Chamber City: After Armageddon, the fun really begins

3. June 2009 by admin.

Imagine this scenario:

“Early in the year 2010, after many futile attempts to salvage the U.S. economy, it finally failed miserably. In a last ditch effort to save it, the U.S. invaded Iraq with the sole intention of robbing Iraqi oil, under the false pretenses of saving the world from “terrorists.” …Two days later, on January 5, 2011, France, China and Israel, in a joint effort declared war on the U.S., claiming to be protecting their best interests. The U.N. secretly enlisted the help of a giant corporate entity known only as “The Corporation.” Not even the most determined insiders could discover the true nature of what really went on behind its well-guarded doors.

On January 20, 2011, the Chinese government released a major offensive on the U.S., dropping a barrage of chemical warfare missiles with the intention of wiping the country clean. This maneuver effectively drew public attention away from The Corporation, for the chemicals reacted less than favorably, resulting in the entire U.S. population becoming a horde of zombies Hell bent on destroying any and all living creatures. After the smoke cleared, many races of human-like beings emerged from the shadows and took to the streets, and all races were forced to band together to survive.”

Thus begins your adventures in Chamber City, a Second Life® (SL)-based Live Action Role playing Game (LARP) set in a post-apocalyptic urban environment “that serves as a last enclave of hope for a dying human race and the dark creatures that have traditionally both plagued and nourished it.” What dark creatures, you ask? Cybernetics, Demons, Nekos, Supernatural, Vampires, Werewolves – that sort of thing.

Beyond the background story and a few sim-wide events, game play within Chamber City is free form, allowing you to develop your character pretty much as you see fit. It is supported by a cadre of experienced Game Masters (GMs) and enhanced with the Dynamic Combat System (DCS) to allow player versus player conflict and race-specific powers.

“After playing in many SL LARPs , we saw a need for a fresh new sim where role players are the main driving force of the story, and we believe that we have found a niche where we can provide a more interactive SL experience,” explained Mercutio Ceriano, one of Chamber’s City’s creators.  “The primary focus of our sim is to change the face of SL LARP to be come more player driven and player involved, and also to help advance the way players in SL can interact with the SL world.”

As far as I can tell, they have done just that. When I slipped into Chamber City one Saturday night I was immediately struck by two features: Beautiful surrounding buildings and relatively low lag. I plopped down on a couch in the city’s primary bar, aptly named The Melting Pot, and waited to hear some of this so-called “player-driven” dialog develop. I was not disappointed, as almost immediately I was immersed in the interplay between several demons, a human, a supernatural witch, and a wolf, all firmly In Character (IC) and quite articulate.

“The core group we have here has been playing together in SL a long time,” explained GM Devian Belgar, one of the participants, in Out Of Character (OOC) chat. “That makes it very easy for us to go with the flow of whatever storyline develops without losing track of each others capabilities and limitations. The stage is set, as GMs we just worry about dragging you on to it.”

In this the Chamber City role players are quite effective, as I found the limited time I had devoted to the task of visiting stretch into hours.

“Our sims main attractions include, but are not limited to, the Chamber City role play story, the very unique build of the city to create an awesome playable environment, and our unique manipulation of the Linden Scripting Language (LSL) to suit the needs of sim-wide roleplay,” Ceriano said.

“The financial goal of the sim itself is to pay for its self, our overall financial goal is to make a modest to substantial real life income off of the opportunities we have created for ourselves,” Ceriano said, looking back on Chamber City’s first month on operation. “We feel that we have been extremely successful thus far considering we are very young as a sim, only a little over a month old, and we are meeting intermediate goals on or ahead of schedule. Also we are getting an overwhelming response so far from our players telling us how happy they are with our sim.”

So who would Ceriano and her business partner Curtis Burner most like to see in Chamber City? “In our best professional opinion, there is no such thing as the quote unquote perfect visitor, as every player is unique, and each and every player brings a new and exciting aspect to our sim,” Ceriano said. “There is just no way to classify what would be the perfect player or visitor as we treat all visitors with the same high level of respect we would expect if we were a visitor to our sim.”

Are you the perfect visitor? I highly recommend you drop into Chamber City soon and find out.

Name: Chamber City
Location: http://slurl.com/secondlife/chamber%20city/229/23/83
Description: “With the stage set in the near future, Chamber City is a multi-raced RP sim with exciting storyline, talented RP’ers, beautifully and professionally constructed architecture, even living spaces where you can “live” in the City.”
Contact: Curtis Burner, Mercutio Ceriano
Maturity: Mature
Focus: Science fiction/fantasy roleplay
Extended Services: DCS2, shopping

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