Something that trips up players and GMs new to the Cortex RPG — and a lot of games described as “narrative” or “fiction-first” — is interpreting  traits that are purposely vague. This comes up when choosing what traits to use in a dice pool, as well as describing the outcomes of those dice rolls. Players and GMs may hold different expectations of what a trait means when it’s no more than a word or short phrase plus a die rating. Strength D8 might be fairly self-explanatory to an experienced tabletop gamer, but Liberty D8 or Divided We Stand D8 are probably far less so.

Let’s look at ways to define traits by taking a look at the concept of “narrative permissions” in game design, as well as the Statements mechanic in Cortex games, and see how they can help us out!

Words Without Context

What does Teleport D8 do? In theory, it allows you to move from one place to another without passing through the intervening space. But that still leaves a lot to the imagination, and maybe you and I imagine it differently.

  • How far can you teleport?
  • Do you need to see the destination, or simply have familiarity with it?
  • Can you bring others along for the ride?
  • How quickly does this occur?

That last question is a big deal, because it may influence how the player and the GM expect interference or resistance to work. Can someone with Super Speed D10 strike you before you teleport? How about someone with Combat Reflexes D6? If not the latter, what’s the logic in making a blanket yes or no ruling on that? Are there circumstances that allow for a roll to see what happens?

That’s a lot of questions, and since teleportation is a supernatural ability, it’s hard to decide on a baseline so you can start answering them. How about the Chronicles of Elarion D8, a book of myths and fables: when does that come into play? Or a Distinction like Watchful Expatriate: how does that help you, and when would it hinder you?

There’s a lot of great advice in both the Cortex Prime Game Handbook (CPGH) and the Tales of Xadia Prime Game Handbook (TXGH) on building traits. There’s a definition for the Teleport Power and the Teleportation Ability, but they are written in terms that are meant to be flexible and about how you define these traits. Both books are also loaded with examples; it pays to really dig and try to grasp those examples. Needless to say, you can get a leg up on answering all of these questions by reading them.

However, there’s another resource that can help explain these concepts in a way that might help folks get that “aha!” moment. Additionally, there’s a handy game mechanic that can make it even easier to grasp for any given character sheet (even those used for GMCs, or NCs in Tales of Xadia parlance). This is all very important when someone is presenting their hack of the Cortex RPG, and it’s not something I always see taken into account. Here then, are tools to help improve your Cortex playing experience, and to improve your Cortex hacking presentation.

Narrative Permissions

The phrase “narrative permissions” is a concept I first heard associated with Fate. According to the Fate SRD:

A permission is the narrative justification…

…for having a trait. For our purposes, it can extend to performing some activity that invokes the game’s mechanics. What permissions look like on a character sheet or in specific game mechanics is a concise sentence or two that describes a trait, usually without reference to any other rules mechanics (or any mechanics at all). Look at the premade characters in the back of the Cortex Prime Game Handbook, or in Tales of Xadia: many have Distinctions and Assets that have a name and die rating, but also have a short blurb describing them. That blurb is doing heavier lifting than we might think!

Let’s first look at something more detailed, though. Check out Nightcrawler’s Power Sets on his datafile (A.K.A. character sheet) for Marvel Heroic Roleplaying‘s Civil War: X-Men book, the 2012 game that won ENnies and Origins Awards for the Cortex game system:

Nightcrawler's BAMF! power set

Nightcrawler’s BAMF! power set

Teleport D8 is part of a Power Set; it doesn’t have a description itself. But there’s a bunch of text on it in the rulebook for the game, though it’s purposely generalized, since it has to cover wildly different applications. Nightcrawler’s teleportation is very different from Magik’s portals, Lockjaw’s teleportation, or Deadpool’s teleporter device. We can gather that Nightcrawler can teleport pretty quickly thanks to the Flurry of Teleportation SFX. But that’s it; we don’t know any more than that at this point.

Now look at his second page write-up, under the Abilities & Resources section. Notably, the second page is all “fluff”: Nightcrawler’s real identity, origin story, and a bunch of other details that fans of the comics will know, and fans new to the Marvel Universe might need in order to properly portray this character.

Nightcrawler's Abilities & Resources datafile section

Nightcrawler’s Abilities & Resources datafile section

That description contains a lot of very useful information, none of which is in the “game mechanics” portion of his datafile! We learn he can bring others with him, he strains to go great distances, and there’s even the cool effect of him leaving behind a pop and the smell of brimstone. We still don’t have some answers — what distances put how much strain on him? — but we’ve got a lot more to work with. And thanks to him being a Marvel character, it’s not exactly hard to dig up more specifics on Nightcrawler’s powers.

That descriptive text isn’t just handy, it’s crucial to adjudicating his entire Power Set(s). Armed with that information, even a player unfamiliar with comics could probably make some guesses that are closer to the expectations a GM would have going into a game session with Nightcrawler. That’s going to make playing the game a smoother ride.

Here’s a more recent example: Belmarius’ character file from page 222 of the CPGH. Each one of the distinctions includes first-person text describing what they mean. With three sentences, you understand what Divided We Stand D8 means as both a benefit to this character, and as a flaw, which comes up when you use the Hinder SFX.

Belmarius' distinctions

Belmarius’ distinctions

So, narrative permissions in this case refers to a description of what these traits means. You could write something long-ish, like Nightcrawler’s Abilities & Resources section, or you can just do 1-3 sentences and concisely define what the trait signifies. By putting in the mental effort to define the trait concisely, the players and the GM are going to have a much easier time understanding when the trait applies, and how it interacts with other traits. All without requiring complex rules or defining those interactions through a system of keywords, conditions, or something else. That’s the power of the “narrative” part of narrative permissions: real-world language.

Statements

So how do you make space for this on a character file/journal? Look to Statements! The rules are found on page 65 of CPGH and 66 of TXGH, but don’t think you need to worry about those mechanics. Rather, we’re just using Statements as inspiration for — and examples for how to write — concise text summing up a trait.

Unlike the Abilities & Resources section of Nightcrawler’s sheet, or the longer in-character description of Belmarius’ distinctions, the rules on Statements pretty much lock you into defining things in a single sentence. It’s not a hard rule, by any measure, but it’s certainly the cleanest way to fit it on a character sheet, and since they can change over time through challenging or questioning them and then updating them via mechanics like Growth, it pays to keep it short and sweet. You don’t want to wear a hole in your character sheet erasing and rewriting paragraphs of complex relationships!

Check out Vinaya — a pregenerated character for Tales of Xadia — and look at how Statements are used for her Values.

Vinaya's values with statements

Vinaya’s values with statements

Now look at the description of her asset, the Chronicles of Elarion. You don’t get a lot of specifics, but it’s much easier to understand even with that vague description. It’s not filled with spells or magical power, and it’s subject matter is pretty clearly defined, so it’s uses should be readily apparent in a given situation.

Vinaya's traits

Vinaya’s traits

All of these are done with a single sentence each. They are great examples of the importance of being concise, and how to effectively do so. When you think of how various traits are defined throughout the CPGH and TXGH, there’s an effort to define all of them in a single sentence. If you apply that to your specific character or game hack, players and GM are all going to be able to mutually understand every trait much more easily, coming to a consensus more quickly when playing the game.

Questioning Statements…and Permissions?

Actually, the rules for questioning statements (TXGH page 98; called “challenging statements” in the CPGH page 66) might be handy for something here: redefining the trait. In the Nightcrawler example, comic readers know that the more Kurt trains with his power, the better his chances of teleporting further, sight unseen, and with more people…if he gets a good dice roll! The different advancement systems in Cortex Prime can benefit from referring to challenging statements to determine when a trait might be eligible for change or improvement.

If you want to have very slow but personalized advancement, you could have each aspect of a trait like Teleportation receive a statement, and therefore modifying each statement costs advancement. For example, in Nightcrawler’s earliest days, maybe his Teleportation power reads:

Teleportation D6

  • Self-only.
  • Anywhere in line of sight.
  • Must be able to concentrate in order to use this power.

As Kurt trains with this power, he begins to change some of these aspects. Each statement changed is considered advancement, so it might cost XP or Growth or whatever system you use for advancement. After a few sessions, Kurt’s player has increased the die rating and changed two of the statements that define his teleportation abilities:

Teleportation D6 D8

  • Self-only. Can teleport himself and anyone touching him.
  • Anywhere in line of sight.
  • Must be able to concentrate in order to use this power. Can teleport reactively.

Worth refreshing yourself on the rules for changing statements if you want to go down this road!

Summary

If you’re a player creating your first character, don’t rely on “common sense” to define a trait that’s meant to be open to interpretation, or has specific context in the setting you are playing in. While you don’t have to define traits all characters have in common — if everyone has Physical, Mental, and Social traits, those are already defined in the rules — you should take the time to write a concise sentence about your specific, custom traits. It’ll help you and your GM get on the same page.

If you’re a GM handing out pregens, do the same thing: take the time and define abilities that are specific to each character so the players have that guidance. Especially ahead of a one-shot or convention pickup game, this will head off rules questions and descriptive moments before they become a problem and eat into your valuable gaming time!

If you’re a game designer hacking the Cortex RPG to your whims and fancies, don’t assume others know what you mean by certain traits. Even in a setting that’s popularized in some show, movie, comic, book, or elsewhere, you may have people come across your hack who don’t have the same level of familiarity as you. Or they may have a different interpretation of certain character traits or events. Having a short definition for custom traits is just as important as defining each of the Attributes, Values, types of Stress, and so on that make up your hack.

Happy gaming!