The World of Darkness: Vampire the Masquerade is a dark horror game filled with romance, mystery, intrigue, deception, and subterfuge. We have created characters and are focused on telling live action stories around those characters within this shared world. We strive to create a welcoming environment for everyone. We want everyone who attends to feel like they can participate in a comfortable and genuine way.
We understand that everyone has different communication styles, personalities, and opinions. We come from diverse backgrounds; everyone has their own strengths and weaknesses both in and out of character.
It is our belief and expectation that all participants of this chronicle, those based with us or visiting from the greater One World by Night, must (at their core) agree to respect one another and look out for the well-being of others participating in the space. We define respect within this space as acknowledging that despite one's personal opinions about any given person or ideology, a person is still a person and should be treated how we would wish to be treated by both our friends and by those who don't particularly get along well with us.
Many may view these guidelines that follow as common sense but we post them in a document so that we can ensure that everyone who chooses to participate in our game can understand precisely what it is that we expect of those who play within our space. We also want to provide our playerbase with what options they have available to them if they feel these guidelines have not been adhered to.
Finally, it should be noted that everyone who chooses to be part of our culture is held to this standard; this includes Storytellers and other auxiliary staff members such as Narrators and Admins. These guidelines are for everyone's safety. Any attempt to weaponize or find loopholes in these guidelines will not be tolerated.
We the participants of this chronicle agree to the following community standards:
1:We agree to treat one another with respect, within our community as a whole.
We show this respect in the following ways:
1.1:We acknowledge the entire player as a human being worthy of respect.
1.1.1:We refrain from offensive commentary that is linked to race or ethnicity
1.1.2:We are mindful and inclusive of all family structures, sexual orientations, and gender expressions.
1.1.3:We use a person's preferred given name and pronouns once we are informed of them.
1.1.4:We refrain from making inappropriate or unwanted commentary about another's body type or physical appearance, including their age.
1.1.5:We are affirming of both neurotypicality and neuroatypicality
1.1.6:We are accommodative to those with support needs caused by disability, seen or unseen.
1.2:We acknowledge the importance of consent.
1.2.1:All participants of our chronicle have the right to decide who comes within their physical space and what they are or are not allowed to do while they are within that space.
1.2.2:All participants in our chronicle have the right to determine who flirts with them and what degree of intimate interaction they have with another, both in and out of character.
1.2.3:All participants have the right to request a reasonable break from any scene, no questions asked.
1.2.4:All participants have the right to a support person.
1.2.5:All participants have the right to set boundaries on what they are and are not willing to participate in outside of designated game hours.
1.3:We acknowledge the importance of acknowledging when we misstep.
1.3.1:If we make a mistake and cause offense, we will take the necessary steps to "make it right"
1.3.2:When a mistake is genuine, we try our best to show forgiveness and grace and allow others an appropriate amount of space to grow.
1.3.3:We understand that apologies do not inherently remove consequences and that a mistake made may still carry with it a punishment or restriction, even if we acknowledge our part in what happened.
2:We agree to treat one another with respect within the shared game space.
We show this respect in the following ways:
2.1:We respect a player's set Out of Character (OOC) boundaries In Character (IC).
2.1.1:We utilize a color band system that determines a baseline level of acceptable physical and romantic contact. If there is ever a question on whether or not someone would consent to something, we will ask before initiating any physical or romantic roleplay or contact.
We acknowledge that the color band system is fluid and that a player may at any point in time revoke their consent or change the color of their band in any given scene without consequence.
A Green Band indicates that a player is amenable both to touch and to being flirted with.
A Yellow Band indicates that a player is only amenable to touch or being flirted with if they are asked first by any interested parties
A Red Band indicates that a player is only amenable to touch or being flirted with if they themselves initiate this contact.
2.1.2:We believe all players have the right to "fade to black" if a scene becomes too much with no explanation necessary
2.1.3:We affirm a player's right to adjust a scene based on comfort levels. Example: "I'm not comfortable with detailed descriptions of torture. Would you please gloss over that?"
2.1.3.1:We believe a player has a right to appeal any punishment or consequence, within reason, to their character based on OOC support needs (e.g. losing a hand or foot for a set period of time).
2.1.3.2:We believe and affirm that what happens to a character, as it applies to consequence, can almost always be modified to suit both the "crime" and the needs of the player OOC.
2.2:We respect the right to an accounting under the following circumstances:
2.2.1:In any scenario involving Character versus Character conflict (CvC)
2.2.2:In any scene that is PvE in nature that could result in significant long term consequences to a PC
3:We respect the Players, the Storytellers, and the Auxiliary staff of our chronicle
We define our auxiliary staff as our Narrators, Admin, Site Representative, and Player Representative. We show this respect in the following ways:
3.1:Players agree to refrain from elongated arguments on specific rules calls during a combat or RP scene
3.1.1:We acknowledge that clarification requests are always permitted but that the time of everyone involved in a scene is valuable and that extensive arguing decreases the enjoyment for everyone.
3.1.2:Players are always welcome to engage in respectful discourse with staff about a particular rules call by setting up a time with that staff member to discuss the matter in more depth.
3.2:Players agree to adhere to the boundaries set by the Staff members.
3.2.1:We ensure administrative items like spends are submitted properly and by the scheduled time, so that the staff has time to process them.
3.2.2:We only contact a staff member at their preferred office hours and using their preferred medium of communication
3.2.3:We ask for verbal or written consent before "dumping" a situation on a staff member. "Hey do you have time to talk right now about x?" is a great way to ask for this consent.
3.3:Storytellers and Auxiliary staff agree to act in good faith.
3.3.1:We believe that all questions asked in good faith by players to staff should be answered in kind.
3.3.1.1:We believe there is no such thing as a stupid question.
3.3.1.2:We believe that a message sent to staff in good faith should have some response, even if that response is just acknowledging it was received and read by staff.
3.3.2:We believe that interstaff communication is vital, especially if someone needs a break or extra support.
3.3.3:We require that any scene run by a Storyteller or Auxiliary staff member that may have sensitive subject material involved within that scene must begin with a confirmative affirmation that everyone involved consents to be part of the scene. This can be done by a brief statement and acknowledgement from all participants. Example: "This scene may involve my character torturing the Sabbat prisoners. Is everyone comfortable with graphic descriptions of torture?"