Tags For Games

We want our conventions to be supportive and inclusive. To help with this we are introducing ‘tags’ to help signal the type of game the GM intends to run. This will particularly help some people in making a decision whether to play in the game. Of course, not every game suits everyone.

Note that these tags are based around the intent that the GM has in preparing a game. It It is entirely possible that PVP, conflicting and hidden agendas and more could develop in a game without the GM intending or encouraging it. The tags are not about removing player-agency, rather about giving advice to someone that the game is intended to have some of these elements.

If you think they might apply, we’d like to suggest that you include one or more of these tags in your GM submission.

#PVP
The game will involve active attempts to kill or remove other characters (Player Versus Player).

#Conflicting agendas
Some player characters may have mutually exclusive or conflicting objectives but overt PVP not intended

#Hidden agendas
Some player characters may have motivations the others do not know about or the plot of the scenario may not be what it seems

#Adult themes
Sex, excessive violence, drug use, dark themes that may cause offence or discomfort etc.

#Player-led
If you are organising/facilitating a game which is improvisational and player-led, please consider adopting the X-Card system

None of the above may apply to your game.

You may also wish to include other tags indicating genre or style elements you wish to emphasise from the game description. The following (big!) list comes from the suggestions of Furnace participants. You might want to use some of these, or use them as inspiration for your own tags. Just to be clear though, we don’t expect or require you to use these.

Optional Genre Tags
Comedy
Contemporary
Crime
Espionage
Fantasy (Arthurian / Dark / Dungeon Crawl / Gritty / High / Urban)
GM-less
Horror (Lovecraftian / personal / visceral)
Investigation
Medieval
Mystery
Pirates
SF (Cyberpunk / Hard / Post Apocalyptic / Posthuman / Space Opera)
Steampunk
Superhero
Teenagers
Victorian
Western

Optional Style Tags
Alien
Demonstration
Heroic
Humour
Intrigue
Introduction
Minis
Military
Narrative
Nazi
No Pregens
Organised Play
Playtest
Politics
Rules-heavy
Rules-lite
Secrets – Closed
Secrets – Open
Storygame
War