TOPIC: New Volunteer rules/protocols?

Pstyle wrote:

Kirk Bauer wrote:

Pstyle wrote: This rule is now written because a skeleton in the viper's pit harassed 2 females in my party and it apparently wasn't his first offense of the weekend. He was removed after our run.

Wait, were you in my group when this happened? A father and his two daughters? They disappeared before the end of the dungeon and I heard that something like this might have happened but was never sure. If so that is quite sad.

No the 2 in my party were adults

Well, mine sounds like it might be worse... father and his two daughters (probably in the 12-18 range, I'm not a good judge of age) disappeared after the skeletons... I heard they were somehow bothered by the NPCs but didn't hear any details (the father was nice enough to return a borrowed UR before leaving, so that is how we heard I think).

Wow. Sucks to hear those stories, Pstyle & Kirk.

I am glad that we live in an era where that kind of behaviour is no longer tolerated... but it's sad that it needs to be spelled out in that way.

As for Widseth & Shaman & others - I am pretty sure that mutually consenting adults may still share hugs! (Otherwise, I'd have to have to 'steal' hugs. And the market for used hugs just isn't what it used to be, with fences taking their cut & all.)

Hey Kirk I happened to be in that run with you when the daughter left during the final room because if the skeletons hanging all over her. Good to see the new policies addressing this. This may be a combination of the two instances mixed together since I did happen to loan the father and daughter some UR tokens to use.

So the medusa's can no longer try and tempt the guys by getting up close and putting their "assets" underneath the players noses anymore? Well some will find that a relief. The ones last year were teasing me like that and I just pointed to my wife and said that's the paladin that just crit you, and she's my wife, so be cautious

Alvin Oliver wrote: So the medusa's can no longer try and tempt the guys by getting up close and putting their "assets" underneath the players noses anymore? Well some will find that a relief. The ones last year were teasing me like that and I just pointed to my wife and said that's the paladin that just crit you, and she's my wife, so be cautious

My son and I both enjoyed the nice neck massages. Thankfully we were running our nightmare characters in a normal PUG so her evil charms did not stone us [She did get 5 members of our party, one of whom (the Bard) we had to break and death door/heal him to be able to cast stone to flesh from scrolls to destatue the the rest of the party]. Note to self 5th level druids and Barbarians can't cure statutes

Alvin Oliver wrote: So the medusa's can no longer try and tempt the guys

When the medusas flirted with me, I took great delight in my immunity to their charms and informed them, "Honey, you're barking up the wrong tree...!"

Widseth wrote: What??? I'm not gonna get a hug from the Guildmaster of the Greyhawk Thieves Guild. Not even worth coming to GenCon now. What's the world coming to?

I agree.

I also would miss the personal touch (no pun intended) of being immersed in the game. This would mean no more shambling mound getting you, no more mind flayer sucking your brain, no medusa trying to get you to look at her, or like last year the drow? turning you to stone in the last room during the other battle.

I have never been a volunteer, but someday want to, but I can see how it would make it difficult to interact with the players.

What if as a player I want to secretly do something that I don’t want the rest of the group to know (whisper to DM), such as granting myself sanctuary, etc. Makes that tough.

Druegar wrote:

Alvin Oliver wrote: So the medusa's can no longer try and tempt the guys

When the medusas flirted with me, I took great delight in my immunity to their charms and informed them, "Honey, you're barking up the wrong tree...!"

LOL I didn't want to say this but I will. I did point out in one room to a medusa that my wife was standing over by the board in her corset, and what she (the medusa) was tempting me with wasn't as tempting as what my wife has.

Donald Rients wrote:

Widseth wrote: What??? I'm not gonna get a hug from the Guildmaster of the Greyhawk Thieves Guild. Not even worth coming to GenCon now. What's the world coming to?

I agree.

I also would miss the personal touch (no pun intended) of being immersed in the game. This would mean no more shambling mound getting you, no more mind flayer sucking your brain, no medusa trying to get you to look at her, or like last year the drow? turning you to stone in the last room during the other battle.

I have never been a volunteer, but someday want to, but I can see how it would make it difficult to interact with the players.

What if as a player I want to secretly do something that I don’t want the rest of the group to know (whisper to DM), such as granting myself sanctuary, etc. Makes that tough.

I think this rule should be in place for the inappropriate attention that some of the skeletons did last year. If there is going to be something like a shambling mound, then they will have to direct you to the side instead of just grabbing you. It was fun watching people dance with the shambling mound person.... I hate that one or two people can cause TD to have to state this and specifically state a policy that everyone should already know.

Alvin Oliver wrote: I hate that one or two people can cause TD to have to state this and specifically state a policy that everyone should already know.

I don't hate that "one or two people" can cause this. I hate that we live in a world where society at large turns a blind eye that kind of behaviour. The fact that so few places have a policy about it means that when people do act like creeps, there's often no way to address it, so they get off scot free. It's not 1 or 2 people behaving badly... it's a system which put the onus on individuals to bring it up when they're made to feel uncomfortable, and assumes that if no one complains, then there isn't a problem. Or - to put it another way - if those 2 incidents caused people to speak up, think of how many more people may have walked away from TD feeling like they were assaulted, but never said anything.

If there's no policy in place regarding interactions, and no protocol to deal with incidents, then the message which gets sent is this: Our desire to play a game where we can interact with the monsters is more important than a girl's right not to be assaulted in the dark.

So KUDOS to TD for putting in these rules... even if it means that I might have a tiny bit less fun, or that I have to watch myself more carefully, so that I'm not accidentally making someone else uncomfortable.

Raven,

I agree with you on every point, I guess that my statement was more towards the point that I wish it didn't have to be stated because it was a universal truth that people would respect and that does come down to your statement of the world we live in. I also am glad that someone spoke up that was uncomfortable and that it was taken care of, as I wish that TD be a safe place for people to have fun and to enjoy meeting people, and seeing friends.

Thanks Alvin.

Re-reading your comment, I see where I mis-interpreted it.
I'm still personally trying to move away from the mindset of "Well, *I* know how people should behave and it pisses me off when a few bad apples spoil it for everyone" to "I am a part of the culture where this kind of thing has been allowed to go unchecked, so I need to be a part of a culture which is working towards a solution."

Change isn't easy (especially when it's a change which feels like we're "giving up" something) but I'm glad to be part of a group which is aware that changes need to happen, if we're going to keep on growing.