Sessions

OC, game sessions occur every Tuesday during term time - that is, eight weeks in Trinity term '09 and eight weeks in Hilary term '10. Generally sessions will start at 7.30pm with the GMs briefing players individually with the results of their most recent turnsheet. When all players have their turnsheet results, the GMs will introduce NPCs that they will be playing during the session and then the game will time in. Each GM will play a number of NPCs in each session. Feel free to grab a free GM if you have any questions during the game!

There is no requirement for costume in Classified. The game is set in a VR world, so whatever you want to wear is perfectly fine. Equally, if you want to wear an outrageous costume, feel free! (but no offensive or indecent costumes please). Avatars on #CLASSIFIED# can look like whatever you can represent; on the flip-side, anything you have IC needs to be represented OC - if you want your avatar to have a parrot on your shoulder, you'll have to bring along a parrot phys-rep to sit on your shoulder.

One a month (IC), a number of conspiracy theorists and associates meet on the #CLASSIFIED# chatroom. #CLASSIFIED# runs on top of Freenet, a network of encrypted proxies designed to allow secure, anonymous communication across the world. Freenet allows people who are suspicious to the point of paranoia (and sometimes well beyond) to meet regularly without fear of identification or interception by Them.

Since #CLASSIFIED# is a VR space, all players and GMs are representing the online avatar of their character (for players) or NPC (for GMs). There is no combat in the chatroom, only basic collision detection. However, electronic documents or programs can be represented by either virtual documents or small cards (the size of a business card) that represent them in the virtual world. Handing over a card or document transfers the data it contains to the recipient's computer. All computer terminals have sophisticated sandbox and firewall systems that prevent viruses and other unpleasant surprises.

Hacking in Classified is more similar to real-world hacking than Hollywood hacking. Therefore it's not feasible to do during the game sessions, and should be kept to your downtime (assuming you have the skill - or a contact who does).

There are a few calls that the GMs may use during session. These are:

• Time In: This is usually called at the start of the session or after a Time Freeze. You should start or continue roleplaying as your character.
• Time Out: This is usually called at the end of the session, and means that you should stop roleplaying your character.
• Time Freeze: Something is happening that is too fast or too complex to be represented in character; the GMs will describe the event that has occurred, and then call Time In.
• Man Down: This is extremely unlikely to be called, and means that someone has sustained an OC injury (or lost their glasses). Stay where you are while the situation is sorted out (you don't want to accidentally stand on someone's glasses!)