Falling Down is a dark fantasy LRP game of spirituality, intrigue and horror based on the Tribe 8 RPG. It was put together from a variety of sources, many of which are listed under the Copyright Notice. The aim is to produce a player-led, plot-driven campaign spanning four events, telling the story of the Eighth Tribe. This is a story about human agency and personal responsibility in a world which is broken, and where you are being lied to.
To do this, we want everyone (players and crew alike) to work together OOC to create a story that all have taken part in and can therefore enjoy. Player characters should be proactive but flawed, struggling to do more than simply survive. This is a game about fate and destiny, truth and corruption, heroism and selfishness. The world is a canvas upon which the player characters should feel able to write their own futures.
While we are big fans of the published metaplot for Tribe 8, we have no desire to use it as anything other than inspiration. Falling Down's metaplot is a reimagined take on the issues and themes raised by the published material, but anyone expecting to experience a live version of the tabletop campaign will be sorely disappointed. Similar, no prior knowledge of Tribe 8 is necessary to play or enjoy Falling Down; you should have no problems getting involved based on just the information we provide. If you particularly want to read more, we recommend the first edition of the Tribe 8 Player's Handbook and the Vimary Sourcebook, which can largely be considered “our canon.” Everything from that point onwards - even where it bears similarities to material published by Dream Pod 9 - cannot be considered true for the purposes of Falling Down.
If you’d like to run a Falling Down event, please do – but please make sure to invite us! In the meantime, you can join the Facebook group and contribute to the discussion.
The Design Team: Ellie and Joe
gm@fallingdown.chaosdeathfish.com
PS: We’ve tended to use the female pronouns when talking about Tribals, Fallen and so on, but your character can be of whatever gender you choose.
We take equal opportunities very seriously. We aim to create an environment at our events that is accessible to all and free from discrimination and prejudice.
In order to achieve this, we ask that every participant show respect to others, on an OOC level, including using appropriate and respectful language at all times. Discrimination on the grounds of sex, sexuality or skin colour make little sense within the Tribe 8 setting and we do not expect anyone’s characters to express sexist, homophobic, transphobic or racist views.
Although Tribe 8 does treat disability somewhat differently, we are mindful that we do not want Falling Down to be a game that perpetuates the discrimination disabled people experience in the real world. Thus, we do not expect anyone’s characters to express disablist views, and we expect any non-disabled participants wishing to play a disabled character to approach the issue sensitively and without mockery, just as we do for those participants who wish to play characters of a different sex or sexuality to themselves. In Falling Down, there is no particular cultural significance to disability, and thus no justification for discriminatory treatment.
If portraying a character with a mental illness, please do your best to avoid stereotypes and be sensitive in your approach. The same is true for learning disabilities; we do not want to see any “Hollywood autism” at Falling Down. If in doubt, please ask a Guide for advice or simply err on the side of caution. Please note that we will never apply game mechanics to mental illness; you might decide that your character experiences mental health problems, either upon entering play or as a result of things that occur at events, but we will never tell you that your character is struggling with their own mental health. You might encounter roleplaying effects that mimic hallucinations, for example, but you will never be told that your character now has a delusional belief. A Z'Bri Atmosphere might make your character want to act on desires they normally repress, but it will not create new desires.
If you encounter behaviour contravening this policy, please inform a Guide as soon as you are able. The Guides have the authority to investigate the situation, and then warn the person responsible, require them to leave the game, or indeed permanently ban them from the game, depending on the severity of their behaviour. There is no system of appeal.
It is worth noting that discrimination absolutely does exist in the Tribe 8 world; Tribals look down on Fallen, who look down on Squats, who look down on Serfs. And, of course, each Tribe has its internal hierarchy and class structure. If you wish to explore themes of oppression within this game, beyond the starting point of the Fallen, there are choices like Agnite Barrens that are ideally suited for this purpose. The point is simply that such discrimination should be solely about in-character factors, rather than factors of the person playing the character.
As part of this, we expect our participants not to disable other participants from engaging with the game; each participant should feel safe and comfortable deciding their own level of involvement, and should not experience pressure to hold back or engage when they do not wish to. On the other hand, if the Guides judge that a participant's continued involvement in the game or part of the game would be genuinely detrimental to their health and well-being or the health and well-being of others, they do have the authority to require you not to participate.
Socialising is an important part of live roleplaying but nobody attending an event should have to tolerate sexual harassment. We encourage any individual who experiences sexual harassment from another participant to report the incident to us at the earliest available opportunity, so that we can deal appropriately with the matter.
Unwelcome actions such as the following are inappropriate and, depending on the circumstances, may in and of themselves meet the definition of sexual harassment or contribute to a hostile game environment:
A victim of sexual harassment can be of any gender. The victim can be of the same sex as the harasser. The harasser can be any participant, a player or a member of crew.
Many sexual harassment issues in live roleplaying occur when participants use their character to justify what would clearly be inappropriate when not roleplaying. Participants should take care to ensure that if their behaviour involves conversation or physical contact in a sexual or intimate manner that they do not do so in a way that causes the recipient to feel out-of-character uncomfortable, regardless of any in-character considerations.
We are committed to creating an environment where there is mutual respect and equality of opportunity for all participants. We want our games to be inclusive - where everyone can take part and everyone is welcome - and we oppose all forms of unlawful and unfair discrimination.
We will:
Opposing discrimination and harassment is not causing trouble - it is helping to build a better event for everyone.
It is not possible for us to create an environment that is free from discrimination or harassment by ourselves. It can only be accomplished if everyone who participates in the game works towards that goal. Challenging inappropriate behaviour by other participants is helpful, but not everyone is comfortable or confident to do that. We want all participants to be confident that they can bring complaints to us and that we will deal with them promptly, respectfully, and appropriately.
In general we operate on a “single warning” policy; players who commit some significant misdemeanour (such as sexual harassment) receive a written warning making clear that any further complaints about them will result in their permanent exclusion from the event. The nature of complaints in LRP is that there is very little other than hearsay evidence. Giving the accused a single warning gives a reasonable balance, giving them a chance to avoid making a similar mistake in future while avoiding the need to make a judgement beyond reasonable doubt of the veracity of either party. In cases where an incident is extremely serious we issue an immediate ban; we do not require evidence beyond reasonable doubt, but rather use the same “balance of probabilities” test we use for any other incidents.
If a participant wishes to report an incident but wishes to remain anonymous or does not otherwise want to make a formal complaint, then we adjust our complaints process to reflect their wishes. The issue is discussed in detail with the complainant and we investigate it as thoroughly as we are able to without compromising their anonymity. The incident is logged on the accused's participants database records; if there are independent complaints in the future against the same party then we would use the history of previous incidents in determining the outcome of subsequent complaints.