It is our goal to try to make every Afterworlds event your favorite, but we need your help in doing so. Every event coordinator, volunteer, plot team member, and attendee needs to work together to create a safe, enjoyable event for all. Any time we can make something happen that enhances the experience for the community, we expect everyone to strive to do so. While we will not allow cheating or unreasonable requests take over the game, the rules are not stone restraints, but rather flexible supports.
Always assume that other players know what they are doing; they have read the rules, they should know what their characters are capable of. If they make calls or use abilities you don’t think they can, just work with it and politely ask questions after combat. If you lose a fight and suspect another player of untrustworthy actions, such as not taking damage, find and consult with a GM. They will work to find a solution.
If you are asked how you were able to do something and find that you were operating incorrectly, allow the encounter to reset to a mutually-agreed starting point, and try again. We are all adults, and as such should be able to handle simple mistakes. If tempers are getting high, leave the situation and let a GM know.
Know your calls in encounters. Be sure to call your hits when you take health or armor damage. If your opponent’s attack hits your clothes, but not you, feel free to say “almost” or “clothes.” If you’re Immune to a call, call “IMMUNE.” The ‘Calls’ section in this chapter contains names and descriptions of various calls you will encounter in game. Communication becomes especially important during nighttime play.
For our events to succeed, players must abide by both the rules as they are written (‘RAW’) and the ‘spirit’ of the rules (the aims or purposes of rules when they were written).
Each rule at Afterworlds is created by first establishing the lore and feeling behind it, then balancing its mechanics for gameplay. However, no system of rules is 100 percent perfect. Rules can sometimes have loopholes or flaws, some of which may not be immediately apparent when they’re first created.
Event coordinators will do their best to apply fair rules and encourage enjoyable experiences, but there is also a degree of responsibility that falls on players. If you find a loophole in the rules, don’t take advantage of it, instead point it out to staff. We often reward players for positive conduct and helping to make the rules better.
Remember: There is no high score in storytelling. The game’s rules and mechanics are not video games for players to try to break, they are the framework and tools designed to help us all collectively experience another world and tell a story as a community.
Afterworlds is a communal weekend event. This means that every single person you encounter at an Afterworlds event is just as important as everyone else. Everyone deserves the same amount of respect, courtesy and sportsmanship and everyone else. When interacting with other members of the community, treat others the way you wish to be treated, as this will directly impact whether or not participants will want to interact with you. More participants wanting to interact with you will provide more opportunity for a richer and more full experience.
Afterworlds has an established world history or ‘base canon.’ Beyond this, the world is ever-expanding and continues to develop with each passing game.
Event organizers who wish to use the Afterworlds flag-tag system are welcome to use the base canon, and may also change or add to the canon as they wish to fit their event. For example, an event organizer might establish their own canon that humans have gone entirely extinct and the only species allowed at their event are mutants, rad-titans, and unturned.
While canon used can vary by event, the base canon will always remain unchanged, and any additions or alterations to it cannot be forced on other event coordinators.
The same goes for players' individual canon; perhaps you would like to play something in Afterworlds that doesn’t canonically exist. If you can figure out a way to achieve your idea without breaking the rules or requiring special rules to be created for you, you can do it. As long as you follow the mechanics, the fluff is up to you. However, you cannot force your individual canon onto anyone else.
Player canon should largely abide by the post-apocalyptic genre, but even then you might find exceptions. For example, playing a character lost in time is acceptable, so long as that character accepts that they are in the post-apocalyptic world provided for them at the event.
Afterworlds even has a podcast, and even that lore is only canon to those that accept it as truth.
At its core, Afterworlds canon is whatever you make of it. While this principle can seem confusing at first, it actually allows for rich, flexible storytelling.
Metagaming is the practice of making in-character decisions based on the knowledge that you are playing a game. While it’s often thought of as a way to cheat by taking advantage of the logistics of gaming, metagaming is a complicated and more nuanced practice.
In general, the nature of LARPing blurs the usual line of RPGs because it is largely the player’s ability to do something which dictates success, and your character’s baseline abilities are indistinguishable from your own. You’re welcome to have your character perform whatever actions you can within the boundaries of the safety rules and character abilities. For example, you may be a fast sprinter, which might help overcome a physical challenge, and running is free for any player to use because it is not a specific in-character ability.
In spite of that blurred line, there are rules when it comes to player vs. character knowledge. At Afterworlds, if you heard or saw something in the context of the game, then your character heard or saw it, and vice versa. If you wish to keep secrets, you really do need to keep secrets. These rules are different for volunteers helping staff run the game as non-player characters, or NPCs. NPCs play many different roles, and they will need to have different degrees of knowledge. If you learn something while acting as an NPC because of your NPC roles, you may not bring that information into game with your player character or any unauthorized NPCs.
With these conditions in mind, metagaming can also be a roleplaying aid. Many players like to immerse themselves fully in their characters, but if this leads to a level of personal anxiety, it’s okay to remind yourself that it’s only a game.
Metagaming to get along and increase the fun more people are having is entirely acceptable. If other players you happen to be playing with want to do something your character wouldn’t, consider what might make things more fun for them and for you. Don’t go directly against what your character would do, but stretching your expectations can be very enjoyable, even if it doesn’t work out particularly well. It can even be more fun to make a decision based on the player’s desire for risk and adventure rather than their character’s more conservative self-interest.
In short: If metagaming is used to benefit yourself and no one else, it’s usually discouraged. If metagaming is used to benefit others and doesn’t harm anyone, it’s usually encouraged.