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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 more.

Conflicts and skill challenges are settled in the first and current editions with a "rock paper scissors" system often referred to as "throwing chops" or "hand jamming". The 2005 Mind's Eye Theatre system, however, used a random card-draw mechanic. Every player carried a deck of ten playing cards (2-10, plus an Ace), and added 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."

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 Underground Theater.

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 Mind's Eye Society

The Mind's Eye Society (MES) is an 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.

The club was originally named The Camarilla, after the fictional organization of vampires in Vampire: The Masquerade. When it was announced that the Camarilla will no longer be owned and ran by White Wolf Publishing, and would become a non-profit organization in 2010, the club changed its name to The Mind's Eye Society due to White Wolf's copyright on the term The Camarilla.

Underground Theater

Underground Theater (sometimes known as UT) is a 501(c)(7) nonprofit LARPing organization connecting World of Darkness troupes in a worldwide network of games. Formed in February 2013, Underground Theater was the first LARPing organization to fully utilize the By Night Studios Mind's Eye Theatre Vampire: The Masquerade rulebooks.

The Hidden Parlor

The Hidden Parlor (aka "THP" or "Hidden Parlor") was a 501(c)(7) nonprofit LARPing organization that utilized By Night Studios Mind's Eye Theatre Vampire: The Masquerade rule system. The organization hosted a single, shared chronicle where characters of conflicting factions and sects had the ability to affect the global setting. Individual chapters started game play during their soft-launch period that started on October 1, 2015. The full organizational launched on January 1, 2016, which allowed Storytellers to gain access to global setting information that they could integrate into their local chapter's game. The club emphasized leveraging online tools to connect players while maintaining a focus on the in-person element of LARP. The organization also took steps to initiate community-level change: implementing a code of conduct, developing a volunteer incentive system, and supporting game publishers through play-tests and by backing crowdfunding efforts. The organization dissolved in October 2018 and donated its remaining funds to two non-profits: The Roleplaying Game Creators Relief Fund and Game to Grow.

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.

Beyond the Sunset

Beyond the Sunset (formally known as Camarilla Australia) is an independent LARP group based in Australia which mostly runs Chronicles of Darkness games. They were part of Shadowplay International until disaffiliating in 2019

Shadowplay International

Shadowplay International (otherwise known as SPI) is an organisation of member clubs in Italy, the United States (Shadowplay North America), and elsewhere, which runs Chronicles of Darkness games.

Publications

• Mark Rein-Hagen, Ian Lemke et Mike Tinney, The Masquerade, 1993, 2nd ed. 1994
• Richard E Dansky, Beth Fischi, et al., Laws of the night, 1996
• Mind's Eye Theatre (July 2005) Core Rulebook
• Mind's Eye Theatre: The Requiem (July 2005)
• Mind's Eye Theatre: The Awakening (August 2007)
• Mind's Eye Theater: Vampire The Masquerade (December 2013)
• City in the Sand (PDF Only)* (July 2009)
• Laws of the Night (1997) (formerly Masquerade; based on Vampire: The Masquerade)
• Laws of the Wild (formerly Apocalypse; based on Werewolf: The Apocalypse)
• Oblivion (based on Wraith: The Oblivion)
• Laws of the Hunt (focusing on mortals as characters)
• The Long Night (based on Vampire: The Dark Ages)
• The Shining Host (based on Changeling: The Dreaming)
• Laws of the Wyld West (based on Werewolf: The Wild West)
• Laws of Ascension (based on Mage: The Ascension)
• Laws of the Reckoning (based on Hunter: The Reckoning)
• Laws of Resurrection (based on Mummy: The Resurrection)
• Laws of the East (based on Kindred of the East)
• Faith and Fire (based on Dark Ages: Vampire)
• Vampire by Gaslight (based on Victorian Age: Vampire)

* 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.
2. "Form 990-EZ: Short Form Return of Organization Exempt from Income Taxes". Underground Theater Inc. Guidestar. December 31, 2013.

External links

• Mind's Eye Society website
• Underground Theater official website
• The Hidden Parlor website
• Interview with Eddy Webb - Freelance Mind's Eye Theatre Developer
• Isles of Darkness website
• Shadowplay International internal wiki

• Live-action role-playing games
• World of Darkness
• Role-playing games introduced in 1993