In January 2018 we presented the Chronicles of Darkness Bundle, featuring the 2004 First Edition World of Darkness rulebook and much of its “blue book” line from White Wolf Game Studio. These supplements support and underpin all the Storytelling System games in the Chronicles series, including Vampire: The Requiem, Werewolf: The Forsaken, Mage: The Awakening, and others.
Chronicles of Darkness was the 2004 reboot of White Wolf’s sprawling “Classic World of Darkness” Storyteller line. Vampire: The Masquerade gave way to The Requiem; Werewolf: The Apocalypse was replaced with Forsaken, while Awakening was the counterpart to Mage: The Ascension. With a streamlined rules system and a metaplot-free approach, the new line favored a tone of dark mystery versus the apocalyptic “Gothic-punk” of the Classic WoD. For background behind the changeover, see the August 2007 Escapist article “World of New Darkness.”
In December 2015 Onyx Path Publishing and White Wolf announced the ‘new’ WoD would be renamed Chronicles of Darkness. “On a creative level, they deserve to be distinct and different in order to grow as they need to,” wrote Onyx Path founder Rich Thomas.”On a communication level we have found folks confused by which lines go with which WoD, to the point of walking away as we try and explain. And on a licensing level, garnering interest outside our hobby has been a nightmare. One kind of Hollywood type has a 3.5-second attention span, by and large, and you have to hook them right away, while another type Googles everything as you’re talking. The first will be gone before you can explain the N in new WoD, and the second will find page after page of info that sounds similar but is different and is all coming up under ‘World of Darkness.'”
Whatever you call the setting, this bargain-priced collection had everything you need for a complete chronicle of supernatural horror. There were four rulebooks and supplements in our Player Collection (retail value $66):
- World of Darkness First Edition rulebook (retail $15): The 226-page core rulebook (2004) of modern urban horror — foundation for all the Chronicles of Darkness settings. [Previously presented in several of our White Wolf offers.]
- Armory and Armory Reloaded (retail $18 apiece): Every kind of weapon and fighting style to battle the horrors in the shadows. [Armory was also in our January 2017 Hunter: The Vigil offer.]
- Skinchangers (retail $15): Play the unique and mysterious human skinthieves who achieve animal transformation.
Those who paid more than the threshold (average) price also got our entire Storyteller Collection with eight more sourcebooks worth an additional $97:
- Antagonists (retail $15) and Urban Legends (retail $15): Foils, adversaries, and jump-scare frights for your Storytelling characters.
- Tales From the 13th Precinct (retail $15): Cops and the legal system in the Chronicles of Darkness.
- Dogs of War (retail $15): The horrors of warfare, which can outdo the worst supernatural creatures.
- Ruins of Ur (retail $7): A complete Storytelling Adventure System scenario beneath the deserts of Iraq.
- Changing Breeds (World of Darkness version) (retail $18): The hidden world of the ferals: the born were-cats, bears, birds, and even bugs with inhuman souls.
- Ready-Made Player Characters (World of Darkness) (retail $5): Five pregenerated ready-to-play PCs from Legacy Security and Courier Services, ready to drop into any nWoD game.
- The Harvesters (retail $7): A mundane ring of kidnappers turns out to have a paranormal edge.
Ten percent of each payment (after gateway fees) went to this offer’s designated charity, All Hands Volunteers. All Hands Volunteers is a volunteer-powered disaster relief organization that rebuilds hope for people devastated by natural disasters worldwide. Over the last 12 years, 39,000 volunteers have donated 200,000 days to help 500,000 people worldwide.
