This week I had a realisation that, for some reason, hadn’t consciously manifested itself but must seem blindingly obvious to most roleplayers: the TTRPG mainstream is dominated by the cinematic story-focused approach to gaming.

The realisation came reading the 2004 GURPS Basic Set Game Mastering chapter where “Cinematic Play” is offered as an option. The text attempts to define that type of campaign thus:

• A cinematic world is ordered. Events have reasons… that relate to the story.
• The only details of importance are those that directly advance the story.
• The GM must be prepared to overrule any die roll.
• The GM must allow dramatic actions to succeed.
• The players must not take inappropriate advantage of conventions.
• The GM must handle heroic deaths satisfyingly.

Additionally, the comment is made that:

It is possible to run a cinematic game at any power level. Cinematic games are frequently high-powered games – and vice versa – but “cinematic” is a style, not a point level.

GURPS Basic Set: Campaigns (2004), page 489

All of which is useful in delineating the standard “realistic” norm of GURPS from the “cinematic” play style. Neither is good nor bad, just different. Last week, when talking about this in the GM’s Journal, I stated that cinematic play is not really my style. But… on reflection, that’s not really accurate.

The thought that struck me this morning was simple: “What if I was to run a cinematic open table game?” The answer that my subconscious provided was equally simple: “Well, you’d be running it with the Cypher System, wouldn’t you?” Yes, yes I would.

Cypher is the other game that sits on my gaming stacks with the label “learn this game and play it more”, alongside GURPS. My previous problem with Cypher was that it’s designed to provide exactly the sort of high-octane cinematic play that I was reading about last week. But I enjoy running the Cypher System. Would I enjoy a Cypher Open Table?

Open Tables are drop-in-drop-out social games designed to allow low-commitment play on any schedule. They emulate the way we played as teens, where each session might continue from the last but it was equally likely that it wouldn’t. The GM might change, the characters sometimes changed, and the players regularly did change.

It strikes me that Cypher might be really good for this.

Open Tables need a couple of system-related things – namely Easy-Access Rules and Quick Character Creation – and the only uncertainty I have is around how quick the characters get created. I think that, “I am an <adjective> <noun> who <verbs>” is probably pretty quick but I’ve not tried it out for this approach.

Adding in a solid scenario structure for the sessions to run on, such as locationcrawls or short mysteries, seems trivial. Cypher’s inherently “lite” approach to GM prep wherein everything is quickly coded on a 1-10 scale and given an interesting schtick is useful. I also think the Cyphers themselves – the one-shot special ability – suits pick-up play well.

All of which is to say that I might be tempted to try some Cypher in this style. Much to ponder and fiddle with… except, of course, I told myself I was going to learn GURPS and not get distracted. Oh, well.

Game on!