Rather than a game played with boards and rules, a roleplay game is a game wherein the players take on the role of imaginary characters in a fantasy world. Tasked with a mission, they must explore the world in order to complete their quest and in the process discover new worlds, new characters and untold treasures.

A Game Master (GM) is responsible for refereeing and managing the game, creating the setting and the environment and presiding over the challenges the players face. In RPG, dice are used to determine the success or failure of actions. The rule for these dice and how they determine success are described in the following paragraphs.

All of this has been adapted from the cypher core rule book by Monte Cook. I have attempted to condense the rules into a single more manageable PDF, for players to use to help get ready for the game. Throughout the game I will aim to help clarify any rules that are unclear, as is the expectation of any GM

Thank you for joining us on this quest, and see you on the other side

-Adam

Cypher is a Role-Playing Gaming system. Similar to D&D but designed in general for any game. Cypher is designed to be used for pretty much any campaign and setting you like. The core fact to understand about cypher though is that almost everything is dealt with in general terms. This means a number of things

1. Instead of concrete maps that show the layout of a room or environment, there is a general description, you can enquire to the GM for more details about the environment
2. Instead of concrete values for currency, we deal in general terms, inexpensive, moderate, expensive, very expensive and exorbitant. Items are priced in this way and wealth is measured in this way
3. Instead of concrete distances for navigation, we deal with a general scale, immediate (3m ish), short (15m ish), long (30m ish), very long (less than 1.5km)

Players take turns to do the following

1. decide an action they wish to perform (walk here, talk to an NPC, inspect an object, search for an item etc.)
2. GM decides how difficult a task is, most simple tasks like opening an unlocked door are consider routine so succeed automatically
3. If a task is not routine, e.g. hacking a computer, they a difficulty is chosen for the task. Difficulty is score from 1 to 10 (0 being routine)
   • From this difficulty we get a target number for a roll by multiplying by 3 e.g. a task of difficulty 3 has a target number 9 or greater
   • Difficulty may not be shared with a player, it might instead be indicated that a task is fairly easy, moderately challenging, near impossible etc.
4. Based on the task, a stat is chosen from Might, Speed or Intellect, to dictate what stat benefits the task
5. Both Player and GM determine what special abilities, equipment or skills will either hinder (increase a difficulty by 1 or more) or ease a task (reduce a difficulty by 1 or more)
6. The player rolls a d20 based on the final difficulty e.g.
   • A climb has a difficulty of 7, but the player has rope, easing by 2 steps, but a fear of heights hindering by 1 step. The result is therefore 7 - 2 + 1 = 6. Therefore the target number is 6 * 3 = 18
   • A task immediately fails if the target number is greater than 20 (because you can't succeed no matter what)
7. If players roll a 1, this results in a GM intrusion, this is when an action has an unexpected negative consequence for example you attempt to fire a pistol but it jams, meaning you have to spend an action unjamming it
8. If players roll a 19 or 20, they get either a minor or major beneficial effect (respectively). For example, when attempting to hack a security door, the player rolls a 20, and as a result finds a passcode to unlock all the doors in a building

Combat plays out similarly, but has minor changes. NPCs like tasks, have a difficulty level, which dictates a number of things.

• The initiative number you have to roll in order to go before the NPC in combat
• The target number you have to roll (>=) in order for your attack or defense to succeed

1. Before combat starts, all players roll for initiative, if your initiative is higher than the target number of the highest NPC in the party you are attacking/being attacked by, you go before the NPCs attack e.g.
   • Three security guards attack of level 2, 3 and 5. The target number for initiative is based on the level 5 security guard, so players who roll 5 * 3 = 15 or above will go before the NPCs, and players who roll below 15 go after
   • If you have an ability/effect that eases or hinders initiative, this is taken from the highest number, so for example, a player might have a quick witted ability, that means they react quicker, therefore initiative is eased by one, making their target number 4 * 3 = 12 rather than 15
2. Players can choose who they wish to attack and with what weapons/strategy (e.g. you might just punch someone) they wish to use. Assuming this is a conventional attack (shooting a gun, swinging a knife or punching) then difficulty if determined by the character level they're attacking. If you're making an unusual attack (say you're trying to hit a specific spot on an enemy or maybe a fuel tank) this might increase the difficulty.
   • A pool is chosen for the attack, generally hand-to-hand combat is based on might, firearms based on speed, and technological, strategic or telekinetic attacks based on intellect. Effort, which will be explained later, can be applied to attacks to ease their difficulty
3. Damage is not determined by dice, it's a flat cost a impact as follows
   • Light weapons: 2 points of damage (knives, fists, kicks, light pistols)
   • Medium weapons: 4 points of damage (normal pistols, spears basically anything that can be held in one hand)
   • Heavy weapons: 6 points of damage (anything that absolutely requires two hands, rifles, cannons etc.)
   • NPCs health points are determined by 3 * level so a level 4 NPC has 12 HP to deplete (unless the GM adds a modifier)
   • NPCs also have an Armor modifier, which may decrease their damage, so if they have an Armor of +1 it means that they take one less damage.
4. NPCs take their turn once everyone who rolled over initiative has finished. When NPCs attack, players roll again but this time a defensive roll. The principle is the same except now, if you roll lower than the target number you take damage
   • because players don't have health points, their damage is taken from their stat pool. Generally speaking, most physical attacks result in damage to the might pool. Psychic attacks etc can damage intellect pool and sometimes depending on exactly what an NPC has done, you might take damage to your speed pool (unlikely).
   • Once one pool is depleted, damage is taken from the next pool in this order Might > Speed > Intellect.
   • If one pool is depleted, a player is said to be impaired meaning effort costs one more point per level
   • If two pools are depleted, a player is said to be debilitated meaning they can take no actions
   • If all three pools deplete, the player is dead
   • Players can have an Armor modifier, which can absorb typically between 1 and 3 points of damage (light, medium or heavy) armor may be physical clothing/wearables or it might be abilities or underlying equipment such as forcefields. Armor is not effective against all types of damage, particularly not speed or intellect damage types
5. Players who rolled below initiative now take their turn, the same as players who took before, and then rinse and repeat until everyone is dead or the players win

Cypher is designed so that characters can be described and essentially built using three key words that fit into the following sentence

I am a ______ ______ who ______

e.g. I am a quiet explorer who hacks computers

The "quiet" adjective is your descriptor

The "explorer" noun is your type

The "hacks computers" is your focus

All three are explained below. Additionally, you may have a flavour. All three of these words have been picked for you based on your characters back story, but this does not mean there is not several choices to be made before your character is playable. Please see your individual character sheets for instructions on what you need to do.

Characters are divided into one of four basic tyoes:

• Warrior (soldiers, police officers, security guards etc.)
• Adept (psychics, telekinetics, supernaturals etc.)
• Speaker (diplomats, con artists, merchants etc.)
• Explorer (archaeologists, adventurers, journalists etc.)

The type dictates largely the abilities you have access to, which will be provided with your character information.

On top of type, your character may or may not have a flavour, due to their backstory or background. A flavour basically is access to a second set of abilities. For example, you may have a warrior with a technology flavour which might be because they're a military engineer or security specialist etc.

As a result they may have special abilities in hacking robots or security droids etc.

A descriptor describe your characters general personality or attributes. The descriptor is important because it dictates the skills you are trained in as well as offering other bonuses, such as increase one of your pools or easing certain task. It also has certain drawbacks, possibly making certain skills harder for you.

Your descriptor will have been picked for you based on your character backstory and profile for the game

Focus unlocks additional special abilities to choose from when setting up your character, and as your character levels up.

Unlike D&D, players have pools instead of stats. Pools are essentially points that you can spend to perform or increase the chance of success at actions. You have three pools:

• Might
• Speed
• Intellect

Many special abilities have a point cost attached to them, that dictates how many points must be spent to activate that ability.

We will use coloured counters to track points in each pool your character currently has. Pools are recovered by resting.

Resting goes in a cycle

1. the first rest takes a single action
2. the second rest takes 10 minutes so can't be used during combat
3. the third rest takes about an hour so can't be used during combat
4. the fourth rest takes about 10 hours so can't be used during combat

Once you've rested four times (i.e. you've rested overnight) the time rests back to one an the loop repeats. Upon each rest a player rolls a d6, and can distribute that plus their current tier/level amongst their three pools. e.g. A player has a tier/level 2 character, and rolls 5 on a d6, they can then allocate a maximum of 5 + 2 = 7 across their stat pools.

All players have at least one type of edge. Edge is a discount on any points spent from that pool. So if a player has an edge of 1 for intellect, and they decide to use an ability that costs 1 intellect, they can use it for free because their edge gives them a discount of 1.

This discount is flat meaning you work out the total cost of apply an action/ability in terms of points, and then deduct edge. Edge can be increased by increasing your character tier/level

All players have an effort level of 1 to begin with that increases as a player levels/tiers up. Effort can be applied to any task to make it easier. Effort costs 3 points from the relevant stat pool for the task. So for example, a climbing task has a difficulty of level 4, is determined to be based upon the speed stat pool, and a player wishes to apply an effort of 1 to this task. By applying an effort of 1, the difficulty is now level 3, and the player has spent 3 points from their speed pool (minus any edge they may or may not have for that pool).

If players have a higher effort level, it means they can apply more levels of effort, decreasing the difficulty even further. Each additional level of effort costs only two points to apply.

Typically dictates armor modifier. Depending on clothing type it may ease certain tasks (think disguises, stealth clothing, smart glass). This will be dictated on a case by case basis.

Dictate if your character has training in a skill. Skills have three classifications trained, specialised or inability. Trained eases any task related to that skill by one point, specialised eases by two points, an inability hinders by one point (i.e. makes more difficulty)

Generally a weapon dictates the quantity of damage you do, light is +2 damage, medium +4, heavy +6. Certain weapons may add additional damage or differ the type of damage they do to says bypass armor or immunities. Think a poison laced dart which has a light damage of 2, but a per round effect of 1.

Weapons may also double as equipment, an engineer's knife for example, may have a screwdriver on it, easing certain repair tasks. Similar to clothing, this will be dictated on case by case basis

Generally serves to ease the complexity of tasks, by a maximum of two steps, but generally only by one step.

Equipment may also be necessary for survival, such as food, sleeping bags, torches etc. Equipment is generally priced and allocated to players by price.

An inexpensive item is something that common people buy. A simple meal or a drink in the bar. A pen and some paper. A book or magazine.

A moderately priced item is something that common people buy, but not too often and not in great quantities. A small piece of furniture. A major entertainment. An expensive meal. A new outfit.

An expensive item is something that would strain a common person’s finances. Rent on a simple apartment. A major piece of furniture. A very nice outfit. The cost to travel a long distance (if appropriate to the setting).

A very expensive item is probably out of the reach of most people except in very special circumstances. Jewelry. Luxury furnishings.

An exorbitant item is something only the very rich can afford. A very nice house. A ship. Extremely expensive jewelry or art.

Cyphers are single use equipment items, that your character posesses, you can only carry a fixed number of cyphers at a time, and cyphers will be presented to your throughout the game. Cyphers may make a certain task easier, or present an alternate route to an otherwise fixed path.

The number you can carry will be detailed on your character sheet, along with your starting cyphers

Experience points are like a meta currency and are earnt and then spent to change the playing field

The following means are ways you earn experience points

• GM Intrusions: Occasionally a negative event will be introduced that a player must overcome, typically when a player does something that would normally be successful e.g. the player attempts to open an unlocked door but discovers it to be jammed, and so has to override it using their technical skill. Player is awarded 2XP, 1 of which they must then give to another player.
• Achieving personal goals: Player characters will be issued with personal goals as the game develops, which by achieving will unlock additional XP
• Achieving mission objectives: All of the party will receive XP when a mission objective is achieved

Players can spend experience points in the following ways

• Block a GM Intrusion: (1XP) prevents a GM intrusion from happening
• Reroll any roll: (1XP) They can roll again
• Temporary skill benefit: (2XP) They can gain a skill within a specific environment, for example, a player is climbing a mountain and decides they have gained experience with negotiating that region, they therefore become trained in climbing skill. However this only typically applies within a limited window
• Leveling up: This is explained in more detail below

Leveling up costs XP, to go from tier 1 to 2 (or any other tier one step up) players must do the following

• increase capabilities: (4XP) gain 4 new points to add to your stat pool of your choice (this raises the maximum, it's not just a recovery)
• Moving towards perfection: (4XP) gain an additional poibt in an edge of your choice (edges reduce cost)
• Extra Effort: (4XP) gain an additional level of effort, raising the maximum effort you can apply to task
• Skills: (4XP) become trained in a new skill or become specialized in a skill you were previous trained in