Cypher System
Alex looks at the Cypher system, the generic TTRPG system from Monte Cook games based on Numinera and The Strange.
I've written about several generic tabletop systems on this site so far, and today is going to be more of the same and a lot of difference, because Cypher is a weird one, friends.
This isn't the first time the Cypher system has made an appearance on this blog, I discussed it a bit in the Effort Systems post, which covers the primary way you modify dice rolls by spending a character currency.
Today, however, I'm going to look at the system as a whole and talk about more than just the Effort system, because a more thorough examination of the system is well warranted and deserved.
The System
Cypher is a combination of various other Monty Cook games, starting with Numinera and The Strange before the core system was broken out into what is now Cypher. In all of those games, the core mechanic is the same: the GM sets a target difficulty level (which always increases the difficulty by 3 per step), and the player tries to roll at or over that number on a d20. The difficulty tiers go up to "10" which means that the target number can be as high as a 30. There are very few things that modify the roll, occasionally you might get a +1 or +2 to your final result, but normally increasing your odds of winning is done via "easing" the difficulty. That is, reducing it by one or more steps.
Easing can be done in several ways: Effort, as mentioned in the linked post, having a relevant skill, having gear that is useful in the situation.
The other major thing to note about Cypher is that it's in the category of games (which I prefer) where the GM does not roll dice. Everything is done by the player. This means if an NPC wants to attack a character, the player being attacked needs to make a defense roll based on the rating of the NPCs.
So, putting it all together, the resolution mechanic is this:.
- The GM sets a difficulty between 1 and 10, noting the relevant pool (Might, Speed, Intellect).
- The player lowers the difficulty with their skill, equipment, or Effort
- Roll a d20 and compare to the new difficulty's target number.
- Succeed or fail with special things potentially happening based on the result.
Let's talk about those characters
So I've given you the core mechanic, but it probably doesn't make a lot of sense without discussing what a Cypher character is made out of. There's a decent amount to it.
Characters have three pools: Might, Speed, Intellect. Fairly self-explanatory. Each of those pools has a secondary stat: Edge. Edge reduces the amount of expenditure you need to do from the pool in question when you're spending effort, orr you're taking "damage" to that pool.
They also have an Effort score which represents how many levels of Effort a character can apply to a given roll. Starting characters get 1, but as you advance that number can get higher.
Customization wise, each character also has a "Type" which you can think of as an archetype like Warrior or Speaker (the "Face" character) as well as a descriptor and focus. The archetypes can be further modified to be campaign or setting relevant with the list of flavors in the book to make things less generic. Both descriptors and foci are picked from a list, and they take the form of an adjective and a short phrase respectively. Each of these things modifies your pools and gives you access to tiered abilities. Because you can mix-and-match them the total number of combinations is quite high, though in practice some combinations don't make a lot of sense.
But, for example, you could have a Risk-Taking (descriptor) Warrior (type) who Consorts with the Dead (focus) or perhaps a Clumsy Adept who Exists in Two Places at Once. That full sentence encompasses the character's general "aura" and also determines how they'll progress down the advancement track.
This was one of the weirdest and neatest things about playing Numinera. I dig it.
Gear and Equipment
Since everything in the game is mostly based around reducing the target number of a check, equipment is largely glossed over, with the minor exception of weapons and armor which have special rules. Weapons do have a damage rating, but it's just based on a category of light, medium, and heavy with no further distinction in between. Armor likewise has a protection rating which is reduced directly from damage.
Every other bit of general gear is fuzzy.
Except cyphers. You have to have equipment for which the system is named, don't you? In this case, cyphers represent single-use items that are more closely akin to player abilities than gear. They're genre dependent; in a fantasy game they might be a potion or a wand or something, but in Numinera they're weird items from the previous worlds. The main bit is that they're single use and can produce "fun" effects.
There are also "Artifacts" which are basically multi-use cyphers, but they're intentionally rare.
Everything has a rating
So you might be wondering to yourself "If the GM has to set a difficulty score for everything, is there anything to make that easier?" and the answer is "yes". That's because everything in Cypher has a "level" which is just where they sit on that 1-10 scale.
NPCs? Yes. A Crime boss is a 3. A ninja is a 6.
Creatures, you bet. All the way from a lowly level 1 Goblin up to the mighty level 10 Kaiju.
Cyphers?? YES!
Overall though you get a general feel for where the difficulty should be set once you've done it several times, and you realize that the numeric value is just whatever the difficulty is times 3.
How Cypher plays in practice
Compared to some other systems (like Cortex Prime or Genesys), the amount of setup for selecting a genre or setting is a lot smaller. The game is designed for you to not have to do too much in order to play a high fantasy vs. a horror game. The main bits you have to watch out for is deciding if you want to limit any of the effects or the Cyphers, because if you want to play a "gritty real world" game several of the effects are not going to gel well with that.
You might just find yourself needing to eliminate swaths of foci to make it work, or bending your setting to allow slightly more magical things. Either way the core book does give brief suggestions for a number of genres and how to run them. I especially like the Horror artifacts presented in the book, they're fun.
I've found Cypher gameplay to be smooth, the overall action is quick when folks get the hang of the mechanics. The most consideration generally goes into when the players decide to use cyphers and when the GM decides to award cyphers, and that item economy is important to the overall flow of the game. I'm still not sure whether I fully understand when I should be awarding cyphers and of what kind (but there are tables you can randomly roll, too).
Wrap Up
Overall, I'd say Cypher is a very decent generic system that requires a bit less prep work than Cortex Prime, but more than something like Fate Core or Accelerated. I especially like the Effort system, but do sometimes struggle a bit with setting appropriate difficulties and understanding how to stat out custom NPCs.
Do I use it often? Not at all. Would I be upset if I were asked to GM it? Nope! It's a fine system.
Hopefully this gives you a decent overview of the system and if you'd like to pick it up, Cypher is available direct from Monte Cook games and also on DrivethruRPG.
