{"id":1750,"date":"2015-10-09T10:18:52","date_gmt":"2015-10-09T17:18:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.theredactedfiles.com\/?p=1750"},"modified":"2015-10-09T10:24:27","modified_gmt":"2015-10-09T17:24:27","slug":"review-cypher-system","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.theredactedfiles.com\/?p=1750","title":{"rendered":"Review: Cypher System"},"content":{"rendered":"

The greatest thing about the prior Cypher System games, Numen\u00e8ra<\/em> and The Strange<\/em>, is the simple, flexible, yet deceptively nuanced mechanics that work together to really animate any story you care to tell. Yet as liberating from the setting of the Ninth World as The Strange<\/em> was, it still constrained the “anything goes,”” mentality of the system within a framework of alternate realities. What the Cypher System Rulebook<\/em> offers is what The Strange<\/em> so tantalizingly teased us with last summer, the tools to tell any story we like with Monte Cook’s elegant little game engine.
\n\"Cypher<\/a><\/p>\n

The concept of the Cypher System Rulebook<\/em> is anything but original, and some might mistakenly think that because much of the content is similarly familiar, the book has little to offer: on the contrary though, the book provides a wealth of tips about how to customize a Cypher System game to meet any GM’s needs. Much like previous releases, the book begins with an introduction to the basics of gameplay, then proceeds to follow the \"Aprocess of character creation through the selection of descriptor, type and focus: the adjective, noun and verb of the\u00a0statement, “I am a ______ ______ who ______.” The Cypher System also adds a new concept – flavors. You can add a flavor to your type and get some new options for your character to pull from. The flavors include Technology, Magic, Combat, Stealth, and Skills\/Knowledge. These let you customize your character a little more, like if you want a talk-y character who is also really good at punching people.<\/p>\n

From there we discuss equipment, and that’s where things get interesting. Rather than a setting section,following the more detailed treatment of the rules, this book has breakdowns for the most common sorts of genre into which most players will naturally gravitate. In each such section, for Fantasy, Modern, Science Fiction, Superheroes, and Horror, there are tailored suggestions to make your games more unique and memorable. Beyond that, a helpfully well-populated list of creatures is just itching to be let out to challenge the PCs. These range from tried and true adversaries from the previous Monte Cook releases to creatures unreal and mundane from Earth and…elsewhere
\n<\/a><\/p>\n

So you’ve pick from the long list of foci and descriptors, select which character types you want in your game and what focis they can use. Next you go to the relevant genre section, read it through the advice there and then settle on what Cyphers and other equipment you think would be appropriate for the setting. Once done, you pick a few locales, populate them with settlements and set out some creatures and NPCs for them to run into. And just like that, you’re done with creating a campaign setting.<\/p>\n

\"Ships<\/a>When you’ve figured all that out, you document everything on the campaign design sheet provided at the back of the book and hand it to your players to provide guidance for character creation. It’s as easy as that.<\/p>\n

As I read through Numen\u00e8ra<\/em> for the first time, I thought about how much I loved the system and wished it could be adapted to other genres. Then I played The Strange<\/em> and fell in love with the freedom I had to explore different genres in the same campaign. Now, we’ve come full circle. With the Cypher System<\/em> Rulebook, I have the tools to tell the story my players want to tell. Thanks Monte Cook Games, and keep up the great work.<\/p>\n

The Cypher System<\/em> is available from Monte Cook Games<\/a> as a hardback ($59.99) or PDF ($19.99). The PDF is also available on DriveThruRPG<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The greatest thing about the prior Cypher System games, Numen\u00e8ra and The Strange, is the simple, flexible, yet deceptively nuanced mechanics that work together to really animate any story you care to tell. Yet as liberating from the setting of the Ninth World as The Strange was, it still constrained the “anything goes,”” mentality of… Continue Reading Review: Cypher System<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":1751,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"Review: Cypher System #CypherSystem","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[88,46],"tags":[15,12],"class_list":["post-1750","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cypher","category-reviews","tag-aser","tag-cypher"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.theredactedfiles.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/Cover-Mockup-2015-04-08-Opt2c.jpg?fit=2625%2C3375&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p5r9Oo-se","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":490,"url":"https:\/\/www.theredactedfiles.com\/?p=490","url_meta":{"origin":1750,"position":0},"title":"Why The Cypher System is a Blind GM’s Best Friend","author":"Aser Tolentino","date":"January 18, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"One of the principal selling points for the Cypher System is the ease with which a GM can pick it up and be running epic games of action, intrigue and suspense in just minutes. The thing is, that many of the steps that Monte Cook Games took to achieve this\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Accessibility"","block_context":{"text":"Accessibility","link":"https:\/\/www.theredactedfiles.com\/?cat=168"},"img":{"alt_text":"Braille d20 from 64 oz Games","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.theredactedfiles.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/IMG_0029-300x225.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2121,"url":"https:\/\/www.theredactedfiles.com\/?p=2121","url_meta":{"origin":1750,"position":1},"title":"Review: Extreme Cyphers","author":"Megan","date":"February 13, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Sometimes a regular cypher just won't do... Extreme Cyphers is the newest glimmer from Monte Cook Games and is compatible with Numenera, The Strange, and The Cypher System. It contains 40 new Cyphers with much more dramatic effects then the standard cyphers found throughout the games. There's a handy table\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blog Posts"","block_context":{"text":"Blog Posts","link":"https:\/\/www.theredactedfiles.com\/?cat=41"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":5541,"url":"https:\/\/www.theredactedfiles.com\/?p=5541","url_meta":{"origin":1750,"position":2},"title":"Interview with Monte Cook about Heroes of the Cypher System!","author":"trfadmin","date":"November 23, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"We were very excited to sit down with Monte Cook to talk about the new Heroes of the Cypher System kickstarter, super heroes, what heroes look like in 2020, monsters, and the evolution of the Cypher System.\u00a0 You can find Heroes of the Cypher System on kickstarter through December 11,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Cypher System"","block_context":{"text":"Cypher System","link":"https:\/\/www.theredactedfiles.com\/?cat=88"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1590,"url":"https:\/\/www.theredactedfiles.com\/?p=1590","url_meta":{"origin":1750,"position":3},"title":"#RPGaDay2015 23: Perfect Game for You","author":"trfadmin","date":"August 23, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Last year we celebrated Autocratik's #RPGaDay, where we spend a month celebrating RPGs, discussing what we love and what we love about them. Here are the responses of the TRF crew. Be sure to tweet, blog, or post your own with the #RPGaDay! For August 23, What is the perfect\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blog Posts"","block_context":{"text":"Blog Posts","link":"https:\/\/www.theredactedfiles.com\/?cat=41"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/1.bp.blogspot.com\/-nyPBtQNDfHE\/VYFR2oGlEqI\/AAAAAAAABaA\/3w11H3DtVbU\/s1600\/RPG%2Ba%2Bday%2B2015%2B-%2BTwitter.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/1.bp.blogspot.com\/-nyPBtQNDfHE\/VYFR2oGlEqI\/AAAAAAAABaA\/3w11H3DtVbU\/s1600\/RPG%2Ba%2Bday%2B2015%2B-%2BTwitter.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/1.bp.blogspot.com\/-nyPBtQNDfHE\/VYFR2oGlEqI\/AAAAAAAABaA\/3w11H3DtVbU\/s1600\/RPG%2Ba%2Bday%2B2015%2B-%2BTwitter.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/1.bp.blogspot.com\/-nyPBtQNDfHE\/VYFR2oGlEqI\/AAAAAAAABaA\/3w11H3DtVbU\/s1600\/RPG%2Ba%2Bday%2B2015%2B-%2BTwitter.jpg?resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/1.bp.blogspot.com\/-nyPBtQNDfHE\/VYFR2oGlEqI\/AAAAAAAABaA\/3w11H3DtVbU\/s1600\/RPG%2Ba%2Bday%2B2015%2B-%2BTwitter.jpg?resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1599,"url":"https:\/\/www.theredactedfiles.com\/?p=1599","url_meta":{"origin":1750,"position":4},"title":"What’s Cool on Kickstarter","author":"Megan","date":"August 17, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"There's many interesting items to be found on Kickstarter, and here are the coolest ones this week. 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