This is the second in a series of web articles about some of the changes to the Cypher rules and how you can start incorporating them into the Cypher System game you’re playi...
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Kate Evans
8 days ago
Using the New Cypher Rules in Your Game Right Now!
As the Cypher corebooks finish the final stages of development and move into the production phase, the design team wanted to share some insights into the new Cypher—and, as a...
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Kate Evans
21 days ago
Predation Playtest and Weekly Web Articles
Greetings, million-dollar backers!
We hope you’re enjoying the early access material for Cypher—we’ve had a lot of really positive comments about it! If you backed at the ...
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Kate Evans
3 months ago
'All In' pledge early access is on BackerKit Digital Downloads.
Hey folks,
Just in case anyone on the 'All In' pledge hasn't got it yet, early access to the Cypher Character Rulebook has been granted on BackerKit through Digital Downloads.
Please have a look in your BACKERKIT Digitial Downloads, no existing or early rewards have been f...
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Kate Evans
3 months ago
Missing items and Add Ons from the Survey
Hey folks,
People have let us know that some of their add ons for this campaign are not being applied to their accounts. We have been investigating this and after helpful consultation with Backerkit, we've found the issue and this should be now resolved.
Please be assured...
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Kate Evans
3 months ago
The Character Rulebook Manuscript Is Complete and More!
Greetings, million-dollar backers!
Again, a HUGE thank you to everyone who helped bring this campaign to life! You’re amazing!
In early December, we'll have the Characte...
Did you know that Cypher: Faster. Easier. And Even Better! is MCG's 33rd crowdfunding campaign? We've been doing this for a long time, but the crowdfunding environment is always changing. And like a good GM, we know that we can always get even better at our craft. So help us understand how you interact with our campaigns through this poll.
Crowdfunding campaigns that really soar always do so because their backers enthusiastically spread the word. How often have you talked publicly about this Cypher campaign?
Feel free to elaborate, or talk about your favorite ways to reach new backers, in the comments on this poll!
Great news! You’ve unlocked The Strange, adding the first entirely new product to this campaign’s rewards. We’re so excited to be making this hefty hardcover campaign setting, which is now part of the rewards for all backers at the ALL-IN (print and PDF) pledge level (and in PDF for ALL-IN (PDF only) backers).
You can also get it as an add-on, but seriously: why add on a single book when you can upgrade your pledge and get so much more? The ALL-IN pledge levels were a great deal to start with, and are now even better—and the campaign is just getting started!
If you’re new to The Strange, this dimension-hopping, intrigue-filled campaign setting has been a fan-favorite for years, but the original has been long out of print. Learn more about it in our last update.
Your Bonus Reward
As if a whole new book isn’t enough, your rewards now include another sticker! Voting was very close this time, but we have a winner:
We add a vinyl sticker as a free bonus reward for all backers, every time we unlock a stretch goal. Vote for the next one below!
Shall We Expand the Cypher GM’s Guide?
One of your first stretch goals was an expansion to the Cypher Character Rulebook. The design team would love to similarly grow the GM’s book, particularly adding more equipment, cyphers, creatures, and artifacts to supplement the copious guidance and rules options for the many genres it covers. We anticipate this will add roughly 24 pages to the heft of the book, giving you that much more for your campaigns and adventures!
We’ll unlock this expansion when we reach 2600 backers.
And while we’re at it…
Let’s Choose Another Sticker
We’ve unlocked three stretch goals so far, and added three bonus vinyl stickers rewards on top of those goals. We’ll add a fourth if we unlock this expansion. Which design would you prefer?
Vote in the attached poll! The winning design will be our next bonus reward.
You Make It Happen
This campaign is going gangbusters, and we have so many more stretch goals we’d love to hit. The way to make that happen—the only way—is for backers like you to help spread the word. If you haven’t already, don’t forget to tell us about your character—it’s fun, you’ll help spread the word, and maybe you’ll win some cool, custom art for your character!
You made short work of that stretch goal! Thanks to all your great help spreading the word, the upgrade to the Cypher Character Rulebook, the Cypher GM’s Guide, and the matching version of the Cypher Bestiary has been unlocked, and they’re all getting foil-printed covers!
And as a bonus reward, every backer gets this vinyl sticker added to their rewards! That makes two you’ve unlocked so far. Here's the winner of today's poll, and the collection you've built so far.
Let Us Tell You about The Strange
Earth. The present day. The world as we know it.
Except: in the dimness of a chaotic extra-dimensional zone known by a few as “the Strange” lie thousands of Earth’s “recursions”—pocket dimensions that spawn from human myth, legend, and fiction. Rarely larger than a continent, and sometimes no bigger than a few city blocks, these aren’t full-fledged parallel universes. Rather, they’re reflections of human imagination—one might be the halls of Valhalla; another the sands of ancient Egypt; yet another the foggy East End of Jack the Ripper’s London or even the plains of Rohan. If a realm has been imagined on Earth, there is probably a recursion somewhere in our world’s shoals that represents it.
These mini-worlds have gone unnoticed for millennia, but in recent times, a rare few have discovered them—and how to reach them. Some do so for the sake of discovery. Some for plunder. A few for even more nefarious purposes. Regardless of these motives, the rare but increasing traffic between Earth and its recursions has inevitably allowed forces from these realms to discover ours.
For while most beings in these recursions are simply facets of the fiction that creates them, a rare few have “the spark.” Awareness. An ability to recognize that their own realm is limited—but that a broader, fuller world exists. Some of these beings cast ambitious eyes on our Earth. And some are very, very dangerous.
The Strange roleplaying game was originally published by MCG about a decade ago, and powered by the Cypher System. (In fact, its publication predates the original Cypher System Rulebook.) It’s been out of print for a while, but remains a fan favorite. Player characters work for The Estate, a secretive organization that seeks to protect Earth from the dangers increasingly leaking into our world. Adventures set on Earth have an X-Files sort of feel, as the PCs investigate odd happenings and combat other shadowy figures and organizations that exploit the Strange and its recursions. When adventures take them into these other realms, the PCs usual take on aspects of the recursion. They don’t just visit a space-opera realm. They translate to it, becoming, in part, the types of aliens and characters that inhabit that world.
It's a dimension-hopping game filled with intrigue, mystery, and planet-threatening danger. And we want to bring it back!
Stretch Goal: The Strange
We want to create a whole new edition of The Strange, powered by Cypher! It will be a setting book you use with your Cypher corebooks (it won’t contain its own game rules), and will be thoroughly revised and updated, with new content, adventures, and options.
And it will be a whole new book—a thick, hefty hardcover—added to the rewards of the ALL-IN (print and PDF) pledge level, as a PDF to the ALL-IN (PDF only) pledge levels, and available as an add-on for backers at other levels.
We will unlock The Strange when we reach 2200 backers.
Oh, and a Sticker!
Every time we unlock a stretch goal, we throw in a bonus reward—a free thank-you for every backer, no matter what pledge level. Help us choose the next vinyl sticker to add to the collection:
Vote for your choice, and it will be added to your rewards, for free, when we unlock The Strange!
It’s Up to YOU
We need your help to reach 2200 backers and unlock The Strange. If you haven’t already, you can take part in this contest to help spread the word—and maybe win some beautiful custom art for your Cypher character!
And here are some great graphics to share on social media, on reddit, or wherever you talk about games online—right-click to download them:
This is the second in a series of web articles about some of the changes to the Cypher rules and how you can start incorporating them into the Cypher System game you’re playing right now!
Pick Your Starting Edge
Because your type determines which of your three stats gets an Edge of 1, sometimes your combination of type and focus means that you’re paying a little extra for your focus abilities—like if you’re a Warrior or Explorer (which by default have a Might Edge of 1) with a focus that relies on Intellect. You could choose Improved Edge as one of your starting type abilities to get an Edge of 1 in a second stat, but that means one fewer starting ability that lets you do something fun or interesting during gameplay.
So in the new Cypher, all types get to choose which of their three stats has Edge 1 (the other two stats have Edge 0).
If you have an existing character whose starting Edge 1 wasn’t a good fit for your focus abilities, ask the GM if you can swap that around to a different stat (this usually just means adding 1 to your desired Edge and subtracting 1 from the Edge you don’t use very often).
Why the Change?
When you have a cool character concept but the math doesn’t work out in your favor, that’s kind of disappointing. By making this change, you can play your dream character from tier 1, without waiting until you get enough advancements to offset the built-in type abilities. (Of course, you can still choose to make a character with a non-optimal Edge stat, perhaps because you want to play through the idea of someone who is just starting to learn how to use their abilities, but now it’s an option instead of a requirement.)
You may have noticed that we already put this choose-your-Edge option in the new types we created for books like Neon Rain (because any cyberpunk character can be good at Intellect tasks like hacking, or physical combat with katanas and pistols) and Gunslinger Knights (because even a fully-armored knight who channels power from magical storms ought to be good at their main type abilities from the get-go). For the new Cypher, we’ve just extended this idea to all character types.
Come back next week for another sneak peek at the new rules—this one’s really going to give players a lot of options!
Numenera heading to hit a ninth stretch goal!
The new edition of Numenera is already fully funded and has unlocked eight stretch goals so far! The ninth stretch goal is well in hand, and now there's a chance to grab physical shins (the numenera currency) for the first time in years! Check out the update now!
