Lines and veils in Krevborna

I have asked my new Krevborna group to think in advance about the idea of lines and veils. This concept has a lot written about it, but the fundamental concepts are really straightforward. And the goal is even more so: make everyone at the (virtual) table feel comfortable and able to enjoy the game fully.

Lines

Lines create a barrier that we don’t cross. They don’t exist in the game. They might exist someplace in the world setting, but we don’t deal with them at the table, at all. Some things might seem fairly obvious, but I recognize that some folks may have particular things they do not wish to process in a game. I respect your boundaries and won’t judge or question you.

I’ve already mentioned a few things in the concept post. Homophobia, sexism, and racism don’t exist in this world. Sure, people have different orientations and identities and backgrounds, and individuals may hate other individuals, but hatred and societal structures based on those traits do not happen.

Other lines include rape: not happening in this game. Maybe it happens someplace in the setting, but it doesn’t matter because it isn’t part of what we’re doing here. Anything that’s close to the line of non-consensual sex is basically non-existent for our purposes. The exact same applies for violence against children.

If you’re wondering about this, ask yourself whether the inclusion of any of these things would actually make the game more fun. I suspect the answer is no. And if someone has any reason at all to ask to exclude something, then frankly we won’t have a good time trying to work in an element that would make the game less fun for them. My goal is for us all to enjoy ourselves and even make new friends, not force someone to relive a trauma.

Veils

Veils cover things we don’t look at. They exist, certainly, and we might even deal with them tangentially or “off screen”, but we don’t roleplay them and they don’t get a focus.

Consensual sex is a perfect example: of course people have sex in the world. But we aren’t roleplaying that; if it even comes up (which may never happen), it will happen after a “fade to black”. Just before dawn, a roguish character tiptoes into the tavern’s common room while their paramour waves sleepily from the bedroom door — and that’s as far as it gets.

Communication

Players should feel free to post comments in the game forum with their lines and veils. If they’d rather not, then they should likewise feel free to send me a private message. I won’t ever disclose anything specific about a person without their consent. Instead of “Kevin said he doesn’t want any spiders,” we just won’t have spiders. (I may, in the right circumstances, mention “no spiders” to the group.) Plenty of other dark creatures roam the land to be defeated by our adventurers!

If you don’t have anything else, then this probably won’t affect you much. To the extent we need to communicate about this publicly, please be respectful. As the old proverb goes: be kind, for everyone is fighting a battle you know nothing about.

Let’s fight our battles against the dark corruption enveloping Krevborna rather than each other.