First of all, congrats on having the courage to open a new thread. And the questions are good ones!

The most important thing to start with is to be sure your play will be Safe, Sane, & Consentual (SSC for short). There are plenty of masters, but some won't allow SSC, they demand Total Power Exchange (TPE) and think whatever they want to do is all right.

As a suggestion, you will first want to establish "hard" limits: "I absolutely will not do (whatever) under any circumstances. Then establish "soft" limits: "I ~might~ try that, slowly and carefully, maybe".

To establish that, you likely would want to use a checklist which was originally put together by some college (University of Washington, USA, I think). The list is NOT all inclusive, but has a general term for just about anything. You'll find it at http://www.bdsmcircle.net/dslifestyle/checklist.htm.

Another great resource is the "S & M Dictionary", posted at http://www.sandm.com/p/103.html

Good luck, and come back to keep us informed. More Questions? Lots of good people here to help.

Chksng19