Today on Fish Fool’s, Onyx Path Publishing is thrilled to announce an exciting change. Inspired by the success of the Dark Eras Kickstarter, the company has decided to overhaul every classic and new World of Darkness game in their catalog and will transport the entire line back to the nineteenth century, during the height of Gothic literature’s popularity, to add Historical Angst™!
“I was so impressed with the enthusiasm we got from fans, I turned to our developers after the Kickstarter was over and asked them if we should skip the modern day crap and focus on a more intriguing period of history,” Rich Thomas, CEO and President of Onyx Path Publishing said. “There were so many historical eras to choose from, it was hard to figure out which one would be the right fit for the entire World of Darkness. But then I thought, ‘Hey, what would Carmilla do?’ Then a black cat crossed my path, and I freaked out a little, but that onyx feline gave me an idea. Why not take all of our games and draw from horror’s roots? Sure, we’ve always dealt with symbolism and allegory from all aspects of the horror genre, but Gothic literature seems like a no-brainer. Believe me, there’s nothing gothier or angstier than those characters. They’re all supergoths, which is great for us and for the fans. And if I’m remembering right, some of them even had capes!”
“You know, at first I was really skeptical of this change because it’s something we hadn’t considered before. But after a while, the idea that we could tap into Historical Angst™ kind of grew on me,” said Eddy Webb, Vampire: the Masquerade developer. “I mean, think about it. In a way, Vampire wouldn’t exist without Gothic characters like the goth vampire Varney. This just makes sense.”
To highlight the new path Onyx Path Publishing will follow, the company has filed a trademark for the phrase Historical Angst™ and is offering a free download of Gothic Icons for fans to use in their new World of Darkness chronicles. Gothic Icons is a special collection of six, iconic Goth characters found in Gothic literature like the misguided wannabe goth Baron Vordenburg, who has never hunted vampires before and relies on a saber instead of a stake, or the gamer goth Countess Anna Fedotovna, an avid card player who favors the odds (Ace, 3, and 7 to be precise). The rules for the characters were created using the World of Darkness Rulebook and the God-Machine Chronicle character creation update.
For more information about the upcoming Historical Angst™ version of the World of Darkness, follow the Onyx Path blog for updates—and revel in its gothtacular goodness!
This sounds great! 😉
If this weren’t such a great idea, I would think something of the timing of this announcement.
I love the historical stuff. I can’t tell you how excited I am to hear about this!
It’s gotherific and utterly gothtastic!
Man, I’m sooo gonna be pissed if this is an April Fools joke.
Announcing great ideas for setting books then not following through, is such an awful prank.
I hope this is for realz!
Yes guys they are clearly 100% serious about ending all the modern nights game lines.
That’s very interesting, I’m looking forward to hearing more about the Historical Angst.
I have a couple of questions, but I understand if it’s too early to answer them:
Could you tell what this will mean for the current projects? Will for example Wraith the Oblivion 20th anniversary edition be changed, or the second editions of the New World of Darkness?
Will every line begin anew? (beginning with a core book)
ps. I think this is an excellent move!
Since it is still 4/1 where I am: we’ll reconfigure the current unfinished books to pull the time frame back to a more gothtacular time. For Wraith 20, that of course means Historical Angst Angst.
Anything not started will be scrapped in favor of the history stuff.
Given the date I’m doubtful of the validity of this announcement, but in the instance that this is real, is the gothic 19th century setting going to be just a setting book for each line, a spin-off like Dark Eras, or entirely reboot the entire World of Darkness as a 19th Century gothic literature inspired game?
I do love the concept however, and even if this was intended as a joke I’ll ask you politely to consider actually making at the very least one book to cover all the game lines, because who doesn’t love Poe mixed with Vampires and Werewolves?
I legitimately cannot tell if this is a joke or not, but if it’s not, is this going to be a setting book or a spin-off-type game line like Dark Eras?
And if this IS a joke, let me inform you that I’d love to see this as a very legitimate thing.
In the press release, we did say the entirety of both lines would be transported back to the 19th century. So, not a setting book. Both the classic and new World of Darkness lines.
(It’s still April Fool’s where I am, too.)
Reread the beginning where it says that they are ending all of the classic World of Darkness and new World of Darkness games lines. Do you think they would end all their successful game lines, and abandon all their current, in-development books (including the ones people Kickstarted and are waiting on)?
If that’s not enough, download the actual gamebook (it is free!) and note that it has the word “Gothtacular” on the cover, and a fantastic section about the severed foot of a mummy that wanders the world, having adventures, while the mummy follows in it’s… ahem… footstep.
Also see: Dudes of Legend.
And Plymouth Rock. Or at least a certain foot shaped piece of it.
Jokes aside, I would love to see the momentum for historical material continued. Although Dark Eras was fun, it would be nice to get more in-depth looks in specific eras, like Requiem for Rome and VtM – Dark Ages (and hopefully new material will cover the Dark Ages themselves).
Thank you! This is going up on the shelf next to my printed and bound copies of Dudes of Legend (yes, that is plural).
There’s almost enough April Fool’s and miscellanea over the years for me to bind a hardcover copy of “Frutang: the Random Cruft.” I wish you the best in fulfilling that pagecount in future years.
Thank you for your kind words. It encourages all of us to keep putting these jokes out, and the writer of said materials to do more of ’em.
Glad you enjoy it!
Thank you all for keeping the tradition alive. Historical Angst is brilliant.:)
Angst?.. Really?