White Wolf is a game publisher with a variety of products, most notably their World of Darkness line of games, which mostly consist of modern day horror. Meaning that whatever story you're happening is happening now, or close to now, and the setting intends to be used to tell dark, gothic horror stories. Now that's certainly not all that it's used for, but the source material is made with creepy and unsettling stories in mind. There are two "generations" of World of Darkness (WoD) books, called Old/Classic and New (oWoD/cWoD and nWoD respectively). Old world of Darkness had self contained books (you only needed one book to play, such as Vampire the Masquerade if you wanted to play a vampire game) each with a deepset mythology about that particular monster, such as vampire, werewolf, or magus, and how they came about, major players in the world, etc. New World of Darkness was a decision to reboot a lot of those lines and make them more compatible, so you could have a werewolf in a Vampire game that still fit, mechanically, with the other players. Both had some major pros and cons, and many people have their preferences, pretty interesting debates that you can find on plenty of gaming forums.
oWoD games are great, I played in and Orpheus game for over a year and it was fantastic. Many people I know have played old Vampire and loved it. However, I've really got the most know how on nWoD stuff, and even if I were to talk about oWoD, it's probably better to do that on a case by case basis as I pick various new titles up. Just keep in mind that many of the books I'm about to talk about have similarly named predecessors that are always worth checking out if you can find them. (Currently White Wolf is rereleasing some of their more popular oWoD games, so that hopefully own't be as hard as it once was)
How does nWoD work then, of oWoD was so book by book contained? Well, nWoD has one core book that you need to play the game, that gives you all the rules on fighting, skill checks, and what you need to run a game. All with mortal, fully human characters. Each major expansion expanded the universe to include some new type of supernatural "monster," (Not all might fit the typical monster definition, but it works here) including all of the rules needed for the characters to play that monster and the GM to run a story with those characters. Then there would be smaller expansion books that either expanded the mortal universe or one of the individual monster books. You've got a group of Vampire bad guys written into the Vampire core book? There's a slim little volume all about them. I'm going to talk about the core and the main monster books here, the thinner volumes are too many to count and are really only as important as you want them to be.
As a note on the systems before we start, both old and new WoD use a "d10" system of play, meaning that one uses a variable number of ten sided dice in order to obtain an outcome. They also don't have any leveling in the traditional sense. Every skill and ability of your character has has a score, which can be bought up with "experience points" earned in play.
So what do we have?
The Core book. Sometimes referred to as "nWoD core." This is the book you need to play or run any game. It gives an introduction to the world, tells you how to set up a character sheet, and gives advice on how to run a game in this setting. It sets up all the rules that will be modified or swapped around when the expansions come along.
Vampire the Masquerade (VtM). Vampire is one of the best beginner games if you or your players don't want to start as mortal. There isn't a whole lot of change to how the rules work, and the way Vampire superpowers work is pretty easy to pick up. Bullets don't hurt vampires very much, so it's good for a combat heavy game that you don't want to the characters to die too quickly in. It's also good for political campaigns, as Vampires do have a local hierarchy explained in the book. Gloomy, gothic, and traditional, most people don't need much of a briefing to understand how vampires work.
Werewolf the Forsaken (WtF). Werewolvs in this game are shapeshifting wolves harmed by silver that fight evil spirits. Everything is very tribal and primal, at contrast with the urban setting. Everything is about teamwork in this game, you have to think as a pack, but when you do, you're unstoppable. Werewolves are even harder to kill than vampires (arguably), and can come out in the light of day, which changes the sort of stories that can be told. With the various forms werewolves can take, this game is slightly more complex, but not a terrible starter game either.
Mage the Awakening (MtA). Play as a mage, a human with the power to rewrite the world with magic. Technically a mage can die just as easily as a human, however they have disgusting amounts of power to throw around when they need it. If you choose to follow the usual rules, magic is hard to perform in front of a lot of "Sleepers" (base humans), and can cause a lot of hurt if a spell goes wrong. The balance of power and wisdom is central. This game can be incredibly fun, however, it's a hard book to read and spells can be pretty complex to a beginner. This is not a first game to run or play.
Promethean the Created (PtC). In this one you play essentially as a Frankenstein's monster. You are an unnatural being stitched together from old bits and pieces You are not human, though in a way you can pass as one. However, people will hate you on sight, and even the land rejects you if you stick around long enough. This is an incredibly sad game. It can be hard to run, but isn't incredibly hard to learn. Gamemasters take caution. This can be a game rich with emotional turmoil, but it's hard to get a reason for a group to remain together (as even fellow Prometheans despise one another)
Changeling the Lost (CtL). This game has one of the harder mythologies to learn, but is personally my favorite game. You play as humans that were kidnapped by a Keeper, a faerie of old, alien, not evil and not good, but often cruel. The humans soaked up faerie and were changed by it, mutated, taking on aspects of whatever job they had. A messenger becomes like wind, a butcher gains a taste for human flesh, a hunting hound keeps some of those traits. The game begins after the players have escaped and tried to restart their lives. Politics can come greatly into play, as well as missions of war and exploration.
Hunter the Vigil (HtV). You hunt the monsters, the bloodsuckers and mad dogs, the wizards and the monstrous fae. Different sects of hunters have different methods and different goals. You have increased mortal power and can gain access to ancient and powerful weapons and artifacts.
Mummy the Curse (MtC). As of my writing, the Kickstarter that funded this book has only recently concluded, and this may not even be the final cover design. Though I have received a digital copy of the book, I'm waiting for my hard copy before reading it in full. You play as somebody that is ritually bound to their remains, and who is very hard to kill because of that. There is obviously a lot of ancient Egyptian imagery, but otherwise I will be updating this entry when I'm done reading the core book in full.
These are the Core nWoD books. Some are harder to find now, but most have pdf copies available online through DriveThruRPG. Many of the books above have "Old World" counterparts, some of which that are very different from the new ones, some of which are pretty similar. So there you go, World of Darkness games in a nutshell. Next week, Core Mechanics!
