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Mine did arrive two days early, so be sure to keep an eye out for it. It was also packed very well, with extra cardboard packed in to keep the books from moving around.
Mine should be showing up here in not too long, but honestly, I didn't remember ordering a softcover but I did, so it'll be showing up. Hopefully it'll get some good online support
We're supposed to be getting 4 more physical products from the KS- I wonder if we actually will.
We're supposed to be getting 4 more physical products from the KS- I wonder if we actually will.
I was very excited about Cortex Prime because many people had commented to me that it's Fate-like in all of the abstract widgets but it has less wrangling over aspects at the table. I backed the kickstarter but I'm waiting for all of the mini-settings they promised - I need a lot more guidance in the form of worked examples before I could use this thing.
I've made kind of a pile of character sheets for Cortex, and in the last few days I've started to go back and make rulesheets for some of them too. feel free to AMA, if you want "explanations of what decisions were made and why" — there's also a ton of great discussion on the Discord.Dude, that is more than fair. As I understand it, the core Prime book is meant to be basically a "build your game" thing with lots of options and advice. And while we have a number of older versions to draw inspiration from, including some mini-settings in the Cortex Plus Hacker's Guide, I too am looking forward to having more worked examples(hopefully with explanations of what decisions were made and why). I'm fairly familiar with how Cortex is supposed to work at this point, but I'd like to get to the point that I'm comfortable enough with it to make my own game and be reasonably certain that it's not hot garbage.
you totally can ("go back to the original incarnation of Cortex, Pre Cortex+").So how narrative (Indie game) is it would ya say?
I backed it as well but I was hoping the "tool-kit" aspect of it would allow me to go back to the original incarnation of Cortex, Pre Cortex+. I got the impression that that first version was the least story/narrative version of the rules set? and it had some things in common with Unisystem or Savage Worlds as in being a more "light weight" generic rpg engine than say GURPS or HERO.
Josh has been done with editing for a while, and Tina's presumably working on art sourcing and layout, given that the main book is done producing. not sure what the precise timeline is, because Fandom doesn't like to publish dates they're not 110% guaranteed to hit.While I don’t doubt that we’ll get something (I’m only in for the pdfs). Do we have any idea as to the status of these?
Pathways are utterly brilliant, and the one thing that I think Cortex has been the sole innovator of. one of the things that happened with the Handbook is that some things were streamlined, not the least of which being Pathways. I'm certain there's gonna be something in the future that goes into the kind of depth and breadth of variation you can pull off with what's in the Watchtower Report and the Hacker's Guide, but it's not the Handbook.In Cortex Prime, this is never mentioned. So I'm guessing that by default you're only allowed to do a single column shift at every step, including step 5. Of course the GM can change anything in any way, but I don't see it mentioned anywhere. I do wish it was at least mentioned as an option - I have a copy of Smallville, which is the only reason I know that anyone ever thought to do things that way. It might not even occur to people who never had such access(the Smallville book isn't readily available, and the PDFs are no longer available either[and just to flex a bit, yes, I do have the Watchtower Report PDF]).
why would you think we wouldn't? They've been pretty clear, they've communicated well by having updates essentially every 2 weeks, they've gone through the selling of cortex itself, the primary person moving to another country and still operating the project. we're getting books late, but they are definitely coming, and far better than what we expected.
Products from the Kickstarter still to come (in the works):
* System Reference (kind of a big encyclopaedia of the rules and all the mods, no examples or settings): currently in editing
* Spotlight Volumes I thru V (collections of settings, genre mashups, and readymade worlds, made possible by stretch goals): rules development, off to final edits once System Reference is done
Products in the works that aren't from the Kickstarter:
* Tales of Xadia RPG (based on Netflex's The Dragon Prince): almost ready for public playtest
* Legends of Grayskull RPG (based on Masters of the Universe including She-Ra): rules design and development stage
So how narrative (Indie game) is it would ya say?
I backed it as well but I was hoping the "tool-kit" aspect of it would allow me to go back to the original incarnation of Cortex, Pre Cortex+. I got the impression that that first version was the least story/narrative version of the rules set? and it had some things in common with Unisystem or Savage Worlds as in being a more "light weight" generic rpg engine than say GURPS or HERO.
I think you'll be able to do that without a problem. The main thing with Cortex is for the characters to have Distinctions, and two other Prime Sets to roll. Those other two sets can range from Values & Relationships (like Smallville) to just straight up Skills & Attributes. It has the potential to go full-Indy game, but that's up to you. It can just as easily have a pretty traditional feel, with the only major narrative elements being Distinctions.
imo, there is a version of Fate that does a great job at two-column builds. give ya one guess who helped write it, and what other game it mysteriously resembles.I'm not going to bitch about Fate, because it's a good game-- but I was screwing around with Fate Core and Dresden Files and Atomic Robo and weird homebrew for a couple of years, and it just wasn't what I wanted for what I wanted it for. In particular, no version of Fate seems well-equipped to handle a system with two modifiers to the dice roll-- like Attibute plus Skill, or Approach plus Role. Aspects are great, but they only count, on the dice, when you spend Fate Points.
Products from the Kickstarter still to come (in the works):
* System Reference (kind of a big encyclopaedia of the rules and all the mods, no examples or settings): currently in editing
* Legends of Grayskull RPG (based on Masters of the Universe including She-Ra): rules design and development stage
I got into Fate at first because it did something very specific that I wanted more trad/OSR games to do: model how a character's emotional state, their beliefs, their moral convictions influence what they are capable of doing, and what they're capable of deciding to do, in the environment modeled by the game.
I've made kind of a pile of character sheets for Cortex, and in the last few days I've started to go back and make rulesheets for some of them too. feel free to AMA, if you want "explanations of what decisions were made and why" — there's also a ton of great discussion on the Discord.
you totally can ("go back to the original incarnation of Cortex, Pre Cortex+").
there are enough folks who've been talking about wanting Cortex Classic stuff that even if Fandom doesn't build it out, someone out there is gonna put it out on the Creator Studio, I'm sure of it.
absolutely zero effort. you just do it. you want a trait set to be explicitly "Mind / Body / Social / Soul"? bam, done. (in fact, I did exactly this for Heroes of Metal & Bone)Another question for those more familiar with the Cortex engine. How hard would it be to add a 4th category of stats. Say Mind, Body, Social, "Soul" for stuff like Mana or Spiritual Strength.
Will you only be able to sell them via CortexRPG.com? Or is that just a platform where you can sell them and get a larger margin?
I really love the layout and organization of the book. It is probably the most simple to construct a game from of any toolkit game I've ever read.
ooh, ooh, I wanna see it. (when you're comfortable sharing that is)I'm currently bashing together a fantasy magical girl mecha campaign. It's going well so far.
I just recently picked up Cortex Prime, and am reading through it. I've found it fairly skim proof because of how it's a toolkit and keeps presenting alternates and add-ons. But it is relatively clear. It's definitely much clearer than FATE, because I can actually understand what Cortex is trying to convey.
EmperorNorton 's stuff above immediately made me think of using the virtues of Ultima (or at least the three Principles) as Traits.