✦ World of Darkness
The World of Darkness is a shared gothic-horror setting that presents a darker, more supernatural reflection of our own world, where monsters, ancient conspiracies, and hidden societies exist just beyond ordinary human awareness. Cities are more dangerous, corruption runs deeper, and supernatural beings such as vampires, werewolves, ghosts, mages, and other creatures secretly influence the world while struggling with threats of their own. In Vampire: The Masquerade, this hidden world is experienced primarily through the Kindred, whose secret society exists alongside humanity and is governed by ancient traditions, rival clans, political factions, and the Masquerade that prevents mortals from discovering vampires exist. Rather than portraying a world of traditional heroes and villains, the World of Darkness emphasizes personal horror, moral ambiguity, secrecy, political intrigue, and characters struggling to survive without losing themselves to the darkness around and within them.