Cortex Steampunk Game 1 OOC Discussion

[MagnificentBastard]

19 minutes ago, IsabellaRose said:

You're waiting for me. I wanted to review every sheet and make sure nobody missed anything before moving on to Step 2. We were working out a couple custom distinctions and heritages, then we can move on to Step 2. The custom stuff is slowing me down as I'm trying to make it good AND fit the game rules and I have to keep double checking myself.

Don't be so hard on yourself, I haven't even finished my sheet.

[WritesNaughtyStories]

I got a chance to reread some of Xadia last night - I think there are a few things muddying the waters with Heritage Distinctions. One is (fuck I hate this character) Superman. He's completely invulnerable - in order to humanize him a little bit, her needs to be stripped of that from time to time. That's part of the reason that Smallville has the requirement to suspend Heritage Distinctions. I appreciate that superhero fight scenes are not what Smallville has at it's heart, but Supes breaks everything (except Ambush Bug). Best Superman story remains Niven's Man of Steel, Woman of Kleenex,

Tales of Xadia doesn't require (or have a mechanism to) disable Heritage Distinctions. It's just a distinction tied to the kind of elf you are or where you're from (socially and geographically) as a human. But the playing field is much more level than in Smallville.

Another complicating factor may be both games were (originally) published before Cam Banks and the Cortex team sat down with the Cortex Plus line of games and unified it into Cortex Prime. My copy of Xadia still has the Fandom imprint, so it goes so far as to predate the sale to Dire Wolf (who you should all support by buying Dune: Imperium).

[AsBloodTurnsEverCold]

We're talking about a game so I'm going to resist the temptation to nerd out and counter any of those statements about Superman. 

Do we do anything with the Signature Assets? 
Do you prefer if its an item or could it be a space for an aspect of the character that didn't fit in the powers or distinction? 

 

[MagnificentBastard]

21 minutes ago, AsBloodTurnsEverCold said:

We're talking about a game so I'm going to resist the temptation to nerd out and counter any of those statements about Superman. 

@AsBloodTurnsEverCold Man, do I feel that.

@IsabellaRose

I made some updates to my sheet, based on my current understanding of the rules. Any problems or changes please let me know at your leisure, I'll correct them immediately.

Edited 2 hours ago by MagnificentBastard

[WritesNaughtyStories]

*remembers that profile pic*

"Fuck."

However, I stand by it. Like what you want, but you're never going to sell me Supes. I won't dog you for liking him, but I will dog him. I like my own, deeply goofy shit, that I completely get people ragging on. Have at it.

[IsabellaRose]

1 hour ago, WritesNaughtyStories said:

I got a chance to reread some of Xadia last night - I think there are a few things muddying the waters with Heritage Distinctions. One is (fuck I hate this character) Superman. He's completely invulnerable - in order to humanize him a little bit, her needs to be stripped of that from time to time. That's part of the reason that Smallville has the requirement to suspend Heritage Distinctions. I appreciate that superhero fight scenes are not what Smallville has at it's heart, but Supes breaks everything (except Ambush Bug). Best Superman story remains Niven's Man of Steel, Woman of Kleenex,

Tales of Xadia doesn't require (or have a mechanism to) disable Heritage Distinctions. It's just a distinction tied to the kind of elf you are or where you're from (socially and geographically) as a human. But the playing field is much more level than in Smallville.

Another complicating factor may be both games were (originally) published before Cam Banks and the Cortex team sat down with the Cortex Plus line of games and unified it into Cortex Prime. My copy of Xadia still has the Fandom imprint, so it goes so far as to predate the sale to Dire Wolf (who you should all support by buying Dune: Imperium).

Distinctions are entirely different in the Smallville game than they are in Xadia, which is 100% Cortex Prime. Smallville was one of the earliest implementations of Cortex, before there was a Plus or Prime. Xadia was the first Cortex Prime game.  Honestly, I'm not sure I want to support Dire Wolf¹.

In Prime, you have 3 main Distinctions that define your character. In Xadia I think they basically boil down to a heritage, a homeland, and something else... I'm not digging my copy out right now to find out. But yeah, in Smallville Distinctions are sort of a catch all that include skills, personality traits, backgrounds, etc. It's a little weird, but it's where I jumped off the system to build this, because everything else is already built and connected and I don't have to rebuild an entire new game in Prime. Which admittedly would probably be better in the long run, but would take SO MUCH MORE TIME when I can just hack Smallville into Wild West/Steampunkville.

 

 

¹ Dire Wolf is wasting one of the best (imho) roleplaying systems by not doing what Fate did and putting out all those great worlds/settings/rules implementations. They're all done. They were part of the original kickstarter. Just get them out to the general public. It's a great toolset, but if they don't show people how to use and implement it to its full, cool effect, nobody will ever play it. They're wasting it, and frankly, I want to put my foot in their collective asses for that.

[StarlitSiren]

We all enjoy writing smut, but it's important that it's punchy and more... consolidated in a group setting like this.

 OFC not opposed to private RPs around the characters when/if it feels appropriate too!

With the relationships; I still need to put mine on my sheet. Just so I understand, they are all going to be at d4 for the other players; do I need to put statements on for them yet? I Know it was implied that might be a future step

[IsabellaRose]

53 minutes ago, AsBloodTurnsEverCold said:

Do we do anything with the Signature Assets? 

I only put that there if someone has or wants an asset to hold their abilities - like Thor's hammer, Captain America's shield, or DreamsnThings' gas cannister launching parasol. You can delete it from your sheet unless you have an asset that is tied strongly to your character, so strongly that they're not themselves without it.

2 minutes ago, StarlitSiren said:

With the relationships; I still need to put mine on my sheet. Just so I understand, they are all going to be at d4 for the other players; do I need to put statements on for them yet? I Know it was implied that might be a future step

All relationships and values start at d4. You get chances throughout the Pathways system to Step Up both, and I can't reiterate enough how important it will be to step up your relationships when you get a chance.

In D&D terms, stepping up a relationship is like giving yourself an across the board +2 to hit EVERY TIME YOU DO IT. It's really, really beneficial to have higher rated relationships with the other PCs.

1 hour ago, Chiyako said:

Also sorry for holding things up. I do enjoy those two suggested distinctions so I'll probably end up going with both once the abilities aspect of the Heritage Distinction is decided upon.

Don't apologize! I'm the slow one! I want to make sure everything is as perfect as it can be for our characters. 

[WritesNaughtyStories]

5 minutes ago, IsabellaRose said:

Dire Wolf is wasting one of the best (imho) roleplaying systems by not doing what Fate did and putting out all those great worlds/settings/rules implementations. They're all done. They were part of the original kickstarter. Just get them out to the general public. It's a great toolset, but if they don't show people how to use and implement it to its full, cool effect, nobody will ever play it. They're wasting it, and frankly, I want to put my foot in their collective asses for that.

This is one of the few RPG Kickstarters I didn't back, but the Kickstarter funded before Dire Wolf bought Cortex. I didn't follow the project closely (the whole Smallville, Leverage series of IP games kind of put me off the product a bit and only bought Xadia because the kids liked the show) but while I don't think any of their toolkits were licensed, is there, maybe, some snag with who owns what after the sale?

[AsBloodTurnsEverCold]

@WritesNaughtyStories

Oh no I never try to sell a character to people that actually tends to backfire even when they don't hate a character. 

There are just certain misrepresentations that float around that has that nerd imp materialize on my shoulder. I don't even deny he's a pretty goofy character...superhero comics are a deeply goofy form of entertainment honestly which is part of why I love them same with Tokusatsu. 

I have a particular dislike for the word "Invulnerable" and funny enough? Its not really a word DC has ever used for Superman except to quickly dispel that perception or during old radio shows. Durable? Absolutely. Demands of the medium of course but Invulnerable or invincible? That's something pop-culture decided was an association. The comics themselves actually spotlight endurance rather his hardiness but yeah I try to avoid getting into it outside comic chats. 

But I never try to sell characters...only premises. 

Speaking of! A version of Dune: Imperium is on steam which is useful if all your boardgame playing friends live in different states for those interesting. 

@IsabellaRose
Well there was an aspect of the character that isn't quite touched upon in the ability section or two 

And that is his Eyes and the effect of the music on him while he resists. I was going to essentially mix the two and make give him a sensory aspect to his eyes, but tie that to the fact that resisting The Other Theory harms him. Basically that he's marked with a rather obvious sign of meddling with The Other World and that its not entirely positive. I didn't know where to put that though. 

 

[IsabellaRose]

1 minute ago, WritesNaughtyStories said:

This is one of the few RPG Kickstarters I didn't back, but the Kickstarter funded before Dire Wolf bought Cortex. I didn't follow the project closely (the whole Smallville, Leverage series of IP games kind of put me off the product a bit and only bought Xadia because the kids liked the show) but while I don't think any of their toolkits were licensed, is there, maybe, some snag with who owns what after the sale?

I think what happened was they bought it all, got all the stuff, but all the funding from the Kickstarter stayed with the previous company (or two companies ago... it's changed hands a few times now.) Cam doesn't say a lot about what's happening behind the scenes, but my guess is that's because he works there and has to keep the paychecks coming in.

I missed the Kickstarter and I see all these items having been fulfilled but no movement on making them available to fans of the system who missed the kickstarter. I even messaged them once and said something like, " I have stupid amounts of disposal income how much will it take for me to get my hands on the goods" and got zero response. 

[MagnificentBastard]

5 minutes ago, IsabellaRose said:

I only put that there if someone has or wants an asset to hold their abilities - like Thor's hammer, Captain America's shield, or DreamsnThings' gas cannister launching parasol. You can delete it from your sheet unless you have an asset that is tied strongly to your character, so strongly that they're not themselves without it.

I think I got it right, I added a pendant to my character, haven't fully decided how it works but I think its the source of my character's the immortality and powers, with the sex being more like fuel.

Regarding sex scenes, given I have made lust a functional part of my character, I always assumed my character would be involved in a lot more sex than its roleplayed.

[IsabellaRose]

2 minutes ago, AsBloodTurnsEverCold said:

Well there was an aspect of the character that isn't quite touched upon in the ability section or two 

And that is his Eyes and the effect of the music on him while he resists. I was going to essentially mix the two and make give him a sensory aspect to his eyes, but tie that to the fact that resisting The Other Theory harms him. Basically that he's marked with a rather obvious sign of meddling with The Other World and that its not entirely positive. I didn't know where to put that though. 

If it's just a looks thing, we can just add it. 

I think we need to flesh out this Other World so I can make some decisions around how it affects other things as well. I do like tying unexpected things together, but I really need to see what you're thinking for this idea so I don't overstep.

[MagnificentBastard]

6 minutes ago, AsBloodTurnsEverCold said:

Oh no I never try to sell a character to people that actually tends to backfire even when they don't hate a character. 

There are just certain misrepresentations that float around that has that nerd imp materialize on my shoulder. I don't even deny he's a pretty goofy character...superhero comics are a deeply goofy form of entertainment honestly which is part of why I love them same with Tokusatsu. 

I have a particular dislike for the word "Invulnerable" and funny enough? Its not really a word DC has ever used for Superman except to quickly dispel that perception or during old radio shows. Durable? Absolutely. Demands of the medium of course but Invulnerable or invincible? That's something pop-culture decided was an association. The comics themselves actually spotlight endurance rather his hardiness but yeah I try to avoid getting into it outside comic chats. 

This so true.

Functionally Superman tends to be as powerful as the story demands, IMO the best stories show that regardless of how powerful he is, there are always limits, or when those limits are broken the price that must be paid.

[WritesNaughtyStories]

27 minutes ago, AsBloodTurnsEverCold said:

Speaking of! A version of Dune: Imperium is on steam which is useful if all your boardgame playing friends live in different states for those interesting.

It was free on Epic at one point, which is where I got it. It's too heavy for my wife and my gaming group is almost exclusively RPG, so I play against the computer. It's a really great implementation of the game. Thus far I've resisted buying a physical copy with all the expansions, but that's not likely to last forever.

[AsBloodTurnsEverCold]

@IsabellaRose

Well the eyes are just meant to be a visual marking of his reading of the Other Theory, basically a sign of the influence settling into him though to anyone it would just be that he has weird eyes unless they know what they're looking for. 

But the idea was that while he can resist using The Other Theory doing so adds stress or something until he does so to alleviate the noise in his head or potentially just takes control itself if it became too much. It'd basically be driving himself insane to resist it for too long. Another limit to that ability basically. 

I was only thinking of tying it to the eyes because of space. 

@MagnificentBastard
Exactly and he's constantly hurt its that superhero comics have a different scale than well...normal humans do but that's the medium. Its something you can play with but he's never really been invulnerable or in need of humanization. He's really no more invulnerable than your standard action hero realistically but at a higher scale which is fit with the story they're trying to tell. I try to counter that perception when I can but I never do try to convince people they'd be Superman fans otherwise lol 

Any character for that matter 

I had a friend ask me to sell them on Doctor Strange but all I did was hand them my Doctor Strange comics and tell them to read and see what they thought. They came back a week later and asked me for all his appearances. Horse lead water ya know the saying. 

Edited 1 hour ago by AsBloodTurnsEverCold

[AsBloodTurnsEverCold]

15 minutes ago, WritesNaughtyStories said:

It was free on Epic at one point, which is where I got it. It's too heavy for my wife and my gaming group is almost exclusively RPG, so I play against the computer. It's a really great implementation of the game. Thus far I've resisted buying a physical copy with all the expansions, but that's not likely to last forever.

I don't use epic myself so it being on Steam was helpful especially since I am in that group where all my friends who play board games live in different states. Its at least pretty cheap at 23 bucks normally or 33 for that and Immortality which I do need to pick up when I can and maybe convince them to add it to game nights. 

We just play random games. 
Still hoping for an online version of Kingdom Death that isn't 400 dollars
Or a Steam version of Aeon's End (Edit: I'm stupid Aeon's End is also on steam) 

Edited 47 minutes ago by AsBloodTurnsEverCold

[Chiyako]

@IsabellaRose May I suggest throwing the link to the Map into the Rules Reference page? Right now it is on page 4 of this thread but I feel it might get a little lost.

Also I'm going to remove my relationship stuff for the moment (besides what I have for my NPC). Going to wait until we get further in the process for fleshing that out.

I'm going to add the two distinctions that were suggested to my sheet as well, while leaving the abilities section of the Heritage Distinction ambiguous until we figure that out. I'll probably end up choosing both. Then I just need to figure out what Relationship, Asset, or Resource to step up and my character should be ready to go.

[WritesNaughtyStories]

13 minutes ago, AsBloodTurnsEverCold said:

Still hoping for an online version of Kingdom Death that isn't 400 dollars

I own KD:M and a BUNCH of expansions both physical and digital. The digital version is NOT worth buying. It's a Tabletop Simulator port that automates NOTHING. While it does include a digital rulebook, which you'll need to look up random events, it's a miserably low res capture, so you'll really want a physical copy.

That said, if you can afford it, Kingdom Death is well worth the investment. I hate painting miniatures - well not hate so much as hate how much I suck at it - and have about 10 kilos of unassembled plastic, but I proxy my Whilte Lion and Starting Survivors for everything and love the game.

We're way off topic. DM me if you want to chat about board games, RPG Kickstarters or indie games though.

[IsabellaRose]

13 minutes ago, Chiyako said:

@IsabellaRose May I suggest throwing the link to the Map into the Rules Reference page? Right now it is on page 4 of this thread but I feel it might get a little lost.

I might put it into the first post of this thread. I don't want anyone updating the wrong pathways map between the two games. Plus, I was hoping to use the Rules reference for other games I might run using Cortex, so I don't want to put game-specific stuff in there.

[AsBloodTurnsEverCold]

@WritesNaughtyStories
I actually buy the Kingdom Death miniatures on their own but I also buy, paint, and kitbash Gunpla so that was just another fun thing to do for me. 
The game seems fun but the cost is hard to justify especially since all my friends are elsewhere but yeah off topic don't wanna clog things up while we all get this going. 

--------

I went ahead and wiped all the relationship stuff on my end as well except for the NPC so we could see how that develops at the proper pace. The smaller actionable statements is better for the cleanness of the map too. 

[MagnificentBastard]

2 minutes ago, AsBloodTurnsEverCold said:

I went ahead and wiped all the relationship stuff on my end as well except for the NPC so we could see how that develops at the proper pace. The smaller actionable statements is better for the cleanness of the map too. 

Why is everyone doing this? I don't get it.

[AsBloodTurnsEverCold]

8 minutes ago, MagnificentBastard said:

Why is everyone doing this? I don't get it.

Isabella said we probably wanna wait to write those so they can form more naturally on page 5. Gets kinda lost in all the posts. 
Basically we're not there yet.

Edited 13 minutes ago by AsBloodTurnsEverCold

[MagnificentBastard]

Just now, AsBloodTurnsEverCold said:

Isabella basically said we probably wanna wait to write those so they can form more naturally.
Basically we're not there yet.

I'll rewrite them if I need to, but I dont see much changing based on my current understanding of the characters.

[AsBloodTurnsEverCold]

That is fair, I mostly spitballed mine on assumption that they were initial and however Pathways worked they'd go from there lol 
I was gonna need to rewrite them to be more declarative anyhow.