tabletop role-playing games A tabletop role-playing game (TTRPG or TRPG), also known as a pen-and-paper role-playing game, is a kind of role-playing game (RPG) in which the participants describe their characters' actions through speech and sometimes movements. Participants d ...

Mark Rein-Hagen Mark Rein-Hagen, stylized as Mark Rein•Hagen (born 1964), is an American role-playing game, role-playing, card game, card, video game, video and board game designer best known as the creator of ''Vampire: The Masquerade'' and its associated '' ...

White Wolf Publishing White Wolf Entertainment AB, formerly White Wolf Publishing, was an American roleplaying game and book publisher. The company was founded in 1991 as a merger between Lion Rampant (game publisher), Lion RampantVampire: The Masquerade'', '' Werewolf: The Apocalypse'', ''

Mage: The Ascension ''Mage: The Ascension'' is a supernatural fiction tabletop role-playing game first published on August 19, 1993, by White Wolf Publishing. It is set in the World of Darkness universe. History Following the success of '' Vampire: The Masquerade ...

'', '' Wraith: The Oblivion'', and '' Changeling: The Dreaming'', along with off-shoots based on these. The series ended in 2004, and the

reboot In computing, rebooting is the process by which a running computer system is restarted, either intentionally or unintentionally. Reboots can be either a cold reboot (alternatively known as a hard reboot) in which the power to the system is physi ...

''Chronicles of Darkness'' was launched the same year with a new line of games. In 2011, the original series was brought back, and the two have since been published concurrently. The games in the series have a shared setting, also named the World of Darkness, which is a dark,

gothic Gothic or Gothics may refer to: People and languages *Goths or Gothic people, a Germanic people **Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths **Gothic alphabet, an alphabet used to write the Gothic language ** Gothic ( ...

-

punk Punk or punks may refer to: Genres, subculture, and related aspects * Punk rock, a music genre originating in the 1970s associated with various subgenres * Punk subculture, a subculture associated with punk rock, or aspects of the subculture s ...

interpretation of the real world, where supernatural beings such as vampires and werewolves exist in secrecy. The original series' setting has a large focus on lore and overarching narrative, whereas ''Chronicles of Darkness'' setting has no such narrative and presents the details of its setting as optional. The series has been well received critically for its setting, writing, and art direction, and has won or been nominated for awards including the

Origins Award The Origins Awards are American awards for outstanding work in the gaming industry. They are presented by the Game Manufacturers Association (GAMA) at the Origins Game Fair on an annual basis for games released in the preceding year. For example, t ...

. It has also been commercially successful, with millions of game books sold; by 2001, ''Vampire: The Masquerade'' was the second highest selling tabletop role-playing game after

TSR, Inc. TSR, Inc. was an American game publishing company, best known as the original publisher of '' Dungeons & Dragons'' (''D&D''). Its earliest incarnation, Tactical Studies Rules, was founded in October 1973 by Gary Gygax and Don Kaye. Gygax had bee ...

's ''

Dungeons & Dragons ''Dungeons & Dragons'' (commonly abbreviated as ''D&D'' or ''DnD'') is a fantasy tabletop role-playing game (TTRPG) originally created and designed by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson. The game was first published in 1974 by TSR (company)#Tactical ...

''. The series has been adapted into other media, including the television series '' Kindred: The Embraced'',

actual play Actual play, also called live play, is a genre of podcast or web show in which people play tabletop role-playing games (TTRPGs) for an audience. Actual play often encompasses in-character interactions between players, storytelling from the gam ...

web series A web series (also known as webseries, short-form series, and web show) is a series of short scripted or non-scripted online videos, generally in episodic form, released on the Internet (i.e. World Wide Web), which first emerged in the late 1 ...

, novels and anthologies, comic books, card games, and a line of video games.

Games

The original ''World of Darkness'' series consists of eight core lines of role-playing games which were originally released from 1991 to 2002: *'' Vampire: The Masquerade'' *'' Werewolf: The Apocalypse'' *'' Hunter: The Reckoning'' *''

Mage: The Ascension ''Mage: The Ascension'' is a supernatural fiction tabletop role-playing game first published on August 19, 1993, by White Wolf Publishing. It is set in the World of Darkness universe. History Following the success of '' Vampire: The Masquerade ...

'' *'' Mummy: The Resurrection'' *'' Demon: The Fallen'' *'' Wraith: The Oblivion'' *'' Changeling: The Dreaming'' As well as off-shoots based on these, such as the Asia-themed ''

Kindred of the East ''Kindred of the East'' is a tabletop role-playing game book and game line. It was released by White Wolf Publishing in February 1998 for use with their horror game '' Vampire: The Masquerade''. It is a part of the ''World of Darkness'' series, ...

'' and the historical '' Vampire: The Dark Ages''. The 2004

reboot In computing, rebooting is the process by which a running computer system is restarted, either intentionally or unintentionally. Reboots can be either a cold reboot (alternatively known as a hard reboot) in which the power to the system is physi ...

series, ''Chronicles of Darkness'', consists of eleven game lines: '' Vampire: The Requiem'', '' Werewolf: The Forsaken'', '' Mage: The Awakening'', '' Promethean: The Created'', '' Changeling: The Lost'', '' Hunter: The Vigil'', '' Geist: The Sin-Eaters'', '' Mummy: The Curse'', ''Demon: The Descent'', ''Beast: The Primordial'', and ''Deviant: The Renegades''. Most of these are based on concepts from the original series, directly as with ''Vampire: The Requiem'' and ''Vampire: The Masquerade'', or indirectly as with ''Geist'' and ''Wraith'', which both deal with spirits. Both series are supported with supplementary

sourcebook A sourcebook is a collection of texts on a particular subject intended for use as an introduction to the subject. The selected texts are typically edited, laid out, and typeset in a uniform format before binding, and the result is often a hardcov ...

s detailing backgrounds and character types, which can be used when creating adventures for one's players; pre-made

adventure module An adventure is a playable scenario in a tabletop role-playing game. These can be constructed by gamemasters for their players, and are also released by game publishers as pre-made adventure modules. Different types of designs exist, including ...

s have also occasionally been published. The ''Chronicles of Darkness'' sourcebooks in particular present the information as optional and something one may choose whether to include in one's game. The supplements often take the form of a book describing a location as it is portrayed in the setting, such as ''Vampire: The Masquerade'' series of ''By Night'' books and ''Werewolf: The Apocalypse'' ''Rage Across'' series. Several

splatbook A splatbook is a sourcebook for a particular role-playing game (RPG) that is not needed for play, but is devoted to a particular facet, character class, or fictional faction, providing additional background details and rules options. For example, a ...

s – sourcebooks detailing character classes or organizations – have also been published, such as the ''Clanbook'' series, describing vampire clans, and the ''Kithbook'' line, covering types of fae.

Common elements

The games in the original series are set in a shared universe, also named the World of Darkness, which is a dark,

gothic Gothic or Gothics may refer to: People and languages *Goths or Gothic people, a Germanic people **Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths **Gothic alphabet, an alphabet used to write the Gothic language ** Gothic ( ...

-

punk Punk or punks may refer to: Genres, subculture, and related aspects * Punk rock, a music genre originating in the 1970s associated with various subgenres * Punk subculture, a subculture associated with punk rock, or aspects of the subculture s ...

interpretation of the real world, rife with corruption. In it, supernatural beings such as vampires, mages, and werewolves exist in secrecy, influencing humanity and clashing against each other; players take the roles of these beings, who belong to various classes such as ''Vampire: The Masquerade'' vampire clans, and ''Werewolf: The Apocalypse'' werewolf tribes. The series as a whole is themed around personal horror, while individual games have their own themes, such as redemption and humanity in ''Vampire: The Masquerade'', and hubris in ''Mage: The Ascension''. The series is known for its focus on metaplot – an overarching story for the setting that advances as new game books are released. Whereas the original series has a large focus on lore and background information for its setting, the urban horror ''Chronicles of Darkness'' setting does not to the same extent; it does not have a metaplot, and it presents any setting information as strictly optional to include in campaigns. With its lesser focus on lore and less defined world, ''Chronicles of Darkness'' also streamlines the character types, stripping the many vampire clans and werewolf tribes from the original series down to five each. The person leading campaigns – a role called

gamemaster A gamemaster (GM; also known as game master, game manager, game moderator, referee, storyteller, or master of ceremonies) is a person who acts as a facilitator, organizer, officiant regarding rules, arbitrator, and moderator for a multiplayer r ...

or dungeon master in other games – is called a storyteller in ''World of Darkness'', highlighting how the series is more focused on collaborative storytelling than on combat or on players overcoming the game leader's challenges; the rules exist to give players a framework for telling stories, and players are rewarded by being part of the setting rather than by escalating power levels. ''Chronicles of Darkness'' has a larger focus on making the gameplay systems work together, enabling easier cross-over play between the games.

History

1990–2006: White Wolf Publishing

The ''World of Darkness'' series began development in 1990 by game designer

Mark Rein-Hagen Mark Rein-Hagen, stylized as Mark Rein•Hagen (born 1964), is an American role-playing game, role-playing, card game, card, video game, video and board game designer best known as the creator of ''Vampire: The Masquerade'' and its associated '' ...

at

White Wolf Publishing White Wolf Entertainment AB, formerly White Wolf Publishing, was an American roleplaying game and book publisher. The company was founded in 1991 as a merger between Lion Rampant (game publisher), Lion RampantArs Magica ''Ars Magica'' is a role-playing game set in 'Mythic Europe' – a historically grounded version of Europe and the Levant around AD 1200, with the added conceit that conceptions of the world prevalent in folklore and institutions of the High Mid ...

''. Designed as the first in a planned series of five annual games, '' Vampire: The Masquerade'' was released in 1991, and was followed by '' Werewolf: The Apocalypse'' (1992), ''

Mage: The Ascension ''Mage: The Ascension'' is a supernatural fiction tabletop role-playing game first published on August 19, 1993, by White Wolf Publishing. It is set in the World of Darkness universe. History Following the success of '' Vampire: The Masquerade ...

'' (1993), '' Wraith: The Oblivion'' (1994), and '' Changeling: The Dreaming'' (1995), all set in the same world and using the Storyteller rule system. This rapid expansion with new games, although successful and capturing players' and the industry's interest, led to often flawed first editions, prompting several revised, new editions of the core rulebooks between 1992–2000, resulting in ''Mage: The Ascension'' morphing a lot between its editions as its themes changed. ''Ars Magica'' was initially tied to ''World of Darkness'' and used as a historical backdrop: its House Tremere was reused as a vampire clan in ''Vampire: The Masquerade'', and its Order of Hermes as a mage tradition in ''Mage: The Ascension''. The rights to ''Ars Magica'' were sold to

Wizards of the Coast Wizards of the Coast LLC (WotC or Wizards) is an American game Publishing, publisher, most of which are based on fantasy and List of science fiction themes, science-fiction themes, and formerly an operator of retail game stores. In 1999, toy ...

in 1994, and the histories of the games were separated. Rein-Hagen constantly moved on to designing new games after finishing one, designing all the original five games except ''Mage: The Ascension'', which was designed by White Wolf Publishing's founders, brothers Stewart and

Steve Wieck Steve Wieck (also credited as Stephan Wieck) is best known as one of the founders of the publishing company White Wolf, Inc. He is also one of the original writers of '' Mage: The Ascension''. Wieck is a co-founder of DriveThruRPG which later me ...

, and Chris Earley; as such, new staff were brought in to manage the game lines, including

Andrew Greenberg Andrew Greenberg is a game designer of tabletop role-playing games and role-playing video games. Career Greenberg was one of White Wolf Publishing's original developers on '' Vampire: The Masquerade'' (1991). He was the line editor for ''Vampi ...

for ''Vampire'' and Bill Bridges for ''Werewolf'', who came to define the look and feel of the series. An economic downturn for White Wolf Publishing in 1995–1996, caused in part by bookstore returns for ''World of Darkness'' novelizations, led to a falling out between Rein-Hagen and the Wieck brothers, after which Rein-Hagen left the company. As the original planned five annual games had already been published, White Wolf Publishing next devised a new model of role-playing games with a historical setting based on previous games, resulting in '' Vampire: The Dark Ages'' (1996), '' Werewolf: The Wild West'' (1997), and '' Mage: The Sorcerers Crusade'' (1998), of which only ''Vampire: The Dark Ages'' sold well. This led to the cancellation of the underperforming ''Wraith'' line, with the release of the historical-setting '' Wraith: The Great War'' and the 1999 supplement ''Ends of Empire'', which functioned as a finale to the game's metaplot. In 1997, White Wolf Publishing developed another model, where they would release a game that required another ''World of Darkness'' rule book to play, which thereby would get the same attention as a new stand-alone core game without requiring them to further support it with supplements; this was used for 1997's '' Mummy Second Edition'' and its 2001 re-release ''Mummy: The Resurrection'', and 1998's ''

Kindred of the East ''Kindred of the East'' is a tabletop role-playing game book and game line. It was released by White Wolf Publishing in February 1998 for use with their horror game '' Vampire: The Masquerade''. It is a part of the ''World of Darkness'' series, ...

''. The two final major modern-day-setting ''World of Darkness'' role-playing games, '' Hunter: The Reckoning'' and '' Demon: The Fallen'', followed in 1999 and 2002, after which White Wolf Publishing returned to historical-setting games with '' Victorian Age: Vampire'' and ''Dark Ages: Vampire'', a new edition of ''Vampire: The Dark Ages'', and a line of ''Dark Ages'' games based on other ''World of Darkness'' games that, like ''Kindred of the East'' and ''Mummy'', required a main game's rule book to be played. A final game, ''

Orpheus In Greek mythology, Orpheus (; , classical pronunciation: ) was a Thracians, Thracian bard, legendary musician and prophet. He was also a renowned Ancient Greek poetry, poet and, according to legend, travelled with Jason and the Argonauts in se ...

'', was released in 2003 as a sequel to ''Wraith''. In 2004, following dwindling sales, White Wolf Publishing ended the series with the major event ''

Time of Judgment ''Time of Judgment'' is a series of roleplaying game scenario books for the World of Darkness settings of White Wolf Game Studio. These scenarios are presented as the semi-canonical endings of the original World of Darkness, as preparation for ...

'': a line of books that ended the overarching narratives of ''Vampire: The Masquerade'', ''Werewolf: The Apocalypse'', ''Mage: The Ascension'', ''Changeling: The Dreaming'', ''Demon: The Fallen'', ''Hunter: The Reckoning'', ''Kindred of the East'', and ''Mummy: The Resurrection''. Following this, White Wolf Publishing rebooted the series with the 2004 rulebook ''The World of Darkness'', and released new games with updated

Storytelling System The ''Storytelling System'' is a role-playing game system created by White Wolf, Inc. for the Chronicles of Darkness (formerly known as the New World of Darkness), a game world with several tabletop role-playing games tied in. The Storytelling Syst ...

gameplay rules and a new setting, beginning with '' Vampire: The Requiem'' in 2004 and '' Werewolf: The Forsaken'' and '' Mage: The Awakening'' in 2005.

2006–2015: CCP Games

In 2006, the Icelandic video game developer

CCP Games CCP ehf., doing business as CCP Games (short for Crowd Control Productions), is an Icelandic video game developer based in Reykjavík. Novator Partners and General Catalyst had previously collectively owned a majority stake in the company, and ...

acquired White Wolf Publishing and their intellectual properties, with the intention of developing an online video game based on ''World of Darkness''. Business continued as usual until 2009, when CCP Games started transferring White Wolf Publishing staff to video game development and slowed down tabletop game production. The CCP Games incarnation of White Wolf Publishing published its last print products for distribution in 2011, with ''Vampire: The Masquerade 20th Anniversary Edition'', an update of the pre-reboot game. Amid mass layoffs at CCP Games the same year, leaving few resources to produce tabletop games, White Wolf Publishing's creative director Rich Thomas formed

Onyx Path Publishing Onyx Path Publishing is a publisher of tabletop role-playing games that produces company-owned and creator-owned games as well as licensed products. History The name "The Onyx Path" and the company's logo appeared on White Wolf products and th ...

and licensed both of the ''World of Darkness'' series, continuing support for them and producing new material. This included further anniversary editions, and new games like '' Mummy: The Curse'' (2013) and ''Demon: The Descent'' (2014); these projects were frequently financed through crowdfunding.

2015–present: Paradox Interactive

White Wolf Publishing and its intellectual properties were sold again in 2015, to the Swedish video game publisher

Paradox Interactive Paradox Interactive AB is a video game publisher based in Stockholm, Sweden. The company started out as the video game division of Target Games and then Paradox Entertainment (now Cabinet Entertainment) before being spun out into an independ ...

. Following this, the rebooted ''World of Darkness'' series was renamed ''Chronicles of Darkness'', while the original series remained as ''World of Darkness''. This was done to prevent confusion among players over there being two series and settings with the same name: Prior to the renaming, the two had been distinguished from each other by being referred to as the ''Old'' or ''Classic World of Darkness'' and the ''New World of Darkness''. Onyx Path Publishing's in-development ''Vampire: The Masquerade 4th Edition'', which they had announced only a few months earlier, was cancelled following this, as Paradox Interactive planned to publish their own fifth edition. The Paradox Interactive incarnation of White Wolf Publishing released the fifth edition of ''Vampire: The Masquerade'' in 2018, which included references to

neo-Nazis Neo-Nazism comprises the post–World War II militant, social, and political movements that seek to revive and reinstate Nazi ideology. Neo-Nazis employ their ideology to promote hatred and racial supremacy (often white supremacy), to att ...

and a character interpreted as being a

pedophile Pedophilia ( alternatively spelled paedophilia) is a psychiatric disorder in which an adult or older adolescent experiences a primary or exclusive sexual attraction to prepubescent children. Although girls typically begin the process of puber ...

, leading to accusations that they were catering to neo-Nazi groups. White Wolf Publishing denied that this was their intention, and apologized. Following the use of the real-world

anti-gay purges in Chechnya Anti-gay purges in Chechnya, a part of the Russian Federation, have included forced disappearances, secret abductions, imprisonment, torture and extrajudicial killing by authorities targeting persons based on their perceived sexual orientation, ...

as the backdrop for fictional events in ''Vampire: The Masquerade'' sourcebooks, in what Paradox Interactive's vice president of business development described as a "crude and disrespectful" way, Paradox Interactive integrated White Wolf Publishing directly into the parent company, made changes to its leadership, suspended sales and printings of the books, and halted its development and publishing of ''World of Darkness'' games. The material was removed from the books, and ''Vampire: The Masquerade'' development was moved to the licensee

Modiphius Entertainment Modiphius Entertainment is a tabletop role-playing game and board game publisher based in Fulham, London that is known for licensed adaptations of established media. Notable titles include '' Star Trek Adventures, Fallout the Roleplaying Game,'' ...

and collaborators including Onyx Path Publishing. Starting with the 2020 book ''Vampire: The Masquerade Companion'', Paradox Interactive introduced further changes to the handling of the series: headed by creative lead

Justin Achilli Justin Achilli is best known as an author and developer for White Wolf, Inc. Career Justin Achilli began working at White Wolf Publishing, White Wolf in 1995. Achilli has contributed as an author for numerous ''Vampire: The Masquerade'' and ''Vamp ...

, they would develop core game books internally, while collaborator

Renegade Game Studios Renegade Game Studios is an American game company based in Escondido, California, that creates and publishes board games, card games, and role-playing games. In 2020, the company also began producing jigsaw puzzles using art from their games. ...

would develop other game material. Along with this reorganization, Paradox Interactive announced that ''World of Darkness'' development from then on would involve sensitivity reviewers to ensure respectful portrayal of themes and topics. In addition to tabletop game development, the ''World of Darkness'' team at Paradox Interactive plans the setting's overarching narrative, and coordinates with external developers, such as those of ''World of Darkness'' video game adaptations, to ensure cohesion.

Related media

In addition to the tabletop games, the series has expanded into other media, including video games, card and board games, the ''

Mind's Eye Theatre ''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 ...

'' series of

live action role-playing game A live action role-playing game (LARP) is a form of role-playing game where the participants physically portray their character (arts), characters.(Tychsen et al. 2006:255) "LARPs can be viewed as forming a distinct category of RPG because of ...

s, novels, fiction anthologies, comics, the 1996 television series '' Kindred: The Embraced'', the

actual play Actual play, also called live play, is a genre of podcast or web show in which people play tabletop role-playing games (TTRPGs) for an audience. Actual play often encompasses in-character interactions between players, storytelling from the gam ...

web series A web series (also known as webseries, short-form series, and web show) is a series of short scripted or non-scripted online videos, generally in episodic form, released on the Internet (i.e. World Wide Web), which first emerged in the late 1 ...

''

L.A. by Night ''L.A. by Night'' is an American actual play web series where the cast plays as vampires using the fifth edition '' Vampire: The Masquerade'' ruleset. It is set canonically in the ''World of Darkness'' series after the events of '' Vampire: T ...

'' (2018), ''Seattle by Night'' (2019), ''Vein Pursuit'' (2020), and ''The Nightlife'' (2021), and an in-development film and television franchise. Although ''World of Darkness'' multimedia projects slowed down under CCP Games, production began anew after Paradox Interactive acquired the series. Vampire Jyhad Game Setup

A

collectible card game A collectible card game (CCG), also called a trading card game (TCG) among other names, is a type of card game that mixes strategy game, strategic deck building elements with features of trading cards. The genre was introduced with ''Magic: The G ...

based on ''Vampire: The Masquerade'' was released by

Wizards of the Coast Wizards of the Coast LLC (WotC or Wizards) is an American game Publishing, publisher, most of which are based on fantasy and List of science fiction themes, science-fiction themes, and formerly an operator of retail game stores. In 1999, toy ...

in 1994 as ''Jyhad'', before being re-launched a year later as '' Vampire: The Eternal Struggle''; Wizards of the Coast continued publishing it until 1996, and then White Wolf took over, publishing it in 2000–2010. In 2018, Black Chantry Productions licensed ''The Eternal Struggle'', reprinting old cards and continuing production of the game. Following ''The Eternal Struggle'', White Wolf also published a collectible card game on their own, ''

Rage Rage may refer to: * Rage (emotion), an intense form of anger Games * Rage (collectible card game), a collectible card game * Rage (trick-taking card game), a commercial variant of the card game Oh Hell * ''Rage'' (video game), a 2011 first- ...

'', based on ''Werewolf: The Apocalypse'', from 1995 to 1996, which was even more successful than ''The Eternal Struggle''; Five Rings Publishing licensed it, and continued producing it in 1998–1999. Two other ''Vampire: The Masquerade'' card games, ''Vendetta'' and ''Rivals'', were released in 2021 by Horrible Guild and Renegade Game Studios, respectively. A story-based

board game A board game is a type of tabletop game that involves small objects () that are placed and moved in particular ways on a specially designed patterned game board, potentially including other components, e.g. dice. The earliest known uses of the ...

, ''Vampire: The Masquerade – Chapters'', is in development by Flyos Games. A large number of ''World of Darkness'' novels and anthologies have been published, starting with the ''Werewolf: The Apocalypse'' anthology ''Drums Around the Fire'' in 1993, and were described by ''What Do I Read Next? A Reader's Guide to Current Genre Fiction'' as "old-fashioned adventures" in the style of

pulp fiction ''Pulp Fiction'' is a 1994 American independent crime film written and directed by Quentin Tarantino from a story he conceived with Roger Avary.See, e.g., King (2002), pp. 185–7; ; It tells four intertwining tales of crime and violence ...

. The books were popular and helped White Wolf Publishing grow, and were described as leading among horror novelizations by ''

The Mammoth Book of Best New Horror ''The Mammoth Book of Best New Horror'' is an anthology series published annually by Constable & Robinson since 1990. In addition to the short stories, each edition includes a retrospective essay by the editors. The first six anthologies were orig ...

'' in 1996, but were in the end not financially successful, due to book chains closing mall stores in 1995–1996 and returning a large amount of unsold books to the publisher. By 1998, ''What Do I Read Next?'' considered the novelizations to have improved in quality, citing White Wolf's move to commissioning established horror and fantasy writers; in 2002, '' Black Gate'' considered Andrew Bates's ''Year of the Scarab Trilogy'' a standout compared to previous "lackluster" ''World of Darkness'' novels. New ''World of Darkness'' novelizations started to disappear around 2006, but have since resumed. The series has been adapted into comics, sometimes published in the ''World of Darkness'' tabletop game books, but also as comic books, including ''Vampire: The Masquerade'' and ''Werewolf: The Apocalypse'' lines published by

Moonstone Books Moonstone Books is an American comic book, graphic novel, and prose fiction publisher based in Chicago focused on pulp fiction comic books and prose anthologies as well as horror and western tales. The company began publishing creator-owned com ...

in the early 2000s, and a ''Vampire: The Masquerade'' series published by

Vault Comics Vault Comics is an American publisher of comic books. The company is known for its horror, fantasy, and science fiction titles, with a focus on diversity and cross-media properties. A private family-owned company, Vault Comics is based in Missoul ...

since 2020. There are several video game adaptations of the series, based on ''Vampire: The Masquerade'', ''Hunter: The Reckoning'', ''Mage: The Ascension'', ''Werewolf: The Apocalypse'', and ''Wraith: The Oblivion''. Critical reception of the games has varied, ranging from average to positive, with 2004's '' Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines'' standing out, being described by video game publications as a

cult classic A cult following is a group of Fan (person), fans who are highly dedicated to a person, idea, object, movement, or work, often an artist, in particular a performing artist, or an artwork in some List of art media, medium. The latter is often cal ...

and a "flawed masterpiece"; when Paradox Interactive acquired the series, they had considered ''Bloodlines'' the "crown jewel" of ''World of Darkness'', and something they knew from the start that they wanted to bring back with a sequel.

Reception

''World of Darkness'' has been critically well received, with several of its games having won or been nominated for awards, and with ''Vampire: The Masquerade'' having been inducted into the

Origins Award The Origins Awards are American awards for outstanding work in the gaming industry. They are presented by the Game Manufacturers Association (GAMA) at the Origins Game Fair on an annual basis for games released in the preceding year. For example, t ...

hall of fame. The series has also been highly successful financially, primarily in the United States, with over three million game books sold by the late 1990s; around 1995, new ''World of Darkness'' releases were frequently top sellers, making White Wolf the second biggest publisher of tabletop role-playing games at the time after

TSR, Inc. TSR, Inc. was an American game publishing company, best known as the original publisher of '' Dungeons & Dragons'' (''D&D''). Its earliest incarnation, Tactical Studies Rules, was founded in October 1973 by Gary Gygax and Don Kaye. Gygax had bee ...

, and by 2001, ''Vampire: The Masquerade'' was the second best selling tabletop role-playing game after TSR, Inc.'s ''

Dungeons & Dragons ''Dungeons & Dragons'' (commonly abbreviated as ''D&D'' or ''DnD'') is a fantasy tabletop role-playing game (TTRPG) originally created and designed by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson. The game was first published in 1974 by TSR (company)#Tactical ...

''. Onyx Path Publishing's crowdfunding campaigns for ''World of Darkness'' games and material have also been successful, particularly those for the original series, such as the anniversary editions of ''Werewolf: The Apocalypse'' and ''Mage: The Ascension''. The series' setting, plot, and art direction have been well received, with '' Rue Morgue'' describing the series' "fabulous artwork" as one of its major strengths, ''Fenix'' praising the series' mood and the quality of the writing, and ''

Realms of Fantasy ''Realms of Fantasy'' was a professional bimonthly fantasy speculative fiction magazine published by Sovereign Media, then Tir Na Nog Press, and Damnation Books, which specialized in fantasy fiction (including some horror), related nonfiction (wi ...

'' appreciating the broad scope and the familiarity to players due to being based on the real world. ''

Shadis ''Shadis'' is an independent gaming magazine that was published in 1990–1998 by Alderac Entertainment Group (AEG). It initially focused on role-playing games. Publication history Shadis was conceived and started by Jolly Blackburn as an inde ...

'' described the setting as "truly unique", bringing something never before seen to games. Some publications found the setting too crowded or defined, however; ''

Diehard GameFan ''GameFan'' (originally known as ''Diehard GameFan'') was a publication started by Tim Lindquist, Greg Off, George Weising, and Dave Halverson in September 1992 that provided coverage of domestic and imported video games. It was notable for it ...

'' thought this took away from opportunities for horror, and ''

Tor.com ''Reactor'', formerly ''Tor.com'', is an online science fiction and fantasy magazine published by Tor Books, a division of Macmillan Publishers. The magazine publishes articles, reviews, original short fiction, re-reads and commentary on specul ...

'' thought it left little room to tell new stories, often choosing to ignore the metaplot when running games. In his book series ''Designers & Dragons'', Shannon Appelcline considered the series' focus on metaplot to likely be what had caused sales to dwindle prior to the reboot, as players would have stopped playing the games when feeling they could not keep up with the story. Reactions to the ''Chronicles of Darkness'' setting have been divided, with some preferring the original series' setting for being more fantastical and grand in scale, and some the reboot's more grounded setting. The original series' rules were criticized by ''Arcane'' as, although generally easy to understand, often having confusing and unclear combat rules, while ''Tor.com'' described them as having a recurring problem with statistical anomalies. The updated gameplay rules of ''Chronicles of Darkness'' were however generally seen as a big improvement, and seen by critics as fluid, elegant and open-ended, to the point where ''Tor.com'' and ''Backstab'' recommended using them even when running non–''Chronicles of Darkness'' games. ''Fenix'' appreciated the speed of creating characters and of playing, comparing the system of dice pools and dots favorably to number-based role-playing game systems. In his 2023 book ''Monsters, Aliens, and Holes in the Ground'', RPG historian Stu Horvath noted,

For all of the innovation and great ideas on display across all of the ''World of Darkness'' lines, there were problems from the start. The first version of nearly every game in the series was ugly and semi-broken, followed soon after by the second edition, which attempted to salvage the games with corrections and tidier production values. Given that White Wolf books had a habit of physically falling to pieces in short order, that is, perhaps, a feature and not a bug.

References

External links

* {{good article Dark fantasy role-playing games Fictional universes Origins Award winners Urban fantasy Horror role-playing games