Willow & Tara: Cortex (Cortex Part 2)

So I am going to pull out my iconic witches again because I want to test out the magic system Cortex presently has and work through my Unisystem conversions.

Following up from yesterday's post, I decided that what Cortex does rather well is "normal people in an abnormal world" thing, with Supernatural being my Cortex game of choice for this.  This is something that Savage Worlds (out of the box) does well too, but Cortex does it a bit better in my opinion.

Let me begin with the conversions. Some of this is very similar to the Savage Worlds conversions I had done a bit back.  So I'll re-include those numbers again.

Basic Conversions
Conversions between the two systems are surprisingly easy. I say surprising, it isn't really since I feel both games appeal to the same kind of gamer and similar kinds of game worlds. Both games assume normal humans (at least at their core) and a small set of skills.

Attributes and Skills
Conversions here could not be easier. Attributes are roughly the same. Strength = Strength, Dexterity = Agility, Constitution = Vitality, Intelligence = Intelligence, Willpower = Willpower and Perception = Alertness. Even the ranges are roughly the same. 1 = d2, 2=d4, 3=d6, 4=d8, 5=d10 and 6=d12, with the proper human mins and maxs lining up. Cortex even assumes the human average to be about d6, similar to Unisystem's 3. With the point buy systems Cortex's Veteran is roughly equal then Experienced Heroes in many Unisystem games. Life points are calculated differently, so I would stick to the system used in each game rather than a full conversion between the two.

From the Unisystem perspective the lowest human score is a 1, but most heroes will have a minimum of 2 in their Attributes. For Cortex that is a d2 (rarely used in my experience) and the d4.  Again, on par with Savage Worlds. This give us this:

Unisystem	Savage Worlds	Cortex
1	d4-1	d2
2	d4	d4
3	d6	d6
4	d8	d8
5	d10	d10
6	d12	d12
7	d12+1	d12+d2
8	d12+2	d12+d4
9	d12+3	d12+d6

Success are easier in Cortex, but Cortex is scaled more like d20.  So an "Easy" Difficulty needs a 3 (which can still be botched if you roll all "1"s.)  The scaling is similar to Unisystem's Success levels, so in practice I would often adjudicate them the same way.
Cinematic Unisystem has Drama Points, Cortex has Plot Points, and they have similar uses.

Cortex does split off it's damage to Stun and Wound, round towards Stun.  This way a character can be knocked out or stunned in some cases.  I like the idea myself and it is a neat and simple way of doing things.  Not something I would use in Unisystem, but I might give it a try just to see.

Qualities, Drawbacks, Traits and Complications
Unisystem characters get Qualities and Drawbacks. Cortex characters get Traits and Complications; and they get a few of those. This is fine really when dealing with normal humans. In the core rules there are still a few to choose from and there are others in the other, licensed material cores. In this respect it is closer to Savage Worlds. All three games have some overlap here, but each has something here and there to offer the others. Demon Hunters and Supernatural can get a boost from the likes of Buffy, Angel and Ghosts of Albion, while Unisystem gamers can get a different feel for their games from Demon Hunters and Supernatural. Adding Battlestar Galactica to the mix extends this even more. Ghosts of Albion/Angel/Buffy, Supernatural and Demon Hunters all live under the same basic idea; the supernatural is real and you need to fight it, though they all differ in approach. Mixing the games up a bit would be perfect for that Urban Fantasy genre that is so popular these days, with a perfect balance of fluff and crunch and rules-lite cinematic fun. While conversions are easy, some would be harder to convert. For example, a Cortex Vampire costs d6, in Unisystem Vampires are 15 pts. Granted they are different sort of vampires. But something like a Slayer or Protector would cost quite a bit in Cortex, and for the current games they have not really appropriate. I'd have to go through all the Demon and Supernatural creation rules (in Angel and Ghosts respectively) to see if they would convert fine to Cortex.
There are not as many choices in Cortex as there are in Unisystem, but then again you are limited to how many you can have more in Cortex too.  So Qualities/Drawbacks don't always line up perfectly with Traits/Complications.

The Core book is straight forward and takes a lot of cues from Savage Worlds,  provide lots of crunch, some builds and almost no fluff.  That is fine by me really.  Makes the Core easy to read.  There are some sample "worlds" or campaigns (like you find in the True 20 book) to get you going.  IF you don't like those then there are all the other books they make.

I played Cortex for the first time a couple of Gen Con's ago and it is easy to learn on the fly, very fast and very fun.  The advantage it has over Unisystem is the more interesting (to me) probability curves of the different sized dice. d12+d6 is much more interesting than  d10 + some number + some other number.  Though even given that it still has not really replaced Cinematic Unisystem in my heart.

Willow and Tara
Ok for this time I am going to use the magic system as-is and see how things stack up. Normally I would stat them up the same year I was introduced to the game, in this case 2008.  But that puts WAY outside what Cortex could do in post "Season of the Witch" terms.  There are more details on my "seasons" here.  I think I'll still say 2008, but use slightly scaled back versions.  Parallel worlds.  Wibbly-wobbly and all.  Maybe this is the Willow and Tara that live in the same universe as Sam and Dean from Supernatural.

Tara A. Maclay
(circa 2008 game time)
Female; Age 28; Height: 5' 5"; Weight 125lbs

Agility: d4
Strength: d4
Vitality: d6
Alertness: d12 (*Tara is an empath, so I bumped this up to this level)
Intelligence:  d10
Willpower: d12

Life Points: 18
Initiative: d4 + d12
Endurance: d6 + d12
Resistance:  d6 + d6
Move: 15
Innate Def: d4
Dodge: d4 + d4

Traits
Allure d2
Animal Empathy d4
Contacts (Supernatural) d6
Enhanced Senses d10 (Empathy, The Sight) *In a Supernatural game I would make this Clairvoyant at d6 (I know not in the rules...)
Healer's Touch d2
Higher Education d6

Channeling Trait (Magic) d12 + d8
Telekinesis d12

Complications
Allergy, Shellfish d2
Erie Presence d2 (to supernaturals only)
Shy d6 (though by 2008 she has grown out of this)

Skills
Animals d6
- Riding d8
Artistry d6
- Writing d8
Athletics d4
Craft d6
- Cooking d8
Discipline d4
Drive d4
Influence d4
Knowledge d6
- Folklore d10
- Occult d12 + d6
- History d8
Medicine d4
Melee Weapons d4
Perception d6
Performance d6
- Dancing d8
- Singing d8
Science d6
- Social Sciences d10
Tech d6
Unarmed Combat d4

The magic trait is Magic.

Willow D. Rosenberg
(circa 2008 game time)
Female; Age 28; Height: 5' 3"; Weight 105lbs

Agility: d4

Strength: d4

Vitality: d6

Alertness: d10

Intelligence:  d12

Willpower: d12

Life Points: 18

Initiative: d4 + d10

Endurance: d6 + d12

Resistance:  d6 + d6

Move: 15

Innate Def: d4

Dodge: d4 + d4

Traits

Allure d4

Ambidexterity d2  

Attuned to Technology

Contacts (Supernatural, Business) d6

Enhanced Senses d10 (Lesser Sensing)

Head for Numbers d6

Talented (Computers) d6

Wealthy d8

Channeling Trait (Magic) d12 + d8

Telekinesis d12

Complications

Anger Issues d2 

Skills

Athletics dd

Craft d6

Discipline d2

Drive d4

Influence d6

Knowledge d6

- Occult d12 + d8

- History d8

Mechanic d6

Medicine d6

Melee Weapons d2

Perception d4

Science d6

- Biology d10

- Chemistry d12

Tech d6

- Computers d12 + d4

- Robotics d10  (though this would not work in a Supernatural game, in a Demon Hunters game though it would)

Unarmed Combat d4

The magic trait is Magic.

After building these I would like to give the out of the box version of the magic system a trial run again.  It would be interesting to see how everything fits together.    Stat wise I do like how they came out.  These are not starting characters and using the same ideas I used WAAAY back in the WitchCraft days I advanced them with points.  I am pleased with the results.

Of course to really try this out I have work up some more characters.  If I am going to do that then why not see how they all work together as a social group.  Sounds like the perfect time for Smallville and Cortex Plus.

Cortex, Part 1

I think it is high time I devoted some photons to Cortex.  In truth I already have with these posts:
http://timbrannan.blogspot.com/2009/06/supernatural-rpg.html
http://timbrannan.blogspot.com/2010/02/cortex-and-unisystem.html
http://timbrannan.blogspot.com/2010/02/magic-in-cortex-savage-worlds-and-witch.html
http://timbrannan.blogspot.com/2010/03/sympathy-for-succubus-part-2.html
http://timbrannan.blogspot.com/2010/07/savage-worlds.html (a little)
http://timbrannan.blogspot.com/2010/07/tale-of-two-supermen.html

I am going to talk about Cortex, or I guess what could now be described as "Classic Cortex".  The Cortex in Smallville and Leverage is something called "Cortex Plus".  There are more differences between Classic and Plus than there are between Classic Unisystem and Cinematic Unisystem or even between D&D 3.0 and 3.5. Enough that I want to detail them as separate systems.

Cortex has a generic book (pictured above) which is the core of the Cortex System. There are many licensed products that Margaret Weis Productions makes.  These include Supernatural, Serenity, Battlestar Galactica, and Demon Hunters. Smallville and Leverage use the new Cortex Plus system.

So what is Cortex?  Other than a system that seems to be doing a lot of TV shows?  Well I have described Cortex in the past as the love child of Unisystem and Savage Worlds.  The system is closer in feel to Unisystem and is a step-die system like Savage Worlds.

So unlike other reviews I want to hit some very specific things with Cortex.  These might sound a tad negative, but they are not really. I am just focusing on a few things here.  I do want to spend some time still talking about why I like this system.

Magic -  I have gone on about how Cortex needs a better magic system, and it does, but to be fair none of the licenses the Cortex currently has does anything near the magic you see in Buffy or Ghosts of Albion.  Supernatural and Demon Hunters, while they do have magic, are also not at that level.   I have toyed around with converting the magic system from Ghosts and even using the one from Witch Girls Adventures. While these are passable, I really think something new and excited is needed here.  For starters I would take what I learned for Ghosts and keep it simple.  I'd also want to split magic up into different types of magic.  Say like "Earth Magic" and "Diabolic", not just the descriptors I used in Ghosts, but separate "Skills", this would control the power levels some and keep things at that "human" power level that Cortex works well at.

What Book Do I Buy? - Interesting thing about Cortex.  I have never watched any of the shows they have games for.  BSG was good, but I lost interest.  Never watched Firefly (and no plans to start really).  I watched Supernatural and I loved it, but could never find the time in my days to watch the episodes I had recorded.  Same with Smallville and Leverage.  So I can't judge the books on how well they emulate their respective universes.  My gut feeling is that Supernatural is really, really damn close and so is Smallville.  But say you are new to Cortex, what should you buy?  Well...I guess I would start with, what show are you wanting to emulate?  I knew nothing of "Demon Hunters" till I signed up for it one Gen Con.  Cam Banks ran it and it was a blast!  The background is bit more silly that I normally take my modern/horror, but there is no reason at all you could not play it straight.  Supernatural is one of my favorite games presently as well.  It is a great game if you want to play normal human versus things that go bump in the night kind of game.  Actually, Supernatural is a GREAT game if you loved Chill.  If you want to play in outer space, well they have two games for that too.
Smallville, and from what I can tell Leverage, are different.  These games are for interpersonal relationships and drama, regardless of background.  Sure Clark can leap tall buildings in a single bound, but how is going to do if Lois starts filtering with him?  Some people don't like this kind of game, but personally (as a gamer and a designer) I find it fascinating! But I am getting ahead of myself...

Why do I need this if I have this? And this is a good question to ask.  Why would I play Cortex if I have Unisystem or Savage Worlds or True 20 or GURPS?   I think the answer here is people will play it because of the licenses.  This certainly worked great for  Buffy and Unisystem and it seems to working great for Cortex so far.  I think to get them to the next step is to have more products out for the "generic" rules that can be used with any book they sell.  Cortex Plus expands this and the system itself now becomes something of an interest above and beyond the license itself.  So say you are like me and you have Buffy, Chill, Ghosts of Albion, World of Darkness, Call of Cthulhu and Ghostbusters; what does Supernatural give you?  Well I guess that depends.  If you are a fan of the show then you have that.  The book is one of the nicest looking RPGs I have seen in a long time. Beyond that Supernatural is about normal people.  Characters in Ghosts of Albion are not normal.  Same is true for Buffy, CoC and World of Darkness.  Chill, like I mentioned, comes the closest, but Chill is a very old system now and there are parts that are showing that age.  Supernatural + the Cortex Core Rules gives you plenty on doing a "hunter" game or even a "survivor" game.

Why I Like Cortex
I will be honest, I like Cortex.  The math geek in me loves the step die progression and the fact that you have die + die/dice to get to a success.  While my love for Unisystem know no bounds, the d10 + numbers is a bit of flat outcome. I have talked about my fondness for Supernatural already and even in re-reads I still think it holds on well.  Here is how I feel about Cortex in general.
- The system is easy to learn.  Look, I have done my tenure with tables, insane formulas and dozens of subsystems.  I don't have to do that anymore.  If game wants my attention then it needs to be simple or have a good reason for the complexity.
- The game is improving. You can track Cortex's development through it's licensed games.  Yes there were some issues with earlier games, but now I feel they have a good handle on what they want to do and how to do it.
- Cortex has some great looking books.  I know that is not the end all be all, but a lot of work, care and effort goes into producing these books.  Supernatural and Smallville in particular are two of the best looking games I have seen in a while.  Minor quibble, not enough pictures of Lenore and Zatana respectively.
- Most importantly I feel it is a system that can do more than it currently has.  The core book is presented in a very "tool box" way and I'd like to try to build something with that.

I will do some Unisystem/Cortex conversions next and talk about magic and what Cortex Plus adds to the mix.

Links
http://www.margaretweis.com/
http://cortexsystemrpg.org/

I Got Nothin'

Post Gen Con and Back to Work and getting everything done for the Fall term has left no time for blogging this week.

You could pop over to DriveThruRPG and read some of the reviews I have written I suppose.  I am up to 92 now.

http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product_reviews.php?products_id=83081&customers_id=10748&affiliate_id=10748

This will not end well

I like to keep an eye on the OSR movement since I like the spirit of what is going on, I love many of the products and most of the people involved are also very cool.

But this is something that will not end well at all.

http://www.diecastgamesinc.com/ADD-Adventures_c2.htm

I also saw this at Gen Con and wondered at first if this was an old TSR book that never saw the light of day or something new.
This issue here of course is using a trademark, "Advanced Dungeons and Dragons" which is specifically prohibited by the OGL.

There are more discussions going about here:

• http://wondrousimaginings.blogspot.com/2010/08/i-cant-believe-im-rooting-for-wotc-to.html
• http://batintheattic.blogspot.com/2010/08/how-not-to-use-ogl.html
• http://grognardia.blogspot.com/2010/08/kerfuffle-in-offing.html
• http://underdarkgazette.blogspot.com/2010/08/well-i-wonder-how-this-will-go-over-tsr.html

• http://www.dragonsfoot.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=21&t=44132&sid=54adce16cc39c4cbfa3fdcdcd08093f4
• http://knights-n-knaves.com/phpbb3/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=7268
• http://www.acaeum.com/forum/about10369-0-asc-0.html

Even people that don't like new D&D or WotC see this as a bad move.

There are a lot of problems with this, mostly effecting the OSR publishers wishing to reach out to new audiences.

This is one to keep an eye on.

Gen Con Haul, quick and dirty reviews, Part 1

Here are some of the things I got at Gen Con this year.

Ok, that is a small lie.  I actually didn't buy anything this year, but instead bought some on PDF before the Con and others afterwards.

First up Pathfinder, the big Ennie winner of 2010.

Pathfinder Advanced Player's Guide

OR "Bought it for the Witch, Stayed for the Paladin"
The one thing I see here is some serious influence on what I will call "new School" D&D.  Pathfinder and D&D4 took the same base idea (D&D 3.5) and then went in very different directions.  I think Pathfinder is exactly what we would have gotten in D&D 4 had the same team stayed at Wizards/Hasbro.  That is more evident with this book.
The race section is interesting, but I am not sure what I'll do with that all yet. Though I like the potential of what they have here.  I can see similar options for various countries or lands the characters grow up in.
I love the new classes.  The Alchemist, Oracle and the Witch are all kinds of awesome.  The cavalier is a nice throwback to the old UA.  The Witch Hunter Inquisitor is also quite cool.   The Oracle and the Witch are like Divine and Arcane versions of the same thing really.  That is how it should be.  A multiclassed Oracle/Witch (a Seer? A Sybil?) would be very cool if built properly.  I love all the archetypes (Mysteries, Orders and the like) really gives each class some style.  Speaking of the witch, I love how much she is reliant on her familiar. Something I think other witch classes for *D&D over the years has forgotten. Though I am not a fan of the witch needing a hag for a coven.  I don't mind that she can count as a hag, but I still think three witches should be able to form a coven on their own.
The section on expanding the existing base classes is equally as awesome.  Again, this book seems to deliver on the promise of the old Unearthed Arcana.  All sorts of new archetypes are detailed.  Think of what they did with the Sorcerer and bloodlines and now apply that to every class.  Sorcerers get new bloodlines, fighters get new fighting styles (which helps move them away from the Cavalier.  This is a good thing). Wizards get new schools (Earth, Wind and Fire...and Water.  Benders or 70's Soul.  You decide).
The Zen Archer Monk is cool beyond words.  In one of my Pathfinder games I am playing a Paladin, so I am looking at the various archetypes (Divine Defender, Hospitaler, Sacred Servant, Shining Knight, my faves Undead Scourge and Warrior of the Holy Light) really closely.  There is also an Antipaladin class, not a prestige class.
Plenty of new feats.  New equipment (no new polearms). Lots of new spells. And Prestige Classes.
While there is nothing here that screams witch or oracle, there are some neat ones for the cavalier, inquisitor and paladins.  The Holy Vindicator certainly looks fun. There are some new magic items, cursed items and artifacts.
There are some new rules, including Hero Points, which is nice and the whole section on Traits; which I am unsure if this is the same as what come out before or not.

All in all a really awesome book.  If you are playing Pathfinder then it really should be a must have.
The best comparison is of course to the old Unearthed Arcana of the 1st ed days (not the 3rd Ed one).  The rules here are designed to be added right into your game with a minimal of fuss.
As a publishing model I can see Pathfinder coming out with these every so often, like WotC and their Player's Handbook X model.  But the issue with that is there is so much in this book now and it adds so much flexibility that I am uncertain where they would want to go next.  Mind you I do have my own ideas, but would those support a line?

Other Random bits:
I like the witch. I like her a lot.  But there are things I would change about her to be honest.
I guess the Witch iconic character is named Feiya, but I have not seen her stated up yet, other than she is Chaotic Good and has white/blond hair like the iconic sorceress,  Seoni.

While the expanded races are neat, I think I would have liked to see something new too.  A new race really should not be out of the question given the races that both 3.x and 4e have given us.  Not a dragonborn or a wilden, but a demonic type like the Tiefling might be cool.

The three core Pathfinder books, the Core Rules, Bestiary and Advanced Player's Guide, use the same color on their bindings as the core D&D4 books.  Red, green and blue.  Granted these are the most common colors, but it bears mentioning.

With the release of this book would it be safe to call Pathfinder "Advanced D&D 3rd Edition" instead of D&D 3.75?  I personally like that better.  So once again you could say we have AD&D and D&D.

I mentioned it before, but the art is fantastic.  It is still the "dungeon punk" feel of 3.x, but updated to the D&D4 style a bit.

What is missing here I think and needed is some information on Pathfinder Epic level play.  I was never thrilled with the Epic Level Handbook from WotC and I also don't think it will work very well with this book. But I would like to see something.

Pathfinder APG

I now have my hands on the Advanced Player's Guide for Pathfinder.

Still dig the witch, but would rather see her stats based on Wisdom or even Charisma. 

Love the art.

More once I have had a chance to go over it proper.

Would have liked to see more witchy Prestige Classes too.

Gen Con 2010 in retrospect

All things considered Gen Con 2010 was a great time. It was the first time I took the wife and kids and everyone had a blast. Here are some of the highlights (and lowlights) of my time.

Best:
- Playing the Red Box D&D4 with my kids. It was awesome and it felt like "old D&D" to me. I know there is a lot of FUDing about this (Fear, Uncertainty, Doubt) about the new Essentials line, but I can tell you this it was fast and fun.
- My Ghosts of Albion games went great! Ran Obsession and I loved seeing how the different groups dealt with the same problems.  Kurt Wiegel of Game Geeks fame played in one of my games and it was great time.  Earlier in the same day Andrew Peregrine of Victoriana fame also played in my games. I always try to get in a game of Victoriana at Gen Con, but couldn't this year.  So it was nice to get Andrew in a Ghosts game instead.  By the way, Andrew got a silver for Best Writing  for Victoriana at the Ennies this year!
Wanted to run some more games, but didn't have the time.  Having the boys with me made the social and gaming dynamic very different.
- Playing our regular D&D 3 game in the hotel lobby with my boys.  I wanted them to have the full Con experience.  We only played for about an hour, but they managed to get pretty far.

If you have that Facebook thing on teh internets at home then you can see my photos.

Looking Forward to:
- Ravenloft board game.  Saw it run at the Con and it looks fun as hell.
- D&D4 Red Box.  I know this send hordes of people that like to read my blog scratching their heads in disbelief, but I played and it was fun.
- Ravenloft campaign setting.  That was totally unexpected!

Sorta Bad: I bought nothing the entire con. I decided to pick up the books I want at my local game store instead.  I am buying Advanced Player's Guide, Smallville, and DC Adventures.  I might also pick up Icons, even though I have all of these on PDF already.  So I'll head to Games Plus and buy my stuff.

What was up with the White Wolf booth anyway?  Were they selling anything at all?

Kinda Bad/But also Good: Son and I tried to get into a D&D4 game but the line was longer than his stamina. We wanted to play but went down and had chili dogs and soda instead.  Again, the full Con experience.  I have to admit I was getting tired too and having a chili dog and a soda with my little guy was a fantastic way to spend the time.

Worse: Some guy fell asleep on I-65 back to Chicago and hit us doing 75 miles an hour. We went across 2 lanes of traffic and landed in a ditch on the side of the road.
Kids and wife are fine, no one was hurt. Had a lot of help from some really nice locals. Really killed the post-con high we had going.   We will be back next year of course. But I might be taking back roads home.

Other News

The Ipad seemed to be to tool of choice this year.  I can easily understand why.  Once they have one big enough to hold all my PDFs then I am there.

Ghosts of Albion did not make it to print for Gen Con this year.  But I understand that we are going to be seeing it in game stores in a couple of months.  Frankly a Halloween release would be awesome.  I'll write a new Halloween themed adventure for it to run when it is out.

Not Gen Con related

Amber Benson has some updated information about Drones on her blog.  I support Amber. Mostly because I know her and I have known about Drones for a while. Long enough to support her claims.
http://amberbensonwrotethis.blogspot.com/2010/08/why-are-these-two-things-different.html

I made the OSR News!  And not for any of my OSR support or my insane liking for the new Tomb of Horrors. ;)  They liked my Dark Druid adventure!  Thanks for the nod guys.  It really made my day today when I saw that.