Mind's Eye Theatre

Mind's Eye Theatre
Designer(s) oWoD: Mark Rein·Hagen, Graeme Davis, Tom Dowd, Chris Cowart, Don Bassingthwaite, S. P. Somtow, Ken Cliffe
nWoD: Peter Woodworth
cWoD: Jason Andrew, Jason Carl, Kevin Millard, Jennifer Smith, Ree Soesbee
Publisher(s) White Wolf
Publication date 1993, 2005 (nWoD), 2013 (cWoD)
Genre(s) live action role-playing game
The character Patrick from Cincinati, Camarilla's conclave, Milwaukee 2006

Mind's Eye Theatre is a live action role-playing game based on the White Wolf World of Darkness universe, sharing a theme and setting originally with the table-top role-playing game Vampire: The Masquerade and with two revisions, Vampire: The Requiem and Mind's Eye Theater: Vampire The Masquerade. (The rules for Mind's Eye Theatre have likewise been revised.) Other games or "venues" include: Werewolf: The Forsaken, Mage: The Awakening, Changeling: The Lost, and others.

Conflicts and skill challenges were settled in the previous edition with a "rock-paper-scissors" system often referred to as "throwing chops" or "hand jamming". The new Mind's Eye Theatre system, however, uses a random card-draw mechanic. Every player carries a deck of ten playing cards (2-10, plus an Ace), and adds a skill modifier to their draw.

The game possesses many rules both for game play and player safety. Some groups, however, use the game as background material, while using home-grown sets of rules for their actual game-play.

In 1999 Pyramid magazine named Mind's Eye Theatre (the original version) as one of the Millennium's Best Games. Editor Scott Haring said "Mind's Eye Theater was the first to take an established pen-and-paper RPG and do the translation to live-action. And it is easily the most successful live-action game, too."[1]

Games

People wishing to participate can find or create a local game, some of which are part of a larger setting run by an organization like the Camarilla/Mind's Eye Society, One World By Night, Isles of Darkness, The Garou Nation, or Shadowplay International.

Independent

Independent groups create their own worlds using and based on the chronicle material published by White Wolf. The books have a large number of optional rules and variations for the settings, so the style, theme and rules of the game can vary a good deal between such games, even if they follow the published books. Some independent groups are regional clusters of related games in which characters can travel back and forth.

Local gaming stores, Conventions and LARPing websites have information concerning games in a particular area.

The Camarilla (Now known as The Mind's Eye Society)

The character Papa Sallow Rose, Camarilla's conclave, Milwaukee 2006

The Camarilla is the official worldwide fan organization of White Wolf. They have 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, many of these players (through e-mail, IRC, and conventions) have characters in the same world, or chronicle.

September 26, 2010 it was announced that the Camarilla will no longer be owned and ran by White Wolf/CCP, and would become a NPO again. Because of the trademark on The Camarilla, the US Affiliate of the club will change its name to "Mind's Eye Society". Other affiliates will also change their official name as well during this time.

Underground Theater

Underground Theater (sometimes known as UT) is a 501c7 nonprofit LARPing organization connecting World of Darkness troupes in a worldwide network of games. Formed in February of 2013, UT was the first LARPing organization to fully utilize the By Night Studios Mind's Eye Theatre Vampire: The Masquerade rulebooks.

One World by Night

One World by Night, (OWbN, often pronounced Obi-Wan) is a global independent chronicle of games set in a shared setting. OWbN is set in the Old World of Darkness, though a long history of in-character actions have altered it somewhat.

The Garou Nation

The Garou Nation, (otherwise known as TGN) is a collection of games (currently only in North America) set in a shared setting. Like OWbN, TGN is set in the Old World of Darkness, but unlike OWbN, TGN strictly focuses on the Werewolf: The Apocalypse genre.

Isles of Darkness

Isles of Darkness (otherwise known as IoD) is an independent LARP group based in Britain, which runs most New World of Darkness games, as well as Dark Ages: Vampire, and Werewolf: the Apocalypse. It hosts both monthly local and annual national events.

Shadowplay International

Shadowplay International (otherwise known as SPI) is an organisation of member clubs in Australia, Ireland, Italy, and elsewhere, which run both Classic ("Old") and New World of Darkness games.

Publications

* Storytelling Adventure System

References

  1. ↑ Haring, Scott D. (1999-12-24). "Second Sight: The Millennium's Best "Other" Game and The Millennium's Most Influential Person". Pyramid (online). Retrieved 2008-02-16.

External links