This is book is the main starting point for the new World of Darkness Role-playing games. It describes the basic rules and play for average characters. The rules are fairly consistent throughout and there are plenty of examples to help one understand the rules. Good book and a must have for anyone trying to learn the WoD RPG. Well written but since it has lots of information to convey it is a little dry. ( )

A solid, flexible system which lends itself to a free story telling style. The book gives the reader enough information and rules to run any number of decent horror chronicles, from 90's slasher style or lovecraftian maddness are easily run with the book.
As a player and storyteller of the old world of darkness I was apprehensive, but now I am glad I made the purchase.
The first game I ran with it was supposed to be a one shot zombie survival game which rapidly expanded over the following months into a silent hill style survival game.

Great fun. ( )

This is the core book for White Wolf's World of Darkness role playing games. The World of Darkness is a fantasy and horror game set in the modern world.

This is the only book you need to run a game where the player characters are human, and you will need it if you want to play one of White Wolf's other games (Vampire, Werewolf, Mage, etc.).

If you are familiar with the old World of Darkness, this book is a pretty drastic departure. The rules have been cleaned up and streamlined. Humans are much more playable in this version, and die rolls are simplified. All characters begin as human and can gain supernatural templates. This means you can cross over characters from different games using one rules system. It also means that most of the character creation rules are consolidated in one book, rather than being reprinted in every new line.

The fiction and art in this book are top notch, and it is a fun game to play. ( )

The original games under White Wolf's Storyteller system were notable, among other things, for their peculiar incongruity. A player using the Vampire: The Masquerade rulebook wasn't rolling exactly the same way as a player with the Werewolf: The Apocalypse rulebook-- which is a problem when they want to put their characters in the same game. The new World of Darkness rulebook gives White Wolf's premier gameline something it didn't have before-- a primary rulebook for a unified system.

This book provides the basics on character creation, game rules, and the default noir/horror setting. The game has been streamlined (static target numbers for dice rolls, better integrated character attributes), but nothing leaps out as a tremendous innovation, perhaps because the core rulebook only provides rules for creating mundane human characters. Turning characters into full-fledged vampires, werewolves, and mages requires augmenting the baseline character with a template, the rules for which are provided in later supplements.

Separated as it is from the colorful monster-characters that made White Wolf a gaming powerhouse, World of Darkness can occasionally feel a little bland-- more like the rules appendix than the core rulebook. But the rules are better, and all in one place, and that's important when commuting 45 minutes to a friend's house for a game. ( )