Sign-ups are open! Guidelines below.

[casemod]

Now that we've recruited our underlings in the form of secret agents, inspectors, and helpful nosy neighbours (that's our nominations), it's time to start compiling the assignments that we'll be sending out to our investigative heads (that's you—I'm trying to keep up with a theme here).

Signups are open until Sunday 27 April. [ In your timezone + Countdown. ]

You can sign up at the collection; you can view the tagset for our approved canons and relationships. Please read this post to ensure that your sign-up complies with the exchange's guidelines!

View what's been requested on the AO3 app!

Sign-up reminders

• You must be 18+ to sign up.


• An AO3 account is required to sign-up/participate. Please sign up with one account only. If we find you have signed up with more than one, your additional sign-ups will be deleted and you may be banned from the exchange.


• A reminder of the mediums and minimum requirements of the exchange:
  
  • Fic: 3,000 words minimum.
    
  • Comics: 10 panels minimum.
    
  • Podfic: A recording of a completed fic of 3,000 words minimum with "casefic" as one of its tags.


• There is a known bug with AO3 where the tag may be in the tagset but might not appear in the drop-down menu. Copy the relationship from the tagset and paste it into the box (press enter afterwards). AO3 will accept this.


• You are required to provide prompts regarding what kind of work you would like to receive in the Optional Details section of your sign-up. We will not allow prescriptive prompts and we strongly discourage blank sign-ups. This is required of requests. Please include these details so that your creator knows what it is you're interested in when it comes to the exchange's theme. We have suggestions on what to include in the prompt section of this post.
  
  The Optional Details section of the sign-up has been marked as a requirement.


• If your sign-up breaks any of our rules, we may contact you to request edits made to your sign-up. If we do not receive a response, we will delete your sign-up.


• Sign-ups made in bad faith will be deleted without contacting the recipient. This exchange has been designed to be an enjoyable community event.


• Please do not put any notes to the mod in your Optional Details. Contact gumshoeagency@gmail.com as all requests and information you input in your sign-up is public.


• If you are not matched to what you offered, please contact the mod immediately at gumshoeagency@gmail.com within a week of assignments being sent out. We will only change your assignment once after assignments have been sent out.

Requesting and offering

• You can request 1-10 fandoms with 1-10 relationships, and a choice of fiction, comic, podfic, a combination, or all three. While you can repeat fandoms, you need to have 3 unique ones to qualify for a gift. If you only request 1 fandom and you are a pinch hit, we do not guarantee securing you a gift for the collection to open.


• You can offer 3-10 fandoms with 1-10 relationships, and a choice of fiction, comic, podfic, a combination, or all three.


• You will be guaranteed a gift if you request a minimum of 3 unique fandoms. Please only request what you are excited to receive.


• You will be matched on one fandom, one relationship, and one medium.


• Regarding mediums, if you're requesting one, a combination, or all three, and are open to treats (e.g., requesting fic, but welcome comic treats or requesting fic and comic but welcome podfic), please make a mention of it in the Optional Details of your sign-up.


• In the Optional Details and in Dear Creator letters, please do not place preference for one request over the others, as there isn't a guarantee you will be matched on that fandom. Please only request what you want to receive!


• You can edit your sign-up until the sign-up period closes.


• All fandoms and relationships requested and offered in this exchange must be chosen from those nominated into the tagset. If it is not in there, you cannot request it.


• If there aren't any requests that match your offers, the mod will contact you at the email address associated with your AO3 account to see if there is anything else you can offer. If you do not reply within 24 hours, or there is nothing else you can offer, your sign-up will be deleted.
  
  Please ensure this email is up to date before sign-ups close! Please whitelist gumshoeagency@gmail.com.


• A reminder that we do not accept AI works in this exchange. Do not ask for these; your sign-up will be deleted.


• Please only request and offer what you are excited to receive and create. We have a long creation period!


• We do not accept swap requests.

Do Not Wants (DNWs):

• Please include anything you absolutely don't want to receive in the Optional Details field in your AO3 sign-up and label this clearly as "Do Not Wants" (DNW). These are concepts etc. that would ruin a gift for you. The mod will enforce reasonable DNWs if a complaint is lodged about a work received.


• In the event that a DNW is included in your gift, only reasonable DNWs in your sign-up will be enforced.


• DNWs in letters will not be enforced.


• Please remember that DNWs cannot be used to box your creator into producing a very specific work. We encourage you to be specific and clear in what you would like to not receive without dictating a specific idea and only that idea to your creator.


• If you select "Solo: The Avengers (MCU)" (or any tag that has an ambiguous group like The Avengers), you cannot DNW Bruce Banner. As outlined in our nomination guidelines, selecting this tag means that you are open to receiving a work that features one or more of the Avengers. We are likely to side with the creator's choice of featured characters in instances a complaint is lodged. However, you are welcome to put in your sign-up that you would prefer not to receive a gift featuring Bruce Banner, although this does not guarantee that you will receive a gift that excludes him entirely. (Please do not put it as a "DNW".)


• Considering that our theme includes murder, you are more than welcome to DNW your nominated characters dying. We will allow DNWs that hit the exchange's theme as long as they are reasonable and do not box your creator into creating a specific work (i.e., you're welcome to DNW hostage situations, kidnappings, etc. while asking for murder mysteries, heists, etc.) If you DNW the entire exchange's theme, your sign-up will be deleted. We are a themed exchange!


• Please do not use defamatory language when describing your dislikes as what you dislike may be what someone else likes.

Dear Creator Letters:

• These are optional.


• There will be a section in the sign-up where letters can be linked to give your creator further details on your likes, dislikes, and other request details.


• Please be aware we will not be enforcing any DNWs that are in your letter. DNWs must be in your sign-up.


• Please include the required prompts in your sign-up so that if your letter remains unavailable during the creation period, your creator has an idea as to what sub-themes you're interested in regarding the exchange's theme.


• Please complete your letters before sign-ups close or within a week of assignments being distributed.

Do Not Match requests:

• We accept do not match requests for this exchange. Please email before sign-ups close at gumshoeagency@gmail.com letting us know your AO3 name, the AO3 name of the participant you would like to not be matched to, and what you would like us to do in the instance where you are their only match as a creator, you are their only match as a recipient, and you are a pinch hit. We don't need to know the reasons for this request (unless it involves harassment, then please let us know). We'll do our best to action your request.


• We will not action do not match requests when assignments have been sent out. Please contact us privately with your request before sign-ups close.

Prompts

• You are required to put information about what it is you're interested in theme-wise for the exchange in your Optional Details so your creator has an idea of what you'd like to see. Please include three themes you're interested in, at minimum. There is no guarantee you will receive your prompt, but it is very useful to provide these so creators know how they can tailor your gift (along with using your likes (if provided) and DNWs). This does not have to be overly extensive!
  
  The following are thought starters, but are not the only things you can request:
  
  • Murder mysteries.
  
  
  • Heists/missions.
  
  
  • Medical cases (think House M.D).
  
  
  • A typical police procedural (think CSI, Law and Order, etc.). Do you want to see a stakeout? What is it about police procedurals that you enjoy?
  
  
  • Are you fond of spies and espionage? What kind of undercover plots do you like? Fake married, investigating some cult-like organisation, or going undercover pretending to be one of the enemy's goons? Do you like masquerades? Wearing disguises? (Think Alias, Nikita, Mr and Mrs Smith.)
  
  
  • Monster of the week (think early days Supernatural and Scooby Doo). Do you want to see characters hunting down a mythological creature? What if one of the characters was the creature and they just didn't know it? Do you have favourite mythological creatures or urban legends you'd like to see your requested characters interact with or about?
  
  
  • If your requested canon already has investigation baked into its premise, did you want something similar to canon events? Would you like to see a character who doesn't get involved to be leading a case? (We have plenty of canons that fit this, but think Enola Holmes where Tewkesbury tries to help Enola in investigating, or Sherlock needing Irene Adler's assistance.)
  
  
  • Are you okay with kidnapping? Would you prefer one of your requested characters to be kidnapped? Someone else is kidnapped, and they work together to find them? (Think Taken.)
  
  
  • Would you like something where it involves a lot of mind games, like Saw (without the gore), Die Hard 3 (seeking revenge upon the antagonist), or Runaway Jury (outwitting)?
  
  
  • What about adventure? Think Goonies or Indiana Jones—what if one of the characters finds a map in an attic? How do they go about unravelling its mystery, whose map it is, and where it leads to?
  
  
  • Would you like your requested character to be investigated? Would you like something where the investigator plays mind games with the investigated? (Think You the TV show.)
  
  
  • Would you be okay with one of your characters being blamed for a crime they didn't commit (or that they did commit)?
  
  
  • Did you want to receive a work from the perspective of a criminal mastermind or a murderer or a thief? Would you like to see them caught or frame someone else? (Think You the TV show.)
  
  
  • Would you like to see nosy busybodies at work? Think The 'Burbs where the neighbours investigate an unusual family that moved in during the night. Did you want something like where a crime unsettles an otherwise picture-perfect street, like Desperate Housewives?
  
  
  • Did you want something similar to Hot Fuzz where strange happenings occur that leads to the unravelling of an even darker secret?
  
  
  • How dark do you want your gift to go? Would you prefer it lighthearted? Would you prefer dark themes explored? What do you consider to be lighthearted, and what do you consider to be dark?
  
  
• Examples of prompts include:
  
  • Listing what themes you enjoy, such as, "I enjoy murder mysteries, procedural dramas, whodunnits, stolen items (think like Indiana Jones), stealing from another (think Ocean's 11 and The Italian Job). I don't mind kidnappings (one of my requested characters can be kidnapped)."
    
    Also, "Psychological mind games of the cat/mouse persuasion."
    
    Also, "I want to see something like Desperate Housewives/The 'Burbs. I enjoy mundane life being unsettled by a serious tragedy, with people's grief and boredom driving them to suspect something foul is at play… and they discover that it is."
  
  
  • Providing prompts as thought starters, such as, "What if Johnathan Harker was investigating Dracula, but he didn't know it? What if Dracula, who was getting away with stealing blood bags and biting women, was sloppy and left some clues? What if Johnathan Harker was investigating Dracula without knowing it and Dracula was helping him by trying to sabotage his investigation?"
    
    Also, "What if someone stole Annie Edison's pen again?"
    
    Also, "I'd love to see the Yellowjackets gang investigate Cabin Daddy. What do they find in the cabin?"
    
    Also, "How did Regulus find Tom Riddle's locket?"
  
  
  • For crossovers, you might prompt something like, "What if Veronica Mars and Elmo went toe-to-toe investigating a murder?"
    
    Also, "I'd love to see Carol Danvers and Jessica Jones butt heads investigating something that may or may not be alien. What if it's a magical item that Carol needs to go save a universe? What if that item transports Jessica to an alien planet where Carol is?"
    
    Also, "The Slytherin's are Danny Ocean's crew. Tell me what happens next."
  
  
• Prescriptive prompts that outline a step-by-step storyline will not be enforced, and your creator will not be expected to create for them. Please try to include a few things so your creator has a variety and an idea of what kind of themes you'd like to receive.
  
  Open-ended questions are a good way to generate prompts. (To creators, if your recipient includes open-ended questions, you do not need to answer every one of them! They're meant to be thought starters to get your creativity flowing!) If that doesn't gel with you, think about what kind of things you enjoy about the canons that fit this theme and list them.


• When requesting groups (i.e. "Solo: The Avengers (MCU)", "Gryffindor Quidditch Team Members & Harry Potter (HP - JKR)"), you are welcome to talk about who you see as part of the group you're requesting, but ultimately it is up to your creator who they include in the work. Please remember that we will most likely side with the creator over any disputes as to who counts towards the group.


• Please treat prompts as thought starters to help you tailor a gift. You do not need to follow it exactly. They're meant to help creators understand what vibes and themes their recipient enjoys.


• If you are unsure of how to request comics (aka art), please see this helpful guide by chacusha.


• If you are unsure of how to request podfic, please see this helpful guide by devilwithabirddress.

Additional things worthy of note

• We have a no-penalty default deadline on Friday 27 June.


• Please ensure the email associated with your AO3 is current and up to date!


• Please consider checking your preferences to allow gifts from anyone. This is very much needed when it comes to anyone requesting treats.


• Comments are mandatory in this exchange. Please only sign up if you will comment on your gift. If extenuating circumstances or a significant problem prevent you from doing so, please ensure you contact the mod at gumshoeagency@gmail.com.


• There may be errors in the tagset which should hopefully be minor as we've done extensive checking throughout the nomination period to ensure that the tagset is as accurate as we can make it. If the error is crucial to understanding what is being requested, please contact the mod ASAP at gumshoeagency@gmail.com.