Safety before, at, and after The Clinic
We believe that the physical and emotional safety of players is the most important aspect of larp design. Players are more important than the larp, and player safety and comfort is our priority.
It is important that players are able to set and respect boundaries, to say safe words, and to be able to speak with the safety team if any issue arises. If you believe that you may have trouble doing these things, then this larp is not for you.
There will be an offgame room and a safety person on duty at all times during the larp and after-party.
It is important that players are able to set and respect boundaries, to say safe words, and to be able to speak with the safety team if any issue arises. If you believe that you may have trouble doing these things, then this larp is not for you.
There will be an offgame room and a safety person on duty at all times during the larp and after-party.
Safety around signup
We will use a flagging policy for The Clinic, which will work before allocation of places and casting takes place: as follows.
The names of everyone who has signed up to the larp will be circulated to everyone who has signed up. You will have the option to:
And if you have any other concerns about your safety, privacy, or anything else relating to these policies, please get in touch.
The names of everyone who has signed up to the larp will be circulated to everyone who has signed up. You will have the option to:
- Red-flag a name – this will mean that you have experienced behaviour from that person that you believe makes them unsafe to larp with. Examples of this might be bullying, harassment, or abuse. You don’t have to give a reason for red-flagging a name. Someone who has been red-flagged will not be allowed to attend the larp. We will not tell them who red-flagged them, or why.
- Yellow-flag a name – this means that you don’t believe that that person is unsafe, but for personal reasons you are unable to play closely with them. In this case we will prioritize not casting you and them together in relationships; even if that means that as a result of this one or both aren’t cast. We will not tell someone that they have been yellow-flagged.
- Request not to play closely with a specific person – this is for when you prefer to play away from someone perhaps because you often play closely together, or because you want to explore play with different participants. We will do our best to honour these requests, but they won’t be prioritized. We will not tell them that you have made this request.
And if you have any other concerns about your safety, privacy, or anything else relating to these policies, please get in touch.
Themes
The Clinic is about individuals who are in therapy to confront the issues and people who have caused them pain in the past. One of the major themes of the larp is recovery from trauma.
The game has opt-in transparency, which means that you can chose a character with themes that suit you and ensure that you aren’t playing a character who has a backstory with potentially triggering themes. You can also specify which themes you don't want in the backstories of characters you have pre-scripted relationships with; we will ensure you will be cast according to these preferences. However, it is a small larp and you are likely to encounter characters who do have those themes. You will be able to use safewords to de-escalate and cut scenes if necessary; and we always encourage offgame discussion to calibrate expectations.
We expect players with pre-scripted romantic, sexual or violent relationships to calibrate their comfort zones and expectations in detail together before the game. There will also be time provided for this during the pre-game workshops.
If new romantic/sexual/violent relationships emerge spontaneously during play, we expect you to have an offgame discussion with the other player(s) to establish comfort zones before proceeding with the scene.
Play up slowly to scenes that might be potentially upsetting to other players, and give other players the option to opt out or to approach the scene in a way that they are comfortable with. It is always okay to ask someone for a brief offgame discussion to calibrate any aspect of play.
The game has opt-in transparency, which means that you can chose a character with themes that suit you and ensure that you aren’t playing a character who has a backstory with potentially triggering themes. You can also specify which themes you don't want in the backstories of characters you have pre-scripted relationships with; we will ensure you will be cast according to these preferences. However, it is a small larp and you are likely to encounter characters who do have those themes. You will be able to use safewords to de-escalate and cut scenes if necessary; and we always encourage offgame discussion to calibrate expectations.
We expect players with pre-scripted romantic, sexual or violent relationships to calibrate their comfort zones and expectations in detail together before the game. There will also be time provided for this during the pre-game workshops.
If new romantic/sexual/violent relationships emerge spontaneously during play, we expect you to have an offgame discussion with the other player(s) to establish comfort zones before proceeding with the scene.
Play up slowly to scenes that might be potentially upsetting to other players, and give other players the option to opt out or to approach the scene in a way that they are comfortable with. It is always okay to ask someone for a brief offgame discussion to calibrate any aspect of play.
Safety techniques
At The Clinic we will use the following safewords:
These safety techniques will be explained in more detail, and practised together, in the pre-larp workshop.
- "Green" – this is an invitation for other players in the scene to raise their game intensity. It is an invitation only, and other player are not required to raise intensity if they do not wish to.
- "Yellow" – other players must lower the intensity of the scene. This is not an invitation – if a player says 'Yellow', you are required to lower intensity.
"Yellow" can also be used as a reply to "Green", if you don’t wish to escalate a scene. - "Red" (or tapping the shoulder twice) – the scene should stop immediately. This is not an invitation – if a player says "Red", or taps twice, you are required to stop the scene.
The player who stopped the scene doesn’t have to explain why, but they should be asked if they need anything. - "Offgame" or "Can we take a walk?" – used to step out of game in order to check in with another player, explain a need, or calibrate a relationship. Use of this is encouraged.
- Lookdown – To enter or exit a scene without ingame consequences.
These safety techniques will be explained in more detail, and practised together, in the pre-larp workshop.
A note about taking care of each other
The Clinic deals with some difficult material, in its storylines and in its characters’ backgrounds. Each participant, when going through the signup process, will tell us about particular topics that they are keen to play on, or want to avoid, etc. We will aim to cast everyone appropriately, so that all can have a positive experience which will be as intense as they want it to be.
One thing that’s worth mentioning though is that while one participant is pursuing one direction of play with their character, the other participants will also be doing their thing. And this may involve them playing out material which someone finds difficult to be around. For this reason we’re making sure that everyone knows how to, and feels empowered to, use safewords if they need to stop a scene; and that they also can use lookdown in order to leave a scene without it being noticed that their character has left.
But the other side of that is: if a participant is planning a scene which they know is going to involve deep and intense material, they should think about whereabouts they want it to happen. And they should make sure that these conversations take place where other participants can use the lookdown technique to leave if needed.
One thing that’s worth mentioning though is that while one participant is pursuing one direction of play with their character, the other participants will also be doing their thing. And this may involve them playing out material which someone finds difficult to be around. For this reason we’re making sure that everyone knows how to, and feels empowered to, use safewords if they need to stop a scene; and that they also can use lookdown in order to leave a scene without it being noticed that their character has left.
But the other side of that is: if a participant is planning a scene which they know is going to involve deep and intense material, they should think about whereabouts they want it to happen. And they should make sure that these conversations take place where other participants can use the lookdown technique to leave if needed.
Covid safety at The Clinic
We understand that running a larp in the current climate requires particular precautions so that we can do our best to keep ourselves and each other safe. Our policy on covid safety is here below, but please do get in touch if you are concerned about anything, or feel that anything is overlooked.
We are expecting that everyone at The Clinic – participants, organizers, and staff – will have either an EU digital covid certificate (or the equivalent from a non-EU country), or a negative covid test from within the 72 hours before the start of the larp. If this is going to be a problem for you, for medical or other reasons, please get in touch with us as soon as possible.
The venue is large, and it’s not going to be practical to systematically sanitize it in advance of the larp. We will have hand and surface sanitizer and wipes available in all common areas, for anyone to use as they wish. We advise that you bring your own sanitizer as well.
We are not making face masks mandatory at the larp: but anyone who wishes to wear a mask is welcome to do so. Other participants should not comment on this or try to make play around it. The majority of play will take place outside, in the open air. You are likely to be sharing a bedroom with one or two other people.
The Clinic is not an intensely physical larp, and it will be possible to avoid close physical contact with other people if you wish to do so. We will have a session about people’s contact preferences during the pre-larp workshop, and you will be able to agree boundaries with those participants with whom you’ll be larping most closely.
The most important thing is that participants and organizers use common sense. If we feel that the larp is unsafe to run we will postpone it, and you will have the choice of either being refunded or keeping your payment in place for a future run. If you develop covid symptoms, or come into close contact with someone who has covid, during the runup to the larp, then we would expect you to get tested and to only attend if the test is negative.
We are expecting that everyone at The Clinic – participants, organizers, and staff – will have either an EU digital covid certificate (or the equivalent from a non-EU country), or a negative covid test from within the 72 hours before the start of the larp. If this is going to be a problem for you, for medical or other reasons, please get in touch with us as soon as possible.
The venue is large, and it’s not going to be practical to systematically sanitize it in advance of the larp. We will have hand and surface sanitizer and wipes available in all common areas, for anyone to use as they wish. We advise that you bring your own sanitizer as well.
We are not making face masks mandatory at the larp: but anyone who wishes to wear a mask is welcome to do so. Other participants should not comment on this or try to make play around it. The majority of play will take place outside, in the open air. You are likely to be sharing a bedroom with one or two other people.
The Clinic is not an intensely physical larp, and it will be possible to avoid close physical contact with other people if you wish to do so. We will have a session about people’s contact preferences during the pre-larp workshop, and you will be able to agree boundaries with those participants with whom you’ll be larping most closely.
The most important thing is that participants and organizers use common sense. If we feel that the larp is unsafe to run we will postpone it, and you will have the choice of either being refunded or keeping your payment in place for a future run. If you develop covid symptoms, or come into close contact with someone who has covid, during the runup to the larp, then we would expect you to get tested and to only attend if the test is negative.