Cypher System Rulebook

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4 out of 5 rating for Cypher System Rulebook

If you have already tried your hand at Numenera or The Strange and have failed to enjoy it, this book probably isn’t for you. If your problem was the setting, then yes, you might very well enjoy this core book.

4 out of 5 rating for Cypher System Rulebook

I pre-ordered the Cypher System Rulebook and have browsed over it. Overall,I really like it but I think there is an important caveat. This review also assumes that the reader knows something about the Cypher System games currently out (such as Numenera or The Strange)
Lets get to what is in it first.In terms of “classes”:
If you played Numenera you had Glaives, Jack, and Nano
In The Strange you had Vectors, Paradox, and Spinners
Cypher System has Warriors, Adepts, Explorers, and Speakers

They give you ideas about what these types might be called in specific settings ( such as Fantasy, Modern/Horror, Sci-Fi, or Superhero) One new aspect is called "Flavors". These are ways to further customize your character to fit a specific archetype
Categories of Flavors: Stealth, Technology, Magic, Combat, Skills and Knowledge
These are traded out for your regular Tier appropriate abilities. So instead of taking 2 Tier 1 abilities as a Warrior, you might Take 1 from the Warriors list and 1 from the Technology for a Cyborg style character.
I might houserule this where characters get 1 Flavor per Tier (free),or can buy another flavor with XP as part of the character advancement.

Descriptors: Probably most of this material is covered in Numenera Character Options or The Strange’s In Translation (character options), there doesn’t seem to be much new here,however if you dont own those books, this will expand your repertoire

Foci: Kind of a mixed bag here, most of them are found in either Numenera or The Strange, but there are some new ones.
On the good side you have Foci like: Slays Monsters, Sees Beyond, Pilots Starcraft, Calculates the Incalculable, Masters The Swarm
Some are re-flavored like Hunts Outcasts/Nonhumans (which in Numenera might have been Hunts Abhumans)…Others I wondered about like: Doesn’t Do Much, or Would Rather Be Reading
So Yes, you can be a Weird Speaker who Doesn't Do Much.

The Rules Section has some new additions such as a Vehicular combat chart, rules on Gaining Insight, and rules on Crafting.
There is a Chapter that covers each type of Genre, with suggestions on the types typical for that setting:
So for Fantasy: A Barbarian would be a Explorer flavored with Combat, a Cleric might be a Speaker flavored with Magic
In the Modern Setting: a Detective could be an Explorer with Stealth flavor, or a Doctor might be an Explorer or Speaker with Skills and Knowledge Flavor
In the Superhero setting:
Tony Stark might be an Adept or Explorer with technology flavor
Scott Summers might be an Adept or Speaker with Combat Flavor
Ben Grimm might be a Tough Warrior who Abides in Stone

How are they superheroic/different from ordinary characters? The answer= "Power Shifts": Each hero can have up to 5, and they function exactly like Permanently active Levels of Effort.You can have these in categories such as: Accuracy, Intelligence, Power, Resistance, etc. It’s recommended that no one have more than 3 Power Shifts in one area, but this certainly adds a Superheroic (A- Lister) feel to the character.

So if you were going for a Martial Arts hero (Iron Fist?) He might have 3 Power Shifts in Accuracy, so Level 3 opponents and lower he automatically hits, a level 4 opponent he hits on a d20 roll of 3 or less, etc. I think this section really adds to the game.
I was sadly disappointed that they did not add the Mutation option/Tables from Numenera, as many Supers are "mutants". They probably could have re-flavored some of them from Numenera to fit the Supers Genre. IfI run a Supers, I will adapt those from Numenera as other character options.

There is also a section on how to build Tiers. For people trying to emulate certain Supers, this might be hard at Tier 1, but there are suggestions of what kinds of abilities you can customize at each Tier.

The GameMaster section has a good sampling of creatures: a good mix of the genres ( dinosaurs, vampires, fantasy monsters, zombies etc.) as well as plenty of sample human NPCs. It also has a good chunk of Cyphers, including a new type called a Subtle Cypher
Also it has a big chunk of Gamemastering advice for those new to the Cypher System. At the back is a campaign design worksheet as well as a new Cypher System character sheet, which I think is maybe the best one yet in the Cypher system range of products. It is very easy to read and can still be folded into the “brochure” style.

My caveat with this is that if you have been a Monte Cook Games fan and already own Numenera and The Strange, then you are really re-paying for a lot of content you already have. I unfortunately fit into this category.

I still really like the book for the tweaks they made, but this would be hard to recommend to someone like myself. For someone new to the Cypher System, you are getting it all right here and this book is a STEAL! I think this book fires up the imagination and you get a system that is not cluttered with rules about every aspect of existence. I really like this book, I just wish they would have added much more in terms of original content (Descriptors and Foci mainly) rather than rehashing what was in 4 other books (Numenera Corebook, The Strange Corebook, and each game specific Character Options book. ).

3 out of 5 rating for Cypher System Rulebook

As a standalone rulebook the "Cypher System" is pretty solid and some of the new rules and gaming tips included are pretty cool.
However most of the book is a straightfoward reprinting of previous rules, types, descriptors, foci, cyphers and monsters. Sometimes the elements were renamed to be more "setting neutral" but they are just still the same.
There are some new elements, but they are so few that amount overall to less than a glimmer/fractal pdf supplement, nevermind a new rulebook. They also aren't very inspired.
There are also several new rules that are interesting and well developed and much more useful, but are hardly worth the full price of the manual; also they usually offer a pretty minimalistic support in world building (for example the fantasy setting section suggests using classical fantasy races as descriptors for a fantasy campaign, then presents dwarves and elves as examples and leave everything else as homework to the reader).

As a previous Cypher System fan I would have liked much more well developed sections about worldbuilding with several specific new game elements such a races, instead of the third reprint of foci presented since the Numenera Corebook.
If you never bought a previous Cypher System game (Numenera or The Strange) this is an excellent, system neutral, and the most complete entry point rule-wise, though missing entirely a cool, original, campaign setting.
If you bought either one of those books, but don't own any supplement and don't really care about the other game, then this book is like a "Character Options Deluxe edition plus optional rules" al rolled into one.
But if you bought and enjoyed both Numenera and The Strange and you already own the "Character Options" supplements for those games be forewarned that roughly 70% of this book is a straightfoward reprint of what you already own.

5 out of 5 rating for Cypher System Rulebook

I love this book (but all being said I am Cypher system enthusiast). This book adds a ton a different options for creating characters and takes on different plays worlds. This book is a must if you are planning on running your own world in the Cypher system.

4 out of 5 rating for Cypher System Rulebook

Okay, it seems a lot of reviews here are rating the book based upon what else they already own. What if this book had come first? Well, for me it did. I was very interested in Numenera, and wanted to get it for a look at this new system, more than for the setting. Then I heard about this and waited.

So, Savage Worlds, really got me into system-neutral games and I had a lot of fun with that... but my players just wanted to get back to rolling a d20. And that is something this system does. I REALLY like the idea of Difficulty levels and the GM determining the difficulty number and the player just rolling with usually no modifiers to add. I am currently playing D&D 5E with school students, and I wish I had this book first. I would have started with this.

Normally, I would avoid a system where I don't get to roll as a GM, but I have come around on this - especially when I consider these school games. Given the short time frames, this would be much better.

I like the basis of the rules. I really like that you basically form a sentence and that is your PC. (I wonder how this would go before looking at the options available? Would you put all options before the players first, OR get them to write their PC sentence first? Either way, i think would work well).I too would have liked a lot more in the setting section.

Only having elf and dwarf as races for the fantasy section to me missed a big chance to present more new ones. I was also a little peeved that race simply replaced the Descriptor part of the PC. This sounds a bit too much like Basic D&D (which I know some love) where your race is your class. I know Type and Foci are more class-based, but it is a shame that a Dwarven Warrior that can Hit Things Hard (I made that up), can't be a Tough Dwarven Warrior That Hits Things Hard. I think I will merge Race with Descriptor in a similar way that Type and Flavor are merged in the book).

Overall, I am left with a feeling of really wanting to give this system a go. Monte's writing style really gels with my GMing philosophies; especially the using the rules as a guide. I am yet to play the system, but as a book, I rate it highly. A call out must also go to layout, with 'links' found in the side columns.

EDIT: Having now played several games now, I stand by my review score. The ease of play is fantastic. The use of GM Interventions is so much fun, and I really like the character generation process.

(As an aside, it is odd to see so many reviews for Cypher system products, but the several Cypher threads in the forums pretty much go ignored. I wonder how many people are playing this system?)

5 out of 5 rating for Cypher System Rulebook

It's very nice for a generic gamist+narrativist system that actually works. The one notable flaw is that it ain't an Open Game Content. Bah, at least it works smoothly...

5 out of 5 rating for Cypher System Rulebook

I have to say, having Gm'd Numenera (and The Strange) a few times now... The Cypher system is a Very Strong contender if the people looking at it can give it a chance... I say on a scale of 1-10 it is a 7-8 and could very well be a 10 in the right circumstances and with the right GM and Players.

5 out of 5 rating for Cypher System Rulebook

I love the Cypher System for its overall simplicity. The game approaches everything from a very elementary level, yet it is layered in complex modular pieces. Yet it makes it all easy to absorb. Basically the games are as light or as in depth as you want to make. What most compelling for me as GM is that this harkens back to the good old days of gaming. The system is truly just the frame work and the GM's and players build the world. Loving the Cypher System.

5 out of 5 rating for Cypher System Rulebook

The Basics

The Cypher System Rulebook is a generic system, and it presents options for running Modern, Horror, Superheroic, Sci-Fi and Fantasy games. It gives you four basic classes: Warrior, Adept, Speaker, and Explorer. In D&D terms, they’re roughly Fighter, Wizard, Bard, and Rogue, though the distinctions between them are a little more fuzzy. These character classes present fairly competent, almost super-heroic characters. Everybody has a power or ability that borders on the super heroic available at the get-go, and at the highest tier, the powers are in the realm of the super human. This is one of the strengths of the game, since a lot of generic games systems don’t deal well with higher power characters. But it does mean that if you want a gritty, reality-grounded game, then this may not be the system for you. By the way, when I say the powers feel supernatural, it doesn’t mean the source of those powers have to be explained supernaturally. The system easily allows for your own fluff to explain these powers.

The Rules

Cypher System uses three stats: Might, Speed, and Intellect. The innovation is that your stats are a resource pool for abilities as well as your hit points. Managing your pools throughout the session is a challenge, though half the fun is hanging on by a thread when your points are running low. My biggest worry had been that players would suffer from analysis paralysis, but it turned out not to be much of a problem.

The system itself is based on rolling a d20 and trying to beat a target difficulty number. Difficulty numbers can range from 3 (level 1, or super easy) to 30 (level 10, or extremely hard). However, players have a lot of ways to alter a target number, by spending points from their pools, or with class abilities, or both. The system is a little fiddly, however, because there are both positive modifiers to your d20 rolls and negative modifiers to the target difficulty number. Though it is, by far, not the most fiddly system I have ever played and enjoyed (I’m looking at you, Iron Kingdoms Unleashed!), and after playing it a bit, it got fairly easy to figure out. It was especially helpful when we printed up a chart with the difficulty levels on it.

By far, the most interesting thing about the system is that the Game Master never rolls dice. If a Player wants to attack a monster, the player rolls an attack roll. If a monster attacks a player, the player rolls a defense roll. Both times, it’s the Player that decides whether or not to spend any points. They can spend points to raise the odds they will hit a beast, or to raise the odds they will dodge an attack. I actually played in this game instead of running it, so my perspective on this game is mostly as a player. It can be aggravating to spend resources to lower a difficulty roll only to have bad dice-luck foil your efforts. But then, that’s what happens in every game, so what can you really do about it?

The beauty of this system is that a GM can generate stats for NPCs on the fly. All the GM has to do is decide what “level” to make an NPC from 1 to 10, and then multiply that by 3. That number then becomes the target difficulty of all skills involving that NPC or Monster. That is especially helpful for when the players decide to interact with a NPC in a way you did not anticipate, for example if a player decides to start a fight with a random guy in a bar. However, most of the ready-made monsters in the book have stats that have a little more variety. For example, a Deinonychus is a level 3 beast, so for most tests you need to roll a 9 or higher on a d20. But if you attack using your speed based abilities, the difficulty goes up to level 4 (a difficulty of 12), because they are quick. If you want to add similar variety to your NPC or monster, you can do it rather easily. For instance, I decide that since that guy at the bar was described as looking like he can handle himself in a fight, so while he is a level 2 NPC, his attacks using Strength are level 3 to dodge.

The system has several genre chapters to help a Game Master fire up a campaign and get the rules right. This is the weakest section of the book in my opinion, as they give you a taste without painting the whole picture for you. Each genre chapter could have easily added 10 to 20 pages of material to flesh out the basics. Genres presented are: Horror, Fantasy, Science Fiction, Modern, and Superheroic. One part that I like is that each of the genre chapters has a small section on how to mash two of them together, which creates a lot of fun ideas. But, I would have liked to see more from these chapters.

Final Thoughts

Overall I really like the game and playing it has been a lot of fun. All of the rules can be used in Numenera or The Strange settings with a minimal amount of conversion. In The Strange, all the genre mashups come in handy as the game itself is a genre mash up. Whichever setting that you choose, just be prepared to deal with super heroic characters, and also play in a game where “all the dice are played on the table” (meaning, no hidden dice rolls for the GM). If you’re looking for a generic gaming system with a fair amount of depth but with a simple character creation system, I suggest giving the Cypher System a try.