Cam Banks

Last updated
Cam Banks
Born Auckland, New Zealand
OccupationWriter, game designer
Genre Role-playing games

Cam Banks is a game designer known for his work on the Cortex System line of roleplaying games as lead designer for Marvel Heroic Roleplaying , [1] [2] and the Big Damn Heroes Handbook supplement to the Serenity Role Playing Game , [3] among other titles. He is the Cortex Creative Director for Fandom Tabletop, the publishers of Cortex Prime . [4]

Contents

Career

Cam Banks and Christopher Coyle wrote a new campaign saga for Dragonlance that was produced by Sovereign Press in three parts: Key of Destiny (2004), Spectre of Sorrows (2005) and Price of Courage (2006). The series totaled 730 pages and covered the major events that occurred in the Age of Mortals. [5] : 353  His first novel was published in 2007. [6] He wrote the 2008 Dragonlance novel The Sellsword . [7] Banks was later the Cortex System line editor for Margaret Weis Productions, and in 2010 the system was renovated into the Cortex Plus system. [5] : 354  Banks was the line developer for the Smallville Roleplaying Game (2010), which he co-designed with indie game publisher Josh Roby. [5] : 354  Banks co-designed Leverage: The Roleplaying Game (2011) with Rob Donoghue, Clark Valentine, and others. [5] : 354 

A native of New Zealand, Banks lives in St Paul, Minnesota, where he has been working as a brand manager and production specialist for Atlas Games since February 2013. [8] Before this he was a line developer at Margaret Weis Productions, where he led the development of the Smallville Roleplaying Game , Leverage: The Roleplaying Game , and Marvel Heroic Roleplaying in addition to continuing with Margaret Weis' historical properties, leading the development of the Big Damn Heroes supplement for the Serenity Role Playing Game , and working on the Dragonlance setting.

On November 1, 2016, Margaret Weis Productions released a statement announcing that Cam Banks and his new design studio Magic Vacuum had licensed the original Cortex System and Cortex Plus system and would be "taking over the design, development, and publishing of games based on these rules... for 2017 and beyond," coinciding with "Margaret’s retirement from RPG development to focus on her current novel and film projects." [9]

In September 2019, Fandom Tabletop acquired the rights to Cortex from MWP and hired Banks as their new Cortex Creative Director. [4]

Bibliography

Roleplaying Games and Supplements

Cam Banks has been a freelance writer and designer for Sovereign Press, and a designer and line developer for Margaret Weis Productions where he first produced supplements for the Cortex System games designed by Jamie Chambers. Then he led the design of the Cortex Plus games. He is the current Cortex Creative Director with Fandom Tabletop. [4]

Dragonlance

  • Design Credits: Dragonlance Dungeon Master's Screen (2003)
  • Additional Design Credits: Age of Mortals (2003)
  • Additional Design Credits: Towers of High Sorcery (2004)
  • Additional Design Credits: War of the Lance (2004)
  • Design Credits: Bestiary of Krynn 2004 ENnie Awards: Best Art, Interior and Best Monster Supplement: Silver Awards
  • Author: Dragons of Krynn (2006)
  • Author: Bestiary of Krynn (revised) (2007)
  • Co-author: Key of Destiny (2004)
  • Co-author: Spectre of Sorrows (2005)
  • Co-author: Price of Courage (2006)
  • Dragonlance: Dragons of Autumn (Updated version of the original adventures)
  • Dragonlance: Dragons of Winter (Updated version of the original adventures)

Cortex System Games and Supplements with Margaret Weis Productions

Cortex Plus games with Margaret Weis Productions

  • Lead Designer: Smallville Roleplaying Game (2009)
  • Lead Designer: Leverage: The Roleplaying Game (2010)
  • Lead Designer: Marvel Heroic Roleplaying Basic Game (2011) Origins Award: Best Roleplaying Game [1] 2012 ENnies: Best Roleplaying Game Silver Award [2]
  • Lead Designer: Marvel Heroic Roleplaying Civil War Event Book Essentials Edition (2011) Origins Award: Best Roleplaying Supplement [1] 2012 ENnies: Best Roleplaying Game Supplement [2]
  • Lead Designer: Marvel Heroic Roleplaying Civil War Event Book Premium Edition (2011) (the same as the Essentials Edition, but containing the game rules from the Basic Set).

Demon Hunters: A Comedy of Terrors RPG

  • Game Designer and Writer: Demon Hunters: A Comedy of Terrors RPG (2014) [10]

Cortex Prime Games and Supplements with Fandom Tabletop

Books

Critical reception


As a lead designer on pre-existing products, Cam Banks was responsible for Margaret Weis Productions second ever Origins Award with Big Damn Heroes. His Supernatural: Guide to the Hunted was applauded for the design and detail work although criticized slightly for the adherence to Supernatural's canon. [14] After becoming line developer he ceased to use the Cortex System, instead working with members of Evil Hat Productions to produce all the new games he created using the Cortex Plus.

Reception for the Cortex Plus games has been generally positive. Both io9 and RPGamer reviewed the Smallville Roleplaying Game , Banks's first game as lead designer. They praised the way the game "had the heart of an independent role playing game and focused on conflict rather than powers." [15] [16] Leverage: The Roleplaying Game was nominated for an Origins Award, and Marvel Heroic Roleplaying won two Origins Awards and an ENnie and was praised by SF Signal for how "authentic and true to the characters the representations felt." [17]

Related Research Articles

Dragonlance is a shared universe created by Laura and Tracy Hickman, and expanded by Tracy Hickman and Margaret Weis under the direction of TSR, Inc. into a series of fantasy novels. The Hickmans conceived Dragonlance while driving in their car on the way to TSR for a job interview. Tracy Hickman met his future writing partner Margaret Weis at TSR, and they gathered a group of associates to play the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game. The adventures during that game inspired a series of gaming modules, a series of novels, licensed products such as board games, and lead miniature figures.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Keith Baker (game designer)</span> American writer and game designer

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Sovereign Press, Incorporated is a publisher and distributor of role-playing games based in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin. It was founded in 1998 by Margaret Weis and Don Perrin and is one of two companies that Weis owns.

<i>Serenity Role Playing Game</i> Tabletop science fiction role-playing game

The Serenity Role Playing Game is a science fiction role-playing game released in 2005 and set in the universe of the movie Serenity. It was produced by Margaret Weis Productions, Ltd, and its mechanics were the first iteration of the Cortex System. It won an Origins Award for best RPG in 2005 and Margaret Weis' license came to an end on January 31, 2011.

Margaret Weis Productions, Ltd. is a games publisher located in Williams Bay, Wisconsin, United States and founded in 2004 after Margaret Weis and Don Perrin, the two founders of Sovereign Press, divorced.

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The DL series is a series of adventures and some supplementary material for the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons role playing game. These modules along with the Dragonlance Chronicles trilogy of novels, which follow one possible adventure series through the modules, were the first published items that established the Dragonlance fictional universe. The original DL series was released from 1984 to 1986, with the final two modules added to it in 1988. In the 1990s these roleplaying adventures from the original series were collected and revised for 2nd Edition AD&D as the three DLC Dragonlance Classics modules. There were also versions of the module series released in 1999, 2000 and 2006.

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<i>Marvel Heroic Roleplaying</i>

Marvel Heroic Roleplaying is the fourth role-playing game set in the Marvel Universe published by Margaret Weis Productions under license from Marvel Comics. It uses the Cortex Plus system. The first volume was published in early 2012. In early 2013, Margaret Weis Productions announced that they would not be renewing their license and publication ceased.

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The Cortex Plus System is a toolkit RPG system that evolved from Margaret Weis Productions, Ltd's Cortex System. It has been used for four published games and one published preview to date, and the design principles are in the Cortex Plus Hacker's Guide, a book of advice in how to create new games using Cortex Plus, and list of new games produced via Kickstarter. According to the Hacker's Guide there are three basic 'flavors' of Cortex Plus; Action, Drama, and Heroic.

<i>Smallville Roleplaying Game</i> Tabletop superhero role-playing game

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<i>Leverage: The Roleplaying Game</i>

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The Cortex System is a collection of related roleplaying games. Its most recent iteration, Cortex Prime, was designed by Cam Banks and published by Fandom Tabletop. Prior versions appeared in the licensed roleplaying games published by Margaret Weis Productions, where it was used as the house system. Cortex is an adaptable game system focusing on characterization and story development.

References

  1. 1 2 3 "39th Origins Awards". Archived from the original on 2013-12-27.
  2. 1 2 3 "Congratulations to the 2012 ENnie Award winners!". ennie-awards.com. Archived from the original on 2019-01-18. Retrieved 2014-01-04.
  3. 1 2 "36th Annual Origins Awards". Archived from the original on 2013-12-27. Retrieved 2014-01-04.
  4. 1 2 3 https://icv2.com/articles/news/view/44087/fandom-acquires-cortex-rpg-rules-system Fandom Acquires Cortex RPG Rules System and Hires Cam Banks
  5. 1 2 3 4 Shannon Appelcline (2011). Designers & Dragons. Mongoose Publishing. ISBN   978-1-907702-58-7.
  6. ↑ Schwartz, John (September 23, 2011). "A Game That Honed the Skills of Writers (Published 2011)" – via NYTimes.com.
  7. ↑ "Cam Banks". Archived from the original on February 24, 2009.
  8. ↑ "Atlas Games: Cam Banks to Join Atlas Games". atlas-games.com.
  9. ↑ "Cam Banks Acquires Cortex™ License". Margaret Weis.
  10. ↑ "Demon Hunters: A Comedy of Terrors RPG". demonhuntersrpg.com.
  11. ↑ "Update 63: August Update: Final PDF, Xadia, and Grayskull! · Cortex Prime: A Multi-Genre Modular Roleplaying Game". Kickstarter.
  12. ↑ Kain, Erik. "'The Dragon Prince' Tabletop RPG 'Tales Of Xadia' Announced". Forbes.
  13. ↑ "Become Masters of the Universe in New LEGENDS OF GRAYSKULL RPG". Nerdist.
  14. ↑ "Guide to the Hunted Review - Supernatural - Flames Rising Horror Webzine". flamesrising.com.
  15. ↑ Ed Grabianowski - Robot Viking. "Smallville RPG wields big drama". io9.
  16. ↑ "RPGamer > The Saving Throw > Review". rpgamer.com. Archived from the original on 2014-01-02. Retrieved 2014-01-04.
  17. ↑ "Roll Perception Plus Awareness: The Marvel Heroic Roleplaying Game". sfsignal.com.
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