Emerald City Chronicles

Emerald City Chronicles, also known as ECC, is located in Seattle, Washington on the campus of the University of Washington. It is a venue and improvisational troupe centered around the Live action role-playing game called Vampire: The Masquerade (tm) The troupe first organized in 1993 as a small LARP group composed mainly of college students and homeless youth with an interest in playing the White Wolf (tm) game, and it has continued to run in one incarnation or another ever since.

In its early years, the Live-Action troupe was little more than a group of youth getting together to play a game, however the current incarnation of the game has raised money for Hurricane Katrina relief on behalf of the Red Cross, performed a blanket drive for a local woman's shelter and has performed other community services as well. Many of the Staff and Storytellers are professionals who invest their time and money into this unique hobby that blends improvisational acting and gaming.

In addition to being active in the community, ECC has a direct relationship with a Redmond, WA based theatrical property house called MadDog Productions. The LARP on rare occasion uses stage production level props and set pieces to dress their major in-game events, which is somewhat unique among LARPs in the Pacific North West.

Emerald City Chronicles is the largest live-action role-playing venue currently active in the Pacific northwest, with as many as 50 to 100+ players per night split up among the various spheres. Though it rarely if ever has a full hundred in attendance.

Emerald City Chronicles does not use the standard rules for its games set down by the publisher, but has created its own adaptation called Modified Dot, or Mod-Dot. Rules within books from the most recent revision of the games for both tabletop role-playing and live-action role-playing are used for reference and then modified based on a formula or house rule.

Previous Incarnations

The role-playing society has been called by several names over the years:

• The Ave Rat game, named so after the derogatory term given to homeless youth that congregated around University Avenue near the University of Washington.
• The Red Square game, named after the central location where the troupe played the game within the University of Washington.
• Fuzzy's Game, Named after a former storyteller of the LARP. References to previous storytellers have often been used to designate the game throughout its history. Other examples would be Raul's Game or Schetzle's Game however these were simply names of convenience and rarely official.
• Seattle by Choice (SBC), one of the longest incarnations of the game, it introduced multiple Storytellers and an out of game council to handle administrative concerns. SBC was set up and initially run by fuzzy, so sometimes the two names are used to mean the same time period.
• Emerald Chronicles, the current incarnation is named for the Emerald City, a common nomenclature for Seattle.

Role-Playing Spheres

Emerald Chronicles is the blanket designation for the LARP and is organized into several "spheres" within the White Wolf setting. Though the troupe falls under the auspices of Emerald Chronicles, most players know the game by its most popular and well-attended incarnation, Emerald City Chronicles.

• Emerald City Chronicles - the largest group, boasting an average of 80 players a night and as many as five active Storytellers. This sphere focuses on Vampire: The Masquerade
• Emerald Sept Chronicles - a close second in size, boasting an average of 60 players a night with usually two or three Storytellers. This sphere focuses on Werewolf: The Apocalypse
• Emerald Chantry Chronicles - the third or fourth largest game, boasting an average of about 10 regular players and 2 Storytellers. This sphere focuses on Mage: The Ascension
• Emerald Court Chronicles - the third or fourth largest game, boasting an average of about 10 regular players and 3 Storytellers. This sphere focuses on Changeling: The Dreaming
• Emerald Coven Chronicles - This game will begin after January 1, 2007 and focus on the game Vampire: The Masquerade, however this incarnation will be centered on the in-game sect known as Sabbat. Attendance will be limited to 15 players. There will be three Storytellers. The Sabbat game is currently "experimental" and will run for three months before evaluation by the staff decides whether or not it will continue (As of August 2009, this sphere is still running).

External links

• http://www.emeraldcitychronicles.com - The homepage for the role-playing society, with links to community message boards, house rules and game description. Focused on the vampire sphere.
• http://www.emeraldchronicles.com - the splash site for all role-playing spheres at the venue.
• http://www.white-wolf.com - the homepage for the publishers of the above mentioned games.