In larp, players have a lot of experiences, many unusual. For some players, such experiences are a strong reason for larping in the first place. During larp players might be exposed to physical hardship and/or high levels of emotional stimulus. Some larps such as many of the ones described in the recent ‘Nordic Larp’ book are deliberately designed to create such powerful experiences. However, mainstream conventional larps may also cause such to happen without any intention to do so.

To give a couple of real examples:

• One larper I know has a real life phobia of dogs. In a fantasy larp, seeing players of gnolls in dog masks at twilight is enough to trigger this phobia for him.
• Being mugged at latex knife point might be considered to something within the conventional expectations of play in a fantasy larp. However, for a player that was mugged for real at knife point a week before the event, this may be too traumatic.

Aside from personal mental issues, what is physically safe varies from one player to another. I was once at a larp event were almond dust was used covertly to represent arsenic poison; the risk to nut allergy suffers from that is huge and potentially fatal.

In conventional drama, an actor is able to read the script in advance and give informed consent to what they will experience. Because of the unscripted nature of larp, larper players are only able to give semi- informed consent. This makes this issue of limits more difficult issue to handle. The organiser should try to indicate what topics and themes are likely to emerge, but this can only go so far.

Firstly, a simple general awareness that different players have different limits is healthy. Part of that means not disparaging a player for whom their limits become an issue. If a player called a time out because a mugging scene was too strong for them to handle, it would be all too easy for people to think less of them.

One approach to this issue is a convention of a ‘safe word.’ This is more than simply a quick way for a player to stop the situation. Packaged with it is a set of social conventions that someone is not thought less of for using a safe word or creating a situation where someone else does, and that the safe word user doesn’t have to explain why they used it (but can do so if they choose). I would argue that using a safe word is a positive act worthy of respect, since doing so on occasion indicates the user as the confidence to test, explore and try to push their personal limits. It’s not a sign of weakness, but a sign of having the strength to play on the edge, as well as attempting to immerse in the situation.

Some larps such as Dragonbane have made use of a two-tier safe word system. While it retained a ‘complete stop and go off-game’ word, it also included a word that meant ‘you are on or approaching my limits. Go very slowly / don’t go any further, but we can stay in-game.’ This allows safe words to be used while reducing the impact on the flow of play.

Another idea is a ‘green light’ safe word. A player whose character is the ‘victim’ may be showing signs of obvious distress, but in fact be role-playing and happy to continue. Players of ‘attackers’ may feel uncertain as to whether the player is really confident enough to continue and be reluctant to develop the scene further. Giving players the option to use a safe word that communicates ‘I’m ok with this, and you can go more extreme if you think it appropriate’ can overcome this problem while keeping to a minimal disruption to play.

Safe words (and a culture that supports their use) can actually encourage players to go ‘further’ and make the event more intense, knowing they have a safety net. The weakness of safe words can be people’s reluctance to use them, which is why a culture to support their use is so important. Even so, some players may not fully know their own limits, and may push themselves further than they are capable of handling. Often mental trauma can be worst felt by ‘attackers’ than ‘victims.’ What is important to consider is debriefing and derolling afterwards as I touched upon in articles 12 and 13 of this series; metaphorically speaking, strengthen the magic circle to reduce post-event bleed.

There are other alternatives to safe words, which can be used alongside them. For example:

• If the larp is using a scene-based technique rather than linear time, allowing any player to end the scene with a ‘fade to black’ can offer a more discrete alternative to using a safe word.
• Some larps include off-game or semi-off game symbols to communicate how intense an experience a player is aiming for. Example, having the characters wears name badges with a traffic light code (which might be in-game ID badges) to indicate what level of physical and/or emotional play they are comfortable with.

Safe words are not a magic bullet that resolves this issue. However, there are a simple mechanic to empower players with the confidence to play at the edge of their limits, and pull back if they find themselves over the edge.