Cortex Steampunk Game 1 OOC Discussion

[IsabellaRose]

8 hours ago, MagnificentBastard said:

@IsabellaRose

I added Tulu-Metal Mines... Which is probably too on the nose, they can be simply silver mines or a unique metal to our setting.

I just want something that relates to my magical side but makes sense for the west and I dont want something insensitive like "Indian burial ground".

I have ideas.

I was already kicking around the idea of finding something unique in a mine at some point, a resource that might be beyond the "blue coal" we already discussed. So, here's my proposition:

What if the family mines, worked for a few years now, are silver mines. Everything there is fine and business as usual until very recently, when the miners reporting something new, veins of a strange ore running alongside, sometimes together with, the veins of silver. The ore veins are razor-edged, cutting tools and flesh alike. Sparks from pick strikes cause unnatural fires that burn without consuming fuel. One batch of ore hauled out of the shafts crumbled into worthless black dust under daylight, and miners have report hearing their own voices echo back from the dark saying phrases they never uttered.

This new metal, several samples of which have been returned to town, has been coined "Umbracite". Testing reveals that not only is it a perfect conductor of galvanic currents, but that ground Umbracite catalyzes alchemical brews, especially elixirs tied to speed, clairvoyance, and vitality.

 

[MagnificentBastard]

1 hour ago, IsabellaRose said:

I have ideas.

I was already kicking around the idea of finding something unique in a mine at some point, a resource that might be beyond the "blue coal" we already discussed. So, here's my proposition:

What if the family mines, worked for a few years now, are silver mines. Everything there is fine and business as usual until very recently, when the miners reporting something new, veins of a strange ore running alongside, sometimes together with, the veins of silver. The ore veins are razor-edged, cutting tools and flesh alike. Sparks from pick strikes cause unnatural fires that burn without consuming fuel. One batch of ore hauled out of the shafts crumbled into worthless black dust under daylight, and miners have report hearing their own voices echo back from the dark saying phrases they never uttered.

This new metal, several samples of which have been returned to town, has been coined "Umbracite". Testing reveals that not only is it a perfect conductor of galvanic currents, but that ground Umbracite catalyzes alchemical brews, especially elixirs tied to speed, clairvoyance, and vitality.

 

Works for me do I call them Silver Mines or Umbracite Mines?

[IsabellaRose]

Call them Silver Mines since that's what they started as. Umbracite is something new. I think you just found out about it within the past few weeks, along with the rest of the town.

[MagnificentBastard]

2 minutes ago, IsabellaRose said:

Call them Silver Mines since that's what they started as. Umbracite is something new. I think you just found out about it within the past few weeks, along with the rest of the town.

Will do once I get back from work in about 10 hours

 Going to the office.

[WickedCadrach]

10 hours ago, DreamsnThings said:

im thinking that my parasol gal owns a small pharmacy in the little town as a front, with an NPC acting as both the main pharmacist and her "Q" who is my supplier for gadgets and my main sort of quest giver when it comes to the espionage side of thing, currently there is a big focus on investigating the flow of "gold" in the town (or whatever the super valuable thing ends up being. in the process I start looking at a few key individuals around town who could be useful for their connection the "supernatural" such as the alleged vampire, what seems to be a traveling mystic with connections to the afterlife, and a monk with connections to the ashborn to name a few. something seems to be going on, and her organization wants both to know what is going on, and wants a cut of the profits if they are there to be had.

Personally, I love this idea. Whether you're a G-Man for the US Secret Service, US Marshalls, or some other group, I'm enjoying the idea of this character and how they'll click and have friction with the others. It looks like 'Umbracite' is going to be our gold-rush material (MB and Izzy were just talking about it here). 

Your "Q" college could definitely be an NPC and your Pharmacy could be a Location. Once you have your core character concept and want to start moving on the Pathways steps, you'll get a chance to add them to the web. 

A slight tangent, but if we have a pharmacy as an important location... in the late 1800s... I just want to note that historically pharmacies were wild. Morphine, laudanum, cannabis, heroin, cocaine, arsenic, mercury, and turpentine were all ingredients in the 'patent-drug' craze of the time. Nothing was accurately labelled. Everything was just available and commonly mixed with alcohol. So, on top of the steampunk alt-history of it all, actual history here is a disaster lever that we could definitely pull on. 

[AsBloodTurnsEverCold]

That means someone somewhere at any point during any reply someone in this town is mainlining mercury and Swamp Root.

Good times. 

 

[DreamsnThings]

2 hours ago, WickedCadrach said:

Personally, I love this idea. Whether you're a G-Man for the US Secret Service, US Marshalls, or some other group, I'm enjoying the idea of this character and how they'll click and have friction with the others. It looks like 'Umbracite' is going to be our gold-rush material (MB and Izzy were just talking about it here). 

Your "Q" college could definitely be an NPC and your Pharmacy could be a Location. Once you have your core character concept and want to start moving on the Pathways steps, you'll get a chance to add them to the web. 

A slight tangent, but if we have a pharmacy as an important location... in the late 1800s... I just want to note that historically pharmacies were wild. Morphine, laudanum, cannabis, heroin, cocaine, arsenic, mercury, and turpentine were all ingredients in the 'patent-drug' craze of the time. Nothing was accurately labelled. Everything was just available and commonly mixed with alcohol. So, on top of the steampunk alt-history of it all, actual history here is a disaster lever that we could definitely pull on. 

I love... all of this xD

Umbracite being locked in as a tactical resource by an agency sounds fantastic 

Having two solid elements to slap onto my gal before even deciding either of her names (because ofc she is using a fake)

And pharmacies in general being a shitshow all sounds great

I will say i want my pharmacy to be oddly a little more modern, partly because we have a chemist as my Q who knows information the general population doesn't and doesn't want to further spread mercury poisoning or the like

[AsBloodTurnsEverCold]

 

6 minutes ago, DreamsnThings said:

I will say i want my pharmacy to be oddly a little more modern, partly because we have a chemist as my Q who knows information the general population doesn't and doesn't want to further spread mercury poisoning or the like

Modern Medicine was rapidly advancing at this time and there were moves to combat Quack Medicine by 1880 (Just a year after this rp's time they wouldn't be allowed to advertise in newspapers), it just that actually useful methods of medicine were expensive especially since real doctors had to travel rather than set up hospitals. 

Now how steampunk tech would advance this is probably something to think about but your character could have chosen to eschew the quackery to push through the more approved medicine. This would greatly piss off quack doctors, newspapers, and their often shady business partners though.

[Chiyako]

5 hours ago, AsBloodTurnsEverCold said:

 

Modern Medicine was rapidly advancing at this time and there were moves to combat Quack Medicine by 1880 (Just a year after this rp's time they wouldn't be allowed to advertise in newspapers), it just that actually useful methods of medicine were expensive especially since real doctors had to travel rather than set up hospitals. 

Now how steampunk tech would advance this is probably something to think about but your character could have chosen to eschew the quackery to push through the more approved medicine. This would greatly piss off quack doctors, newspapers, and their often shady business partners though.

Sounds like some good conflict between the true academics and the quacks!

[AsBloodTurnsEverCold]

3 minutes ago, Chiyako said:

Sounds like some good conflict between the true academics and the quacks!

Yeah we've already got one mad scientist doing got-knows-what in her tower we don't need some guy named Soliman flooding the streets with literally poison face masks. Leave the insane medicine and concoctions to the woman who may or may not be a vampire. 

Should be a fun thing to explore for the academics in the group 
Kojo's just an Archaeologist but he'll sing about it.

[DreamsnThings]

On 01/10/2025 at 11:10, AsBloodTurnsEverCold said:

 

Modern Medicine was rapidly advancing at this time and there were moves to combat Quack Medicine by 1880 (Just a year after this rp's time they wouldn't be allowed to advertise in newspapers), it just that actually useful methods of medicine were expensive especially since real doctors had to travel rather than set up hospitals. 

Now how steampunk tech would advance this is probably something to think about but your character could have chosen to eschew the quackery to push through the more approved medicine. This would greatly piss off quack doctors, newspapers, and their often shady business partners though.

im going to say MY character doesnt particularly care about the subtlety of these quack fucks, shes just worried about her mission and some personal situations, her Q on the other hand has pride as a chemist and pharmacist that refuses to sell poison as a cure..

by extension i think my characters doctor is officially more developed in terms of personality than my character is XD

[IsabellaRose]

There's no need to lock items on the Miro board. I sometimes move stuff around a bit to make lines more readable, and I just have to unlock them. Also, please don't change colors of lines; it's how I track who finished their steps, so if you change a line color I think someone still needs to complete a step they already did, or they did a step twice when they didn't. 

Thanks!

[Chiyako]

Oh sorry. I was trying to keep line colors linked to where they started from. I won't touch them anymore.

[IsabellaRose]

That's probably not a bad idea... maybe I'll change them up at the end so everything from each PC/NPC matches the source color. It shouldn't matter then who did what anymore.

[DreamsnThings]

...I am lost in the sauce a bit i think, can someone point me in a direction to channel all my energy at?

[AsBloodTurnsEverCold]

17 minutes ago, DreamsnThings said:

...I am lost in the sauce a bit i think, can someone point me in a direction to channel all my energy at?

Well it seems like you have a bit of an idea about your character yes? Pick a name and pick a look and then head on over to rules reference to find the info you need. You can just copy the profile and paste it over in characters to alter while you work your way through and alter the sheet as you go and then head down to the pathways system which is the guided creation system we've been going through which should help with what you need to focus on, ask about, and talk about in chat. 

It'll also tell you what to put up in the miro map but definitely get your character idea solid to make following the steps easier to follow and the questions easier to ask. 
 

Edited October 3 by AsBloodTurnsEverCold

[DreamsnThings]

so the basis for the character that i have is that she was abandoned by her parents as a child but was found by the organization she now works for, she was trained to be a beautiful rose whos thorns were more numorous than any other and laced with whatever toxin it took to get the job done. shes in this town to trace down the supply of this new ore, and has allready gotten some of the best minds in her organization to incorporate it into the aphrosol (aphrodisiac parasol) which is the tool im focusing a lot of her equipment's value on. she is acompanied by Kay, a scientist and chemist acting as a pharmacist in a little unassuming drug store that recently opened up in town

I think i need relationships and a stronger definition of her personality and relations with other characters if possible, as well as putting some dice and mechanics to her honey trap history and her tools

[AsBloodTurnsEverCold]

All of these things will be developed as you go through Pathways though for things like abilities and such you'll probably need to ask Isabella for specific help with how to translate your characters tools properly. Read the pathways steps carefully and that should help you know where to put what and where.

The character relations are are also stepped up through that though everyone starts at a d4 at default (and you can pick who to step up and for what reasons she has made clear the step-ups are super important) but this is all outlined in Pathways so check that out. Its at the bottom of the rules reference page. 

Origin, Youth, and Focus. 
 

Edited October 4 by AsBloodTurnsEverCold

[IsabellaRose]

@DreamsnThings - start with Step 1 in Pathways.

You have a square representing you on the Miro board and a circle representing your first related NPC.

1. Add your character name to the square and your NPC name to the circle and then click on the line linking them and add your relationship to the NPC.
2. Add all the other PCs to the Relationship section of your character sheet at d4 rating as below
   d4 Alicia von Vulf
   d4 Edmund Blackwood
   d4 Kojo Amankona
   d4 Millie Gearhart
   d4 Missy Fisher
3. Add your NPC from the Miro board to the Relationships section of your character sheet at d4 rating just like the other PCs.
4. Start with Step 1: Origin in the Pathways section of the rules. Select from Privileged, Common-born, Prodigy, Outlandish, or Constructed/Touched. Once you select one, Add or Step up the listed items. If you have questions, ask here. 

[DreamsnThings]

thematically I thnk prodigy fits best, trying to look through origin and im... honestly blanking hard on what everything means on the prodigy screen

Edited October 4 by DreamsnThings

[IsabellaRose]

6 hours ago, DreamsnThings said:

thematically I thnk prodigy fits best, trying to look through origin and im... honestly blanking hard on what everything means on the prodigy screen

Mechanically, when you try to do anything in the game, you won't roll Ability + Skill to see if you're strong and skilled enough to succeed, you'll roll Value + Relationship to see why your relationship and the things you believe are important enough to make you succeed. So your two most important traits to increase are Relationships and Values. You start with all the Value at d4 and a relationship with every other PC at d4. Die ratings "Step Up" from d4 to d6 to d8 to d10 to d12. Values will be automatically stepped up throughout the process, but you will need to choose to increase your Relationships over Abilities and Distinctions (a catch all category for personality traits and skills) at each step of the process.

So the things you need to do are:

1. Step either Up Glory or Truth twice, or step them each up once. I pasted some details about values below.

Spoiler

Values List

Our custom values list for the steampunk/weird west game is listed below, along with a couple opposing example statements for each.

• Honor: Motivated by personal codes, sworn oaths, and promises kept. Honor could mean dueling at dawn or refusing to betray your gang.
  “A person’s word is worth more than gold.”
  “If my honor’s questioned, blood will spill.”
• Glory: Motivated by praise, renown, and a place in history. Glory is the songs sung about you, the statues raised, the stories whispered after you’re gone.
  “I’ll be remembered, one way or another.”
  “Better to burn bright than fade away.”
• Passion: Motivated by love, lust, desire, and raw emotion, for a person, an ideal, or even a thrill.
  “I’ll gamble it all for the fire in my heart.”
  “Love’s a weapon, and I know how to use it.”
• Justice: Motivated by fairness, law, or vengeance. Justice might mean carrying the badge, standing up for the powerless, or taking the law into your own hands.
  “No outlaw rides free.”
  “If the law won’t punish them, I will.”
• Power: Motivated by control, dominance, and influence over people, machines, empires, or fate itself.
  “Power is the only real currency.”
  “Better to rule in hell than serve in heaven.”
• Truth: Motivated by what you believe is real and unshakable, whether that’s science, faith, superstition, or the old ways.
  “The facts speak for themselves.”
  “The spirits never lie.”

Rating Values

Values have the same range of dice as any other set of attributes. There is a difference with values, though. When a value changes, either stepping up or stepping down by a die size, one other value must change at the same time in the opposite direction. Thus, the total number of die steps in the dice assigned to values should always stay the same. Values can never be lower than 4 or higher than 12. The die rating of a value measures how much the value matters to the character, as follows:

• d4: “I’m really not into this.”
• d6: “Sure, this matters. But so do a lot of things.”
• d8: “This is definitely on my radar.”
• d10: “I’m all over this thing.”
• d12: “This is my heart and soul.”

 

 

2. Add a Distinction OR add a new Ability.

I would use this to add this custom Ability based on your idea for pheromone based powers:

d4 Pherotech: Through a blend of alchemy, bio-mechanical glands, and/or chemistry, you can exude a subtle haze of engineered pheromones that tweak emotions and instincts. Whether through perfume atomizers, implanted diffusers, or cleverly disguised gadgets, your presence can shift a room’s mood from dread to desire, from unease to trust. The effect is invisible, almost imperceptible… until it’s far too late. You may roll Pherotech to sway emotions, charm, or manipulate others through scent and chemical suggestion. The effect can’t work on targets without biological olfactory response (automatons, corpses, spirits). Masks, filters, or strong wind can negate it.
Effect: Influence. 
Descriptors: chemical, scent, alchemy, manipulation.
Limits: Gear, Supply.
SFX

• d4: Earn a Plot Point when your unique chemical signature gives you away and someone recognizes or tracks you by scent. OR
• d4: Earn a Plot Point when your pheromones affect someone you didn’t intend (an ally, a bystander, or even yourself) or your charm, allure, or influence causes someone to become dangerously obsessed or jealous. (Pick one of these two effects)
• d8: Spend a Plot Point to Step Up your Effect die in a contest when you rely on scent rather than words.
• d12: Add a d8 to Trouble to Step Down one of your own Stress dice or a social complication by self-administering a stabilizing dose.

 

3. Add another Distinction or Step Up a Distinction

You could add any of these Distinctions, or pick another you like:

• CORSET TEASE: You weaponize clothing, posture, and innuendo. Roll when charm and suggestion sway others.
• DARING: You sometimes cross the line between brave and foolish, but you’ll try almost anything once. Roll the Distinction’s die when recklessness or boldness helps you.
• FEMME FATALE: Mystery and allure are your sharpest tools. Roll when seduction or intrigue is in play.

 

4. Step up a Relationship, Asset, or Resource.

I would use this to Step Up a relationship with one of the other PCs. 

Spoiler

Relationships are traits that represent the intensity and importance of a character’s connection to another character or group of characters. This connection may be positive or negative in nature, so long as it motivates and empowers the character who has it. PCs start with relationships with other PCs and some NPCs but can add more during play. This makes relationships flexible and not as limited as some other trait sets. A relationship contributes its die rating to a dice pool when the test or contest involves the character the relationship is linked to, or when that character has influence over or inspires the PC. 

 

[IsabellaRose]

I added the rules for "Growth" and the "Growth Pool" to the Rules Reference. This should give you an idea of why you want to take Stress and challenge your Value and Relationship statements. It's the way you add dice to your "Growth Pool", which is what you use at the end of the session to add or step up Relationships, Distinctions, Abilities, and Resources and grow your character. 

[DreamsnThings]

3 hours ago, IsabellaRose said:

• d4: Earn a Plot Point when your unique chemical signature gives you away and someone recognizes or tracks you by scent. OR
• d4: Earn a Plot Point when your pheromones affect someone you didn’t intend (an ally, a bystander, or even yourself) or your charm, allure, or influence causes someone to become dangerously obsessed or jealous. (Pick one of these two effects)

I went with the second, though that one feels to be two as well? I just picked everything after the OR if that was the cut off

4 hours ago, IsabellaRose said:

FEMME FATALE: Mystery and allure are your sharpest tools. Roll when seduction or intrigue is in play.

im leaning towards this one, unless we can make something closer to the "honey pot" angle

4 hours ago, IsabellaRose said:

4. Step up a Relationship, Asset, or Resource.

I would use this to Step Up a relationship with one of the other PCs. 

Id love to step up a relationship! anyone want to know a little extra about ramona?

[WickedCadrach]

19 minutes ago, DreamsnThings said:

Id love to step up a relationship! anyone want to know a little extra about ramona?

The Relationship step-ups are one-sided when they're picked. For instance, Missy might have a d4 relationship with Ramona while Ramona has a d10 for her relationship with Missy. It also seems to be less 'how well' you know someone and more 'how invested' you are in the dynamic. 

Quote

A relationship’s die rating indicates the intensity of the character’s feelings or attachment to the subject of the relationship. A high die rating doesn’t mean you necessarily like the subject more than a low one; in fact, your 10 relationship might be a really intense hatred, or a particularly strong jealousy.

So you can kind of follow your heart here . Maybe one of us shady people you've been investigating have made you particularly interested or you spied us doing something that really makes your blood boil? Maybe you're really loyal as a partner or have history, so your relationship with Mr. Kay is the one you step up first? 

[IsabellaRose]

20 hours ago, DreamsnThings said:

I went with the second, though that one feels to be two as well? I just picked everything after the OR if that was the cut off

That's exactly correct. I kind of made it a two-pronged use. Both are "oops, too much" but I figured it could be used more ways that one. 

 

20 hours ago, DreamsnThings said:

im leaning towards this one, unless we can make something closer to the "honey pot" angle

How does this sound:

d4 Honeypot: You know how to make people want you and how to turn that desire into opportunity. Whether through calculated charm, feigned affection, or dangerous intimacy, you lure others into vulnerability and extract what you need: secrets, access, or obedience. You can fake love, but the danger lies in sometimes feeling it for real. Roll this Distinction’s die when romantic, sexual, or emotional manipulation could give you an advantage.

• d4: Earn a Plot Point when your false relationship becomes emotionally complicated for you OR when someone discovers your deception and turns your tactics against you.
• d8: Spend a Plot Point to Reveal (or begin without resistance) a romantic or sexual connection (past or present) with an NPC, granting you temporary leverage or access.
• d12: Add a d8 to Trouble to Step up your Effect die when manipulating a target who already desires or trusts you.

20 hours ago, WickedCadrach said:

The Relationship step-ups are one-sided when they're picked. For instance, Missy might have a d4 relationship with Ramona while Ramona has a d10 for her relationship with Missy. It also seems to be less 'how well' you know someone and more 'how invested' you are in the dynamic. 

So you can kind of follow your heart here . Maybe one of us shady people you've been investigating have made you particularly interested or you spied us doing something that really makes your blood boil? Maybe you're really loyal as a partner or have history, so your relationship with Mr. Kay is the one you step up first? 

This is absolutely correct! You don't need to ask anyone's permission to step up the relationship with them. You could step up your relationship with someone to d12 "Soon he'll love me as much as I love him" and they could have a d4 "She can't be trusted" relationship with you. It's all about your perspective on that character. 

You'll have plenty of chances to step up your Relationships. Based on the Umbracite angle and your "agent for some group/office" status, you could really step any relationship up at this point.