With a new edition of the Cypher System on the way this summer, I thought it would be interesting to reflect on how it's worked out in Front Porch campaigns over the past year. The first thing to note, however, is the small sample size. To date, we've done one in-person Cypher campaign (Vanguard Saga, with three players) and two email-based campaigns (another Vanguard Saga storyline and the revamped Torchlight, each with one player); compare those numbers to decades of D&D -- Druid Cycle, Shattered Realm, and so much more. That said, I think I have enough experience with Cypher to make some general observations about the rules and how we're using them.
The most important point is that I'm very satisfied with Cypher as the default game system for the Front Porch multiverse. It's fast and easy, very flexible across genres, and well suited for narrative games. Long-running campaigns like the Druid Cycle setting will always be D&D, but at this moment I can't really imagine starting a new campaign that didn't use Cypher.
So what else have I learned about Cypher from a year's worth of gaming? Below are some observations about how the experience at our table differs from the rules as written.
- Back when I was just getting started with Cypher, Matt suggested a minor house rule to help ensure that ranged attacks at close range were not unequivocally superior to melee attacks. This house rule has worked out very well.
- In our family Vanguard campaign, Nathaniel created an android speedster whose many ways to ease Speed defense rolls has made him virtually untouchable by conventional attacks. Not everyone is out there trying to break the system, of course, but Nathaniel showed that even with a system designed by the best of the best in the gaming industry, it's quite possible to build unbalanced characters.
- To help address the aforementioned problem, I created a house rule that enables certain low-level characters (such as troops who are part of a unit) to "gang up" on a single target more effectively. Nathaniel's android still runs circles around everyone, but at least now he has to be wary of large groups of foes taking aim at him all at once.
- No one remembers cyphers. I know it's supposed to be a big deal in the Cypher System, and it's right there in the name of the game, but cyphers still feel like a clunky add-on and not a core part of the game mechanics.
- I love coming up with nasty GM Intrusions when players roll a 1 on their d20 checks, but all other GM Intrusions feel forced. When should something be an Intrusion rather than just a regular challenge for the PCs to overcome? Maybe I should think about Intrusions as "optional" encounters that players can either undetake for the XP, or pay XP to avoid? Well, I guess, but that leads me to the final point...
- Players only use XP for advancement. In Cypher, players can spend XP for rerolls, for Player Intrusions, to avoid GM Intrusions, etc., but in practice, I've found that players don't use XP for any of these things. Only once -- and quite memorably -- did a player spend XP on a Player Intrusion, and that was when an NPC's life was at stake. Similarly, I think we've only had one or two instances when a player spent XP on a reroll. I guess it's nice to have these options in your pocket, but our experience is that players hoard XP for advancement. That realization, of course, has changed how I hand out XP -- when players don't use it for all these other purposes, I have to slow down the XP rate or the characters will advance too quickly.
What changes will the new edition bring? I'm eager to find out. Here's to another year of Cypher gaming!
