Chronicles of Darkness — Ordinary people against the supernatural in a d10-pool modern horror game

"You looked behind the curtain. Now something is looking back."

2nd Edition

Diced10 pool

Players3–6

Prep~60 min

Foundry VTTCommunity

Complexity

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What is this system

Chronicles of Darkness is the second-edition core rulebook of Onyx Path's "new World of Darkness" — a separate game line from classic Vampire: The Masquerade, with its own setting and its own Storytelling System. You play ordinary mortals who stumble onto something that should not exist. Pools of d10s resolve investigation, social manoeuvring and brutal violence, while Conditions, Beats and Integrity turn fear and failure into story fuel. The book also includes The God-Machine Chronicle, a full techgnostic campaign framework.

Setting

Our own world, seen through a dark mirror: the same cities, the same headlines, but with something rotten under the floorboards. Ghosts, cryptids, urban legends and worse are real, and nobody is coming to explain them. Unlike the classic World of Darkness there is no grand metaplot or looming apocalypse — horror is local, personal and unexplained. Behind some of it turns the God-Machine, a vast, unknowable mechanism whose angels and hidden Infrastructure rearrange reality for purposes no human can read.

What it looks like at the table

The basement door was welded shut for a reason. Behind it, gears the size of cars turn silently inside what should be a boiler room, and your missing brother is wired into them, smiling. The Storyteller calls it a breaking point. You roll Resolve + Composure — four dice, minus one for what you've seen: 2, 5, 7. No 8s. Your Integrity drops to 6, you take the Shaken Condition, and you mark a Beat as your hands begin to tremble.

Playstyle

Horror Mystery Narrative Modern Urban Fantasy

Key mechanics

Attribute + Skill dice pools

Add an Attribute and a Skill, roll that many d10s. Every 8 or higher is a success, 10s are rolled again, and five or more successes make an exceptional success.

Conditions and Tilts

Conditions such as Guilty, Shaken or Inspired record how the story has marked a character and pay out a Beat when resolved. Tilts are their short-lived combat cousins, like Knocked Down or Blinded.

Beats and Experiences

Beats are earned for fulfilling Aspirations, resolving Conditions and turning a failed roll into a dramatic failure. Five Beats become one Experience, so trouble and bad luck directly drive character growth.

Integrity and the God-Machine

Integrity measures a mortal's psychological stability. Violence, trauma and brushes with the supernatural trigger breaking points that can erode it. The included God-Machine Chronicle supplies angels, Infrastructure and twenty story seeds.

What people say

There are a number of great horror roleplaying games, and the Chronicles of Darkness is among them.— Simon Kaye, The Tabletop Almanac

Art & materials