A series bible is a guidebook written by the creator(s) of a TV show so that all writers will know the general outline of the show; it contains the backstories of the characters and outlines the in-series universe. Typically, it contains information that might not actually be revealed to the audience until later, but is known to the writers from the start, so they won't make any conflicting new stories.

In practice, many of these bibles are living documents that grow pretty much organically as the show progresses -- it's essentially a notebook of 'rules' to observe, as established by previous episodes, or things not to do because they would contradict some planned event that hasn't occured yet.

Series Bibles tend to focus a bit more on the 'rules of the world' in genre shows, as a necessity. Mortal Coil has rules surrounding the ongoing creation of this bible (the "theme document" in that game), while PTA really doesn't. Therefore, we'll imitate television and let the thing grow organically.

Gear

From Dave: Were this "real life" ...

Since it's a TV show, though, Donne will carry the M1A1. It will make for lively debate on the discussion boards.

Magic

From Randy: The way I see Auggie's "Golden Dawn" magic:

1. He was trained to adopt an artificial persona, a "Mask of God" (meaning one or another Greek, Egyptian, Babylonian, Roman or maybe even Norse god) to do anything beyond passive sensing. That's the Man of Power face and attitude.
2. Ceremonial magic: best (easiest) with candles, robe, incense, other accoutrements. Invoke almost anything he can conceive of as an entity and force, convince or bargain it into doing what he wants. In theory he could invoke the Nation of Germany and coerce it into surrender... if he was Hermes Trismegistus Himself. May be exhausting, may be wonderful and energizing. Moderate concentration (wren's egg) to full concentration (mental illusion).
3. One-shot doodads prepped via ceremonial magic. Using them involves the game face. Effort depends on effect.
4. Straight up Duel of Adepts -- something he was taught to avoid. Full concentration, consists of the Adepts willing each other to DIE. Small poltergeist effects -- fires, flying small objects, clothing shredding, cracks in the surroundings -- are a side effect; what they're shooting for is a stroke. Probably wouldn't work well at all on a non-Adept. As draining as serious, full-out boxing, at least.
5. Very, very few Adepts are good people and most who are stick to one, benign Mask. Baldur, maybe. Aesclepius. Kwan-yin.

From Dave: The way I see Roger's "Hedge Magic":

1. He picked this stuff up from a guy in his previous unit, Squad 13 -- the uber-competent top kick sergeant type, who took a bit of pity on Roger and so took him under his wing.
2. Hedge Magic is Utility Magic. Nothing flashy. Nothing earth-shattering. It's the equivalent of carrying around a Swiss Army Knife, a Zippo lighter, a battery, a flashlight, and some other basic gear. Think of D&D-style 0th-level cantrips. It's that sort of thing. Hedge Magic is probably the most common sort of magic around, or at least it was in the pre-industrialized era. Indeed, it's so common it's sort of pooh-poohed by the Real Magician types, like Augustus' family, the same way that "primitive" arts and crafts are pooh-poohed by Great Modern Artists.
3. Damage doable is strictly limited. Indeed, it's not the sort of thing you can really use much against people or living creatures themselves.
4. So, Roger's not going to throw a fireball at someone. He might be able to set something already flammable on fire, most reliably directly by touch, with several moments of concentration. Indeed, it's often easier to use technological shortcuts (you can probably light something on fire a bit more quickly or reliably with a lighter or match -- but if you don't have such a thing on you, it's nice to be able to do it without).
5. Roger's knowledge of this stuff is by no means exhaustive (but will only be defined by the needs of the plot).
6. Actually invoking it usually depends on some sort of rhyme or little song -- nursery rhymes nad fairy poems, that sort of thing, always in the vernacular (another reason it's pooh-poohed by the Heap Big Magic Thaumaturgists).

Vampires

At this point, vampires seem to be much more in line with the types of vampirism seen in Dracula -- sunlight weakens them, but they don't outright burst into flame; they need blood to survive, et cetera.

We might borrow one of the magic rules seen in the Dresden books -- threshhold-based magic. For example: a vampire can come into a house uninvited, but they forego access to their powers within that place. In that case, let's say dawn is a threshhold into day -- a 'house' into which the vampire is never invited -- it's not a problem if they're underground, and less of a problem if they're indoors, but in essence (and definitely when outside during the day) it's just as though they'd entered a house uninvited -- they don't have access to their abilities.

Vampires and Crosses?...
There's a round-and-round debate in fanboydom about holy symbols and what they do to vampires -- as in, they aren't vampire kryptonite, it's just that Dracula hated them because of his own religious background. Still, the producer acknowledges that the viewing audience is going to want to see crosses have an effect on vampires because that's what they're used to -- regardless of the origin, it's part of the mythology now.

There is some indication from the pilot, however, that it's based on the "virtue" attached to the holy relic; a vile little beast of a priest isn't going to have much effect on Marie, but if he spashes her with holy water blessed by his virtuous second-in-command, it's going to burn.

So... the "holy kryptonite" of vampires is virtue? I think that could work.

Strange Allies