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Taken from The
Camarilla Website
What is The Camarilla?
The Camarilla is an international
roleplaying organization and fan club dedicated to the enjoyment of
White Wolf's World of Darkness®. It supports global
chronicles set in the World of Darkness - in both live-action (using
the Mind's Eye Theatre™ system) and tabletop roleplaying
(using the Storytelling System™).
The Camarilla began in 1992 when a group of fans in Seattle,
Washington, asked White Wolf if they could form an official fan club
for Vampire: The Masquerade®. Over the years, the club grew
and created a global live-action chronicle where members maintained
the same characters and story when visiting other chapters. In 2002,
White Wolf formally began administering the club, and has continued
to expand the Camarilla and support its activities. In 2004, the
Camarilla launched a tabletop roleplaying venue.
The Camarilla is one of the world's largest roleplaying groups, with
thousands of members across six continents. Members create
characters using White Wolf's game books and play those characters
in games organized by their local chapters. Many members also travel
to games and events hosted by the hundreds of other domains and
chapters, use some of the numerous "in character" e-mail lists and
attend larger regional, national and international events. All the
while, members get to develop their characters and get to know
thousands of other World of Darkness fans.
At its most basic, roleplaying in the
Camarilla is no different than playing in any other Storytelling
game. Members make their characters according to the guidelines in
the appropriate game book and then portray that character in a
chronicle. The difference comes in scale, however. Whereas
individual Storytellers can and do develop epic chronicles, the
Camarilla's Storyteller teams have developed a global chronicle that
includes thousands of characters, each portrayed by a member.
Members can portray their characters in games when visiting another
city or country and can interact with other players across the
street, the state or the world. All the actions of the these
thousands of individual characters impact all the others in a
flesh-and-blood "massive roleplaying" that puts its online
counterparts to shame.
Membership in the Camarilla grants access to the live-action and
tabletop chronicles organized by the club.
What kind of games does the Camarilla Support?
Live-Action Roleplay (LARP)
The Camarilla's live-action chronicle consists of one story that
spans the globe and includes every member of the Camarilla around
the world who wishes to participate. The first global LARP chronicle
lasted for over six years, and with the launch of White Wolf's new
World of Darkness, a whole new chronicle has begun! Members mostly
participate in their local game run by their local Camarilla
Storyteller. However, larger participation exists on several levels.
The easiest is to subscribe to one of almost 200 roleplay-related
email lists. Some lists allow roleplay while others consist of
out-of-character discussion about a particular character type. There
are also about twenty internet relay chat (IRC) channels available
for real-time online interaction.
Even more rewarding is actually visiting other Camarilla games. From
a local game in the next town to a game in another country, your
character gets to meet and interact with another whole cast of
characters. The various levels of the Camarilla also organize larger
roleplaying events to which players will come from across a region,
a country or even the World!
The Camarilla's live-action chronicle includes venues for playing as
a mortal, a vampire, and a werewolf. These all exist in the same
continuity but with their own Storytellers. Players can maintain
characters in any number of venues and keep track of them using the
Camarilla's online character database.
For more information on the chronicle and its venues see the
LARP
Chronicle page.
Tabletop Roleplay
The tabletop venue brings the concept of a global game (that has
been so successful in live-action) to traditional tabletop
roleplaying. Members are able to bring their sanctioned tabletop
characters to a variety of games, including local chapter games,
sanctioned games at conventions, and online games using the
Camarilla's chat rooms. Regional, national and international
Camarilla events all include tabletop roleplaying sessions, and
tabletop players can travel to other chapters and bring their
characters with them.
The Camarilla's tabletop chronicle includes venues for playing as a
mortal, a vampire, and a werewolf. Players can maintain characters
in any number of venues and keep track of them using the Camarilla's
online character database.
For more information on the chronicle and its venues see the
Tabletop Chronicle page.
What are the Benefits for Joining?
Camarilla members enjoy access to a number of
special treats from White Wolf. This includes exclusive previews of
upcoming game books, exclusive Mind's Eye Theatre rules conversions
of supplements, access to developers and other staffers at large
events, and more.
The crowning event of the Camarilla year is
the International Camarilla Conclave. This annual international
convention open only to Camarilla members takes place at the end of
October. At this sour day event, members can enjoy nearly
uninterrupted roleplay across almost every venue of the World of
Darkness (tabletop and live-action), shop among dealers of
costuming and gothic merchandise, meet developers and others from
White Wolf Publishing, attend panels about a range of issues of
interest to the members, get to purchase advance copies of upcoming
White Wolf products, and attend gatherings and parties of all sizes!
To find out more about the next ICC and a host of other events, see
the Events Page.
What Else Should I know?
The Camarilla is about more than just
roleplaying, however. As a social club, it brings together thousands
of people with a common interest in the World of Darkness, and has a
long history of forging friendships. Many Camarilla gatherings and
events feature healthy amounts of "out of character" time for
members to get to know one another and simply have a good time.
Local groups may have friendly get-togethers to watch gothic movies
or play tabletop games, while regions may hold fundraisers for
charity or blood drives.
The Camarilla has a special commitment to the arts, education, and
service. All members are encouraged to learn more about the arts,
especially the theatrical arts of acting, costuming, prop-making,
storytelling and scene setting through set decoration, lighting and
sound. The Camarilla sponsors and encourages its members' artistic
interests in writing, sketching, painting, illustration,
photography, computer graphics, graphic design and other artistic
pursuits. The club publishes a great deal of the members' work in
Epitaph, its quarterly international newsletter, on its hundreds
of websites, and in its regional, city, and chapter newsletters
(where available).
The Camarilla sponsors many charity events to benefit good causes
across the globe. Many chapters support a local charity such as a
food bank or shelter, thus strengthening the community where they
live. Large Camarilla events often feature charity auctions and have
raised tens of thousands of dollars for such recognized charities as
Shriners Hospitals, the
American Red
Cross, the Susan
G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation, the
Cystic Fibrosis
Foundation and the
Linda
Blair WorldHeart Foundation.
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