Cortex Game Interest Check

[IsabellaRose]

17 hours ago, Chiyako said:

Of the listed archetypes I think the ones which appeal most to me are:

Steampunk Character Tropes

• the Mad Scientist/Inventor, often eccentric and responsible for technological breakthroughs
• the Sky Pirate, a roguish individual who travels the skies
• the Automaton, a steam-powered mechanical being that can question human nature

Western/Wild West Character Tropes

• the Lone Gunfighter/Drifter, a wandering hero, often a gunslinger or reluctant lawman, who lives by a personal code
• the Lawman, a character who upholds justice, either as a corrupt official or a righteous figure 
• the Bounty Hunter, a mercenary who hunts outlaws for a reward

Any one of those will work! I've been developing custom Distinctions to give some flavor to the various character types.

For the Mad Scientist you'd have a Tinkerer distinction or something more focused on a certain area of mad sciencing - Maybe chemistry, Galvinism (Frankenstein), vivisection and surgical evolution (Dr. Moreau), or some other specialty.

The Sky Pirate would have an Airship Signature Asset, possibly even a crew as Resource/Extras.

The automaton could use the Automaton heritage distinction I outlined above.

For the wild west tropes, they could lean hard into the Distinction Traits I listed in the Rules thread, like Daring, Gunfighter, or Marksman.

19 hours ago, DreamsnThings said:

So this feels like it basically perfectly captures what i was going for, but i would like to have something that can redirect the aroused status track into another direction. IE make them a temporary ally when the stress track is filled, convert aroused into another form of stress, or cause two targets with high arousal to... "finish each other off"

Basically i would like a finisher to tie things together if possible?

Still not really confident with the system to flat out make something...

I'll put the SFX rules in the rules thread. It tells the basics of how to build an SFX, what types of costs to use, what types of benefits you might get. You have to be careful balancing your SFX because the dice add up quickly.

[IsabellaRose]

18 hours ago, MagnificentBastard said:

How many Distinctions and Specialities would each player the usual three each? 

Cortex Prime gives you three main distinctions, but the original Cortex Dramatic uses Distinctions more like Traits. So instead of a Distinction being specific to your character like "Outlaw Gunslinger" or "Lady's Handmaid Automaton" that is pretty specific, you'll get to add or step up Distinction/Traits like "Marksman" or "Shameless Flirt" at most steps of the Pathways process.

But also, we can create custom Distinctions as I outlined above to give each character something unique.

[IsabellaRose]

17 hours ago, WritesNaughtyStories said:

Here are a couple of thoughts for distinctions that have occured to me but I don't have the mechanical understanding to fully dress out:

Professional Distinction: Snake Oil

This occupies some space between Dr. Jeckyl and Drunken Master, maybe? My thought here is that they have an assortment of elixirs and concoctions that should work, but they never quite know what the result will be. They make a roll, to check how close they get to their intent, and can spend plot points to step up the die. A couple of clarifications before I try to explain myself further, this is definitely requires some time and maybe there's an extra time requirement for each plot point spent to step up the die. It gets weirdly close to an alchemy or laboratory skill and might be better framed that way. It requires some kind of target number for the value of the effect (I think it should be referred to as "rareness of the inventory"). Maybe the inventory die starts at a d4? On a hitch on the inventory roll, is there a stress cost or does it contribute to trouble. Another thought that kind of wiggles around with the intent of the rules, but I think, if Drunken Master is our inspiration, can another player in the scene buy what the effect is (which must be tied to the intended inventory). This also here's close to @DreamsnThings' Pheromone Alchemy, so we may want to pitch or rethink Snake Oil all together.

So for this, I think we'd use it 2 ways - the first would be using an SFX to create a d8 temporary asset, an "elixir I just pulled out of my ass" kind of thing. The other would be to take time to create an elixir for a purpose before you need it. We'd need to figure out what's different about a planned elixir and a "wait, I'm mixing this right here on the spot" one, probably a better chance of success or more chance of unpredictable results.

17 hours ago, WritesNaughtyStories said:

As a fan of Hellraiser and Octave Mirbeau and having seen Crowley mentioned - a Steampunk/Weird West setting anachronistically leads me to DeSade.

This Too Is Pleasure

This basically allows the character to either endure suffering by seeing the experience as sensual and the ability to provide a new, albeit transgressive, experience. I think this may create a take stress for PP thing. Not sure, but the English woman from The Torture Garden is beginning to tickle my brain. This might also (or be better approached as) create a dangerous kind of sensual curiosity.

This could absolutely work. I'll come up with some SFX ideas for it to see what you think.

[WritesNaughtyStories]

I have a rough character concept to share.

One of the things that drew me into this idea was @IsabellaRose's Anamnesis playthrough that created Prudence Lawton, Ashburn,Mother of the Unbound.

So, inspired by the Daughters of The Inbound, I see a monk-like character, similar to Kwai Chang Caine from the 70's TV show, Kung Fu.

An Ashborn Aesthete (as opposed to the Ashborn) is dedicated to the truth that all love is sacred. They are equal parts Bodhisattva, Zatoichi the Masseur Sufi Dervish and wuxia monk. They carry The Ashborn's love, both platonic and sensual, for all. They are defender, lover, healer and their distinction is

Heart as Big as The Sky

The details here are still being sorted but it'll be at least mediocre, probably better.

The individual character was taken by Comanche as a child and has come to the Daughters of the Unbound later. They "wash" themselves in the ashes of last night's fire to remind them of their rebirth from denial, repression and judgement.

That's what I've got so far.

[MagnificentBastard]

1 hour ago, IsabellaRose said:

Cortex Prime gives you three main distinctions, but the original Cortex Dramatic uses Distinctions more like Traits. So instead of a Distinction being specific to your character like "Outlaw Gunslinger" or "Lady's Handmaid Automaton" that is pretty specific, you'll get to add or step up Distinction/Traits like "Marksman" or "Shameless Flirt" at most steps of the Pathways process.

But also, we can create custom Distinctions as I outlined above to give each character something unique.

To make your life easier, a unique Distinction per character is enough.

Though I would have to look at the list to know for sure.

As for my character I will probably dedicate up to 2/3 of its resources to lewdness.

[IsabellaRose]

I added a section to the rules reference about creating SFX, how to, why, and examples.

 

[DreamsnThings]

ok i think i have a solid idea looking at the character sheet, i guess I should ask something that only just crossed my mind, is combat going to be... relevant as a baseline? i realized with cortex being narative I can kinda just... ignore combat and focus on being a a pheromancer? focus all my stuff on manipulating people and being stealthy without actually worrying what I would... do if a fight broke out?

[IsabellaRose]

8 hours ago, DreamsnThings said:

ok i think i have a solid idea looking at the character sheet, i guess I should ask something that only just crossed my mind, is combat going to be... relevant as a baseline? i realized with cortex being narative I can kinda just... ignore combat and focus on being a a pheromancer? focus all my stuff on manipulating people and being stealthy without actually worrying what I would... do if a fight broke out?

Combat will happen, but yeah... it's not like you're rolling a Strength-based attack using your basic attack bonus plus to hit modifiers against an armor class and adding damage modifiers if you hit...

You'll build a dice pool like any other contest. Start by stating your intent and how you're building your dice pool.

"I'm taking this guy out. I'm going to use my d8 Progress Value (with a statement: "science is the path to a better life for everyone") because he wants to stop progress and put this town back to the "old days", and my d10 Relationship with Bob The Mechanic (with a statement: "Bob can teach me!") because he's directly threatening Bob the Mechanic, and my d10 Pheromonal Alchemist distinction because I'm using one of my tinctures on him, for a dice pool of d8+2d10. 

Roll your dice. Your result sets a target for him to try to beat if he fights back. Then I'd build a dice pool for the bad guy and when someone wins, the other person takes Stress. If it Stresses the loser out (their stress goes above d12) they're out of the scene. Which type of stress is maxed out will color the way they're taken out.  

So no, you don't need to build a character for combat. Build a character like they're going to be the star in their own novel.

 

**GROUPS**

I should have everyone split into 2 groups by end of day. There wasn't a lot of "I HAVE TO PLAY WITH THIS PERSON" or "I'LL NEVER PLAY WITH THIS PERSON" so I'm not going to worry too much about that. I'll do my best to try to keep people with others they requested, if they did, but mostly I'm going to try to split the groups based on their seeming interest in the specific group setup ideas I posted earlier.

Edited 5 hours ago by IsabellaRose

[SataiRolePlayingGuy]

Fell behind on that reading I meant to do.  With the afternoon off, should see about getting at least some of that in over the afternoon, before the announcement is is made and group talk begins.