Still the Best Narrative Game

Cypher is still the best narrative game out there. Many newer narrative games become overly "cute" with their mechanics, introducing unnecessary complexity. Daggerheart's "hope and fear" dice are far too granular, happening on every action, which makes the system tiring and overdone. I am not interested in coming up with a "dramatic flourish" for every dagger strike! It is too much. I don't care, nor do I wish to spend the mental energy coming up with hundreds of little good and bad things that happen - especially when they really won't matter in a larger narrative sweep.

The Genesys RPG had the same problem. This was an excellent system that utilized a variety of special dice, producing cool results. Still, it completely fell apart in blow-to-blow combat because the dice had to be reinterpreted with every blow. This worked great for "macro actions" like one roll of the dice to "sneak across town without the guards noticing you," but was terrible in turn-to-turn combat. We wished combat could be handled in one roll, and we could move on with the narrative, as this constant, turn-to-turn reinterpretation got tiring.

Game designers get far too clever for their own good.

Daggerheart remains a good game, boasting beautiful production values and a solid card-based system. It is a highlight of 2025, but it makes a few of the mistakes Genesys did, so I feel a future version will roll back the "narrative granularity" issue and smooth out the system's tight tuning. I like story mechanics in games, but not on every roll.

Game designers will design a "gee whiz" system and then overextend the design to include everything, which will inevitably break at either a very low level or a very high one.

Cypher strikes a good balance, keeping the low-level "blow-by-blow" combat free from narrative hangups, while still allowing for the possibility of narrative intrusions at key, critical moments. The narrative sweep in Cypher has meaning, as they are part of the "narrative currency flow" and are only triggered at significant moments. The XP system is directly tied into GM & Player Intrusions, and those are the tools that the narrative shifts and flows.

You don't have to do this every time you roll the dice. You are not deciphering symbols or comparing the numbers on the dice, and "wondering what happens?" It happens on the macro level, not with every individual die roll. When does the story change? Only at significant milestone moments.

And the system in Cypher is integrated with the XP system, so you can trade off progression for success or buy off complications. Alternatively, you can accept new complications to make the story harder on you, earning net XP as a future resource.

Cypher System makes designing a wide range of character types easy, and it handles these broad, narrative sweeping plots that you see in streaming shows far better than a highly granular game.

Cypher: Faster. Easier. And Even Better!

https://www.backerkit.com/c/projects/monte-cook-games/cypher-system-faster-easier-and-even-better

The new Cypher System Revised BackerKit is up!

I had a few reservations, but I trust the team, so I am in with the Player's Guide and GM Book slipcase. Keeping backward compatibility is smart. Spread the word, this is a great system, and the best one for narrative mechanics and play, far outshining the alternatives. 

I am Not Feeling the Need

I know, I know, I know...

For a game I bounced off of so hard, that it was impossible for me to learn of several tries, now I am having reservations about a revision to Cypher System?

I love this system for its elegance. I don't want too many extra systems tacked on. Maybe adding a wounding system and a bunch of other "we need this to make a part of the game make sense" will begin to make Cypher like any other game, with armor hit points, wounding tracks, stress tracks, action economies, treed talent branches, and all sorts of other structure and scaffolding that take a game that can be anything and turn it into another 5E-like system.

The ability pools are an elegant resource. I don't need a "wound track" since the difference between losing 2 points from a light weapon attack and spending 2 points to use effort is a huge difference I can track in my head. With the attack, I know that character took damage, and that "assumed wounded condition" exists on that character and I can use GM Intrusions against it.

GM Intrusion, you are leading a blood trail that is easy to track. Here is your XP, and another to hand out.

Spent pool points and lost the same amount of points? The GM Intrusion makes no sense. The character never took damage. Maybe they missed something by being distracted, or are taking deep breaths.

Even losing all a character's pool points with damage means death, while if they spent them all on effort, got to all zeros, and dropped unconscious from exhaustion - I have the freedom to rule that without a wounding pool. I don't need wounds. I know this stuff.

I have more freedom to make rulings without all these extra unneeded pools.

We lose that with a wounding system that "tells players explicitly what wounding is" and the game feels dumbed-down. It creates more to track and manage. With pools, XP, rests, and everything else - we do not need another resource to track! The ones we have will mean less.

I also worry about the narrative economy, please don't add a hope and fear pool system like Daggerheart, what we have with XP is perfect. Don't make "doom points" for monsters to activate abilities, GM Intrusions are the way. I don't want another 5E clone.

I just have a lot of reservations about the direction we are going in.

I want this to be good. 

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.

Solo Play and Parties

I tried Cypher with a three-character party playing solo, and I did not enjoy it as much. There is a lot to keep track of regarding pools, XP, and Player Intrusions by each of the characters. I would inevitably split them apart to run solo, since the stories were better focused and more compelling. In the end, I was playing three characters solo, and there I was again.

I can play almost any OSR game, or even 5E, solo with a whole party of four all by myself. The characters lack significant depth. The healer is the healer. The DPS is DPS. The tank is the tank. Everyone has a job to slot into. That can happen in Cypher, but there is far more to track and manage in Cypher than there is in 5E.

Cypher characters look deceptively simple, but they hold more depth than a 5E character.

A lot is happening inside them, and even more externally, as each character can impact the narrative. With a party of three, I am shuffling XP around, tripping multiple Player Intrusions, and pulling GM Intrusions on them all. It becomes a bit much, and I prefer to focus on one character, keeping the lens tightly on that character's story.

There is also the issue of not having another player to give GM Intrusion XP to, so the player only gets one. I bank that other XP in a "story pool" which I will later use to determine other end-of-session rewards, such as money, favors, treasure, artifacts, lucky breaks, helpful NPCs, and benefits that NPCs and communities can give the players. It becomes an "NPC Intrusion Pool" that will favor the solo player at the GM's discretion, at 1 XP per favor or reward.

The solo player is still feeling the benefits, but can't spend or use those XP for themselves, as they are indirect rewards. If the player needs a helpful town guard to wander by as the character is losing a fight, I can spend an XP from that pool to give them a little help. The town (or any NPC) could also "help itself" with this pool, such as increasing patrols at night, which would make it harder for criminals to operate at night, thereby indirectly helping the PC by reducing enemy encounters after dark.

This pool could also be used to start Story Arcs for the town or NPCs, theoretically, and also to pay to advance them (instead of being rewarded by achieving each step). Like if the city wanted to build a bridge over the river, this pool could be spent to advance that subplot, since it will ultimately be helpful to the town (and the PC) if getting across the river were easier for everyone. The player could be called to help in this plot, too, so XP rewards could be earned there. If my solo character wanted a change to the city, such as a new blacksmith opening, and this did not require a plot, pay an XP from the NPC Pool to do an NPC Intrusion and open one.

With me running three or four characters, I get overwhelmed. With just one, I can use my XP smarter and pool them to advance the narrative.

Video: The Cypher System is Changing!?!?!?

https://www.backerkit.com/call_to_action/568390d9-7e21-43c3-a5fc-8596ba4f1003/landing

A great video by the community member Qedhup today, along with a BackerKit link for a new edition of Cypher? Please like and subscribe to him, and he provides some of the best Cypher content on YouTube.

A new edition? With backward compatibility?

I just started this blog! But, no, they promise full compatibility. I am getting this as a cleanup and rewrite of the system, with more tools and a streamlined character creation process.

I like the sound of this, but I am being cautiously optimistic.

Games Without a Framework

Space gaming is hard. The first thing that happens is you sit there and wonder, "What do I do?" I have a universe out there so big I can never explore it all, there are the gears of civilization grinding on around me, and I feel so infinitesimally small that my brain freezes up, and I have no idea what I should be doing.

Some games give you frameworks to operate within, such as any of the Cepheus Engine games. When in doubt, you could always be a space truck driver and haul cargo. There are random tables and frameworks in here that get you started, and they sort of define the universe's "working model" for you.

However, this is somewhat akin to describing Earth as a world "having a lot of truck drivers, cargo ships, and passenger airliners." Nothing about the people, places, countries, religions, economics, conflicts, resources, society, or anything else. Earth is a place "where there is cargo."

The framework can put blinders on you, and focus the game too much in this area, and not in other places where you may want the focus to shift instead.

This is my "space game model," and it is heavily influenced by this sort of "2d6 gaming in space." When I start to play games like this, I take out a mortgage, buy a ship, go deep in debt, and take random cargo runs and have random encounters everywhere on the map. It is a fun game model and system, but it is not a science fiction game. It is sort of like playing a "truck driver simulator."

In my Car Wars-style "Road War" game, I had a nice setup. My PC was a delivery van driver in a desert outpost fortress town. They took jobs in town, and then shifted focus to out-of-town jobs. The desert town had a few unique story elements. This was a stop on a major trading route. The city relied on remote outposts with water pumps and solar panels. To the south is a fortified agricultural zone. Road bandits and gangs preyed on lone travelers. So:

• The town needs water from remote outposts.
• The remote outposts need supplies and solar panels.
• Raider gangs terrorize the desert.
• A significant trade route runs through town, with a truck stop.
• Food needs to be transported from the fortified farms to the town.

I have story hooks, and my first missions were cargo runs to the water pumping outposts, delivering solar panel replacements, and hauling supplies to them. I did not need random cargo tables to tell me this; the story of my setting did. The setting would have been less enjoyable with the cargo tables and generation systems, and since I didn't have them, I fell back on my setting's story and drew inspiration from that, which ultimately gave me a better game.

That setup still needs characters and specific stories, but it's far better than a book filled with random tables and trading frameworks. There is a flow of goods, those who need them, and those who want to take them. My PC works for a delivery service. If there are no stories and nothing is going on, I still have a job. This should not happen; there needs to be other stories happening to drive that 'personal involvement,' but I can't fall through the cracks and sit there with nothing to do.

I laid out a simple setting, five facts about it, and I can use that as my story canvas. This is my "framework," and it does not need a lot of work. It just needs a little fun designed in, and a character in a position to interact with the pieces.

With tables, I would not have felt the need to create a story that supports the need to run cargo across dangerous terrain. In a science fiction game, this is the same exact thing. I don't need the tables, I need a setting and a story first. That will give me much more mileage than tables that are nice to have, but they don't create plots and stories. Not having the charts made the stories and setting stronger.

This is a simple story structure: create a regular activity that requires the characters to face unexpected danger (or uncertain situations) periodically. In a space game, I could make a far-away system with a lost civilization, and make my characters the survey team. Alternatively, they could serve as the support team for the survey. Or the cargo haulers.

We have a mystery with that lost civilization, and we have a regular activity going back and forth to it. There are stories here! Add some enemy space aliens and space pirates, and you have even more happening. There are no tables here yet, but if there were, they would be focused on this story and not general-purpose random cargo tables. While random tables are good to have, they don't tell a story or drive campaign interest.

If you find yourself lost in space, write a few stories to help you find your way out. Ask yourself, who is here, and what is happening? Ask yourself about the current situation. Imagine who lives there, and what troubles they face. Then let those plots drive PC action.

Thrust Into an Infinite Universe of Possibilities

Whoa.

Once I completed my science fiction character, I felt the entire universe was ready and free for me to explore. This is a different feeling than other science fiction games, as I would need that "starter adventure" or to read the monster lists and figure out a few opponents that a starting character could fight.

Since I know how Cypher System works, that any opponent just needs a level (plus perhaps a few modifications and GM Intrusions), anything was possible. Space bugs? Not a problem rating them and adding an armored carapace and sharp claw arms to use in melee. Combat robots? Again, not that hard to work up a level and a few special abilities. Space pirates? We have Orcs, which is pretty close. Give them a few laser rifles and star swords.

I did not need sourcebooks, alien bestiaries, vehicle guides, starship identification manuals, or any other resources. I just need a universe. The only part of the system that feels a little soft is starships, but I can houserule a few fixes and make it work. Starships will still have levels, just the "hard points" will likely equal the level, and the armor will modify the ship's level when it comes to speed-based checks. Two points of heavy armor on that hull, you get -2 to speed-based checks for piloting rolls (maneuvers and escape, not gunnery).

• Fighters = Level 1, Speed 6
• Interceptors = Level 2, Speed 6
• Scouts and Patrol Ships = Level 3, Speed 5
• Frigates = Level 4, Speed 5
• Destroyers = Level 5, Speed 4
• Light Cruisers = Level 6, Speed 4
• Cruisers = Level 7, Speed 3
• Heavy Cruisers = Level 8, Speed 3
• Battleships = Level 9, Speed 2
• Dreadnaughts = Level 10, Speed 2

I will probably use an inverse level for speed, starting at 6 for the two smallest ships and decreasing by one every two classes up to the largest two, which will have speed 2. This will let smaller ships outrun faster ones more easily. So if you are in a fighter trying to outrun a destroyer, that will be a speed difference of 2, and a final difficulty of 4 - 2 = 2.

Hardpoints can be given up for weapons, an extra point of speed (up to 2), shields, and other installations. I can see the point of making the ships do "level damage" for all attacks combined, but letting them mount light, medium, and heavy weapons sounds fun too. Cypher is so easy to hack.

But I have not felt a science fiction game like this before. My character is created, and then, bang, the universe is open. With other science fiction games, I will need to design starships, create creatures using charts, have catalogs of planets, and operate inside structures of rules and frameworks. Some games feel more like "dungeons in space," and I am making maps with ten-foot (3-meter) squares.

With Cypher, it feels like an open-world game with no boundaries. Wherever I go, whatever I do, whatever alien planet I end up on, I am perfectly able to rate any enemy, challenge, task, or obstacle. My players can contribute to the narrative with Player Intrusions and Character Arcs. Part of my work is done by the players in exchange for giving up XP. If they want to discover an ancient alien civilization and open that door for me, I will play along and create that narrative for them. When playing solo, I need to keep that in mind, "What my character would want."

I can't always do that with other science fiction games. Some give me so much data that I freeze up, my brain has too much information, the ratings for all sorts of challenges are all over the place, the monsters are not designed yet, environmental challenges are not always clear, and I am more lost in a character's skill list and wondering how I can make things enjoyable for them. Or the framework is tightly tied to a specific dice roll, and while I can rate easy, modern, hard, and other challenge levels - those are just for tasks and not for enemies or other opposition. Different systems for different problems slow down my thinking and put mental blocks between the challenge in my head and expressing that in the game.

Yes, I can do the same things in other games as I do in Cypher, but it is never as easy. Nor do I have the constant tension of depleting resources. Or the story engine that drives the narrative forward. I may appreciate the ultra-realistic systems or the comprehensive space commerce game in other science fiction games, but the best story tools are found in Cypher.

Followers and NPCs

There are three classes of NPC in the Cypher System: NPCs, NPC Allies, and Followers.

I went in looking for rules to create a "starship crew" for the game, and my first inclination was to give them all a level and potentially a modification based on their specialty. For example, my level 3 ship's doctor would have a modification in medical, allowing them to perform at level 4 in medical tasks.

This was the right call, and it matches the Followers rule on page 233. The Followers' rule says that an NPC Follower can have several modifications equal to their level, so my level 3 doctor could have medical, biology, and diseases as modifications and get another level when dealing with those fields. Doing this makes the NPC Follower-like, but they aren't a Follower unless a character's ability grants the PC one. We cross into creature and NPC design at this point.

Ordinary NPCs just have a level and a modification if you wish. For the most part, they will be a single number for their level. When an ordinary NPC fights another NPC, it is just level versus level, and the higher level is the winner. The rule for this is on page 215.

An NPC Ally, like a wolf pet of a PC, has a level, and their attacks are rolled for by the PC. This rule is on page 222. For the most part, this can be handled as a cooperative action, as outlined on page 226. Note that pets are not necessarily Followers as defined in the rules. Pets do not usually gain modifications unless the pet is obtained through an ability that grants a Follower.

These modifications granted by the Follower rules are essential! The NPC becomes "extra special" and starts getting bonuses in many areas. A follower can even be 'exceptional' and be one level higher than usual (page 233).

Now, how do you roll a leveled NPC attack against another leveled NPC attack? The game says "rolls for them," but how does my level 4 wolf attack a level 3 orc war chief? What is the difficulty number?

For "level versus level" battles, I use the Vehicle Combat system on page 230. Simply compare the numbers; if the attacker is higher, ease the attack by the difference in levels. If the defender is higher, hinder the attack by the difference in levels.

So, with our level 4 wolf versus the 3 orc chieftain, the difference in levels is one. Our wolf is one higher, so we ease one level. So the difficulty of the attack is the orc's level of 3, eased by one level, to a difficulty of 2, a roll of 6 or higher on the d20. What is the damage? A level 4 wolf would do their level as damage, normally, unless the wolf has a modification to damage, which would add one to five.

Followers are notable NPCs granted as allies through character abilities. For the most part, they act just like NPCs in most ways. They can grant PCs assets in various tasks. When the follower is level 3 or higher, they can grant a PC an asset to attack and defense, but only if they have a modification that allows them to do so, such as "assists defense" for a shield bearer. This is all on page 233.

If a Follower attacks another NPC, you have just ruled "level versus level" or handled it like vehicular combat. If you need extra depth and detail, take the time to play it out in wargaming detail; otherwise, use your best judgment and incorporate it into the narrative.

So, for my starship crew, all I need is a list of NPCs and any modifications they have. I won't go whole "Follower level" with any of them unless the PC gains one as a follower; they will all be standard NPCs with a few optional specialties.

The Cypher System makes this easier than any other game. If you are running a large starship crew, a superhero group, or a fantasy guild full of NPCs, no game makes it as easy as this. I remember in Star Frontiers needing a character card for every NPC, or in D&D 4E, having a full character sheet for everyone in the player's guild. It was a massive amount of bookkeeping for no good reason. If you run a guild where PCs take a group of NPCs out for an adventure, only the PC needs a character sheet; everyone else is an NPC with a level and a few modifications. Since a modification can be a power, you can simulate traditional fantasy classes this way easily.

Followers gain special modifications, can assist in attacks or defenses, progress in levels, and can be exceptional because they cost a character pick.

NPCs (and NPC Allies) are mostly the normal "everybody else" in the world, and should not be as powerful or versatile.

Soft No Conflict Gaming

The last time I stopped playing Cypher for a while was when I had a few games go soft, with zero conflict, story gaming, and no consequences nonsense. These games were the worst time I had with the system, and it isn't even the system's fault. This would have been terrible in any system.

There needs to be conflict, and there need to be permanent consequences. Even in a romance game, make rejection a serious thing; it should be. Make consequences real. You mess up at the party, push over the wedding cake, get kicked out of the hotel, and are on the street, looking for a new place to stay. You will face social hindrances due to poor hygiene. You have a new challenge of getting your luggage back. Forget about the relationship, we have to figure out a way to survive the next few days before your plane leaves. Oh, and the tickets were in your luggage. You could find a way back into her heart by then, but you have bigger problems to solve now.

Better yet, start the game in this horrible situation, put the world against you, and figure out how you are going to make things right, given your limited resources and skills. Give yourself a checklist of problems to solve, and figure out who is against you.

If you find yourself protecting your characters, get rid of them. I had a game where I wanted nothing bad to happen to a character, and it felt like a form of wish fulfillment. Looking back, I should have retired that character and started with a new one. Someone random would have been more interesting than my Mary Sue or Perfect Pete. Retire those characters to your personal Hall of Fame, and start new ones.

All this reminds me of the current crop of "cozy RPGs" out there, typically where you all play cute, human-like animals solving problems like the world was a giant Care Bear cartoon, and finding a way to get Mosey Moose's bicycle out of the lake is the session's equivalent of the boss battle. Sure. Fine. For some, I guess. But I tried that, and it made me put the game aside.

Also, remember that you can have an enemy that attacks you with a condition, and not damage. If you fail the defense roll, a condition is given to the player, and that can be just about anything you can imagine, such as unconsciousness, paralysis, or anything else. The Enthrall ability is used in the Cypher Rulebook on page 218, under The Effects of Taking Damage. If you are in a pie fight and fail your defense roll, you now have the (let me make one up) messy condition, which is a hindrance to social interactions. You could create mental conditions, too, such as afraid, demoralized, panicked, possessive, and so on. The game does not have a condition list, like it does not have a skill list, so you are free to create anything you want here.

I forgot about this when I played, and could have used these suggestions to liven up my non-combat game. If someone gets discouraged from a course of action, they may develop self-doubt or a mental block against taking it, and that becomes a "mental enemy" they must now defeat. The damage that the enemy may inflict may alter the character's actions, or even cause loss of intellect points. Yes, you can create an enemy out of anything in this game, and you should use that to your advantage. You can even do this as a GM Intrusion.

If your character really wants something, even in a cozy game, you need opposition to overcome, a conflict, and others in the story who may oppose them. Make whatever you want to happen worth getting, and don't "make it just happen!"

"So many adventures start with the characters sitting in a tavern, waiting for something to happen to them. Don’t do that to your PCs (unless they own the tavern and it’s being threatened by ogres or something). Instead, give them strong reasons to care about the situation and the people involved. While characters will often do something for the promise of money or because they know it’s the right thing to do, there are so many great ways to get them emotionally invested in what’s about to happen." - We Are All Mad Here, page 40.

For games with social conflicts, the Cypher book, We Are All Mad Here, gives you some great suggestions on getting players to care, and these can apply to any genre or any setting. Playing in a fairy tale world presents significant motivational challenges for players, as it can be difficult to get them to care about what is happening, given the stark differences from their own experiences. However, threatening a reputation or a beloved place or people can apply to anything, from a Western to a science fiction game.

"Character arcs are the means by which players can invest themselves more in great stories and character depth and development. Just like in a book or a television show, characters progress through their own personal story and change over time. A PC with a character arc decides for themselves what they do and why. Character arcs are like stated goals for a character, and by progressing toward that goal, the character advances." - Cypher System Core Rulebook, page 238.

Also, remember a core tool of the Cypher System: Character Arcs! You pay 1 XP to enter one, but get 2 XP for every step you complete to progress them, and 4 XP if you succeed at the climax (2 XP if you fail). Even the resolution phase gets you 1 XP. If you have a directionless, aimless, bored character, give them an arc, and the motivation of XP should get them going.

Looking back, my solo-play judgment got clouded, and I did not have a fun time with that game. There were a few things I could have done to liven things up, create challenges where there were none, and introduce non-violent conflict in my game. This was a toxic mix of pet characters, wish fulfillment, zero conflict, a lack of creativity, and not creating conditions or enemies, as well as not utilizing the rules to my advantage.

We can learn a great deal from those experiences about why things failed and how we can improve them for the next time.

Cypher: Deeper Characters

Cypher's characters are far deeper in design complexity than 5E. Before the Cypher Tools site, I would be hunting down the powers in the book, copying & pasting those into my character sheet, and building a character that way. The name of a power isn't always sufficient; I also need the cost, description, and whether it is an enabler, among other details.

Each power is like its own 5E power, and you are assembling a character out of building blocks. The character build system is far better than 5E, while you have archetypes, you don't have classes, set trees, and a strict progression of powers. Only the focus has a "leveled power" structure, but that is your character's "main thing." Everything else is pieced together as you wish.

And you can buy a second (or third) focus! There is a combination of powers at work that is truly amazing. The characters in Cypher System are so much better than D&D 5E, and even better than Daggerheart. Daggerheart is similar in that you are "picking and choosing cards" as you level, but in Cypher System, you get so many more choices, and you get far more than just fantasy.

Daggerheart also borrowed Cypher's resting mechanics, along with some ideas from Low Fantasy Gaming. Cypher does it better, resting does one thing, and it is straightforward.

Once you master character creation, infinite worlds are at your disposal.

Since Cypher's ability scores are pools, they "do more" than D&D. These are your health, extra effort, and spell points. They work for a living, and are also your character's health. Using them smartly helps you succeed, and managing your rests and levels leads to a tension I do not feel in D&D or 5E. In Cypher, I will be going into a situation where I'm down on my ability scores and short on rests, and I will start to worry. In 5E, I typically feel a constant state of safety.

5E's resting and resource depletion mechanics are straight out of an MMO, and they are terrible. They were created to address a problem that had become chronic in D&D 3.5E, the 15-minute adventuring day, where balancing encounters was done on complete resources, and that meant alpha-attacking an encounter and going all-out, and then heading back to the inn to rest a day before the next room.

It was the worst of video game logic, combined with a system that attempted to emulate the classic game. Many DMs just gave up, letting parties do this rather than drag the session out by saying, "The monsters prepared for your return." Or even worse, clearing out the next day and leaving a dungeon with no loot, filled with traps, and plenty of summoned creatures to chew on those who dared enter. The game took long enough to play, so why make it worse? Just let them reset and hope the night does not drag on too long.

In Cypher, I am focused on the story.

If I have a dungeon in Cypher, like a rescue the princess story, that is a one-shot, single-run, you only get one chance thing. This is not a video game board that you can clear one room at a time. There is no shuttling back and forth to the inn. You get one try.

The resource management in the Cypher System makes this possible. Everything is a resource. Recoveries are limited. You need to spend wisely to both avoid rolls and increase your odds. Cypher System is an excellent solo game, where you watch your pools tick down, and you begin to wonder if you will be able to make it through.

The game is loaded with tension and choices, and it does not protect you from them.

Slipping Out and Making Me Care

The one time I slipped out of Cypher System was because I lost faith in the difficulty system. When a difficulty rating means nothing, you need to take a step back. Cypher is a system where you can quickly slap down a fast number, goblin, difficulty 2, go! The pit trap, uh, difficulty 2! The next door is locked, difficulty 2!

You can see yourself start to question things after a while. What am I doing? Am I just rolling the dice against numbers? This is what I call "losing focus" in the system, and it puts you in a spot where you start to crave games with more depth. But the depth in other systems is often an illusion.

What is armor class or challenge rating in D&D? A d20 target number. This is the same level of "depth" as D&D, and it is an illusion. Cypher is the same exact level of depth, and the dicing is the same.

In GURPS, your chance of success is rolling a number or less on 3d6, such as 14 or less, and this is often modified by difficulty, like a +4 being hard. What is this in Cypher? We start with the difficulty, and ease the roll by your skill level. Cypher is the same exact level of depth, but the dicing is different.

Yes, you feel like you are getting more depth, but as any statistics professor would tell you, all you are doing is taking a different path to get to the same probability result. If your success chance was 40% in any game, you would get there via many paths, and always end up at 40%. How you rate difficulty, roll low or roll high, 2d6, 3d6, d20, 1d100, and difficulty and modifiers all get you to the same place.

At a point, the game you play does not matter at all. This is the beauty of the Cypher System; it goes all the way back to the core mechanic of difficulty versus factors that ease or hinder the roll. We are back to base statistics, on the metal. We build out from there. Our character matters. Our ability score pools matter as a resource to spend. Our edge and effort matter. Our health matters. The rest we have left matters. Our gear and skills matter.

And it all starts with difficulty.

In Cypher, to make those difficulty numbers mean something, change up the consequences of failure!

When edging along a mountain cliff, you may set a difficulty of 2 to maintain balance and move forward, but failure means a thousand-foot fall and certain death. I would allow a player intrusion to save yourself, but consequences are consequences. Best to reduce that to zero and not even roll, spend some effort, rely on your skills, and use assets.

I play solo, so I need to challenge myself to give meaning to the hardships I put my characters through.

Also, when you feel yourself slipping into the "grey zone" where "nothing means anything," toss a GM intrusion at your character, accept it, and make them lose a key piece of equipment, weapon, or armor. Put a consequence on yourself for slipping into the pit of meaninglessness and not feeling anything.

I like to call this "slapping myself" when I play solo. If I fall into a place where I'm not caring, I need to take a hit for that and make my character's life worse.

But, also, if you find yourself creating a sequence of meaningless, grinding the cog forward, ratcheting a series of rolls forward to the end, what are you doing? That isn't playing! That isn't a story! It is like going through the AD&D adventure The Tomb of Horrors, and you are rolling for every trap, every secret door, and every strange fresco and mosaic on the wall. Sure, you are neutralizing the threats as you go, but after the twentieth trap, your eyes glaze over, and you are telling yourself, "Was this an adventure written for D&D?" After a while, you are asking yourself, "Is there anything else to do in here?"

And after my fourth session of going in there, all your trap-finding and secret-door location skills are maxed out and easing everything by two levels. Some D&D adventures make terrible Cypher adventures, and not everything converts so well, since those adventures were never written with a narrative focus. Or even simple things like "the doors slam shut behind you!" or "a ticking clock before something terrible happens!"

There are plenty of tools these days to make an adventure like this much better. Ticking clocks, countdown timers, countdown dice pools, delayed secret effects, affecting perception, paranoia, body horror, strange happenings, losing items that you swore you had, using a horror mechanic, effect on random card draws, misleads, corrupting magic, uncertain magic, whispers, sanity, and so many other tools are at our disposal these days. We also have a whole genre book on horror, featuring Stay Alive, which is full of tools to make adventures like this better, beyond the fear of instant and random death.

I can see how my first attempt to play through Tomb of Horrors would be with Cypher System. Oh, this room, a deadly trap, that is a difficulty of 6. Please roll. Okay, this party member is dead. Let's go to the next room with the difficulty 7 trap and roll again. Hey, two dead, be happy the next room is a 5.

Either I don't care, the adventure is a poor choice, or a lot more work needs to be put into this to make it meaningful in a narrative-based game. You need to be able to read what is on the walls, the books on the shelves, and piece together clues that will give you an edge deeper in the dungeon. Part of the fun here is unlocking the mysteries, one by one, being smart, getting a deeper understanding, and finding the next clue.

The story of the demi-lich at the end should be woven through this story, and understanding the dungeon should be woven into every room, with one more thing to learn, which will help you avoid certain death later. We should know this demi-lich by the end, and we should be horrified at what he is and the story of his madness and downfall. And there should be one clue in there, if we are smart enough to put it all together, which should tell us his weakness.

Make me care. Grab my interest. Let me find secrets. Raise the tension. Give me a reason to cheer or cry. Tell a story.

That is what each die roll should do.

The Cypher Character Builder is Amazing!

The Cypher Character Builder is amazing. This is the first time I've tried this, and it can build a character in a few minutes, compared to about 15-30 minutes of flipping through the book and copying and pasting blocks of text from it into my character sheet. You can choose custom, random, or pre-generated characters. You can download a PDF that is editable and has working checkboxes and places for current values. You can spend XP and level up.

It supports multiple books, but not The Strange, Numenera, or the Diamond Throne. Most recent Cypher books are supported, and more will be added as they are released (as it appears by the dates). There are still a few manual steps, such as choosing equipment, armor, and weapons. Given the number of genres the game supports, just DIY these.

This is in the Cypher Tools link in the sidebar, which goes to the Monte Cook Games site.

If you haven't signed up (it's free) and tried this tool, you should. I wish all games had this.

...And Then It Became a Favorite

I did a "Road Warrior" and "Car Wars" style campaign with Cypher System, and it became one of my all-time favorite games. Once I understood how it worked, everything fell into place naturally. It felt like the best d20 game ever invented.

I even invented my own vehicle combat system, a "monster versus monster" system featuring specific light, medium, and heavy weapons, each with its own special effects. A "battle delivery van" was a level 5 vehicle with 15 hits, with a medium weapon rocket launcher up top (4 hits, heat shells that ignored 2 points of armor), and twin machine guns up front (light weapon, but with one ease factor). The van had 2 points of armor.

A simple "battle cycle" was a level 2 vehicle (6 hits), one point of armor from the front and back, and a machine gun up front (light weapon).

This all operated on a "vehicle scale," so those weapons did not do that much to characters; you could count the lightest vehicle weapon as a heavy and go up from there by two points per level. Hand weapons were all treated at a level down and given a hindrance.

Other vehicles were just treated like monsters, and the game played as usual. Vehicles didn't have stats or pools; they just had hits. If a passenger car were normal and unarmored, it could be rated a level 2 vehicle, as it would go down quick and be cannon fodder.

In GURPS, I would break out spreadsheets and design them, or use the closest equivalent in a sourcebook. In Car Wars, I need to create these or use stock vehicles. In any other game, I would be sorting through vehicle combat rules and taking forever to run these battles. In Cypher, I would come up with an enemy car, give it a level, a weapon, maybe some armor, and get playing.

It was easy and fun.

Another fantastic aspect of the system was its speed. I could complete an entire full day of adventuring for my driver in about 30-45 minutes and feel satisfied. This involved multiple combat encounters, role-playing segments, exploration areas, oracle rolls, and NPC interactions, as I played solo. I accomplished a lot, and the tension continued to escalate as my driver's resources dwindled.

Vehicles could have "vehicle cyphers" as well, which were cool, like single-use drones, nitrous systems, homing missiles, road mines, tracking beacons, and other cool toys. If you found a new one, you bolted it on your piece of junk car and got back on the road.

Vehicles could also have artifacts, like computer systems, unique and rare weapons, or other highly sought-after toys and gear. These are depleted as usual.

This was my first time playing the system seriously, and I was able to mod in a relatively complex new system that worked perfectly. I modeled it after "what worked well in the game," and everything was fine. Outside the car, my driver acted as a typical Cypher character. Inside the car, I switched to "Cypher Vehicle Scale" and kept playing.

Were things "a step abstracted?" Yes, they were, but when you think about it, everything in pen-and-paper role-playing games is abstracted. What is an 18-strength, anyway? It is simply a number with a meaning attached to it, based on a scale provided by the game. The same with a "level 4 battle car."

No other game achieved this level of complexity so easily.