Monte Cook Games allows creators to publish their original Cypher System creations and sell them via DriveThruRPG and RPGNow through the Cypher System Creator program. Like ENWorld’s DMs Guild (D&D) and Storyteller's Vault (World of Darkness) roundups, this series looks at the Cypher System’s third party content. Among the options are Mattia Salvetti’s variant rules for the game including NPCyphers and Survival and Travel.
NPCyphers Variant Rule offers 5 pages (cover included) devoted to an interesting idea for how to address hirelings and sidekick NPCs within the Cypher System. Intended for minor NPCs, instead of having stats or being a fully realized character, these are fill-ins for specific roles. They’re a card (nine to a printed page to give you an idea of their brevity) that offers a title, an ability enhancement for the PC that has the hireling, and an option to retire the NPC and get a one-time bonus. For example, the Guard offers protection, which, in game terms, translates into “+1 to armor against one attack per round.” Alternately, when it’s time to do away with that NPC, you can have the guard “take a blow which would otherwise have hit you.” Some of the cards offer in-story dilemmas such as the Leper. They keep others away from your group (such as criminals, but also the betters of society). This impacts your roleplaying and can create complications. However, to retire this NPC, you can “spread their plague to a nearby settlement.” This NPC can create a conflict that has a bit more scope than might be noted at first blush.
What makes this product a clever idea is that it transforms NPCs mechanically to resemble the game’s namesake, Cyphers. For the uninitiated, Cyphers are single-use elements and items that are magic, or close enough, that liter all Cypher System settings like health potions liter most video games. All in all, there are 27 NPCs to choose from with practical benefits and some interesting roleplaying options.
Mattia Salvetti’s Survival and Travel Variant Rules is 7 pages (cover included) of rules to add overland travel in the hex-crawling style. With many modern games, traveling large distances overland is handled via a narration and some modest recordkeeping. This product zooms in on travel, breaking it down by terrain and into sections of travel time each day – morning, noon, afternoon, evening, and night. The book suggests normal travel activities such as foraging, exploring, and more while presenting some of the consequences of covering miles upon miles of ground. Do you walk? Create a vehicle? End up building a shelter at night? From missed meals to diseases to encountering random towns to battling monsters, this book presents a range of options in a short space. The random encounters and the suggestions to balance them between positive encounters and potential fights is an excellent guideline. This culminates in a random encounter table option, which feels purely old school and fits perfectly with this addition. That said, “old school” is this in toto. That’s neither a negative or a positive, but it does inform who will want to use this at their gaming table. This process adds upkeep and recordkeeping aspects to the Cypher System, and this item’s utility will vary widely from GM to GM since it is crunch for a less crunchy system.
Both of Mattia Salvetti’s books – NPCyphers and Survival and Travel – use original covers that feature a unifying trade dress so the work stands apart from other products. Along with the look, both books offer well-considered additional rules to the Cypher System. NPCyphers works to streamline NPCs to integrate them into the game in a logical-to-the-Cypher-System-way. Survival and Travel offers a campaign lengthening option for covering distances. Its interest will vary based on GM preferences. That said, both are worth testing at your gaming table.
This article was contributed by Egg Embry as part of EN World's Columnist (ENWC) program. We are always on the lookout for freelance columnists! Please note that Egg is a participant in the OneBookShelf Affiliate Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to DriveThruRPG. If you have a pitch, please contact us!
NPCyphers Variant Rule offers 5 pages (cover included) devoted to an interesting idea for how to address hirelings and sidekick NPCs within the Cypher System. Intended for minor NPCs, instead of having stats or being a fully realized character, these are fill-ins for specific roles. They’re a card (nine to a printed page to give you an idea of their brevity) that offers a title, an ability enhancement for the PC that has the hireling, and an option to retire the NPC and get a one-time bonus. For example, the Guard offers protection, which, in game terms, translates into “+1 to armor against one attack per round.” Alternately, when it’s time to do away with that NPC, you can have the guard “take a blow which would otherwise have hit you.” Some of the cards offer in-story dilemmas such as the Leper. They keep others away from your group (such as criminals, but also the betters of society). This impacts your roleplaying and can create complications. However, to retire this NPC, you can “spread their plague to a nearby settlement.” This NPC can create a conflict that has a bit more scope than might be noted at first blush.
What makes this product a clever idea is that it transforms NPCs mechanically to resemble the game’s namesake, Cyphers. For the uninitiated, Cyphers are single-use elements and items that are magic, or close enough, that liter all Cypher System settings like health potions liter most video games. All in all, there are 27 NPCs to choose from with practical benefits and some interesting roleplaying options.
Mattia Salvetti’s Survival and Travel Variant Rules is 7 pages (cover included) of rules to add overland travel in the hex-crawling style. With many modern games, traveling large distances overland is handled via a narration and some modest recordkeeping. This product zooms in on travel, breaking it down by terrain and into sections of travel time each day – morning, noon, afternoon, evening, and night. The book suggests normal travel activities such as foraging, exploring, and more while presenting some of the consequences of covering miles upon miles of ground. Do you walk? Create a vehicle? End up building a shelter at night? From missed meals to diseases to encountering random towns to battling monsters, this book presents a range of options in a short space. The random encounters and the suggestions to balance them between positive encounters and potential fights is an excellent guideline. This culminates in a random encounter table option, which feels purely old school and fits perfectly with this addition. That said, “old school” is this in toto. That’s neither a negative or a positive, but it does inform who will want to use this at their gaming table. This process adds upkeep and recordkeeping aspects to the Cypher System, and this item’s utility will vary widely from GM to GM since it is crunch for a less crunchy system.
Both of Mattia Salvetti’s books – NPCyphers and Survival and Travel – use original covers that feature a unifying trade dress so the work stands apart from other products. Along with the look, both books offer well-considered additional rules to the Cypher System. NPCyphers works to streamline NPCs to integrate them into the game in a logical-to-the-Cypher-System-way. Survival and Travel offers a campaign lengthening option for covering distances. Its interest will vary based on GM preferences. That said, both are worth testing at your gaming table.
This article was contributed by Egg Embry as part of EN World's Columnist (ENWC) program. We are always on the lookout for freelance columnists! Please note that Egg is a participant in the OneBookShelf Affiliate Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to DriveThruRPG. If you have a pitch, please contact us!
