Amazing Tales vs Cortex Prime
Compare Amazing Tales and Cortex Prime side by side. See differences in complexity, dice, genre, cost, and more.
| Amazing Tales | Cortex Prime | |
|---|---|---|
| Genre | Universal | Universal |
| Play Style | Beginner-Friendly, Rules-Light, One-Shot Friendly, Narrative, Family, Fiction-First, Low-Prep, Theater of the Mind | Narrative, Modular, Collaborative, Toolkit, Roleplay-Heavy, Character-Driven, Tag-Based |
| Core Mechanic | Each character has 4 skills the child invents. Each skill is assigned a die (d12, d10, d8, d6): bigger die = better skill. Roll 3+ to succeed. That's the entire system. | Assemble a dice pool from trait sets (attributes, skills, relationships, etc.) rated d4–d12. Roll the pool, keep the two highest for your total vs. opposition, then choose an Effect Die from the remainder to determine magnitude. Plot Points let players add dice, activate abilities, or alter the narrative. Every mechanical element is a swappable mod. |
| Dice | d6–d12 | d4–d12 dice pool |
| Complexity | Very Low | Medium |
| Accessibility | High | High |
| Runnability | Low | Very High |
| License | Proprietary | Cortex Creator License |
| Cost | $ | $$ |
| Publisher | Martin Lloyd | Dire Wolf Digital |
| Year | 2019 | 2020 |
| Best For | Parents playing with kids aged 4+ who want collaborative storytelling with the simplest possible rules: one die roll, no math, any setting. | GMs who want to build a custom system from modular parts: homebrew designers, genre-mixers, and groups tired of forcing their stories into a pre-built framework. |
| Highlights | Genuinely playable by 4-year-olds, genre-agnostic (pirates, space, fairy tales, anything), child creates their own character skills, four ready-to-play settings included, encourages collaborative storytelling | Highly modular: 18+ mods for core rules alone, clear writing with worked examples, Plot Point economy creates dynamic give-and-take, powered well-known licensed games (Marvel Heroic, Firefly, Leverage) |
| Considerations | Far too simple for older kids or adults, no combat system or advancement, GM (parent) does all the heavy lifting narratively, extremely limited mechanical depth | Not playable out of the box: requires significant GM assembly, steep learning curve to understand which mods fit your game, every roll involves choosing which dice to keep plus an Effect Die which slows resolution |