Camarilla (fan club)

The Camarilla is the official worldwide fan organization of White Wolf Publishing. White Wolf is an Atlanta based company that specializes in fantasy and modern horror and is best-known for its role-playing games set in the World of Darkness. The Camarilla is mainly a Live Action Roleplaying group, or LARP, in which the membership creates characters and acts out an interactive soap-opera within the World of Darkness. It also has traditional and computer-assisted role-playing games in addition to its LARPs.

The Camarilla has affiliate organizations across the world playing a distributed role-playing game in which thousands of players assume the roles of the World of Darkness' inhabitants. Despite being separated by distance, all of these players (through e-mail, IRC, and conventions) have characters in the same world, or chronicle.

The Chronicle/Game

For the most part, the Camarilla concerns itself with the operation of the "Global Chronicle", the ongoing setting in which all characters exist. All characters in this setting are able to interact with other characters of the same type. Interactions between characters of different types (such as those in different "Venues", see Glossary) are restricted in order to maintain the individual flavor of each Venue (werewolf, mage, vampire, etc.)

In 2005 the Camarilla ended their global chronicle. White Wolf Publishing reworked their World of Darkness and their official fan club changed games accordingly. In January 2006 the new global chronicle restarted. The only venue which did not end in 2005 was Changeling: The Dreaming, which continued until mid-2007.

History

The Camarilla was founded by a group in Seattle, Washington, who were interested in the recently released roleplaying game , published by White Wolf. After spending six months in early 1992 preparing membership materials, the club was launched at VikingCon in Bellingham, Washington, in August 1992. Originally registered under law as a literary organization, which permitted it to legally collect membership dues, The Camarilla was reorganized as a non-profit, non-stock corporation under the Revised Code of Washington, Title 24, Chapter 3 (RCW 24.03), as "The Camarilla: A Vampire Fan Association" in 1993. The Board of Directors signed contracts in 1993 & 1994 with White Wolf to be the official fan club. The club's legal status was dissolved in late 1994 as the original founders were unable to continue dedicating the volunteer time the growing organization required.

The original Board of Directors transferred the club's materials and funds to a group of members in Salt Lake City in April 1995, in order for the Utah members to legally reincorporate the club and maintain continuity in membership and activities. After traveling to Seattle to get the remaining club assets from the original founders, the Utah members began working with White Wolf to sign a new contract so that they might continue as the official fan club.

In December 1998, "The Camarilla" filed a trademark registration on the use of the word "Camarilla" only as the designation for a fan club, despite the fact that this word was already trademarked by White Wolf for the fictional organization of vampires in its game setting.

Later negotiations between The Camarilla and White Wolf went poorly. In January 2002 White Wolf announced that it now owned the fan-run organization "The Camarilla". "The Camarilla" responded with a temporary restraining order against White Wolf. White Wolf had the venue moved to Georgia, counter-sued, and had the restraining order overturned. It also sent notices to the groups and individuals voluntarily providing web hosting and other services for "The Camarilla"'s web hosting that the domain was in legal contention, causing the material to be taken off line.

The Camarilla Board of Directors resigned and dissolved the organization in 2003, leaving White Wolf to manage the Camarilla directly. Despite the difficulties incurred by the folding of the non-profit group, the bulk of the membership did transfer to the club now under nominal White Wolf control, and operations were running smoothly again by early 2004.

In 2005, White Wolf rebooted their "World of Darkness" game setting. The "Camarilla" has likewise brought the previous setting's games to an apocalyptic end, and began a chronicle for the new , , games, as well as 'mortal' ("i.e." non-supernatural) characters.

In addition to the primary U.S. portion of the club, the organization also has affiliates in Australia, Brazil, Canada, Ireland, Italy, the Low Countries, and the United Kingdom. There are also several Global Independent Regions (GIRs) covering other areas, allowing members who live outside a country with an affiliate contract or the United States to continue gaming with the support structure provided in other countries.

Glossary

;Approvals : The system used to regulate the rarity of items, powers and character types in the setting that should be kept rare, by giving Storytellers who oversee areas larger than a Domain the responsibility of approving or denying such things. For instance, unusually powerful magical items, custom-written powers and such like must pass through the Approvals chain before being clear for use. ;Chronicle : An ongoing game in the World of Darkness setting. The entire game run by the Camarilla is known as "The Global Chronicle" or simply "The Chronicle"." "(See also Campaign (role-playing games)".;Domain (also "Chapter"): The local "branch" of the "Camarilla", usually based in an entire city or metropolitan area.;Coordinator: an individual responsible for administration within the society; tasks include booking places to hold games, and keeping track of membership.;Prestige: A system for tracking service to the club and contributions to outside charitable efforts by members on behalf of the club. The use of Prestige has been part of the organization since its very founding. Higher levels of Prestige can lead to more experience points for a players' characters.;Storyteller (ST): an individual responsible for plot, game rules and events in a given aspect of the Chronicle "(See also Gamemaster)".;Venue : The aspect of the setting concerned with one "species" of supernatural creature. For instance, "the Requiem Venue" refers to players, characters and events specific to the game.

ee also

* Camarilla (World of Darkness)
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* LARP
* Mind's Eye Theatre
* White Wolf Publishing - Publisher of MET

External links

* [http://camarilla.white-wolf.com Camarilla Website]
* [http://camarilla.white-wolf.com//index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=17&Itemid=42 List of global Affiliates]
* [http://cam-wiki.org/ Unofficial Camarilla Wiki Community]
* [http://camarilla.ie/ Camarilla Ireland]