Consent Architecture
Consent is a game structure, not a side conversation.
Cordel Play treats consent and pacing as mechanics built into the board and the decks — not something the group has to negotiate outside the game.
The Decree Deck: a real, limited escape.
A Decree card is a fantasy card that sometimes also carries an escape. It is not an escape card — 30 of the 50 cards in the deck carry a PASS or REDRAW symbol, and those cards hold the best fantasies. Cards with no symbol are comparatively plain.
PASS declines the current prompt outright. REDRAW discards the current prompt and draws a new one at the same tier, which must then be resolved — no chaining redraws. Either way, the card is spent and you lose the fantasy printed on it. Using an escape costs you the best thing in your hand; that tradeoff is the design, not a loophole.
At setup, every player is dealt one card that carries a symbol, so everyone begins holding one guaranteed way out. Players draw one more Decree card each time they pass GO, including GO reached by an empty Consent Cup. Hand cap is two, and the player chooses which to keep.
A player with no Decree card in hand who wants to refuse a prompt chooses one of two things: sit out the rest of the game, or remove one item of clothing and stay in — the same choice already built into the Strip Mischief-die category.
When the Consent Cup Is Used
The Consent Cup is brought out only when a player lands on an activity that requires another participating player. It is not used on every turn and is not a general pause or session-ending device.
Voluntary Consent Entry
Any player who is comfortable participating in that specific activity with the player who landed on the space may place their Consent Sphere into the cup. Players who do not wish to participate simply do not enter a sphere. No explanation, public refusal, or justification is required.
This naturally respects each player's sexuality, gender preferences, attraction, familiarity, boundaries, and current comfort level.
Consent and Selection Resolved Together
After all interested players have had the opportunity to enter their Consent Spheres, the cup selects one sphere to determine the participating player.
If nobody enters a sphere, that is a complete and valid resolution: the activity has no participating partner, and play continues according to the card or space instructions. Some "landmine" activities may intentionally create this possibility, making an empty cup an ordinary gameplay outcome rather than an awkward rejection.
Why the Consent Cup Exists
Cordel Play may include players of different genders, sexualities, relationship types, attraction preferences, familiarity levels, and personal boundaries. A player may be comfortable performing an activity with one person but not another, or may simply need more time before participating with someone.
The Consent Cup resolves these situations through the normal mechanics of the game.
When an activity requires another participant, interested players voluntarily place their Consent Spheres into the cup. The cup then selects from only those players who consented to that specific activity with that specific player.
Anyone who does not enter a sphere remains outside the activity without being required to publicly decline or explain why. A player may also respond naturally with something such as, “I’m still getting to know you—maybe next time.”
If no Consent Spheres are entered, the empty cup is itself the resolution. Nobody is pressured, nobody is singled out, and the game continues.
The Consent Cup therefore performs two functions simultaneously:
- It confirms who is willing to participate.
- It neutrally determines which consenting player is selected.
That is the actual consent architecture: consent, compatibility, selection, and non-participation are all resolved inside the ordinary gameplay system rather than through forced negotiation or public rejection.