World of Darkness is also coming to TV!

It's not just Dungeons & Dragons, or this week's announced Scion TV show, that are getting the live-action treatment. The World of Darkness is getting a TV and movie franchise too!

According to Deadline, Paradox Interactive (owner of the World of Darkness) and The Witcher and The Expanse studio Hivemind.

Writer-producer Christine Boylan said "“The World of Darkness story universe is deliberately and unapologetically inclusive and diverse. It has always made a point of including equal gendered characters, protagonists and antagonists of every race, and representation of all creeds – bringing a female and diverse audience to gaming like nothing prior. Its games and fandom are a place where women, POC, and the LGBTQI community feel welcome and we are very proud to bring these stories to life.”

The developer, Eric Heisserer is the showrunner for Netflix's current Shadow and Bone series.

It's not WoD's first appearance on TV. Back in 1996, a short-lived 8-episode series called Kindred: The Embraced was broadcast.

 

[dave2008]

Ancient blood feud between the two nations of vampires and werewolves, each of whom uses a silly name for their own people and have complex hierarchies with high ranking jerk leaders in charge.

All of the mega-violence between them somehow never gets seen by the general public, either because one side, usually the vampires, controls the media (and, um, I guess cell phones; it sort of falls apart nowadays) and police, or because people are just too scared to believe what they saw is real.

Also, everyone is super into black latex bodywear.

OK,that doesn't sound much like Underworld to me, but to each their own I guess.

 

[TrippyHippy]

OK,that doesn't sound much like Underworld to me, but to each their own I guess.

???!

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

OK,that doesn't sound much like Underworld to me, but to each their own I guess.

Are we thinking about the same series? Because I coincidentally covered almost the exact same ground as the Wikipedia entry on Underworld.

 

[Fenris-77]

I'm going to set the over-under at 35% on Rotten Tomatoes. Anyone taking the over there?

 

[Stacie GmrGrl]

Just please let it be good. Let it be good. Let it be good let it be good let it be good let it be good let it be good.

 

[dave2008]

Are we thinking about the same series? Because I coincidentally covered almost the exact same ground as the Wikipedia entry on Underworld.

Yes, same series. If I get some free time today I will come back and discuss my issues with your description.

 

[Azuresun]

Ancient blood feud between the two nations of vampires and werewolves, each of whom uses a silly name for their own people and have complex hierarchies with high ranking jerk leaders in charge.

All of the mega-violence between them somehow never gets seen by the general public, either because one side, usually the vampires, controls the media (and, um, I guess cell phones; it sort of falls apart nowadays) and police, or because people are just too scared to believe what they saw is real.

Also, everyone is super into black latex bodywear.

That doesn't really describe Vampire.....okay, okay, it probably describes how more than a few actual games of Vampire were played. But the WoD didn't really have a systematic vendetta of one group against the other, just a lot of isolated turf wars.

The original focus of Vampire, (at least, before players go full katana and trenchcoat on the setting) is more on vampires trying to stay alive and get ahead in the shifting web of Kindred politics, trying to preserve their own humanity in the face of their inner Beast and it's ever-encroaching hunger, and preserving the Masquerade that keeps knowledge of vampires from the mortal world*. Add in the odd tussle with the crazy blood-cult vampires of the Sabbat, and digging into the mythology of vampires to slowly realise you're screwed on a literally Biblical scale.

* Which would probably be easier today--yes, cameras are on phones, but if you uploaded your "REAL VAMPIRE ATTACK" video to Youtube, half the comments would probably be how it's obviously photoshopped, and the other half would be asking what movie it's viral marketing for.

 

[grimslade]

A lot of Werewolf the Apocalypse chronicles would have a pack raging against vampires and other agents of the wyrm. The Boston by Night setting had the principal cities of Massachusetts ruled by Malkavian princes with Garou owning the intervening wilderness. It was bad to be a leech outside city limits. Also, there were the covens of witches... Boston by Night might be a decent setting for a TV show, but I anticipate they will use Chicago or San Fran.

 

[MGibster]

That doesn't really describe Vampire.....okay, okay, it probably describes how more than a few actual games of Vampire were played. But the WoD didn't really have a systematic vendetta of one group against the other, just a lot of isolated turf wars.

I kind of gotta go with Whizbang Dustyboots on this one. "Ancient blood feud between the two nations of vampires and werewolves, each of whom uses a silly name for their own people and have complex hierarchies with high ranking jerk leaders in charge" isn't a bad description of the original World of Darkness. Both the werewolves and vampires had complex hierarchies with silly names and jerks in charge. And of course the vampires control most mortal institutions and are able to keep violent acts which would expose them to the world under wraps. Again, just like World of Darkness. When I saw Underworld I couldn't help but notice the similarities.

 

[Azuresun]

A lot of Werewolf the Apocalypse chronicles would have a pack raging against vampires and other agents of the wyrm. The Boston by Night setting had the principal cities of Massachusetts ruled by Malkavian princes with Garou owning the intervening wilderness. It was bad to be a leech outside city limits. Also, there were the covens of witches... Boston by Night might be a decent setting for a TV show, but I anticipate they will use Chicago or San Fran.

I kind of gotta go with Whizbang Dustyboots on this one. "Ancient blood feud between the two nations of vampires and werewolves, each of whom uses a silly name for their own people and have complex hierarchies with high ranking jerk leaders in charge" isn't a bad description of the original World of Darkness. Both the werewolves and vampires had complex hierarchies with silly names and jerks in charge. And of course the vampires control most mortal institutions and are able to keep violent acts which would expose them to the world under wraps. Again, just like World of Darkness. When I saw Underworld I couldn't help but notice the similarities.

I was disagreeing with the notion that there was some systematic and universal war between werewolves and vampires like in Underworld. Yes, they were usually hostile when they met, but there was no big top-down war. In the WoD, each splat kept to itself to a sometimes-implausible degree (apart from Hunters), to avoid mandatory crossovers and also to distract from the game mechanics and metaphysics being incompatible (the vampire risks losing Humanity if he kills someone, while the werewolf can turn a room into an abbatoir slop bucket with no such worries).

They did do some big crisis crossovers, which were....usually not that good (Blood Treachery, Week of Nightmares, friggin' Sam Haight).