Cypher System Rulebook 2e

by Monte Cook (Designer), Bruce R. Cordell (Designer), Sean K. Reynolds (Designer)

Monte Cook Games Cypher Rulebook 2nd Edition

The Cypher System is the critically acclaimed game engine that powers any campaign in any genre. You may have heard of it as the system that drives the award-winning Numenera roleplaying game. Lauded for its elegance, ease of use, flexibility, and narrative focus, the Cypher System unleashes the creativity of GMs and players with intuitive character creation, fast-paced gameplay, and a uniquely GM-friendly design. The Cypher System is easy for beginners to learn, but offers all the depth, nuance, and complexity you want. Some people call it a "rules-light" system, but it has the power and sophistication of games that are much more mechanically heavy - and yet it is substantially more flexible. GMs find the game easy to prep for and easy to run - it frees up the GM's attention, in prep and at the game table, to focus on cool, creative ideas rather than numbers, mechanics, and "crunch." Cypher System characters are built from the concept up. A descriptive sentence provides not just an easily-understood overview of the character, but also the mechanical basis for skills, abilities, and stats. And the Cypher System gives players amazing narrative engagement, rewarding player-driven subplots and giving players resources to bear on the tasks and situations they most want to succeed at. Inside this book, you'll Complete game rules Special rules and advice for nine specific genres, including fantasy, modern, science-fiction, horror, superheroes, and post-apocalyptic Four character types, each easily customized to the needs of your setting 50 descriptors and more than 90 foci, along with all the tools to create new foci Loads of equipment and hundreds of cyphers and artifacts Nearly 60 creatures and NPCs Great GM advice on adapting the Cypher System to a variety of settings, and on running fun, engaging, fast-paced, easy-to-GM game sessions

Genres: Role Playing Games

450 pages, Tankobon Hardcover

Published January 1, 2019

About the author

The game designer
Monte Cook started working professionally in the game industry in 1988. In the employ of Iron Crown Enterprises, he worked with the Rolemaster and Champions games as an editor, developer, and designer. In 1994, Monte came to TSR, Inc., as a game designer and wrote for the Planescape and core D&D lines. When that company was purchased by Wizards of the Coast, he moved to the Seattle area and eventually became a senior game designer. At Wizards, he wrote the 3rd Edition Dungeon Master's Guide and served as codesigner of the new edition of the Dungeons & Dragons game. In 2001, he left Wizards to start his own design studio, Malhavoc Press, with his wife Sue. Although in his career he has worked on over 100 game titles, some of his other credits include Return to the Temple of Elemental Evil, The Book of Eldritch Might series, the d20 Call of Cthulhu Roleplaying Game, The Book of Vile Darkness, Monte Cook’s Arcana Evolved, Ptolus, Monte Cook's World of Darkness, and Dungeonaday.com. He was a longtime author of the Dungeoncraft column in Dungeon Magazine. In recent years, Monte has been recognized many times by game fans in the ENnies Awards, the Pen & Paper fan awards, the Nigel D. Findley Memorial Award, the Origins Awards, and more.

The author
A graduate of the 1999 Clarion West writer's workshop, Monte has published two novels, The Glass Prison and Of Aged Angels. Also, he has published the short stories "Born in Secrets" (in the magazine Amazing Stories), "The Rose Window" (in the anthology Realms of Mystery), and "A Narrowed Gaze" (in the anthology Realms of the Arcane). His stories have appeared in the Malhavoc Press anthologies Children of the Rune and The Dragons' Return, and his comic book writing can be found in the Ptolus: City by the Spire series from DBPro/Marvel. His fantasy fiction series, "Saga of the Blade," appeared in Game Trade Magazine from 2005–2006.

The geek
In his spare time, Monte runs games, plays with his dog, watches DVDs, builds vast dioramas out of LEGO building bricks, paints miniatures, and reads a lot of comics.

Reviews

[Bryan Robbins · Rating 5 out of 5]

Over the past several years I have picked up and tried quite a few roleplaying games. Each of them had their pluses and minuses, but most were extremely rules-heavy and none of them ever really hooked me. The Cypher System is the only system that was able to capture and hold my attention. This is a system that is driven more by the stories that the players tell and less by how many big bad things they kill. It is a system that is incredibly simple to learn (quite often with players up and running within minutes), but has real depth to it for those that want to dig deeper. I have never known a system like the Cypher System that makes it possible to go from adventure concept to players rolling dice as quickly as this one. With as little as 10 minutes prep I have been able to run a 4 hour session. And as much as I love running games in the Cypher System, I love being a player in it even more. You really can't go wrong with this book. It has everything in it to run a game in virtualy any setting you like.

[Ken Pawlik · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've read a lot of RPG rulebooks, and few have excited me more than the Cypher System Rulebook Revised. On the surface, the game mixes a fairly traditional class/level structure with common sense gamemastering. Digging deeper however, there is near limitless customization available on the player side of the game. GMing prioritizes narrative over mechanics. Setting the difficulty for a challenge is as simple as rating it from 1 to 10; the target number is 3 times the challenge number. Skills, equipment (assets), and other bonuses decrease the challenge number the players need to beat on a d20.
This book has enough material to create and run a game in myriad adventure-focused genres, and if more is desired, Monte Cook Games has released sourcebooks for fantasy, superheroes fairy tales, sci-fi, and horror, as well as specific settings.
The more I play this game, the more I want to play it, which I think is a hallmark of great design. The fact that there is a free license to release third-party material for the ruleset is just the cherry on top.

[J W · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Cypher System is an amazing role-playing game system that is extremely versatile and easy to learn. It's approachable for RPG veterans and newbies alike, and it all starts here! This book has the foundations to run nearly any kind of ttrpg one-shot or campaign you want. Like sci fi? It's got you covered. You want traditional fantasy. Done. Horror? Got it, from ghouls and ghosts to the tentacled beasts of Lovecraft Country. Fairy tales? Superheroes? It's in there. The Cypher System Rulebook even has a chapter on running romance campaigns!

And while this book is the start, there is so much more, if you are looking for it. Additional volumes delve deeper into all of the topics above, and more. And all of the options and variations in those books are cross-compatible. You want scifi horror with a romance subplot. You can make it happen and give your players the chance to be amazing heroes in fantastic worlds.

Highly recommended.

[Eileen Kanost · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have been playing Cypher System for many years, and this updated version is not only beautiful, but enjoyable to read. If you're looking for a new TTRPG to try, this streamlined and rules light system really does do it all. As a setting agnostic option, you have absolute freedom to homebrew character options, creatures, NPCs, and setting. If you like official settings, there are a myriad of genre options from both the original version of Cypher System and this updated version. Monte Cook Games never rest, and are constantly putting out new content for your table, including GMing aids to help you run this system on the fly.

This is my go to system and I promise it won't disappoint.

[Lucero Rodriguez Iglesias · Rating 5 out of 5]

Cypher is my favorite system to GM. I've been in love with it since I discovered Numenéra several years ago and even if I've GMed several different systems since I keep coming back to Cypher. The narrative ease of not having to worry about dice rolls and how easy it is to stat any encounter makes rolling with what my players throw at me super easy. I also love the experience and instrusion mechanics that give players much more agency over the narrative than other systems.

[Kristofer · Rating 5 out of 5]

this is a "do anything" system which does not require a math degree to run or a computer program to build a character. Building the character is the most complex part of the game and all rules beyond the core resolution mechanic are essentially optional, common sense, and mostly serve to produce consistency in rulings.

Its great, you should check it out.

[Jan Stürmer · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the easiest to understand and most intuitive RPG Systems I know. The book has a good reading flow and gives you enough Material for years of Gaming fun

[DW]

The simplest and most elegant way to play RPGs.

[Eric · Rating 3 out of 5]

It gives you a bunch of different pieces and lets you pick and choose which to use based on the setting you want to play in. I read it as a GURPS style only with much more detailed mechanics

[Chad Hoblitz · Rating 5 out of 5]

Awesome. I found the system better then the original. I also found it pretty useful for a variety of settings. I like how modular everything is. The only thing that seemed weird was damage per say, I couldn’t figure this out. Is damage to various characteristics via the actual numbers or after they were used to fuel the ability’s?