Settings of World of Darkness

There are three primary settings for the Vampire franchises developed by White Wolf Game Studio's for their World of Darkness.

The first Vampire: The Masquerade takes place in the Old World of Darkness. Vampire: The Masquerade had numerous spin-offs and historical settings (see below). White Wolf "finished" Vampire: The Masquerade in 2004 and no longer releases new support material for the setting.

Vampire: The Eternal Struggle is a tabletop card game based in part on Vampire: The Masquerade and the Old World of Darkness. Despite White Wolf ending the Old World of Darkness it is still in production and supported by the studio. It is one of the oldest collectible card games in existence.

The newest game is Vampire: The Requiem. It is set in the New World of Darkness and is the successor to the Vampire: The Masquerade line. It was first released in August 2004, together with a new core rule book for the World of Darkness. Although it is an entirely new game, rather than a continuation of the previous editions, it uses many elements from the old game in its construction.

Vampire: The Masquerade

Created by Mark Rein·Hagen, Vampire: The Masquerade was the first of White Wolf Game Studio's World of Darkness live-action and role-playing games, based on the Storyteller System and centered around vampires in a modern Gothic-Punk world.^[1] The Revised Edition, sometimes referred to as the Third Edition by fans, was released in 1998 and explains, "the setting of Vampire is a composite of its populace and their despair." The title of the series comes from "The Masquerade", referring to the Camarilla's attempts to hide vampirism from humans and their governments and media.^[2] It also serves as a double entendre, referring to vampires' efforts to convince themselves that they are not the monsters they have become.

In 1992, Vampire: The Masquerade won the Origins Award for Best Roleplaying Rules of 1991.^[3] The game line was discontinued in 2004, and followed by revised rules and a new setting in Vampire: The Requiem.

Dark Ages: Vampire

Vampire: The Dark Ages, originally published in 1996, is set in the year 1197, a spin-off from the older Vampire: The Masquerade which is set in modern times. A revised edition published in 2002 entitled Dark Ages: Vampire updated the setting to the year 1230. Both, however, are set in a dark medieval Europe. The setting lives from both its differences from the historical facts and from the predecessor game Vampire: The Masquerade.

• In Dark Ages, vampires rule the night openly and some are even revered and worshipped, though the powers of the Inquisition and other mortal foes restrain their freedom.
• A large number of vampires, as the rest of the European population, are deeply religious. The Cainite Heresy tries to infiltrate the Church.
• The major vampire sects, the Camarilla and the Sabbat, have not been formed yet. The vampire society in Europe is ruled by Princes and other fief holders, although their power rarely extend beyond their city or domain.
• The Tremere clan is in its infancy. Their clan leader has slain the founder of Salubri clan, Saulot, only a few decades ago. The Tremere are at war with a number of other clans, notably with the powerful Tzimisce.
• The Blood Curse has not yet been imposed on the Assamite clan.
• The Cappadocians are one of the 13 major clans. The Giovanni are a bloodline of the Cappadocian clan.

With the release in 2002 of Dark Ages: Vampire, several other game lines were added: Dark Ages: Werewolf, Dark Ages: Mage, Dark Ages: Inquisitor (approximately the Dark Ages equivalent of Hunter: the Reckoning), and Dark Ages: Fae, each contributing to the shared setting.

Victorian Age: Vampire

Victorian Age: Vampire, published in 2002, provides lore as to what was going on with the different clans during the Victorian era.

Kindred of the Ebony Kingdom

The Kindred of the Ebony Kingdom, known among themselves as the Laibon, are vampires native to Africa in Vampire: The Masquerade. Though having the same roots as the western Kindred and being afflicted with the same curse, the Laibon have existed in relative isolation from the western Kindred for an extended period, and have become distinct in a variety of ways.

Kindred of the East

Kindred of the East is a supplement to Vampire: The Masquerade. The vanguard of White Wolf's "Year of the Lotus" theme (which created "Eastern" counterparts to all of their major product lines in the World of Darkness), this rich sourcebook is a stand-alone setting, requiring only secondary rules to be fully playable. The setting spans Asia, allowing players to play the so-called Kuei-jin or Kindred of the East, vampire-like creatures of Asia.

Vampire: The Eternal Struggle

Vampire: The Eternal Struggle, published as Jyhad in the first edition and often abbreviated as VTES, V:TES or V:tES, is a collectible card game set in the World of Darkness. The game was designed in 1994 by Richard Garfield and initially published by Wizards of the Coast. After the 1996 Sabbat expansion, Wizards of the Coast abandoned the game, and in 2000 White Wolf took over development. It is thus one of the oldest collectible card games in existence.

Richard Garfield noted that the experiences he had made with the Magic: The Gathering collectible card game had helped him to improve his design of the game. In an interview with Robert Goudie, Garfield particularly notes dedicated multi-player (3+) rules, a lack of "land cards", and a more rapid card drawing mechanism.^[4]

Vampire: The Requiem

Vampire: The Requiem is set in the World of Darkness, and the successor to the Vampire: The Masquerade line. It was first released in August 2004, together with a new core rule book for the World of Darkness. Although it is an entirely new game, rather than a continuation of the previous editions, it uses many elements from the old game in its construction, including some of the clans and their powers. The game's title is a metaphor for the way vampires within the game view their life.

Mind's Eye Theatre

Mind's Eye Theatre is a live action role-playing game based on the World of Darkness universe, sharing a theme and setting originally with Vampire: The Masquerade and now with its revision, Vampire: The Requiem. (The rules for Mind's Eye Theatre have likewise been revised.) Other games or 'venues include Werewolf: The Forsaken, Mage: the Awakening, Changeling: The Lost, and others.

References