Paradox Interactive (the Crusader Kings people, not the Conan/Mutant Chronicles ones) buy the White Wolf properties [Merged x10]

[lilappleblossom]

Product idea: ASMR videos of Charlaquin explaining and speculating about WW/OPP product updates and current community topics in a gentle whisper.

That would be awesome!

[AzraelFirestorm]

Love how you explain things, Charlaquin. Just makes me want to buy all of it. I'm so excited for 4th edition and to own everything X20.

Product idea: ASMR videos of Charlaquin explaining and speculating about WW/OPP product updates and current community topics in a gentle whisper.

[lilappleblossom]

Love how you explain things, Charlaquin. Just makes me want to buy all of it. I'm so excited for 4th edition and to own everything X20.

[Charlaquin]

Well fortunately the X20 editions fill a pretty different role than 4th editions. They bring all of the disparate elements from 20+ years of WoD together in one place, and present it as a largely metaplot-neutral toolbox. Like a love letter to WoD fans, they say "here's everything you've enjoyed in this game over the past 20 years, touched up a bit here and there, but largely preserved. Have fun with it as you will." They're there for the players who want to re-live all the great times they've had with the World of Darkness of the 90's and 00's, and for those who were satisfied with Gehenna as the end of that story. Like watching re-runs of your favorite old series.

The 4th Editions, on the other hand, will pick up where the 3rd Editions left off. They'll give us a glimpse of what the inhabitants of the WoD have been up to ever since that whole thing in the early 2000's that may or may not have been the apocalypse. They'll update mechanics that may have been cutting-edge 20 years ago, but are starting to show their age at this point. They'll also advance the metaplot, with all the good and all the bad that goes along with that. They'll be for the people who want an old and beloved game to be brought into today's world, and those who didn't want the story to end. Like new episodes of a series that you loved, brought back after the original run ended.

[Herbert_West]

I love you

Also, sorry, I saw, but did not read, the red signature, and assumed you actually get paid for trawling through these fora :P

Edit: so the X20 editions and 4th edition will exist side-by-side? Seems.... interesting, even though I know this was policy before the Pdox takeover.

[Charlaquin]

I see. Thank you.

No problem.

What will happen to OPP? Specifically with regards to what is now the one and only WoD? To put it bluntly: are you guys out of a job?

OPP still licenses Chronicles of Darkness and Exalted from White Wolf, they still have their own IPs, and they're still doing the World of Darkness 20th Anniversary Editions. So, really the only thing that has changed for us as fans is that OPP won't be the ones publishing Vampire the Masquerade 4th edition. There will still be a 4th Edition, but White Wolf are the ones doing it now. I don't work for OPP, so I don't know what this means for them internally, if anything. I would speculate that since the new owners of the White Wolf IPs are much more invested in it than CCP was, they will probably get more support, along with more oversight. But that's just guessing on my part.

What are the major differences between WoD as of now, and the "shared setting"? WoD as it stands in one world, even if the gamelines are rather separate. Can we expect a much more fluid, interconnected setting where, for example, running a party of a werewolf, a mage, two vampires and a changeling is feasible?

As it stands now, the World of Darkness lines dont really exist in the same setting. You can't have Christanity be the objective truth and have spirits and the Wyld/Weaver/Wyrm triat be a Thing That Exists and have consensual reality all within the same setting, so as it currently stands, you kind of have to pick your truths if you want to run (for example) a Vampire game where the Lupines are Garou. One World of Darkness, from what I understand, aims to reconcile those incompatibilities in the cosmology in order to create a truly unified setting. However, they do still plan to publish them as separate game lines, so there will be a Vampire: the Masquerade and a Werewolf: the Apocalypse, but those games will both be set in the same World of Darkness, instead of slightly different versions of it.

As for the "can you run a crossover game" question, I imagine the answer will be the same as it's always been: yes, if you're ok with the places where the system's don't perfectly match up (though we don't know enough about the mechanics yet to say if that part will be easier than it has been in the past), and the fact that such a game will likely dilute the themes of each game line involved. A good analogy, in my opinion, is that D&D has rules for elves, rules for dragons, and rules for beholders. But you don't generally run all three in the same party. You could, but that would be a very different game than the developers planned for.

[Herbert_West]

One world of darkness means a branding change - new world of darkness is now called chronicles of darkness and classic world of darkness is now just called world of darkness. It also means that while Onyx Path is going to finish the run of 20th anniversary editions, White Wolf will be publishing 4th editions of the world of darkness gamelines, which will update the mechanics and bring the metaplot up to date in a single, shared setting. Tie-in products and events such as video games, card games, LARP events, maybe a TV show of someone picks it up, etc. will also exist in the same shared setting.

I see. Thank you.

What will happen to OPP? Specifically with regards to what is now the one and only WoD? To put it bluntly: are you guys out of a job?

What are the major differences between WoD as of now, and the "shared setting"? WoD as it stands in one world, even if the gamelines are rather separate. Can we expect a much more fluid, interconnected setting where, for example, running a party of a werewolf, a mage, two vampires and a changeling is feasible?

[lilappleblossom]

Well I'm happy with that, since my group was already running all the games as a shared setting.

[Charlaquin]

Okay, I have been away for a bit. Do we know already what this "One World Of Darkness" thing actually means in terms of product lines, metaplot, and perhaps mechanics?

One world of darkness means a branding change - new world of darkness is now called chronicles of darkness and classic world of darkness is now just called world of darkness. It also means that while Onyx Path is going to finish the run of 20th anniversary editions, White Wolf will be publishing 4th editions of the world of darkness gamelines, which will update the mechanics and bring the metaplot up to date in a single, shared setting. Tie-in products and events such as video games, card games, LARP events, maybe a TV show of someone picks it up, etc. will also exist in the same shared setting.

[Herbert_West]

Okay, I have been away for a bit. Do we know already what this "One World Of Darkness" thing actually means in terms of product lines, metaplot, and perhaps mechanics?

[lilappleblossom]

V20 is the only thing I've played, admittedly, but I do love it and can't really see how it could be improved. I'll mine the books for ideas but I don't think I'll ever switch over entirely from V20, myself.

[AzraelFirestorm]

Just like the metaplot

I am wary of this upcoming 4th Edition, V20 was perfect in my book. You can't really top that. It brought Vampire into the 21st Century without having to continue the controversial metaplot. I don't mean to rock the boat, but if I were White Wolf, I'd just give V20 and the other 20th Anniversary Edition lines a wider release instead of trying to reinvent the wheel so to speak.

Just my two cents.

However, I have heard rumors that Paradox seeks to expand the World of Darkness brand with video games and TV shows. I do look forward to that.

I agree with this unpaid spokesperson entirely. I, too, am not being paid to say that.

[Camilla]

A big part of the appeal to some people and a big turnoff to others.

Just like the metaplot

I am wary of this upcoming 4th Edition, V20 was perfect in my book. You can't really top that. It brought Vampire into the 21st Century without having to continue the controversial metaplot. I don't mean to rock the boat, but if I were White Wolf, I'd just give V20 and the other 20th Anniversary Edition lines a wider release instead of trying to reinvent the wheel so to speak.

Just my two cents.

However, I have heard rumors that Paradox seeks to expand the World of Darkness brand with video games and TV shows. I do look forward to that.

[etherial]

The huge underground societies was a big part of the appeal though, the politial infighting in the camarilla and the sabbat as well as the fighting between them.

A big part of the appeal to some people and a big turnoff to others.

[Heavy Arms]

More, Ravnos waking up didn't actually foretell the rest of the AD's waking up, and even as Ravnos' death stirred the slumbering ancients, leading to massive supernatural upheaval, the rest never actually left their slumbering places and ended the world completely.