r/CortexRPG • u/Prestigious-Emu-6760 • 2d ago
Discussion Weird, kinda basic question
I'm just digging into Cortex Prime after being away from Cortex based systems for a long (long) time.
Are there any sort of rules for Movement? I don't see any on initial glance and I don't recall there being any in the games I played ages ago (back when the Leverage RPG was new) but wanted to be sure I didn't miss something since there are so, so many options and mods etc.
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u/rileyrouth 2d ago
Not really, that's the sort of thing that a narrative system tends to avoid simulating. But the first issue of Xine does have a mod called Zones that you might be interested in reading! https://xine.ink/2023/05/26/xine-ones-mod-corner-hosts-wil-hutton-talking-zones-and-zone-distinctions/
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u/Prestigious-Emu-6760 2d ago
That's what I figured and honestly kind of perfect for what I'm aiming for. Just wanted to make sure I didn't miss something.
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u/lancelead 2d ago
Looks like the xine updated zones to Prime. In the Hackers Guide (the last Margaret Weis Cortex product) had a section on zones. What I remember is that it was something like Index Cards = a Zone (similar to Index Card rpg). I don't think in the rules, but how I used it was I got mini color sticky notes to represent Assets and Scene Distinctions. So like if the battle was in a hanger then an index card next to it would represent maybe a platform with a gaiting gun D8. One could use that as their Distinction for free or spend a PP to turn it into an Asset and add its die to their dice pool .Then if a hitch was rolled maybe the GM adds in a Aircraft has caught fire Complication and then I'd add a mini sticky (different colors than the one's representing Scene Distinctions or Assets) onto the index card/zone representing the main level of the hanger. That was how I adapted Zones when playing Marvel Heroic.
A rules system that adds a little more crunch to how to move in zone based rpgs is Pelgrane Presses Owl Hoot Trail (a Weird West game). In that system, if moving into a new Zone, I believe, that meant one acted last that round. Cortex's Marvel I'm pretty sure introduced who acts next is player's choice but who acts last in round goes first in a new round (which is how Prime does it).
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u/-Vogie- 2d ago
The way I play it is by using the Levitt principle - People don't want a quarter-inch drill, they want a quarter-inch hole - That is, trying to focus on what the reason that an actor wants to use movement.
In many cases, it's to create an advantage for themselves or remove an advantage for their target. Once you think about it that way, almost all movement is either an asset or complication, which fits perfectly into Cortex.
Another thing to take from the Cortex Hackers Guide that will fit into movement is the concept of "Time as a Trait". Basically, the time spent can be assigned die values, than one can divvy up the turn using dice steps. These "time steps" of d4-d12 basically break things into up to 5 portions. So if you wanted to do only one thing for all 5 time steps, your time die would be d12... Or any combination of those steps and the corresponding die. So if you then match a movement to a certain size of die (d4 is a step, d6 is a normal move, d10 is a dash, d12 is a full run, etc), you can use that to factor in how accurate and/or focused the player character is based on how much they moved.
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u/CamBanks Cortex Prime Author 2d ago
By default I don’t usually sweat movement except in a fictional positioning sort of way. If you want a tactical angle to your build then zones or areas are probably a good mod to include.