White Wolf
From Edge of Darkness Wiki
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White Wolf, Inc. is an United States|American Video game|gaming corporation|company and book publisher, most famous for the Vampire: The Masquerade roleplaying game. The company began in 1991 as a merger between Lion Rampant[1] and White Wolf Magazine, and was led by Mark Rein·Hagen of Lion Rampant and Steve Wieck|Steve and Stewart Wieck from the magazine. Taking their name from the fiction of Michael Moorcock, they have become one of the world's most successful role-playing game companies.
White Wolf publishes a line of several different but overlapping games set in the "World of Darkness", a "modern gothic fiction|gothic" world that, while seemingly similar to the real world, is home to supernatural terrors, ancient conspiracies, and several approaching apocalypses. In the World of Darkness, vampires, werewolf|werewolves, mummy|mummies, Wizard (character class)|mages, changelings, wraiths, and other creatures of the night exist and fight with and alongside each other while remaining hidden from normal humans. The company also publishes the high fantasy Exalted RPG, the modern mythic Scion (role-playing game)|Scion, and d20 system material under their Sword & Sorcery imprint, including such titles as the Dungeons & Dragons gothic horror campaign setting Ravenloft, and Monte Cook's Arcana Unearthed series.
To complement the World of Darkness game lines, there is a live action role-playing game|LARP system dubbed Mind's Eye Theatre. Many grassroots gaming groups have sprung up to play games based on this system.
White Wolf has also released several series of novels based on the Old World of Darkness. All game books and novels set in the Old World of Darkness are currently and indefinitely out of print.
White Wolf has a mixed record in the collectible card game market with Arcadia (card game)|Arcadia, Rage (collectible card game)|Rage, and Vampire: The Eternal Struggle (formerly 'Jyhad'). V:TES, perhaps the most successful of the bunch, was originally published by Wizards of the Coast in 1994 but was abandoned just two years later after a revamped base set and name change (V:TES) and three expansions. White Wolf acquired the rights to the game in 2000, despite no new material having been produced for the game in over 4 years. Since then, VTES has released several expansions, and is the only official source for material for the Old World of Darkness.
Video games such as Vampire: The Masquerade - Redemption, and Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines, are based on White Wolf's role-playing property, Vampire: The Masquerade. There are also several Hunter: The Reckoning video games.
Merger
On Saturday, 11 November 2006, White Wolf and CCP Games, the Icelandic MMO development company responsible for EVE Online announced it had acquired White Wolf games studio announcing a merger between the two companies during the keynote address at the EVE Online Fanfest 2006.[2] It was also revealed that a World of Darkness MMORPG was already in the planning stages.[3]
The "Old" World of Darkness game lines
The games of this series use White Wolf's Storyteller System for game mechanics.
- Vampire: The Masquerade
- Werewolf: The Apocalypse
- Mage: The Ascension
- Wraith: The Oblivion
- Changeling: The Dreaming
- Kindred of the East
- Hunter: The Reckoning
- Mummy: The Resurrection
- Demon: The Fallen
- Orpheus (role-playing game)|Orpheus
In 2003, the company announced the "Time of Judgment", which brought an end to their current series of World of Darkness game lines. This move concerned many fans who had become used to the existing setting.
A revamped series of World of Darkness games were launched August 21, 2004, beginning with The World of Darkness (a set of core rules, akin to the D&D Player's Handbook) and Vampire: The Requiem. Later, White Wolf also released "Werewolf: The Forsaken" and "Mage: The Awakening". The new range of World of Darkness products were clearly winnowed down to a manageable storyline, anticipating on the needs of the CCP MMORPG. Fans demanding that White Wolf move into the MMORPG market "as quickly as possible" date back to 1998. Only after the successes of World of Warcraft (and the collapse of sales of old pen and paper roleplaying accessories) did White Wolf games company start anticipating on future developments.
Historical variants
- Dark Ages: Vampire (formerly Vampire: The Dark Ages)
- Dark Ages: Werewolf (formerly released as a sourcebook called Werewolf: The Dark Ages)
- Dark Ages: Mage
- Dark Ages: Inquisitor
- Dark Ages: Fae
- Mage: The Sorcerers Crusade
- Vampire: The Victorian Age|Victorian Age: Vampire
- Wraith: The Great War
- Werewolf: The Wild West
- Devil's Due - a Demon: The Fallen expansion book for Dark Ages: Vampire
Mind's Eye Theatre (LARP)
- Laws of the Night (Vampire)
- Laws of the Wild (Werewolf)
- Oblivion (Wraith)
- Laws of the Hunt (Mortals)
- The Shining Host (Changeling)
- Laws of Ascension (Mage)
- Laws of the Reckoning (Hunter)
- Laws of Resurrection (Mummy)
- Laws of the East (Kindred of the East)
- The Long Night (Dark Ages: Vampire)
- Faith and Fire (Dark Ages: Vampire)
- Laws of the Wyld West (Werewolf: The Wild West)
The "New" World of Darkness game lines
The games of this series use White Wolf's new Storytelling System for game mechanics.
- Vampire: The Requiem
- Werewolf: The Forsaken
- Mage: The Awakening
- Promethean: The Created
- Changeling: The Lost
- Hunter: The Vigil
- Geist: The Sin-Eaters
External links
- White Wolf Online - Official web site.
- White Wolf's publication list on Pen & Paper
References
- ↑ A Brief History of Game #10: Lion Rampant: 1987-1990, RPGnet (Retrieved 14 June 2007)
- ↑ White Wolf Press Release 11 November 2006, "Gaming Industry Innovators CCP and White Wolf to Merge" (Retrieved 11 November 2006)
- ↑ CCP Press Release 11 November 2006, "Gaming Industry Innovators CCP and White Wolf to Merge" (Retrieved 12 November 2006)
