Community


Community is the heart and soul of Cottington Woods, and we seek to foster a community that is warm, welcoming, and safe to all. If you plan to join Cottington Woods, know that you are joining a community of people, and we ask that you understand and uphold our values.

If there is something we can do to better support our community, please contact us and give us the opportunity to do so.


Stay in Touch

There are a few ways to stay in touch with the Cottington Woods community outside of the actual events:

Cottington Woods Google Group

While primarily used by Staff to communicate to Players, this is open-to-all group where Players and NPCs alike are encouraged to communicate, ask questions, and more. We encourage anyone planning on participating in Cottington Woods to join the Google Group, as all official communications will be made here.

Cottington Woods Private Facebook Group

We have a very active private Facebook group. where people ask questions and share pictures, ideas, memes, and more. We do tend to post announcements here as well, since so many of our community are active here.

Cottington Woods Discord Server

We have a fairly active Cottington Woods Discord Server. Please contact us if you would like an invite to the Server.

NPC Cast Google Group

If you are one of our NPCs, or plan on NPCing for us, we highly recommend joining our NPC group. This is where we will make announcements only for NPCs, provide NPC-only info and details for upcoming events, and where NPCs can ask questions of staff.


Community Values

(Read our values here)

Our community – Staff, NPCs, and PCs alike – has members who have chronic, invisible illnesses, have chronic, visible illnesses, are neuro-atypical, are LGTBQ+, are POC. We represent a diversity of thought and being, and where an individual may not be one of those things, they are expected to support and respect those who are. We are imperfect, but we strive to be and do good, and we collectively care deeply about the community we have here.

The Golden Rule may be a fairytale, but it is one we uphold: Do unto each other as you would have done unto you. Be nice. Be respectful. Love one another. Be the good you want to see in the world.

If you join Cottington Woods, know that are joining a community who all strive to be and do good while having fun together, and that we expect the same from you in return.

We do not tolerate hatred or harassment of any kind, full stop.

We reserve the right, without notice, to remove players violating our values from our community. Our priority is to maintain a safe and inclusive community, and we hold ourselves equally accountable to being the change we wish to see in the world, requiring constant vigilance, work, learning, and action.


COVID-19 Vaccination and Masks & Contagious Illness Policy

COVID-19 Vaccination Policy

In order to ensure the safety of the Cottington Woods Community, we will require all attendees to our events – PCs, NPCs, and Staff – to provide proof of vaccination against Covid-19. We use the CDC Guidelines on “Up-To-Date with Vaccination,”which includes Recent Eligible Booster. We will accept photos of your vaccine cards on your phone or other devices to prove vaccination status.

We will provide a means for you to verify your vaccination status ahead of the actual event. This includes but is not limited to:

  1. hosting a video chat where you can show a staff member your vaccine card,
  2. sending a photo of your card to a designated email address (vaccinated@cottingtonwoods.com), or
  3. showing your card or a photo of your card at check-in at the event.

We will not keep copies of your vaccination card. If sent to us via email, we will delete the email after verifying your vaccination status.

As a reminder, you must be 14 days past your final shot to be considered fully vaccinated.

If you have been exposed to COVID-19 in the past 0-4 days, please do not attend the event, as you will likely not test positive in that timeframe if you have gotten Covid-19. If it has been 5-10 days, and you receive a Negative PCR Test (not a home test), you may attend provided you remain masked at all times.

Based on CDC Guidance, if you have not received the most recent booster, but had a positive Covid-19 test in the 90 days prior to the Sunday of the event, we will accept proof of your Covid Case in lieu of the updated booster. However, you must still provide proof of vaccination.

If you have a medical exception as to why you cannot be vaccinated, we will instead accept:

  1. A letter from your doctor explaining you have a medical reason that you cannot take the vaccine. We do not need to know the reason why. We are not medical professionals. We need only confirmation from a medical professional that you cannot be vaccinated.
  2. A negative Covid-19 PCR test within 72 hours of the event.

Please note that we will inform our community if we have an individual(s) who have a medical exception. We will not say who it is, but we wish to ensure that the community understands the risk factors involved.

We do reserve the right to require vaccinations and/or boosters for all future events should variants of COVID-19 spread – or any other pandemic occur.

Additional Covid-19 Event Policies:

  • All attendees (PC, NPC, and Staff) must be vaccinated against COVD-19, as noted in the Vaccination Policy guideline above. Medical exceptions will require a doctor’s letter and a negative COVID-19 test, per the guidelines above, and Cottington staff may at any time choose to not allow medical exceptions. We strongly recommend that those who cannot be fully vaccinated not attend for their own safety.
  • Sign and return the Covid-19 Release and Waiver form below or online here: https://bit.ly/CW2covidwaiver
  • Following the recent guideline updates published by the CDC, face masks will be not be required indoors but we encourage everyone to mask when in confined spaces where social distance cannot be maintained. If there is a surge in cases in the region, we reserve the right to require masks in Monster Camp and/or all indoor spaces and will announce at game opening. Masks will be provided for those who may not have them.
  • We kindly ask all participants to take an at-home COVID-19 Test on Friday before coming to the event to confirm a negative test status.
  • Anyone exhibiting any symptoms must wear a mask at all times when indoors and within 6 feet of others. Mask may only be removed to eat or drink and then must be immediately replaced.
  • Extra Masks, medical gloves, hand sanitizer, and disinfectant will be available for those who wish them at Monster Camp.
  • If you have had an exposure within the last 72 hours, we kindly ask you not attend, even if testing negative, due to the risk that you may develop symptoms and be contagious during the event. If you do attend, please remain masked at all times (except for eating and drinking), and please either tent or sleep offsite.

Changes to Monster Camp Setup to Protect our NPCs:

In an effort to keep our NPCs, who are in enclosed shared spaces for prep and briefings, and who make use of the same costuming, masks, and makeup, we will be making the following changes to ensure the safety of our NPCs and Staff:

  • Extra Masks, medical gloves, hand sanitizer, and disinfectant will be available.
  • NPCs are encouraged to bring their own makeup if they wish to use makeup for their roles, but CW2 Staff will also provide individual paint trays for NPCs and staff to prevent cross-contamination of makeup supplies between disinfection. Each NPC will have their own makeup cups or trays and makeup applicators for each event. Makeup will no longer be shared.
  • Disinfection of shared costumes, packets, and weapons provided for staff and NPCs.
  • If you have been exposed to COVID-19 in the last 6-10 days, you must obtain a negative COVID-19 test to participate

 


Masks and Contagious Illness

Cottington Woods would like to codify our support of Mask-wearing going forward, to protect yourself and others from the spread of Contagious Illnesses. LARPing typically occurs during flu and cold season, and as we consider the return to LARPing, we also recognize the potential return of “LARP crud” and the spread of contagious illnesses among the LARP community.

If you are sick with a contagious illness, we ask that you do not attend a Cottington Woods event.

If you are at an event, and suspect you are becoming sick and/or exhibit symptoms, we ask that you don a mask that covers mouth and nose to protect others, until such time that you deem you are not ill or you remove yourself from the event.

We recognize that there can be overlapping symptoms between contagious illnesses and non contagious maladies such as allergies. We trust people to act in a manner that is safe and reasonable for their own health and wellbeing as well as the health and wellbeing of those around them in making determinations about whether they are safe to stay at an event or whether to leave early.

We encourage anyone and everyone to wear a mask if you wish to take precautions against getting sick. Use hand sanitizer and regularly wash your hands.

In-Game, not everyone has ready access to a Witch or a Priest, and so it is common in the Written World for those who are ill, or who might be near those who are ill, to wear a mask to protect themselves and others.


If you are attending a Cottington Woods event, you are also required to fill out and turn in the following forms in order to participate:

You may also download a copy of our Community Values & Code of Conduct, as well as the current Campsite rules:


Cottington Woods © Copyright 2012
Designed by Jonathan Heard