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

[Alucard]

I agree, there has likely been enough time for vampires to repopulate. If Gehenna even happened and it wasn't another false alarm (there have been a lot of those throughout history, from what I understand.)

False Alarm?

Ravnos used Chimerstry 10 to fake his death in India?

[Charlaquin]

If it's been ~10 years since the event occurred, it's plenty of time for the PC level vampires to have started to refill vampire society numerically.

One of the things Martin said about the One WOD is to emphasize the global world of the 21st century including the sense that information exchange between distant locations is much greater now than in 1991. There's a lot of potential in pockets of survivors adapting to the new state of the world, and using things like the Internet to start to rebuild those societies; as well as the conflict between vampires that want a "new" Camarilla/Sabbat that isn't tied to the mistakes of the past.

I agree, there has likely been enough time for vampires to repopulate. If Gehenna even happened and it wasn't another false alarm (there have been a lot of those throughout history, from what I understand.)

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.

That's kind of the thing about metaplot though, isn't it? Things in an ongoing setting change and you either use them or ignore them as suits your game.

[Heavy Arms]

If it's been ~10 years since the event occurred, it's plenty of time for the PC level vampires to have started to refill vampire society numerically.

One of the things Martin said about the One WOD is to emphasize the global world of the 21st century including the sense that information exchange between distant locations is much greater now than in 1991. There's a lot of potential in pockets of survivors adapting to the new state of the world, and using things like the Internet to start to rebuild those societies; as well as the conflict between vampires that want a "new" Camarilla/Sabbat that isn't tied to the mistakes of the past.

[Alucard]

No single Gehenna scenario was canon, a few options were presented, and nothing prevents the devs from coming up with one that wasn't presented in the Gehenna book. The vampires may have experienced a near extinction event, the rest of the world carried on with little notice. 4th ed will very likely be about how they go about rebuilding their little shadow society. I say little because there aren't a lot of them left compared to pre Gehenna levels.

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.

[Darksider]

No single Gehenna scenario was canon, a few options were presented, and nothing prevents the devs from coming up with one that wasn't presented in the Gehenna book. The vampires may have experienced a near extinction event, the rest of the world carried on with little notice. 4th ed will very likely be about how they go about rebuilding their little shadow society. I say little because there aren't a lot of them left compared to pre Gehenna levels.

[Alucard]

The 20th editions are (from what I gather) more or less metaplot neutral and sort of collections of previous rules with some changes here and there. 4th Edition will be a proper new edition, continuing the metaplot from where it left off and bringing it into the 21st century, both in terms of plot and mechanics.

The world ended though...?

They're going to have reboot/retcon quite a bit.

[Delta]

But: it hasn't come to that.

Of course it hasn't, but hasn't got anything to do with my point. The fact is simply that change is not always good, which should be really obvious if you think about it. Change can be good, bad, both, or neutral, it always depends on the situation. Saying "change is always good" is just as wrong as saying it's always bad.

[AzraelFirestorm]

Ew. The mere thought of that disgusts me. : )

I think if WoD or CroD ever stopped being published, I'd likely rely on all of my older books and would most likely never purchase a single TT RPG ever again.

I came into this hobby with WoD, and I'll leave with it, too.

Amen to that, dude.

[Fat Larry]

Even that would have been good news, sorta. From then on, nothing official would contradict what I do at my table; I save money that I can splurge on other RPG products; I can finally move on from WoD/CofD. But: it hasn't come to that. We are going to get two awesome gamelines, video games, novels, and maybe even a TV show.

Ew. The mere thought of that disgusts me. : )

I think if WoD or CroD ever stopped being published, I'd likely rely on all of my older books and would most likely never purchase a single TT RPG ever again.

I came into this hobby with WoD, and I'll leave with it, too.

[Murder-of-Crows]

That's taking it a bit too simple IMHO. Change is not always good for everyone. If, hypothetically, WW had said "Yeah, we're gonna focus on computer games, we're not really interested in pen & paper RPG so all the books are getting axed, have a nice day", well, that would've been change as well, but I don't think there would've been a whole lot to embrace and a whole lot to fear for the average pen & paper fan about that.

Even that would have been good news, sorta. From then on, nothing official would contradict what I do at my table; I save money that I can splurge on other RPG products; I can finally move on from WoD/CofD. But: it hasn't come to that. We are going to get two awesome gamelines, video games, novels, and maybe even a TV show.

[Murder-of-Crows]

SBut the backlog of metaplot has always been this massive impenetrable barrier to entry for me. Are there any good resources that the hardcore WoD fans would recommend for someone who is interested to learn more about the story so far, but has been put off by the attempt in the past when trying to sort through volumes of wiki pages?

I think/hope that Beckett's Jyhad Diary will do exactly that for Vampire: The Masquerade.

[Ephsy]

That's taking it a bit too simple IMHO. Change is not always good for everyone. If, hypothetically, WW had said "Yeah, we're gonna focus on computer games, we're not really interested in pen & paper RPG so all the books are getting axed, have a nice day", well, that would've been change as well, but I don't think there would've been a whole lot to embrace and a whole lot to fear for the average pen & paper fan about that.

That's right. Bet the dinosaurs didn't lived long enough to enjoy the crater their massive extinction event lead them to.

[Delta]

Just take a page from Mage: Change is good. Statis is what bogs us down. At least, if you are a Tradition mage. So change is IMHO something to be embraced, never feared.

That's taking it a bit too simple IMHO. Change is not always good for everyone. If, hypothetically, WW had said "Yeah, we're gonna focus on computer games, we're not really interested in pen & paper RPG so all the books are getting axed, have a nice day", well, that would've been change as well, but I don't think there would've been a whole lot to embrace and a whole lot to fear for the average pen & paper fan about that.

[dxanders]

I posted a thread in the WoD forum. For now it only covers Vampire, but I'll try to update it over the next few weeks. That said, it's probably not as comprehensive or insightful as the ones nofather just linked to. Still, I think it's pretty accessible and hits on most of the salient points you'd need to get prepared for 4e.

I'll just say, I hope WW leaves most of the metaplot at the door and goes with more of a stream-lined soft reboot of the game. Things got incredibly unwieldy towards the end of the line. Out of curiosity, how do other people feel? I liked some of the changes that came about in Revised (Vampire folding all of the 13 clans into their core, the whole "The Weaver did it!" twist in Werewolf, and the humanizing of the Technocracy in Mage) but think they could easily add those elements while stripping away many of the various and sundry global-level events that knotted up the setting. For those of you still involved in the setting, what would you like to see? A direct continuation from Revised, something more along the lines of a setting remix, or something more metaplot agnostic?

[nofather]

I only know of one mapping out the entire metaplot, across all gamelines. Here's a much less helpful one that, admittedly, covers a lot from the players angle. There are some sites that have timelines for major events, including the white wolf wiki, but they tend to avoid the small picture or be so focused as to be unhelpful, such as this one which is great if you already know the Masquerade characters and want to track their bloodlines. It's good for names, too.

Most of the metaplot summaries I've seen are focused on a single gameline. Here's a good one from DaveB, for Mage the Ascension, though it skips over the history of things. I've never seen one specifically for Werewolf or Changeling or Wraith, Demon's is fairly succinct. Vampire and Mage seem to be the most common topics, and the upcoming Beckett's Jyhad Diary might possibly cover the vampire stuff.