Mind's Eye Theater - ! 2013 ! - Vampire: The Masquerade

Elissa Alighieri

"You're a tabletop gamer. Why the fuck are you working on a LARP project?"

I'm actually surprised no one has asked me this. I've asked it to myself a lot. I'm the By Night Studios n00b. I've only been playing Mind's Eye Theatre since the very end of 2011. Hell, when I went to The Grand Masquerade 2011, I thought the LARPs were fan created. I had no idea the Mind's Eye Theatre game line even existed until well after GM was over.

So why do it? Why this property? My 22 years of VTM history involves rolling dice, not playing Rock-Paper-Scissors. So why work on Mind's Eye Theatre?

Because I just discovered it. And I want my twenty fucking years of playing and loving it, goddamnit! It's like discovering Halo 2 multiplayer right before they are going to shut the servers down. Or getting into a band that is breaking up in the middle of their last tour. I don't want to be a part of the tail end of this. I want to see this continue.

I go to games and hear about how there *used to be* 200 people, there *used to be* all this excitement. Motherfuckers, I WANT THAT! I want to see that back, I want to be a part of it. Other people have a vested interest in seeing something they love continue. I have an interest in being able to see it at all.

Tabletop games are small. I can bully 5 other people into rolling dice with me. But the large scale LARPs - the international games where what someone does in Boston effects what I see in Los Angeles? That takes more than me yelling. That takes a bigger change than I can provide on my own.

I love VTM. And, from 2003 to 2011, I thought I was the only one left who knw what it was. I got my Brujah tattoo not because I had 20 years of playing one character to commemorate... but because I hadn't played in almost 10. I wanted to commemorate something that, even unplayed, still spoke to me. I found a random tattoo artist while I was on tour who, somehow, brought up that he was a Gangrel... and I decided on the spot to get the tattoo from him because he was the first person in *years* to even know what VTM was! I got it because it was deeply personal - a tattoo I fully expected to never be able to explain to anyone who saw it. I got it not to celebrate something that I was a part *of* - but to celebrate something that was a part of *me.* I still think of it as a mark of isolation, not community. As far as I knew, I was the only Brujah left in the world but goddamnit, I was still a goddamn Brujah and proud.

I thought I was alone in loving this game. Everyone else talks about the friends they made playing it, that those friendships are part of why they want it to continue. After I graduated college and moved to LA, I didn't have anyone in my life who played. For me, it was an intellectual love - a solitary love. But still a powerful love.

So now I know that I'm not alone. And now I know there are other people, like me, who were "lost". Other players who had no idea MES or OWbN or Mind's Eye Theatre itself existed. I want to find them. I want to find the vampire loving kids like I used to be - the kids who are growing up on True Blood, and Vampire Diaries and yes even Twilight - and show them that there is something even cooler. Something they can be a part of. Something that they can *create*.

And that is my job at By Night. I'm not the Veteran rules genius like Kevin Millard. I'm not the living WoD encyclopedia that is Lears Fool. I'm the voice for the New, the Lapsed and the Lost. I'm the one who *doesn't* have 20 years of MET knowledge, which means I'm often the one going "this makes no manner of goddamn sense". And we need that - because if we are going to teach the New, reawaken the Lapsed and find the Lost then they will have the same questions I do. We have to make something that is clear in and of itself, that is useful to veteran players and total n00bs equally.

I haven't been LARPing for very long. I only vaguely understand the mechanics of MET: Revised. I have a gap that is almost a decade long where I didn't play Vampire. And that is why I'm on board - because I know enough to know that a change is needed. And while everyone else can speak for the players who have kept the torch burning for two decades, I can speak to what it is like to walk in the dark and feel alone.

Zum Vergrößern anklicken....

• CAMARILLA PIN PACK ( $205 ) Man erhält jeweils einen Pin:
  Gargoyle, Followers of Set, Assamite, Brujah, Gangrel, Malkavian, Nosferatu, Toreador, Tremere, Ventrue, Lasombra Antitribu, Caitiff and the Camarilla sect symbol.
• GREAT CLANS PIN PACK ( $205 ) Man erhält jeweils einen Pin:
  Brujah, Gangrel, Malkavian, Nosferatu, Toreador, Tremere, Ventrue, Lasombra, Tzimisce, Assamite, Giovanni, Ravnos, and Followers of Set.
• SABBAT CLAN AND SECT PIN PACK ( $235 ) Man erhält jeweils einen Pin:
  Blood Brothers, Kiasyd, Salubri Antitribu, Serpents of the Light, Assamite Antitribu, Brujah Antitribu, Gangrel Antitribu, Lasombra, Malkavian Antitribu, Nosferatu Antitribu, Pander, Ravnos Antitribu, Toreador Antitribu, Tzimisce, Ventrue Antitribu, and a Sabbat sect symbol.
• BLOODLINE PIN PACK( $270 ) Man erhält jeweils einen Pin:
  Baali, Blood Brothers, Daughters of Cacophony, Gargoyles, Harbingers of Skulls, Kiaysd, Nagaraja, Salubri, Salubri Antitribu, Samedi, True Brujah, Ahrimanes, Anda, Cappadocians, Children of Osiris, Lamia, Lhiannan, Noiad.
• COMPLETE PIN SET ( $678 ) Man erhält von allen 47 Pins einen.

• Quick Start Guide
  Jeder der einen der Rewards von $10 wählt wird den Quick Start Guide erhalten.
  Aufgrund des schieren Umfang des Grundregelwerk möchte man den Spielern ein Dokument geben das einfach strukturiert ist und in dem man schnell nachschlagen kann.
  Natürlich wird das Grundregelwerk ein robustes Inhaltsverzeichnis haben, dennoch möchte man nicht nur den erfahrenen Spielern eine knappe Übersicht an die Hand geben sondern auch neuen Spielern das System auf eine schnelle und kompremierte nahe bringen.
• Storyteller Secrets PDFDas PDF kann für $20 als AddOn dem eigenen Reward Level zugefügt werden.
  Bei den Storyteller Secrets handelt es sich um eine Sammlung von Essays von Mitarbeitern der By Night Studios. Es soll dabei helfen eine neue Chronik zu starten, es wird auf das Design unterschiedlicher Regelmechaniken eingehen und weitere Motive enthüllen was man sich dabei gedacht hat, man gibt damit Ratschläge für Storyteller und unterbreitet den Spielern Vorschläge. Alles damit man das beste aus Mind's Eye Theater: Vampire The Masquerade rausholen kann.
• Pickering Lythe PDFDas PDF kann für $20 als AddOn dem eigenen Reward Level zugefügt werden.
  Hierbei handelt es sich um ein im Dark Ages and Vampire by Gaslight Genre angesiedeltes Setting das von einem Mitarbeiter von By Night Studios als "Downtown Abbey! WITH FANGS!" beschrieben wird.
  Es spielt wohl um 1870 (Edwardian Era) in dem Abseits von Yorkshire gelegenen Ort Pickering Lythe, wo sich Kainiten vor den weltbewegenden Umwälzungen die in Europa losgebrochen sind zurück gezogen haben. Neben dem gesellschaftlichen Ereignissen, gibt es wohl ein Geheimnis das zurück in die römische Besetzung Grossbritaniens reicht und eine Bedrohung.
  Man bietet die Hintergründe, Sonder-Regeln, NSC und Informationen die zum Spielen benötigt werden.
  
  Das entsprechende Update bietet einen kleinen Teaser für Pickering Lythe:
  

  Pickering Lythe by Night: A Haunted Edwardian Era setting
  
  Cora, Countess of Grantham: “Are we to be friends then?”
  Violet, Dowager Countess of Grantham: “We are allies, which can be a good deal more effective.”— A Conversation from Downton Abbey
  In the early twentieth century, noble families from ancient lineages rule a gilded age. Vampires seek shelter in powerful mortal houses to endure the tumult of world-shaking events that rock Europe, concealing themselves among both masters and servants.
  
  Pickering Lythe, a remote community in Yorkshire, holds a secret dating back to the Roman occupation of Great Britain—and to the terror that chased them from these shores. The tragic death of first-born son Michael Crouchback, heir to Castle Pickering, has brought wild speculation about the future of the manor and its estate. Lord Crouchback has three eligible daughters and a surfeit of suitors from prominent families seeking to marry into his wealthy family. In the shadows behind and under the sophisticated games of courtship, Kindred maneuver to ensure that it is their pawns who claim the prize…but could it be that there are other, greater, and darker forces at work?
  
  This complete setting provides all the background, special rules, NPCs, and information you'll need to stage stylishly decadent LARPs in the spirit of Downton Abbey along with an outline for spooky plotlines.

  Zum Vergrößern anklicken....

• Blood and Betrayl PDF
  Das PDF kann für $20 als AddOn dem eigenen Reward Level zugefügt werden.
  Hierbei handelt es sich um das Abenteuer das auf der Grey Ghost Masquerade als erstes vollwertiges MET: VtM LARP Event umgesetzt wird.
  Die Kainiten finden sich auf Geheiß von Madame Guil an Bord der Queen Mary ein wo, nach einer langen Serie erschreckend effektiver Attentate auf Kainiten durch Jäger, eine Konklave einberufen wurde. Liegt doch der Verdacht nahe das, wenn die Maskerade bestand hat, es einen Verräter in den eigenen Reihen gibt.
  Neben dem Versuch herauszufinden wer der Verräter ist, gibt es Gerüchte das die Queen Mary ein mächtiges Geheimnis in ihrer Geschichte verbirgt, die Harpien nutzen es als das soziale Happening und auf den unteren Decks tumeln sich Setiten und Giovanni um Profit aus dem ganzen zu schlagen. Es gibt also mehr als genug zu tun.
  
  Das entsprechende Update bietet einen Teaser für Blood and Betrayl:
  

  Blood and Betrayal Teaser
  
  “I used to advertise my loyalty and I don't believe there is a single person I loved that I didn't eventually betray.”― Albert Camus, The Fall
  A decade has passed since the Nights of Turmoil faded into bitter memory. The fear of Gehenna no longer looms large on the horizon, but other dangers threaten Kindred society. Once a minor irritant, hunters have become shockingly successful in locating and destroying their prey, and their deadly shadow now falls across the entirety of the American West Coast. This threat is dire enough to prompt even the staid and conservative Elders to action.
  
  Her Grace, Madame Guil, Justicar for Clan Toreador, has called for a judicial conclave to determine the root cause behind the hunters’ coordinated attacks. If the Masquerade holds, then surely the Camarilla is betrayed: a traitor from among the many West Coast domains must be feeding these hunters valuable intelligence. How else could their rampant victories be explained?
  
  Maximillian Strauss, Prince of Los Angeles, will host the conclave aboard the Queen Mary. Sometimes called the “Grey Ghost,” it is said that old feuds never really die aboard the ship; they merely slumber restlessly until the call of opportunity awakens them. Kindred legend also speaks of a curse on the ship, and claims that anyone clever enough to lift it by finding all the clues to its origins will be rewarded beyond all measure.
  Not merely a forum for undead politics, the conclave will also be the social event of the season—already the Harpies are calling it “The Pacifica Royale.” The guest list includes important Kindred from all of the major West Coast cities, including Camarilla domains, Anarch freeholds, and independent cities. Few will dare to refuse the Justicar’s summons to discuss such an important issue, especially when the hunters are a clear danger to everyone. It is whispered that there may even be spies from the Sabbat in attendance, hoping to discover exactly who is behind the hunters’ brutal strikes against their roaming packs.
  
  As always, the Giovanni and the Followers of Set intend to profit from a gruesome and uncertain situation. These clans have stated their intention to host a private party below decks—perhaps in the ship’s old boiler room—where Kindred may indulge their more violent tastes in a series of tournaments for the entertainment of select guests. The hosts have promised the victors of this “Blood Pit" competition prizes of great significance and importance.

  Zum Vergrößern anklicken....

  
  Auch bietet man für Blood & Betrayl ein erstes Cover Mock-Up:
  
  

• Es wird keine neuen Reward-Tiers geben!
  Ist wohl bei 3 Tagen auch etwas arg knapp
• Bei jedem Reward-Tier (wo auch ein Buch dabei ist, denke ich) kann man in der Umfrage die Sprache wählen.
• Wenn man eine Sprache auswählt erhält man das Buch aus dem Reward-Tier in der Sprache der Wahl