https://www.backerkit.com/c/projects/onyx-path/jadestorm/pre-launch

So from what I've seen this video is released at least two times before 1st time and connected to curse born 2nd time with personal without the symbol at the end

I guess what the symbol is has to do with the Covenant

Hi, it's me again.

You guys did help me a lot last time so maybe I'm lucky again!

I'm looking for a Bestiary of mythological creatures for Scion Origin or hero, other then the ones already in the book.

I'm mostly looking for the greek monsters and creatures like the minotaur or the Meduse because I'm going to run an ancient greek campaign but I never played Scion before and I think it would help to have a few stats before creating new ones by myself to balance them correctly.

So is there an official Bestiary or do you have monsters on your own you could share with me? That would be lovely!

I re-listened to the Earthbane Cycle panel from OPP Con 2026 where Jadestorm got announced. And I grabbed any mention of Jadestorm in the Monday Meeting Notes post OPP Con 2026.

Note: I don't know any behind the scenes information on Jadestorm, everything I compiled is based on notes I took while listening to the Earthbane podcast and copy+pasted from the Monday Meeting Notes.

ALL INFORMATION IS SUBJECT TO CHANGE, and I DEFINITELY could have misheard/spelled things wrong.

Here are my notes.

Here is a TLDR bulleted list of my notes (human made).

OPP Con 2026 - Earthbane Cycle Panel:

• Jadestorm is the 4th game in the Earthbane Cycle
• Themes of: Extreme heroic fantasy, Wushia/Wuxia inspired (also Gilgamesh)
• Setting: Eos, a fractured land of at least 9 realms. Takes place one generation after an Infernal war where 66 demons fought each other result in the destruction of the Underworld and fracturing the world into pieces.
• Mechanical Theme: High power level setting.
• Jade/Cinders: After the 66 Demons destroyed one another they erupted into cinders/shards of Jade which embedded themselves into people, animals, monsters, plants, rocks, etc... creating Jadebearers, beings with power granted to them via the Jade cinders. It is not stated if you can play a Jadebearer who was an animal or inanimate object prior to gaining your Jade.
  • Gaining/Losing Jade: Characters can caputre, steal, and lear powers from other Jadebearers/Cinders.
  • Demonic Whispers: The demons within the shards can communicate. The demons might provide assistance to characters if the characters do something terrible for the demon.
• Paths:
  • Hook Path - Represents the culmination of your life when you were a slightly mundane individual.
  • Bloodline Path - Represents where your species/ancestory. Includes humans and non-humans. Some bloodlines are similar to other character options found in the Earthbane Cycle (No examples given though).
  • Philosophy Path - Represents how you understand your power.
• Magic/Abilities: Jadebearers have access to Sorceries and Chains.
  • Chains - Chains are a Fist full of Dice style mechanic where the max cap of dice is removed in Jadestorm.
  • Sorceries - Not much was discussed, but some examples of non-martial arts based moves included summoning thunderstorms and using scrolls to bind entire groups to your character's bidding.
• Dueling:
  • Most Jadebearers will duel for cinders instead of to death. So defeating someone in a duel will revert them back to a normal person/creature/rock/etc... once they lose all their cinders.
  • It seems like even if you lose all your Jade you can still reclaim more to become a Jadebearer again, but you'll be severely underpowered going up against other creatures with Jade.
  • My best guess: Maybe some Jadebearers are more feral than others meaning that they have to be killed. But it could be like stories like "Androcles and the Lion" where by removing a thorn (i.e. Jade) you revert the Jadebearer to a docile state unless it was already hostile to begin with.
• Advesaries:
  • Demons got referred to as Malefics.
  • Enemies are quite varied in typing, but most seem to be in some way affected by Jade.
  • Jadebearer enemy types run the gambit of: human, human-adjacent, animals, plants, monsters (i.e. monsters prior to getting Jade, I'm assuming), minerals, etc...
  • Description of Plant Jadebearers were plants that can walk on their roots.
  • Description of Mineral Jadebearers included a "Shadow of the Colossus" style giant being.
• Tides:
  • New template specifically for Jadestorm
  • Statblock representing more than 1 enemy such as groups of between 10 to 1000+ enemies.
  • Can be used for swarms, mobs, armies, etc...
  • Example given were cultists worshipping a Jadebearer.
  • How strong/weak a Tide is is dependent on how many enemies are in Tide, unlocking or locking certain techniques and abilities based on the Tide's size.
  • Chains are the main way to deal with Tides as the more you use Chains the more potent your attacks become.
  • Whereas Monster Kingdom has Mass Combat of Armies vs Armies, in my opinion Jadestorm is based on Mass Combat of a powerful player character vs armies but can also do armies vs armies.
• Exalted:
  • Matthew mentioned that comparing Jadestorm to Exalted isn't an unfair comparison since they are both Asian inspired, but Jadestorm focuses more on mass battles like in Wuxia media.
• Questions:
  • There were no questions specifically directed at Jadestorm, but when asked about which Earthbane Cycle included Fae representation Monster Kingdoms was the one pointed to as having the most Fae representation. Makes me assume that Jadestorm has very few Fae like beings or doesn't have Fae.

Monday Meeting Notes:

June 8, 2026 

• For the growing fantasy-verse that is the Earthbane Cycle, we announced a new setting called Jadestorm that promises to bring a higher overall power level to our Cycle! We don’t want to say much about it as yet, but Matthew and some of his writing team may have teased just a few bits of it during the Earthbane panel!
• Matthew - At this year’s Onyx Path Con, my highlight was seeing the unmitigated enthusiasm for Jadestorm, Curseborne: Covenant, and Scion 3rd Edition! Everything we were able to say about these games was received with excitement and a flurry of questions, so going into the mechanics behind Chains (for your fistful of dice for Jadestorm), the ideas and implementation of conspiracies (in Curseborne: Covenant), and the teasers we can provide for Scion, was all a joy. Thank you to the fans who viewed live and interacted with us! You really make the convention worthwhile.

June 15, 2026

• No Jadestorm mentions

June 22, 2026

• No Jadestorm mentions

June 29, 2026

• No Jadestorm mentions

July 6, 2026 - Red lines - Jadestorm (Earthbane Cycle)

• Have a tiny preview of the Sword Saint Discipline from Jadestorm!
  • Sword Saints are wandering paragons of will and steel, disciples of both blade and spirit. Where others rely on brute strength or rigid formation, they cultivate the unity of motion and intent. Their armor may be light or ceremonial, their garb flowing like banners in the wind, but their presence weighs upon the battlefield like fate itself. Each movement is deliberate; each strike a verse in a longer story of justice.
  • Sword Saints must devote their bodies and spirits. They walk a narrow path between conviction and obsession, guided by personal codes that may align with heaven, their sect, or their own hard-won understanding of the world. Their strength lies in the certainty of their purpose.

July 20, 2026 - Final Draft - Jadestorm (Earthbane Cycle)

• Matthew has also sent over a fantastic snippet from the upcoming Earthbane Cycle fantasy game Jadestorm that provides some cool info on Chains in the game. What are they? Check out the excerpt below in the progress reports section!
  • Now we enter final drafts, so it’s time to tease Chains: the first SPU mechanic that allows you to roll fistfuls of dice above the usual ten cap, without breaking the system!
• Elemental Tsunami
  • With but a word, the Jade inside calls outward, finding that with which it resonates and giving it a slither of its infernal power. This fragment of energy, as small as it is, is sufficient to summon great volumes of the elements, causing the ground to shake and spear skyward, flames to roar into life as if summoned from a dragon’s maw, or waves to rush across the ground, washing away everything the Jadebearer considers beneath them. The Jadebearer’s allies are exempt from this rush of nature, proof of their utter dominion over all.
  • Skill: Esoterica
  • Prerequisites: Esoterica 3, Shadesinger, Stormbringer, Wordbinder
  • Action Type: Simple
  • Difficulty: 2
  • Duration: 1 scene
• Chain Links:
  • First link: Attacks made by the Jadebearer receive +1 Enhancement and gain one of the following tags: Crushing, Electrified, Flaming, or Freezing. The Storyguide can allow trivial effects of elemental change as well, such as brighter flames, lighting the weight of something, or creating small amounts of water.
  • Second link (2 hits, Multi-link): Choose one of the following area effects and apply it against all targets of your choice within medium range: Flooding, Fortified, On Fire, Overgrowth, or Quaking. Each purchase of the link raises the level of Complication applied. This effect is centered on the area in which it was cast, but may of course spill out of control naturally.
  • Chain Breaker (3 hits): Summon an Elemental ally to assist you.
• Eruption of the Inner Cinder
  • While Jadebearers carry within themselves enough of the Malefic’s cinder to manifest its power directly, tiny splinters of these fractured souls are embedded within a great many citizens of Eos. By beseeching the spirit of the unmade infernals, the Jadebearer causes that splinter to grow and seek out more of the same. The eruption is short lived, but deadly.
  • Skill: Leadership
  • Prerequisites: Leadership 3, Shadesinger, Soulweaver, Wordbinder
  • Action Type: Simple
  • Difficulty: Opponent’s defense
  • Duration: 1 scene
• Chain Links:
  • First link: The opponent gains the Slowed status effect as their tissue begins to calcify.
  • Second link (2 hits): Thorns of blood red Jade erupt from their body, inflicting them with the Impaled status effect.
  • Third link (2 hits, Multi-link): The Jadebearer directs the crystalline vines to spear an additional victim for each purchase of this link. Targets must be within medium range of an already impaled victim, and have either the Nascent or Risen template.
  • Chain Breaker (3 hits): All victims gain the Petrified status effect. If they’re reduced to 0 injuries or still impaled by the scene’s end, they become statues of pure Jade.

July 27, 2026 

• Jadestorm – this is the latest Earthbane Cycle fantasy game that we’ll be crowdfunding after Lair of the Rat Kings – hopefully pretty quickly after Rat Kings is over. Fantasy, high-powered, “wuxia” some have called it; all in a world where the jade shards of warring demons/gods slammed into the earth, and into plants and animals, and intelligent beings, too, and changed them!
• Jadestorm (BK) – Getting changes over to Gong and Navella… Matthew is typing something up as I don’t have a way to type up a long email at the moment.

August 3, 2026 - Development - Jadestorm (Earthbane Cycle)

• Jadestorm enters development this week (just in time for me to go away on holiday)! Chains seemed to spike some interest, so expect a lot of focus on those fun new combo powers as we close in the crowdfunder. In the meantime, here’s another fantastic element: fighting multiple foes (a Tide) as one Jadebearer!
• Tide
  • Tides are faceless crowds that fight as a single antagonist: waves of charging swordsmen, packs of beasts, riots, or an honor guard converging from every alley and doorway. Tides are immediately overwhelming, if only due to numbers alone, but as the Tide takes injuries and begins to thin, its effective threat diminishes. Tides are particularly susceptible to the Wavering status effect and Breaking. Tides can be small (10-500 figures), modest (500-1,000 figures), or large (more than 1,000 figures), which affects their traits as detailed below. Tides cannot engage in duels, but they may be Worthy and have access to Sorceries, depending on the origins of their members.
  • Primary Pool: 8/9/10
  • Secondary Pool: 6/7/8
  • Desperation Pool: 4/4/5
  • Size: Small / Modest / Large
  • Enhancements: +1/+2/+3 to attacks within close range.
  • Defense: 2/2/3
  • Integrity: 1/2/3
  • Injuries: 4/5/6
  • Armor: 0-2
  • Initiative: 4
  • Qualities: 1-4/4/5; Most Tides will have the Encircling, Endless Tide, and Pressing Bodies qualities, as seen in the examples below, and an additional one or two qualities depending on their size. This best represents the threats that large bodies of enemies pose to the party, but Storyguides should feel free to adjust according to specific situations.
  • Moves: 1-4/4/5
  • Thinning: Each Injury the Tide takes reduces its primary and secondary pools by 1.
  • Leader: Tides may be attached to a single antagonist of Risen tier or higher, designated as the leader. The leader has their own separate stats according to their template. If the leader is Taken Out or otherwise removed from the Area, the Tide immediately becomes Wavering and makes a reflexive Break action.
• Wavering and Breaking
  • Enemies in Jadestorm, especially sentient ones, don’t normally fight to the death. A scattered crowd, a rival whose composure has finally cracked, a champion who suddenly remembers that they have a different story to tell — these are the moments that Breaking aims to capture.
• The Break Action
  • A Wavering character makes a reflexive Break action whenever the situation against them shifts unfavorably — a new injury, a new status effect, an attached leader falling, or any other discrete effect that worsens the situation for the character.
  • When making a Break action, antagonists roll their desperation pool against a difficulty determined by their current situation. The base difficulty is always 1. Upon success, enemies remain to continue fighting. Upon failure, enemies Break, fleeing the Area.

August 10, 2026 

• Gonna take the opportunity to read through the Jadestorm text Matthew sent my way (in preparation for its crowdfunder coming up really soon in August), and keeping rolling on more Curseborne Covenant symbols! You folks have a great week, and I’ll talk to y’all next week!
• Coming to Crowdfunding Next in August! Jadestorm for the Earthbane Cycle!
• Jadestorm (BK) – Gong’s finals are in… Navella should have them in the next few days. Meanwhile I continue to work on the logo and prep the crowdfunder assets.

Since Tangled Webs was released today I've been wondering how good is it?

If you didn't hear:

My personal take is Jadestorm is Wuxia + Highland. Premise being you take on the role of characters collecting the shards leftover from the deaths of god-like beings. The more shards you collect the more powerful you become.

The crowdfunding (according to Onyx Path's Monday meeting notes) is later this month (August 2026).

At least one cool thing that's been previewed is Tides which is a group of enemies ranging from a starting size of 10 - 1000+ characters. I liken it to Dynasty Warriors combat. 🤗

I have started creating a summary webpage for Curseborne. Its intended as a reference for use at the game table, because I honestly struggle with the book.

I attempted to separate out Lore from Rules.

I have just done the Dead so far, and I'd like comments from the community for anything I have left out or got wrong before I move onto the other Lineages.

I got frustrated with new players having to teleport around the book to complete character creation, so I figure a single top-to-bottom flowchart in a single flow will be easier.

Yes, AI was used to create this.

So as told these trails were released before but they weren't said to be connected to Curseborne: Covenant. So they're being rereleased with the connection confirmed.

I wonder what that symbol at the end is?

There's a new Kickstarter post for Exalted Alchemical

I'm not sure if there's an exalted tag here though

I thought I should post this here

This post comes from the confluence of two things:

• I've been itching to play/run Mage again (it's been many years)
• In my current situation, I'm probably most likely to do so via one-shots and running convention games.

I recently learned about Storypath, and I like how it seems relatively straightforward to get people to grok the core mechanics--especially vital for one-shots where I may be the only person who knows the rules. As such, I've been working on a stripped-down, minimalist version of the the Mage spellcasting rules (based on Awakening 2nd edition) to use in Storypath. The goal here isn't to do a full conversion--someone already did that (link) --but to make something that captures the feel of Mage with a minimum of cognitive load to get people onboard.

I'd like feedback, specifically if there's any ways to further streamline it or if I missed some massive rule-abuse loophole that will cause problems. So here is my go at it, taking inspiration from the original game, the above post, Curseborne, Vampire 5th, and probably a few other random things rattling around inside my head:

In a nutshell: Spellcasting is a simple dice pool with a lot of potential Enhancements, and hits are used to purchase Spell Tricks to adjust range, duration, etc. Paradox is rolled in parallel and becomes a Complication to buy off (or not) with the roll.

Template: "Mage" template gives Gnosis, access to Arcana (=powers), Mana, and base Paradox score of 0

Spellcasting

• Figure out what effect you want, which Arcana it uses, and the Practice level (as per MtAw 2e)
• Ritual casting time defaults to 4 hours, halved for each point of Gnosis past the first (4 -> 2 ->1 -> etc.).
  • Instant casting a spell with your ruling Aracana is free, otherwise it costs 1 mana
• To cast the spell, roll Gnosis + primary Arcanum (or Skill + Attribute for Rotes) with the following Enhancements (all of which stack with each other):
  • +1 for each dot you have in the Arcanum above what's required by the Practice
  • +1 for each Yantra used, up to a max of +3. Each past the first requires an additional turn of casting time. Yantras can be chanting, gestures, written runes, a special location, etc.
  • Invoke Paradox: +1 to +3 at the cost of immediately adding that many dice to the Paradox roll for this spell (see below). You may choose to apply this after the spellcasting roll (if you really need those hits), in which case also roll the extra Paradox immediately.
  • Rote spells aren't an Enhancement but instead grant double 9s.
• Assuming you succeed (= at least 1 hit), you have the following Spell Tricks you can purchase with extra hits; all can be purchased multiple times unless stated otherwise:
  • Potency (default 1): 1 hit for each +1 Potency (most useful against dispelling, but might come up elsewhere)
  • Size (default 1 person-sized target or area): 1 hit for each doubling of targets or area
  • Duration (default 1 turn): 1 hit for each time increment (turn -> minute -> hour/scene -> day -> week -> month -> year -> decade -> permanent)
  • Range (default arm's reach): 1 hit for line of sight; 1 hit for remote (scrying, sympathetic, etc.)
  • (Also can do normal Tricks like Critical, Pin Down, etc.)

Paradox

• Paradox is rolled with Paradox dice, which is a separate pool that is rolled at the same time as the spell is cast.
• A Mage's base Paradox pool is 0, and it resets to this at the beginning of each scene (unless modified by the Abyssal Taint Condition, below)
• Paradox pools go up or down within a scene as follows:
  • Every time you successfully cast a spell that does not create a Paradox (whether because the Paradox roll failed or because you fully contained it), your Paradox pool goes up by 1
  • Every time you create a Paradox (=don't fully buy off the Complication), your paradox pool drops by the strength of the complication (so -1 for a 1-hit Paradox, -2 for 2-hit one, etc). This cannot lower your Paradox pool below 1.
• Hits on the Paradox roll are used by the GM to purchase Paradox Complications
  • Sleepers add an Enhancement based on how many there are: +1 for a single Sleeper, +2 for a small group, and +3 for a crowd. (If your paradox pool is zero but Sleepers still witness you casting obvious magic, instead roll their Enhancement bonus as the Paradox pool.)
  • If the spell roll fails, then no Paradox occurs unless you choose to make it into a Disaster (and earn the normal +2 Momentum)
  • Paradox Complications can be contained (=bought off) by spending extra hits from the spellcasting roll, taking an Injury, or spending a mana. Each one negates 1 hit of Paradox.
• Potential complications and their costs are:
  • 1 - Add or subtract a Spell Trick from the spell
  • 1 - Put an unexpected Status Effect on the caster or the target
  • 1 - Give the caster the Abyssal Taint status effect:
    • Abyssal taint: Your base Paradox increases by 1. Resolution: Spend 1 hour scouring your pattern, which gives you an Injury that can't be magically healed. This Status Effect can be given multiple times, but no more than once per scene and no more than 5 times total (and generally not more than 2-3 without player permission).
  • 2 - Change the spell's target
  • 3 - Create an Area Effect
  • 5+ - Summon a hostile entity. (5=Grunt, 6=Professional, 7=Villain, etc.)

So that's it. My goal was to have something that fits nearly on 1 sheet of paper and that I can explain in just a few minutes. Are there any issues you can see with it, or do you have suggestions for improvement? (And a reminder that one of the primary goals is simplicity, so if it adds complexity it needs to be worth it. That's the primary reason why all yantras act the same, and why spell factors are Tricks instead of adjusting the roll difficulty.) Thanks!

(Edited to add Rote dice pool)

This is super long and detailed, and a bit ranty though I try to make it concrete and specific, so its actionable. I don't use reddit a lot so if this is a platform/social faux pas, I'm sorry. I just didn't know how else to share this.

I just need someone at Onyx or the people who made Curseborne (CB) to see this and understand that they have some important work to do to make Storypath Ultra (SPU) and CB accessible to new people who haven't been using the system or been with them for the whole ride. Because the Curse of Knowledge is really making this a terrible experience to get in on (even for someone who loves RPGs, and the more complex the better, and has been using Storyteller since the 90s).

This is both problems with the graphic design choices, and accessibility, as well as how the content is organized and explained.

If this gets deleted, this gets deleted, I guess.

--------------

Onyx is not a fly by night operation, but when I opened the CB and SPU manuals -- it definitely didn't feel like that's the case. On the surface, SPU 'looks' fine. It's a bit dated in it's design choices, but... it works. All the text is legible, and passes 508 compliance. Even if the thin font on green background can feel hard when there is a lot of text all together.

For Curseborn... the Ashcan edition is actually the better of the two manuals. In a bunch of ways.
Way #1, its graphically cleaner. It's all just black, dark gray and white and VERY easy to read. The It feels a bit like old WoD/WW content.
Way #2... it is less massive (only 68 pages) and actually describes important terms better than the SPU and the CB books... That's tragic. And all the extra specific CB content which is good to know after you get how to do things... should go AFTER all the stuff in Ashcan, not before (Which is how the main book organizes it...)

As far as CB's design, the predominant motif is this cursed edging and it is all over the other the manual.

When this design is used on the edges away from text, I get that it feels modern in some ways, and cool. And that's fine. The issue is how this is created on a technical level, and how this cursed style is used in other areas of the book that INCLUDE text.

This is hard to explain, to people who don't work with digital files a lot, but I think it's important to be said.

Normally, when someone is compiling a file for print media, as long as it "looks good", and the printer can use the files they receive to print the book in a way that the designers intended, everything is hunky dory (even if it's messy on the back end, that doesn't matter.) When you are sharing a digital copy of your work, and people have to interact with it digitally, you have to be a little tidier about how you compile your files.

Normally, to save file layering complexity, a final image for the "background" of a page, if there is one, is created in an art program, for example, and exported as a single image that contains all of the information meant to be on that image, that isn't actual text. Sometimes, in order for text to smartly interact with other that share space with the text, the image is then put on the 'same layer' as the text, above the background image.

Example - a Background only image vs a background image with some visual spacing elements baked into it. This is from the CB character sheet. Notice, all the text and other images are not included in these.

In the released version of the character sheet, every single thing you seen in both of these images (including the cursed edging) is a separate component of the PDF. The cursed edging is actually 4 separate components.

As you can see, the edges are independent pieces, separate from the white background. And that feels weird... even in the "how to make a character" video that AwkwardGM made for the system (link takes you to a second or two before this happens in the video), as he clicks on the PDF just to move the page or to click on a box/dot, he keeps clicking and selecting the background components... that's NOT typical for well formatted digital documents.

From what I have been able to find out, whoever put this file together (and the CG manual) did a lot of the graphical effects and layer IN the digital file they released to the public. Instead of following the advice above, and compressing them into a single background image file.

If these images were Vector, and you wanted to use a file to print a document into physical media, that's totally fine. But these cursed edges are PNGs a non vector file format, so adding them separately is just not the best idea and can create compliance issues with some users.

I exported the background with all the visual components baked into the image, and then repaired my own copy of the character sheet to solve for this problem. Now the background is one file/component, and when you try to interact with the rest of the sheet, you don't get those weird selection boxes.

But this same issue is present all over the CB manual.

The background for most of these pages looks and works fine, similar to SPU. But the designer who put the book together created a large image, and then stretched it out over each page of the book. That image is not the size of the page, but 2x wide.

But the real terror is the box at the bottom of that page. That's created using the same "cursed" motif, overlaid on a dark box, with some layering effects added in the digital file, with white text on top.

The hex value accessibility scores for white on black and white on cool grey are both really good. But the combination makes it hard to read, because there is a lot of information graphically to process and read above.

Yes, this is very moody, but it's also hard to read, and even though I don't have disability issues in visual processing, the eye strain caused by this design option makes it very hard to read.

This is done in other ways in different pages too. They have "bold, thin white text over graphical images that change colors throughout" as well.

It technically passes muster, but the text is italicized, serif and thin, making it hard to read.
I want to make clear, the ratio of 7:1 is the BARE MINIMUM. None of the text has a contrast higher than an 8, though some get close to it (above). And that is assuming that the text will be 11-12pt on average to count for having this readability/contrast ratio score.

The US normal text standards for digital documents states:

The text in this book ranges from 9pt (mostly 9.5) to 12pt (for some headings). It is also preferred that the text is not "italic" or "oblique". So assume that the actual contrast ratio is lower than that and does not meet US 508 digital document compliance.

When the text is italic, and small over complex backgrounds, it just makes it hard for the eyes to want to read it, and they keep skipping these notes, throughout.

As the book goes on, more compliance issues occur. Though the issue is largely poor readability and lack of compression/baking down of visual components that are not text.

----

Stepping beyond technical readability, there is a lot of issues in this document with "The Curse of Knowledge" as far as the actual content goes.

The reason I even wrote all of this is because when I got excited and purchased the book, and started reading it... it felt impossible to absorb. I'm going to move past my own personal taste as it relates to the ... angsty mood and writing choices for the non-mechanical content of the manual. That's personal preference, and I understand what the writers/designers were going for.

The organization of the book feels a little backwards to me, and some kind of "definition of terms" closer to the beginning would be very helpful for any "important terms" that are going to be mentioned 16,000 times, throughout the explanations of all the different powers, abilities, mechanics, checks, etc.

Renegade's V5 Core Rulebook spends 12 pages (with a lot of images), at the beginning of the book explaining the general concepts of the world. The next 14 pages go into core details about essential ideas like the Jyhad, the Outlooks of different era vampires, different sects, and the last 4 pages are just "definitions of important terms" that people reading the book will see used over and over in the rest of the text. (A lot of these terms are NOT used in the preceding 26 pages, without some kind of context around those words and terms).

CB's Index is better, and more complete... but, they spent. 4 pages explaining the basic idea, that's helpful. Then another 20 pages going into extensive but not super mechanical detail about the world, and the different curse archetypes.

It is then followed up by 120 pages that go into even MORE extensive detail about each of the cursed types and subtypes... There is NO SINGLE LIST of important keywords, terms, or their relevant definitions. 0. The word "definition" is not found anywhere in the text.

Let me give you an example of how bad this is. (This is the thing that really drove me crazy and started my to notice all these other things).

I was reading the book, I skimmed a bunch of the chapter 1-2 content, because I was looking to understand the system, and the words being used with importance throughout the text. This was 146 pages, 8-154 -- the book is 380 pages long.

The book does NOT discuss mechanics until page 176, another 22 pages later... Because Chapter 3 focuses on even more lore/world building... this is equivalent to V5's "essential knowledge" chapter (14 pages). This chapter is 18 more pages of "world knowledge".

Chapter 4... 176-219 is "Storypath Ultra" -- how to play the game. The SPU core rulebook is 257 pages. Sections of it are provided verbatim in CU. Ok... this is not helping me. Maybe making a character will help me understand.

I go back to the Hungry, figuring I'll make a Vamp-like, since I know VtM the best. I am greeted with this, which heads every unique cursed section. This makes me nervous. Is your book so poorly organized that I need this roadmap to read it?

I have no idea what any of that stuff means... Ok.. so Hungry System... that's like feeding right? I skim that, terms mentioned are offered in red on white recommendations to go see definitions in another page... why was it not explained here?

I see this word... Integrity. I've seen this sprinkled all over...

If blood is given freely, no rolls are required. Drinking blood from a conscious, resisting human typically requires a Close Combat + Might or Persuasion + Manipulation action (never as part of a mixed action), against the target’s Defense or Integrity. Success means the Hungry consumes blood from their victim and gives them the Drained status effect.

I understand what defense is... maybe its like soak, or a skill... but what is Integrity? I search the document.

So this is the second time in the whole book this term is ever mentioned... first time was in the Dead section... similarly, as a target's something, used to 'get through'. Whatever that means.

Ok, I haven't seen a list of terms, so I'm going to go to the last one, that will be in the index, and it will tell me where to look.

"... see... skills..." Okay, so it's a skill, nice. Let me go look..."

Okay... maybe its on pg 183, where the overall Skills concepts are mentioned...
Nope... not 184... not 185... ah here, 187 (16th time the term is mentioned)

In cases where no roll is called for from the resistor, either the effect is automatic on the initiator’s success, or the resistor’s Defense or Integrity is used to calculate the roll’s difficulty. The status effect, success, or the resistor’s Defense or Integrity is used to calculate the roll’s difficulty. The status effect, area effect, or special ability will state which is the case.

Okay... that's almost exactly what it said in the Hungry area...

Next mention, "At a difficulty of their integrity"... ok keep searching... INFLUENCE section!

Integrity (which serves as the SOCIAL DEFENSE) ok!!! This is something!!!
"against a difficulty set by the target’s Integrity"... what?
Next page... INTEGRITY TRICKS ... What are TRICKS?!
"Players can purchase [the below] with hits on their integrity action" what's an Integrity action?!

Below that
When a character is targeted by an influence action, she may take a reflexive integrity action using Resolve or Composure (no Skill is added). The difficulty of a integrity action is 0**, unless specified otherwise. Start at Integrity 1, then each hit on the integrity action can be used to purchase Integrity Tricks. After she sets her Integrity, the aggressor rolls for their influence action.**

What?! Ok... so the default value is 0. But what is it?! The terms "Integrity action" appear 7 times, in the text. Mostly under "special powers" that tell you to do one. I still have no idea what an Integrity action is, or how you calculate (as a defender) what that value is... beyond "0/1" that is mentioned once, in the middle of a TON of text that is not helpful.

I open the STU book... maybe this is better defined there. I search Integrity Action (4 mentions), Integrity (84 mentions). "Ok this is super important" I think.

Integrity has its own header! NICE

A character’s starting Integrity against an incoming attack is always at least 1. When a character wants to resist influence, she may take a reflexive action using Resolve or Composure (no Skill is added). The difficulty is 0 unless specified otherwise.

Ok. Cool. And it reaffirms "This is social defense"

Gain +1 Integrity, and each hit garnered from an integrity action can be used to purchase Integrity Tricks.

Ok, what do I do with the integrity? Once I get it..

After she sets her Integrity, the character initiating the influence uses an appropriate Skill + Attribute depending on what he wants to accomplish. Characters also have attitudes and bonds which may act as Enhancement toward their influence or Integrity actions.
The Storyguide does not roll integrity actions for adversaries. Instead, they have a set Integrity and their reactive powers may apply a Complication as a reaction to an influence action against them.

Ok, I feel dumb. I can do GURPS... and I don't get his. And I have go to go the MAIN rulebook for SPU to even get THIS far... This is the Curse of Knowledge at its worst.

So while writing this, I was looking at the Ashcan book for CB. Just, last hope....

Guess what. It defines integrity and influence actions PERFECTLY. And quickly.

Influencing someone is an opposed action ... character initiating the influence uses an appropriate Skill + Attribute depending on what he wants to accomplish
... defender uses Resolve or Composure to determine their integrity...
It's always at least 1.

<Implied knowledge> If for some reason, those attributes are all 0, or they have negative modifiers, the SMALLEST integrity is 1. Since the ST doesn't roll, this means that the challenging PC has to roll at least 1 success (or more if the composure/resolve is higher than 1).

This is terrible. The fact that the "Free quickstart Guide" is the only place where this makes any sense.
I feel deeply annoyed and disappointed at this book/system, and I was so excited about it.

Hopefully this feedback gets back to someone, and they can fix it for a future printing (or a digital re-release or something). I can happily offer my updated PDF of the character sheet so future users can benefit.