Last month Paradox Interactive announced it had annexed White Wolf. After a string of problems, White Wolf’s parent company took the RPG publisher’s independence away and declared it would be getting out of writing and making tabletop games.
Instead, said Paradox, it would manage the World of Darkness brand and look for partners to bring their vision to life.
Now, Shams Jorjani, Paradox Interactive’s VP of Business Development, has announced that Modiphius Entertainment has secured all the Vampire: the Masquerade rights.
This set-up means that if any new Vampire: the Masquerade books are made then authors appointed by Modiphius will write them. Modiphius will quality control, edit and decide which topics to publish books about. White Wolf will have some oversight; making sure these new Vampire books fit with the ‘brand vision’ the company has for the World of Darkness.
Onyx Path Publishing has a great track record of writing for the World of Darkness. So what gave Modiphius the edge? First up; we don’t know if Onyx Path even expressed any interest in the role. Secondly; Modiphius is the current publishing partner. Lastly, perhaps most importantly, Modiphius has an established distribution network. The British publisher can get books written and cope with all the warehouse dramas that Paradox Interactive no longer has the tolerance to deal with.
What about the Camarilla and Anarch books?
Right now there are two books in limbo. Paradox Interactive temporarily paused work on the Camarilla and Anarch sourcebooks because they wanted to remove all references of modern-day atrocities in Chechnya from them.
They’ve done that now and will resume delivery of the books, but once that’s done there will be no more Camarilla and Anarch sourcebooks sales.
Jorjani explains;
Once all existing pre-order commitments are finished, both the Camarilla and Anarch books will no longer be available for sale in print or in digital form. White Wolf is moving away from internal development and publishing, and this is part of that process. The creation and sale of these books would not happen under the incarnation of White Wolf that we are building — the creation, production, and editorial oversight of such products is now entirely run by Modiphius Entertainment and their partners. Until then, we’ve made promises to customers and partners who have pre-ordered these books, and we feel a strong obligation to fulfill those commitments as they were made. Those orders will be filled, and then we will focus entirely on working with licensees who will create the White Wolf products yet to come.
What next for Vampire: the Masquerade?
There are already new books coming; The Fall of London V5 Chronicle, the V5 Players Guide, the V5 Starter Set and The Second Inquisition.
The first of these books will be The fall of London V5 Chronicle which is due out in Summer 2019.
London is burning. As the Second Inquisition put the city’s Kindred to the torch, your characters wake from torpor. The sensible thing would be to flee now, but before you can leave the capital, you have one last job to do… This campaign is perfect to bring your Vampire players up to speed on the plot developments in Vampire: The Masquerade 5th Edition or as a gateway for new players.
You can read more about Modiphius’ plans in their own announcement.
You could become White Wolf
Paradox is looking for one person to be the new White Wolf brand manager. This individual will be the most important person in the new White Wolf team.
That person could be you. You can apply for the role here.
Let us know what you think in the comment section below.
