Old World of Darkness/YMMV

• Canon Sue: Strong presence of Canon Sues is responsible for many of the negative reactions to the old WOD's metaplot. The most hated example was probably Samuel Haight. Many people vilified him for turning from an almost normal human to, in effect, a ghoul-werewolf-true mage combination, breaking quite a few of the rules that forbid such hijinks to player characters in the process. Then the authors made him an untouchable, unstoppable villain in adventures where he appears, going as far as specifically reminding gamemasters to save his bacon from the fire at all costs if players manage to corner him somehow. No wonder that almost everyone hated Sam Haight. When authors finally figured this out, they killed him by an overpowered vampire, turned him into a normal run-of-the-mill wraith after death and got him soulforged into an ashtray instead of giving players an opportunity to get the bastard.
  • The "Rules for Fighting Caine" solely consist of "You Lose."
    • Caine is supposed to be so powerful, the game system literally cannot model him.
    • Also, there's the literal part of the Curse of Caine - the whole sevenfold vengeance thing causes any victory to become an instant 700% backlash against the victor.
• Continuity Lock Out: As time went on, the backstory became increasingly thick and convoluted. The Metaplot did not help matters. The New World of Darkness was created because this issue began negatively affecting sales.
• Continuity Snarl: There were quite a few retcons and quite a few mistakes. It's difficult to tell which is which.
• Fan Wank: Several actually got noticed by the authors and mentioned derisively in the canon, among them a male offshoot of a female only Vampire bloodline, and a "pact" or "understanding" between Gangrel and werewolves, undermining the usual state of affairs.
• High Octane Nightmare Fuel: Goes without saying. In fact, it was used so much that all the formerly scary guys became boring and mundane, turning it into Nightmare Retardant.
  • Specific examples in the Old WOD: the Baali and the Sabbat in Vampire, the Black Spiral Dancers and the Wyrm in Werewolf, the Nephandi and Marauders in Mage, the Spectres and Oblivion in Wraith, the Shadow Court in Changeling, the Akuma and Yama Kings in Kindred Of The East... It's pretty much easier mentioning which factions are NOT High Octane Nightmare Fuel.
    • More specific examples from oWoD: the Nosferatu, the Nicktuku (High Octane Nightmare Fuel even to the Nosferatu), Followers of Set, the Giovanni, the Tzimisce and (to some extent) the Malkavians in Vampire, the Bane Mummies in Werewolf and the Earthbound (and pretty much any high-Torment fallen) in Demon.
• Unfortunate Implications: The oWoD has truckloads. World of Darkness: Gypsies portrayed the Roma peoples as having magical powers tied to how "pure" their blood was.
• Villain Sue: the Old WOD was often heavily criticised for having incredibly overpowered antagonists and side characters, who had the potential to make the players irrelevant. Samuel Haight was the worst: the books actually told Storytellers to make sure that the PCs don't have a chance to defeat him.