Tim Bannock

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ALIEN The Roleplaying Game
ALIEN The Roleplaying Game

Enter The Nerdom Plays ALIEN the Roleplaying Game

07/31/2024 / / 0 Comments

Update 8/5/2024: We pushed the recording to Sunday 8/18, so the podcast episode will be up sometime soon after that.

Last May, my friends from Enter The Nerdom — a podcast about all things fans love about movies, shows, comics, super heroes, gaming, and more, hosted by Chad, Stan, and Watson — invited me to chat about the origins of the tabletop roleplaying game hobby-turned-industry, and then I ran them through a one-shot dungeon crawl using the scenario Puzzle Dungeon: Seer’s Sanctum with the dead-simple rules of Knave (technically, I used a hack of the first edition). Joined by another friend of ours, Dan Mason, we had an absolute blast. (Check out all our antics in these posts.)

In celebration of the release of ALIEN: Romulus, I’m going to run ALIEN The Roleplaying Game for them. I found an incredibly fitting cinematic scenario to run. (I’ll post which one after the episode comes out; free cake* to anyone able to guess it listening to the episode before my reveal!)

As I often do, I spent some time revising the scenario and crafting some homemade props for it, so I’ll share those with the episode reveal, as well. Just to whet your appetite:

  • Custom xenomorph and other character pawns (in the style of Pathfinder Pawns)
  • Additional deck plans
  • Homemade agenda cards
  • Homemade initiative cards for ALIEN’s unique initiative and action tracking system
  • …and other handouts!

We’ll be recording the episode Sunday August 11th, and I’ll drop an update with the reveal and custom goodies once it’s live on all the usual channels!

*The cake is a lie.

ALIEN Roleplaying Game
ALIEN Roleplaying Game

The ALIEN Roleplaying Game Cheat Sheet

07/25/2024 / / 0 Comments

Updated 7/25/2024: I’ve significantly updated the cheat sheet while prepping for an upcoming cinematic scenario. If you have the previous version, definitely check out this new one as it is a huge improvement: page references, full Stealth Mode rules, quick references for Synthetic and Xenomorph rules, and more!

I don’t know what Fria Ligan has done to me, but they sunk their claws in deep when they announced the ALIEN Roleplaying Game coming later this year. I quickly pre-ordered, have been preparing to run the included starter scenario, and have devoured the content people are creating on the ALIEN RPG Forum.

Since I’m picky about what I want on my GM screen, I made the following cheat sheet. This combines a lot of what you’ll find on the forums, but lays it out slightly differently to suit my tastes. Check it out!

Download the PDF Cheat Sheet for the ALIEN Roleplaying Game from Google Drive.

Don’t hesitate to comment or reach out to me on social media (hit the links in the widgets or at the bottom of the page) if you catch any mistakes!

If you enjoyed this article, please like, comment, and share! Use the widgets to subscribe to get an email as soon as I publish something new, or check out my stuff at DMsGuild and DriveThruRPG. I really appreciate your support.

Happy gaming to ya!

Storytelling by Tumisu
Storytelling by Tumisu

Turn Any Adventure Into the Best One-Shot to Run Easily

07/18/2024 / / 0 Comments

Beleaguered GMs everywhere suffer burn out, and even well established, well prepared GMs might have habits that make running a game difficult. Maybe it’s in choosing which adventure to run. Maybe you overprepare, juggling more information than the players will ever see, and you feel like you’re wasting valuable time. Maybe you just get caught up in the excitement of it all and dream of long campaigns, while in reality you’re lucky if enough players show up to the first session.

I’ve got a process that will help you out! Using cutting edge learning techniques, we’re going to tackle these problems. This process will give you the ability to design and develop a one-shot or mini-adventure quickly, and by using this method, you’ll have an easier time recalling all the information during the game session when you run it.

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Cortex Prime Game Handbook cover snip

The Future of Cortex RPG: Marketplaces and Licensing

07/05/2024 / / 0 Comments

Updated 7/30/2024: Dire Wolf has released the Tales of Xadia Premium Dice Sets, announcing them just ahead of GEN CON 2024. I ordered all three sets on that Saturday and received shipping info first thing Monday!

The Cortex system has had a complex journey, passing through several owners. Originally developed by Margaret Weis Publishing, the game mechanics were licensed to lead designer Cam Banks, then sold to Fandom, and finally to Dire Wolf Digital (DWD) after Fandom exited the tabletop roleplaying industry. This tumultuous history has created challenges and opportunities for DWD, particularly in the areas of community marketplaces and licensing for content creators.

The Cortex Prime Game Handbook is renowned for being a versatile “LEGO set” of rules that allows players to design their own game experiences. Award winning, even. This modularity makes it comparable to systems like GURPS and Fate, yet unique in its lack of a singular “core game.” Unlike Fate, which has a permissive license encouraging extensive modifications, Cortex currently lacks such a framework, limiting its appeal primarily to game designers, but not just them, specifically ones who aren’t looking to become content creators themselves—a potentially very small audience in the heavily DIY roleplaying game industry.

Let’s talk about the vision versus the state of the game, and then consider the future of Cortex, all in terms of marketplaces and licenses.

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Cortex Prime Game Handbook cover snip

How to Revive Cortex Prime – An Open Letter to Dire Wolf Digital

06/28/2024 / / 1 Comment

Updated 7/30/2024: Dire Wolf has released the Tales of Xadia Premium Dice Sets, announcing them just ahead of GEN CON 2024. I ordered all three sets on that Saturday and received shipping info first thing Monday!

In August 2022, Dire Wolf Digital (DWD) acquired the Cortex RPG from Fandom, including the Cortex Prime Game Handbook and Tales of Xadia: The Dragon Prince Roleplaying Game. Despite this transition, the game remains alive, but in need of revitalization. A dedicated and vocal fanbase remains active on the Cortex RPG official Discord, and meanwhile, the larger tabletop industry hasn’t moved on either, despite some fans’ fears. In fact, Cortex is still widely discussed and recommended across forums and social media. It has garnered hours of content and hundreds of thousands of views in the past few years, even as DWD has remained silent on its future. New products are still being launched as recently as last week (June 2024).

A deep dive into the current state of Cortex RPG, conducted with the help of dedicated fans, revealed several strategies to change the perception of Cortex as an under-supported game. These ideas can help Cortex achieve the potential Fandom saw when they purchased it in 2019.

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