Conduct and Acceptable Themes Policy

We as the Contingency 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.

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, Contingency 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 Contingency. 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 not always be taken literally and attempting to reason to the wording instead of the spirit of the policy will not be tolerated.

Many of the themes presented here and in this game are complicated and nuanced. 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 the head GM, Ben Owen-Range, on Discord or via this email (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 the head GM, please contact the Welfare Officer for the Society, Jasper H. either on Discord or via this email. You may prefer to contact the Society President, Faith, either on Discord or via this email.

All Contingency 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.

Contingency characters must also be over 18 years of age in order to be developmentally adults. This is when they both made the decision, and had a snapshot of themselves taken, to become Minds – whether originally an organic Nassigussa or a synthetic Nassoid. This means that the resulting Mind PC would have all the freedom of adulthood, as well as the emotional intelligence and capacity for reasoning expected of adults in the real world, during play.

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 should 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.

In general, due to the nature of your characters as part of the Contingency, many of these themes will not be directly experienced by the player characters, and instead the consequences of them will be seen affecting others, often at a societal level. The game may explore how your characters navigate this, and how witnessing these themes affect them, their identity, and perception of duty.

• Sexual assault, sexual coercion or any other form of non-consensual sexual activity
• Sexual activity with those lacking the capacity to consent e.g. children
• Sexual harassment
• Use of real-world discriminatory slurs
• Suicide and self-harm as an expression of emotional distress
• Miscarriage and stillbirth
• Childbirth
  • The above two topics exist within the setting, but will not be depicted in the game. The copying process, and its potential complications (as might appear when taking the Bug in the System or Inoperable Sopor Quirks), is not meant as an allegory for childbirth, nor should be depicted as such.
• Discrimination on the basis of gender or sex
• Discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation e.g. homophobia
• Discrimination on the basis of gender identity e.g. transphobia
• Discrimination on the basis of physical disability, mental health condition, or neurodivergence
  • Please note that while members of the Contingency will have different capabilities, specialities and weaknesses inherent to their physical form which may in some cases be analogous to disabilities, this should not be invoked maliciously, or in a discriminatory way, either IC or OC.
• Discrimination on the basis of real-world ethnicity or race
• Discrimination on the basis of real-world nationality, religion or faith
  • As the game is not set within the real world, the two above themes will not occur.
• Eating disorders
• Forced abortion
• Incest
  • Players with the Another Me Quirk may have their character interact and build relationships with their copies, but any romantic or sexual relationship between a character and their own copy or copies is not permitted, as it falls under the prohibition of this theme.
• Torture
• Cannibalism
  • While the repurposing of components from dead constructs may occur in the course of the game, this should not be seen as an allegory for cannibalism.
• Genital mutilation
• Animal abuse
• Child abuse
• Eugenics
• Genocide denial
  • Whilst historical revisionism is an allowed theme, it will not be used to imply that a genocide of a species or culture did not occur.
• Pregnancy
• Dieting
  • Whilst famine and the effects of food scarcity may occur during Contingency, we do not consider them dieting.
• Real-world current or historical figures and events
  • Contingency is set in an alternate universe, and does not share history with the real world. Meta-level or OC references to our reality are allowed (provided it does not fall under other unacceptable themes), on the understanding that any reference made within the context of Contingency is distinct from the real world thing, since our real world history does not exist in setting.

• Extreme violence
• Extreme gore
  • In Uptime, gore will be handled using spoilering. In Downtime, it will not be described in detail unless the More Gore Quirk is taken.
• Medical malpractice
  • This may occur during the game on a broad scale. On a personal level, this may be a theme in the procedure of copying an AI for use in the Contingency, for example by modifying their code or taking extra copies without consent. In this case it will only occur with Out-of-Character (OC) consent from the particular player(s) involved. In most cases, this would require the player to opt in to a relevant Quirk as well.
• Discrimination on the basis of fictional ethnicity or race
• Discrimination on the basis of fictional nationality, religion or faith
  • Contingency is set in a fictional universe, and as such discrimination on the basis of real-world ethnicity, race, nationality, religion or faith has no part in it. However, discrimination against fictional species and cultures will be a theme within the game, though this will not be directed towards the player characters (PCs). In addition, discrimination along culture/ethnicity lines within Nassian society is a prohibited theme.
• Slavery or human trafficking
  • We expect these themes to come up on a systemic level, but your characters will not directly experience being enslaved in any form. As above, slavery will not happen across racial lines within Nassian culture.
• Mind control or other means of removing agency
  • This theme is expected to arise primarily in the context of the copying procedure. A player character who wishes to engage directly with mind control or loss-of-agency during the course of the game must take the Another Me Quirk. Player characters without this Quirk will not be directly affected by mind control or similar effects, though they may still witness them occurring to others.
• Emotional/physical abuse, e.g. domestic abuse or bullying
  • This should not be portrayed in the extreme, however some relationships in this game may be seen as emotionally intense, equivalent to bullying.
• Genocide
  • Indiscriminate genocide on the scale of worlds will appear as a theme in this game. In addition, due to the nature of the Contingency, mass death as a consequence of failure is a possible stake.
• Physical disability
  • Different members of the Contingency have fundamentally different forms, and as such are physically differently abled. In some cases, either due to their physical form, or through structural damage, this could be analogous to a physical disability. We ask that if this is the case, this is handled with the same respect you would give when roleplaying a character with such a disability.
• Degenerative diseases or cancer
  • While members of the Contingency are synthetic in design, structural decay or lack of resources/fuel could be interpreted as analogous to a degenerative disease. If this is the case, please handle it as respectfully as you would when playing a character with such a disease. Furthermore, degenerative diseases will appear as a long-term symptom of diseases in-game.
• Homelessness
  • Due to the nature of the game, this will likely manifest itself most in large-scale refugee crises.
• Terrorism in all its forms, including state terrorism
• Chronic illnesses
  • Elements of a Contingency member’s physical form may be analogous to, or resemble, aspects of real-world chronic illnesses. In all cases, we ask you to handle this with the same respect you would give when roleplaying a character with such an illness.
• Discrimination on the basis of being a copy/identity
• Illness and plague
  • Note that some depictions of illness and plague in this game will have long-term symptoms resembling degenerative disease.
• Historical revisionism/changes to perception of history
  • Due to the scale of the game, there will be societal changes throughout its course. Their accounts of history may not match up with the actual events you and your characters remember.

• Mental Illness
• Consensual sexual activity
  • Whilst the typical understanding of sex is not possible for Minds, player characters may choose to explore an allegory for this topic. If this is done, it should be made clear OC to all parties involved (including GMs, as we have access to all Uptime and Downtime communication), and must be handled in a fade-to-black style rather than in detail.
• Suicide and self-harm as anything but an expression of emotional distress, e.g. self-sacrifice
  • While conflict may happen between two Minds from the same copy, we do not consider this self-harm. If you would like to avoid this, please let us know.
• Drug or alcohol addiction
• Gambling
• Indiscriminate violence
• Other real-world biases and discrimination not covered within Appendix B