World of New Darkness

APVarney

Writer and game designer
Aug 15, 2006
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World of New Darkness

"But where the old games blamed bad guys - sorry, antagonists - and whined that everything was about to end, the new versions (particularly Werewolf) take a more constructive view: "Our forerunners messed up, so we must fix it."

Allen Varney braves the World of New Darkness.


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Hengst2404

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Aug 29, 2007
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I enjoyed your article and found myself nodding along as you followed the White-Wolf WOD setting. You did fail to mention Jyhad/Vampire the Eternal Struggle, which is an amazingly deep collectible card game.

I lament that after reading through numerous, mostly well-written novels in the Vampire setting, that all I am left with are the Requiem novels. From a novel standpoint, the WOD setting was an ideal setting and I felt, especially with the clan novel series, that it was a great medium for telling a story. Then again, a crappy ending and some inconsistent writing performances did mar it a bit, although not nearly as bad the the vague Dark Ages Clan novels.

I only played the table top WOD games for a brief while, kind of a week away from AD and D back in high school. We also tried some forays into the LARP version of Vampire, but I felt really silly actually dressing and trying to act like my character, Cosplay is not my thing.

I also think mention of both White Wolf Vampire PC games, Redemption and Bloodlines would have been more appropriate.
 
Feb 13, 2008
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Requiem felt like a stake through the heart. (Having LARPED, LRPED and TT'ed it for years).

Let's Soulbind Wraith! Let's Banal Changeling! Let's Restart the World of Darkness!!!

(Oh, and those four hundred odd rulebooks)

Oh, and we've got rid of the Technocracy, one of the few great things behind the Malkavians and the Giovanni.

So we have Requiem, which is in itself a paradox. At the same time it is overcomplex and simplistic, boring and tiresome. Having enjoyed both Vampire and Mage, I picked up the books and read...for less than a page.

Later on, I tried again. Nope...too complex...

Oh and later they admitted that all the old rule books, apart from the Nuking of Washington (whooops...Dementation alert), were included and all of the old clans were back in new forms with slightly modified rules and it was the same and then WW wanted us to pay for playing the LARP and then...

I awoke.

Bloody Malkavian Mind Tricks. It was a Syndicate plot all along.
 

Pietroschek

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Jun 20, 2010
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I am OLD WoD because nobody I ever met, even long-range, was dumb enough, to invest into "NEW" WoD after Vampire-The Requiem was a poorly pseudo-therapeutical approach to what the authors, not the roleplayers, seemed to claim the roleplayers self-pity and ego-problems.

Insultive assumptions spoiled atmosphere... for some. Most decisively though: The Wolf lost some allies and didn't fully recover... contrary to that their computer games became much better and community worked on Vampire Bloodlines (patches by the dozens, mod greater than original game) in appreciation...

Its a new time and maybe the old ones just can't belong there, as to them it is not the "new" experience? Just thoughts...
 

Keava

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Mar 1, 2010
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I mostly stick to the old WoD settings. Mage: The Ascension, Changeling : The Dreaming, Vampire: The Masquerade etc. The new ones, never really managed to do the thing right for me, for a brief moment we used the Requiem rule sets but keeping the Masquerade setting only to go back to our own slightly modified rules. Its what always works best for me and my friends when playing PnP, no matter what the core books say, we tend to find and tweak our own ways just to make it enjoyable.

As for general backstories, or so called fluff, we just build it around the story plot, canon is something that can change if the story requires it but for most time we hold true to the old ways.
Thing is my start with RPGs was based of a single article i read in some zin back when i was still young, we made our own RPG out of it when we were bored, just building a plot from a simple intro, without rules and with lots of stupidity and juvenile humor.
I dont expect polish from PnP books, i dont want them to tell me exactly what and when to do, i want a setting i can build on and expand in my own ways.
 

Pietroschek

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Jun 20, 2010
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Hello Keava. WoD is the topic. I am old enough to agree, yet lets all decide for themselves is my spirit. Hm... If you ever have time, could you check in my "Ship of Fools" at http://scribd.com/pauper

?

I used old, TSR given free Ravenloft to make it into WoD, because I swear, I found it more fun to play with the rules... I used ghouls because WoD Sorcerer would be too much magic already...

ARGH! Mage Tarot Cards... I really liked them and lost my deck of them many years ago...

Enjoy your stay at Escapist Magazine and have a nice day!
 

plugav

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Mar 2, 2011
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Let's face it, World of Darkness badly needed a reboot. The new rules were becoming ridiculous and the canon made it virtually impossible for new players to get into the game, unless they decided to ignore it. And no company an afford catering to a dwindling number of old-timers without expanding their market, even DC and Marvel know that.

Besides, the ideas behind The Masquerade at least were becoming outdated. Globalisation ensures that that not all roleplayers will be white Christians, therefore they might miss out on the whole Kain joke, or be offended by the politically incorrect or even racist bits (clan Ravnos, I'm looking at you).

Finally, both games promised that the end was coming, and how long could postpone that?

I like Requiem. The vampires are powered down, the scope is more local (which gives Storyteller more freedom) and, most importantly, the player characters have the opportunity to enact change. Plus, I think they got rid of all the "let's be controversial for the sake of it" bits that plagued the old setting (vide Clanbook Baali).

There's a few things I miss, but if were to go back to the Masquerade today, it would probably be to tell a campy story of car throwing, rooftop chases and other Masquerade-breaking action, using all those over-the-top powers that VtM lets you have but never lets you use.
 

Ernesto Yip

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Jan 4, 2012
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How can i contact someone to get permission to translate this article? I have some friends who i would like to share THIS particular point of view.

Thanks for your time!
 
Jan 12, 2012
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Ernesto Yip said:
How can i contact someone to get permission to translate this article? I have some friends who i would like to share THIS particular point of view.

Thanks for your time!
Send a message to the editors; there's a a contact link at the bottom of the page.

Honestly, I have no illusions you'll read this, but I do love the idea of answering a question 2 years after it was asked, on an article 7 years old.