'Virtual Eclipse' is a science fiction games club. The players take on the roles of adventurers in the 26th Century.
Humanity has spread over the nearby stars and polarised into several distinct power blocs. It is a dangerous time,
there is continuing friction along the borders and the players must struggle not only to earn a living, but also to
survive.
The impetus to form the club came from a desire to organise and run 'Live Action Role Playing' (LARP) games using
'Lazer Tag' equipment for combat resolution. However, as the game background was developed, we realised that if we were
going to go to that much effort, we might as well use the universe background as a setting for any kind of game, such
as:
Table Top Role Playing. A number of members are also keen table top role players. Indeed some of the initial play
testing was carried on tabletop.
Wargaming. Again, many members also indulge in table top wargaming. The intent is that crucial 'large scale'
battles, which would be too big in scope for an LRP event, will be played out in this manner with the results being
fed back into the news / current affairs of the game universe.
Play by email. Not all players can attend every event. Where possible we are attempting to give them a role to
play in between missions, via email for those who have it.
These are all names for types of games. The first two are physical games that involve a running around. The third one
is a table based game that is usually a lot easier and cheaper to organise. Note that although VE runs Live Action Role
Playing games that use Lazer Tag, not all Live Action Role Playing Games are Lazer Tag games and not all Lazer Tag
games are Live Action Role Playing Games.
See the
Role Playing >
Glossary for a full explanation of these terms
and other jargon.
You do not have to join, as most of our events are open to non-members. However if you attend more than two or three of
our games you might be better off as a member.
See the Club >
Members section for more details on membership.
As you will know if you have read the Introduction the
Virtual Eclipse website is divided into four sections. The first thing to do is decide if the thing you are looking
for is connected with games or events we run. If it is game related it will be in the Science Fiction or Role Playing
sections and if it isn't it will be in the Virtual Eclipse or Club sections.
For game related information ask yourself if the information you want is "in-character" or "out of
character". All "in-character" information (things that your character can know) are filed somewhere in
the Science Fiction section. All
"out of character" information (things that you might need to know at a game but which do not exist for your
character) are filed somewhere in the
Role Playing section.
For non-game related information ask yourself if the information you want is relevant to anyone reading our site or
only to club members. Things that are of interest to visitors are filed in the
Virtual Eclipse section. Things that are
probably only interesting to club members are filed in the
Club section.
