Cortex Steampunk Game 1 OOC Discussion

[IsabellaRose]

Okay, I think we're caught up! I'll be getting the next step posted as soon as I have time!

[IsabellaRose]

Step 4 is posted in the Rules Reference.

Everyone gets to draw an arrow back to any Player Character square! This can't be from any other Player Character, but it can be from anyone else, and it's much more fun to connect an NPC to another player at this point. Create secret crushes, past lovers, make it crazy! Everybody has a past, and nobody can control who finds them interesting. Make it messy!

Then pick your road and complete the 4 steps under your selection. 

[AsBloodTurnsEverCold]

Alright if I did this correctly: 
I chose Skyward Road for Kojo, seems most appropriate for a musician dumb enough to mess with the bound and get themselves cursed and bumped up Virtuoso to D8 as well as Glory. 
Bumped up the Rebirth Hall to D10 

@DreamsnThings Bumped up the relationship with Ramona and changed the statement from "Maybe she can help me." to "She's good company" since they've presumably spent enough time together to get along and maybe more depending on how you'd prefer that. 

@WickedCadrach Connected Joshua Thane to Millicent Fisher as "Hates but is obsessed with", being a corrupt and nasty piece-of-work he probably wouldn't have a high opinion of woman in general, a free-spirited one even less, but he has a strong desire to own her anyway. 

Edited October 27 by AsBloodTurnsEverCold

[Chiyako]

Alright! So!

First, I am going to move an arrow from Jack Beckett to Ramona Hart. Their businesses are probably somewhat adjacent. I am going to say: "He has something of a crush on her.". I mean that is very probable thing which may occur.

I think The Backroads fits Alicia the best. Keeping out of the grasp of those persuing her, which often means keeping out of the hands of the law, has forced her into delving more within the darker, seedier dregs of society. Also, given her tendency to perform human experiments, it is pretty easy to associate her with being very much an outlaw. And besides, sometimes the law just holds back scientific pursuits, and she can't be abiding by any of that!

She will step up Truth. It is her main drive in life, and one reason why she sticks to the shadows.

I'll step up her Bloodless Physiology Heritage. It has definitely played a part in assisting her in these endeavors, and part of the weird, oftentimes illegal experiments that she runs.

I'll step up her relationship with Jack Beckett. Not only does she know him better due to her dealings with him and his fascination with her and her experiments, but the two participate together within this shadowy road, and I think stepping up their relationship makes sense here. The description still fits well so I'll keep it as such.

Finally, I shall step up The Laboratory. It is vital in her day to day life, and especially so for her illicit experiments.

[StarlitSiren]

Ooooooh, I like messy.

 

[StarlitSiren]

Okay so, I changed Millie's portrait (see the character sheet) as the last one has vanished somehow.

I've chosen the Backroads, given Millie's relationship with the Exchange, already established. She's no rooting tooting outlaw, but she is willing to quickjly circumvent rules to get to where she needs to go, especially when there's things in the way of her work.

Stepped up truth to d6 Ingenuity is the truest pursuit

Added the wanted distinction, to reflect the work Millie has done with The Exchange. She's maybe suspected rather than outright an outlaw, and being investigated,

Stepped up relationsuip with Missy to d8 An Itch I can't scratch

Stepped up Gearhart repairs to 2d8

 

(note @IsabellaRose, I'm almost certain I'm doing something wrong on the sheet with my distinctions, do you mind rechecking those for me please?)

As for the Miro board...

 

@AsBloodTurnsEverCold @WickedCadrach Red Jenny, the strange legend come to life, seems like it might be after a new victim....

 

 

[IsabellaRose]

For everyone - I called it out in the chart, but didn't make it clear in the text for the steps:

the step up for your Value is either 1 value stepped up twice, or each value stepped up once.

 

I've edited the text in the rules reference to make it clear.

[StarlitSiren]

So I should step up again?

[StarlitSiren]

done- sheet didn't seem to save right. can someone double check it?

[Chiyako]

@StarlitSiren I think you might have stepped up Power/Truth one too many times. We should have three sets of step ups within our Values, I believe. Unless one of the pathway options gave an extra.

[AsBloodTurnsEverCold]

Ah alright, stepped up Glory to d10 then so everything should be good on my end 

[IsabellaRose]

21 hours ago, AsBloodTurnsEverCold said:

Ah alright, stepped up Glory to d10 then so everything should be good on my end 

Kojo is all set for Step 4!

23 hours ago, StarlitSiren said:

So I should step up again?

yes, it's either 2 steps up for 1 of the listed values, or 1 step up each.

[IsabellaRose]

On 27/10/2025 at 02:59, Chiyako said:

She will step up Truth. It is her main drive in life, and one reason why she sticks to the shadows.

Assuming you stepped up Truth to d12, Alicia is all set!

If you wanted to split it, Truth to d10 and Justice to d6, just let me know. Either way works!

[IsabellaRose]

On 27/10/2025 at 04:54, StarlitSiren said:

(note @IsabellaRose, I'm almost certain I'm doing something wrong on the sheet with my distinctions, do you mind rechecking those for me please?)

Your distinctions look fine to me on your sheet.

Millie looks like she's all set for Step 4!

[Chiyako]

Oh right. Stepping up once is adding d2, not d1. I suppose @StarlitSiren would have had it correct then and I have been doing it wrong.

[IsabellaRose]

16 minutes ago, Chiyako said:

Oh right. Stepping up once is adding d2, not d1. I suppose @StarlitSiren would have had it correct then and I have been doing it wrong.

Stepping up is +1 die size in the standard polyhedral.

• d4 up to d6
• d6 up to d8
• d8 up to d10
• and d10 up to d12

We don't go higher than d12.

[Chiyako]

Well I fixed mine so Alicia should be all good.

[IsabellaRose]

1 hour ago, Chiyako said:

Well I fixed mine so Alicia should be all good.

Alicia is all set!

I've been keeping my own copies of all the character sheets as we go to double-check that no one is missing anything in their steps, their SFX, has the correct dice listed with their abilities, etc.

I've unhidden Alicia's sheet, as well as the NPC and Location lists. You can find them over here.

I'll be unhiding each sheet as I get through them and make sure I'm updated. 

You can see anything that might be missing and/or that you need to do in BOLD inline in the sheet, and also listed in the Pathways step where it should have been completed.

[IsabellaRose]

Kojo is now unhidden in my thread as well. :)

[IsabellaRose]

I just unhid Missy as well.

[MagnificentBastard]

Here is what I did:

I made Wills and my character business partners. Chose the Skyward Path, upped Glory to D8, hoped Magical Legacy to D8, stepped Silver Mines to 2D6 and stepped my relationship with Tial-V to D6.

[IsabellaRose]

Millie is now unlocked!

Oh, and for everyone - At the top of the "MY copies of Steampunk Characters" thread I have the steps listed.

If you're blue under a step, you're done.
If you're orange, you need to complete one or two tiny things.
If you're red, you either haven't completed the step or need to address one or more major things.
If you're still white, I haven't got to you yet.

[StarlitSiren]

Sorry, jusst catching up on this- to clarify, are my values okay, and specialties? I'll need to review that in the rules in a bit!

[AsBloodTurnsEverCold]

@IsabellaRose
Gotcha, see what I need to do. I might be a little bit confused on how the abilities work as it says I need to select one the Other Theory is only capable of one thing? Cause the way I was doing it I thought things unlocked with it as things stepped up. 

[IsabellaRose]

1 hour ago, MagnificentBastard said:

Here is what I did:

I made Wills and my character business partners. Chose the Skyward Path, upped Glory to D8, hoped Magical Legacy to D8, stepped Silver Mines to 2D6 and stepped my relationship with Tial-V to D6.

I have you down with Disciple of the Scarlet Path and no Magical Legacy, so I think you must have gone back and changed a one of your steps as you mentioned earlier. I'll compare your sheet to the steps I have and make sure you didn't short change yourself anywhere along the way.

4 minutes ago, StarlitSiren said:

Sorry, jusst catching up on this- to clarify, are my values okay, and specialties? I'll need to review that in the rules in a bit!

As long as they match what's on the sheet for Millie in my thread (which I think I double checked) then your values are good. You just need to select two specialties for The Exchange. See Resources in the Rules thread.

3 minutes ago, AsBloodTurnsEverCold said:

@IsabellaRose
Gotcha, see what I need to do. I might be a little bit confused on how the abilities work as it says I need to select one the Other Theory is only capable of one thing? Cause the way I was doing it I thought things unlocked with it as things stepped up. 

By default, each Ability is only supposed to start with one SFX. You can add SFX by spending a die directly out of your Growth Pool mid-scene, any time during the game. 

I have changed the rules a bit so everyone can get 1 starting SFX at d4 rank (the default rule), a 2nd at d8 rank, and a 3rd at d12 rank right at the start of the game. So you could start with 1, 2, or 3 SFX for each Ability, depending on how you spend your points.