White Wolf Entertainment (since November of last year, a subsidiary of Paradox Interactive) has begun development work for a fifth edition of Vampire: The Masquerade. While the company has generally described itself as a story and brand manager, rather than a publisher, in this case it is handling both game development and publishing of the tabletop RPG internally.

At the heart of the new Vampire is the One World of Darkness, which White Wolf describes as a:

Unified theory of the supernatural, not rebooted but revolutionized and reborn in our chaotic time of sweeping change.

Hinting at what that might mean in game terms, Martin Ericsson, White Wolf’s Lead Storyteller and Brand Architect, said at the recent Grand Masquerade convention:

What if you are what you eat? What if you grow through the prey you seek out? What if to disappear from sight, you feed from those we forget and look away from, the homeless, the lost? What if to dominate, you fuel your powers through the blood of those in submission?

One of the issues driving this development appears to be an effort to better coordinate among the many World of Darkness licenses and prepare the property for growth in to other entertainment genres. Besides its hopes for a World of Darkness television show sometime in the future, White Wolf is preparing to release two mobile alternate-reality games this winter.

The Vampire: The Masquerade fifth edition tabletop roleplaying game is slated for release in the winter of 2017-2018.

After that, the company promises that the One World of Darkness metaplot will be heavily influenced by player input.

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Video game maker, Paradox Interactive, has purchased White Wolf Publishing from CCP Games. The deal covers all intellectual property rights associated with the World of Darkness, Vampire, and Werewolf. In its announcement of the move, Paradox stated that White Wolf will remain an independent subsidiary with a dedicated team located in Stockholm, Sweden.

As a separate company owned by Paradox Interactive, White Wolf is dedicated to bringing its gritty and mature brand of participatory storytelling to fans new and old. This vision will be realized in multiple digital games titles, across a full range of media and immersive live-action events.

No further information has yet been provided as to whether the transfer will impact the licenses held by Onyx Path Publishing to produce WoD and other tabletop RPGs.

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