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| The Masquerade | |
|---|---|
 1st edition box cover, 1993 | |
| Designers | Mark Rein·Hagen |
| Publishers | White Wolf, By Night Studios |
| Publication |
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| Genres | Horror live action role-playing game |
| Systems | Rock, paper, scissors |
| ISBN | 1565040678 |
Mind's Eye Theatre is a live action role-playing game (LARP) based on the White Wolf World of Darkness universe and shares the setting with the tabletop role-playing game Vampire: The Masquerade, among others.
In most editions of the game, conflicts and skill challenges involving random chance were settled with a "rock, paper, scissors" system often referred to as "throwing chops" or "hand jamming". In the 2005 release of Mind's Eye Theatre and Mind's Eye Theatre: The Requiem, this was removed in favor of a random card-draw mechanic to generate a random number between 1 and 10, usually using the Ace and 2 through 10 cards from a standard playing card deck. This mechanic was removed for the 2013 release of Mind's Eye Theatre: Vampire the Masquerade which returned to the rock, paper, scissors conflict resolution system from earlier editions.
The game possesses rules both for gameplay and player safety. An advantage of the live-action gameplay is the ability to use the real interactions of players to resolve the majority of encounters between player characters and non-player characters.
In 1999, Pyramid magazine named Mind's Eye Theatre (first edition) 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]
In 2004, White Wolf published Laws of Judgment as part of the Time of Judgment product line. This volume was intended to bring the current storyline that began with the publication of Vampire: The Masquerade in 1993 to a close and a new chronicle would begin with the release of World of Darkness and Vampire: The Requiem in August 2004. Mind's Eye Theatre and Mind's Eye Theatre: The Requiem would bring the new setting into live action in July 2005.
In 2013, By Night Studios acquired the license for the Mind's Eye Theatre product line from CCP Games and in June 2013, Mind's Eye Theatre: Vampire the Masquerade was published, returning to the original, or "classic", World of Darkness setting. This was later followed by Mind's Eye Theatre: Werewolf: The Apocalypse in 2016 and Changeling: The Dreaming in 2020. Reviews for Minds Eye Theatre: Changeling the Dreaming indicated that it contained "fresh ideas" and that it ''is a supernatural enthusiast's dream game".[2]
As of March 2021, By Night Studios launched a free online System Reference Document (SRD) containing the majority of the rules, mechanics, and fiction from their Vampire: The Masquerade line of products.[3]
In May 2023, By Night Studios launched a crowd-funding campaign for a new version of Laws of the Night which would feature updated rules and settings based on Vampire the Masquerade, Fifth Edition. A PDF version of the new book was published in September 2023, with a physical release expected in 2024.
- ^ 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.(subscription required)
- ^ "Changeling: The Dreaming Finally Gets A New LARP Book After 20 Years".
- ^ "BNS- SRD Update". By Night Studios.