This weekend was filled with Cypher System action including a face-to-face trial of the game’s Starter Set and mustering up some ideas to see if I can pull off an Open Table game powered by Cypher. I’ve played Cypher System four or five times now. Overall, it’s been a strong start!

Only one of my past sessions was a poor experience and that was largely due to me fumbling while trying to improvise everything for some newbie players. The most recent session, played face-to-face, was the best of all and moved me up from about 50% towards 90% convinced that Cypher is for me.

Moving forward, I get the sense that this system would be good for the Open Table experience that I’ve been wanting to offer online friends. Apart from the character creation system being very involved, everything else about Cypher System is geared for easy learning and GMing. It seems like a good match for what I want to do.

What stands out for me is the high level of player agency that the system provides while reducing the workload of the GM. The game rewards focus on the emergent story and provides the players with plenty of in-game resources to put to use. The only downside is that it’s very much a player-facing game engine in which they need to learn their abilities.

For my foray into Open Table design, I am working up a background for a Near-Future SF universe in which the players will be exploring locations on the other side of a Einstein-Rosen bridge portal. The elevator pitch is, “Corporate explorers use a Stargate to travel to an dark alien complex to recover advanced technology.”

While I am stealing the Stargate TV franchise premise, I aim to make the setting feel darker and more horrific while also projecting it about 130 years into the future. Cypher System will provide a fast-paced and easy-to-run engine for some cinematic adventure as we explore an alternative and dangerous universe.

In game terms, this opens up an initial “megadungeon” scenario structure combined with a short mission framework. While we can certainly spend a few sessions in the first alien location, the potential for new Gate destinations is essentially unlimited and many different types of scenarios can be prepared.

The only way to know if my theory is correct will be to put it into play.

Game on!