Non-Com Rules Change Highlights.

• New dedicated Story Staff Member for Non-Com targeted mods.
• Clarification on what defines a “Non-Com”
• Diana’s Blessing is now optional instead of mandatory.
• No skill restrictions for Non-Coms.
• Non-Coms now only have to be “out of sight” of physical combat to heal others. This replaces the previous vague rule of “as far away from battle as possible”, and should make it slightly easier to be a Non-Com healer.
• Non-Coms can deathblow, torture, employ rope use, or cast Dominate if there is no physical combat nearby.
• Non-Coms are now immune to berserk and certain Dominate commands.
• Non-Coms can be targeted by verbal damage, until they decide to exercise the optional use of Diana’s Blessing.
• Non-Coms can be targeted by ward, gesture, gaze, voice, forsooth, touch, and “take effect” calls, until they decide to exercise the optional use of Diana’s Blessing.
• Non-Coms in bleedout and death counts may reposition to the closest safe place based on their mobility needs.
• Guidelines for what combatants should do if they accidentally hit a Non-Com.
• Mandatory light-up orange headbands for nighttime play.

New Non-Com Story Position.

We will be introducing a new Non-Com story team member to make mods that capture adventure but are specifically catered to Non-Com players. This includes mods designed around puzzles, escape rooms, lore bids, talking through combat using your character sheets, tabletop mods, etc.

Non-Com Summary: Players who cannot be exposed to the normal rigors of combat because of disability or injury can participate as a Non-Combatant (or “Non-Com”). Non-Com status is signaled by wearing an orange headband, showing that the wearer should not be physically struck under any circumstances and that they also will not contribute to combat in any way. They also have the exclusive right to use Diana’s Blessing to go out of character (“OOC”) to avoid physical combat.

Spirit of the Non-Com Rules: We want Non-Coms to have fun, stay safe, and be included. We want the community to look after one another regardless of ability or Non-Com status.

What Every Player Needs to Know About Non-Coms:

While the full Non-Com rules below may not apply to you, every player must know the following: Do not EVER engage in physical combat with players wearing an orange headband.

Physical combat is defined as any combat where melee weapons, thrown weapons, arrows, or packets are being actively utilized by one or more combatants.

The full Non-Com rules and expectations for safe and inclusive gameplay are below.

Combat at Twin Mask for Non-Fighting Characters

By its very nature, Twin Mask is a boffer LARP. Nevertheless, it is very common for players to play characters at Twin Mask that have zero fighting skills, do not carry a weapon, and avoid combat at all costs, all without using the official orange headband Non-Com status. Twin Mask uses a “lightest touch” attack system, so it is very possible to play and contribute even if you are not comfortable with being struck hard: you can play a “support” character, you can try to stay away from big melees, and you can even caution people you are fighting to swing a bit more gently at you. Even if you have significant accessibility restrictions—such as a disability, a chronic illness, or another medical concern—you can jump right into the game, as long as you can safely survive a few hits from a lightest-touch foam boffer weapon. Regardless of play style, players must be thoroughly aware they may be hit with a boffer weapon during the weekend of a game session, as combat is always a possibility, 24 hours a day, often without warning.

Non-Coms and Orange Headbands

Still, there are some people who wish to participate in Twin Mask but cannot be safely exposed to the rigors of combat under any circumstances, and, for those people, we offer the possibility of playing as a Non-Combatant (or “Non-Com”). Please note, we cannot guarantee a Non-Com will never be hit by a boffer weapon, packet, or arrow. LARP is a sport, and it has a lot of moving pieces, so a player could accidentally swing a boffer before they realize you are a Non-Com. Consider this risk in making your decision to attend Twin Mask.

You can opt into Non-Com on a per-game basis. Once you exercise the right to play as a Non-Com for a game, you cannot choose to rescind your Non-Com status for that same game’s duration. For example, you cannot be a Non-Com only for an alt or only while on an NPC shift. If you get injured during the game and choose afterwards to opt into Non-Com status for the remainder of the game, then you must stay a Non-Com the entire game and cannot remove the orange headband a few hours later if your injury feels better.

Non-Com status is signaled by wearing an orange headband, showing that the wearer should not be physically attacked under any circumstances, and that they also will not contribute to combat in any way. All orange headbands must be visible and obvious while worn. A Non-Com must have a light-up orange headband at night to participate in the LARP after dark. Non-Coms must also wear their orange headbands while on their NPC shift. Orange bands around other parts of the body, such as around the arm, are not adequate. Orange costume pieces worn on the head (such as orange demon horns or fox ears) are not adequate.

The headband must be visible from all angles, 360 degrees. If it is only visible from the front, or if it is too obscured by headgear, costuming, or other decoration, then it is not adequate. It should not be easily misunderstood as being a part of your costuming. Lights on your headband are required at night, but the lights should be covered by fabric and dimmed as much as possible, following the illumination regulations in the rulebook.

While the Twin Mask safety team has a limited number of orange headbands on site, to guarantee that you will have one, please bring your own. If you cannot bring your own, Twin Mask will do their best to provide one for you, while supplies last. If you need to go Non-Com mid-game because of an injury, you should inquire at weapons check and at logistics for an orange headband.  

Orange ribbon and lights can be purchased on Amazon:

Orange Ribbon: https://a.co/d/4F2FDry
Lights: https://a.co/d/aCTJ3rj

Who May Non-Com?

Non-Com is for anyone who is disabled, injured, or has any other condition (be it acute or chronic) that prevents them from safely participating in combat.^[1] This is an honor system. Twin Mask has no intention of investigating why any particular player chooses to be a Non-Com. You do not need an official medical diagnosis or a doctor’s note to be a Non-Com.

The Non-Com ruleset is not intended for:

• people who did not build their character for combat.  
• people who prefer parlor larps to boffer larps.
• people whose costuming does not allow for physical combat.

Non-Com is an accommodation for the personal safety of disabled, injured, or other players with extenuating special circumstances, to allow them to be a part of the Twin Mask experience. Many disabilities are invisible. Never question whether a Non-Com is “actually disabled.” It is against Twin Mask’s Code of Conduct for a player to openly question whether someone is “actually disabled.”

Please do not use the Non-Com status if you do not qualify for it.

Diana’s Blessing. 
If you are a Non-Com player, you have the ability to “teleport” away from any combat near you by becoming a fleeting cloud of celestial light. To do so, you raise a fist over your head (or don a white headband) to signify that you are out of character, call “I fade into golden light” or simply say “Diana’s Blessing,” and then move away from combat as quickly and safely as you can. This movement should be done as unobtrusively as possible, but if you need others to clear a way for you, you are empowered to call “Caution!” or even “Hold!” as necessary. Once you are away from combat—ideally, out of sight of any ongoing fighting—you should say “a cloud of golden light reforms into my body” and go back into character. You must then act confused and disoriented for 3 minutes.

This does not mean that the character you play needs to be similarly vulnerable or combat-averse. You are welcome to play a heroic fighter who is pulled away from combat by the magic of Diana’s Blessing right when they would want to stomp their foes into the ground.

Use of Diana’s Blessing is optional. If you believe you can avoid and escape physical combat without using Diana’s Blessing, then you do not have to use it. Non-Coms should avoid getting too close to physical combat. If physical combat comes to them, there are situations where, for example, remaining seated is simply safer than trying to leave the area. In these situations, at their discretion, they can remain seated or seek cover for their own safety.

Non-Coms have a responsibility to try to keep a safe distance from active physical combat. What is a “safe distance” may be different to different Non-Coms. If a physical combatant in active combat approaches a Non-Com, the Non-Com should say “Caution, Non-Com!” 

Even though Diana’s Blessing is optional, as a Non-Com you are forbidden to contribute to any active combat. As examples, a Non-Com should not use their position as Non-Com to purposefully stand between two players trying to boffer fight, calling “Guard Parry” on others to prevent physical blows, or calling ward lines in the physical game space. However, if you are out of sight of active combat, then you should feel free to heal or support other players that are not engaged in active combat. 

If you are uncertain about whether an action would be considered “directly contributing to a battle,” you should err on the side of noninvolvement.

Non-Coms can use Diana’s Blessing to escape physical combat even if they are in Weakness, Sleep, Petrify, Paralyze, Stun, or during a Hold. While in Diana’s Blessing, all game-specific timers, such as bleedout, petrify, etc., are paused and then resumed once Diana’s Blessing ends. A Non-Com in bleedout or deathcount should relocate to the closest area that accommodates their out-of-character physical safety, and not necessarily the closest area that accommodates their character getting healed by allies.

If a Hold or a Time Freeze is called during physical combat, Non-Coms should use that opportunity to leave the area. When they do, they can alert others by saying “Caution—Non-Coms leaving the area!” so that others know to let them through before the Hold/Time Freeze is finished. Story staff should allow Non-Coms to leave before resuming the game into physical combat from a time freeze.

When you use Diana’s Blessing, you must leave behind any plot-dependent items, red-tagged items, God candles, or things that you believe may be stolen.

** WARNING: Failure to Use Diana’s Blessing will make it more likely that you are accidentally or inadvertently hit. You opt out at your own risk. **

Since Diana’s Blessing takes a Non-Com out of character, players may not follow a Non-Com until they come back in-character to attack them again.

The greatest tool in your arsenal as a Non-Com is Diana’s Blessing because it allows you to leave and avoid combat as needed. We encourage you to exercise the option to use it liberally and often.

Bleedout/Death Count as a Non-Com.
If a Non-Com’s disability or injury prevents it, then they do not have to get onto the ground or even take a knee to represent bleedout or death count. If they remain standing, at their discretion they may describe in a normal volume: “You see me laying on the ground here.” If their disability requires it, Non-Coms are allowed to move to the closest bench or chair to sit down as they continue their bleedout or death count.

If a Non-Com’s physical safety is jeopardized while they are in bleedout or death count—for example if they are in death count in the middle of the road and then a physical combat approaches them—the Non-Com may move to the closest area where they are no longer in physical danger, such as just off the road. (Note that this isn’t using Diana’s Blessing, this is just an OOC movement for safety and disability purposes).

Engaging a Non-Com in Verbal Combat.

Just because you are wearing an orange headband does not mean that your character is immune to damage. While you should feel free to call “Caution: Non-Combatant!” if an enemy approaches you, it is entirely possible that you may be attacked by verbal combat.  

The rules of engagement for verbal combat are that an enemy within reasonable range for the attack that they are using (e.g., melee range for a melee attack) may describe their attacks against a Non-Com. These include any attacks a character has the ability to perform, including describing weapon attacks, packet attacks, magic, or arrow attacks. The Non-Com must either call “Taken” or a defense to each of the attacks. If possible, the Non-Com should roleplay any damage taken. After calling their defenses, the Non-Com has the option of ending the combat with Diana’s Blessing. If the Non-Com does not choose to use Diana’s Blessing, then the enemy may continue with more verbal attacks.

Verbally delivered effects such as: ward, gaze, voice, gesture, or “take effect” delivered attacks can all hit Non-Coms.

Non-Coms may choose to Diana’s Blessing away from this kind of non-physical combat, if it is directed at them specifically, even though there are no OOC safety concerns. This is solely an OOC balance consideration because Non-Coms cannot fight back verbally or physically, so they need some way to escape. However, they must first either call a defense, or they will take the effect.

The exchange might go something like this:

-The enemy moves within a few feet of the Non-Com and directly says to them (perhaps pointing or saying their name to make clear who they are attacking): “I swing my sword at you and hit you for 3 damage!”

-The Non-Com may then respond with, for example: “Taken. Diana’s Blessing, I fade into a golden light.” In this example, the Non-Com will have taken 3 damage, and assuming they are still at or above 1 health, is able to Diana’s Blessing to safety.

-If the damage puts the Non-Com to 0 health, and there is no physical combat in the immediate vicinity, then the Non-Com should go into bleedout instead of activating Diana’s Blessing. If there is physical combat, then the Non-Com may choose to Diana’s Blessing to a safe area and begin their bleedout count from there.

Here is a second example of how combat could proceed:

-An enemy encounters a Non-Com and says “By my gesture, drain 3.”

-The Non-Com responds “Willpower.  You don’t scare me.”  

-The enemy then moves within melee range and says: “I attack you with my axe and strike you for 3 damage, again with my axe for 5 damage.”

-The Non-Com responds:  “I take the first and use Parry^[2] on the second. Is that all you got?” The Non-Com may roleplay the 3 damage they have taken.

-The combat can then proceed with the enemy choosing to either engage in roleplay, or continue verbally attacking until the Non-Com goes into bleedout or activates Diana’s Blessing.  

At no point during this verbal exchange should an enemy actually swing their weapon at the Non-Com. The enemy may point at the Non-Com to make it clear who they are attacking.

Enemies should not simultaneously engage in actual physical boffer combat while also engaging in verbal combat with a Non-Com.

Special skills like Stealth Attacks can be used on Non-Coms if all the conditions are met.

Attackers using verbal combat should follow the Flurry rules, pausing for the Non-Com to respond at least once every 3 attacks.

Tabletop Mods.

Story staff and story advocates can pull aside Non-Coms (whether or not they have activated Diana’s Blessing) to act out a scene via theater of the mind (commonly referred to as “tabletop”). In-character consequences, such as character death, are possible in these scenarios.

A storyteller can engage you into tabletop mode even while you are in Diana’s Blessing.

Players may choose to have their characters not be confined by real-life disabilities in a tabletop mod. E.g., in a theater-of-the-mind encounter, a player could have their character attempt to “run away at full speed” even if the player is mobility impaired.

In tabletop, Non-Coms can swing swords and throw packets. If weapon or armor skills are on their character sheet, a Non-Com can use any such weapon and armor in tabletop mode even if they do not have the phys-rep weapons and armor on their physical person.

Healers.

Non-Coms may heal and resurrect others as long as they are out of sight of physical combat. A Non-Com could, for example, sit inside the closed door of a Healer’s Clinic tent as combat rages outside and heal people that are dragged inside to them. However, an unguarded healer’s tent filled with non-combat healers will also be a tempting target for assassins and enemies.

The bell ringer rule applies to this: do not turn your back to combat a few feet away from you and then begin healing people because the combat is now “out of sight.”

Skill Restrictions.

Non-Coms have no skill restrictions. All skills, weapons, armor, and magic can be taken on the character sheet or learned in the game space.

Rope Use and Torture can now be used by Non-Coms in the physical game space since they are usually only done to characters that are already incapacitated. General caution: use of skills like this may lead to combat.

Skills, like Dominate, can be used by Non-Coms in Non-Combat situations. For example:

• A Non-Com may use Dominating Gesture to cast lesser dominate on a townsfolk NPC in a situation where no combat is present, and then command the townsfolk to give an item to them.
• The Non-Com may then deathblow the helpless townsfolk, assuming that there is still no combat present.
• However, be aware that the townsfolk could, for example, “willpower” the dominate, and then engage in verbal combat, which would end the ability for the Non-Com to continue using a skill like dominate.
• Or, another character may witness the robbery, and approach the scene with their weapon brandished, causing the Non-Com to exercise their option to use Diana’s Blessing, leaving the stolen items behind.

Non-Coms should not order dominated or undead characters to engage in physical combat.

Miscellaneous.

Non-Coms can deathblow incapacitated characters using deathblow descriptions that do not involve a weapon, such as “Deathblow: I open your wounds and let you bleed out quickly,” or “Deathblow, I strangle you to death.” Reminder that deathblows are not silly events and the descriptions should avoid comedy.

Non-Coms may call “no-effect, Non-Com” to Berserk calls in the physical game space. 

If dominated in the physical game space, Non-Coms should caution the person that dominated them that they are a Non-Com. They may call “no effect, Non-Com” to any commands that put them into combat or that they are unable to do because of their disability. Note that dominate lasts a full 3 minutes, so the person who dominated you can give you new commands.

There is no prior permission needed for actual real-life mobility aids like canes and walking sticks. They do not need to pass a safety check, nor do they need to be genre.

Though it is not recommended, Non-Coms may carry boffer weapons. If you choose to carry a weapon as a Non-Com, you may not actually strike anyone with the weapon and are accepting additional risk that you may be attacked because people are less likely to recognize someone with weapons as being a Non-Com. 

Players who are not Non-Coms should not wear orange ribbons or headbands in such a way that has even the potential of causing others to confuse them with a Non-Com.

Accidental Combat.

Never purposefully touch a Non-Com with a boffer weapon or packet.

Suggested Guidelines for if you do accidentally engage in physical combat with someone wearing an orange headband: (1) stop immediately, (2) apologize, (3) caution other combatants that there is a Non-Com, (4) check-in and ask if they are OK, and (5) ask if they need an escort to a safer area. On the rare occasion an escort is necessary, you or someone else may go out of character to escort them and may call "caution, Non-Com coming through!" to help them get around the combat situation. (6) If combat is so crowded and chaotic that the Non-Com cannot be safely escorted out of combat, then you may call “HOLD!” and then escort them to safety while the Hold is in place.

If you see a Non-Com in the middle of a physical combat situation, consider checking in and asking them OOC if they are OK. If they are not, ask them if an escort out of the area would be helpful.

Photographs of Non-Com Headbands at game. 

Photography Credit: Aisling Gorgon.

Photography Credit: Toli Carter.

Photography Credit: Joshua Reyes.

        Photography Credit: M. Van Brink
        
        Photography Credit: Amanda Mielke - Camera Wench Photography