Le Monde des Ténèbres: France (French for "The énèWorld of Darkness: France") is a tabletop role-playing game supplement published in French by Ludis International in January 1997, for use with the games in White Wolf Publishing's World of Darkness series. It interprets France for the series' gothic-punk setting, and presents information on the region related to vampires, werewolves, mages, wraiths, and changelings, along with story hooks and pre-made characters, and introduces two new types of fae to the series. Ludis International planned to follow it with a book about Paris in June 1997, but this never materialized, and the publisher closed down a year later.
The book was designed by Fabrice Colin, and was one of the first World of Darkness books to not be developed by White Wolf Publishing; it was made due to the series' popularity in France. The production was lengthy due to the large amount of content, and saw delays causing it to miss the 1996 holiday season. The supplement was well received by critics for its usefulness to French players and the originality of its mage, wraith, and changeling chapters. It also performed well commercially, topping the French tabletop role-playing game sales charts for the two-month period following its release.
Content
Le Monde des Ténèbres: France is a sourcebook for use with the tabletop role-playing games in the World of Darkness series, including Vampire: The Masquerade, Werewolf: The Apocalypse, Mage: The Ascension, Wraith: The Oblivion, and Changeling: The Dreaming, using the Storyteller System. It interprets France for the series' setting – a gothic-punk interpretation of the real world – covering the local supernatural beings of each of the five games, with one chapter devoted to each: The vampire chapter describes French vampiric society, its history, how it is divided into fiefdoms ruled by marquesses that in turn serve under the French vampire prince François Villon, and how that monarchical system is opposed by the Praxist vampire faction. The werewolf chapter describes werewolves' history, relevant geography, and werewolf tribes. It also contains a 28-page diary by the wandering American werewolf Cameron, interspersed with information about the setting. The mage chapter describes historical landmarks and French mage traditions, and the Technocracy's influence over the region. The wraith chapter describes wraiths' history and the world of undead spirits in France, and presents various locations. It is presented as a compilation of notes, interviews, and book excerpts. The changeling chapter describes changelings' history and the setting, and introduces two new types of fae to the series: the Morganed and the Korred.
The book also includes story hooks that can be incorporated into campaigns, and a set of pre-made characters intended for the storyteller to use; these include statistics of varying degree of detail, with the least available for the vampire characters.
Production
Le Monde des Ténèbres: France was designed by Fabrice Colin, who wrote it together with Stéphane Adamiac, Stéphane Bura, David Calvo, Gérard Gayraud, Olivier Legrand, David Osmont, and G.E. Ranne. The art team for the project included the art director Benoît Schiex, interior artists Joël Belin, Caryad, B. Daubmann, Thierry Gayrard, Nathalie Hertz, François Launet, and C. Poireau, and the cover artist John Bolton. Bolton painted the art piece used for the cover, titled Succuba, in 1996, depicting a nude vampire woman; he also painted a variant where she wears a negligée. Succuba was later reprinted as part of the art book series Art Fantastix in 2001.
The supplement was created due to the World of Darkness series' popularity in France, and was one of the first World of Darkness books to not be developed by White Wolf Publishing; the earlier Vampire: The Masquerade book Blood Nativity (1991) had been published by Atlas Games, but was still developed by White Wolf Publishing staff, and even after Le Monde des Ténèbres: France it remained uncommon for White Wolf Publishing to let other companies develop World of Darkness books. Due to the book's large amount of content, the production was lengthy, and it suffered delays, missing the targeted 1996 holiday season.