House Rules

"Colonel Brennan's Troubleshooters: Standards of Conduct"

General Requirements

Age Requirement: All members of Colonel Brennan's Troubleshooters must be eighteen (18) years of age or older.

Sim Central Membership: All potential players must join the Sim Central Discord prior to joining. Players who leave the Sim Central Discord are assumed to be resigning from the game. As members of Sim Central, all players are required to follow Sim Central community rules.

Respectful Conduct: All members are required to be respectful to each other with a zero-tolerance policy for bullying and conduct disruptive to the group. We encourage open dialogue to resolve conflicts, but personal disputes must stay out of public channels.

Discord Access: Players must have access to the Telegraph (our Discord server) for out-of-character communication, die rolling, and coordination.

Activity Requirements

Colonel Brennan's Troubleshooters cannot function if players do not post in a relatively timely manner. It puts added strain on existing players and damages plot momentum. By joining, you agree to keep up with minimal posting requirements.

Minimum Posting

All members are expected to participate in at least one published Article per calendar month, unless they are currently involved in a longer joint post or have been excused via a Leave of Absence (LOA).

Response Time

Members should respond to tags in active scenes within 72 hours. If you need more time, please communicate with your fellow posse members and the Marshal to manage expectations. Real life comes first, but communication keeps the story moving.

Leaves of Absence (LOAs)

• If you are unable to meet activity expectations for any reason, please let us know. Life happens, and we're happy to work with you.
• LOA notifications can be submitted in the designated Telegraph channel or directly to the Marshal.
• LOAs are not requests for permission—they're simply a heads-up so we can coordinate around your absence.
• Short-term schedule disruptions or busyness can also be shared informally in Telegraph. Communication helps everyone plan better.

Extended Inactivity

If you have not logged into Nova or communicated with the Marshal for more than 30 days without an LOA in place, we reserve the right to retire your character(s), conclude or reassign any associated plots, and remove access without notice. Ghosting the game can block others from engaging with your character and slows down collaborative storytelling. Please keep us informed—we're happy to accommodate breaks when we know what's going on.

Writing Standards

Posting Format

All posts must be written in third person and past tense. This maintains consistency across the campaign and creates a cohesive narrative voice.

Example: McGraw pushed through the saloon doors and surveyed the room. "I'm looking for Snake-Eye Sullivan," he announced.

Writing in Character

All writers are expected to avoid some basic potential pitfalls:

• Only write for characters assigned to you. Don't control other player characters or major NPCs without permission.
• No Metagaming: Don't use your out-of-character knowledge to give your character in-game knowledge they wouldn't otherwise have. If the Marshal tells you something privately in Telegraph, your character only knows it if they learned it in-game.
• No God Syndrome or Super-Heroism: Stick to your character's biography and skills. Don't spontaneously generate new abilities to solve a crisis or give your character an edge. All characters are subject to the consequences of their actions.
• Marshal Direction: The Marshal may find it necessary to drive certain responses for progression of the story. Trust the process.

Location and Timeline

An appropriate location and timeline information (date, time) are required for all posts and should coincide with the general storyline regardless of order published to the website. This allows for multiple writers to keep active without always waiting on items holding up the timeline.

Content Rating & Maturity Guidelines

The most important rule of thumb when considering violence, gore, sex, nudity, or language in a scene is: What does this serve? How does this deepen an understanding of the situation and/or the characters involved?

Violence & Gore

This is a horror Western. Scenes of violence—both mundane and supernatural—are part of the genre. Gunfights, monster attacks, and the aftermath of violence can be depicted, but should be done with taste and purpose.

• Graphic violence is permitted when it serves the story and atmosphere. The Weird West is a dangerous place.
• Don't be gratuitous. Violence should enhance tension and horror, not glorify suffering for shock value.
• Torture scenes should be faded to black/from black. We can understand torture happened without dwelling on graphic details.
• Medical scenes in aftermath of violence don't need to be excessively graphic.
• Sexual violence is absolutely prohibited. Do not depict or suggest rape scenes or sexual assault in any way. This will result in immediate expulsion.

Sexual Content & Nudity

• No explicit sexual content. Scenes with sexual contact are "fade to black." Sexual encounters and described nudity can be initiated but should cease before or at penetration/foreplay.
• If a post contains sexual content, please include a warning at the top of the post.
• Sexual characteristics may be described tastefully. Don't sexualize normally mundane scenes.
• Extended scenes of nudity are acceptable if they serve a purpose (bathing, changing clothes, medical examination), but don't over-describe details.
• Absolutely prohibited: Any sexual content involving minors (under 18) or sexual violence. This will result in immediate expulsion.

Language

Mature language and swearing is permitted with limitations. This is 1877—people curse, especially in rough frontier towns. However:

• Nothing excessive or inflammatory toward modern minorities
• DO NOT use modern slurs of any kind
• Period-appropriate profanity is fine: damn, hell, bastard, son of a bitch, etc.

Historical Context: Racism in 1877

This game is set in 1877 in the Disputed Lands. We need to acknowledge historical reality while maintaining a respectful and inclusive community.

What's Permitted

Characters may react to diversity in period-appropriate ways that acknowledge historical attitudes without being offensive to our real-world community:

• A male character can be surprised or skeptical that a woman is capable at something traditionally male-dominated (gunfighting, etc.)—but then they move on
• A character can be surprised to see someone of another race or ethnicity in the saloon, on the posse, or in a position of authority—but then they move on
• Characters can acknowledge period tensions between groups (Union/Confederate, settler/Native, etc.) as part of the setting
• Brief acknowledgment of period attitudes is acceptable if it serves character development or historical authenticity

What's NOT Permitted

• No racial slurs. Period or modern. None. This is non-negotiable.
• No blatant racism. Your character noting surprise is one thing. Your character going on a racist tirade or refusing to work with someone because of their race/gender/ethnicity is another.
• No dwelling on prejudice. Acknowledge it briefly if necessary for authenticity, then move forward. We're here to tell stories about fighting supernatural evil and surviving the Weird West, not to roleplay bigotry.
• No justifying real-world prejudice with "but it's historically accurate!" History had plenty of people who rose above their era's prejudices—play one of them.

The Weird West Exception

Here's the beautiful thing about Deadlands: everyone has bigger problems than prejudice. When the dead are walking, manitous are real, and ghost rock is reshaping the world, survival tends to trump bigotry pretty quickly. The Weird West is dangerous enough that competence matters more than categories.

Colonel Brennan didn't hire you because of your background—he hired you because you can handle the impossible. Your fellow troubleshooters might come from enemy nations, different races, unexpected genders in "unusual" roles, or stranger origins still. But out here? If they can shoot straight, think fast, and watch your back when things get weird, that's what matters.

Play respectfully. Write well. Survive if you can.