cortex plus sword & sorcery

8/16/2019 Cortex Plus Sword & Sorcery

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Cortex+ Sword & Sorcery – Part One

I have a deep and abiding love of both the Sword & Sorcery and Sword & Planet

genres. Both genres got their starts back in the days of the pulp magazines, when

adventure ction for its own sake was a fresh idea. !he successors of early pulp

heroes like the Shadow and "oc Savage are modern comic book heroes, so whatbetter tool to emulate the astounding action and vivid intensity of those other

pulps, featuring swordsmen and sorcerers, than the Marvel Heroic Roleplaying

game#

In order to emulate the lower$powered %usually but still fantastic worlds of Sword &

Sorcery, we will need to hack character creation a little. MHR uses '(liation dice to

represent how a hero goes about his tasks, either alone or with others. But Sword &

Sorcery heroes are most fre)uently found alone, or at most in pairs. *e+ll need

another way to represent the how of an action.

Replace Afliation with Means

!here are three eans - ways for a hero to achieve his goals. ike '(liations, only

one eans die can be a part of a roll, whichever is most appropriate to the action at

hand.

Steel - whether it+s the steel in your st or the steel in your nerves, if you are using

violence or the threat of violence to get what you want, roll Steel.

!"ile - if you misrepresent your intentions, yourself, or something else to get what

you want, roll /uile.

#ore - if knowledge, secret or open, sacred or profane, is the means to your own

personal ends, roll ore.

0ach eans starts at a d1. Step up any of your eans dice a total of three times.

%!his gives starting possibilities of d1, d2, d345 d2, d2, d25 or d1, d1, d36, in any

order.

$istinctions

7haracters have "istinctions as normal. 0ven more than in the standard game,

"istinctions for Sword and Sorcery should be atmospheric, describing the characters

relationship with his world.

$ice Scalingost Sword & Sorcery heroes are not truly superhuman, and often ght with only

their weapons and their wits, not with special powers. !o account for this, we need

to ad8ust the scale of the dice9

d% $$ :typical human+ levels of capability.

d $$ ability at or near the ma;imum capability of a human being.


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d'( - a supernatural level of performance. %


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Cortex+ Sword & Sorcery – Part wo

@ere in Part !wo, we will continue to hack Marvel Heroic Roleplaying into a Sword

& Sorcery game.

MHR+s Specialties are very broad and very modern in their scope. *e will needsomething both narrower and more in line with the )uasi$historical setting of most

Sword & Sorcery ction.

Replace Specialties with Careers

!he following list of 7areers should cover 8ust about anything that a Sword &

Sorcery or Sword & Planet hero might need. %!hese have been shamelessly adapted

from the e;cellent rpg Barbarians of Lemuria.

Alche,ist- Assassin- .lac/s,ith- $ancer- .ar0arian- .eggar- *ar,er-

!ladiator- H"nter- Mariner- Merchant- Mercenary- Minstrel- 1o0le-Physician- Pirate- Priest- Servant- Scholar- S/y Pilot- Slave- Soldier-

Sorcerer- hie2- ort"rer

In some settings, not all 7areers will apply or be available. Sky Pilot is not

appropriate for Dobert 0. @oward+s Hyborean Ae, but it+s perfect for 0dgar Dice

Burrough+s Barsoom - where ariner, for obvious reasons, would not be available.

@eroes 7areers should be listed in chronological order. Eou have four steps of dice to

spend on 7areers. 0ach new 7areer begins as a d1, costing 3 :step+. %!his gives

starting possibilities of d1, d1, d1, d15 d1, d1, d25 d2, d25 d1, d345 or d36, in any

order. Fn a character sheet, this could be written as Barbarian d1, !hief d1, 0;pert

ercenary d25 or Priest d1, aster Sorcerer d34.

Players will sometimes attempt to perform actions suitable for a 7areer not on their

character+s sheet. Being a hero means pushing your limits, after all. *hen that

happens, roll a dG for the 7areer. Hnlike using a "istinction, this does not earn the

player a Plot Point. 'ny :3+s on the roll - especially if rolled on that specic dG -

should represent the unfortunate side$e=ects of lack of e;perience in the 7areer.

!reat 7areers as Specialties in all other respects. Desources based on d1 7areers are

only dGs - players should draw upon them with caution 'llow Desources to bestepped up during play in the same way that an 'sset or 7omplication may be

stepped up.

*or the !M

Aon$humanoid monsters and other hell$spawned entities don+t have 7areers, as

such. Instead, give them Doles like Predator, urker, /uardian, or


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variously stand in for MHR+s 7ombat, Stealth, and enace Specialties. %Fr stick with

the originals5 either way works 8ust ne.

Milestones


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Stay tuned for part three, which will include some worked"out e#amples, usin

famous characters from Sword & Sorcery literature$

Cortex+ Sword & Sorcery – Part hree

In Part !hree, let+s look at some of the seminal characters of the genre, as describedby our modied rules.

Conan the Ci,,erian

Means

Steel d34 /uile d2 ore d1

$istinctions

7immerian *anderer

Kuick to laughter, and to anger

Pantherish /race

Power Sets

7immerian @eritage

ighty !hews d2 *olf$like Stamina d2

S


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3 P - *hen you display or e;press ignorance of :civilized+ customs %essentially,

when you activate 'istrust of Cities.

M P - *hen a victory shows your barbaric heritage to be superior to :civilized+

ways, or when you take ental or 0motional Stress from being defeated by

:civilized+ means.

34P - *hen you convince a superior :civilized+ opponent that savagery ismankind+s natural state, or when you choose :civilized+ life and settle in a city %even

as its king.

>ing by Eour Fwn @and

3 P - *hen you ght for or against the forces of a nation+s Sovereign.

M P - *hen you lead men into battle, or when your political cunning brings you

success.

34P - *hen you seize a throne by force, or when you decline the o=er of a crown.

3lric o2 Meli0one

Means

Steel d1 /uile d1 ore d36

$istinctions

'lbino

'ccursed 0;ile

7hosen of 'rioch

Power Sets

elnibonean "emonology

Sorcery d2

S


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