During Darkness Emergent Los Angeles, it was announced that World of Darkness is being rebranded to White Wolf and will be the official publisher for World of Darkness properties. This includes: Vampire: The Masquerade, Werewolf: The Apocalypse, and Hunter: The Reckoning. For those new to World of Darkness, the original role-playing books were published under White Wolf Publishing, which is now defunct and has been merged with a gaming company, subsequently acquired by another gaming company. If that sounds messy, it’s because it is. This announcement comes full circle, meaning World of Darkness products are going back to the White Wolf name. Is this purely a corporate stunt? Or will this improve upon the World of Darkness brand?

Let’s start at the very beginning. White Wolf and Vampire: The Masquerade were created in the 90s by Mark Rein-Hagen. After Vampire’s release, there were Werewolf: The Apocalypse, Mage: The Ascension, Wraith: The Oblivion, and Changeling: The Dreaming. In the 1990s, numerous editions and revisions were made to the games to enhance their quality. With the business downturn and Mark Rein-Hagen leaving, White Wolf was acquired by CCP Games in 2006. In 2015, Paradox Interactive acquired White Wolf Publishing from CCP Games. World of Darkness partnered with Renegade Game Studios to sell World of Darkness licensed products. I’m skimming over quite a bit of history, but to simplify this as much as possible, that’s where we are.

It took me more time than I care to admit to research and cite all this information. Going back to the announcement, what does this actually mean? In the announcement, it says, “As White Wolf enters its next chapter, it brings World of Darkness’ IP closer to fans and empowers a new generation of storytellers to explore and expand its rich universe.” My thought is that White Wolf and World of Darkness would move away from Paradox and Renegade and own everything. I don’t see this as a bad thing. This history is convoluted, and when you introduce new players to the brand, it would be easier if White Wolf owned everything. Given White Wolf’s history, I think there is skepticism with the announcement. I’m curious to see how this plays out in the next six months to a year from now.

My first thought when I heard this announcement was, are we getting a current Wraith: The Oblivion book? I came into World of Darkness later, so I’d be curious if some of these older games will get a rebrand. Wraith: The Oblivion is on Drivethru RPG, and reading the description of this game, this is absolutely something I’d love to play. Based on the description, players play as ghosts who recently died and are now trying to survive in this gothic underworld. How cool is that? There’s a lot of opportunity with this rebrand; it depends on how White Wolf approaches it.

It’s too early to say more than this, but I’m hoping for an update on some of the other World of Darkness properties. The World of Darkness property has so much potential, and I’d love to see these games become more popular in the TTRPG space. The last thing I will say, I’m not an expert in World of Darkness; I’m simply a fan who loves the game. If I mis-summarized anything or if something needs to be updated, let me know in the comments below.