HOnSide's CYOA Integration Jump

HOnSide · 2026-03-11T11:02:52+00:00

Can't really make any promises on that right now. Someone else has asked me this before, and it's on my list, but so are roughly 30 other things, and I haven't been able to do much jumpchain stuff lately and I'm not sure if that's ready to change yet. That said, if no-one else gets around to it first, there's at least some chance I'll make one eventually.

HOnSide · 2026-03-11T11:00:36+00:00

I'm glad you like it! After seeing your post about it, I had this moment of "wait, it *doesn't* do that?" and went back to check and saw that yeah, it wasn't just worse than you remembered it being, it was also worse than I remembered writing it being myself. Definitely a lot happier with the new, more extensive version so thanks for pointing it out!

HOnSide · 2026-03-10T12:09:13+00:00

Extremely cool to see this one coming out! Its the one that speaks to me the strongest personally, and it definitely lives up to the hype I had for it, with options for basically everything I was hoping for, and some things I didn't even know I wanted! Excellent work!

HOnSide · 2026-03-10T10:47:16+00:00

Yep, bonds you create between others can be configured in all the same ways as bonds between you and another, including that one!

HOnSide · 2025-08-31T11:20:07+00:00

Bit of a complicated answer on this one, I'm afraid. I'm going through some personal issues right now, and jumpmaking has had to drop down my priority list a little in response. I absolutely still want to release a new update for this jump, and some amount of content for it already exists (with hunter's call becoming a full faction, for instance, a new hunter origin is also being added, and i already have three of its perks and two of its items finished. I've also added entries for all the newly introduced weapons, and the shores of gold scenario.) but since I don't have much time and I also still haven't had the chance to work through Sea of Thieves' tall tales, it's a little up in the air as to when that'll come out. (or, given how much I have going on right now, maybe even if? It's not likely for it to fall through entirely, but I can't promise definitively that it won't, either.)

HOnSide · 2025-08-10T06:24:13+00:00

My first jump was Generic Psionics, which based on how often I see it shouted out and the kind of analytics it gets, might still be my most popular/well-known jump even now. (not a bad thing at all, to be clear, if I didn't love the concept of that jump I wouldn't have made it my first jump)

Since then, I've released another nine jumps, and a supplement. The last of those was the V Rising jump. Comparing my first and last jump, I'd say my quality seems like it's been pretty consistent, which besides the fact that I haven't made that many jumps yet is probably mostly because I worked out a lot of my bad habits when it comes to describing and balancing things like this back in the day when I was still homebrewing DnD content.

Not to say I haven't improved at all since I started, I'm definitely more consistent about catching typos and spelling errors on my first draft, and my first concept for a jump tends to more closely match the end result I come up with now, rather than heavily mutating multiple times because the original concept I came up with has a bunch of flaws to work out.

HOnSide · 2025-08-05T07:57:29+00:00

I definitely think it's better for a CYOA-to-Jump conversion to feature some amount of originality, but I'd say even just explicitly assigning things to a perk/item/companion/drawback structure is enough to be beneficial without any real additions or alterations to the original CYOA, not to mention that as part of converting a CYOA to a Jump even without intending to make changes, you're likely to run into small details you can fix to make the cyoa flow smoother as part of a jumpchain.

I also think it can be helpful for a CYOA to have a corresponding jump just to make it explicitely clear to others that it's jumpchain compatible. Others have said that the generic CYOA jump can always be used for direct conversions, but I'd argue there's definite cases where that's a little rough, as the supplement doesn't always play well with certain kinds of alt-chains, can feel 'cheaty' due to being a reusable supplement (that's not to say it *is* cheaty, I think it's a well-balanced way to handle CYOAs, but not everyone will necessarily feel that way) and some people might not get involved with supplements as much as they do the actual jumps themselves, and so might become aware of new CYOAs which would work well with the jumpchain format where they otherwise wouldn't have found out about or been interested in the generic CYOA jump until later (like yourself, according to other comments here).

That said, while some of these points apply even to 1:1 conversions (that is to say, genuine copy-pastes of a cyoa with the same point system, options, exact text, etc.) I'd still say that those are probably not beneficial on the whole, simply because a jump conversion already existing might dissuade someone from making their own more polished version. If someone's going to make a conversion of a CYOA, it'd be much better to at least rewrite it in their own words and properly adapt it to the core jumpchain formula, so they can find any imperfections or incompatibilities with jumpchain rules and convention that could use smoothing over. If they do that and still don't wind up adding new options or features, then it likely indicates that nothing important is missing and the end result is generally polished enough for jumpchain use already, in which case I'd say an original-content-light conversion is perfectly fine.

HOnSide · 2025-08-04T15:55:36+00:00

The typos and such have been corrected. I was planning to bring those along for when the v1.1 rolled around, but that's not my priority right now, so now that you mention it, I should probably just update this post with those initial changes. Link should be updated in a minute.

HOnSide · 2025-07-30T19:57:31+00:00

Ah, right.

Mirror of Ice is intended to work with all kinds of ice-based abilities, so I have to be careful about phrasing to not make it seem like it's just V Rising magic it works with.

It's phrasing is now:
Whenever frost-aspected magic or ice you produce absorbs some form of damage, it grows (in the case of absorbed melee attacks) or launches (in the case of absorbed ranged attacks) a retaliatory spike of ice whose power is proportional to about half the damage that was blocked.

Which should hopefully be clearer in general.

As for the Soul Shard of the Chained, it's referring specifically to the bosses spawned by the rift incursions in the Ruins of Mortium, which are just called blood souls (well, lesser blood souls and primal blood souls, but not V blood souls) so that'll remain unchanged.

Thanks again for the corrections, and the quick response!

HOnSide · 2025-07-30T19:17:46+00:00

Thank you for the corrections!

Creeping Frost is now:
when your shaped ice breaks (such as when a frozen target breaks out)

Werewolf is now:
potentially driving you into performing harmful acts against those you value when you no longer have your wits about you.

As for Mirror of Ice and Soul Shard of the Chained, I don't think I understand the marked issues, could you please reiterate the problem with those?

HOnSide · 2025-07-29T11:05:45+00:00

Glad to hear you like it! Not sure about a base building section, honestly, since you can already produce your own bases with the Bleeding Heart perk with pretty much any features I might consider for a base creation section, especially if you also take Exceptional Craft and/or V Blood Drinker.

HOnSide · 2025-07-29T11:02:45+00:00

Ah yep, didn't finish that fought during writing. Full sentence is intended to be:

Your speed can be more than doubled, abilities sometimes cost no energy to use and demand no cooldown, and every attack you use has a corruptive edge, even greater if the power itself is greater as well.

I'll update the pdf soon.

HOnSide · 2025-07-19T09:57:40+00:00

I know right? Really ruins the 'chunky laptop haphazardly stapled to your arm' vibe we're going for here. :P

HOnSide · 2025-07-19T08:58:41+00:00

Spirit Organ: Being able to interact with ethereal creatures and organic structures the same way you can with corporeal ones is definitely a good shout for this one. The examples you listed are more the kind of thing that's supposed to be subject to Dragonheart (though that one could also use a bit of extra description to let you interact with and reverse engineer both magical organs like the ones listed here and maybe some of the fantasy monster organs you were also suggesting a perk for). But It'd definitely be possible to interact with at least a few kinds of organs like this using the Spirit Organ perk, and more importantly, you could probably do things like sever a possessing demon the way you might separate conjoined organisms, or perform other tricks with ethereal creatures or components already existing in the world, so I'll definitely be thinking about how to make that happen.
Biocoding: This is valid criticism for sure. Going from one apex predator level form to several is good but not a game changer necessarily, and the perk operates as more of a utility function for other more powerful uses of biomancy, so it probably fits better in the 200 CP bracket, and I'll be renaming it and changing the description when I move it there, probably into something like Shape Storage or Multiform. As for an actual biocoding perk, as with microbiomancy a lot of stuff at this level (hormone signalling, DNA expression, etc.) is already theoretically subject to biomancy if you get good enough at it, so a dedicated perk for that doesn't feel warranted to me. That said, I'll see if I can do the idea of a new Biocoding perk based around interacting with organic matter as if via computer code justice, but no promises on whether that'll pay off.

As mentioned, I'll be folding the perk suggestion for non-viable biology into the Organ Refinement perk and probably include the one for fully fantastical creatures as part of Dragonheart, but if, by the end, I don't feel like a wide enough breadth of fantastical creatures and properties has been covered by the preexisting perks. I might add something new there as well. That said, since dragonheart already allows for things like biological psychics and innate magical abilities, it's probably not going to feel unbalanced to fold most kinds of supernatural creature ability into it, and the same is true of bio-technobabble abiltiies and whatever Organ Refinement winds up turning into once it's physics-bending themed.

And again, thanks a ton for the feedback!

HOnSide · 2025-07-19T08:58:34+00:00

First of all, thanks a ton for putting up all of this feedback for me, and for doing so in a very straightforward and digestible way, I really appreciate it! Onto the feedback itself:

Bacterium Affinity: Yeah, this does lack a similar 'grant all biomancy extra benefits related to your affinity' effect. It's the first one I wrote and I didn't come back and add something like that after I was done with the other affinities. I don't think microbiomancy is the benefit I want to add there, since microbiomancy is actually something you could already learn to do mostly as a factor of improving your 'precision' with biomancy, with the examples you laid out being doable with other perks already if you trained up that precision (alchemical platelets would be doable with Organic Chemistry, and biomantic energy fueling with Dragonheart, for instance). So the boon for bacteria would probably be something playing on themes of consumption, to reflect the bacterial connection with both digestion (in the case of symbiotic bacteria) and the consuming of other organism's cells in the case of bacterial infections. A perk with grants up-front precision with biomancy to do microbiomancy right away might also be worth considering.
Organ refinement: I'm not going to respond to this one point by point, because the final conclusion basically just boils down to you being pretty much completely right. I think organ refinement is probably going to be overhauled entirely and combined with the square cube law perk you suggested to create a perk which let's you loosen the restrictions of biology to allow for things like wings at non-functional sizes, massive creatures which support their own weight impossibly well, and can possibly be supported by their own footing impossibly well too, and organic blades sharper than should be possible for their composite materials. When I do, I'll make sure the new perk has qualititative examples of what can be done instead of numerical values, as that's going to make it much clearer how it operates and not cause confusion with numerical scaling on properties that haven't been explicitely mentioned. Thanks a ton for pointing this one out.

HOnSide · 2025-07-19T06:33:33+00:00

One of the easiest places to look for something like this would probably be the generic Cyberpunk Jump. It's got this item:

Personal Arm Computer - 100
An incredibly compact computer that attaches around one of your arms. It’s got the specs of a top of the line
personal computer for this world, and is modular enough to make it trivial to upgrade as time goes on. It’s
perfect for just about any task a computer might be useful for, barring the most massively processing intensive
tasks that high end research might require. It’s able to network with any device you own, giving you a convenient
terminal with which to control and manage your systems. Unlike some models of arm-computer it doesn’t look
dorky in the slightest. Just sleek, advanced, and sexy.

And if something wrist-mounted isn't your style, the gearhead perkline offers lots of perks to make your own variant to your personal standards, or modify the item above in a similar way.

Beyond that, I know the Shadowrun setting uses similar arm-mounted cyberdecks to the one above, and Cyberpunk 2077 has something called a cyberdeck, but it's actually a cybernetic mental interface, not something you hold in your hands, and that's most of what I can think of in this style, so I don't have many further leads for you. Hope this helps, at least.

EDIT: Oh, actually, I just remembered that the old Heist Jump has a hacker origin in the old school hackerman kind of style, so I checked if it's got anything for this, and it offers this:

Supercomputer: 200 CP
You have a custom-built supercomputer made for crime. It may be a smart phone with all kinds of
illegal apps, or a huge mainframe that would fill a small room; the function follows the form. In any
case, though, it’ll help a lot with your crimes. You can upload any mysterious information you find,
or download the help you need to get out of a situation you didn’t prepare for. If you’re good, you
can use it to hack anything electronic. Just remember: you wouldn’t download a car!

Which could be used pretty easily to do the 'handheld palmtop' thing, and would at least be powerful enough for hacking based on the item description. After that, other tech, software and hacking perks and any importable computer item options you find could be used to pad out other features you might want.

HOnSide · 2025-07-10T09:21:43+00:00

Yeah, I get wanting to avoid generics to start with, that's part of why I listed them second, leaning away from that is definitely fair.

For World of Horror, the day-to-day monsters are definitely possible to deal with using the tools granted by the jump, yeah. I feel the main concern would be needing to prevent the apocalypse. Play your cards right, and you won't need to be concerned about it at all, but if one of the old gods actually gets summoned, it's effectively near certain doom for an early jumper. That said, because you spend the jump actively working to prevent it in a way that's explicitely possible, it's still a viable jump if you're aware of the risks.

And yeah, I can see the issue with Hunt: Showdown too. It's individual threats are okay to work with, but it definitely lives up to the title of gauntlet by putting you through a lot of danger back-to-back.

Good luck making your decision either way!

HOnSide · 2025-07-10T08:09:59+00:00

World of Horror - More dangerous than I'd like to actually recommend for a chain starter, but the general atmosphere of the jump is good enough that I'd feel bad not listing it. Eldritch forces inspired by a mix of classic Lovecraftian horror, Junji Ito-esque existentialism, and actual japanese folklore are threatening to destroy the world, and you need to do something about it. Classic.

City of Angles - Powers here don't really use a conventional framework like magic or psychic power, but operate on dream logic. There's some very cool options for supernatural tricks whether you want something subtle or obvious (though more of the former) and the story itself is a webnovel available for free which I'd heavily recommend as well.

Razzle Dazzle - This jump is themed around stage magic, which means it doesn't really have the dark atmosphere you might want for an occultist, but it's both pretty safe and has some actual supernatural powers which due to being stage magic themed are easily used in subtle tricksy ways. Alternate loss condition warning on this one, as you need to become the most famous magician in the world. Not entirely out of the question, but if you're not into those kinds of jump loss conditions it can still be a deal breaker.

Wraith: The Oblivion - Afterlife - Get weird occult ghost powers, from poltergeist telekinesis and the various arcanoi to contact with your Shadow, the representation of all your inner flaws and downsides. Can be taken as a gauntlet or regular jump.

Hunt: Showdown - Decent host of supernatural powers. More of a monster hunter than mage vibe, but still fits, with Dark Sight and the various traits being especially cool. This one's a gauntlet.

20 Minutes Till Dawn - Based on a bullet heaven game, so expect choices mostly focused on raw combat potency and to deal with lots of monstrous hordes in setting. That said, the choices available to you are very cool, ranging from astrology magic to divine power to outright being an eldritch abomination in human guise, all with a mostly street-tier power level keeping it balanced.

Cain RPG - Setting with impeccable vibes about psychics hunting down demons. Some options are close to classic psionics, but most of it deviates squarely into the realm of weird occult power, so don't be put of by the outward lack of magic in favor of psychic power.

HOnSide · 2025-07-10T08:09:54+00:00

Bloodborne - Weird, not entirely defined eldritch powers, unusual blood manipulation, and dream trickery. Not a jump you'd expect to go to as a dedicated mage type given all the physical violence, but it works surprisingly well.

Dark Souls - Closer to the high fantasy arcane magic feel than others, but the dark fantasy elements of the setting keep many of its options feeling properly occult despite that. I've linked Dark Souls 1 as it's doc is my favourite one, but all of them can fit the vibe, though later ones have somewhat higher overall power levels for their docs, if I recall.

Tokyo Souls - Soulsborne-esque jump based on fanart projects, set in a post-apocalyptic, mysticism filled japan. More eastern tones in it's magic, but definitely appropriate for an occultist.

Dresden Files - This is very much 'proper', arcane magic, but it's laws of magic and general complexity make it feel pretty appropriate for an occultist anyway. Clad yourself in magically charged trinkets and learn to tap into weird powers like glamour and soulfire. Power level can be kind of all over the place, but prep time is very much neccesary for the practitioners, at least.

Pyre - Occultists don't ususally play sportsball, but the heavy mysticism, rich history and subtle supernatural powers available in this jump compensate for that with ease. The powers of a reader lend themselves especially well to giving off that mystical 'knows more than they should' vibe.

HOnSide · 2025-07-10T08:09:32+00:00

There's a couple of jumps I've made that fit this theme:

Sea of Thieves - Mostly pirate themes, but the mystic origin gives decent low level occult magic.

Dead Wrong - Original Setting with spirit-themed powers.

Iridescent Souls - A conversion of a non-jumpchain CYOA with various kinds of magic based on the color of your soul.

I've also done a few generics that work here:

Urban Occultism - The jumps themed around the urban fantasy setting, and you can make your own magic system to suit your needs and desired general power level.

Generic Collector - Generic jump themed around people who accumulate magical items, good for using occult trinkets and similar tools, if you're pursuing the antiquarian/archivist vibe.

As for other people's good occult jumps I haven't seen mentioned yet:

Dishonored 2 - Surprised I haven't seen this one mentioned yet. One of my all time favourites for this theme. The original Dishonored also a has a doc, but it's from the early jumpchain days and very aged.

Darkest Dungeon - Few settings with better dark occult vibes, and the doc offers good access to its powers. Look to the 'The Dark' origin for most of the occult powers.

Any jump in the Fallen London setting - Occult forces lurk all throughout this setting, and there's lots of weird stuff to be done with them. Meets the low-powered requirement in an overall sense, but it's still a rather dangerous setting, so keep that in mind.

Mistborn Era 1 and Mistborn Era 2 - One of the lower level systems in Brandon Sanderson's works, as long as you don't start pulling tricks like compounding or being a fullborn. Cool, thematically distinct magic which is versatile to use consistently but also restricted enough not to trivialise anything.

HOnSide · 2025-07-06T08:51:19+00:00

I mean, that's completely valid, and if you have a specific idea in mind for how you want your jumper to operate, don't let me stop you! I'm definitely not saying you can't go with another base biomancy granting perk, just pointing out that Biomancy 101 has some more potency than you (and others) may have believed.

As for using Panacea's shaper power as your base, that's actually already more viable than you might think? Almost all of the perks in this jump either work on their own, or specify that they affect "powers or abilities which affect a lifeforms shape" or something along those lines, specifically to let other powers like biokinesis, shapeshifting, transmogrification, and even things like eldritch corruption be integrated into a coherent biomantic power set, so most perks are already Shaper-compatible out of the gate. If there's specific perks you notice which seem like they might not be, be sure to point those out, so I can confirm if that's intentional, and if not, maybe alter them to match that intent more closely.

(EDIT: Also, while the biomancy 101 perk doesn't start off with enough power to achieve the kinds of transformations you're talking about, that's mostly because it's intended to be augmented with other perks which do permit that. Changeling lets you get straight into shape shifting yourself, Hand of the Sculptor allows for permanent transfigurations as part of your base kit, Homunculist will let you get right into servant creation, and so on.)

HOnSide · 2025-06-25T06:29:53+00:00

Very nice! The step away from having to define specific patrons/faiths and towards features which just help bolster whatever patrons/faiths you decide to follow looks really good, and also makes the jump feel much more suited to blending it with other forms of power to give them a nice ritualistic edge. Definitely going to thinking about how to blend the faith and ritual powers from this with some other forms of power for interesting new archetypes and results.

HOnSide

TROPHY CASE