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Mind's Eye Theatre: Calypso by Night

Indigo Wyrd

Indigo Wyrd

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Indigo Rage Wyrdweaver
One of two things brought you to this thread - you either saw the title and wondered "what the heck is this", or you saw the title and knew exactly what it was, and wanted to know more.

If you're in the first group, a brief explanation:

Mind's Eye Theatre is a Live-Action Role-Play, much like improvisational theatre, created by White-Wolf. There are many genres within MET, and are mostly gothic-horror based - Vampires, Werewolves, Ghosts, and so on.
If you're interested, read on.

If you're in the second group, then no explaination is due - you already know what MET is all about, so I can get on with the reason for this thread:

I am interested in forming a MET Troupe here on Calypso.
Granted, I realize there are some minor "technical" matters that will need to be worked out in order to make the most of the experience, though I think these matters will be fairly simple to resolve.

For myself, I have many years of experience as both player, narrator and Storyteller, and I think this could very well be a tremendously fun and rewarding experience.

If you're interested in either helping out as a Narrator, or would simply love a chance to take MET to a new level of play, please send me a PM, with the subject MET:CbN.

I would be open to nearly any aspect of MET, though my passion is for Laws of the Night/Laws of Elysium.

I would like to see a troupe come together by the 15th of October, and would like to begin the first session by the 20th of October.

~Indigo
 
This is still a bit rough to me... you mean Role Play as in a real ORPG ?
 
AJack10600 said:
This is still a bit rough to me... you mean Role Play as in a real ORPG ?
Click to expand...

Yes. While it might sound "rough", I have both played in and run several very successful games online - the longest of which ran for a little over two years, and averaged between 20-30 players at any given time.

I actually think Calypso/EU would be an amazing experience, both for the visual environment, as well as the features available.

And MET's fairly flexable conflict resolution mechanism and simple mechanics would work quite nicely in this environment - we only need, as a troupe, to agree on a method for resolution.
 
hm... I would like to hear more, even if I won't partake :D
 
Lol...

LOL. I was thinking about this same sort of thing the other day... I do have several White Wolf books, including some MET ones, and also several Palladium Books but haven't played since college (graduated December 1999). My Paper RPG book collection sits on the basement library shelf collecting dust. Unfortunately, I don't have a lot of time to play online, so probably won't be able to participate much... I'm mainly on EU twice a day most days now, in the early morning and late at night, for about 20 minutes each.

It's VERY SAD when the story in EU is so non-existent that participants are willing to now look to doing real pen and paper RPGs inside of the EU mmorpg....

It is a good idea though. Just waiting for next vu when we start seeing D20s, D10s, and D6s start showing up on auctions LOL.

I did read a long time ago that White Wolf was teaming up with someone to do an online world of darkness, but I don't think that partner was Mindarc - too bad.

Guess Vampire Armor in EU is going to have a use - it can be used to identify vamps participating in the story maybe.

One thing about MET that always is mentioned in the rules books is that you should ONLY play in secure places, far away from public places like malls, libraries, and whatnot so that you don't freak out the people in the real world. Inside of EU, you wouldn't have to worry about that so much. I could see lots of potential... Some people already do stuff like send N00bs to pvp zones and pay the one that lasts longest, play hide and seek with loot, etc. I would think you could do lots of interesting things with MET type stuff... just be careful to not be too much of a pain to others though otherwise MA may have to step in?
 
Modertor(s): Seemed "General" to me, but thank you for the move.

mastermesh said:
LOL. I was thinking about this same sort of thing the other day... I do have several White Wolf books, including some MET ones, and also several Palladium Books but haven't played since college (graduated December 1999). My Paper RPG book collection sits on the basement library shelf collecting dust. Unfortunately, I don't have a lot of time to play online, so probably won't be able to participate much... I'm mainly on EU twice a day most days now, in the early morning and late at night, for about 20 minutes each.

It's VERY SAD when the story in EU is so non-existent that participants are willing to now look to doing real pen and paper RPGs inside of the EU mmorpg....

It is a good idea though. Just waiting for next vu when we start seeing D20s, D10s, and D6s start showing up on auctions LOL.

I did read a long time ago that White Wolf was teaming up with someone to do an online world of darkness, but I don't think that partner was Mindarc - too bad.

Guess Vampire Armor in EU is going to have a use - it can be used to identify vamps participating in the story maybe.

One thing about MET that always is mentioned in the rules books is that you should ONLY play in secure places, far away from public places like malls, libraries, and whatnot so that you don't freak out the people in the real world. Inside of EU, you wouldn't have to worry about that so much. I could see lots of potential... Some people already do stuff like send N00bs to pvp zones and pay the one that lasts longest, play hide and seek with loot, etc. I would think you could do lots of interesting things with MET type stuff... just be careful to not be too much of a pain to others though otherwise MA may have to step in?
Click to expand...

Likewise, I've a pen-and-paper RPG collection that dates back to the blue-box edition of Dungeons and Dragons - much of which has gone neglected for far too long. Largely this is due to too little time - but since I find myself putting in more than enough time in EU, I figure why not do two things I enjoy at the same time?

As for Vampire Armor - it still has it's one use: Looking Good.
I do agree the lack of actual story substance in EU leaves it more than wanting - but I've no plans to backwrite any of the EU story that already exists. This troupe will be (for the most part) detached from that bit of material.

As for "real-world involvement" - my last MET Troupe, did in fact often have events in public places - nightclubs, restaurants, stadiums - but our play style ensured things like The Masquerade were strictly observed - challenges were resolved with tokens, rather than the traditional rock-paper-scissors - making interactions between individuals very "normal-seeming". Obviously things like armed combat were not an option, and these occassions were among some of the most memorable and fun for all.

We also hosted several "public exibitions", where non-players were able to come sit in and simply observe. This included several highschool classes, church groups, younger-players-parents (our troupe required all participants to be at least 18 years old without parental consent) as well as local newspaper and television reporters.

There's certainly no reason why the "mundane population" of Calypso should be treated any different, and a LARP troupe should pose no potential for interruption.

---

If you know anyone else who would be interested in forming a troupe, then by all means, refer them here!
 
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I can't remember...

I can't remember the link or name of the program, but way back when I used to do some palladium books rpging online I think there was some program online somewhere that acted like dice/chat for players. If playing eu in windowed mode, something like that could act as the dice part of the playing? Staging could also be done in game... real in game combat would be out, but moving around on radar and on screen might work, sort of like using avatars to play the part of miniatures that move x amount of squares (coordinates) per movement or whatever. Another possibility might be to use some just random rpg ideas and play in to the parts... sort of like live action theater sports classes or something... potential is unlimited.
 
Mind's Eye Theatre does not use dice, but rather trait-based challenges and (traditionally) Rock-Paper-Scissors to resolve the outcome of those challenges.

Since we'd need a way to resolve challenges that would be visible to those involved, the simplest method I can come up with that is both fair and verifiable would be the use of Private Trades to show either 1, 2, or 3 pec, where 3 beats 2, 2 beats 1, and 1 beats 3.

Obviously this would take a little bit of coordination on the part of those involved, so that they drop their pec at roughly the same time into the trade window, but we're all pretty clever here, so figuring it out shouldn't be too terrible.

Yes, I agree, actual in-game combat would be potentially unbalanced, as someone who is new to the game, but playing the part of a Ventrue Elder should very easily be able to overcome someone who has been here for years, yet is playing the part of a neonate. In-game that just wouldn't work out well.

HOWEVER - we would have the opportunity to utilize weapons "props" that is otherwise prohibited in actual MET sessions. And yes, I agree, the potential here is close to unlimited.

~I
 
Sounds very complex to me... how do you want to do that in practice... how are you gonna do a game session ?
 
AJack10600 said:
Sounds very complex to me... how do you want to do that in practice... how are you gonna do a game session ?
Click to expand...

It sounds complex, however, it's actually fairly simple - just as with any MET session, there is a pre-defined starting time and a starting location.

For example, the troupe could assemble at the Hospital Building in Hadeshiem at 09:00 in-game time - it's an obvious location (and in this case, one that seldom sees any other players). We have a simple method for checking in-game time ("U" for me).

At that time, or shortly thereof, the session would begin.
For the initial session, the Storyteller would provide all the initial information the players need, as well as introduce the Narrators. My reccomendation would be that all the players pull information bars from the Storyteller and Narrators so they can contact them via Private Message as necessary, and likewise, Narrators should pull information bars from their respective player groups and from the Storyteller as well.

After that, some time should be allowed for the respective player groups to get to their respective areas - again, using Hadeshiem as an example - if there were to be a Camarilla presence there, then those Camarilla players would disperse to that location, while non-Camarilla players would likewise go to their appropriate places. Once everyone is where they belong, the session would be underway.

Unlike table-top gaming, MET is more centered on the interactions between players, with the Storyteller's role focusing more on keeping the storyline progressing, determining static-challenge levels for various interactions, and administration tasks.

Narrators typically take the roles of various non-player characters, and act as intermediaries between players and the Storyteller. Likewise they set various static challenge levels for common activites, and assist in maintaining story flow.

Players are what drive the story, and determine what direction that the story takes. It is their interactions that shape the overall flow of events, and provide the Storyteller with additional material to drive a storyline in any number of directions. Players also make up the majority of the hierarchy of the "cast" of any given storyline - City Princes, Clan Primogen, Sabbat Bishops, and so on - giving room for tremendous interactions between themselves.

The only potential complexity I can see are finding suitably obvious indicators for the traditional gestures and hand-signals used to denote the useage of certain Disciplines - Obfuscate (Unseen Presence) for example - typically signed as moving about with ones arms crossed across one's chest - to indicate that the person engaging this Discipline should be treated as though they were not there, or Presence (Majesty) - typically signed as moving about with arms outswept - present a minor complication that the troupe would need to come to an agreement on how to represent.

We have options available, certainly, such as changing postures, or equiping various bits of gear - whatever we decide as a group works best.

So hosting a game session is actually not nearly as complex as it might seem.
And the potentential for contact with non-playing people means it becomes crucial to observe things such as The Masquerade - both as a general "rule" and to maintain a story flow that is free from interruption for the duration of the gaming session.


~I
 
Periodic bump for the sake of generating interest.
 
would you just do vampire ?

Would you just do vampire, or other books too, like mummy, mage, werewolf, etc. Also, which isbn books would you use for the rules and things, or would participants even have to have books to just play in this thing? Also would you use new or old world of darkness rules and things?
 
I'm open to a variety of possibilities, though I find certain aspects to be potentially unbalancing - such as Mummies, and others to be highly abusable, such as Wraiths.

I also prefer the older-style World of Darkness over the current "revision". And seeing as how we are rather limited in our scope of conflict resolutions, we would be using the Mind's Eye Theatre core rules. ISBN's are not readilly available, but I'm sure I can gather my collection and look.

It would certainly be helpful for everyone to have their own copies, though not a requirement, as the rules and systems are designed to be a simple as possible.

Core rulebooks, by title:

Laws of the Night (vampire)
Laws of Elysium (vampire)
Laws of Ascention (mage)
Laws of the Hunt (werewolf)

~I
 
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