Players should always treat each other with respect and kindness. After all, you’re playing together to have fun, and that only works if everyone in the group enjoys the game at all times. This is just as true when you’re playing with people you’ve just met as when you’re playing with longtime friends.

Be Considerate

You and your group can tell all sorts of stories set in the Marvel Multiverse. However, some stories are not going to be for everyone, especially if the story involves realistic violence or horrific elements. To make sure that everyone in your game is having fun, it’s smart to talk ahead of time about what kind of game you want to play and what sorts of adventures you want your heroes to take part in.

If you—as either the Narrator or a player—want to do something potentially disturbing or disruptive in a game, be sure to run it by the other players first. This can range from anything as simple as rough language all the way up to the untimely death of characters.

During this discussion, the Narrator shouldn’t have to give away any surprises they might be preparing. They can simply talk about their plans in broad terms, highlighting anything that might be an issue. If you’re not sure what could become a problem, it’s always better to ask.

If you’re playing with younger players, please be especially careful about this. Children might say they’re okay with something you mention, but depending on their age, you might want to double-check with their parents to make sure.

Anyone in the group should be able to veto a suggested proposal for any reason and without any recriminations. The game is best when it’s good for everyone.

Sometimes it’s hard to tell what might bother another player, and you might not think to ask about it ahead of time. By the same token, players might not realize that something is a problem until they actually encounter it during play. It’s not uncommon for players to want to go along during an initial discussion and then discover in the moment that they’re much more uncomfortable than they ever thought they would be.

In such cases, any player should feel free to call a time-out to raise the issue and discuss it. If it turns out there is a problem, you should rewind the game to before the troubling bit and restart from there.

Session Zero

To handle issues of mutual comfort and any other issues that might come up, many experienced groups of role-players schedule a meeting before they start a new game or campaign. They call this Session Zero because it happens before the first session of actual gameplay even begins.

Players can use this time to:

• Talk about the kind of game they want to play.
  • Is it pure action? A high-school drama? Full of espionage and international intrigue?
  • Are they going to use any house or optional rules? Or will they play by the book?
• Talk about the type of characters they want to play.
  • What ranks should the characters be?
  • Are they established heroes or rookies?
  • Do they share the same goals, or are there chances for conflicts and betrayal?
• Raise any concerns they might have.
  • How peaceful or violent would they like the game to be?
  • Should they have a “no killing in this game” rule?
  • Should they declare other things off-limits ahead of time? (Sometimes it’s useful to think of this in terms of maturity ratings.)
• Create their own original characters.
  • This can take time, especially the first time through.
  • New players can help each other figure out the process and answer questions.

Once Session Zero is over, you should be ready to start playing your first adventure. In any case, the cardinal rule for any role-playing game is this:

If everyone in the group is having fun, you’re doing it right.

Safety Tools

There are a number of different safety tools available that are designed for use with all sorts of role-playing games. Many of these work well with the Marvel Multiverse Role-Playing Game too. You can find several of them online for free.

By way of example, look for things like:

• X-Card by John Stavropoulos
• Script Change RPG Toolbox by Beau Jágr Sheldon
• Consent in Gaming by Sean K. Reynolds and Shanna Germain
• The TTRPG Safety Toolkit by Kienna Shaw and Lauren Bryant-Monk

Each of these tools can help make it easier to talk about problems that might come up in your game—and help you figure out how to handle it if unforeseen things come up in the course of play. Check them out, talk about them with your fellow players and see what you all are most comfortable with.

You don’t have to use any of them, of course, but it’s good to know they’re out there for when you might need them.