Misplaced Pages

#83916

76-601: Along with the other titles in the World of Darkness , Werewolf was discontinued in 2004. Its successor title within the Chronicles of Darkness line, Werewolf: The Forsaken was released on March 14, 2005. The books have been reprinted since 2011 as part of the "Classic World of Darkness" line. A series of 48-page comic books was published quarterly beginning in November 2001 by Moonstone Books . The basic premise of

152-445: A cult classic 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 . 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

228-634: A monochrome original. In 1966, Frederik Pohl discussed in Galaxy Science Fiction "a proposal for high-speed facsimile machines which would produce a book to your order, anywhere in the world". As the magazine's editor, he said that "it, or something like it, is surely the shape of the publishing business some time in the future". As technology advanced, it became possible to store text in digital form – paper tape , punched cards readable by digital computer , magnetic mass storage , etc. – and to print on

304-428: A teletypewriter , line printer or other computer printer, but the software and hardware to produce original good-quality printed colour text and graphics and to print small jobs fast and cheaply was unavailable. Print on demand with digital technology is a way to print items for a fixed cost per copy, regardless of the size of the order. While the unit price of each physical copy is greater than with offset printing ,

380-471: 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 and collaborators including Onyx Path Publishing. Starting with

456-458: A "metis", a Garou born from the union of two Garou parents; metis are born already transformed, have horns , and are infertile and deformed , and usually result in the death of the mother. Such unions are forbidden in Garou society. Each breed has its own benefits and disadvantages. In addition to these variables, players select the lunar phase under which the character was born (the “auspice”) and

532-549: A character interpreted as being a pedophile , 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 as the backdrop for fictional events in Vampire: The Masquerade sourcebooks, in what Paradox Interactive's vice president of business development described as

608-462: A collectible card game on their own, Rage , 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 , Vampire: The Masquerade – Chapters ,

684-463: A further conventional print job. This can be useful for publishers with large backlists, such that sales for individual works may be few, but cumulative sales may be significant. Print on demand can be used to reduce risk when dealing with "surge" publications that are expected to have large sales but a brief sales life (such as biographies of minor celebrities, or event tie-ins): these publications represent good profitability but also great risk owing to

760-476: A greater volume of creative work (primarily text, as typed in personal weblogs) and include the capability to embed photographs and other media. Others assume the role of an infrastructure service provider, allowing any partner website to use its pre-designed payment and printing functions. Print-on-demand services that offer printing and distributing services to publishing companies (instead of directly to self-publishing authors) are also growing in popularity within

836-508: A large focus on lore and overarching narrative, whereas Chronicles of Darkness 's 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 . It has also been commercially successful, with millions of game books sold; by 2001, Vampire: The Masquerade

SECTION 10

#1732801162084

912-589: A mage tradition in Mage: The Ascension . The rights to Ars Magica were sold to Wizards of the Coast 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 , and Chris Earley; as such, new staff were brought in to manage

988-475: 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

1064-433: A range of different text and picture items can be produced as finished books. The management of copyrights and royalties is often less important for this market, as the books themselves have a small clientele (close family and friends, for instance). The major photo storage services have included the ability to produce picture books and calendars. However, they emphasize digital photography. Some companies apply this method to

1140-416: 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 in

1216-465: A try. Go rage!" Chronicles of Darkness World of Darkness is a series of tabletop role-playing games , originally created by Mark Rein-Hagen for White Wolf Publishing . It began as an annual line of five games in 1991–1995, with Vampire: The Masquerade , Werewolf: The Apocalypse , Mage: The Ascension , Wraith: The Oblivion , and Changeling: The Dreaming , along with off-shoots based on these. The series ended in 2004, and

1292-436: A variety of larger type sizes and special formats for those with vision impairment or reading disabilities, as well as personalised typefaces and formats that suit an individual reader's needs. Profits from print-on-demand publishing are on a per-sale basis, and royalties vary depending on the method by which the item is sold. Greatest profits are usually generated from sales direct from a print-on-demand service's website or by

1368-968: Is a printing technology and business process in which book copies (or other documents, packaging, or materials) are not printed until the company receives an order, allowing prints in single or small quantities. While other industries established the build-to-order business model, POD could only develop after the beginning of digital printing because it was not economical to print single copies using traditional printing technologies such as letterpress and offset printing . Many traditional small presses have replaced their traditional printing equipment with POD equipment or contracted their printing to POD service providers. Many academic publishers , including university presses , use POD services to maintain large backlists (lists of older publications); some use POD for all of their publications. Larger publishers may use POD in special circumstances, such as reprinting older, out-of-print titles or for test marketing. Before

1444-464: Is a dark reflection of the real world filled with corruption , apathy , violence, and hopelessness. The setting is also described as " Gothic-Punk ." The Garou battle to maintain this world before all the negativity leads to a total collapse, the titular " apocalypse ". They hide it from the public eye and live in secret from humanity in general. In their war, the Garou often hunt down and kill humans and supernatural creatures that either actively pursue

1520-462: Is among the White Wolf properties licensed to be developed by Onyx Path Publishing . In 2017-01-19, Paradox Interactive AB announced the a video game adaptation of the franchise with Focus Home Interactive , under the title Werewolf: The Apocalypse – The Official Video Game . The release title would become Werewolf: The Apocalypse – Earthblood around June 2019. A fifth edition of the game

1596-556: Is an effort to make POD more mass-market . A class of companies have chosen to be "author-agnostic", attempting to serve a broad mass-market of ordinary citizens who may want to express, record and print keepsake copies of memories and personal writing (diaries, travelogues, wedding journals, baby books, family reunion reports etc.). Instead of tailoring themselves to the classic book format (at least 100 pages, mostly text, complex rules for copyright and royalties), these companies strive to make POD more mass-market by creating programs by which

SECTION 20

#1732801162084

1672-521: Is common for POD books to be more expensive than similar books made by conventional print jobs. Book stores order books through a wholesaler or distributor, usually at a discount of as much as 70%. Wholesalers obtain their books in two ways: either as a special order such that the book is ordered direct from a publisher when a book store requests a copy, or as stocked, which they keep in their own warehouse as part of their inventory. Stocked books are usually also available through "sale or return", meaning that

1748-520: Is ideally suited to publish small print jobs of posters (often as a single copy) when they are needed. The introduction of ultraviolet -curable inks and media for large-format inkjet printers has allowed artists, photographers and owners of image collections to take advantage of print on demand. For example, UK art retailer King and McGaw fulfills many of its art print orders by printing on-demand rather than pre-printing and storing them until they are sold, requiring less space and reducing overheads to

1824-673: 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 . 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 in 1996, but were in

1900-635: Is less than for offset printing . Other services may also be available, including formatting, proofreading, and editing, but such companies typically do not spend money for marketing, unlike conventional publishers. Such companies are suitable for authors prepared to design and promote their work themselves, with minimal assistance and at minimal cost. POD publishing gives authors editorial independence, speed to market, ability to revise content, and greater financial return per copy than royalties paid by conventional publishers. While amateur/professional writers are targeted as early adopters by some companies, there

1976-630: The Vampire: The Masquerade line, released earlier in the year. Starting in 2011, as part of the "Classic World of Darkness" series, Werewolf: The Apocalypse books have been sold digitally through DriveThruRPG. DriveThru has also made some older books available as print on demand . New titles in the series have also been released, such as the Werewolf Translation Guide in April 2012. Werewolf: The Apocalypse

2052-602: The Clanbook series, describing vampire clans, and the Kithbook line, covering types of fae. The games in the original series are set in a shared universe, also named the World of Darkness, which is a dark, gothic - punk 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

2128-581: 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 and

2204-470: The Origins Award 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. , and by 2001, Vampire: The Masquerade

2280-465: 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." Print on demand Print on demand ( POD )

2356-502: 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. 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 series of live action role-playing games , novels, fiction anthologies, comics,

Werewolf: The Apocalypse - Misplaced Pages Continue

2432-452: The reboot 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 - punk interpretation of the real world, where supernatural beings such as vampires and werewolves exist in secrecy. The original series' setting has

2508-510: The 1996 television series Kindred: The Embraced , the actual play web series L.A. by Night (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. A collectible card game based on Vampire: The Masquerade

2584-504: 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

2660-595: The 2020 book Vampire: The Masquerade Companion , Paradox Interactive introduced further changes to the handling of the series: headed by creative lead Justin Achilli , they would develop core game books internally, while collaborator Renegade Game Studios 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,

2736-622: The Asia-themed Kindred of the East and the historical Vampire: The Dark Ages . The 2004 reboot 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

2812-438: The East . 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

2888-484: The East and Mummy , required a main game's rule book to be played. A final game, Orpheus , 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 : 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

2964-542: 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 gameplay rules and a new setting, beginning with Vampire: The Requiem in 2004 and Werewolf: The Forsaken and Mage: The Awakening in 2005. In 2006, the Icelandic video game developer CCP Games acquired White Wolf Publishing and their intellectual properties, with

3040-469: The Swedish video game publisher Paradox Interactive . 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

3116-466: The apocalypse or unwittingly contribute to it, due to their parasitic nature. This includes fallen Garou, vampires, evil spirits, mages, and humans (and other creatures) possessed by demons . In doing so, the Garou regard themselves as the immune system of the planet. Other themes of the game include the inability of the Garou to live as humans, although they were born in human form due to "the curse"; and interaction with spirits that are separated from

Werewolf: The Apocalypse - Misplaced Pages Continue

3192-415: The author buying copies from the service at a discount, as the publisher, and then selling them personally. Lesser royalties come from traditional bookshops and online retailers , both of which buy at high discount, although some POD companies allow the publisher or author to set their own discount level. Because the per-unit cost is typically greater with POD than with a print job of thousands of copies, it

3268-443: The average cost is lower for very small print jobs, because setup costs are much greater for offset printing. POD has other business benefits besides lesser costs (for small jobs): These advantages reduce the risks associated with publishing books and prints and can result in increased choice for consumers. However, the reduced risks for the publisher can also mean that quality control is less rigorous than usual. Digital technology

3344-414: The book store can return unsold stock for full credit as much as one year after the initial sale. POD books are rarely if ever available on such terms because for the publishing provider it is considered too much of a risk. However, wholesalers monitor what works are selling, and if authors promote their work successfully and achieve a reasonable number of orders from book stores or online retailers (who use

3420-645: The business. This was brought about after a fire destroyed £3 million worth of stock and damage to their warehouse. The introduction of POD technologies and business models has created a range of new book creation and publishing opportunities. There are three main categories of offerings. POD creates a new category of publishing (or printing) company that offers services, usually for a fee, directly to authors who wish to self-publish . These services generally include printing and shipping each individual book ordered, handling royalties, and getting listings in online bookstores. The initial investment required for POD services

3496-405: 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 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;

3572-409: The character's latent powers to surface. Players are given the opportunity to have their character inherently know that the Garou exist, or be an effective “orphan” from Garou society, necessitating discovery by others. It is after this point that they join that society and cut off their ties to their previous worlds, except to make sure their blood relatives remain safe. There are three archetypes that

3648-488: The danger of inadvertently printing many more copies than are necessary, and the associated costs of maintaining excess inventory or pulping. POD allows a publisher to use cheaper conventional printing to produce enough copies to satisfy a pessimistic forecast of the publication sales, and then rely on POD to make up the difference. Print on demand also allows books to be printed in a variety of formats. This process, known as accessible publishing , allows books to be printed in

3724-493: The early 2000s, and a Vampire: The Masquerade series published by Vault Comics 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

3800-466: 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

3876-474: 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 (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

SECTION 50

#1732801162084

3952-476: The game is that the player characters are Garou, or werewolves, who have undergone some training and succeeded in a rite of passage . After this, they advance in rank by working together to gain fame. The five main forms of the Garou are: Homid (human), Glabro (wolfman), Crinos (war-form), Hispo (near-wolf) and Lupus (wolf). The game takes place in a fictional world where werewolves, vampires , and other legendary creatures secretly live beside humans. This setting

4028-543: The game lines, including Andrew Greenberg 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

4104-555: The game twice in the magazine pages of Dragon . Dustin Wright reviewed 2nd Edition for Pyramid #10 (November 1994) and stated that "Overall, Werewolf: The Apocalypse 2nd Edition is much better than the first book. Bill Bridges and the pack are to be congratulated for putting out an outstanding product; I heartily recommend it to those out there already playing the first edition. For those of you who have not tried playing Werewolf yet, I suggest picking this game up and giving it

4180-430: 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

4256-463: The industry. Many major publishers print on demand as a way to save money on inventory costs. Print on demand also allows texts to be revised and published more quickly. Among traditional publishers, POD services can be used to make sure that books remain available when one print job has sold out, but another has not yet become available. This maintains the availability of older works, the estimated future sales of which may not be great enough to justify

4332-442: 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 's series of By Night books and Werewolf: The Apocalypse 's Rage Across series. Several splatbooks – sourcebooks detailing character classes or organizations – have also been published, such as

4408-434: 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

4484-637: The introduction of digital printing technology, production of small numbers of publications had many limitations. Large print jobs were not a problem, but small numbers of printed pages were typically during the early 20th century produced using stencils and reproducing on a mimeograph or similar machine. These produced printed pages of inferior quality to a book, cheaply and reasonably fast. By about 1950, electrostatic copiers were available to make paper master plates for offset duplicating machines. From about 1960, copying onto plain paper became possible for photocopy machines to make multiple good-quality copies of

4560-539: 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

4636-465: 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 sourcebooks detailing backgrounds and character types, which can be used when creating adventures for one's players; pre-made adventure modules have also occasionally been published. The Chronicles of Darkness sourcebooks in particular present

SECTION 60

#1732801162084

4712-467: The physical world in a realm that the Garou can enter. This is part of an ornate game mythology. Players are given the opportunity to create Garou, the werewolves of the setting, or their allies or rivals. Lycanthropy in the World of Darkness setting is an inherited trait , and thus players are born with their abilities. However, these abilities only manifest in what is called the “first change”: an event, generally occurring during puberty , that causes

4788-407: The player can use that define how their character was born, referred to as a "breed" in the games. A Garou's parents are generally one Garou and a non-Garou human or wolf with strong Garou heritage, referred to as kinfolk. Garou with human parentage are called "homid", and Garou of wolf parentage are "lupus", that gain intelligence and the ability to turn into humans. There is also the option to play as

4864-503: 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

4940-580: 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 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. White Wolf Publishing and its intellectual properties were sold again in 2015, to

5016-439: 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

5092-446: The roles of these beings, who belong to various classes such as Vampire: The Masquerade 's vampire clans, and Werewolf: The Apocalypse 's 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

5168-508: 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. The World of Darkness series began development in 1990 by game designer Mark Rein-Hagen at White Wolf Publishing , as his next major role-playing game project after 1987's Ars Magica . Designed as

5244-528: The same wholesalers as the stores), then there is a reasonable chance of their work becoming available on such terms. In 1999, the Times Literary Supplement carried an article entitled "A Very Short Run", in which author Andrew Malcolm argued that under the rights-reversion clauses of older, pre-PoD contracts, copyrights would legally revert to their authors if their books were printed on demand rather than re-lithographed, and he envisaged

5320-591: 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 appreciating the broad scope and the familiarity to players due to being based on the real world. Shadis 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 thought this took away from opportunities for horror, and Tor.com thought it left little room to tell new stories, often choosing to ignore

5396-453: 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

5472-503: The tribe to which the character belongs. Each of these contributes to the advantages the character may enjoy. More advanced rules include references to other “changing breeds” in this world. The first title in the series, Werewolf: The Apocalypse , was published by White Wolf Publishing in 1991. The game was the second to integrate the fictional universe in a game system (the Storyteller System ) which had been introduced in

5548-443: Was released by Wizards of the Coast 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

5624-615: Was released in August 2023. It is planned to be supported by the online toolset World of Darkness Nexus, which includes rules and lore compendium, tools for creating and managing characters, matchmaking , and video chat functionality. Mike Nystul reviewed Werewolf: The Apocalypse in White Wolf #33 (Sept./Oct., 1992), rating it a 4 out of 5 and stated that "I highly recommend Werewolf , especially to gamers who bought Vampire and never got around to playing it." Rick Swan reviewed

5700-456: Was the second best selling tabletop role-playing game after TSR, Inc.'s Dungeons & Dragons . 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

5776-507: Was the second highest selling tabletop role-playing game after TSR, Inc. 's Dungeons & Dragons . The series has been adapted into other media, including the television series Kindred: The Embraced , actual play web series , novels and anthologies, comic books, card games, and a line of video games . The original World of Darkness series consists of eight core lines of role-playing games which were originally released from 1991 to 2002: As well as off-shoots based on these, such as

#83916