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...
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 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. 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 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. With its lesser focus on lore and less defined world, Chronicles of Darkness also streamlines 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; 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. 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 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 the game lines, including Andrew Greenberg for Vampire and Bill Bridges for Werewolf, who came to define the look and feel of the series. As the original planned five annual games had already been published, White Wolf Publishing next devised a new model of role-playing games with a historical setting based on previous games, resulting in Vampire: The Dark Ages , Werewolf: The Wild West , and Mage: The Sorcerers Crusade , of which only Vampire: The Dark Ages sold well. 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 the East and Mummy, required a main game's rule book to be played. 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 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.