Atlas Games

The World of Cortex Prime

Orc revolutionaries in love! Giant-sized mythic mecha! Swashbuckling cats in the far future! Hard-boiled and haunted police detectives! Whether you’re a fan of genres and genre mash-ups covering the full spectrum of RPG worlds and settings, or you’re just looking for a tabletop game system you can customize to your own specifications, Cortex Prime is primed for you. Includes three sample Spotlight settings ready to go: Eidolon Alpha, Hammerheads, and TRACE 2.0.

Gameplay Basics

• Narrative-focused traits and abilities that quickly bring your character and stories to life in ways that make sense for the genres you prefer.
• A simple dice-pool-based mechanic in which you add two of your dice results together and compare against an opposing roll. Uses polyhedral gaming dice of four, six, eight, ten, and twelve sides.
• Player-centered choices allow for flaws and limits to manifest when the player feels they’re most effective. “Hitches” (dice results of 1) generate interesting immediate complications and long-term player benefits.
• Session-based play recognizes that both one-shot stories and extended campaigns are made richer by focusing on the immediacy of what happens at the table—either in person or online.

Full-color, 248-page casebound hardback