Conduct and Acceptable Themes

We as the That’s All Folks! GM team wish for the game to be an enjoyable and memorable experience for all players and crew 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 OURPGSoc game, That’s All Folks! is subject to the OURPGSoc CAT Policy and it is required that players and crew familiarise themselves with this policy before playing for awareness of what themes are allowed and disallowed. This page in some cases reiterates the policy and in some cases adds more specific restrictions and clarifications that apply to That’s All Folks!. Regardless of the CAT Policy, all players, crew 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, Conor, via 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 for all players. If you have a concern about the head GM, please contact the Society President, Konstantine, either on Discord or through email.

All That’s All Folks! 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. That’s All Folks! characters do not have limitations on age, but take a look at the Mechanics page for details on disclaiming your character’s age to the GMs.

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 must 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 OC/IC 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. As such, we expect players to handle the victories and defeats of their characters graciously, whether they are the product of PvP or PvE.

This game is, above all, bittersweet and fun: any themes, or presentations of themes, that occur within the game must be compatible with this. Below are the themes that are either banned or should be considered sensitively by players, crew and GMs. These themes are divided into two lists: banned themes and themes that are sensitive but are permitted within the game.

These are themes that cannot be present in the game. They are taken from Appendix A of the OURPGSoc CAT Policy.

• 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

The following themes are taken from Appendix B of the OURGPSoc CAT Policy and are not permitted in That’s All Folks!.

• Suicide and self-harm as an expression of emotional distress.
  • In a world where death is temporary and usually comical, there is no space for suicide as an expression of emotional distress. There is no analogue to suicide in That's All Folks!. Curtain Calls are a direct allegory to death in our world, however, as characters have no control over when they occur, if they “kill” themselves during the Curtain Call it is not the cause of them leaving the Show and cannot be considered analogous to suicide – it is simply how they have chosen their exit from the Show to be portrayed. While they may have complicated feelings about reaching their Curtain Call, fundamentally these moments are not intended, and should not be represented as, suicide as an expression of emotional distress.
• Miscarriage and stillbirth
• 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 or mental health condition
  • This includes humour that is insulting people based on their disabilities or mental health.
• Discrimination on the basis of real-world ethnicity or race
• Discrimination on the basis of nationality, religion or faith
• Forced abortion
• Incest
• Slavery or human trafficking
• Genital mutilation
• Eugenics
• Genocide
• Genocide denial
• Real-world current figures and events
• Real-world historical figures and events
  • Some locations in the game are inspired by eras of animation that belong to specific cultures and historical periods. They are, however, not representative of the real-world locations and styles they are inspired by. This should be interpreted in the “narrow” sense, i.e. mentioning The Battle of Hastings or Shakespeare, rather than the broad sense of anything related to our world such as the names of planets: it is intentionally ambiguous whether or not That's All Folks! is produced in “our” world - after all it doesn't matter to the Characters the game is about!
• Other real-world biases and discrimination not covered within Appendix B

These are sensitive themes that may become relevant in That’s All Folks!. Where they do appear, it will be in a cartoon-style analogous to, but not necessarily representative of, real life. The following are taken from Appendix B of the OURPGSoc CAT Policy.

• Extreme violence
  • Violence is as much a part of the world in That’s All Folks! as any cartoon – slapstick and silly. For that reason, extreme violence may be described in a cartoonish manner.
• Extreme gore
  • As above, gore will only occur in a cartoonish manner, and therefore will not be described in more detail than might be seen in a PG show.
• Torture
  • As above, this can only occur to the extent it would in a cartoon.
• Mind control or other means of removing agency
  • Fundamentally, the characters of the Show are created by the Writers and Animators. However, the questions of agency this might raise is not a significant theme of That’s All Folks! as a game. For more on how we intend to handle this, please read the Artifice section of the Style and Tone page.
  • Emphasis on metaphysical questions of agency, or agency removal within the Show (i.e. another Cartoon Character using hypnosis, for example), will only happen if you take the Lose Control Playstyle Quirk. Read more at Mechanics.
• Emotional/physical abuse, e.g. domestic abuse or bullying
• Eating disorders
  • While real examples of eating disorders will not be present in the game, there may be examples that appear to resemble eating disorders. Abnormal patterns of eating and strange foodstuffs may arise (e.g. the Hungry Hungry Caterpillar), but these are not intended as an exploration of real-world eating disorders. Players are discouraged from exploring the theme of eating disorders within the game.
• Animal abuse
  • This may occur in the sense that many characters will be animals and may suffer injury and cartoon-style harm.
• Child abuse
  • Characters who are children may suffer injury and cartoon-style harm. This is not intended, and should not be used as, a real analogue to child abuse.
• Suicide and self-harm as anything but an expression of emotional distress, e.g. self-sacrifice
• Consensual sexual activity
  • This can only be referred to as something that has occurred (or will occur) off-screen, in accordance with Heeeeeeey, Nurse! (check the Mechanics page for more).
• Childbirth
• Medical malpractice
• Cannibalism
  • Cartoon Characters are frequently motivated by the desire to, and occasionally succeed in, eating other Cartoon Characters.

The following are taken from Appendix C of the OURPGSoc CAT Policy.

• Mental illness
• Physical disability
• Degenerative diseases or cancer
• Drug or alcohol addiction
• Gambling
• Homelessness
• Terrorism in all its forms, including state terrorism
• Indiscriminate violence
• Pregnancy
• Dieting
• Chronic illnesses