An Introduction to Urban Fantasy Role Playing
World of Darkness is a table top role playing game set in the modern world . . . with a twist.
In the World of Darkness, there really are giant crocodiles in the New York sewers, and mysterious moth men may actually be controlling the government.
In the World of Darkness, magic is real, the fae sneak out from Underhill, and nothing is quite what it seems.
Here is an introduction to the World of Darkness, and the role playing system it is built around.
In the World of Darkness, there really are giant crocodiles in the New York sewers, and mysterious moth men may actually be controlling the government.
In the World of Darkness, magic is real, the fae sneak out from Underhill, and nothing is quite what it seems.
Here is an introduction to the World of Darkness, and the role playing system it is built around.
Role Playing: What is it?
Here's How it Works
Role playing games like World of Darkness (also called WoD) are basically an adult version of children's let's-pretend games. Everyone sits around a table, pretending to be a werewolf, or a vampire, or a normal human who just stumbled into a mage duel.In order to keep track of things (no one over the age of 5 really enjoys 'I hit you- you're dead!' 'No you didn't, I ducked!' arguments) players will sometimes roll dice just like in a board game. In the World of Darkness RPG, ten sided dice are used - called d10s, and any roll of 8 or higher means what the player wants to happen, does happen. Dice rolling in role playing games is normally only used in combat or when two players are working against each other. No one rolls dice to figure out if they can safely cross the street.
World of Darkness on eBay
eBay is a great place to find books from before White Wolf rewrote the World of Darkness. The older stuff is generally referred to (predictably) as Old WoD.
Fetching new data from eBay now... please stand by
The Storytelling System of Role Playing part I
The Mechanics of Character Gen
The World of Darkness Role Playing Games uses what is called the Storytelling System of mechanics. Mechanics is the term used for anything about a game that needs to be put down on paper, or involves dice.
Building a Role Playing Character
Also known as 'genning,' short for generating or character generation, building a role play character is the first step to playing a World of Darkness game.
World of Darkness games use a character sheet, a formatted page that includes everything mechanical about a character.
The character sheet is divided into several sections.
Attributes
Attributes are the basic mechanics of a role play character, the character's strength, intelligence, and seven other traits. The Attributes are divided in Mental, Physical and Social. Everything a character does will be based on an attribute (Strength determines what you can lift, Wits is used for figuring out puzzles and thinking on your feet).
Attributes are rated on a scale of 1-5: 1 is below normal human standards, 2 is normal, and 3-5 are increasingly above average.
Skills
Skills are things your role play character has learned, like attributes they are divided into Mental, Physical and Social, and use a 1-5 scale. In Skills, 1 is a hobby, 2 is something the character knows enough about to do professionally, and 3-5 are increasing levels of expertise.
Examples of skills include:
-Academics
-Computers
-Driving
-Survival
-Expression
-Streetwise
Merits
Merits are extra things your character has or does that don't fall under attributes or skills. Is your character a millionaire? He'll have the wealth merit. Does she always know the right thing to do? Common sense merit. How about training in the martial arts? Fight style merit: Kung Fu or Boxing?
Everything Else
There is a bunch of other stuff on a character sheet, most of the extras are figured out based on Attributes.
Willpower - this one should not need much explanation. Willpower is rated 1-10.
Health - health is mainly used in combat, every time a character gets hurt, they lose a 'health box'. The number of health boxes a character has is based on Stamina (an attribute) and size (5 for human sized characters, 4 for a child).
Morality - a 1-10 rating of just how mentally and morally stable a character is.
Other traits on the sheet include size, speed, and defense, each recorded as a single number.
Splats
A splat is a pre-designed add-on for turning a human character into a supernatural creature. Splates exist for werewolves, mages, vampires, changelings, prometheans, and hunters.
A splat will add supernatural traits to a World of Darkness character, give bonuses to existing traits, and will sometimes trade morality for a different tracking system - Mages Wisdom is Morality with some additional rules, because mages are still human; Werewolves trade morality out for Harmony, werewolves aren't human any longer and human morality no longer applies.
Building a Role Playing Character
Also known as 'genning,' short for generating or character generation, building a role play character is the first step to playing a World of Darkness game.
World of Darkness games use a character sheet, a formatted page that includes everything mechanical about a character.
The character sheet is divided into several sections.
Attributes
Attributes are the basic mechanics of a role play character, the character's strength, intelligence, and seven other traits. The Attributes are divided in Mental, Physical and Social. Everything a character does will be based on an attribute (Strength determines what you can lift, Wits is used for figuring out puzzles and thinking on your feet).
Attributes are rated on a scale of 1-5: 1 is below normal human standards, 2 is normal, and 3-5 are increasingly above average.
Skills
Skills are things your role play character has learned, like attributes they are divided into Mental, Physical and Social, and use a 1-5 scale. In Skills, 1 is a hobby, 2 is something the character knows enough about to do professionally, and 3-5 are increasing levels of expertise.
Examples of skills include:
-Academics
-Computers
-Driving
-Survival
-Expression
-Streetwise
Merits
Merits are extra things your character has or does that don't fall under attributes or skills. Is your character a millionaire? He'll have the wealth merit. Does she always know the right thing to do? Common sense merit. How about training in the martial arts? Fight style merit: Kung Fu or Boxing?
Everything Else
There is a bunch of other stuff on a character sheet, most of the extras are figured out based on Attributes.
Willpower - this one should not need much explanation. Willpower is rated 1-10.
Health - health is mainly used in combat, every time a character gets hurt, they lose a 'health box'. The number of health boxes a character has is based on Stamina (an attribute) and size (5 for human sized characters, 4 for a child).
Morality - a 1-10 rating of just how mentally and morally stable a character is.
Other traits on the sheet include size, speed, and defense, each recorded as a single number.
Splats
A splat is a pre-designed add-on for turning a human character into a supernatural creature. Splates exist for werewolves, mages, vampires, changelings, prometheans, and hunters.
A splat will add supernatural traits to a World of Darkness character, give bonuses to existing traits, and will sometimes trade morality for a different tracking system - Mages Wisdom is Morality with some additional rules, because mages are still human; Werewolves trade morality out for Harmony, werewolves aren't human any longer and human morality no longer applies.
Visitors to the World of Darkness
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- Mike-Reid Mike-Reid Jun 21, 2009 @ 10:00 am
- As a long time fantasy role playing referee & player I love to see new varieties of games played on the best computer ever designed: your brain.
Excellent lens. Keep up the good work.
If You Could Be Any Supernatural Creature . . .
In the World of Darkness, you can be anything you want. Werewolves, Vampires, and Mages are common. Prometheans - think Frankenstein and other nasties created by magic - are a secret even to other monsters. Changelings - humans twisted by the Fae into anything imaginable, but pretending to the world they are still human.
Hunters also exist, with supernatural blessings that allow them to take down the monsters among us.
And odd monsters no one has ever seen before are wandering as well.
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The World of Horror
It Isn't Fiction
World of Darkness is described as a storytelling game of classic horror.This is probably the best description anyone has yet come up with.
The story is crucial in WoD. The story of the character, the story of the world. And every story in World of Darkness is, or can be, one of horror.
Imagine what it would be like to wake up one day and discover you aren't human anymore, and your daughter looks like a tasty snack.
Imagine walking though a park and hearing the howls of a hunting wolf pack - as they begin to chase you.
Imagine being stolen away from you life, like Rip Van Wrinkle, to return and find everyone you know if dead, the world has changed beyond recognition - and you are now a creature of flame, with hair of fire and skin like hot coals.
Imagine lying everyday to those you love in order to protect them.
Imagine giving your life every day to protect the ones you love from a world full of monsters, and knowing for everyone you catch, thousands more remain.
Now think about something. These things happen, in the real world. Every day.
The pedophile who knows what he is - and hates it.
The victim of a city gang.
The inmate of a mental asylum or prison, released after 20 years.
The FBI agent, or special ops warrior whose history is a single sheet labeled "top secret"
The police man who goes out every day to fight real monsters, knowing he may not win this fight, and praying his family doesn't become pawns in his war.
Our world, the real world, is a world of horror hidden behind a screen of normalcy.
The World of Darkness takes that horror, and makes it something we can face, something we can fight. Something we can try to overcome.
Storytelling System Part 2
Taking Care of Business
White Wolf likes to keep their dice system simple, so in the World of Darkness RPG players use 10 sided dice (called d10s) for everything. But rather then explaining all of it, let me show you.
Say that Akira (the hairy guy up there) want to climb a wall -
- He picks one Attribute - Strength (he has 3) and one skill - Athletics (he has 1)
- He adds the numbers together (3+1=4) and rolls 4 d10s
- Every die that lands on 8, 9 or 10 is a win (or a Success)
- As long as he gets one success, he manages to climb the wall safely
That isn't to complicated, is it?
Looking for More?
- Belleville RPG
- An online forum based on World of Darkness. Stop by and have some fun.
- Official White Wolf Web Site
- All things officially World of Darkness can be found here.
by Jessica_Burde
I'm an obsessive role player, with a preference for table tops.
I've been gaming for almost 10 years, with a focus on World of Darkness, but I've al... (more)
I've been gaming for almost 10 years, with a focus on World of Darkness, but I've al... (more)
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