The Wonderful World of Darkness

In the early '90s, a relatively new gaming company burst onto the scene. They were called White Wolf Gaming Studios, spearheaded by a new genre of game and a completely new concept in gaming.

The genre they created is now known as the Gothic Punk genre. It's classified by the vision of the world it portrays, which is a world not unlike our own, just with a few, darker changes. In this world, things are bleaker and more sinister from where entropy has begun to take its toll on society. Also, to quote a favorite movie of mine, Nightbreed, "There is a such thing as magic; the Boogey Man does live under the bed; and Gideon is where the monsters live." Well, that part about a place called Gideon is left up to the one running the game, but there ARE monsters and the supernatural in the genre. (If you're looking for a good example, Brandon Lee's final movie, The Crow, and the movie adaptation of Interview with a Vampire are excellent examples. Indeed, they are suggested movies in some of the books.)

The concept they pioneered is the concept of the Storyteller game. In this type of RPG, the emphasis is not put on the conflict that arises, as in most games. While that conflict IS a part of the whole, the main emphasis is put on the role-playing aspect of the game. The game actually rewards you more for role-playing even if you get beat in every conflict you encounter, so long as the defeat is due to role-playing your character, than it does for coming out on top. The emphasis placed on role-playing is so great, as a matter of fact, that dice are generally not used during game play; only when the moment is dramatically appropriate are the dice rolled to add to the tension. (Will my gun strike true at the man about to stake my coterie member (Vampire)? Can I dodge this silver knife even though I'm almost dead and bleeding all over the floor (Werewolf)? Can I successfully pick the door's lock in 10 seconds so that not only myself but the mortals trapped with me can escape before the bomb explodes?)

Both of these were developed with the first game they produced, Vampire: The Masquerade. This was soon followed by Werewolf: The Apocalypse, Mage: The Ascension, Wraith: The Oblivion, and finally Changeling: The Dreaming, all of which have a page dedicated to it, here. They have even just recently produced the 3rd editions of Vampire, Werewolf, and Mage. (I'm hoping they will quickly come out with the 3rd edition of Wraith. Although, I would prefer a quality product rather than a hasty product.) All of these games are collectively called The World of Darkness because the characters from each must exist in world of secrecy, lest they be hunted down and killed like animals. They are also universal; one character can be used in any of the other games. . .with storyteller permission, of course.

Since the publication of these five games, White Wolf has also launched novel lines based on the games, a clothes and accessories line also based on the games, and a few other games; those other games are not part of the WoD, but use the same universal system, for the most part. They've also produced supplemental books to better define the other supernatural denizens of the WoD.

But take note. As of the beginning of 2004, White Wolf officially closed the World of Darkness in its first incarnation, as it is presented here. According to their webpage (www.worldofdarkness.com), they are launching a new World of Darkness. From what I, personally, can gather, the flagship of the new WoD will also be a Vampire game called Vampire: The Requiem.

UPDATE - The new World of Darkness has started. Vampire: The Requiem has already been released and appears to be a winner; well, at least to me. And the second game in the series (which is actually the third, but I'll get to that later) is going to be Werewolf: The Forsaken, to be released in February 2005. White Wolf has also announced that they will be releasing a new version of Mage called Mage: The Ascension, but I haven't seen any release date other than the obligatory "To Be Released in 2005" mumbo-jumbo. I'll be taking the time to make some new pages dedicated to the new WoD and post them when they are finished.