Waypoint RealmsHelp center
Back to app
Help topics

LARP safety calls & consent tools

The calls that stop a scene — Hold, Man down, Time out — and the consent tools that let you steer one, with the reminder that your game's own briefing always wins.

EveryoneUpdated August 28, 2026

LARP runs on a small shared vocabulary that anyone can use to stop or steer a scene. The Safety & Rules Reference in the LARP Realm collects the calls most systems share, so a first-timer is not learning them for the first time in the middle of a fight.

The LARP safety and rules reference listing universal safety calls — Hold, Man down, Time in or Lay on, Time out or Time freeze, and Time stop — each with what it means, above a consent and comfort tools section.
The calls most systems share. Your game's own briefing always takes precedence.

Your game's briefing wins, always

Calls and safe words vary by community. This reference is a starting point and a memory aid, never a substitute for the safety briefing of the game you are actually playing. If your system uses a different word, use theirs.

The calls

  • “Hold” — the loudest and most important one. Freeze immediately: a real safety issue. Everyone stops, drops to a knee, and stays quiet until a marshal calls the scene back in.
  • “Man down” — a real, out-of-character medical or injury situation at a location. Play stops around it; get a marshal.
  • “Time in” / “Lay on” — play begins. You are in character from here.
  • “Time out” / “Time freeze” — pause briefly to resolve a rules question or cross a hazard. Often signalled with a fist on the head.
  • “Time stop” — everyone closes their eyes or looks down and holds, so a scene can be reset or NPCs moved unseen.

Consent & comfort tools

Beyond the emergency calls, most games carry tools for steering a scene that is going somewhere you would rather it did not — without stopping play for everyone. The reference lists the common ones. Learn the two your game uses before you need them; nobody has ever regretted knowing how to say “less of this” quietly.

Off the field too

Safety calls cover the game. For everything around it — meeting people, travelling to a site, and what to do when someone will not respect a boundary — see meeting in person safely and reporting & blocking.

Still stuck? Browse all help or contact us. To report someone or something, use the report action on the relevant profile, post, or session — it sends us the context automatically.