Community Guidelines

The Frozen Wastes Campaign is intended to be a fun, inclusive space for collaborative storytelling in a shared world. In the interest of promoting a welcoming environment, we pledge to make participation in our community a harassment-free experience for everyone, regardless of age, body size, disability, ethnicity, sex characteristics, gender identity and expression, level of experience, education, socio-economic status, nationality, personal appearance, race, religion, sexual identity, or sexual orientation.

Standards

We expect all members of our community to model positive, inclusive behavior during all interactions, whether those are in game, voice chat, or Discord discussions.
Some examples of behavior that contributes to a positive environment include, but are not limited to:

• Being respectful of differing viewpoints and experiences
• Finding ways to call others into roleplaying scenes
• Gracefully accepting constructive criticism when soliciting it
• Focusing on what is best for the community
• Showing empathy towards other community members
• Using welcoming and inclusive language (e.g., respecting and using gender pronouns as requested)

Examples of unacceptable behavior by community members include, but are not limited to:

• Violation of the Lines and Veils (see below) determined by the community
• Unwelcome sexual attention or advances
• Trolling, insulting/derogatory comments, personal or political attacks, arguing for the sake of argument or to “score points” against one another
• Racial, gender, or cultural stereotypes or slurs
• Public or private harassment
• Publishing others’ private information, such as their photo, or a physical or electronic address, without explicit permission
• Providing unsolicited feedback on other players’ or DMs’ in-game actions/decisions at the table (These may take the form of “You should do X instead” or “At my table we would…”)
• Monopolizing time at the table, such as excessive derailment of an adventure, repeatedly spending large amounts of time taking character turns, or interrupting others to “steal the spotlight”
• Being argumentative with other players or the DM during a game session (specifically including: rejecting a DM’s at-the-table decision regarding game mechanics or rules)
• Intentionally antagonistic play or any actions designed to reduce other players’ ability to enjoy a game session
• Engaging in other conduct which could reasonably be considered inappropriate in our community

Keeping Things Fun

Our fictional world is a grim one, on the frontier of civilization where politics, war, violence, bigotry, arranged marriages, cruelty, etc. exist, but HOW we depict these things matters. It's our goal for everyone to have FUN at the game table.
If you feel that the way your DM is depicting a sensitive topic is making the game unfun for you, please bring it up after the game with them. If you don't feel comfortable doing so, bring it to a GM instead. We also use a Lines and Veils system to help keep the game a safe space for our players. See below.

Absolutely Nots, Lines, and Veils

Frozen Wastes uses an Absolutely Nots, Lines, and Veils system for all participants to keep players and DMs on the same page of what to expect during game sessions.

Absolutely Not

Absolutely Nots are subjects that will NOT show up at the table in any way, including off-screen or background information, or in someone’s character bio—anywhere. Do not imply, do not touch, just no.

Current Absolutely Nots

• Pedophilia

Lines

Lines are subjects that will NOT show up actively in any game. These things will NEVER be forced upon a Player Character. This may be implicit background information, but should never be discussed at the table and never be an active part of the story.

Current Lines:

• Sexual Abuse

Veils

Veiled subjects may be part of the story, but are kept out of the spotlight. Veils are often "pan away" or "fade to black" moments. This allows us to have dark themes without having to describe potentially triggering graphic details related to those themes.

Current Veils:

• Other Abuse (violence that relies on imbalanced relationship dynamics in which the abused party is dependent on or beholden to the abuser, such as animals, children, etc.)
• Cruelty (actions perpetrated with the intention of causing suffering to a living creature, such as torture)
• Sex

Note that DnD, by nature, is a combat-based TTRPG. As such, there will be violence. However, we are distinguishing between violence and abuse or cruelty in terms of what can be explicitly depicted at length.
Before each campaign, DMs should ask players if they have any additional Absolutely Nots, Lines, or Veils for the campaign.
We take Absolutely Nots, Lines, and Veils very seriously. Players (including DMs) who violate a Veil will receive a warning and should expect a conversation from a GM to better understand what went wrong. Players (including DMs) who violate an Absolutely Not or Line will receive a swift ban from our community.
Think something should be added to this list? Reach out to a GM and they'll raise the issue with the community.

Enforcement

Dungeon Masters (DMs) in the field have the right and responsibility to call out and correct comments or behaviors that are not aligned to this Code of Conduct, or to ask any player to leave the session for other behaviors at their table that they deem inappropriate, threatening, offensive, or harmful. If such an instance occurs, a Game Master (GM) must be notified promptly.
Instances of abusive, harassing, or otherwise unacceptable behavior may be reported by contacting any GM directly on Discord. All complaints will be reviewed and investigated and will result in a response that is deemed necessary and appropriate to the circumstances. Frozen Wastes GMs will maintain confidentiality with regard to the reporter of an incident. Further details of specific enforcement policies may be posted separately.
DMs who do not follow or enforce the Code of Conduct in good faith may face temporary or permanent repercussions as determined by other members of Frozen Wastes GMs.

Attribution This document has been adapted from the Adventurers League verbiage written by Wizards of the Coast (and found here: https://www.roleplayrally.com/code-of-conduct ), and from the Contributor Covenant 1.4 (https://www.contributor-covenant.org/version/1/4/code-of-conduct/).