Hi,
I've just discovered this place, and it seems like a really very nice corner of the internet. Being keen not to stink it up with any untoward social faux pas, I thought I'd check with you first - as a complete newcomer is it OK to create and run a totally private game? I'm mainly interested in using the site tools to run a game for some close family members, so we want to be greedy and exclusive with our fun. Is that a reasonable way to do things?!
Thanks in advance :)

There is absolutely no problem with running private games with closed memberships.  Just make sure to learn how to use Groups to make sure no one can see your game threads.

The only thing is you still have to follow the rules if it is going to be an "adult" game not saying it is, but if it were it must follow the adult game ruleS, For RTJ and content.

"Adult" is also a good way to filter people out of seeing the game, so long as all of the people you want to play are over 18!

If you read the FAQs section in the upper right hand corner you will see what is defined as an adult game and what requirements must be met to run one.  It will also answer a few other questions you might have or that may come up.

Welcome to RPOL and have fun.

There are actually a lot of 'private' games on here.  I was first introduced to the site by a friend who wanted to use it to run a Star Wars game for several of us who'd been scattered around through the years.

I'm currently in a couple of games that, while populated by RPOL 'regulars', are technically private...in that, the pool of players were all invited to join the game, either by the GM or by players the GM trusted to invite someone.

So, no, it's not a faux pas, and not even necessarily that uncommon.

As for the question of using Groups, or making it Adult...even if you just run it as a common game, the most anyone can do is read.  They can't get into the game without your approval...so unless you're concerned about maintaining some privacy factor (why, I have no idea, but some people are funny about strangers reading over their virtual shoulder), you can just run it like any other game.  If you don't set the flag for it, nobody is going to think you're adding players (and you still can, even without the flag set).  If you don't advertise on the Wanted: Players forum, odds are good that most RPOLers won't ever even know your game exists.  You can contact the people you want to include, tell them the game to search for, and they can click on the link and Request Access (so could anyone else who stumbles on it...but until you approve them, they're not part of the game.)

Thanks everyone for the responses, seems like this could be a great place to set up our game then :) Thanks for being so helpful everyone!