We as the APERIS GM team wish for the game to be an enjoyable and memorable experience for all players involved. The following page concerns various sensitive themes and topics and how we intend to handle them, and advises a sensitive approach for players on dealing with these same themes within the Society Game. This policy should be followed at all times when interacting with the game APERIS including during uptimes, writing emails, writing turnsheets, and sending messages on the game's Discord Server.
The Conduct and Acceptable Themes Policy, also known as the CAT Policy, is the method by which we set out what themes we expect will or may come up in play, providing players with full knowledge of what themes to expect and how they will be handled. As an official ORPGSoc game, APERIS is subject to the ORPGSoc CAT Policy and it is essential that players familiarise themselves with this policy before playing, for awareness of what themes are allowed and disallowed. This page in some cases reiterates and in some cases adds more specific restrictions and clarifications that apply to APERIS. Regardless of the CAT Policy, all players and GMs should treat each other with respect. If someone else asks out of character that you stop roleplaying a particular theme or topic around them, for any or no reason, respect their boundaries and stop.
We aim to create an environment in which all players can feel safe and comfortable. Whilst we use the following policy as a guideline in how themes in our game will appear and be handled, the policy should always be taken in good faith and attempting to reason to the wording instead of the spirit of the policy will not be tolerated.
If you have any questions about our explanations of, or our presentation of, certain themes, please feel free to contact the GMs.
If you feel the CAT policy has been breached, you can reach out to any member of the GM team. If you have a concern about a particular GM, you can reach out to one of the CAMPOs, Ameal, Ben or Jack (rather than the usual game address, as those emails are seen by all the GMs). Any such issues will be handled with the specific case in mind and we will do our best to account for the safety and comfort of all players. If you have a concern about any of the CAMPOs, please contact the Welfare Officer for the Society, Jasper either on Discord or through email. You may prefer to contact the Society President, Faith, either on Discord or through email.
All APERIS players must be 16 years or older to play. Most players will be between the ages of 18 and 30. If you are under 18 years of age, you must disclose this to the GM team for safeguarding reasons. APERIS player characters must also be 18 years old or older.
You may request not to roleplay with another player or GM before or at any point during the game, and we will do our best to ensure that you come into contact with that person as little as possible. You may ask us to inform that person of your request or you may keep your request confidential, though keeping the request confidential will prevent us from asking that person not to roleplay with you during the course of the game.
Society Games have certain safety calls that players must familiarise themselves with and respect in-session.
Due to the nature of Roleplaying Games, it is necessary to maintain a strong divide between In Character (IC) and Out of Character (OC) issues. This is generally referred to as the IC/OC divide, and means that all arguments, tension, or other in character feelings should not spill into the real world. Similarly, OC feelings should not be brought IC.
Before making OC physical contact with another player while roleplaying, you should always ask for consent.
Romantic or similarly emotionally intense relationships—including intense rivalries—between characters (known as Ballgowning) should be checked OC with other players or GMs involved before beginning. NPCs will not initiate romantic relationships with Player Characters unless they have the Romance Me Playstyle Quirk.
Please note that some people will opt into themes that other players wish to avoid. If you have opted out of a theme (e.g. via a Playstyle Quirk, including a note in your Character Creation submission, or informing the GMs directly), you will not be forced to encounter those themes in Downtime. However, players that have touched on those topics may discuss them in Uptime. In this case, you can use safety calls.
We expect PvP in APERIS. Players will be members of different factions with different goals, and conflict between these factions is expected to be a key theme of the game. Players should expect to be in conflict with another player at some point in this game. This conflict will typically be pragmatic and faction driven, with more personal conflict covered by Ballgowning. Physical PvP is primarily expected to occur in Downtimes, although it is possible for physical PvP to occur in Uptimes. This will, however, be exceptional, and will only happen after planning with GMs and the other player(s) involved. Physical PvP in emails should only occur with the OC consent of all GMs and Players involved.
These are themes that we suspect may become relevant. Because they are sensitive themes, we ask that you read the information below carefully and respect the depictions of these subjects in game.
These are themes we are not expecting in the game, but nonetheless may arise unpredictably. These should be handled sensitively both by GMs and players.