Questions tagged [cortex-plus]
The Cortex Plus System is a toolkit RPG system that evolved from Margaret Weis Productions' Cortex System. It has been used for several games, including Firefly, Leverage, Marvel Heroic Roleplaying, and Smallville. (For questions about the original Cortex System, use the [cortex] tag.)
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SFXs that step-up d12s from the Doom Pool
Several SFX involve taking a die from the Doom Pool and adding it to your pool, then steping it up and returning it to the Doom Pool.
For example:
SFX: Berserk. Add a die from the doom pool to one or ...
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How do I make in Cortex+ an opposing dice pool when there are NPCs on both sides?
I want to have a scene which is a firefight between 10 Browncoats (6 players and 4 NPCs) and 10 Alliance troopers (all NPCs). So no-one is outnumbered or outgunned.
I’m guessing the Alliance dice ...
- 2,320
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How to curb Advancement in MHRP
I'm a little confused about how character advancement is supposed to work in Marvel Heroic. The core philosophy is that heroes are meant to start powerful and stay about the same power level ...
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Are callbacks once per session, or once per session for each previous Episode?
On page 256 of the core rulebook it says:
You can only use a callback once per Episode, but at the end of each
Episode, the callbacks refresh. You are then free to use them again in
the next ...
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How is an NPC acting against passive resistance resolved?
I'm the GM in a game of Cortex Plus Dramatic loosely based on the core rules of Smallville RPG. A question posed by one of my players has me wondering how NPCs (Features or Extras) resolve passive ...
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How is an emptied Doom Pool handled?
I occasionally get overzealous spending dice from the doom pool, occasionally spending every last die. I don't recall any rules for handling the "emptying" of the doom pool, where there are no dice ...
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Where can I learn Marvel Heroic Roleplay?
I've read the rule book, got the cheat sheet and watched some people play online, but while Marvel Heroic Roleplay seems easy enough, I still don't feel like I "get it". Where is a good place to play ...
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What do I need to play Firefly: Echoes of War?
I've recently found out about the yet unreleased Firefly RPG. What's currently available are Echoes of War: Serenity Crew and a handful of adventures. It is clearly stated that "Serenity Crew" is ...
- 1,010
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Useless Opportunities in Cortex-Plus
I am getting ready to run the second session of my Leverage game.
One thing I have noticed is that when the GM rolls a 1, it provides the players with an Opportunity. The only use I can find for an ...
- 33.2k
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Two-Player Leverage
I'm preparing to run a game of Leverage. It will be my first time running Leverage, but not my first time running a Cortex-Plus game as I've run some Marvel Heroic Roleplaying too.
The problem is, I'...
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Online tools appropriate to a mapless Marvel Heroic Roleplaying (Cortex Plus) game
I'm going to be running a series of games for the "gaming wives" of my regular group. My wife's a big fan of the Marvel Heroic Roleplaying game and system, which uses the Cortex Plus rules, so that's ...
- 141
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Effect of simultaneous Physical Stress
Here is the situation that happened in today's game:
Johnny Storm (Human Torch) as a NPC has d12 of Physical Stress, and has activated his Nova Flame SFX on his previous action.
He is attacked by a ...
- 12.6k
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How does the "spotlight method" of recovering trauma work?
I'm looking at page OM28 here:
If you don’t relish the idea of sitting out an entire Act or it doesn’t make sense in the story for the Watcher to skip ahead several weeks in a single Transition ...
- 339
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When a villain grandstands, what is he rolling against?
From OM15:
The Watcher may add to the doom pool directly by spending effect dice from a villain’s action, rather than inflicting stress or creating a complication. This represents the villain ...
- 339
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Can assets be given to another player's character?
If a player creates an asset in Leverage like Baseball Bat d6 (paying the plot point to do so) can the PC then give the bat to some other PC? Of course they can in the fiction, but does the other PC ...
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How do I create a sense of Impending Doom?
I've been reading up on the rules and I've noticed that if the player rolls multiple ones on their action I can choose to either award a PP for each 1 and add a d6 for each opportunity or I can choose ...
- 104k
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What is innovative about the Smallville RPG?
I gather the Smallville RPG has innovative mechanics. In what way are they innovative?
(Particularly, I've heard that they're like indie RPGs. That's what I'm interested in, but it's also harder to ...
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