Conduct and Themes

All games run by the Oxford University Role-Playing Games Society are subject to the Conduct and Acceptable Themes Policy which can be found on the OURPGSoc website. It is expected that all GMs and players will be familiar with this policy when playing Redemption.

Redemption is fundamentally a game about terrible people, abuses of power, and survival. It is intended to be dark and it is intended that things will occur during the game which will be traumatic for characters. The GM team does not, however, want to make players uncomfortable. Please find below a list of potentially upsetting topics which may be present in the game.

It is worth noting that while real-life prejudices as listed in the the Conduct and Themes Policy are not permitted in Redemption, we do not wish to discourage characters from having any prejudices. Characters may be prejudiced based on fictional characteristics such as the presence or absence of cybernetics, they may be prejudiced against those from other planets, empires, or people who lived on space stations or in starships rather than on a “real” world.

If another player is making you uncomfortable, please bring the matter to the GM team either in person or via email (gm@redemption.chaosdeathfish.com). If a GM is making you uncomfortable and you wish to discuss it confidentially, then please contact the CAMPO¹⁾, Mike in person or via his personal email (dumbmuscle@googlemail.com). If Mike is making you uncomfortable then concerns should be raised with the society president, Matilda (matilda.tempest@mansfield.ox.ac.uk).

There is a wide variety of terrible things that may appear in Redemption, but the GM team recognise that people have OOC discomfort with certain elements. As such, we would like players to let us know if there are any such topics that they wish to avoid—feel free to notify us of this at character generation or at any time during the game. The GMs will do what they reasonably can to avoid bringing these topics into your game and your turnsheets. Occasionally, this may involve steering you away from certain plots.

We cannot promise that other players will not interact with the topic you are not comfortable with and bring it up IC (or indeed that NPCs may accidentally bring it up), but in this case you should simply immediately request OOC to not talk about it to you (the phrase “I am uncomfortable OC” should suffice) and we ask all players respect that request should it be made. However, we're all human and there are a lot of players to remember, so please try not to hold it against us or other players if we mess up from time to time!

Redemption will involve aggressive behaviour including characters being shouted at. If you would be uncomfortable with your character being shouted at, please let the GM team know. We will keep this in mind when interacting with your character, and will give you the option of marking this so other players are aware.

Themes listed here may occur during the course of Redemption. They may be brought in by GMs or may be a result of PC action.

• Death
• Torture
  • Torture is likely to occur in the game. The guards have the ability to inflict pain on the prisoners with a simple command, and the prison includes some very nasty people.
• Slavery
  • The PCs in Redemption are prisoners in a work camp. Slavery is an inherent part of the setting.
• Other means of removing agency
  • Certain setting elements may cause your character to lose control of their body (e.g. the FREEZE call, or potentially hacked cybernetics giving someone else control over your movement). However, your character will be aware that this is happening, and nothing can influence your character's mind unnaturally.
• Addiction
• Self-harm
  • Self harm as a means of expression of emotional distress is disallowed. Self harm for other reasons (e.g. chopping off an arm to install cybernetics or escape from a trap) may occur.
• Consensual sexual contact
  • Because of the inherent power imbalance, guards will not initiate sexual contact with prisoners²⁾, but this does not prevent prisoners initiating consensual contact with guards.
• Extreme violence
• Extreme gore
  • In particular, there may be elements of medical gore.
• Eating disorders
  • The players are stranded on a planet with limited supplies. Food shortages may well occur, along with serious discussion of eating disorders. Hunger strikes may occur, but should be handled sensitively.
• Discrimination on the basis of physical disability
  • Redemption is likely to be a violent game. It is highly likely that characters may lose hands, limbs, or become physically disabled while fighting for their continued survival. The choice of whether or not to use cybernetics to enhance or restore function is central to two of the factions. While we are not banning this topic completely, the GM team consider it more appropriate for your characters to take physical disability as a sign of the severity of the situation, and for characters to moderate their language appropriately. Please note that the use of real-world slurs to describe other people is banned under the CAT policy.
• Incest
• Domestic abuse
• Mental illness
  • Mental illness may occur, but it should not be the reason behind a character's crimes, nor may this be implied about yourself or another character. People in setting who have mental illness which is a cause of their criminal acts are sent to forensic psychiatric units, and not to work camps.
• Physical disability
• Suicide
• Cannibalism
• Discrimination on the basis of nationality, religion or faith
  • Discrimination on the basis of nationality will occur between the Tel and the Elysians. Discrimination on the basis of place of birth or residence within each Empire will occur (e.g. between different planets, or between those born on planets and those born in space). The Tel society is intrinsically linked to their religion, and there will also be discrimination between various different philosophical outlooks within the Elysian empire (most notably between the Prometheans and the Creed of the Immaculate). While there is some scope for players to define their own faith for their characters, this should not be a proxy for any real-world faith, and the GM team may ask you to adjust your portrayal of it.

This list is not exhaustive. Themes that are not listed here or in the list below may appear in the game.

The following list of themes may be present in backstory, and discussed by characters in session, email, or actions, but will not occur during the game.

• Pregnancy
  • Due to the generally dark tone of the game, pregnancy will not occur during this game. There is no IC reason for this (as the IC reasons we could use are on similar levels of horrific to the themes we are trying to avoid), but your character may not start the game pregnant or become pregnant during the course of the game. This restriction may be relaxed in long term Eternities, depending on the situation at that time.
• Children or adolescents
  • Characters in Redemption must be a minimum of 18 years old. Characters may have children off-world, and may discuss them.

The following list of themes will not appear in Redemption. They may not appear in your character's backstory or during the game. The GM team will immediately reject any character concept that involves these themes.

• Sexual assault, sexual coercion, or any other form of non-consensual sex (this applies to all OURPGSoc games)
  • In particular, any crimes of a sexual nature or involving sexual acts³⁾ are not allowed in backstory. This also includes claiming that sexual acts happened when they did not occur. Because of the inherent power imbalance, guards will not initiate sexual contact with prisoners⁴⁾, but this does not prevent prisoners initiating consensual contact with guards.
• Sex with minors (this applies to all OURPGSoc games)
• Use of real-world discriminatory slurs (this applies to all OURPGSoc games)
• Miscarriage and stillbirth
• Forced abortion
• Genital mutilation
• Self harm as an expression of emotional distress
• Violent crimes involving children under 12
  • Large scale indicriminate crimes (e.g. bombings) may include children among the victims, but they may not be the primary targets and their involement should not be described in detail.
• Discrimination on the basis of mental health
• Discrimination on the basis of gender or sex
  • Society in Redemption has always considered all genders equal. It does not make sense for your character to be prejudiced on the basis of gender or sex.
• Discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation (e.g. homophobia)
  • Society in Redemption has always considered all sexual orientations equal. It does not make sense for your character to be prejudiced on the basis of sexual orientation.
• Discrimination on the basis of gender identity (e.g. transphobia)
  • Society in Redemption has always considered all genders equal. It does not make sense for your character to be prejudiced on the basis of gender identity.
• Discrimination on the basis of real-world ethnicity or race
  • Redemption is not based on the real world. In addition, discrimination in Redemption is based on nationality (e.g. Tel vs Elysian, discrimination between planets of the Empire) or physical characteristics of the person acquired due to their upbringing (e.g. spaceborn vs planetborn), rather than genetic physical characteristics of the person.