The Core of Cortex posits a really simple version of the Cortex Prime system, one that’s great for off-the-cuff sessions. It’s also simple enough for fairly young players to understand, which is an added benefit. Gaming with little kids is always a fun exercise in game design: how do you make it simple and fun, with enough “meat” to teach the little tikes some basic game play strategy?

I’ve been toying around with a simple game system spawned from a specific circumstance: I’ve got a single die of each size – d4, d6, d8, d10, and d12 (and also a d20; more on that later!) – for myself (the GM) and another set for my player(s), and that’s it. I think it may work really well and leans into some Cortex-isms that The Core of Cortex actually avoids: different die sizes, and effect dice.

You be the judge! Here’s what I’ve got:

Traits

Since I’m working off a theory of the player(s) and the GM having access to five dice apiece, and we need three dice to form a dice pool (at least), let’s stick with that: make three traits. We’ll use the perennial favorite (the closest thing Cortex has to a default) Distinctions, but they will be rated Distinctions (per the mod of that name) and will be pretty strictly defined.

  • Concept Distinction d8: Who are you and what do you do?
  • Trouble Distinction d4 + Plot Point: What aspect of you often gets you into trouble, or might cause conflict when dealing with others.
  • Signature Distinction d10: What unique thing sets you apart from everyone else? (If you want advancement to be a thing, you can allow players to increase this to d12 after reaching some sort of story-based milestone.)

One thing I like about Cortex is the idea of “Prime Sets” which are like buckets of traits of various die sizes from which you pull one die on every roll. You have three Prime Sets to pull a die from, so you always end up with at least three dice on every roll. Additional trait sets are icing on the cake: situational modifiers that show off cool things you can do under the right circumstances, but aren’t applicable to every single roll.

I don’t want to make this as complex as all of that, so what we’ll do is make it so players always roll a d6, and then choose two of their three rated Distinctions to add to the roll. This simulates the idea of Prime Sets without it being three full lists of variously sized traits. Three choices for every roll is too many, and in this case, there’s really only one: when do you want to use your Trouble Distinction to get a Plot Point?

PCs are also going to have Life Points (also a mod by that name), usually renamed something evocative of the scenario, like Hearts, Life, Ouchies, or Sleepiness…or if you’re out of ideas, just go with Stress. These are equal to 10, and if you do anything with advancement, you could add +1 after each session, maybe using a Session Record to make it really easy to add up at a glance.

(A more traditional-for-Cortex starting number might be in the 14-16 range, since Life Points are usually the sum of two specific traits that you are going to have rated somewhere in the range of d6 to d10, with d8 being by the average. But we’re assuming a few things with this setup that will tend to favor the players when it comes to dice rolls, including Plot Points that can be spent for automatic success, so it’s probably okay to have slightly more fragile PCs. Plus the number 10 is easy for kids to remember!)

Mod: Use the Percentile Die

Many dice sets include a second d10, the percentile die, which is sometimes numbered with tens digits. You can use that as a standard ten-sided die (just divide by 10; ’00’ = 100, or in this case 10), so make use of it: it’s either going to represent a specific special trait set for the PC and GMCs (perhaps a super-power or signature asset), or it can be the temporary asset die, only being added when there’s an extraordinary feature within the scene that benefits the character that gets to roll it. Location Distinctions might be a great instance for adding this into a character’s dice pool.

Rolling the Dice

When a player does something dramatic that is opposed and could lead to interesting consequences on either success or failure, the GM rolls for the opposition (see below), and then the player rolls, hoping to beat the GM’s total.

So, building a dice pool for a player looks like this:

  1. Pick up a d6.
  2. Pick up your Concept d8.
  3. Choose either one of your Trouble d4 (and gain a Plot Point) or your Signature d10.

As always, choose two to add together to get your total, and leave the third as your effect die. You want your total to be higher than the GM’s total.

If you roll any 1s, they don’t count but at least you get a Plot Point for your it. Doesn’t matter how many 1s you roll, you still only get one Plot Point. This could leave you with a total of zero (0) or no effect die, in which case treat the effect die as if it rolled a 1. (“That’s not how effect die are used!” Oh yeah? Read on and find out what the next section has to say about that!)

Effect Dice

The effect die no longer is rated by its size, but rather the number on its face is what matters. This is the number of Life Points the loser of a Test loses, as damage, reputation, exhaustion, or whatever the appropriate consequence of the conflict is.

If you think of Stress as a simple track, then there’s probably an easy way to use effect dice how they normally work in Cortex (the die size as opposed to the number showing on the die). The issue comes in having Stress d6 (or whatever the rating is currently) and you’ve already got a d6 in both the GM’s and the player’s dice pools already representing some other trait. I feel like Life Points are a great work around, but feel free to mess around with something else.

(One option might be simply having 5 wound boxes, and the die sizes correspond to the “level” of wound the character has: d4 = 1, d6 = 2, d8 = 3, and so on. A character who fills five boxes – either by taking a d12 effect die of damage, or by taking five d4 effect dies over the course of a brawl (or any other combination adding up to five) – is taken out.)

Trouble Pool

For the GM, we use a version of difficulty dice mixed with aspects of the Doom Pool. We’ll call it the Trouble Pool because that’s what it was in the Smallville Roleplaying Game, back before Cortex Prime, and I like the sound of it!

The Trouble Pool is d4+d6+d8. When the GM rolls, keep in mind the following:

  • The GM rolls first.
  • The GM doesn’t get a Plot Point for rolling a d4; they have no Plot Points at all, in fact.
  • Is there a GMC or hazard in play that’s opposing the PC? Rate it d10 or d12, and add that to the Trouble Pool. There doesn’t always need to be opposition worthy of a rating; only use this in the case of serious threats. (This additional die covers for the fact that the GM doesn’t get Plot Points.)
  • The GM still only adds two to get the total, taking a remaining one as the effect die.

Most rolls should be Tests. But when the players face off against a challenge that you want to stick around for a bit – something more than just a pass/fail Test – the GM can use their effect die’s size to determine its Life Points, by adding that die size to the d10 or d12 rating provided earlier. Notably, the GM does this regardless of the success or failure of their roll: use the effect die size to develop the Life Points, and the effect die result (the number on its face) to deal damage/stress/whatever only if the player’s roll fails.

This means most GMCs or hazards are going to have 14-24 Life Points, likely averaging 16-18 since you’ll want to use a d12 challenge sparingly. This is great when you have a group of PCs, and because Plot Points are a little more powerful. If you have only one or two PCs, however, this might be a bit harsh.

Mod: Use the d20

Got a d20 lying around? A great way to get more bang for your buck on the GM’s side of dice rolls is to use the d20 to get the total for the opposition on every roll, no other dice added. It makes it really swingy, but it also frees up all the “standard” Cortex dice for other purposes in the Trouble Pool and/or for GMC and hazard die ratings, creating significantly more range in the Life Points of the opposition.

This could lead to creating a more Doom Pool-like Trouble Pool. For example, you might start most scenarios with a d6 Trouble, but an especially harrowing starts at a d8. This die becomes the de facto effect die on the GMs rolls. When a PC rolls 1s, they get a Plot Point and the GM can now add an additional (always lower) die to Trouble, or step up an existing die to the next higher available size. This can get a little convoluted since you only have 5 dice to choose from, so there might be situations where you simply don’t add or step up dice. However, you now unlock the option of being able to spend dice from Trouble to bring in threats of a specific die rating, or to perform Doom Pool-like effects such as putting Complications on characters, splitting the party (which might force them to use different Affiliations if you’re using that trait set), ending a scene in the opposition’s favor, and so on.

Plot Points

What do players do with their Plot Points? In this hack, it’s really simple: they spend a Plot Point in a manner similar to the game No Thank You, Evil! where they can simply make an immediate change to the game. This takes one of two forms:

  • Spend a Plot Point to turn a failed roll into a success. This makes it so your total now beats the Trouble Pool (no matter what the actual totals are), and you get to apply your effect die.
  • Spend a Plot Point to retcon something you don’t like about the story, changing it to your liking.

The second is pretty vague on purpose. Remember, this hack is aimed at kids, and they tend to be both very creative and very emotional. The retcon should be whatever is needed to keep their interest, and while it shouldn’t be an automatic “win the scenario” button, it very well could be an automatic “win this specific challenge within the scenario” button. Or it could be “I summon unicorns” or “Turn this car into a spaceship!” or whatever works.

As the GM you’re job is to try to anticipate problem areas and head them off, and the retcon use of Plot Points is a good way to handle that. You may need to come up with the level of retcons you’ll allow ahead of time and explain this to players, or you can just leave it vague and make a call on the fly, but do remember that “Say yes and…!” is always a good default modus operandi when gaming with kids. This is the perfect time to bring them in on collaborating and cooperating with the narrative, rather than having their hopes dashed, or feeling like they have to bend to some unforeseen “rule” or what feels like a hopeless situation.

Final Thoughts

That definitely sets this whole exercise up for a minimum age group of players. Although I’ve dabbled, I’m not an educator by trade, and so I don’t really know what the minimum age would be. But I bet it would be something like an advanced 5 or 6 year old…? You tell me.

It’s also a very specific scenario: one “basic” set of dice for the player(s) and one for the GM. This is not how Cortex is intended, and thus requires the modifications presented above. A much more straightforward version would be the “Core of Cortex” version that uses dice pools of six-sided dice because SO MANY board games – especially those aimed at kids – include d6s. Scrounging up a handful for everyone is probably something most families can do. That renders this exercise in game design as one of dubious usefulness, but…hey, maybe someone will get use out of it. I know I…might ;-P