Summoned to a Parallel Earth by the God of Cookery: Start Again Together!

Basics

Cortex Prime is a modular RPG system. You may have played earlier versions with Marvel Superheroic, Serenity, or Leverage. It allows for much greater narrative control from the players, and a heck of a lot of prior tuning on the part of the GM. I believe this Prime Set & selection of rules will work well, and hope everyone will be patient if we need to adjust as the campaign continues.

System: Cortex Prime
- Prime set: Attributes (Physical / Mental / Social), Distinctions with SFX, Values, Skills.
- Damage: Attribute Stress + Trauma
- Recovery: (pg 37)
- Improvement: Growth via Tag Scenes & Stepping Up Traits
- Types of action:
  - No roll needed - Cutting up a carrot.
  - Basic Action - Cutting up a Rock Carrot in the shape of a flute.
  - Contested Action and Reaction - Cutting up a carrot while people are throwing rocks at you.
  - Timed Action - A 60-minute Rock Carrot cooking challenge.
- Using Plot Points
  - Activate an SFX trigger
  - Include more dice in total
  - Step down a complication when the GM rolls an opportunity (players only)
  - Create new assets, rated at D6 (players only)
  - Act despite an Overwhelming Complication (players only)
  - Interfere in a contest
  - Pushing Stress: Use your stress as an added die for an action, but step up that stress when you're done (which could take you out!)
- Earning Plot Points
  - Receiving a complication after rolling a spoiler (players only)
  - Rolling a D4 for stress or complication
  - Activating an SFX trigger
  - GM spending Plot Point against you (players only)
  - GM Fiat / Player Accord
Gamemaster: Daniel R. Abraham
Players:
Schedule:
Location: Chez Abraham

The Social Contract

What I expect from my players (and you can expect from me):
- We're here to have fun. If you're not having fun, for any reason, tell me directly, between sessions. I'll do the same.
- If you can't make the session, please let me know early, and I'll strive for the same. I reserve the right to NPC characters not in attendance, with the understanding that they will not die during that session.
Themes and content warnings
- Social and economic inequity
- Tradition vs. innovation
- Abuse of power, corruption of authority
Safety tools
- Content Checklist - please fill this out! (credits to TTRPG Safety Toolkit )
- The X-Card. This is a safety tool. The X-card creates a specific mood at the table. It says “We’re here together. If you need to stop, we’ll stop. The people playing are more important than the game we are playing.”

COVID-19 Safety

All players must be vaccinated and boosted; requirements of proof left to group consensus.
Per house practice, everyone will wash their hands or use the hand sanitizer at the door at entry.
If you do not feel well, even if it is not COVID, please inform the group. If you are sick or have knowingly been exposed, please stay at home.
Currently, we do not require folks to be masked in the house when gaming; we can revisit as necessary.
As hosts, we'll listen, be careful, and encourage safety over everything.

Character Creation

Shared background: You're all from Earth, then brought to the Archipelago.
Tone: This is a game about the relationship between food and people, and exploring what that means to the characters you've created. The challenges will be interpersonal, vs. environment, & vs. the establishment
Shtick Protection: I'm not too concerned with overlap of character concepts or roles in this group, but just in case, my thoughts on the subject.

A few character questions...

How did you get Isekai'ed? I mean,
- Classics are: Died (usually hit by a truck doing something selfless), Died (usually hit by a truck that you were not fated for, and the Gods apologize by reincarnating you), Summoned (usually a big pillar of light and an overly-complex magic circle), or the really old-school Read-a-Book-That's-Actually-Your-Life-That-Starts-With-You-Getting-Summoned-To-Another-Universe. But seriously, it was probably a truck. That truck really gets around.
How did you revive in the Archipelago? Your memories of Earth and your previous life will be intact, but you have the option of degree and coming out in play. (Let's talk about this one as a group)
- At what age? Reincarnated from birth, younger, or same age?
- What body? Same body (all healed), modified, or brand-new body?
- How long before the story starts?
- Did you start off in the Archipelago or in the larger world?
What kind of cook were you on Earth? Apprenticed / school-trained / home cook / informal?

What is food to you? A few seeds...

Food is the reason for living. At the end of the working day, a family-prepared meal is why you work in the first place. Ingredients are only what your family and village grow, and tradition is never changed.
Food is community and obligation, provided for extended family and friends. There’s always room for another at the table.
Food is precious, hard to grow and cultivate, and no part is wasted. Everything can be food.
Food is sacred.
Food is art.
Food is status. What you eat shows who you know, your place in the world, and what you can afford.

Prime Set

You may notice as you look through what goes on a character sheet that there is no "cooking" skill. This is on purpose! You all can cook really well. The question is how well you cook under stress, and that shouldn't be the same roll every time. If you're trying to make breakfast for 100 people, have few ingredients, and the doors are about to open, you may choose a different die pool than when you're carefully creating a single dish for a loved one who has just returned from a year away at sea.

Values

Values have the same range of dice as attributes: usually one at 10, one or two at 8, one at 4, and the rest at 6. When a value changes—either stepping up or stepping down by a die size—one other value must change at the same time in the opposite direction. Thus, the total number of die steps in the dice assigned to values in any given Cortex Prime game should always stay the same. Values can never be lower than 4 or higher than 12.

The die rating of a value measures how much the value matters to the character, as follows:

4: “I’m really not into this.”
6: “Sure, this matters. But so do a lot of things.”
8: “This is definitely on my radar.”
10: “I’m all over this thing.”
12: “This is my heart and soul.”

Belonging - Motivated by a sense of being part of something larger than one's self.
Ambition - Motivated by success, in your eyes, or in others'. Could be money, fame, respect...
Sacrifice - Motivated by putting others, or their goals, ahead of your own needs.
Individuality - Motivated by a need to stand out from the crowd, understand your own goals, or self-sufficiency.
Creativity - Motivated by originality, imagination, or novel applications.
Tradition - Motivated by established belief, authority, or custom.

Attributes

Start all at 8, then you can step down one to raise another. (e.g., 8 - 8 - 8 or 6 - 10 - 8)

Physical - a measure of the character's physical prowess and health.

Mental - a measure of the character's perception and intelligence.
Social - a measure of the character's resilience and communication.

4: Poor. Notably deficient in this area.
6: Typical. An average degree of ability.
8: Excellent. Above-average performance.
10: Remarkable. Greatly above average.
12: Incredible. Peak levels of ability.

Skills

Every PC has at least a 4 in each skill, which represents being untrained. Proficiency and expertise are represented by ratings between 6 and 12. Characters start with 12 points to put into skills’ die ratings, with one point stepping up a die by one step; some or all of these points may be predetermined by character creation options such as archetypes or pathways.

4: Untrained. You have no idea what you’re doing, and you’re likely to create trouble when you try it, but who knows.
6: Competent. Sufficient training to get by. You’re comfortable doing this.
8: Expert. Able to do this for a living. This is second nature to you.
10: Master. One of the best in the field. Likely known to others who possess the skill.
12: Grandmaster. One of the best in the world. Known even to those outside the field.

Craft: Crafting things, including building, assembling, or creating less complicated things (for more complicated machinery, see Tinker)
Drive: Land and surface vehicles, including cars, boats, and trucks.
Fight: All kinds of close combat, including weapons or fists.
Tinker: Repairing things, operating mechanisms.
Handle Animals. That's live ones, not butchering dead ones.
Focus: Concentrating on something, to study or steel your will or whatever.
Influence: Making others do, think, act, or feel the way you want them to.
Know: General knowledge and recall. Use specialties to cover specific areas: Business, Navigation, Religion, Animals, Fine Arts, etc. Know always includes a free specialty of the player’s choice. For cooking, please make it quite specific.
Labor: Carrying out tasks of manual labor, lifting, pushing, digging, pulling, hauling.
Move: Running, jumping, climbing trees.
Notice: Spotting, sensing, or hearing things.
Cast: Operating magical devices
Perform: Acting, putting on a show.
Ranged: things that you point and shoot. Or throw.
Deceive: Sneaking around. Sleight of hand,, any form of non-verbal trickery (otherwise, that’s influence, or for picking locks, that’s tinker)
Survive: Surviving in the outdoors or wherever.
Treat: Taking care of people. Heal, treatment of injury, but also counseling

Distinctions

Distinctions are one of the best parts of this system - they are both advantage and disadvantage, and you get to choose when building your die pool. Want to use "Young Whippersnapper" as an advantage going into a fight? OK, your youthful vigor and perspective make that a d8 to add. Want to risk a dramatic fail for the sake of a success later? Your youthful inexperience or build hinders you, roll a d4 instead...and get a Plot Point for later. Each description of your distinction should be a double-edged sword.

Your Old Life - What defined your old existence?

Your New Life - When you were brought into this world, you were given an ancestry and a character class. You can go classic D&D, or JRPG. Feel free to change from Human to any of the typical JRPG fantasy ancestries as well...but only one is going to be your new distinction, ancestry or character class.

SFX (special effects!)

Your Cooking - What kind of cook are you now?

The SFX are cool tricks you can manage based on your distinction, at a cost. For each distinction, add two SFX, and make specific choices on when they apply and what they do. For example;

You’ve done this before: Step down Creativity for a scene to step down a Complication.
Secret stash: Spend PP to create a d8 Asset related to a preserved ingredient.
Turn up the heat: After rolling a die pool related to heat, step up your effectiveness, but add a d8 complication

Here’s a list of sample costs to choose from:

Spend a Point (very common)
Step down a beneficial die (usually an attribute, skill, or asset)
Step up a non-beneficial die (usually a complication)
Choose to do or introduce something risky/ill-advised/complicated (“When you walk right into a volatile situation and start causing trouble...”)
Create a d8 complication
Shut down a trait set (the trait set can’t be used until restored)

Here are some useful benefits:

Earn a Point
Add a 6 to the dice pool
Step up a beneficial die (usually a specialty or asset, like “step up Pistols”)
Double a beneficial die (usually a specialty or asset, like “double Pistols”)
Step down a non-beneficial die (usually a complication)
Introduce a non-mechanical story detail (“Hey, I think I know that guy’s brother...”)
Rename a complication (“I’m not Sickened, I’m Angry”)
Reroll a single die
Create a 8 asset for the rest of the scene