What the Straw Dog Society Really Is.

The Straw Dog Society is a chapter within a domain within a region within a nation, which is part of a global White Wolf fan club called The Camarilla. Formerly, The Camarilla was a non profit organization, but they could not resolve contract agreements with WW, and so it collapsed. Now White Wolf owns and runs the club.

"The club" is an international group of folks who play live-action roleplaying games set in the World of Darkness published by White Wolf. Yep, we pretend to be vampires, were-wolves, mages, wraiths (ghosts), and changelings (faeries). The basis is that the world is going to Hell in a handbasket, and everything reflects the corruption in a Gothic-Punk setting. Supernaturals are abundant, but must remain hidden or be hunted down and killed, Inquisition style. This massive network of approved player characters ban together nation wide to create an overall storyline for the characters to interact in. From this uber story line, others bud, split off, and are created on the local, domain, and regional levels.

Now you may be wondering what exactly the advantages are to having an approved registered character... couldn't you just go off and play LARP on your own? Of course you could, and often people do, but being a part of the greater whole does give you advantages. When a character is approved, you can play that character anywhere that there is a Camarilla game. For instance, Brighton had her creepy Sabbat Malkavian approved by Charlie up here in Fairbanks. If she were to travel to Seattle for some reason, she could then show up to a Sabbat Venue Camarilla LARP game and be able to slide right in there without having to make a new character concept, character sheet, etc. It's also truly amazing the effects one single character can have on others, even on the other side of the world.

To cover up all of this cult-like fun, the Straw Dog Society also promotes community service. Aside from pretending to be creatures of the night, we volunteer where and when we can. We pick up trash, hold community events and fundraisers for various organizations that are in need of money. We also donate blood! It's great!

The members of the Straw Dog Society can be found LARPing their various personas every Friday and Saturday. Our chapter and domain Garou games are currently being held on the University of Alaska-Fairbanks campus in or near the Gruening building (weather pending). Our chapter Sabbat game is usually held twice a month, and Cam/Anarch games on non-Sabbat weekends run by Theatre of Darkness (another chapter). For an exact schedule of events, go to our Nox Ad Infinitum domain page. Vampire, Garou, and Mage games are all running in the Gruening building at UAF (it's the riot-proof building on the big hill). If you're interested in gaming with us, you can just show up and be introduced around, or e-mail the SDS Chapter Coordinator, Rob Michaud, or the SDS Story Teller, Jason Sanders for directions or any questions you may have.

For more information, just go to the Official White Wolf page.