新黑暗世界是白狼游戏公司2004年发布的全新的黑暗世界系统设定书。其核心为2004年8月推出的《World of Darkness Rulebook》，其中提供了基本世界观和扮演人类角色的指南。现在已推出的基于新黑暗世界的扩展设定集包括en:Vampire: the Requiem、en:Werewolf: the Forsaken和en:Mage: the Awakening。白狼公司还将继续推出基于此系统的扩展设定集。

老黑暗世界是从白狼游戏公司1991年用 en:Vampire: the Masquerade (吸血鬼)的游戏开始的黑暗世界。 黑暗世界还有游戏系列 en:Werewolf: the Apocalyse（狼人）, en:Mage: the Ascension（魔法师）, en:Changeling: the Dreaming（精灵）, en:Hunter: the Reckoning （猎人）, en:Demon: the Fallen（天使/魔鬼）。

World of Darkness is the name given to three related but distinct fictional universes created as settings for supernatural horror themed role-playing games. It is also the name of role-playing games in the second and third settings. The first was conceived by Mark Rein-Hagen, while the second was designed by several people at White Wolf Gaming Studio, which Rein-Hagen helped to found. The first two World of Darkness settings have been used for several horror–themed role-playing games that make use of White Wolf's storyteller/storytelling system, as well as Mind's Eye Theatre, a live action roleplaying game based on the core games. The third, Monte Cook's World of Darkness, created by Monte Cook based on the first two World of Darkness settings, includes only a single product.