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Cortex+

The New Normal (Whatever that is)


It’s been radio silence here at team Nexus. Dealing with the world and the insanity that is Covid has brought content creation to a halt. No con’s for testing, no play groups for brainstorming. As many jumped on the Virtual gaming bandwagon I was hesitant, even resistant to give it a try. “It’s not the same” I told myself, like grumpy 8 year old who is told moms hamburgers are just as good as McDonalds. I had no motivation to share my latest adventure of Into the Nexus with faceless voices on Discord.

Well, That is about to change. First of all Nexus does have a Discord channel. I am on all the time if people want to chat about Nexus games

Second I will be running two games virtually for GenCon Online at the end of the month.

A little bit of History Repeating (Thursday)

A little bit of history repeating (Friday)

These will be 6 player games that both myself and AA will be running. For this we will be using the Cortex Game mechanic as it is better suited for a more narrative style of game play. You can add these games to your wish list now and registration is July 13th. This is all free and I welcome any and all who wish to play.

Depending on the success of these events I will then start announcing more Nexus games for players who are interested.

No one wanted to game this way all the time but for everyone’s safety this is what we have. I put on my big boy pants and am making it work so I hope all of you will join me for some truly Misdirected Awesome.

Ta Ta

J

Dearest Clementine……..


I write this from day 9 of work from home quarantine. I’ve one Diet Mt Dew left and we are running woefully low on Oreos. If this keeps up I will have to open the last of my Girl Scout cookies and resort to…. water to drink…….

Hello!

I hope everyone is having a very nice plague. I have been doing work from home for almost two weeks now and it has been a delight….

I have also been hard at work on new Nexus material. I have a new campaign that is about to go though testing as well as several new pieces of game content. I am using this time stuck in my retro-room to be as productive as I can be while rewatching Leverage for the 421st time. I have come up with several new talents and quite a few great customizations to character archetypes. If you like tweaking characters in the Nexus world I think you will enjoy what I have come up with.

I have also set up a Discord server if anyone is interested in talking Nexus games or throwing together a one shot. My social schedule is quite full of TV watching and the occasional TV watching but I will try and squeeze in some games if people are interested.

Also

Shameless Marketing plug.

I have set up some of the Nexus Artwork on teepublic if you are interested in supporting your favorite grumpy GM/Game Creator.

Misdirected Awesome Games Shop

There are 5 designs right now with a couple more almost ready to go up as well.

As of now I still plan to be running at Gen Con. I will be running 4 gaming sessions. Two small 6 people adventures and our now 10 year running 30 people late night craziness.

Hopefully you are not leaving your house for any reason other than food or healthcare and we can get this curve flattened. Until then. come see me on Discord (you can message me here or on Facebook for an invite) and we can roll some dice

Or buy a t-shirt

or

both?

Both is good.

Ta

J

 

Gen Con Players! Get those Dice hands a-ready


Hello my lovelies! We are back at Gen Con this year as a Premier Gaming event! (No extra cost, just extra awesome)

We have rooms to ourselves for a nice and quiet madhouse of death.

I hope you are ready for the undeniable joy the tables share when you roll a 1

And without further ado

Flashpoint Games (Pathfinder system)

The year is 2998. Thanks to the discovery of Flashpoint technology (which manipulates dark matter to perform instantaneous jumps through space) the species of the Milky Way Galaxy have experienced a never-before-seen period of interconnectivity and prosperity. With such a level of access to the galaxy, comes also exposure to the horrors that lurk in its darkest corners.

The space-faring civilizations of the galaxy have formed an emergency coalition under the direction of their founding species, the Celysians. The coalition’s purpose is to repel an advanced race of beings known as the ‘Nhilus’.  Little is known about this race of humanoid cephalopods aside from their driving hunger to consume sentient biomatter.  All efforts made to communicate with them have ended in a massacre.  They do not speak to, nor reason with their enemies.  They simply feed.  Their advanced technology appears to be alive and their physical resilience has rendered conventional methods of combat all but useless.  

For the past century, the galactic coalition has slowly and steadily lost countless star systems to the Nhilus.  Now, little remains of the coalition’s once proud fleet.  Only a handful of civilized systems remain hidden and free from the Nhilus’ hunger.  With galactic society on the precipice of its end, desperation rules over reason………..

Hold Out:  (1pm-5pm) Thursday

RPG17103277

(Part 1 of 4)  These missions are designed in order for new players to enter at any point in the story.

You are part of a squad of soldiers on a military base on Earth when the Nhilus begin their surface invasion of the planet.  You are tasked with defending a crucial scientific installation from the Nhilus hordes in order to protect the data within.  Your success here is imperative to the coalition’s war effort

Evacuate Earth: (7pm-1am) Thursday

RPG17103288

(Part 2 of 4)  These missions are designed in order for new players to enter at any point in the story.

You are a member of an elite squad of operatives tasked with penetrating the blockaded skies of Earth in order to reach an overrun scientific facility.  Little is told to you other than you are to extract 3 surviving scientists from the facility and return to the orbiting fleet.

The Maw: (1pm-5pm) Friday

RPG17103290

(Part 3 of 4)  These missions are designed in order for new players to enter at any point in the story.

You are a crew member onboard EarthJAV -a hub of mass galactic transit and commerce- employed as station security when the Nhilus arrive in sol system.  Not long after, you and your squad begin noticing bizarre behaviors from your fellow crew members.  The situation becomes worse as reports begin to come in about Nhilus onboard the station.  The coalition fleet’s only hope for escape is to keep the station operational.  You have to send a distress signal.

Jump to Wayward Station: (7pm-1am) Friday

RPG17103295

(Part 4 of 4)  These missions are designed in order for new players to enter at any point in the story.

You have extracted key scientists from an overrun scientific facility on Earth. While returning them to the fleet, you and your squad barely have time to exhale before you are given a new mission.  The coalition needs the JAV station orbiting earth to be operational to facilitate a flashpoint jump away from the now-doomed solar system. It is no secret that the Nhilus hordes fill the station’s every corridor.

Your squad must make the station operational for just one more jump.

Into the Nexus Games

Sometime, in what was called The Age of Aquarius, certain people began having abilities to “See the Possibilities”. This has to be the most disappointing naming of magic ever. These gifted souls were called Q’anics and were able to see the other Earths and what could have been. It only took a score of years before they figured out they could bring forward that reality into our own. According to what written works survived, the Q’anics, began trying to make our world better.

In the history of everything, that intent, has always worked out for the best.

Needless to say, thought I felt the need to write it, they failed. In roughly the year 1989, the most powerful of these Q’anics chose to bring the best of all the “Other Earths” into our reality. Creating a utopia.

It

Didn’t

Work

What remained were islands of rock and earth floating above an unstable gravity core. Most of the island nations remained intact, more or less. With the loss of most of the land mass Hybris developed a planet sized storm system called Raiu. Raiu covers more than half the remaining islands most of the year.

The surviving races; Human, Dwarf, and Elf, live in what we call The Nexus. A cluster of floating islands that never leave the eye of Raiu. Here they try and eek out survival.

Here is where our story truly begins.

Cortex+ System

A Hybris Theory: (1pm-5pm) Thursday

RPG17103242

You’ve docked on an unfriendly foreign port. Your captain is dead. Can you & your crew survive & get flying again?

(Without burning the entire town to the ground again)

Very Huge Saga: (1pm-5pm) Friday

RPG17103250

Your crew has been given a strange box. Your job is discover what is contained inside & unlock its secrets. But look out, others want that box too.

Pathfinder System

These will be large group games that will be separated once all players arrive to complete smaller missions before joining together to complete the final task. The games run long with multiple breaks. Multiple GMs will be on hand to run the games and answer questions during game play. It’s a fun time and a little chaotic.

Slave Ships Revolt (6pm-4am!) Thursday

RPG17103215

Freedom or death! You will have to escape captivity aboard airships before they dock. Will you convert the crew or kill them and attempt to fly the ships yourselves? Did they get a distress signal off before you attacked? There will be some PvP both intentional and accidental.

Darkmore Besieged (6pm-4am!) Friday

RPG17103228

You are a group of resistance fighters who have banded together to overthrow a tyrant. Multiple mini missions that have both positive and negative effects on the campaign. You will have to choose which ones you do and which ones you skip. Will you ferret out a spy or steal a powerful artifact instead? You will then get together and siege a stronghold. This will challenge your gameplay skills and your ability to work with others.

The game ends when either she dies, or you do.

Did I mention she likes to throw fireballs indiscriminately?

See you in August

J

Thank the Maker (Game Maker that is)


Cam Banks. Cortex deity has purchased the license from MPW

https://margaretweis.com/blogs/news/cam-banks-acquires-cortex-license

To be honest I was very worried when I found out that a lot of the writers for the announced Cortex Plus kickstarter were no longer working on the project. Hopefully this also means more regular announcements about the game system than what I have been getting in the past.

I am psyched!

 

Back to reworking the Shaman for the next testing session. Got  lots of good feedback and Needs to alter its direction a bit,

Ta Ta for now

 

J

 

 

Why not both?


So It’s been a while. Life is funny and fun sometimes but I am back with an update for all couple dozen of you Into the Nexus fans

Gen Con 2016 was great fun and we had a raucous good time at our gaming sessions.

Slave Ship and Darkmore both sold out  and we even had extras come in and ask to play. Large scale games that went on into the wee hours of the morning. The cortex games we smaller but still just as fun. Nice easy 4 hour games that I think ended quite well. Feedback was positive and some of the changes made to both types of games really worked well with this years players.

 

That being said I have made a decision. We will be releasing both a Cortex+ and a d20 version of the Into the Nexus. Both books are pretty much done except for editing and I think they offer strengths to different gaming styles. I hope to have copies of both ready for Gencon 2017.

I have made some serious changes to the web site. I have added all playable characters and races and I had added both gaming system character sheets. Both character sheets samples are now available  here

https://misdirectedawesome.wordpress.com/roleplaying-worlds/races/character-sheets/

So take a look at the new cast and crew of Into The Nexus. All illustrations have been done by Justin Graham and are fantastic. The Walker and Ayan are my personal favorites.

I know I’m not the best at the constant posts but I hope to get better at it in the next few months with more content to announce and hopefully more gaming sessions to talk about.

What are you waiting for? Go take a look.

Ta

 

J

 

 

Gen Con Gaming Schedule!


Alright alright alright….

Misdirected Awesome Games has all of our gaming sessions online!

Here are our Into the Nexus games based off the Cortex Plus system.  The world was destroyed through a gross misuse of magic. Our players will have to make their way through an alternate 80’s Earth that has been forever altered by magic, betrayal, and Aya
Into the Nexus: A Hybris Theory

https://www.gencon.com/events/84092

Into the Nexus: Very Huge Saga

https://www.gencon.com/events/84102

Making their debut with Misdirected Awesome games is Flashpoint. A thrilling science fiction space horror d20 game.

For the past century, the modern civilizations of the Milky Way Galaxy have been slowly losing solar system after after system to a mysterious, all-consuming, and seemingly invincible race of beings known only as the Nhilus. In desperation, many races have consolidated their strength to their home systems to brace for the inevitable.

Flashpoint Part 1 of 2: “Evacuate Earth”

https://www.gencon.com/events/84448

Flashpoint Part 2 of 2: “Jump to Wayward Station”

https://www.gencon.com/events/84453

Flashpoint: Infinite – Survival of the Fittest

https://www.gencon.com/events/91715

And of course our time honored classic Pathfinder Into the Nexus adventures Based off the books The Death Gate Cycle by Margaret Weis & Tracy Hickman

Slave Ship Revolt

https://www.gencon.com/events/84081

Darkmore Beseiged (Already Sold Out but we will accept generics if we have no shows)

https://www.gencon.com/events/84082

Looking forward to a great Gen con this year and hope to see you all there!

Ta

J

Assets, Complications, and Triggers… oh my!


Gen Con games are accepted and will go live on Sunday.

Print book is progressing nicely and I will have intro copies ready for sale at the convention.

I have been working on signature assets and triggers for each of the Archetypes. I have quite a bit of the artwork done for each of them including the cover page.

Looking forward to doing both the new Cortex+ games and the Original Pathfinder version.

I have added new missions and puzzles to the Darkmore Besieged adventure so it should be an interesting time for returning players.

Looking forward to seeing new players and returning ones.

83 days left to go!

J

 

 

 

 

GenCon 2016! 4 games Submitted


Holy Toledo I’m back from a too long absence. Not much new to report. Have been doing some play testing with the new Cortex+ game system and so far I really like it. I will get a real test at Gen con this year when I run it for strangers. I hope to have comment cards to I can see what People liked and didn’t like about the game mechanics.

So Here are my games for Gencon this year

Game ID Event Title Start Time Duration Actions
RPG1684092 A Hybris Theory – Into the Nexus Thu @ 1:00 PM 4 hrs Duplicate
Cost: $4
RPG1684081 Slave Ship Revolt – Into the Nexus Thu @ 6:00 PM 10 hrs Duplicate
Cost: $10
RPG1684102 Very Huge Saga – Into the Nexus Fri @ 1:00 PM 4 hrs Duplicate
Cost: $4
RPG1684082 Darkmore Beseiged – Into the Nexus Fri @ 6:00 PM 10 hrs Duplicate

 

I have decided to keep my big games using the Pathfinder system and the Death Gate Cycle Material. Disappointed as I am that MWP decided on a different direction. It doesn’t stop me loving the series or the games I built around them. It is what those game players have come to enjoy and I do love running them.

As for a game I want to publish. Into the Nexus will be all original material.

Speaking of that. New logo and Webdesign on the blog. New artwork will be posted soon and I should have a pre-release book for sale by gencon.

 

That is all for now. Someone broke their monitor and I need to see how the hell they managed that.

 

Ta

J

 

Unsocial Media 2 – The Legend of Curly’s Gold


It’s been 30 days since I decided to fast from social media. I didn’t abstain as I would have liked due to my use of it for social gathers but I didn’t post daily (or even weekly) to Facebook. I unfollowed everyone on my friends list and unsubscribed to any group that I had not actively participated in.

It is a joy. I took me about a week to not look everyday to see what new info wasn’t going to show up. Took a few more days to figure out what to do with my time. I wasn’t spending my nights reading over peoples constant complaining about the life they themselves chose. “News” that was fake but they were too lazy to check before posting. Preaching about their faith they love but don’t truly follow because they can’t give up bacon. The nonstop barrage of meaningless crap people post to seem funny or pious or happy being alone or happy being in the relationship they are in.

e.g.  Post #1 “Today I will not be around negative people” Post #2 “Fuck the haters” (this second one seems negative) or

Post #1 “Kicked him to the curb! I don’t need a man to be happy. The single life for me” Post #2 a week later “Found a real man. He is so perfect, we are moving in together”

Now I myself was a contributor to this. I bitched endlessly about whatever was annoying me. I thought it was cathartic. It wasn’t. It was making me angrier and angrier. I wasn’t helping myself with these I was just spouting vile. And thanks to Facebook’s “On this day” I discovered I was repeating myself!

So did I take this time to work on Nexus? Nope. I used my time to spend with family and friends. I talked on the phone, sometimes for hours. I texted people and had actual private conversations. I played games with friends. I cooked. I played Zelda. I had long conversations in the kitchen with my wife.

I enjoyed my life.

I didn’t watch what others were doing and either get angry at them or jealous of them. I just didn’t care. I focused on my own and I feel better for it.

Will I stay off of Facebook? I don’t know. I hope so. Maybe use it to share photos of my family for people who don’t get to see them as much as they’d like.

Now if you’ll excuse me. I have a newly modded Commodore 64 to play Might and Magic on.

TaTa

J

 

P.S. Next post will be Nexus game related. I have run a couple of sessions with the Cortex+ rules and am liking its new direction.

 

 

 

 

 

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