WorldOfDarkness.com Closing Down?

White Wolf has had a terrible year. As a result, they're issuing apologies, recalling books, changing the management, being absorbed into parent company Paradox, advertising for a new Brand Manager, and now... it looks like they're closing down WorldOfDarkness.com.

The message below went out to subscribers of White Wolf's online book reader service. Thanks to Distant Shore for the scoop!

 

[Aguirre Melchiors]

i RECEIVED THIS INFRACTION:

Dear Aguirre Melchiors,

You have received an infraction at Morrus' Unofficial Tabletop RPG News.

Reason: Anti-inclusive Conduct

--------

Stay woke folks or mommy morrus will have his fefees hurt
so diverse
so enriching
so WOKE

 

[Morrus]

i RECEIVED THIS INFRACTION:

Dear Aguirre Melchiors,

You have received an infraction at Morrus' Unofficial Tabletop RPG News.

Reason: Anti-inclusive Conduct

--------

Stay woke folks or mommy morrus will have his fefees hurt
so diverse
so enriching
so WOKE

Huh. Well, bye, I guess.

 

[Screetch79]

Well, Modiphius have been having a hell of a ball recently regarding the RPG market. Hopefully they will be able to do the same with the World of Darkness (or Chronicles of Darkness).

Modiphius is the manager of the Vampire 5th Edition line. Only this one.
COD is a differente universe and it is published by Onyx Path under license.

However.... what about the "Trinity" RPG line ("Trinity"/"Aberrant"/"Adventure")? The Kickstarter for the core rulebook for the remade line (core rules and then expansions for different parts of the timeline a la WOD/COD) went through, but does anybody knows if this will affect it?

The Trinity Universe, actually, is a Onyx Path property. So whathever is appening with WW doesn't affect this line.

And do you guys think this will affect online availability of the books? I really want to try to buy the other COD (the "regular" books, not quite as interested on the specific monster lines at the moment) and the "Trinity Universe" line in the future, when it's affordable to me.

See above. All COD 2nd edition are avaiable on OBS as print on demand.
So will be Trinity.

 

[BBShockwave]

Great... so basically PC activists killed one of the oldest RPGs. Isn't there a parallel here between now and the 80ies? When similar people with nothing better to do than to ruin the fun of others tried to kill off D&D and fantasy in general saying it was satanist aand immoral?
That likely puts an end to any planned Vampire the Masquerade or Werewolf the Apocalypse games too.

 

[Akodoken]

Great... so basically PC activists killed one of the oldest RPGs.

No, that's not what it means. There is a right way and a wrong way to approach the subjects in question. The wrong approach was taken and that has been fixed. Please don't minimalize the issue to fit a political bias. Everyone is done a disservice when that happens.

 

[Morrus]

Great... so basically PC activists killed one of the oldest RPGs.

No. White Wolf did. And it’s not killed. What gave you that idea? The RPG will continue just fine.

 

[Jester David]

Great... so basically PC activists killed one of the oldest RPGs.

Firstly, vampire was first released in 1991. Almost twenty-years after TTRPGs started. So far from being among the "oldest".

Second, it's not killed. It's under new management.

Third, it wasn't PC activists. It was the audience and reviewers. They noticed some needlessly provocative statements, which raised questions about the designers.
And their response to the criticism was not well handled.
And rather than be more careful and respectful in subsequent books, the writers were more careless and provocative, producing content that attracted negative media attention worldwide and legal action.
The publisher responded to the concerns and criticisms by effectively firing those involved and giving the projects to other individuals.

So… it wasn't even really the audience or "PC activists". The writers of the game were insensitive and that resulted in their company being restructured and them losing their job.

Isn't there a parallel here between now and the 80ies? When similar people with nothing better to do than to ruin the fun of others tried to kill off D&D and fantasy in general saying it was satanist aand immoral?

Not really.
In the '80s it was people who didn't play the game and didn't know what it was about making false and spurious accusations about the game.
Now it's people who actually play the game questioning the sensitivity of the writers suggesting people who commit suicide are weak and claiming real world political figures are thin blood vampires under the thumb of powerful Russian vampires.

That likely puts an end to any planned Vampire the Masquerade or Werewolf the Apocalypse games too.

Maybe.
Not being able to get the books might derail plans to play the game. Thankfully, they can still get a Print on Demand copy of VtM 2nd Edition Revised or Vampire 20.

 

[Jester David]

I think that new White Wolf has been treated unfairly in many ways. A lot of the hatred towards them has been pure speculation. I am afraid that Modiphius will only create a bland game.

I agree with previous speakers. KULT: Divinity Lost from Helmgast is the only pure horror RPG on the market now. And no, I do not mean edgy.

I imagine they’ll hire many of the same people. There’s only so many experienced Word of Darkness writers.
And I imagine they’ll start with the outlines and work in progress of the books already planned, as art for those would already have been in the works.

They’ll just have their editors instructed to be more careful. And a little less needlessly edgy and provocative...

 

[dco]

The link is difficult because it was during Kickstarter discussions. It may be on the Kickstarter comments section if you can access them. In a nutshell, the Kult: Divinity Lost campaign was delayed (for about two years in total). One of the main delays lay in the problems they had with getting the book's original content - mainly in the imagery, I think - through to USA distribution. The retail release had to have images removed/replaced, while Kickstarter backers eventually got the uncensored version (which I have). I haven't been able to check the difference, but I think the writing itself is unchanged.

From what I know they changed the cover and that's all, they had some problems with the Black Madonna not sure if in USA or Germany.

Great... so basically PC activists killed one of the oldest RPGs. Isn't there a parallel here between now and the 80ies? When similar people with nothing better to do than to ruin the fun of others tried to kill off D&D and fantasy in general saying it was satanist aand immoral?
That likely puts an end to any planned Vampire the Masquerade or Werewolf the Apocalypse games too.

I will invoke my safe word and red signal.
It was already dead as a lot of other RPGs, they had a boom, released a lot of filler books that only pleased their fans so the average rpg gamer didn't buy them and then they destroyed the setting and most of their fans also went away or continued playing the old game without buying the new books.
This is the 5th edition and for a lot of people some of the old versions look better, have more content and they were raw, without current politics and feelings. Why buy this? It's the same thing over and over, the Camarilla, the Sabbath...at least Monte Cook tried something different.

D&D new editions have big rule changes, new adventures, new settings, more people playing it, etc and they can also flop like the 4ed when people think the old edition is better. It has happened to lots of games, like Rolemaster, Hero system, Warhammer, Warhammer 40k, etc. Perhaps Savage Worlds will be luckier because now it is a hot thing, but a lot of people like me won't waste their time and resources on the new books, it looks to me another RPG cash grab.

My point is that Vampire looks the same thing, won't have big support, won't have adventures, the setting books will look all samey and old, etc and you have a lot of old versions at your hand.

 

[TrippyHippy]

From what I know they changed the cover and that's all, they had some problems with the Black Madonna not sure if in USA or Germany.

Believe me, it wasn't the cover. In fact, they had already anticipated the cover change right before the Kickstarter campaign began. The imagery I'm talking about was in the 'Book Three' section of the book. You'd know it if you see it - but honestly, it's not something that ought to be greatly missed. I also understand that there was some issue with Black Madonna too, although this may be a different issue to do with the surrounding historical symbolism around the content. Like I say, I was a backer and have the originals rather than the general release versions - so it's hard to know exactly what has changed without comparing the two directly.

I would stress again though, as someone involved in playtesting and as such, seeing the game develop through the manuscripts - the actual text of the game hasn't been changed at all, I think. In my view, it is the best horror background and writing in any RPG on the market.