World of Darkness

World of Darkness
RPG published by White Wolf / Onyx Path
Rule System	Storyteller System / Storytelling System
First Publication	1991 / 2004

The World of Darkness is two different lines of RPGs published by White Wolf and later Onyx Path that focus on deep role-playing and, depending on the specific sub-game, the horror genre. The setting can only be described as the modern world, but worse in every aspect. Every creeping suspicion you have is probably true, and the world is as dirty and corrupt as it often seems to be. In the old World of Darkness, each game was meant to be played separately; as a result the games often had conflicting metaplots and, despite using the same basic "Storyteller System", were incompatible when it came to various supernatural powers. The release of a new World of Darkness (with an updated ruleset, the "Storytelling System") features a core book that contains the basic rules for all the games, and focuses on normal human beings in horrific situations that may or may not be supernatural in nature. The new games interact in a modular fashion and also have little established fluff, making it more malleable for Storytellers (the in-game term for GM; abbreviated as ST). The new line has also been trying to avoid the old Gothic feel for which it was known (specifically with Vampire: The Masquerade) in favor of a slightly more traditional form of horror.

The System

The basic system in both the new and old World of Darkness revolves around a dicepool of d10's. Your dice pool consists of a number of dice equal to your relevant ability score plus your skill and other relevant modifiers.

In oWoD, the Storyteller sets the difficulty for each roll depending on the circumstances, with the default being a difficulty of 7. A success is a roll of that difficulty or higher (7 or above, on most rolls). A roll of 1 is called a botch. If any number of 1's are rolled, they cancel out a single success. No more than one success can be cancelled out in this way, so critical failures (A botch with zero successes) are relatively rare. The net number of successes determines how well you succeed, with one success meaning that you are barely able and a greater number indicating better achievement. When you get zero net successes (if you get no successes or if your 1s cancel out your successes, or if you get at least one success and more ones than successes), you fail the roll. When you get zero successes and at least one 1, you botch-- a critical and spectacular failure. If you have a specialty in either your attribute or ability that is relevant on the roll, you may reroll all 10s to gain extra successes, and rolls of 1 on these rerolls do not count.

In nWoD, a success is an 8, 9, or 10, and 10s explode. A critical success is made when you get five or more successes. Instead of altering the target number of the roll, difficulty and circumstances increase or reduce the number of dice in the pool. When your dice pool is reduced to zero or less, you get a chance die. You roll the die normally, but only succeed on a ten (which still explodes) and if you get a one you get a critical failure. All other rolls are called simple failures.

Short Summary of Game Lines

• Vampire: You're the bad guy. Your friends are also villains.
• Werewolf: You're fighting a war, and you're losing.
• Mage: You're fighting a war you already lost.
• Wraith: You lost, you died, and now you're trying to avoid a fate worse than death.
• Changeling: You're fighting a war and nobody is taking you seriously.
• Hunter: You're fighting a war where everyone's bigger than you and trying to kill you.
• Mummy: You're immortal... that's it.
• Demon: You're fighting a cold war with mixed results.
• Orpheus: You're mortal and dying temporarily is part of your job.
• Princess: You're a magical girl (or boy). You lost a war long ago but things are looking up.

Old World of Darkness (oWoD)

oWoD 1st edition cover

• Vampire: The Masquerade

The original World of Darkness game. Covers playing vampire characters in the modern day World of Darkness. It gains its title from "The Masquerade", an in-game set of rules and guidelines dictated by the Camarilla sect in an attempt to keep the mortal populace unaware of vampires and their influence on society. This is also basically the only thing you can get more than one sect of vampires to agree on, and a lot of the game revolves around the resulting political intrigue.

It is heavily influenced by gothic imagery and by a variety of different vampire mythos, including the romanticised version of the vampire popularised by Anne Rice.

• Werewolf: The Apocalypse

Second game to be released set in the World of Darkness. The game covers playing werewolf characters known as Garou. It gains its title from one of the major antagonistic themes in the game where supernatural forces of corruption are attempting to bring about the Apocalypse. The game tended to degenerate into hack-and-slash, mainly as it is a author tract where the authors had conflicting messages.

• Mage: The Ascension

Player characters in this game come from a variety of backgrounds, both mortal and immortal and are unified by the fact that they all practice magic of one form or another. Magic is defined by the game as a force that can shape reality with the willpower, belief or special magical techniques of the user. Had a pretty sweet metaplot/setting, but was hamstrung by the extreme clumsiness of its mechanical system.

• Wraith: The Oblivion

You're dead, and now you're a ghost. Either move on by severing what anchors you have to this world, or stay and have a good time making scary noises. And oh, try not to fall into hell. Lots of ideas that sound good on paper but ruin friendships in execution, like making each player also roleplay another player's manifested personal demons.

• Changeling: The Dreaming

The characters are fairy souls 'trapped' in human bodies to survive in the cold banal world. The game's theme centered heavily on the concept of Chimera, where things weren't magical or mundane, but both at once. So the real world would see an old butterknife, and it would be - but in the realm of faerie, it would also be a mystical longsword. The concept of Banality is unfortunately somewhat awkwardly implemented and requires some work by the Storyteller to appropriately function. The series was cut short, and a number of expansions that were announced were never released. This game is and was massively popular with otherkin since its premise is their delusion, and if you know anybody post-2012 who still plays it; your friends almost certainly believe themselves to be elves.

• Kindred of the East

It is vampires... from the east. Go play vampire the masquerade bloodlines to make that make more sense.

• Hunter: The Reckoning

Mortals are imbued with weird powers by mysterious forces in a last-ditch effort to keep the world from circling the drain. Played according to the writing, it's Call of Cthulhu in the World of Darkness- a bunch of scared people who are going to die very horribly unless they're very cautious and paranoid. Played according to the art, it's, well, the licensed H:tR video games.

• Mummy: The Resurrection

You play a mummy. Which has been resurrected. And has access to a third-level power (out of five) that levels the town you're in. The game was almost universally met with a directly hostile response, and even reminding a WoD player of it will make him rage. Do it.

• Demon: The Fallen

The gates of the Hell that the fallen angels have been trapped in for millienia crack open, and the fallen find human hosts and servitors for their various ends.

• Orpheus

It's like Flatliners meets Ghostbusters; focusing on teams that use cryogenics and astral projection to become semi-ghosts, all funded by a corporation called the Orpheus Group. And if you thought The Underworld from WtO couldn't get more grimdark...

Fan Games

• Gargoyles: The Vigil

A crossover with the cartoon Gargoyles, there's work underway to convert it to GMC nWoD rules here.

• Greys: The Abduction

A short fan-expansion from 1997, has three different types of aliens.

• Highlander: The Gathering (alt)

Holy shit this is a fan-made supplement where life doesn't suck! You're immortal and extremely powerful, but still human. It's kill or be killed, though. So once The Gathering comes around you have to kill most of the friends you've made through the ages. Also has a neat custom sword fight system. If you've seen Highlander, you'll love it. If not, see Highlander 2 and The Source. There's also a LARP version called Highlander: The Quickening made by different authors exists.

• Senshi: The Merchandising

A fan-game from the 90's that is a parody of Sailor Moon and the old WoD.

• Tech Infantry

oWoD meets Starship Troopers, has some parallels in the Mirrors: Infinite Macabre supplement for the nWoD.

• Zombie: The Coil

A Fan-made expansion from 2001. Brai-i-ins and grimderp ensue.

New World of Darkness (nWoD)

nWoD cover

• The Storytelling System Rulebook
  The core rulebook unifies the rule systems of the other game lines, as well as provides basic system with which to play as mortal humans, and some barebones ghosts rules that are added onto in nearly every publication where ghosts are relevant. The second edition update is available as a free pdf online and it replaces the dumb "Victorian" morality system with one that's more modern, and also includes most of the improvements from the God Machine Chronicle (see below).
  • God Machine Chronicle
    Essentially the second edition of the core rulebook. Brings in a new morality system, "Integrity", with breaking points instead of the hierarchy of sins. Along with systems of conditions and "beats". If you don't mind the notion of God being a celestial laptop, it's worth looking at as it's a big update over the old version. For better or worse depends on how you look at it.
  • Immortals
    Not an actual gameline as such but a supplement that was released for Immortal characters that follow different ideas of Immortality. Except out of the 3 Immortals in the book, the first jumps off the karma meter so fast its unplayable, primarily because its Immortality is powered by bathing in a LOT of blood, preferably virgin but any human will do. The second, the Body Thief, is almost playable but again the karma meter gets in the way of anything involving the whole body swapping thing, resulting in the character becoming unplayable again. The third Immortal has a power trait, some basic abilities ('Siddhi', like disciplines, but only focussed around spirits and only going to 3 dots) and the ability to learn Numina - but is still pretty weak in the grand scheme of things. Mechanically, they're the best thing in the entire book.
  • Inferno
    Rules for old-fashioned demons (or angels) almost completely different from the fallen angels of the God Machine. As it was one of the earlier supplements, it is horribly incompatible with the GMC rules update, being focused on one half of the old morality system.
  • Innocents
    An add-on for the core book, you're just a normal kid who has to deal with the realities of the world revealing themselves to you. IF you grow up, you'll either be institutionalized, a Hunter, or a serial killer. Or more than one. Or a monster.
  • The Mirrors supplements and Translation Guides
    Modifications for the Storytelling System itself as well as hints on adapting it for different genres (the former) while the latter guides allowed mix-and-match rules from the three main game-lines of oWoD and nWoD.

Principal Games

• Vampire: The Requiem

13 Clans with fleshed out, restricting histories become 5 clans with vague, open-ended histories and multiple Bloodlines (sub-clans). The Camarilla becomes 5 Covenants with mutually exclusive goals. The Sabbat becomes VII, the Infernalists become the more sporadic, less-organized Belial's Brood. Arguably the biggest difference is that you can't just make someone a Vampire by draining them and feeding them your blood, now you have to permanently spend a dot of Willpower to do it. An alternate setting in ancient Rome also exists, which contains a history of the Carmarilla (and how it collapsed with the rest of the Roman Empire). Additionally, a new set of antagonists in the form of the Strix, which are demonic owl-like creatures bent on purging every last trace of Humanity from vampire society (to the point where even a Humanity 0 vampire is too human for them) and can possess corpses and vampires to lash out at mortals and undead alike.

• Werewolf: The Forsaken

A slightly more "balanced" version of Werewolf. You can't run around in 8-foot tall invincible war-form all the time, and you see humans as a flock of idiotic sheep that you might have to protect (or not). The "adjustments" resulted, possibly intentionally, in the average werewolf no longer being a match for the average vampire, a criticism invariably met with statements regarding the relative level of coordination between werewolf packs and vampire coteries. An example of a well run Werewolf: the Forsaken game is Detroit Rock City. It is written in novel format for ease of reading, played over Skype.

• Mage: The Awakening

Mechanically simplified and involving more magic usage than M:tAsc, M:tA's biggest criticism is that it doesn't have as compelling a plot — specifically, the revised political landscape is the most frequent target of attack.

Limited Release Games

• Promethean: The Created

Frankenstein: The RPG. You're a scorned mockery of humanity, most likely abandoned by your creator, left to fend for yourself in a world that wants you dead. You're perpetually dazed and confused, always trying to pick up the ways of humans, but that's not happening because you have a disquieting aura that makes every sentient being in the world eventually hate you and the places you stay in will turn into an uninhabitable hellhole if you linger too long, so you can never make real friends and have to live as a nomad. Only five books long, but it pretty much covers all the bases. Surprisingly, it's actually rather optimistic since in theory you can make like Pinocchio and become a true human under the right circumstances.

• Changeling: The Lost

No longer are the Changelings faeries, but humans kidnapped by the True Fae and twisted into something not quite mortal. Managed to do the exact opposite of its predecessor and sell enough copies that they extended the series instead of cutting it short. It completed its run with nine books and a long-awaited web enhancement.

• Hunter: The Vigil

Hunter, without the ridiculously overpowered gifts. You're just an average Joe with more information than other people, and on occasion some special toys that let you use powers that let you go toe to toe with supernatural beings. For instance, instead of having the power to smite people with holy fire, you might have bullets that are extra-effective against vampires. That, and you can break every conceivable human moral code without going insane, provided you can justify it in light of your "Vigil." Though, of course, this slowly makes you inhuman. Well-known for its antagonists - Slashers - who are the World of Darkness take on serial killers. Once again had "lite" versions of all the other supernaturals, which tended to be more singularly powerful than the real thing, but not as versatile (or player-character-friendly). See what happens when Hunter: The Vigil meets Harry Potter here.

• Geist: The Sin-Eaters

People who die and have spirits decide to resurrect them, getting stuck with said spirit riding shotgun to said person's body and giving them all manner of powers depending on the way the first party died, all to accomplish the spirit's goals. Instead of humanity, you have "synergy" which is how in sync you are with your spirit. When you die, someone else is forced to die in your place and you lose 1/5 of your maximum possible synergy, stunting your abilities permanently and ultimately making you a slave to your spirit "partner", who often has some rather unusual ideas about what to do with its new body. The Underworld is finally fleshed out, but somehow far more foreboding than expected.

• Mummy: The Curse

You're a slave of Irem of the Pillars (Yes, the one in the Rub-Al Khali). But the city is dead and gone, and the Sorcerers who made you into what you are now live in the lands of the dead and tell you what to do. A reversal of normal "You're young and weak, they're old and powerful", Mummies wake up with a power trait of *10*.. and lose it quickly - it drops over time. Most Arisen remain active for about four months, at best.

• Demon: The Descent

Remember the God Machine? From the God Machine Chronicle, and the start of the core book? Yeah, turns out it has robo-angels. Sometimes, one of them decides it doesn't particularly enjoy its function. Or it fails to perform. Or ends up getting saddled with an order it can't actually carry out. Instead of returning they go on the lam, becoming 'demons'. The God Machine sends its angels looking. You don't want to go back, so you become a robot secret agent, pretending as hard as you can to be human while ruining the occult plans of the Divine Calculator; luckily, you retain the ability to hack reality thanks to your former connection to the God Machine. The angels are still Cthulhu-robots in service to the...thing that is in total control of the World of Darkness, and they would really like you to come back so they can erase your personality and replace it with a new, more compliant one. Fortunately Demons are very good at hiding their true identities- so good that even supernatural beings (and other demons, at that matter) can't see through their disguises if they don't want to reveal themselves.

• Beast: The Primordial

The newly announced (as of this writing) game that does not appear to have a tie to the Old World of Darkness. What has been revealed so far is that you play as Beasts who are each an embodiment of humanity's primal nightmares. Additionally your Beast has some sort of deep-seated hunger that if left unsatiated will lead to their soul ripping and tearing through the collective dreamscape of humanity which will in turn lead to the people whose nightmares you caused becoming "Heroes" and hunting you down. Just to give an idea of how this could play out, at White Wolf's Gen Con panel, Gaston from Beauty and the Beast was given as an example of a Hero.

• Deviant

The next announced gameline, not much is known other than that its themes are basically "low-power tier" and "body horror". You play as a Deviant, some poor sap caught by a mad scientist or a black ops bio-corp or a twisted cult or somesuch and twisted into something not wholely human.

Fan Games

• Genius: The Transgression

A fan-built WoD set, Genius allows players to gorge themselves on Venture Brothers level superscience while drinking deep from the cup of mundane failure. While Inspiration allows a mad scientist to channel Mania into impossible inventions, their Obligation to humanity gradually gives way to that alien brilliance. If a scientist falls too far off the straight and narrow, they become Unmada, unable or unwilling to accept that they are crazy, that their ideas are true regardless of Mania. Without help or restraint, they become Illuminated. Think Hannibal Lecter in a lab coat and a fascination with altering the DNA of pregnant women.

• Giant: The Perfidious

Another fan-made WoD gameline, in which you are a Giant.

• Mutant: the Aberration

A mutant is you.

• Princess: The Hopeful

Sailor Moon? ha ha no, try Sailor Nothing, or late-season Magicka Madoka. Pretty dresses won't help you fight despair, but sometimes that's all you got.

Video Games

There were a number of video games made (and cancelled) for the oWoD:

• Hunter: The Reckoning series

A linear series on three different consoles. If you were interested in the plot, you had to own a GameCube, PS2, and Xbox in that order. But they were also all multiplayer hack-&-slash beat-em-ups so the plot probably wasn't what their target audience was looking for.

• Vampire: The Masquerade – Redemption

Third-person RPG from Nihilistic Software with a horrible(/hilariously bad) single-player campaign and oddly customizable multiplayer.

• Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines

First-person RPG from Troika Games that used an early version of Valve's Source engine, it requires the fan-patches; but is otherwise an entertaining single-player game.

Cancelled

• Vampire the Masquerade MMORPG

Used to be in the works of CCP, the studio that made EVE Online, but it was cancelled in 2014.

• Werewolf: the Apocalypse - Heart of Gaia

Another cancelled oWoD game, 27 minutes of it have been salvaged.

See Also

• World of Darkness website
• World of Darkness wiki
• Unmoderated WoD Chat
• Mister Gone's Character Sheets
• Template for a nWoD Character Sheet on 1d4chan