Cortex Prime vs D6 System

Compare Cortex Prime and D6 System side by side. See differences in complexity, dice, genre, cost, and more.

	Cortex Prime	D6 System
Genre	Universal	Universal
Play Style	Narrative, Modular, Collaborative, Toolkit, Roleplay-Heavy, Character-Driven, Tag-Based	Toolkit, Modular, Cinematic, Hackable, Skill-Based, Character Building
Core Mechanic	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.	Rate attributes and skills in numbers of six-sided dice, then roll that pool and total it against a difficulty number set by the GM. One die is the Wild Die: a 6 explodes and is rolled again, while a 1 can introduce a complication. Pips give +1 or +2 between full dice, and Character Points can be spent to add dice to a roll.
Dice	d4–d12 dice pool	d6 dice pool
Complexity	Medium	Medium
Accessibility	High	High
Runnability	Very High	High
License	Cortex Creator License	Proprietary (licensed from West End Games)
Cost	$$	$$
Publisher	Dire Wolf Digital	Gallant Knight Games
Year	2020	2024
Best For	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.	Groups who want one adaptable engine they can take across genres (cinematic action, fantasy, cyberpunk) with modular crunch they can dial up or down.
Highlights	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)	Attributes and skills are rated in numbers of d6 that you pool, sum, and compare to a difficulty number, so improving a trait literally adds dice. One die in every pool is the Wild Die, which explodes on a 6 to push results higher and can trigger a complication on a 1. Genre Modules for fantasy, cyberpunk, superpowers, and more bolt onto the same core, so one engine spans many settings.
Considerations	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	Large dice pools mean rolling and summing many d6s per action, which slows resolution for highly skilled characters. The breadth of optional modules and rules variants means groups must decide which subsystems to use before play. Character creation allocates dice and pips across attributes and skills, requiring some up-front arithmetic.