Brennan Lee Mulligan leads Vampire The Masquerade for Dropout

Dimension 20 is trading its trademark comedy for the visceral dread of the World of Darkness, marking a definitive shift in the platform’s narrative strategy. The upcoming series, City Council of Darkness, will see Brennan Lee Mulligan lead the Intrepid Heroes through the “Gothic-Punk” landscape of Vampire: The Masquerade, a move that coincides with Paradox Interactive’s latest attempt to centralise its horror empire.

The announcement, highlighted in the Paradox “Vamily” update, follows a tumultuous period of restructuring for the publisher. As White Wolf rises again, the company has moved to bring creative development for its roleplaying games entirely in-house. This strategy aims to resolve years of inconsistent branding and fragmented lore that resulted from external licensing deals, positioning City Council of Darkness as a flagship example of this new, unified creative direction.

Central to this reboot is a significant reshuffling of industry veterans. While the brand recently saw the high-profile hire of a former D&D VP to serve as Creative Director, the internal roster remains fluid. Jason Carl, a long-standing architect of the current edition, departed his official role at Paradox to lead Dungeon Master University, yet he continues to be the face of the brand’s most prestigious events.

The investigative thread of this “Vamily” update reveals a publisher leaning heavily into “Prestige Horror.” Paradox is not just selling PDFs; they are selling exclusivity. The newsletter heavily promotes the Darkness Emergent event in Los Angeles this May, a LARP experience at the Biltmore Hotel. This event follows the precedent set by the exclusive $8,000 Vampire experience led by Jason Carl and Mark Meer, suggesting that the “New” White Wolf is targeting a luxury tier of fandom to bankroll its digital expansion.

The choice of Dimension 20 as a partner is a calculated move to modernise the World of Darkness image. By utilising the “Intrepid Heroes” cast, including Lou Wilson and Emily Axford, Paradox is attempting to prove that the themes of Vampire: The Masquerade can resonate with the inclusive, narrative-driven audience of modern streaming. However, some might fear that this may be a first and final roll of the dice for the brand’s current iteration.

2026 is already shaping up to be a big year for White Wolf, and we’re just getting started. The Masquerade holds; but we can tell you this much… Dimension 20 is joining the World of Darkness.”

As Paradox attacks the market with three new PDF supplements, Chronicle of the Black Labyrinth, The Coming Destruction, and Legacy of Defiance, it is clear the publisher is clearing its backlog. The future of the line now rests on whether the comedic giants of Dropout can successfully transition into the bleak, political bureaucracy of a Kindred city council without losing the “Personal Horror” that defines the genre.