Cortex

Piperdog · Post by **Piperdog** » Wed Mar 24, 2010 1:26 pm

Hey guys. I have been looking at Cortex rpg system. It looks pretty cool. From what I can see, it is similar to SW in some ways, but has a little more crunch. Anybody own it or run it on occasion? What do you think of it?
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Post by **Breakdaddy** » Wed Mar 24, 2010 2:33 pm

Cortex is a cool system. Its the same system that is the engine for the Serenity RPG, which is the only incarnation I've any experience with. It is somewhat similar to Savage Worlds but I havent gotten to run it yet and put it through its paces so I dont know how it plays. My experience only goes as far as having read the rules.

Treebore · Post by **Treebore** » Wed Mar 24, 2010 6:54 pm

Some guys I game with have used it and like it a lot.
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Sir Ironside · Post by **Sir Ironside** » Wed Mar 24, 2010 10:55 pm

With both Leverage and Smallville rpg's announced, they have said they have altered the rules to be more social interactive than kill them and take their stuff.

It should be interesting to see how they do that.
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Piperdog · Post by **Piperdog** » Thu Mar 25, 2010 2:25 am

I may break down and buy this.
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ssfsx17 · Post by **ssfsx17** » Thu Mar 25, 2010 4:57 am

Sir Ironside wrote:
With both Leverage and Smallville rpg's announced, they have said they have altered the rules to be more social interactive than kill them and take their stuff.

It should be interesting to see how they do that.

Cortex is already not about killing things or taking their stuff. There's no monetary system in the core book, and experience and plot points are awarded purely by whatever the GM thinks should be given out. And I imagine that in the Battlestar Galactica RPG, there's not a lot of stuff to take in the first place (unless you're a Cylon), and killing is less about glory and more about avoided a dire fate for the remnants of humanity.
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Sir Ironside · Post by **Sir Ironside** » Thu Mar 25, 2010 10:26 am

ssfsx17 wrote:
Cortex is already not about killing things or taking their stuff. There's no monetary system in the core book, and experience and plot points are awarded purely by whatever the GM thinks should be given out. And I imagine that in the Battlestar Galactica RPG, there's not a lot of stuff to take in the first place (unless you're a Cylon), and killing is less about glory and more about avoided a dire fate for the remnants of humanity.

My comment was a catch-all for rpg's that revolve around combat, which is pretty much every rpg including Cortex. Rpg's have been combat centric for a very long time, that is why there are so many pages dedicated to just combat.

This new direction for Cortex actually takes away some of the importance of combat and replaces it with more social rules. So, much so that some of the attributes have been removed and replaced with different attributes. This isn't just some add on rules to the Cortex basic game, this is a re-visioning.
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Piperdog · Post by **Piperdog** » Thu Mar 25, 2010 11:34 am

So is combat worth running in Cortex? It sounds like it may be too rules lite in that department for me then. I am all for rules lite, obviously, but it's always a challenge to find that sweet spot between depth and speed of play.
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Sir Ironside · Post by **Sir Ironside** » Thu Mar 25, 2010 12:20 pm

Piperdog wrote:
So is combat worth running in Cortex? It sounds like it may be too rules lite in that department for me then. I am all for rules lite, obviously, but it's always a challenge to find that sweet spot between depth and speed of play.

Cortex, is Cortex... there will still be fighting rules, and Cortex is middle ground as far as rules sets go.

I am not a playtester, but I do know some and they have had a blast playing it. They have signed a NDA so they couldn't say much other than, it isn't what you think it is and you'll have more fun than you think you will.

I think reserving judgment is a good thing, it may very well not turn out to be something you'd like, but at least wait till it comes out before starting to put nails in the coffin.
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GoOrange · Post by **GoOrange** » Thu Mar 25, 2010 8:02 pm

I didn't care for combat in Cortex at all. I ran a few sessions of it for a Serenity game and we eventually got so frustrated with the system we stopped playing altogether.

Roll to hit, roll for defense (what's the dodge roll again or were you using innate defense or blocking? did you announce you were taking multiple actions or are you applying the penalty for your next attack?), roll for damage, figure out if it's stun or wound damage, check to see if the damage done is more than your life point total, then roll to see if you pass out).

I've been told that they've cleaned things up a bit in more recent games, but I think the damage has been done and there's no going back for me.

SigilWraith · Post by **SigilWraith** » Sat Mar 27, 2010 7:32 pm

Does anyone know whatever happened to the Supernatural (TV show) RPG that was supposed to utilize Cortex?

Treebore · Post by **Treebore** » Sat Mar 27, 2010 7:36 pm

SigilWraith wrote:
Does anyone know whatever happened to the Supernatural (TV show) RPG that was supposed to utilize Cortex?

Looks/sounds like its available:
http://www.margaretweis.com/mwp-online- ... aying-game
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SigilWraith · Post by **SigilWraith** » Sat Mar 27, 2010 7:40 pm

Ah, yes... sorry about that. Amazon didn't want to reveal it to me as available at first, showing the Quickstart Guide as the only thing in existence and marking it as "unavailable"... but a Google search led me to the Amazon entry I was hoping to find. That's the 3rd time in 2 days now I have had trouble using Amazon's search engine but finding something on Amazon via Google just fine.

Piperdog · Post by **Piperdog** » Sun Jul 25, 2010 9:11 pm

Just ordered mine new from Superherogameland.com for 19.11 (original price 29.99). I look forward to seeing how this plays. I bought the pdf from Drivethrurpg (Christmas in July sale) and liked what I saw enough to shell out for the book.
http://www.superherogameland.com/Search ... earch.y=12

In the meantime, I have been shopping at this store quite a bit and love the prices.
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slimykuotoan · Post by **slimykuotoan** » Mon Jul 26, 2010 1:44 am

It's my system of choice for sci-fi.
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Piperdog · Post by **Piperdog** » Sat Jul 31, 2010 12:08 pm

Ok, just got this and it looks pretty cool. I won't be able to get through the book until after GenCon, but from a cursory read, it seems like it will play smoothly. I'm looking forward to taking it for a spin.
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When in doubt as to who is in charge on the battlefield, listen to the man with the bloodiest sword.