Your Guide To Chronicles In The World Of Darkness
April 14, 2016 by crew
The World of Darkness is, perhaps, one of the most popular sets of rpg rules out there. Both its Classic and New (Chronicles) settings have extremely loyal fan bases, and the world itself has been adapted in a variety of forms, including video games and even a (short-lived) TV show.
There's plenty on the way for these classic rpgs, with new additions to the New setting and the tantalizing promise of a One World of Darkness on the horizon. With all this going on, Chris from Darker Days Radio takes the time to tell us all about the games and their tumultuous history.
A Dark World History
It has been almost 25 years since Vampire the Masquerade upended roleplaying preconceptions and allowed players to be the monsters. This was groundbreaking in many ways. The aim was both to create a sense of modern horror, straight from the volumes of Anne Rice.
It was also a game changer with regards to live action roleplay and opened up the hobby to a far more diverse demographic, riding on the wave of the gothic subculture and the post-modern millennial fears as Y2K loomed ever closer.
However, a lot has happened in those 25 years. White Wolf, formed from White Wolf Magazine and Lion Rampant games, has come, gone, and come again. Vampire the Masquerade, and the games that along with it made up the “World of Darkness”, met their demise with their “Time of Judgment” where Gehenna, Apocalypse, and Ascension were all played out.
A new World of Darkness was created, re-envisioning the setting (not a continuation of the old lines, as they are often mistakenly described) and was met with combinations of love and loathing by the existing fan base and also new players.
White Wolf itself merged with CCP, makers of EVE, in the hopes of creating a MMO, initially based on this new World of Darkness, but due to design issues the game was reconfigured to be based on what is now referred to as the Classic World of Darkness.
Of course, the MMO never came to fruition and many more things transpired. The New World of Darkness, while a sales success (Vampire the Requiem sold out two printings and sold the most core books of any game line by WW - even during the rpg implosion that was occurring across the industry), did not gain the same cultural traction.
Rich Thomas, a core member of White Wolf, left the CCP/WWP company and formed Onyx Path Publishing as a means to continue the publishing of the World of Darkness rpg books, by licensing both Classic and New World of Darkness games from CCP, while also buying outright the game settings of Scion and Trinity.
OPP was more nimble in the new digital age, already riding the crest of the pdf rpg industry. They had learnt much from the difficult times, and grabbed Kickstarter by the horns, using it as a means to create new books without relying on the traditional printing industry.
The success of the 20th anniversary edition of Vampire the Masquerade, a massive nostalgia tome to act as a definitive edition, proved that the love for the Classic World of Darkness lived on. New World of Darkness gained new games as well, some of which have no analogue in the classic settings.
And while it could not be called it in name, the New World of Darkness moved on into a second edition, centred on the God Machine Chronicles, and incorporating more modern game mechanics into the system, borrowed from the likes of FATE and Gumshoe.
But then, Paradox Interactive bought from CCP all the rights to WWP and their assets, including those for the MMO. This new WWP has a desire to see a new, “One World of Darkness”, which initially struck fear into the existing fan base of New World of Darkness, as this One WoD would be based on Masquerade and the Classic setting.
However, it was realized that New World of Darkness was the perfect rpg for “games of personal horror, for people to play in their own World of Darkness”. Contrast this to the Classic World of Darkness, with its own metaplot that spanned all the game lines, while the New World of Darkness did not have such a metaplot, and was well respected for being much more of a toolkit system and setting.
Begin Your Chronicle
And with that, we have now the Chronicles of Darkness, the new name for the New World of Darkness. Initially, when the second editions of Vampire the Requiem etc were all but that in name, their new editions were going under the monikers of “chronicles”. Requiem had the “Strix Chronicles”, Werewolf the Forsaken had the “Idigam Chronicles”, etc.
These new books provided not just rules updates but also provided default campaigns to run. It is from those names that “Chronicles of Darkness” arose. A name that would now let “New” and “Classic” be retired as terms for describing the two settings. This was perhaps even more useful as the second editions of the games that made up Chronicles of Darkness had been pushed ever further, in terms of ideas and concepts, away from their Classic World of Darkness precursors.
As for the One World of Darkness, new editions of Vampire the Masquerade and the others will soon be appearing, with changes and modifications to make those games more fitting for our times. “Gothic punk is dead”, and that means that what was considered cool and novel in the 90s, is no longer so. The world is a gothic dystopian place and new subcultures and societies battle for relevance.
So what does this all mean to you?
The following games were part of the classic, and now One World of Darkness.
- Vampire the Masquerade
- Werewolf the Apocalypse
- Mage the Ascension
- Wraith the Oblivion
- Changeling the Dreaming
- Kindred of the East
- Mummy the Resurrection
- Hunter the Reckoning
- Demon the Fallen
- Orpheus
The following games were part of the new World of Darkness, now known of Chronicles of Darkness.
- Vampire the Requiem
- Werewolf the Forsaken
- Mage the Awakening
- Promethean the Created
- Hunter the Vigil
- Changeling the Lost
- Geist the Sin-Eaters
- Mummy the Curse
- Demon the Descent
- Beast the Primordial.
Of course, the two settings have differences in terms of rules and settings. Some elements may be similar, but then vampires are vampires. But it is how those setting elements are used for games which is different.
Okay, what’s the conclusion?
White Wolf Publishing has had a winding path through the years, hitting highs and lows, but the games of World of Darkness and Chronicles of Darkness have lived on, maturing in terms of quality, game design, and social awareness. It would also be wrong not to recognise the importance each setting and set of games has had on the other, both conceptually and through providing the stability for new editions to be brought out.
Which World of Darkness game is your favourite? Do you prefer Chronicles, or the Classic? What are some of your most memorable gaming moments in this universe?
If you want to learn more about the latest goings on in the World of Darkness, be sure to follow Chris and his fellows over at Darker Days Radio.
"The aim was both to create a sense of modern horror, straight from the volumes of Anne Rice..."
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The World of Darkness was a big part of my gaming life back in the 90s, and Mage: The Ascension remains my favourite rpg setting. I never quite took to nWoD. There were things I liked about Requiem, especially in addressing some of the issues with Masquerade, but Foresaken and Awakening never did it for me.
I know it’s not directly connected but one one the old owners of Whir Wolf has just bought West End games
Started playing White Wolf in August, 1991, as soon as Vampire the Masquerade came out. They didn’t even call it “World of Darkness” back then, it was still “Gothic Punk.” I agree that Mage the Ascension was far and away their best effort, although ran an 11-year Werewolf: The Apocalypse chronicle that finally ended in 2008 (started in 1997). Great memories, but NWoD has just never clicked and RPGs in general have been “ruined ” for me. Let’s face it, when it comes to RPG systems . . . I was in a love affair with Scarlett Johannsen for 17… Read more »
““Mage the Awakening” (NWoD incarnation of Mage the Ascension) was particularly disappointing. They added “spells!” The whole point and beauty of Mage the Ascension was that it did away with that crap! And they put it back in (to the tune of almost 100 pages of text)?”
A bit unfair given one game was about defining the paradigm, and the other, newer game isn’t. One is about shaping reality to your own view, while the other is uncovering the laws of reality, and occult horror. Thus spells are more than appropriate for Awakening. After all, it is a different game.
but those reality shaping skills were what made Mage different from pretty much any game in which you play a wizard/sorcerer.
Being able to do whatever the heck you wanted with your basic magic skills was incredibly cool …
The only problem was that it was kind of hard to keep stop it from getting out of control once players understood what their characters can do.
I think you are missing the point though. Mage the Awakening still has reality shaping powers, the difference was it was a game with an Objective, not consensual reality.
As for the pages of spells in Awakening, they were all just examples. One of the biggest problems of Ascension was the lack of examples. And guess what. M20 has a book out that is exactly addressing that issue.
Expecting Awakening to be Ascension is the first misstep in understanding what the game is about.
Mage the Ascension was all about imposing your reality on the world, and making your paradigm for magic be the default.
Mage the Awakening is about uncovering the symbolism that connects our world to the higher Supernal Realms, and creating a magical form to best draw that down.
It is often said while Mage the Ascension is more about mages awakening to magic and letting go of their paradigms as they become more powerful, Awakening is a game about mages ascending to the thrones of magic and defining reality.
I get that Awakening isn’t Ascension so judging it based on that isn’t helpful, but I think it is fair to compare them, and Awakening felt uninspired and bland in comparison to its predecessor, at least to me. Ascension was certainly not without flaws in its mechanics, but the setting and the ideas more than made up for it.
This is the benefit of having read most of the books for all the gamelines, is that Awakening has grown into its own setting, rather divorced from the previous version, something which the upcoming 2nd edition is encapsulating rather well from all the teasers I have read. Much of my now dislike of the classic settings is based on how very 90s they were, and how bad the cultural exoticism was.
the old setting did have spell lists.
IT was the least inspiring part of it.
And as for the ‘goal’ … to me the theme was the same as every other core setting in the series : learn to deal with the fact that you effectively are a monster and can’t return to your original way of life.
The horror equivalent to the question that is at the heart of many SF stories : what does it mean to be human ?
Great review of the editorial adventure.
Mage The Ascension is not just my favorite WoD game, it’s my favorite rpg, period. I’ve spent countless hours GMing this game and i hope to continue soon since i’ve received last week the 20th anniversary special edition and it’s gorgeous.
But to keep things as fresh as it was in the 90’s when i’ve discovered the game, I will certainly keep an eye on the Chronicles of Darkness and see how they use current pop cultures references.
Amen, @bawonsamdi – old school “MtA” for the win.
Ran a year-long campaign where the characters were “Order of Reason” (pre-Technocracy) “mages” working for British intelligence during WW2 – fought all kinds of Nazi Nephandi, Get of Fenris werewolves, Bolshevik Brujah from the USSR – “gaki” Kindred and “Hegenyokai” shapeshifters from Japan in the Pacific . . .
alt periods are a lot of fun.
Reminds me of a year long “cloak & dagger” campaign I ran for the Order of Reason in Venice around 1400. Sorcerer’s Crusade is really great setting for Mage when modernity and old ways are co-existing.
And making research for the games is a fun way to learn history stuff.
Recently there was a KS for a Chronicles of Darkness book called Dark Eras. It is worth looking at for all the games as many historical periods are covered.
@bawonsamdi :
Might I suggest looking into “Dark Albion: The Rose War” ?
It’s not WoD/CoD, but it is a semi-historical/fantasy setting inspired by the war of the roses in the UK.
Vampires are for toffs. Everyone knows werewolves are the pinnacle of coolness ;P
Never really played much for the RPG’s but I played the Vampire LARP for about 6 years every weekend. Great times.
Glad you guys liked the write up. Expect some more in future as the DD team will explain the tonal differences between the two settings, and also look at the “big 3” and how they are interpreted in each setting.
I’d be interested in reading that. I haven’t played any of the world of darkness games in well over 10 years, I hadn’t even realised they’d done the apocalypse.
Yup. They really did kill the World of Darkness. However, the new One World of Darkness is shifting the setting, making it less 90s, and taking the view that the Apocalypse, Gehenna etc are going on right now. It is not a pop, and the world is gone. More of a grind to the end, and it has just begun. It is no longer about when it would happen, or if, it is happenign right now.
FOR GAIA!!!!!!!….AUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
….Both Universes Are incredible on what they present for Players and GM’s…..i’ve Personnaly Ran Adventures/Played in almost all of the diferent Columns that conform them and loved it!!!!
Mage the Ascension all the way, then Werewolf then Vampire, of the newer stuff its got to be Hunter the vigil, really good effort there, more like Hunters Hunted than Hunter the Reckoning.
Totally fell in love with the original Vampire and Werewolf games. Some of my best times were when we were playing those.
I bought the new versions when they were released and still loath it to this day.
I’d be interested to know why you dislike them? Have you looked at any of the material for 2nd edition?
To be honest it was the Clan/Tribe backgrounds and the overall lore of the universe. They went from a rich complicated universe to a simple insipid one.
A lot of the reasoning for that was because a) cultural exoticism which has recently been addressed in the V20 and W20 books. It was glaringly racist in places the writing about the Assamites, Giovanni, and others. b) Vampire and Werewolf went from a bunch of stereotypes to broader archetypes. If you wanted to add some more character in, that had more specific cultural and ethnic elements, that was the point of the well develop rules for bloodlines and lodges in those games. Essentially they wanted to break out of the whole “all Assamites are Islamic assassins” and “all Fianna… Read more »
“socially aware” ? lol Try reading those books again in twenty years or so. It will sound as racist and weird as the classic WoD setting does now from your point of view. All media is part of the culture it was created in. That’s why books written decades ago can be like time machines. It’s why a setting like Twilight 2000 didn’t survive, because it addressed a theme that was ridiculous after the cold war ended. IMHO the problem with the classic setting wasn’t the stereotypes used to define the various clans. It was the fact that there were… Read more »
World of Darkness, the rpg completely avoided for years only to be the one I think have actually game mastered (or storytellered if you prefer) the most. I found that Vampire (either one really) worked really for my style of game mastering. I could set the stage of a moderate sized city (such as Austin, TX) and load it with a couple of dozen NPCs all with their own agendas and allies/enemies. Throw in a few adventure hooks and an overall plot to form the “season” like a TV show and it was probably the best rpg experience I ever… Read more »
I am very much that type of ST, running TV show style chronicles.
My gaming group has been playing the old WoD rules exclusively for years.
We have several year long campaigns going on Vampire the Dark ages and Wherewolf the apocalypse, but we also adjust the rules for any setting we play.
I really like the versatility and simplicity of the rules which allowed us to play anything from superheroes to 40k.
I’m always on the lookout to add to my old 2nd ed WoD collection.
I always preferred the setting and narrative of classic, but the game mechanics in NWoD were better, it much depends on your gaming group and what they like/prefer/capable of. Traditional RPG players would prefer NWoD just for that additional structure, whereas new entrants would probably prefer the background but rules lite nature of classic.
The metaplot of Classic WoD was great, but it’s release schedule hinged on that. That said, Demon: the Fallen was the most interesting line to me. I find Vampires a bit boring and I never took to the “Defenders of Gaia” Werewolves. Chronicles of Darkness games are much better rulesets as they are more consistent with each other and provide a framework for games, rather than a story to play games in. Hunter: the Vigil is my favourite (I really like the 3-tier Cell/Compact/Conspiracy approach.) The new additions are also great. Promethean, Geist (definitely not Wraith) and Beast deserve honorable… Read more »
Thanks for the write up. I loved Vampire: the Masquerade and never looked back (to DnD, which I continue to find dull to this day). I played in and ran Vampire games, tabletop and live action, for maybe 10 years? and learned a lot about myself and social interactions doing so. Werewolf: the Apocalypse chimed with my idealistic, environmentalist teenage rebelliousness, and I ran a near-future, post-Apocalypse, cyberpunk-esque game of Werewolf that was one of my favourite and most successful games. Ultimately though, I think Vampire was the best setting for a live action game, which became increasingly what I… Read more »
“We were constantly trying to invent ways to prevent characters from learning out of character knowledge about the other game systems, and to keep plot separate. Ultimately, it would have been better to have agreed that ‘the game we’re playing is Vampire and there are NPC werewolves, wraiths, mages, etc. within the setting’ or ‘we are playing a single game in which all the different creatures can hang out with each other. – See more at: http://www.beastsofwar.com/world-of-darkness/world-chronicles-darkness/#sthash.zOBwv2vR.dpuf This is exactly why Chronicles of Darkness works well, as only the core books for each game are canon and every other add… Read more »
That was the impression that I got. it looked like they took the opportunity to redesign the setting to allow players to do what they evidently had been trying to do with the old setting. While many people were happy to go on shoehorning stuff, I got increasingly frustrated with it, but just didn’t have the time, the company or by that stage the interest to really explore the new setting.
I would like to do so though, as with the benefit of what they learned it could be really interesting.