Hammerheads and new Game Handbook Draft
about 5 years ago – Sat, Mar 02, 2019 at 02:10:11 AM

 Ahoy, Cortex-Philes!

I've finally added Hammerheads, the second of the three Cortex Prime spotlight settings in the Game Handbook, to the draft version that's been sent out to all backers and BackerKit PDF pre-orders. There are a few superficial changes to other areas of the document but Hammerheads is the primary version update.

What's Next?

TRACE 2.0 is the next setting to go into the draft. I'm setting a target date for that to be included and for a new draft to go out as March 9th. After that, I'm going to incorporate all of the Smallville distinctions and abilities (minus anything that's obviously Smallville IP) to Prime Lists, which includes additional material that was previously in the Watchtower Report. Target date for that is March 16th, and that update should also include any remaining tweaks and list updates that are needed for the document.

Once the draft is complete March 16th, I'm turning it over to my wife Jess for her edits. Her target date for turning it back over to me is March 30, but she might be a lot faster than that.

At this point, I'm going to assemble the System Reference. This is just the rules from the Game Handbook, none of the examples or settings; it's considerably shorter, as a result, but it's going to be structured differently as well. This document's the one that serves as the basis for all Cortex Creator Studio work from now on, the baseline for all 3rd party work. Backers get their PDF copy of this book before anyone else, but I'm going to put it up online at DriveThruRPG for sale a week later so that folks can start writing up their own Cortex Prime material for the Creator Studio and not be held up by anything else.

Target date for System Reference is April 14. Release to the rest of the world and the Creator Studio is April 21.

I'll be handing over the Spotlights to Josh Roby for development sometime in the next couple of weeks, and then according to his schedule we'll release drafts of each "volume" out to the backers. I've held off on doing this until I nailed down the Cortex Prime Game Handbook settings and how they're organised; I think that's fairly consistent now, so that should inform Josh of what's needed in the spotlights. I imagine the first of these drafts might show up in April but I won't know until I talk more with Josh about them.

Thanks again for everyone's patience as I try to pin down dates. 

Cortex Prime and Cam Around the Internet

We've got a MeWe group already started for Cortex Prime. It's set to invite only because we got a huge number of porn bots targeting it, I don't know why (maybe everyone gets these). The link for that group is here: https://mewe.com/join/cortex_system_rpg

I'm also always on Twitter, at @boymonster. I use that a lot more than I do the Kickstarter comments field, but I do get notified of all comments and messages, so I'll try to stay on top of those.

Reddit has an active subreddit: r/CortexPrime, which I encourage folks to post ideas, playtests, and characters on. I try to visit Reddit a few times a week, more if there's activity.

Magic Vacuum has a (long idle) Facebook page, which I'll revamp and update before April. Same goes for my Magic Vacuum website. I am still moving the business over from the USA to New Zealand, preparing another year of taxes, and other financial and biz related stuff, which is also why I've had to stop issuing refunds. I simply won't be able to manage otherwise, and I'm already panicking a lot about the change in production costs from even 6 months ago. I hope to go into this more in a future update, I know a lot of people have been asking about it (and the future of Magic Vacuum as a company, etc).

Google+ is going away, so with any luck people can archive their content from there. The Google+ Cortex group is going to close its doors soon after, from what I can tell.

Thank you all, and I look forward to sharing more stuff with you in a week! Please let me know what you think of Hammerheads and keep sharing your own thoughts and ideas on MeWe and other social media sites. I truly and honestly love this game, this project, and all of you folks who're supporting its release to the world this year.

Peace,

Cam

From the Other Side of the World
over 5 years ago – Thu, Jan 17, 2019 at 02:02:22 AM

Ahoy, Cortex-Philes!

Through the last weeks of December and through the holiday season, relocation has slowly taken place, my wife and kids have adjusted to some of the weird nuances of New Zealand life, and I've caught up on a lot of work that'd been sitting on my plate since before we moved. And now, here we are, midway through January and nary a word from me. I'm pleased to say I've caught up on all of this and I've got a new version of the Game Handbook manuscript to share with you.

This one's still missing two of the three sample settings: TRACE 2.0 isn't done yet, and HAMMERHEADS had some issues with character creation that I hadn't ironed out. EIDOLON ALPHA's been through some revision and I've added more text so I'm happy with it. Plus, I included all of the Prime Settings content up front that had been waiting to go through my development, so you've got that in this version, too.

I've had requests by some of my Spotlight folks to include more pathways content, though that swiftly takes up space, so I think it may need to be reserved for Spotlights and later material. I've also been asked about the Leverage Situation Generator, or something like it—I think that'd be a fine addition to Prime Sessions, but it needs to be made more generic if it's going to be any use. Maybe some advice to populate your own SitGens with an example?

I've closed down the Pre-Order store, I'm still processing the dissolution of my USA Magic Vacuum company and awaiting the opening of the NZ one, and frankly a lot more related nonsense that still hasn't happened yet. I don't yet have my NZ driver's license, even! But every day is another step.

Folks who are playing Cortex Prime online or via some portal like Discord or Skype should be aware now of this amazing tool by Don Bisdorf: The Cortexatron! 

It's designed to let you plug in your dice, choose which SFX and other effects to use, and then spit out your numbers, all without having to roll actual dice. It's beyond my own meagre coding skills to do, so I'm incredibly glad to have Don throw it together. If you use it, please do share that link with others and let them know Don's on the docket.

Until next time, send any and all comments, reports, gripes, or useful links to me here on KS or to my biz email: seth AT magic-vacuum DOT com. I'll try to respond as soon as I can and will share news and feedback for folks over on MeWe and Twitter.

Best wishes,

Cam

December Relocation Update
over 5 years ago – Mon, Dec 03, 2018 at 12:46:22 AM

Ahoy Cortex-Philes,

I’m posting this from the mostly empty apartment we’ve been living in for the past 18 months. It’s 36 hours before our flight to New Zealand, it’s been several incredibly stressful months, and I’m both excited and anxious.

If you follow me on social media, you may have seen the increasingly frantic posts about the move, my shift to full time game development & design consultant work, and leaving my position at Atlas Games. I have been overwhelmed by the many messages of support I’ve had from you, but aware that some of you are still worried that you’re never going to see a finished game or print books or even a PDF.

All I can say is that doing this becomes vastly more possible following our move. You’ll see books before next April (which would be a year after my original date), PDFs before that, and Spotlights staggered out through the months that follow.

You’ll also get the entire finished Game Handbook manuscript before Christmas. I wanted to have it to you already but I just couldn’t manage it AND deconstruct my entire family’s life here. I’m sorry.

I’m deactivating the pre-order option before I leave, and I’m not going to be able to process any more refunds. I’ve had problems doing that via Kickstarter anyway—not sure why. If you’ve already contacted me to ask for one, it’s in process. Otherwise, I remain committed to getting all of you your rewards.

I’ll post another update in maybe 2 weeks or less. I can’t wait for everything to be sane again!

Peace, Cam

November Update Week 3
over 5 years ago – Wed, Nov 21, 2018 at 12:34:50 AM

Ahoy Cortex-Philes,

One of the things I'm most excited about doing after the Game Handbook and System Reference are in the wild (and in your hands) is seeing actual plays and streaming games of Cortex Prime. I don't know if any of you have been following Happy Jack's mutant-themed super hero streaming game GENEX (it's here if you haven't checked it out yet) but I'm glad to see those folks jumping right in and giving the mods and elements of Prime a true hashing out. It makes me want to see entirely different genres and iterations of Prime being used for other games, too.

It's one of my goals after the NZ move to start making videos to teach the game and show off some of the Spotlights and settings. I'll set up a YouTube channel for Magic Vacuum Design Studio to host those, but I also want to make Roll20 or some other platform work for Cortex Prime. I've seen folks use Discord for games, as well, and there's chatter about running games on the Cortex Prime MeWe channel (which has a fairly active gang of Cortex-philes in the chat).

In other news, we emptied our storage locker in Wisconsin this past weekend, which was a lot more work than we anticipated. In the process I unearthed some really old (like, 1985 and earlier) RPGs that I wrote in school exercise books, including a Transformers RPG complete with scenario. My love of adapting things to RPGs goes a long way back. I also found a stash of old Cortex-based RPG books from MWP I forgot I had copies of, as well as some d2s (they're 6-siders with 1 and 2 repeated three times). I'm not sad that Cortex Prime doesn't use those, but I wonder if I could find a home for them among the Classic crowd...

Happy Thanksgiving to my US backers. Next week, more content via BackerKit, and some more news about the relocation of MVDS and other production details.

Peace,
Cam

November Update Week 2
over 5 years ago – Tue, Nov 13, 2018 at 01:17:33 AM

Ahoy Cortex-Philes,

I'm back from my family's road trip out east and Metatopia, and back to the keyboard in the evening to get the Game Handbook manuscript into your hands before our departure in the first week of December.

I've had a lot of questions about the move and what this all means, but the simplest answer I have is that by moving halfway around the world to where my family has universal healthcare and cousins, uncles, aunts, and grandparents, working full time as a consultant, designer, and publisher becomes much easier.

I won't be full time with Atlas Games after the move, although they'll become a client of Magic Vacuum Design Studio. I'll have much more time to finish Cortex Prime and the Spotlights, especially layout and production. I'll also have more time to record and post RPG videos, update my Patreon, and — more importantly for all of you — stay on top of Kickstarter fulfillment.

I know that some folks think that moving to New Zealand looks a lot like running off, but in truth it's seizing what I want to be doing and making more time for you and for the projects I want to do as a publisher and consultant. It's about relieving myself of years of pent-up anxiety and worry and turning my energies into positive work. And it's about giving my family a better place to live.

Thanks for continuing to extend me your patience and trust. I'm just as keen to see this book reach you as you are!

Peace,
Cam