_Nico198X_

The world is cracked. We seeped through. Now we’re here.

In Curseborne, our world is connected to disturbing realms via liminal spaces.

Can you taste that emotion in the air? Someone close by is hiding. And they’re scared.

In Curseborne, you are damned. Your damnation grants unnatural gifts and terrifying impulses.

I never asked for this. An ancestor made a deal with the devil. I bear the consequences.

In Curseborne, the sins of the father are visited upon the son. Your accursed family’s pacts and crimes lead to a web of political intrigue and lasting perdition.

You think I’m scary now? Wait until you see the beast I become.

In Curseborne, monsters are real. And you play as one.

This book contains:

• A setting and huge number of story hooks, varied adversaries, and the complete Storypath Ultra system.
• The complete guide to playing an Accursed in the world of Curseborne.
• 31 playable types of Accursed split across five damned Lineages: the vampiric Hungry, the shapeshifting Primal, the otherworldly Outcasts, the spellweaving Sorcerers, and the haunting Dead.
• A massive number of spells and abilities with which you can customize your character and tailor their journey.

yeah! a bit like Pathfinder! i hadn't thought of that comparison. Storypath system is clearly a descendant of Storytell*, mechanically.

Outcasts are, right now, like Angels and Demons, though thematically they could also one day include things like Prometheans and possibly Changelings.

Dead are, well, dead! XD Like Risen, if you remember those. Like the Crow. They are ghosts that inhabit their dead bodies. No Mummies yet, sadly, but I expect they would also fall under Dead in the future.

You are right that each WoD game, and I'd say CofD game, have very strong themes, that that has also been an appeal to me.

Curseborne is an approach that, at least right now, is more breadth than depth. Each creature shares the same history and cosmology, in that the world is Cursed, and curses manifest in the lives of everyone in small to large ways, including becoming Accursed.

Each Lineage will showcase some smaller, unique themes as well, such as The Hunger for Hungry, or Elemental connection for the Primals, but by nature of fitting it all into one book, the themes are a fair bit thinner and less developed.

This isn't necessarily BAD, especially when we have decades of other similar books to pilfer and adapt, but it is different.

I do think it's worth the read, and I've never even been a fan of crossover games! But I like what I'm seeing here, and I appreciate the unified underlying systems and cosmology between all the Lineages.

I do expect them to be fleshed out more as time goes on, with Lineage books to focus on each Lineage in more depth.

@Zagorath@aussie.zone

Curseborne is a spiritual successor to those older Storytell* game lines, World / Chronicles of Darkness. a new Urban Horror game designed with supernatural type crossover baked in from the start. made by some of the old hats from old WW and associated ppl who have been involved in the licensed products over the years.

It uses the Storypath Ultra system.

it's made in-house by Onyx Path Publishing so they don't have to deal with Paradox/White Wolf licensing.

addendum: Requiem was actually quite successful as a gameline, even if it could not outright replace Masquerade in public mindshare. but it doesn't have to since they are different games, even if there's overlap.

definitely a lightweight game to start with and get into the hobby!

yeah i'm excited to try it out!

i'll be running a Legend of Zelda game with it in the new year.

i will say that mostly i will be attempting to run Curseborne with RAW. to lean into the Curseborne approach as much as possible.

reading it over, there really isn't much that i strictly feel i need from VtR that is missing.

sure i may drop some names here or there. Daeva / House Bathory, Ventrue / Heirs, Mekhet / Ascetics. really just missing Gangrel and Nosferatu. Nos may be hard for me to lose, so they may be the one i want to pull in.

from Kindred mechanics, tho, i think we're only really missing Blush of Life (which doesn't seem to be needed in Curseborne), Blood Bond and Predatory Aura.

Blush of Life you can port as is, just change it to bleed a Curse die, or Hold 1, depending how often you want it to come up.

do the same for Kindred Senses, but build it off of the +1e the Hungry get at night.

Blood Bond can actually be incorporated right into the Bond system, so that's easy

The Cleansing is more narrative than anything else.

I also haven't yet seen a Blood Sympathy analog in CB, so that's something to keep an eye out for.

Predatory Aura is a bit more complicated, however. I'll need more time to mull it over and will post separately about it.

IF, however, you want to continue to use the VtR2e Disciplines and some of the Vampiric systems from VtR 2, but would like to MOSTLY utilize Curseborne/Storypath Ultra for other mundane systems, you can check out this character sheet created by Mr. Gone!

Either approach will require some finagling, but that's part of the fun!

great insights! man, i never saw Avatar in that light but this is such a cool choice. i look forward to seeing it play out.

as for PbtA, alas, i'm no expert. i do think there is variance beyond just the playbooks. ApocKeys is different, and more narrative, than Monster of the Week, for example.

lol very fun!

https://www.starwars.com/databank/puffer-pig