Cypher Evolved Edition Announced

 

https://www.montecookgames.com/announcing-cyphers-new-evolved-edition/

In 2026, we are getting the next edition of Cypher! This is a nice announcement, as they are keeping backward compatibility while making tweaks to the core system. While I like the version we have today, they are making changes to clarify systems like wounding and other areas to make them easier to understand.

I bounced off this game a few times trying to understand it, so I get the frustration people have with learning the game. When I started, I just did not "get it," and the concepts of "why this is easier" felt alien to me. It seemed like a mess of pools, spending pool points to avoid taking damage to those pool points, and thus taking damage anyway, and a bunch of other unintuitive mechanics.

I want a better new player experience. The current books drop you into the whole system, and it's sink or swim. I sank four times trying to grasp this game.

I am looking forward to this. Cypher remains the best narrative game on the market, and I particularly enjoy the narrative economy and infinite possibilities within its system.

Maybe I Don't Like Wounding Changes

A counter-argument to the wounding changes in Cypher System is that it adds another layer of complexity to the game that it does not need. Those well-versed in Cypher know what the consequences of taking damage are, even if the same mechanical effect happens by spending pool points to avoid it.

If I take a wound, it opens my character up to GM Intrusions based on injuries. Even a roll of one could introduce a lethal complication for a character who has a wound.

If I spend pool points, it does not.

Why do I now need to track a wound pool? That is another thing to keep track of. Taking a game that is so elegant and streamlined, it becomes like all the other games, and possibly worse, since the more we add to it, the more complex the game becomes to play.

I have my ability score pools, my XP, resting, and now wounds to keep track of. At some point, it becomes too much, and the power of each resource diminishes.

Even "death at zero pool points" is up to referee discretion. If I got there by just spending pool points but never got a scratch on me or took one injury, isn't that exhaustion, and I collapse instead of dying?

There is a risk here of overcomplicating things for an audience who will never really grasp this game, nor appreciate the original design's elegance and charm.

Wounding Changes

There was a new Cypher System email updating wound changes. I will leave most of this to the email to lay out, and sign up for the crowdfunding to get them!

The most crucial point is that the wounding system is getting decoupled from the ability score pools.

Finally! Now, there is no conflict between "spending pool points to avoid damage" and "just taking the damage and losing the pool points." They are both the same to many groups, even though I would adjudicate this as "wounds are real narrative things," and they can be sources of extra hindrances and GM Intrusions.

Now, the wounding system is more like "hit point systems" that people are used to, but a bit more abstracted and easier to use. This is a good change overall, and it simplifies the process of taking wounds, making it one less confusing step and more straightforward in a narrative sense.

Pools are pools, and wounds are wounds.

Setting Books

Part of me would like Monte Cook Games to standardize on the Cypher System as the core rules for all the setting books, stripping out the rules from those games and leaving them as pure setting guides. We would receive more information on the settings, as well as setting-specific character creation details, and we would not need to reiterate the core rules of the game repeatedly.

The Strange is strong enough a setting to stand on its own. So is Numenera. In fact, these are more compelling as stand-alone books and pure setting guides.

While I like the idea of a fantasy-inspired version of the Cypher System, we have the Diamond Throne, which is a setting plus a game, and the Godforsaken book, which is a genre guide. I would love for this to be the core Cypher rulebook, a genre guide, and then a setting book, with no repeated information.

With character creation centralized on the Monte Cook Games site, it makes sense to consolidate everything and use that single tool for all settings. Perhaps they will create a "campaign flavor" option to "name things as the game you are playing names them," but I don't see that as a strong approach to this.

When I play any of these games, I will reach for my Cypher System core rulebook and use that. I understand "having each being a standalone," but they are all 90% similar in terms of rules and character options. This is sort of the GURPS argument and game structure, where you have a core rulebook that is any game, and then genre and setting specific sourcebooks where the main rules are not repeated.

Cypher-Finder?

Not unsurprisingly, a Pathfinder Classic conversion to the Cypher System would not be that hard at all. For the most part, the core Cypher System rulebook would be used, and you don't need many of the character classes in the base rules. At most, this book will be helpful for equipment and magic items.

The Bestiary will be the book to focus on, since you will be using this to rate monsters on a 1 to 10 difficulty curve, pulling out special attacks and defenses (and rating those in the system), and using it for inspiration. Most of the other books are skippable for a core game experience.

Godforsaken, being the Cypher System fantasy add-on book, will provide a significant boost with a few extra options. Check this and the core rulebook in the character creation tool and save it as a campaign. This will give you a few more options to explore. This book also provides suggestions for various character classes in a traditional D20 game and recommends the Cypher System foci to use when creating them. This section is an invaluable guide to building a character, and will tell you how to make a sorcerer feel and play differently from a wizard. This book also features a comprehensive list of monsters for inspiration.

I would love to see Paizo work with Monte Cook Games to deliver a Cypher System version of Pathfinder Classic, just like they did with the Savage Worlds conversion. With a new universal core Cypher rulebook, we could get a themed sourcebook suggesting how to build the Pathfinder Classic classes with Cypher, and maybe a bestiary, too. Combined with the classic Paizo art, this would be a must-buy for me, and a huge attention-getter for the system.

Until that happens, I can DIY this easily with my PDFs, and start playing today!

Cypher Universal?

I am curious whether the upcoming revision of Cypher is more about unifying the system with a single core book and presenting everything else as a setting book. This idea is supported in the character creator, in that you can "rename" the professions to a new title, given the world you are adventuring in.

This way, settings like The Strange and Numenera can be significantly simplified without needing to repeat the core rules in each book, and those books can focus more on monsters, artifacts, cyphers, the world, NPCs, and setting info. Eliminating all rule repetition would be a vast improvement, turning the setting books more into setting guides, like the GURPS add-on books are currently.

This would also focus all Cypher games around the character creation tools and unify and streamline the entire experience of playing the system. In the Diamond Throne book, I did not need the Cypher rules again, and would have liked far more monsters, NPCs, and setting info.

I get the point of making this a standalone set, but when it comes down to it, I am using the Cypher Character Creator (and Godforsaken) to build my characters for this setting, not the rules in this book.

With the Cypher SRD integrated, this could open up opportunities for many third-party creators to build for the system.

Additionally, making Numenera and The Strange into Godforsaken-like add-on books for the core system would allow them to better integrate with the character creation tools and be checked on and off as character options. Done this way, we can keep all the old add-on books just as they are, and the new settings would add to the tools we already have.

The d20 is Brutal

The d20 Beginner Box die that killed Pathfinder 2 for me.

You do not want to roll against a difficulty of 1 or 2.

Don't risk it, use effort to knock that down, and don't roll.

These d20 dice are brutal; they do not care what the number you have to roll is. You will be smiling and rolling against a 3 on the die, and a 1 will come up like a middle finger. One GM Intrusion later, I have a blown tire in a vehicle chase, and I might not have the XP to avoid it. This can change the entire course of the adventure and narrative.

I have d20 dice that hate me. One I got in a Pathfinder 2 Beginner box would not roll above a 6 after a dozen rolls. After a while, I was like, "Sorry, we will just retake the critical failure this turn."

In a horror game, a GM Intrusion could mean one of the group gets lost, wounded, or even killed. In a survival game, nothing good can happen from this, and you will be wishing you had knocked that easy roll down to not even needing to touch the dice.

I have had multiple "sure things" turn into disasters because I wanted to be cheap and save a few points. At least taking GM Intrusions outside of rolling a 1 will gain you and the group XP, which you can use as a buffer from dice-inflicted narrative wounds.

Don't chance it. The less you roll, the better off you are.

Cypher System is so much better than Daggerheart when playing a narrative-focused game, since it does not rely on hope and fear die roll mechanics, along with a massive framework of a hope-to-powers economy. I like Daggerheart, but Cypher System wins on narrative panache, simplicity, player-to-GM economy, and style.