Chaosium posted an X-card on social media recently. As you’d expect, some loved it, others hated it*. As this is my blog, I’m going to tell you what I think.
*I guess many didn’t care, but social media is only interested in strong opinions.
What’s an X-Card?
When I asked a long-time roleplayer friend of mine if he’d heard of RPG safety tools or the X-card, he gave me a quizzical look. There’s a tendency to assume every roleplayer knows what the X-card is — I can assure you, they don’t.
An X-card can be as simple as a piece of paper with an X marked on it, that can be placed on the table during a roleplaying game. During play, if someone objects to what is being said, they can put a finger on the X-card (for online play, say “X-card” or make a cross with their arms or fingers). The idea is that everyone at the table respects this and agrees to edit out whatever it was that proved problematic. Maybe you have to say what the thing is, but you’re not required to explain beyond that.
It can be used in any RPG, but seems especially relevant for horror games.
A Bit of History
John Stavropoulos created the X-card in 2015. It didn't exist when
and I wrote the 7th edition of Call of Cthulhu. But safety tools aren’t new — we just didn’t have a name for them back in the day.Back in the early 2000s, in a home game, my friend Scott (Dorward) happened to ask if there was anything anyone didn’t want featured in the game. We all said we were OK with whatever. Jef*, a player, happened to mention that he didn’t like anything bad happening to cats. Unknown to him, Scott planned to feature some street-punks barbecuing a cat — to emphasise how nasty the setting was. It was a Kult game. You know how it is.
I don’t know how that game would have played out if Jef had not mentioned his sensitivity over harm to cats — but I can guess. I reckon Jef would have said nothing when the cat got fried. But he would have been quietly upset. I don’t think he would have said anything because then he’d have felt he had to explain: to justify his emotions. And that’s what the X-card makes easy — a non-verbal method of saying “I’m not happy about this thing."
*Jef was a sweet guy, younger than me. Sadly, I attended his funeral last year. Cancer. Jef fucking loved cats.
Will it Ruin My Game?
No.
Leastways, it’s never changed one that I’ve been a part of. I tend only to use the X-card at con games, and I’ve played with it lots of times. And you know what? No one has ever touched it. So why have it? Well, because someone might benefit from it. I mean, I wear a safety belt in a car, but I can’t recall ever having actually needing it.
I recently ran a game and described a giant maggot monster. Afterwards, one of the players said how much it freaked her out, but she knew the X-card was there if she wanted to use it.
Another time, when I introduced the X-card at a con game, one of the players felt it would limit the game. I told him it would only limit us if someone chose to touch the X-card — hence we could turn up the horror as much as we wanted, as people had an edit button if they felt it was too much. When I said this, a big grin spread over his face, like he was taking this as a challenge. In that moment, I wondered if he was going to test everyone’s boundaries for the sake of it, but it turned out just fine.
Talking to Each Other
A few years back, I attended a seminar at the Necronomicon convention (Providence, US), about the correspondence between H. P. Lovecraft and James F. Morton. Lovecraft was a conservative, and Morton a radical, yet they were able to discuss their political views.
Andrew Leman (of the H.P. Lovecraft Historical Society) observed how the conservative wishes to conserve the past, whilst the radical wants to embrace new ideas. Both have value and need to talk with one another. It’s too easy to simply reject and vilify each other.
When I saw the responses to Chaosium’s post about X-cards, I thought back to Andrew’s words. About how easy it is to revel in telling others how wrong they are, rather than listening to each other.
Maybe you use the X-card, and maybe you don’t. Ultimately, just like the use of hit locations or spending Luck points in Call of Cthulhu: it’s an optional extra.
If you have it on the table and no one uses it, where’s the problem?
If you have it on the table and someone uses it, well, that’s what it was there for.
Complete aside but a real bugger about Jef.
Excellent well reasoned thoughts. I always use x-cards, lines and veils. Up until last Monday I've never actively used them in a game, but I've had comments, thanks from players that they feel safe playing in a game knowing the GM and other players consider the mental and emotional impacts of games. That Monday? I didn't touch the x-card, neither did the players. Player A went to torture an NPC, two players immediately said No, that's a line. Player A then changed tack, giving the NPC a threatening gaze and we continued on. At the end I thanked the players for managing this and the other players praised Player A for being understanding and generous. I think it helped the group, together for a year, to feel even more comfortable on where the safe points are across themselves and increased respect for each other. All in the pursuit of fun!