Editing World of Darkness (section)

== Notable Differences Between the Two Lines ==
Even without getting into the specifics of each game's interpretation of one archetype (say, Masquerade vs. Requiem for vampires), the two games are very different.

World of Darkness takes place in a "Gothic Earth". Which basically amounts to an 80s-style (at least in 1e) [[grimdark]] interpretation of the world; monstrous conspiracies are involved in most major events (except World War 2, for some reason), the "Neo-Gothic" art style is popular so there's lots of [[gargoyle]]s and stuff everywhere, all forms of crimes are up, and the world is just generally a very shitty sort of place to live. Humans are generally unimportant; sheep to be fed on by vampires, slaughtered by werewolves, pushed around by mages... generally, if you don't have powers, you're pretty much everybody's bitch. [[Deadlands|Even Hunters are only viable as a threat because they have some supernatural patron giving them all kinds of nifty powers specifically to fight monsters.]]

Lore is generally very detailed and fleshed out, but not exactly crossover compatible, at least on the meta level; one of the more prominent examples is that, in Masquerade, vampires owe their origins explicitly to a Judaeo-Christian metaphysicality (being spiritual children of [[Caine]], whose biblical curse of immortality was reimagined as him becoming the first vampire), whilst in Apocalypse, the world is controlled by (totally not [[Mythology#Hindu_Mythology|Hindu Trimurti]]) Paganistic/Animistic spirit-gods, with the most powerful being the [[Wyld|Wyld (Creation)]], [[Weaver|Weaver (Order)]] and [[Wyrm|Wyrm (Destruction)]] and werewolves have every reason to believe that the Abrahamic "God" is just some bullshit that humanity came up with and has swallowed. Or probably was a powerful Celestine with influence around Middle-East.

This doesn't mean that this setting, old World of Darkness, shortened as "oWoD", didn't have its merits. The struggle between Technocracy and Traditions had amazing locations, technologies and ways to make a game session fun, vampires themselves had a long and rich history and full scale war between sects, and bloodlines themselves granted an exotic and diverse [[Fluff]].

However, said separate games, like Vampire and Mage, overlap each other's territories so badly it's illogical not to clash with each other. We have Technocracy on one hand, that has a mission to root out "Reality Deviants", and have technologies that border (and cross to) supernatural, yet Technocracy protected the world from the vampires' depredations [[Week of Nightmares|ONCE, yes, just ONCE around the 90's]] (and even then, it was only when a vampire powerful enough to serve as a plot device woke up and went on the rampage). We have wars of Tzimisce and Tremere across the streets of Medieval Europe like its the Lord of the Rings on crack cocaine with a cast of freaks, yet mages and their ilk, plus mortal rulers SOMEHOW ignore the supernatural conflict, which is even funnier in modern era with insane levels of Sabbat atrocities across the world ignored by virtually every non-vampire organization which number in the millions and have missions that concern the welfare of the people.

For example, with the power Technocracy is wielding (and that's not even saying Traditions by themselves are weak), how can Sabbat conduct horrid festivals in EVERY major city named La Palle Grande, kidnapping hundreds of girls and conducting snuff festivals on open techno parties with elaborate torture theatre without alerting the Technocrats, Mages, Werewolves, one of the millions of Hunter organisations, Celestines, some random Spirit, a sympathetic fairy, and just about any other vaguely-supernatural schmuck? How can the Camarilla apply mass blackouts and buyouts of presidents without the NWO coming down on a bunch of bloodsuckers? Every year? Short of the universe running on [[grimderp]] writing principles, it doesn't really make logical sense even with the usual suspension of disbelief. 

And that's just about the consistent Fluff, not the conflicting ones. Here is an example concerning Gilgamesh, a Sumerian king:

*In Vampire: The Masquerade, Gilgamesh is a fourth generation Gangrel Vampire, fighting against the Toreador Methuselah, Ishtar. The epic is shaped into supporting this claim.

*However, According to Werewolf: The Apocalypse, Gilgamesh was offered unlife by vampires, but was talked out of it by a Child of Gaia named Siduri Sabitu. It is said that Gilgamesh was the first human to organize resistance against vampiric rule and the Garou tell that the inborn suspicion against the undead stems from his early influence. 

*Just in case this wasn't tangled enough, Mage: The Ascension claims that the Celestial Chorus Tradition know Gilgamesh as one of the First Singers, Exarchs (Masters) of great power that existed during the First Age and represent an inspiration for their Tradition. Using the original myth as a basis, it is said that Gilgamesh was a man who performed many wondrous acts and sought out immortality in a quest. He was flawed like any other man, but nevertheless he is considered a hero. It is also said that the First Singers ultimately passed away or were corrupted, so both previous interpretations can be valid too. Other eminent experts in supernatural ancient history, like the Hermetic Winston Brown, believe that Gilgamesh was a mortal man who was later deified by the population of Uruk, who ruled before the Babylonian Infernalists spread. 

See it now?

And that's without even mentioning the End Times chronicles, which are impossible to play out without fucking the lore in the ass concerning a neighboring setting. Mage's End Times Scenario Hell on Earth simply ignores every other gadzillions of lore and creatures with one Nephandus (Nephandi are Mages who are edginess incarnate) destroying everything. That's it. No Antediluvian or hordes of vampires and werewolves even have an ounce of effect on the strange, omnipotent monstrosity that shifts in and out of reality and turns the Earth into Mordor. Same goes for Crucible of God, where Antediluvians turn the Earth into a post-apocalyptic fiefdom where humans are their slaves. Technocracy with Aurora bomber aircraft and space stations in other solar systems, Werewolves built to destroy Vampires, GOD-DAMN Kuei-jin (who are massive armies of Asian Chi-vampires) who could wipe out the get of Caine are not even mentioned once, presumably rolling over and dying when Caine rips a fart. Then there are the three stories of Demon, which can be summed up as a world-wide war against the Greater Demons, a world-wide war against the Earthbound and a world-wide war against the Earthbound but Lucifer's there.

(The Technocracy's absence in the CoG scenario makes particularly little sense - the [[Week of Nightmares]], which directly or indirectly caused the apocalyptic events of literally all the oWoD gamelines, finishes with the Technocrats permakilling a fucking Antediluvian Vampire with a barrage of spirit-nukes and a series of solar-ray killsats then easily covering the whole mess up. Despite this, there is absolutely no mention of them doing ''anything'' in the scenario, even as the world they're established as almost entirely controlling is carved up between uber-powerful vampires whose kind they've killed once before.)

Only two End Times stories have a passable niche in other settings, the first being "Fair is Foul" where Lilith tries to kill Caine without even breaking the Masquerade or influencing other mortals, with one city of Storyteller's choosing has Kaballah runes etched under it to shift some alleys, but that's it. Second is Wormwood where the Red Star is actually the Harbinger of a second, harmless-to-nonvampires Flood to wipe out vampires only, because humanity showed resolve and used its divine spirit to stop Ravnos, impressing God to get off his ass and do something. 40 days later, the world is clear of all vampires, with the other settings untouched.

To put it short, crossovers were all but impossible unless you utterly butchered the fluff of one line or another.

Chronicles of Darkness, meanwhile take place in "Earth, but with deeper shadows". So the world is basically like it is when you look out your window or look at the news, just a little creepier and more mysterious. Humanity is special, both on a crunch level (mortals are a lot beefier than in WoD) and on a metaphysical level; [[Hunter: The Vigil]] is often held up as literally [[Humanity Fuck Yeah]] the RPG, where you can face down and, if you're doing it right, curbstomp any and every monster out there. Alright, except maybe mages if you don't one-shot them, but that's just because it's a little hard to take on some asshole who can dick around with the laws of reality. Lore is more vague and nebulous, but also drastically more crossover friendly and provides more wiggle room for Storytellers to get creative without having to worry about canon. There is no immediate end of the world around the corner so much as a vague sense of dread, the supernaturals of different game lines typically have at least a uncertain idea of the existence of other supernatural beings and ''usually'' don't meddle too much in each other's affairs unless it furthers their own ends since no player side is a monstrous killer, the Paths of Edgelightenment were consigned to dustbins, and so on. 

Really the biggest issue with the setting is essentially watering down the vampires and losing that sense of conflicting ideas, that for example Gilgamesh COULD have been either one of those three individuals because each race interprets the world different. Odds are he was just some regular guy, but since vampires, mages and werewolves are the centre of attention in each respected circle they believe themselves connected to iconic figures and legends. Just because you're a horrible monster doesn't mean you can't believe the world is flat or aliens built the pyramids, and in doing so it ironically give the setting a lot more humanity then you normally see. Take this and the old vampire lore and you get the best of both worlds.