

• Evil races. This is the depiction of any sapient species where all or most of them are evil by nature. Orcs and goblins are frequently depicted this way.
• Characters that would be better off dead, or who would in some way be “saved” by being killed.
• Suicide of disabled characters.
• Violence as humor. This means treating the death or suffering of a character as a joke.
• Sexual harassment as a joke.
• Fat shaming and fat phobia.
• Underage sex.
• Description of situations where characters aren’t able to breathe. This includes suffocation and drowning.
• Things entering people’s bodies through the eyes or ears.

 

Things that Can Be Past Events, but Won’t Be Depicted Happening

Certain types of intense content can be explored as past events that are continuing to affect the lives of the characters. However, these things won’t be shown happening or described in detail.

• Sexual assault. This includes a wide range of non-consensual activities.
• Torture.
• Suicide.
• Suffocation and drowning.

 

Things that Won’t Be Depicted in Detail

Sometimes called veils or soft limits, these are things that can be shown happening in the game, but won’t be described or role-played in detail. Frequently, depicting these things includes a “fade to black” or “pan away” moment where the scene ends before anything explicit happens.

• Sexual harassment.
• Gore.
• Drug use.
• Self-harm.
• Animal cruelty.

 

Content that Won’t Be in the Game Unless Someone Wants to Explore It

Oppression can be hard to get away from. For this reason, the following types of content won’t be depicted in Unfamiliar Heroes games unless exploring them is the premise of the specific game being played, or a participant wants to explore a type of oppression that they experience in the real world. In addition, any time one of these forms of oppression is going to be explored in a game, that fact will be made clear from the beginning.

• Racism. This includes real-world racism and in-universe racism. (In-universe racism is racism based on species or traits that aren’t part of real-world racism.)
• Ableism.
• Sexism and misogyny.
• Religious discrimination.
• Transphobia and transmisogyny.
• Homophobia and heterosexism.
• Body hatred. Please note that this does not include fat phobia.

 

Types of Intense Content that Might Be Included in Specific Games if Everyone Is Okay with It

Making space for exploring intense subjects can be important. The following list is things that I’m opening to explore in game-play if all of the participants in a particular game are also open to exploring it.

• Abuse.
• Eating disorders.
• Violence.
• Death.
• War.
• Romance and sexuality.
• Kidnapping and abduction.
• Miscarriages and abortion.
• Classism and social inequity.
• Cursing with words and phrases that don’t reinforce oppression.