Storypath Ultra and Curseborne

[Thomas Shey]

You'll be delighted to know that "approaches" don't exist in SPU, I just looked for anything like what you're describing and couldn't find it.

I'm guessing that's the culmination of "Okay, maybe this wasn't the best idea after all."

(Though now I'm wondering why I haven't got a notification about SPU. I'm pretty sure I backed it...)

Momentum as a group resource I personally enjoy but i see how some groups wouldn't like it. I like that anyone can bank extra hits into it, or draw on it, and how it rewards the group when characters fail and make nuisances of themselves.

The problem I expect would be people who are tapping it excessively and not leaving enough for others, or at least the perception that that's what was happening. There's nothing wrong with it in principal.

The current books are street level (but more generous with power than v5 it feels like) but we've been promised non-street level content-- the book only goes up to 4 of an established 10 in power scale. That said bopping around and turningvwerewolves into picklejars might be doable, worldwide teleports def are.

Fae play a bit of a diff role as secret don't-talk-about-them-antagonists, but outcasts can be changelingish depending on the kind you are and what you want out of it, some might be primal etc instead.

As I recall the only real discussion of the Fey per se is among the sorcerers, but as you say, what exactly is going on with the Outcasts is kind of obscured (even to most of them). It seems like they don't exactly trust their memories.

Yeah, player creature types are pretty equal footing, its not a game concerned with balance, but it comes across as well balanced anywa, and momentum mechanics enhance that a lot.

Its not something I'd want to judge strongly outside of play, but nothing jumped out at me as "this is the winning way". There were a few subgroups that seemed like dealing with their problems would be more of a pain in the behind than others (particularly a couple of the kinds of the Hungry, but I suppose that's why they can all drop back to blood if they have to).

 

[The-Magic-Sword]

Yeah with momentum the things that seem to address that is the per session reset (because you get a LOT of momentum, so if anythingbplayers will be mutually happy it didnt go to waste) and the once per roll usage of critical, there might be greedier rolls off some spells but spreading momentum would result in more damage in combat.

 

[TheHand]

I’d been kind of on the fence about Curseborne, but now I’m thinking about checking it out. I probably won’t switch mid campaign from my Frankensteinian V5 game (the real monster!), but it sounds like it could be a much more elegant solution to the type of urban-goth games we like!

 

[The-Magic-Sword]

I’d been kind of on the fence about Curseborne, but now I’m thinking about checking it out. I probably won’t switch mid campaign from my Frankensteinian V5 game (the real monster!), but it sounds like it could be a much more elegant solution to the type of urban-goth games we like!

Yeah, honestly, the fact that it integrated 'cross-splat' play straight into the base of the game, but is still set up in such a way you could do a game heavily focused on a specific creature type really squares the circle on a long term conflict in WOD spaces, its very easy to do the kinds of games you would do with any of the single splat system (especially long term as more supporting material releases) using Curseborne but its a bit thorny to turn the single splat system multsplat, even when they nominally wanted to do that (e.g. COFD) as a design goal. Its a major killer app in terms of "why would I do this when V5 exists" in my opinion, and the long term power growth they've set the foundations for is another one, since it was always one of the pain points some people had.

For me its with VTR, like sure you could say VTR is more focused on vampires, but Curseborne would do a great job of an all vampire game, and a lot of the lore elements i would want, like the Lancea et Sanctum or whatever, would slot very easily into the curseborne setting (in the absence of other lore for the hungry that fills a similar niche.)

 

[Thomas Shey]

Yeah with momentum the things that seem to address that is the per session reset (because you get a LOT of momentum, so if anythingbplayers will be mutually happy it didnt go to waste) and the once per roll usage of critical, there might be greedier rolls off some spells but spreading momentum would result in more damage in combat.

Its possible that in practice this would be a nonissue if there's so much Momentum running around that any sense of overuse is moot. I've just been taught to find group resources suspect in their impact, but perhaps I'm overgeneralizing.

 

[Thomas Shey]

I’d been kind of on the fence about Curseborne, but now I’m thinking about checking it out. I probably won’t switch mid campaign from my Frankensteinian V5 game (the real monster!), but it sounds like it could be a much more elegant solution to the type of urban-goth games we like!

At the very least I found it a very interesting read.

 

[Thomas Shey]

Yeah, honestly, the fact that it integrated 'cross-splat' play straight into the base of the game, but is still set up in such a way you could do a game heavily focused on a specific creature type really squares the circle on a long term conflict in WOD spaces, its very easy to do the kinds of games you would do with any of the single splat system (especially long term as more supporting material releases) using Curseborne but its a bit thorny to turn the single splat system multsplat, even when they nominally wanted to do that (e.g. COFD) as a design goal. Its a major killer app in terms of "why would I do this when V5 exists" in my opinion, and the long term power growth they've set the foundations for is another one, since it was always one of the pain points some people had.

For me its with VTR, like sure you could say VTR is more focused on vampires, but Curseborne would do a great job of an all vampire game, and a lot of the lore elements i would want, like the Lancea et Sanctum or whatever, would slot very easily into the curseborne setting (in the absence of other lore for the hungry that fills a similar niche.)

I also think it distinctly downplays the dominance of "elders" in most of the groups. They're still there, but they mostly have better things to do than micromanage everything new members of the groups are, and the ones at a level who might want to do that are not necessarily vastly more capable than starting PCs.

 

[The-Magic-Sword]

I also think it distinctly downplays the dominance of "elders" in most of the groups. They're still there, but they mostly have better things to do than micromanage everything new members of the groups are, and the ones at a level who might want to do that are not necessarily vastly more capable than starting PCs.

Its interesting because the book plays up the existence and threat posed by older members of every lineage/family, but also manages to put them at a remove. Like the Sphinx noting that Tybalts will consume young sphinxes to renew their lifespan, and how everyone hates them for it, or the vampire family member talking about how their sire brings people in traumatically and a bunch of them got together to have words with them about it but that they don't think it stuck. The undercurrent is very much there, but it feels like there's layers of insulation-- middle management that tries to keep the street level PCs away from them.

 

[Thomas Shey]

Its interesting because the book plays up the existence and threat posed by older members of every lineage/family, but also manages to put them at a remove. Like the Sphinx noting that Tybalts will consume young sphinxes to renew their lifespan, and how everyone hates them for it, or the vampire family member talking about how their sire brings people in traumatically and a bunch of them got together to have words with them about it but that they don't think it stuck. The undercurrent is very much there, but it feels like there's layers of insulation-- middle management that tries to keep the street level PCs away from them.

I think part of it is that those really powerful elders exist in small numbers. The heirarchy of the groups is not heavily toploaded with the capable, its just a small subset of long-lived ones, and then the power level flattens out a lot more. So you don't have the traditional "Prince of the City and all his associates can ignore the PCs any time they feel like it" situation. And even with those top-end types, you don't get the feeling if you actually had to confront them, it'd be completely hopeless, especially with the default multi-type group.

 

[The-Magic-Sword]

I think part of it is that those really powerful elders exist in small numbers. The heirarchy of the groups is not heavily toploaded with the capable, its just a small subset of long-lived ones, and then the power level flattens out a lot more. So you don't have the traditional "Prince of the City and all his associates can ignore the PCs any time they feel like it" situation. And even with those top-end types, you don't get the feeling if you actually had to confront them, it'd be completely hopeless, especially with the default multi-type group.

I think its also that while the base of the game is still oriented toward the city level, there's less emphasis on the 'everything you care about is this city' of VTM/VTR so you don't need the prince to be the whole world.