"Build your game: any genre, from one box of parts."
Cortex Prime is Cam Banks's universal RPG construction kit (published by Dire Wolf Digital). Not a finished game but a set of 'mods': take the parts you want — Distinctions, Assets, Complications, Plot Points — and assemble mechanics to fit your genre and table. The Cortex engine powered Firefly, Marvel Heroic, and Smallville. Dice pools of d4–d12 instead of fixed stats.
Setting-agnostic by design: Cortex imposes nothing. Want noir, superheroes, space opera, or family drama — you build your own version of the rules for it. The system's strength is that it bends to the tone of the story, not the other way around.
Dice pools d4–d12
A trait is a die (bigger is better). An action gathers a pool of relevant traits; you take two for the total against the difficulty and one as the Effect Die — which sets the scale of success.
Modularity ('mods')
Cortex isn't one game but a set of optional modules: Distinctions, Assets, Complications, Stress, Roles. Combine the ones you want and you get a system built exactly for your genre.
Plot Points
A meta-currency: spend to add a die to a pool, keep an extra one, or activate a special effect. Complications earn Plot Points — risk converts into a resource.
One engine, any world
20+ years and dozens of licenses (Firefly, Marvel, Smallville) on a single chassis. Learn the core once and run any genre on it without a new system.
Open in Session Zero to let every player vote and see the results.