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Chronicles of Darkness $19.99
Average Rating:4.7 / 5
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Chronicles of Darkness
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Chronicles of Darkness
Publisher: Onyx Path Publishing
by David H. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 07/30/2023 21:19:30

Very well put together, solid binding, and arrived in greatcondition



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
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Chronicles of Darkness
Publisher: Onyx Path Publishing
by A customer [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 06/21/2022 12:25:35

The Chronicles of Darkness Second Edition scratches a particular itch for me, better than any other game trying to do the same thing.

Specifically, it strikes a balance between rules that model the world and rules abstractions that make for easy play. It's a game where your characters investigate horrors and the dark secrets of their world and put themselves in mortal, social, and mental peril.

Conditions — especially supplemented by Condition Cards — are easy to use and reinforce the core gameplay loop by providing suggestions on how to make your characters behave and rewards them for contributing dramatic tension.

The front half of the book is tightly designed with no wasted space. This can make it feel anemic, but everything you need to play the game is there. This also makes it a great supplement for other games in the Chronicles of Darkness system by adding subsystems that aren't found in those books, such as Equipment Building, Investigations, and Chases.

The second half of the book is the God-Machine Chronicle, a collection of adventure hooks tied to the eponymous God-Machine, and provides a selection of ready-made antagonists and NPCs along with a framework to build custom chronicles.

The writing is evocative and spooky. "The Hangry Wolf" chapter fiction makes my skin crawl in the best way.

I heartily recommend this book to anybody looking for a rules-medium game of dramatic horror and/or anybody who's already got one of the other Chronicles of Darkness books and wants some more toys to play with.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
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Chronicles of Darkness
Publisher: Onyx Path Publishing
by Maximilian S. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 11/10/2021 14:09:18

For some of my players, it wasn't thier cup of tea. I liked the fact, that when you read it, you feel like it's WoD, and then on the next page it totally doesn't. The God-Machine is a nice idea, and you can have a lot of fun with it, you can even build whole different settings like werewolf or vampire around it. Like in WoD, you also can just play the average guy who unfolds a breathtaking mystery. For me and my group, it's still the WoD not the CoD setting, but it is a very well 2nd edition if you want it to call like that.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
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Chronicles of Darkness
Publisher: Onyx Path Publishing
by Edward C. O. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 08/15/2020 12:48:09

having the Hardcover for a year now, and recently gotten the PDF file, I will be reviewing the physical copy, which can be carried over to the PDF.

the hardcover is really great quality, I love the colors to fit the theme of the dark and bleak world of world of darkness (CofD). it gives your rules to make ordinary humans living in the World of Darkness setting and see if they will survive it and not go insane in the process.

my players love the system, and for me as a storyteller, the d10 system makes it much easier to limit dies and it is not super number crunch like DnD/Pathfinder which is where I came from.

I love the art and extra materials in the book, if you get the Chronicles of Darkness book, it comes with a section that has the God-Machine Chronicle setting and rules to play in that setting. it is optional but it is nice to have the option to play that setting. character creation is seamless! I guided my players through the creation process, and while they were confused about certain things, when I guided the creation, it was a ooooh! moment, where it all came together and the longest it took with one player is roughly 1.5 hour, the shortest was 30 minutes. as a storyteller, I really appreciate this, as it does not take forever like DnD/Pathfinder (especially pathfinder! takes about 2 hours to make a character).

my complaint, which is a common problem which most of the Onyx Path/White Wolf books, finding the information I need or formatting of the book to find the information you need. this may not be a problem for the PDF as you can Cntl+F what you're looking for, but I bought the book so I can have it as a quick access rather than pull it up on my phone, tablet, or laptop. this is more of a table practice, but the less distractions on the table, the more immersive the players will be. again, this is just one complaint, one that can be fixed with the PDF.

overall game play is really fun! while Chronicles of Darkness is the "core rulebook" as of this writing, most of the major books, Vampire, Werewolf, and Mage are in their 2nd edition which you do not need CofD base to run those games, but they carry over well with each other. the awesome thing about the CofD/NWoD setting is all of the NWoD books connect well, so in theory you could have a sandbox city where Vampires, Werewolves, Mages, live in the city and have a cell of Hunters as well.

I highly recommend this book as a great starter game, see if you want to explore the CofD setting and rules, if you and your group enjoys the setting, then you can introduce Vampire the Requiem, Werewolf the Forsaken, and Mage the Awakening.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
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Chronicles of Darkness
Publisher: Onyx Path Publishing
by MICHAEL K. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 06/29/2020 10:15:59

I've been playing WoD games since early 2000s, been a Storyteller myself since 2004. I love all White Wolf games; that's why I was sad back when I found out about the "new" company taking over my beloved series. Little did I know that the change was for the better. Chronicle of Darkness is the spiritual successor to one of the better Role playing games out there, the infamouns new World of Darkness. nWoD had its faults, had its issues but it showed potential.

This is where Onyx Path Publishing steps in. Chronicles of Darkness was born, a revision of the nWoD that made it almost perfect.

Truth be told, for quite a while I preffered sticking to old games, like Apocalypse, instead of the firt itteration of Forshaken, but Onyx turned the tide. Chronicles of Darkness introduced so many excellent changes, like the best new addition in Role Playing games since we first used dice: its Majesty, the Beats! Whoever though of that needs a raise!

All in all, CoD is an excellent book, can be used with any SPLAT you want other than the "official" ones. Best basis for a RPG since for ever!

As for DriveThruRPR, you guys rock! My book was just delivered, mint condition, still smelling fresh!

Love you guys, love this series! I'll be getting the Awakening 2nd ed, Forshaken 2nd ed and Requiem 2nd ed in the not so distant future!

We'll talk again! :) Mike



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
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Chronicles of Darkness
Publisher: Onyx Path Publishing
by Erlan P. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 12/27/2019 07:42:36

The perfet system for personal horror/mystery/creepy shit in general storytelling. Is easy to understand but at the same time give you a lot of options to create horror beings and difficult situations. Is more about making your own horrfying story than give you a bunch of stats for pre-made creatures. Also, many aspect have very well defined mechanics, which makes players feel they are in control of a realistic character, raising the tension of each roll. One of my favorite systems ever (being playing TRPG for 20+ years).



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
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Chronicles of Darkness
Publisher: Onyx Path Publishing
by Joshua W. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 04/19/2019 16:09:20

Excellent book for an excellent game system. This is the second edition of "New" World of Darkness, now called Chronicles of Darkness (it also has the God-Machine aspect of the game added in). You don't need this book to play the supernatural lines, but it nevertheless is a handy reference to any of the Chronicles of Darkness splats (e.g., Werewolf: the Forsaken, Geist: the Sin-Eaters, etc.). However, it's also a wonderful gem for running a "mortals" story within the world. Half the fun of this book is having the ability to play as a bunch of normal(ish) people who happen to stumble upon some dark, supernatural, creepy things.

This rulebook includes mechanics for a number of competitive aspects/encounters you may find in a game. Combat is an obvious inclusion, but this system also has mechanics for social competitions, investigations, and more. The system is also what they descibe as a toolbox, meaning if you would rather just play something by ear, you can do just that. You can remove or add in elements as you desire. For example, don't want the social maneuvering rules? You don't have to use them. (That said, I think they make a fine addition to the game.)

Ultimately, if you enjoy World of Darkness/Chronicles of Darkness, I recommend giving this book a try.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
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Chronicles of Darkness
Publisher: Onyx Path Publishing
by Samuel W. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 04/13/2019 17:39:24

Filled with stuff that would inflate wordcount in every 2e WoD game, the blue book serves as a good book to give to those scum called players so they don't peek when you're not looking..



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
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Chronicles of Darkness
Publisher: Onyx Path Publishing
by Nakorn S. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 01/10/2019 18:41:22

Pros: Great product. Ran mortal games many times with my local Thai groups and everyone enjoyed it. As a WoD fan, I really love this book as the system is much clearer than the previous one. Cons: I wish they kept the "World of Darkness" book name and make the font color darker like the previous one though. This new one looks too bright. The fluff and art mood/tone are not as spooky as the previous book.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
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Chronicles of Darkness
Publisher: Onyx Path Publishing
by George B. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 12/31/2018 01:36:38

Addon to Geist 2nd Edition Kickstart Already known CoD for quite time. PDF is exceptional for storytellers although the rework on the system is not for my taste but in general speaking the book is great. It supplies either the player or the ST with many concepts of WoD themes and supports either new player's inexperience or new ST. However for experienced player's or STs i would suggest it only as reference book to modificate according to their scenarios.

I do not have a printed version of this.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
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Chronicles of Darkness
Publisher: Onyx Path Publishing
by Dean H. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 12/18/2018 16:05:06

I love Chronicles of Darkness Second Edition. In just about every way it is superior to the First Edition (which a lot of fans deemed "New World of Darkness" until rebranding) with one exception.

I don't know how to feel about the condition mechanics. I think most people really like them, but I find them a bit cumbersom (from a thought process, not mechanically) and a bit forced. I will explain what I mean.

Condtions are basically changes to your character either physically or mentally (and usually temporary) and they affect the game for your character in a mechanical way. A lot of time it is in the form of bonuses or negatives to certain rolls. Resolving these conditions can sometimes result in getting a beat (part of an experience dot), which incentivises the player to take conditions regularily.

On the surface this seems like a really neat mechanic and a good way to get players to allow for complications to befall their characters willingly which can lead to interesting story and roleplaying...However, I find that often there is a lot of mental overhead to come up with conditions for players that are appropriate and also mechanically balanced on the fly. The book has a small list of generic example ones, but I find they do not cover a lot of situations well which then puts emphasis on the players and storyteller to come up with their own condtions while tying to make them mechanically balanced.

The second issue I have with conditions is I feel like it makes players feel a bit pigeon-holed on how they play their characters from moment to moment. Say they get a paranoid condition, now does that condtion contradict the temperment that their character typically has? Now they have to choose to either play that character in a contradictory manner to their personality or not do so and risk losing the experience for resolving the condition. Neither option is ideal. I think the mechanic seems pretty neat on the surface, but when put into practice, I think it is counter-intuitive to what it was trying to solve (get players to roleplay more).

Other than this gripe. Chronicles is a really cool system and setting. I especially like the fact that the God Machine was added as an antagonist to the core book so that mortals actually have a default theme.

Social mechanics are much improved as well as I think a lot of mechincs are simplified in the right way.

If there was a half-star option, I would give it a 4.5 out of 5, but I don't think the system is flawed enough to warrant a 4. This is well worth the purchase if you are a fan of horror (especially personal horror) and are looking for something with a little more crunch, but not so much that it gets in the way of the mood and story.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
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Chronicles of Darkness
Publisher: Onyx Path Publishing
by A customer [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 11/21/2017 17:13:26

Beats, new rules for social combat, new rules for monster creation, and broadening of Vices are all great new additions to the second addition. I got the PDF on a whim, but these new rules convinced me to invest in a paper copy as well. The clues system takes weight off of the GM, but personally I'm not fond of it because my players enjoy figuring out puzzles for themselves rather than having their characters do it via die rolls.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
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Chronicles of Darkness
Publisher: Onyx Path Publishing
by Evan P. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 11/26/2016 16:50:56

Very fun, streamlined system. Includes God Machine optional rules and lore.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
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Chronicles of Darkness
Publisher: Onyx Path Publishing
by Chris L. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 08/25/2016 20:53:22

A much-needed update to the previous iteration of the World of Darkness. This review is targeted at people with some knowledge of nWoD 1E.

Highlights: -Much better experience system that rewards participation and roleplay, while also simplifying trait purchase costs. -Social Maneuvering system that, while not perfect, provides a mechanical framework to schmoozing. GMing this aspect for social characters always felt a little like pulling stuff out of your ass before, but no longer! -New combat mechanics make firearms much better, which makes sense, while simultaneously widening the gap between humans and the supernatural templates. -The chapter on "Horrors" provides a great framework for creating antagonists that don't fit into one of the other supernatural settings. This is completely underappreciated, IMO, because it's a perfectly streamlined system that could be integrated into any Chronicles game, human PCs or otherwise.

Biggest complaint: The Clue systems make for lazy roleplay and GMing. It's always better to let the players decide what's a relevant clue, and then to direct their investigation as they see fit. "You look in the cabinet and find X," is less compelling than describing the cabinets, letting the players decide to look in them (or in the other room that you didn't expect them to investigate!) and then describing what they found "through their own intuition." I dunno, there's probably a way to use the Clue system without ruining scenes, but I can't figure it out. And that makes it a bad, or at least poorly communicated, system.

Net opinion: The new experience system alone would make the new ruleset worth using. Adding in Social Maneuvering and the Horrors chapter are just delicious icing on the cake.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
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Chronicles of Darkness
Publisher: Onyx Path Publishing
by James A. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 02/20/2016 03:51:18

I consider this to be the culmination of the Storytelling system, a perfect fusion of mechanics and roleplaying.

Each Attibute category has an associated subsystem: Violence and Chase for Physical, Investigation for Mental, and Social Maneuvering for Social. Each subsystem is unique, simple mechanics that lend incredible depth to your game. Might I add, Social Chases are a stroke of genius. Not only that, but these subsystems allow players - at Storyteller discretion, of course - to contribute to the world and narrative in meaningful ways, emphasizing a collaborative angle to Storytelling.

The advancement system actively encourages rewards you for developing your character, adding to the story, and making things dramatic. Beats get everyone involved; it's incredible how someone who isn't confident or invested in roleplaying totally shifts gears once they realize that they have an entire rules structure behind them.

Chronicles of Darkness is incredibly malleable (and will be even more so once Hurt Locker drops). Need to change over to a totally different setting? Slap some flavor on there, jot down a few Conditions, invent some new Merits as you need them, and BAM. Converting older World of Darkness settings to Chronicles of Darkness has been an absolute breeze. And if something doesn't work, discuss it with the players, and give them a Beat to parley. Silky smooth.

I could go on, but I wouldn't know where to begin. The way the system focuses in on the meat of tabletop roleplaying and streamlines all the fiddly bits is something I feel no other system has done thus far. I recommend reading the book all the way through, giving it time to digest, analyzing the intent of the rules, and corroborating your findings with others. For such a small package, Chronicles of Darkness has a lot to appreciate, and every new insight you glean opens up a world of opportunities.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
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