Radio Noir Wiki

 Welcome to the ! Radio Noir is a historical setting for the World of Darkness pen-and-paper roleplaying game and combines several of the main World of Darkness game lines. The major core-books used are Mage: the Ascension 20th Anniversary Edition and Vampire: The Masquerade Second Edition.

Most of the locations, characters, and plot-lines in Radio Noir are set in the interwar years of the 20th century, and stylistic elements of that period play a big role in the conceptualization and visualization of the Radio Noir setting.

The material presented in this Wiki is drawn from years of notes but is also presented as part of a currently running game. Some information is therefore held back to preserve the mystery and sense of discovery for the current players. As these elements are brought into light, more information can be revealed. Otherwise, articles are published as whim or inspiration demands.

The Setting
This is the world of yesteryear. It is the world of speed records and tramp steamers, it is the end of the explorers. It is a world of unprecedented change, where radio, telephones, automobiles, and airplanes have gone from science fiction to reality in a generation. Those who can afford it can travel across the continents in lavish train-cars or cross the oceans in a luxurious flying boat.

It is also a world of darkness. The West is still reeling from the Great Depression and by all signs, the War to end all Wars may not have lived up to its name. In Europe, the Third Reich is rebuilding the German Army and Fascism is spreading throughout the continent. The Spanish Civil War has given the world a taste of what's to come. In Asia, the Empire of the Rising Sun has demonstrated the brutality humanity is capable of. This too a taste of what's to come.

The Mages of this world have long existed on the fringes of mortal society, but now they are getting swept up by the gathering storm. Ever since the Reformation, the Ascension War has largely been fought in the shadows. Cabals have warred for local resources, and orders have tried to nudge humanity towards their vision of the future. In the years ahead, lines will be drawn down the middle of both the Council of Nine and the Technocratic Union, and the stakes will be higher than ever.

Dark forces are gathering and the world of Radio Noir is bracing for the perfect storm.

Precept
The rule in the World of Darkness has always been that the great atrocities of human history was committed by humans and that no supernatural was behind it. This holds true in Radio Noir as well, at least from a big picture point of view. Mages or Vampires do not control Adolf Hitler, nor are they behind the programs of industrial genocide that are to come. As much as the supernatural creatures wish to see themselves as masters of this world, they too merely live in it.

Mage: The Ascension is at its very core a game about controlling consensus. Mages live and die based on the Paradigm and it therefore follows that when the consensus shifts, they are not immune. The global trend of ultra-national militarism is such a shift. For many Mages, it can be seen as an immense tsunami thundering towards land. The more pragmatic among them may decide that riding the wave is the best way not to be crushed under its weight, while the idealistic ones will make a stand and attempt to save the world from drowning. Some however, will see a chance to tear down the old and build a new world in its place.

In the Radio Noir setting, gruesome acts are indeed committed by Mages, Werewolves, and other night-folk. Some do it because they serve a greater evil, others because they truly believe the racist ideologies of the day, yet others simply because they can. But there are also those who stand against these forces of darkness. The heroes of the Radio Noir stories are those among the night-folk who tries to break the wave that threatens to drown the world.

Important articles

 * French Polynesia
 * Traditions
 * Technocratic Union
 * Villains

Inspiration

 * Adventure Fiction
 * Adventure Fiction Tropes
 * Adventurer Archaeologist
 * Dieselpunk
 * Raygun Gothic
 * Film Noir
 * The Great Depression
 * Prelude to War

Licensing
All contents of this Wiki are made available under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial International 4.0 License. In cases where elements have been borrowed from other IPs, efforts have been made to attribute said content to its original owner(s) and no claims to ownership is made by its publishing on this Wiki.