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The World of Darkness
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Manufacturer: White Wolf Publishing
Author: White Wolf Game Studio
Publisher: White Wolf Publishing
Average Customer Rating:
Our Price: $16.49
You Save: $ 8.50 ( 34% )
Usually ships in 24 hours
Manufacturer: White Wolf Publishing
Author: White Wolf Game Studio
Publisher: White Wolf Publishing
Average Customer Rating:
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The World of Darkness Description
Binding: Hardcover
Dewey Decimal Number: 793
EAN: 9781588464842
ISBN: 1588464849
Label: White Wolf Publishing
Manufacturer: White Wolf Publishing
Number Of Items: 1
Book Pages: 224
Publication Date: 2004-08-21
Publisher: White Wolf Publishing
Studio: White Wolf Publishing
Dewey Decimal Number: 793
EAN: 9781588464842
ISBN: 1588464849
Label: White Wolf Publishing
Manufacturer: White Wolf Publishing
Number Of Items: 1
Book Pages: 224
Publication Date: 2004-08-21
Publisher: White Wolf Publishing
Studio: White Wolf Publishing
Editorial Review of The World of Darkness
Where the Shadows Grow Long
We live our days completely ignorant of the true terrors lurking around us. Only rarely do our experiences draw back the veil of shadows and reveal the horror in our midst. These glimpses into the supernatural can cause us to retreat into comforting lies -- "There are no such things as monsters" -- or stir our morbid curiosity. Only a few, however, can overcome their fear and dare to look deeper.
Abandon Hope All Who Enter
The World of Darkness Rulebook introduces a version of our contemporary world where the supernatural is real. Players join to tell tales of mystery and horror, where theme, mood and plot are more important to a character's experiences than his weapons or equipment. Inside are rules for character creation, task resolution, combat and any activity your character attempts as he delves into the shadows.
We live our days completely ignorant of the true terrors lurking around us. Only rarely do our experiences draw back the veil of shadows and reveal the horror in our midst. These glimpses into the supernatural can cause us to retreat into comforting lies -- "There are no such things as monsters" -- or stir our morbid curiosity. Only a few, however, can overcome their fear and dare to look deeper.
Abandon Hope All Who Enter
The World of Darkness Rulebook introduces a version of our contemporary world where the supernatural is real. Players join to tell tales of mystery and horror, where theme, mood and plot are more important to a character's experiences than his weapons or equipment. Inside are rules for character creation, task resolution, combat and any activity your character attempts as he delves into the shadows.
Customer Reviews of The World of Darkness
Customer Rating:
Review Summary: it was fine
Review: It shipped fast and was delivered in the condition promised they did a fine job they have my respect
Customer Rating:
Review Summary: Great RPG
Review: What can I say? It's the single most important book to own for nWoD. Which is much more playable then the oWoD. White Wolf has in my opinion firmly established themselves as not only THE best table top RPG companies. But they have created some of the most detailed and fascinating universes in the entire canon of fiction.
Customer Rating:
Review Summary: endless possibilities for a disgruntled RPGer
Review: I have been playing rpgs all my life, but have always stuck to more traditional games like Dungeons & Dragons. Many of my friends have been playing WoD for YEARS and yet I have always steered away from it, thinking "Well that's just that weirdo goth game for vampire fans gone overboard"....
Lately, however, I have become increasingly disgruntled with the new revisions of my cherished "tradtitional" rpgs, and how these revisions seem to detract from the heart of telling an immersive, atmospheric tale. More and more, I just want a game where I can stretch my imagination both as a player as well as a GM... a game where the focus is NOT primarily on the rules and centered around things like damage types and effect types and creature types and what THIS weapon can do with THIS effect against THIS type on a third Tuesday if the moon is full and the defender is on higher ground with THIS bonus and and holding an item with THESE modifiers if he's at THIS health level and has just eaten fish. Basically, I have become sick of limitations and the need to memorize those types of rules.
This past weekend, a good friend of mine asked me if I would help him create plots and stories for his upcoming Changeling game, and I thought "Oh great... White Wolf WoD again...."
But for the sake of humoring him, and a willingness to at least TRY something new, I picked up the World Of Darkness core book, this "Blue Book" as the fans call it, and grabbed a copy of "Changeling: The Lost" to go along with it.
Forget about "Changeling" for now... I thumbed through this "new" WoD core book, and I honestly feel like I can never go back again! I became hooked almost immediately, before the point where I had yet read a single rule! Twenty-plus pages into the volume, and I was still reading the various snippets of story hooks and idea-inspiration and atmosphere without so much as rule 1, and it was totally refreshing just to see an rpg book DO THAT!
And as I began to read more and more, further into the book, something happened which I did not expect. Although I was doing this as a favor to a friend, for a specific setting (Changeling)... I began to see the possibilities for this game as an AMAZING stand-alone game without the need for the "Genre/Setting" books such as Mage and Vampire.
As a stand-alone book, the rules embody the simplicity I have been craving lately from an RPG, combined with the simple premise of "imagine your everyday real world but the supernatural exists" which has opened role-playing doors to endless possibilities for a TON of things I have always wanted to try!
Wanna run a "Silent Hill"-esque tabletop campaign for a couple of friends one evening? GO AHEAD! This WoD book and its optional handful of non-"Vampire/Werewolf" supplements allows you to do that!
Wanna take a player or two through a couple of stories inspired by the TV show "Supernaturals"? DO IT!
"Cthulu" campaign float your boat? Dive right in!
Indiana Jones? Check! That's right goth fans, I just said "Indiana Jones"!!! The Indy series of films has always been centered around "what if the supernatural existed and left behind some artifacts"... and that is a premise which lies at the very heart of what this WoD book is all about! Just TRY to deny it!
The cool thing about the "NEW" World Of Darkness, based on what I have been hearing from those I have talked to about it, is that the core book has become a "genre/setting" all its own! Whereas "Vampire" and "Werewolf" and "Changeling" allow you to become those types of creatures, the blue book and its own branch of supplements explores the role of players as humans, mortals... so in a way I guess it's like adding "Human" to that list of monster-inpired genre books.
Overall, I have given this book its five-star rating just from the sheer limitless possibilities it opens up, and the simplicity of the rules which I have been missing and craving lately... a simplicity which allows the STORY to breathe and unfold without a dozen "check the book for that rule" moments.
Perhaps an old-school WoD fan would give the book less of a rating, citing things like "they changed THIS and ruined THAT and the new method of THIS is just unneccessary!"...
But as a player/GM totally new to WoD and what it offers, I am looking at it strictly from the standpoint of how refreshing it is as compared to what I have been stuck with lately and what I have been craving from an rpg, and this World Of Darkness "blue book" delivers in spades!
Customer Rating:
Review Summary: Not very surprised
Review: Why the title you may ask? I'm a little bit accostumed to the great quality of White Wolf's products. I ordered this with the Vampire the Requiem rule-book, and they arrived 3 days past schedule and with some little scratches on them. Amazon has to take better care of the stuff they ship.
Customer Rating:
Review Summary: A perfect example of what is wrong with RPGs today
Review: I don't want to come off all old school, but all these guys have done is D&D-ify what was a great system. The original WOD was about storytelling, not about having a rule for every situation. These guys have completely lost the beauty of the original game in a forest of rules. At one point they present hardness rules to explain why a drill bit can penetrate a safe. OMG! Do we need a rule for this, do I need a specific set of numbers for the drill and for the safe. How about we just roll to see if it works, set a difficulty and go. The explosion of d20 moneymaking by creating 'new' rules makes everyone think that that's what we want in roleplaying, but in fact most people I know just want a simple system to highlight the action and drama, and some great ideas to get you going. This book has a plethora of rules and no real original ideas. I won't be buying anything else in the series for sure. Try Burning Wheel if you want some ideas, its still rules heavy, but at least it's not just a poor ripoff of something that was great. Anyone got those old White Wolf rulebooks, keep them, or sell them on Amazon, they are RPG gold.
Review Summary: it was fine
Review: It shipped fast and was delivered in the condition promised they did a fine job they have my respect
Customer Rating:
Review Summary: Great RPG
Review: What can I say? It's the single most important book to own for nWoD. Which is much more playable then the oWoD. White Wolf has in my opinion firmly established themselves as not only THE best table top RPG companies. But they have created some of the most detailed and fascinating universes in the entire canon of fiction.
Customer Rating:
Review Summary: endless possibilities for a disgruntled RPGer
Review: I have been playing rpgs all my life, but have always stuck to more traditional games like Dungeons & Dragons. Many of my friends have been playing WoD for YEARS and yet I have always steered away from it, thinking "Well that's just that weirdo goth game for vampire fans gone overboard"....
Lately, however, I have become increasingly disgruntled with the new revisions of my cherished "tradtitional" rpgs, and how these revisions seem to detract from the heart of telling an immersive, atmospheric tale. More and more, I just want a game where I can stretch my imagination both as a player as well as a GM... a game where the focus is NOT primarily on the rules and centered around things like damage types and effect types and creature types and what THIS weapon can do with THIS effect against THIS type on a third Tuesday if the moon is full and the defender is on higher ground with THIS bonus and and holding an item with THESE modifiers if he's at THIS health level and has just eaten fish. Basically, I have become sick of limitations and the need to memorize those types of rules.
This past weekend, a good friend of mine asked me if I would help him create plots and stories for his upcoming Changeling game, and I thought "Oh great... White Wolf WoD again...."
But for the sake of humoring him, and a willingness to at least TRY something new, I picked up the World Of Darkness core book, this "Blue Book" as the fans call it, and grabbed a copy of "Changeling: The Lost" to go along with it.
Forget about "Changeling" for now... I thumbed through this "new" WoD core book, and I honestly feel like I can never go back again! I became hooked almost immediately, before the point where I had yet read a single rule! Twenty-plus pages into the volume, and I was still reading the various snippets of story hooks and idea-inspiration and atmosphere without so much as rule 1, and it was totally refreshing just to see an rpg book DO THAT!
And as I began to read more and more, further into the book, something happened which I did not expect. Although I was doing this as a favor to a friend, for a specific setting (Changeling)... I began to see the possibilities for this game as an AMAZING stand-alone game without the need for the "Genre/Setting" books such as Mage and Vampire.
As a stand-alone book, the rules embody the simplicity I have been craving lately from an RPG, combined with the simple premise of "imagine your everyday real world but the supernatural exists" which has opened role-playing doors to endless possibilities for a TON of things I have always wanted to try!
Wanna run a "Silent Hill"-esque tabletop campaign for a couple of friends one evening? GO AHEAD! This WoD book and its optional handful of non-"Vampire/Werewolf" supplements allows you to do that!
Wanna take a player or two through a couple of stories inspired by the TV show "Supernaturals"? DO IT!
"Cthulu" campaign float your boat? Dive right in!
Indiana Jones? Check! That's right goth fans, I just said "Indiana Jones"!!! The Indy series of films has always been centered around "what if the supernatural existed and left behind some artifacts"... and that is a premise which lies at the very heart of what this WoD book is all about! Just TRY to deny it!
The cool thing about the "NEW" World Of Darkness, based on what I have been hearing from those I have talked to about it, is that the core book has become a "genre/setting" all its own! Whereas "Vampire" and "Werewolf" and "Changeling" allow you to become those types of creatures, the blue book and its own branch of supplements explores the role of players as humans, mortals... so in a way I guess it's like adding "Human" to that list of monster-inpired genre books.
Overall, I have given this book its five-star rating just from the sheer limitless possibilities it opens up, and the simplicity of the rules which I have been missing and craving lately... a simplicity which allows the STORY to breathe and unfold without a dozen "check the book for that rule" moments.
Perhaps an old-school WoD fan would give the book less of a rating, citing things like "they changed THIS and ruined THAT and the new method of THIS is just unneccessary!"...
But as a player/GM totally new to WoD and what it offers, I am looking at it strictly from the standpoint of how refreshing it is as compared to what I have been stuck with lately and what I have been craving from an rpg, and this World Of Darkness "blue book" delivers in spades!
Customer Rating:
Review Summary: Not very surprised
Review: Why the title you may ask? I'm a little bit accostumed to the great quality of White Wolf's products. I ordered this with the Vampire the Requiem rule-book, and they arrived 3 days past schedule and with some little scratches on them. Amazon has to take better care of the stuff they ship.
Customer Rating:
Review Summary: A perfect example of what is wrong with RPGs today
Review: I don't want to come off all old school, but all these guys have done is D&D-ify what was a great system. The original WOD was about storytelling, not about having a rule for every situation. These guys have completely lost the beauty of the original game in a forest of rules. At one point they present hardness rules to explain why a drill bit can penetrate a safe. OMG! Do we need a rule for this, do I need a specific set of numbers for the drill and for the safe. How about we just roll to see if it works, set a difficulty and go. The explosion of d20 moneymaking by creating 'new' rules makes everyone think that that's what we want in roleplaying, but in fact most people I know just want a simple system to highlight the action and drama, and some great ideas to get you going. This book has a plethora of rules and no real original ideas. I won't be buying anything else in the series for sure. Try Burning Wheel if you want some ideas, its still rules heavy, but at least it's not just a poor ripoff of something that was great. Anyone got those old White Wolf rulebooks, keep them, or sell them on Amazon, they are RPG gold.