Tabletop Scotland is a safe space convention, where we want everyone to come and have fun.
Alongside that we expect that all participants behave responsibly at all times.
To aid in the understanding of what that means, the following is our Code of Conduct and it applies to everyone attending the convention whether they be attendees, exhibitors, sponsors, staff or volunteers.
What should I do if I am being harassed?
If you find yourself being harassed, please alert one of the Tabletop Scotland team. Staff wear Yellow shirts and volunteers wear Red shirts.
It may also help to clearly say ‘stop’, ‘no’, ‘please leave me alone’ or disengage from the interaction. But we understand that might not always be possible. We ask that the Tabletop Scotland team is always notified to help us become aware of repeat offenders.
If you choose to report the matter to one of the Tabletop Scotland team, we will take details of the harassment and work with you to respond to the issue in a way that assists you in feeling safe and maintains the safety of the wider convention environment, as well as enforcing our anti-harassment policy.
If you report a serious criminal matter, please be aware that we may be obliged to contact the police. We would however take into account any concerns you may have around involving them.
Anonymous Reporting
If you are unable to alert one of the Tabletop Scotland team, or you would prefer to be anonymous, please complete our Anonymous Incident Reporting form. This form will be open from Friday 5th September 2025 until Sunday 14th September 2025.
All reports will be handled in the strictest of confidence with only Tabletop Scotland Staff aware of the submission content. Include as much detail as you feel comfortable disclosing so we can investigate and address your incident.
If you’re are happy for us to contact you with respect to the report, please include contact information.
All participants are expected to adhere to this Code of Conduct.
Anyone can report a breach of the Code of Conduct.
If someone’s behaviour has made you uncomfortable, or if you witness the same happening to someone else, you should immediately contact someone from the Tabletop Scotland team.
Staff wear Yellow shirts and volunteers wear Red shirts.
In short Be excellent to each other!
Tabletop Scotland is dedicated to providing a safe experience for everyone, regardless of gender, sexuality, disability, physical appearance, body size, race or religion. For this reason, we will not tolerate any form of harassment of or by convention participants.
Participants found to be engaging in harassment, may be sanctioned or expelled from the events hosted by the convention without refund.
The decision on sanction or expulsion is held by the Tabletop Scotland staff or volunteers. We expect participants to follow these rules at all times.
The UK Equality Act 2010 defines harassment where the behaviour is meant to or has the effect of either:
- violating your dignity
- creating an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive environment
Harassment is unwanted behaviour which you find offensive or which makes you feel intimidated or humiliated.
- It can happen on its own or alongside other forms of discrimination
- It may be directed at you, but it can also be directed at someone else or even at no-one in particular
- It may have to do with your or someone else’s protected characteristic
- It may not have anything to do with you but you still find it offensive.
This means it’s harassment even if the person harassing you didn’t mean to offend or intimidate you, as long as the harassment has one of the above effects.
Harassment includes:
- offensive written or verbal comments about gender, sexuality, impairment, physical appearance, body size, race or religion
- showing unexpected images of a sexual or violent nature within Tabletop Scotland organised events
- intimidation, stalking, doxxing or following of any participant
- sustained disruption of seminars or other events
- uninvited physical or sexual attention on other participants
- plus any other actions or activities undertaken by participants deemed as harassment by Tabletop Scotland staff or volunteers.
Participants asked to stop behaviour that has been considered harassment must comply immediately.
RPGs – In Game Conduct
At Tabletop Scotland we recognise that there are many games available which push boundaries in interesting and creative ways.
To ensure that everyone that attends our events has a positive experience, our Code Of Conduct applies to in-game conduct and due to the improvisational nature of Roleplaying Games, all Game Masters will be required to use the X-card as a minimum standard. There are a variety of Safety Tools out there which help to facilitate a safe environment but there is no “one size fits all”. Choosing a Safety Tool needs to be done by factoring in the content that is likely to come up in the game. That may suggest alternative an alternative tool is a better fit and there’s a link below with more options.
The X-card is a tool that helps maintain a safe environment at the gaming table. Roleplaying games are creative and narrative experiences and they can vary widely in content. As such, it can be impossible to predict when participants may encounter uncomfortable content.
The X-card provides a mechanism to keep the content at the table as safe as possible for everyone.
What is the X-Card?
It is a card with an X on it.
The X card can be used at any point, if a participant is uncomfortable with the content happening in-game. The X card is used by tapping or raising the card or if playing virtually by typing an “X” in the chat. As a result of this, the group can change, rewind, or skip the content.
The X-Card was designed by John Stavropoulos and more information about it can be found at the link below.
Other Safety Tools?
The excellent TTRPG Safety Tool Kit (linked below) by Kienna Shaw and Lauren Bryant-Monk provides additional information on the use of Safety Tools in RPGs.
