Hello Mourners and Travelers! Once again we bring you a content warning post, so you’re out-of- game prepared for all of the fear and horror we’re throwing your way during this May trade!

Dystopia Rising is by nature a horror and survival larp, and while we DO love to shock and scare your characters, we’d never want to do any actual mental or physical harm to our playerbase Please remember it’s always okay to opt out of a scene and walk away, with no penalties or repercussions for you or your character. Player safety is first and foremost. If you have any questions or concerns after reading this blog, let us know!

Below are the elements to expect from this event.

Parasites - Specifically parasites that host in human bodies and cause harm. This includes elements like eggs, creatures growing within the skin, etc.

Psychological Horror - You may encounter psychological aspects such as extreme fear, gaslighting, paranoia, grief, and more. We encourage players to take a moment after intense scenes to decompress so that you can keep enjoying your game without extreme bleed.

Disease - NPCs and/or PCs may become infected with a disease. It is a major part of this month’s plot. Diseases involve coughing up blood, roleplaying malaise, and other social roleplay effects.

Body Horror/Gore - Alongside body horror that comes from parasites, we will have other scenes and monsters that include mutilation or damage to the body which might disturb players.

Small/Tight Spaces - With the mine collapse, PCs may have to traverse small and/or tight spaces throughout scenes. We will never put players in actual dangerous or unescapable situations, but please check in with yourself if these will make you uncomfortable.

Dismemberment - PCs may encounter scenes with dismemberment already occurred, or where the PCs have to cause dismemberment using props. Again, we would never put PCs or NPCs in actual harmful situations.
Mind Control - PCs may encounter mind control mechanics. We will never tell you to do something uncomfortable or unsafe.

Splatter/Goop - Alongside body horror and gore, things that splat and goop may be encountered.

Worms - We will have wormlike props that will be fairly gross.

Self Harm - Scenes may force characters or NPCs to harm themselves as well. We realize that players could be triggered by this, and would never want to make anyone feel unsafe. If you are uncomfortable with this aspect, you are of course able to opt-out of the scene, and we will announce when scenes may include this.

Please remember you can always OPT OUT of a scene using ‘Eyes Down’ - placing your hand over your brow and looking down to signal you are leaving a scene for any reason, no questions asked. You may also ask a guide on scene to help find you somewhere to decompress.

We encourage all players to use the OK Check-In system, even when not in an intense scene.

As a reminder, the OK Check-In system works as below:

Player 1 holds the OK hand gesture up to Player 2 (reminder- can be a PC or NPC).

Player 2 has three options:

Thumbs up - “All is good, I’m having a great time.” Continue with the scene.
Hand flat and moving in an “Eh?” gesture - “I’m not sure.” Deescalate the scene, offer to find somewhere to decompress/find a guide or staff to help.
Thumbs down - “I’m not okay/I’m uncomfortable with this scene” - Deescalate the scene, offer to find somewhere to decompress/find a guide or staff to help.

Based on Player 2’s response, Player 1 should do the following

Thumbs up - Continue with the scene.
Hand flat and moving in an “Eh?” gesture - Deescalate the scene, offer to find somewhere to decompress/find a guide or staff to help.
Thumbs down - Deescalate the scene, offer to find somewhere to decompress/find a guide or staff to help.

Players are not expected to be therapists. We just ask that you show kindness to your fellow player and assist them in finding somewhere safe at the bare minimum. If there is an issue you need assistance with, Kendall is our Player Relations manager.

We will do our best to give content warnings before the modules these warnings pertain to. Please let us know at dystopiarisingmi@gmail.com if you have any questions and concerns.

With all that said, we can’t wait to bring you safe frights and terror this event! See you soon!