The O-Card is here!

Safety tools in TTRPGs are amazing. They’ve done incredible work by creating conversation about shared play and, vitally, a focus on health and communication. It democratizes content, thinning the hierarchy between facilitator and participant.

This is especially true in convention settings. You don’t know these people. How do you establish trust in such an emotionally vulnerable environment?

Tools are, of course, just that. They’re not perfect. And they often work best in conjunction with other tools. I adore the X-Card (created-by-John-Stavropoulos-and-is-entirely-in-Creative-Commons). But it is not without a social cost. It is not an easy thing to stick your hand out and touch a card if you feel like you’re “ruining” a good time with strangers. This is especially true of people belonging to marginalized identities and/or with social anxiety.

Wonderful practices like “Lines & Veils” can also take a toll, largely by asking people to compile a big-long list of The Worst Things Imaginable before play even begins.

So how do you bring the table together? How do you present a collaborate and communitive setting of total strangers?

I present to you: The O-Card.