Hello, million-dollar backers!

We’ve got another great essay, part five of Sean’s series on using the new Cypher rules in your game right now, but first we wanted to explain how your Cypher crowdfunding rewards will be fulfilled. This is soopa important, so please have a read through and let us know if you have any questions.

The Cypher Character Rulebook has been at the printer for several weeks now, and we expect it to hit our warehouses in the middle of July. We are, of course, preparing now so that we can begin fulfillment as soon as it reaches our doorsteps (docksteps?).

Here’s a look at the overall plan:

· We’ll fulfill the Cypher Character Rulebook this month.

· The Cypher GM Guide goes to press soon. We expect to fulfill it in early September.

· The slipcase and Cypher Bestiary will be done in October, and we’ll fulfill them then.

As always, you’re in control of when you receive your crowdfunding rewards. If you’re ready to get your campaign rolling right away, claim your books as soon as they become available. If you’d rather save a few bucks on shipping, it’s fine to wait until October to claim all these rewards at the same time.

Either way, all of the components will be available for you by October—but we didn’t want to make you wait that long if you'd like to have your Cypher Character Rulebook now.

 

When crowdfunding rewards are ready, you'll receive an email via BackerKit letting you know. We'll also be keeping you up-to-date with updates.

You'll be able to redeem your digital (PDF) crowdfunding rewards on any of these platforms: BackerKit Pledge Manager Digital Rewards, DriveThruRPG, and/or the MCG Shop. The file will be the exact same on all three platforms, and you may download it from one platform, two platforms, or all three platforms should you desire.

Unlike digital crowdfunding rewards, there is ONLY ONE WAY to redeem your physical crowdfunding rewards, and that is on the MCG Shop. You'll log in to your Monte Cook Games store account and use a special process to redeem your rewards for free(just pay shipping).

If you don’t have an account on the MCG Shop yet, simply create one by completing the registration process on the log-in page—just be sure to use the email address you gave us on the survey in BackerKit.

 This is how to do it. Seriously, check out that article and bookmark it. It has screenshots and everything.

 

As always, if you have any questions, please let us know.

Right, now onto the playing of games!
 

We’re up to the fifth update in our series 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. This one is probably the biggest change to the game.

In the new Cypher, most attacks against PCs no longer deal Pool damage. Instead, attacks against PCs inflict a minor wound, moderate wound, or a major wound, depending on how powerful the attack is. (These three types of wounds are called severities.)

Most characters can take five minor wounds, four moderate wounds, and three major wounds. Especially tough characters—like raging barbarians, defensive warriors, and battle priests—might start with an extra minor wound.

(A successful block roll reduces an attack’s damage by one severity, such as turning a major wound into a moderate wound, or a minor wound into nothing).

If you take your last minor wound, all subsequent minor wounds become moderate wounds. If you take your last moderate wound, all your tasks are hindered by one step, and all subsequent moderate wounds become major wounds. Each major wound you take hinders you by one step, and if you take your last major wound, you die.

Something that deals 1 to 3 damage is a minor wound. Something that deals 4 to 7 damage is a moderate wound. Something that deals 8 or more damage is a major wound.

Some attacks and effects still do Pool damage, like a poison that inflicts Speed damage or a psychic attack that inflicts Intellect damage, but they’re much rarer than they used to be.

Oh, and the damage track? It’s gone, it’s no longer a thing. So a creature or effect that moves you a step down the damage track in Cypher System, probably inflicts a major wound in the new Cypher. (It’s an intentional parallel between how moving three steps down the damage track will kill you, and taking three major wounds will kill you.)

The three common ways to remove a wound are rallying (fast), treatment (medium), and resting (slow).

Rallying is “walking it off.” You spend an action and some Might (2 for a minor wound, 5 for a moderate wound) and remove the wound because it wasn’t as bad as it looked. You can’t rally a major wound.

Treatment is applying a bandage, using first aid, or even undergoing surgery. Removing a minor wound (difficulty 0) takes one minute. Removing a moderate wound (difficulty 3) takes ten minutes. Removing a major wound (difficulty 6) takes an hour. (The GM might alter the treatment times for some genres, like superheroes bouncing back more quickly.)

Resting removes wounds as part of a recovery (in addition to getting Pool points back like you normally would). A ten-minute recovery removes all minor wounds, a one-hour recovery removes one moderate wound, and a ten-hour recovery removes all moderate wounds and (on a difficulty 6 treatment task) one major wound.

(PCs still inflict damage instead of wounds, and NPCs and creatures still use health instead of wounds.)

This way, the resources you use for your abilities (and to keep yourself alive when attacked, like applying Effort to a defense roll) are separate from your character’s health. Now that there’s no penalty for having 0 points in a Pool, you can feel free to spend your entire Pool however you wish. And using Effort on a defense roll won’t cost you as much or more than the damage from the attack. And there’s no risk that having 0 Might or 0 Speed means you’re suddenly vulnerable if you’re hit.

                                                                                                       – Sean K Reynolds, July 2026

 

Next time is our last article in this series, and it’ll show you a fun way that we’ve made it harder for you to fail a task that you’re skilled at…

We’ll be at Gen Con in Indy at the end of July, so come by the booth for a demo—or, better yet, sign up to play Cypher now!
 
 Thanks again for your support. 

– Team MCG