White Wolf Ends The World Of Darkness 94
KrinnDNZ writes "So White Wolf has been providing us geeks with angsty roleplaying pleasure as vampires, werewolves, and various other beasties, ever since the early 90s. Guess what - it's over. I'll have to admit that it takes guts to have your RPGs' 'big story' include the end of their world, but they're doing it, and they've got a date, 171 days from now." This seems to mean that well-known pen-and-paper RPG titles like Vampire: The Masquerade, Werewolf: The Apocalypse, Mage: The Ascension, and Hunter: The Reckoning are genuinely being retired.
Oh yeah? (Score:5, Informative)
> Werewolf: The Apocalypse, Mage: The Ascension, and Hunter: The Reckoning are genuinely being retired.
I think you didn't read *all* of the press release:
> An all-new World of Darkness launches in August of 2004.
Which only makes sense, really. Putting a permanent end to WoD would mean essentially White Wolf was going out of business. What else do they do?
Chris Mattern
Re:Oh yeah? (Score:3, Informative)
I am saddened though to hear of this, its like hearing that my favorite uncle has cancer and only a short time to live.
Re:Oh yeah? (Score:5, Informative)
Which only makes sense, really. Putting a permanent end to WoD would mean essentially White Wolf was going out of business. What else do they do?"
Only the modern-day World of Darkness games are getting cancelled and/or rebooted. Games set in the past won't be effected.
White Wolf has a number of other product lines that won't touched even if the World of Darkness was completely dropped. Aberrant, Exalted, Ravenloft 3E (licensed from Wizards of the Coast), Sword & Sorcery, Warcraft, Everquest and others will keep White Wolf in business for a little while longer.
I'm hoping that the "new" WoD is similar to Laurell K. Hamilton's [laurellkhamilton.org] Anita Blake stories, where the general public knows about monsters, and has to deal with them on a day-to-day basis. No Paradox, no Masquerade, no Veil -- almost everything is out in the open.
Time o' Judgment (Score:4, Informative)
Anyhoo, yes, the World of Darkness game lines are indeed ending. For sure. Overwith.
But they're bringing in a "new World of Darkness" in August 2004. Maybe it'll be like Marvel's Ulitmates: a reimagining of the same concepts. Maybe there'll be compeltely different critters. Maybe it's something no one else has thought of. Who knows?
White Wolf has more than enough to keep them busy in the guise of Exalted, Dark Ages, and their massive Sword & Sorcery line (incl. Scarred Lands, Necromancer Games, Malhavoc Press, Ravenloft, Gamma World, Everquest RPG, Warcraft RPG, et al). Plus they're going to be doing something with Adventure [white-wolf.com] again, I hear.
But the World of Darkness is indeed their biggest moneymaker overall. It's a ballsy move to actually usher in the End Times, but they're not stupid. It'll be back in some way.
Re:The End of the World? (Score:3, Informative)
And then there's the Alien series...the scriptwriters keep trying to end the series in a dramatic fashion, and the suits keep bringing it back.