This game is rated Mature, not Adult.  Cursing, violence with mild to moderate gore, and off-screen sex are all acceptable.  Explicit discussion of sex, excessive gore, or anything else that is covered by the Adult policies, is not acceptable here.  If you're not sure, check the site rules or ask me privately.

Please use colored text for dialogue.  Any color is fine, except orange, which is reserved for OOC comments in the IC threads.  If you do have any OOC comments, such as dice rolls or rule questions, please do put those in orange.  And please do include all relevant die rolls somewhere in the post that goes with them.

There is no mandatory posting rate; I understand all too well how real life can interfere with that at times.  However, if you know that you won't be able to post for a while, please let me know.  If we're in combat or other time-sensitive action and we haven't heard from you in a while, I will either skip your turn or do something else that seems appropriate in context but without completely taking over your character.

If you are thinking of dropping out of the game for any reason, PLEASE let me know, either publicly or privately.  It's not going to hurt my feelings, and even if it is something personal, I would rather you just tell me than that I spend a few weeks wondering if you're going to come back or not before I adjust the game as needed.

Lastly, if you have any suggestions for rules changes, or want to dispute a call that I made, feel free to discuss it in the OOC thread.  This is my first time running this game so I'd like to stick with rules as written at the start, but that doesn't mean things won't change over time if we see a need for that.  Any rule changes will be archived in this thread.

Internet use:
This game takes place in the present day, give or take a few years.  Everyone has internet access pretty much all the time.  Any information that you can find on Wikipedia or WikiTravel is considered public knowledge for this game.  However, if I state something as fact within the game and Wikipedia contradicts me, my version is correct in the game world.

Divergence from the real world:
We don't know each other in real life, and I don't want my fun game of spies and vampires and international intrigue to turn into bickering about real world politics, so I'm instituting a couple of changes -
1) the game is set a few years in the past.  It's close enough that all modern technology is accessible, but just far enough back to not have to worry about some of the unpleasant changes we've seen over the last few years (mostly talking about politics, but Coronavirus too)
2) all heads of state and other high-ranking officials and VIPs will be fictional.  Made up names, made up people, made up crimes.  Some of them may bear a closer resemblance to their real-world counterparts than others, but they are all fictional.