Equality 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 Omen.

While Omen is not designed to be inherently dark, a lot of dark themes run through it. Your characters may be put through the wringer, but the GM team does not want to make players uncomfortable. Thus we have included a list of potentially upsetting topics which may be included in the game, including the situations in which you might encounter them.

Please feel free to let the GM team know any topic (including those listed below) that you would prefer to avoid - whilst we cannot guarantee to keep you from it, particularly where other players are involved, we will do our best.

These topics will be present in the game to some degree. It is likely that your character will be directly exposed to several of them, and you will hear about more second hand. It is expected that you treat these subjects in an appropriate manner

• Self Harm
  Mostly in the form of bloodletting for ritual purposes
• Consensual sexual contact
• Extreme violence
• Extreme gore
• Slavery
  Some of the power dynamics between nonhuman entities resemble those we would consider slavery. In addition, there may be instances of people trading away their freedom, usually to nonhuman entities.
• Mindcontrol and other means of removing agency
  Possession by nonhuman entities is something which happens reasonably frequently within the world of Omen. Some spells could have an agency-removing effect, though the ability for PCs to control the minds of other PCs will not be something that comes up.
• Discrimination on the basis of physical disabilities or mental health condition
  Interacting with certain areas of magic can have a deleterious effect on people’s mental health, and it is likely that people will have a negative reaction to this. Injuries may mean that your character cannot participate in certain actions. Please note that use of real-world slurs will not be tolerated.
• Discrimination on the basis of nationality, religion or faith
  Some of the wider-world conflict in OMen will be between nations struggling for resources. In addition, the world in which Omen is set has a history of conflict motivated by nationality and religious beliefs. As angels and demons are inspired by Christian mythology, discrimination springing from your attitude to them may occur.
• Domestic abuse

These topics must not be mentioned, even in backstory, by either the players or the GMs.

• Sexual assault, sexual coercion or any other form of non-consensual sex (applies to all OURPGSoc games)
• Sex with minors (applies to all OURPGSoc games)
  
• Use of real-world discriminatory slurs (applies to all OURPGSoc games)
  
• Miscarriage and stillbirth
  It can be presumed that a baby will be born alive unless the mother is killed before the baby is born. It can be safely presumed that in order to ensure there is no debate around this, any attempts to kill a pregnant person during childbirth will certainly fail.
• Discrimination on the basis of gender or sex
  This is a setting in which all genders are considered equal and always have been. Historically, there was no women's emancipation movement. While few will be mentioned in-game,it can be assumed that there are a great many historical female leaders, scientists, etc. It does not make sense in-game for your character to be prejudiced on the basis of gender or sex.
• Discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation (e.g. Homophobia)
  This is a setting in which all sexual orientations are considered equal and always have been. Marriage is and always has been equally available to all sexual orientations.
• Discrimination on the basis of gender identity (e.g. Transphobia)
  This is a setting in which all genders are considered equal and always have been. It does not make sense in-game for your character to be prejudiced on the basis of gender or sex.
• Discrimination on the basis of real world ethnicity or race
  While, in order to keep the history of the world approximately consistent with our own, there has been a history of ethnically motivated prejudice, it can be assumed that this is no longer the case. No characters will display prejudice based on real world ethnicity or race (though prejudice towards non-human entities is perfectly acceptable).
• Eating disorders
  Anorexia, bulimia and other eating disorders will not feature in this game. Things like using starvation as a protest do not count as disordered eating, as they do not represent a disordered attitude to food.
• Forced abortion
  We are not interested in dealing with the issues surrounding abortion in this game; pregnancies may only occur with the consent of all parties, and once conception has occurred the baby will be born alive unless its mother is killed before birth (see Miscarriage and Stillbirth) or makes a free choice to abort the pregnancy.
• Incest
• Genital mutilation

Under Section 4.4 of the CAT Policy anyone has the right to request to be kept apart from another person, as far as is possible. The GM Team have given this some consideration. We will do our best to honour such requests, but would like players to note the following:

The game takes place in one room and it is not possible to keep people apart physically. The GMs will do our best to keep people apart in turnsheet actions. We can agree that two people will have a mutual avoidance policy and will do their best to not stray into each others' areas of game. No blame is attributed to either side because of this.

However, the game is structured for plots to collide and for factions to work together, and we cannot promise you will never be on the same action, for example, big boss fights with everyone involved. When and if this happens we expect players to deal with it sensibly, for example, not talking directly to each other in large group conversations.

If you have any questions about this please contact the GM Team.