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I realized in the whirlwind of last weekend, I completely forgot to include the winner from our last creature poll in my most recent Update! And it's a funky one, too.
It was a tie—or was it??
The front end displayed an even 50/50 tie... but our back-end statistics revealed that the Minotaur actually won by just two votes. That being said, we've decided to give you both, since this matching set works so well together (and it was SO close)! You can look forward to having both the Erinyes and Minotaur in the Cypher Bestiary II.
Liv
After several hours of Overtime Mode last night, the Cypher—Advanced! campaign has drawn to a close. Thank you all so much for your wonderful support! We are so excited to be bringing you the Cypher Bestiary II and Cypher Decoded, complete with all the creatures and genres that you selected, as well as everything else we’re making as a result of this flash campaign.
If you missed the campaign's closing, you can still make a late pledge!
Once again, Cypher players, GMs, and fans prove just how truly unique they are: your dedication to great games and an even better community is wonderful. When we were first floating the idea of this campaign, we knew we had books we truly believed in—tools for making your game more unique, deeper, and more comprehensive. It is thrilling to know 2500 of you agree!
We want to tell you a bit about where things go from here—and we have some very exciting news for you—but first, let’s give credit where credit is due:
While this campaign was running, Sean was heads down, working on developing Predation and the final review of Face Your Fears. Bruce has been hard at work on The Strange and other books funded in the Cypher: Faster, Easier, and Even Better! crowdfunding campaign, while Monte has been working on Jewel in the Sky. After passing her baby, Predation, to Sean for development, Shanna’s been working on the preliminary design for a new project (read on to find out what!).
Dominique has been editing a variety of products, including the Cypher Deck and Manifest Cypher Deck—all while making sure these updates are clear and error-free! And Teri has been diligently herding cats—er, valued team members—making sure everything is going to get into your hands on time.
Bear and Javier have been polishing new books and getting them through their production phases. During this campaign, they’ve also designed stickers, imaged new products, and handled graphic design!
Jen and Kate have answered your questions (and are always available to provide support to you, our wonderful community) while prepping for Gamehole Con, which is just a few short weeks away.
Tammie has been steering the ship and keeping the logistics plates spinning (don’t ask us how she manages to make it look so effortless—we have no idea). And Charles and Olivia planned and ran this campaign—while also attending trade shows, making guest appearances on Cypher Unlimited, and generally running around like maniacs.
We are a small team, but we’ve worked diligently to keep all of our products coming while also running this campaign. We all thank you very much for backing this campaign. We love making mind-blowing RPGs with beautiful production values and immersive experiences, and your support makes that possible.
The Immediate Future
The Next Few Weeks
In the meantime, we will get the pledge manager fully set up. The pledge manager gives us the information we need to fulfill your pledge and lets you manage your add-ons and make any pledge upgrades you want. We’ll notify you when we open the pledge manager, which should be in about three weeks. Please look out for and respond to that notification!
The Next Few Months
At the same time, please pay attention when you do get communications from us. Our emails and updates include critical information about your rewards.
When Your Rewards Ship
This is an important part of the process because it ensures we have accurate delivery information for every item we send out. (With thousands of backers getting rewards, it's amazing how many people will change their address over the fulfillment period.) You'll pay for shipping at that time.
Please pay attention to communications from us—don't let our updates or emails go to your spam folder, or otherwise ignore them, because if you do you could miss out on some of your rewards.
Celestial prophecies, political intrigue, and forbidden magic. Dreamwalking, sea-singing, and crow communication. Dangerous gods, difficult choices, and sweet romances. Explore The Meridian, setting of Rebecca Roanhorse's bestselling Black Sun trilogy!
Thanks for your support!
We’ve reached the scheduled closing time for this campaign—but it’s not over yet!
BackerKit has a feature called Overtime Mode: as long as new pledges keep rolling in, the campaign remains open.
- Overtime Mode is dependent on the Backer Train.
- Each new person who backs Cypher—Advanced! resets the Backer Train timer to 10:00—functionally extending the campaign by 10 minutes.
- As long as someone backs within 10 minutes of the last person, the campaign keeps going!
- Cypher—Advanced! will only end once 10 minutes have passed without any new pledges being made.
How long will Overtime Mode last? Sometimes it’s just ten or fifteen minutes, but often it’s several hours—or even well into the night. During the Cypher: Faster, Easier, and Even Better! crowdfunding campaign, it lasted days! It all depends on whether pledges keep rolling in—and that depends on you.
So please go out there, share this campaign, and help spread the word!
It's the final day! Let’s see some stats 📊
- Have closed in on $250,000—quintuple our funding goal. How much further can we take it?
- Voted in 13 polls, choosing from 26 options to select 5 creatures for the Cypher Bestiary II, 4 genres for Cypher Decoded, and 4 free stickers!
- Cast 4,147 unique votes in polls! (Not counting today's poll.)
- Left 174 comments on updates.
- Posted 35 new threads in the Community tab.
- Got $10 off StartPlaying Cypher with code SPC26!
Those are some pretty fantastic numbers! (And yes, I really did count them all.) I wonder how much higher we can get a few of them before the campaign ends tonight?
The Cypher Character Sheet is waiting for you on Roll20 🎲
We're so excited. This elegant, full-featured character sheet is a wonderful asset for anyone who plays Cypher online. It's the first in a series of steps to bring top-notch support for Cypher to the VTT realm!
You can roll dice directly from the character sheet. Applying Effort? It automatically adjusts your Pool points—and it calls out special roll results (extra damage or effects). You can easily share details of abilities, gear, and skills via chat. A fluid design gives you a thoughtful layout at any screen size. And you can import characters directly from the new Cypher Tools Character Builder! (Find instructions here.)
When we announced the new edition of Cypher last year, we committed to full VTT support—in fact, we included VTT implementation as a reward in the Cypher: Faster. Easier. And Even Better! crowdfunding campaign. We've been working diligently on bringing that support to life. The Roll20 Cypher character sheet is the first step, to be followed by the forthcoming Cypher rules compendium, asset packs, and Cypher support on additional VTT platforms.
A new website for Cypher!
(Honestly, this is something we really wanted to get done last month, with the launch of the Cypher Character Rulebook. But we're a small team, and as you've seen these past weeks we've been very, very busy!)
The results for your last genre poll are in!
So far, you’ve added Espionage, Pulp Action, and Ultraviolence! We asked you to add one more genre to this lineup: either Psychic or Capers!
The votes are in! At 45% to 55%, Psychic just took the win!
That's the last poll for genres, but it won’t be all of the genres included in Cypher Decoded: Monte and the team still have a few secrets—and several more cool ideas!
It’s time for the final poll of this campaign!
On one side of the ring we have the awful, half-bull, half-man, miiiiinooootauuuur! And in the other corner, the one, the only, furious Erinyes!
Vote now! The poll will close tomorrow morning (even if the campaign has finished being in overtime mode).
Thank you from the bottom of our hearts for such an amazing flash campaign!
But WOW—you have amazed us!!
We had an astounding first day, with well over 1,000 backers taking us over $100K. Over the past two weeks, we’ve more than doubled that with over 2,300 backers and nearly $250K—meaning we are now quintuple-funded over our original $50,000 goal.
Thank you for not only supporting this campaign, but also going out and sharing the word about Cypher. We see you, and we appreciate it more than words can express.
Let’s have a smashing final day!
How does Overtime Mode work?
- Overtime Mode kicks in at 7:00 pm CDT, when this campaign is scheduled to close.
- Overtime Mode is dependent on the Backer Train.
- Each new person who backs Cypher—Advanced! after 7:00 pm resets the Backer Train timer to 10:00—functionally extending the campaign by 10 minutes.
- As long as someone backs within 10 minutes of the last person, the campaign keeps going!
- Cypher—Advanced! will only end once 10 minutes have passed without any new pledges being made (after 7:00 pm).
- How can you help this campaign have a phenomenal end? Share the word about Cypher! The more new eyes that see the campaign, the longer it is likely to last. You fantastic Cypher fans were able to keep Cypher: Faster, Easier, and Even Better! open for DAYS after the campaign officially closed.
After the campaign closes, you’ll see another update from us detailing the next steps. Almost certainly this won’t be until Monday (we’re going to
—Liv (and all the members of Team MCG)
We have just two days left in the Cypher—Advanced! crowdfunding campaign (not including overtime, which we know our superfans are, well, fans of). There’s still lots to talk about in these last 48 hours! Let’s get into it:
Your free sticker collection is complete!
Yesterday’s poll is in, and a fourth sticker has been added to your collection!
Cyphers are online with the Datasphere Deck Tool
If you backed the Cypher: Faster. Easier. And Even Better! campaign last year, and these decks were among your rewards, you can look forward to us fulfilling the digital versions soon. Once that happens, you'll be able to access the full decks on the Datasphere Deck Tool.
And if that's not you? The decks will be available for purchase later this fall. In the meantime, the free versions are fully usable; great for grabbing a cypher or three in a pinch. They have all the features of the full decks, but with a limited selection of cards.
This is just step one of many! This new content marks the beginning of a process that will see all of MCG's many handy decks migrated into the Datasphere Deck Tool over the months to come.
If you haven't checked out the Datasphere Deck Tool, give it a try now! Part of the Cypher Tools suite of free online tools (including the Character Builder), this browser-based application makes our decks—filled with cyphers, creatures, GM intrusions, and useful prompts—as convenient, handy, and time-saving in the digital space as they are at the physical game table. Draw random cards or pick cards of your choosing and “hand” them to players through a DM, a VTT chat, your Discord channel, or however you run your game online—just like you would at a physical game table. Additional features, including the ability to customize decks, are in the works and, as just noted, MCG's existing decks will all be migrated to the Datasphere Deck Tool over the months to come.
It’s time for your final genre vote for Cypher Decoded!
Over the last two weeks, you’ve added Espionage, Pulp Action, and Ultraviolence (& Skills). We’re sure this combination of genres (complete with new types, genre abilities, and genre-specific optional rules) will create some epic games at your table and settings in your mind.
Your final genre poll is between Capers and Psychics.
Heists. Ocean’s Eleven. Leverage. Lupin. Or a world filled with unique psychics, each more powerful than the last. Which do you want to run?
Remember: campaigns only soar with YOUR help!
You blew our socks off with the overtime in the Cypher: Faster. Easier. And Even Better! crowdfunding campaign—and we can’t wait to see how electric the last 48 hours of this campaign are!
—Team MCG
Happy Wednesday! We have just a couple of days left in this whirlwind campaign. Stay tuned this week for some exciting news (and read on for your final sticker poll!)
You’ve selected another creature for Cypher Bestiary II!
Does that mean the Gologoth will not be included in Cypher Bestiary II? Not necessarily! Winning this poll scores a spot for the Mokuren, but Cypher Bestiary II will feature scores of creatures, so the Gologoth might still make the cut.
Have you seen The Joy of RPGs? 🎲
Help us pick your FINAL free sticker!
Your collection of stickers thus far includes:
What would you like to have to round out your collection?
Vote for your choice! This poll will close tomorrow morning.
Want to help this campaign end on a high?
Here are a few graphics you can use to spread the word about Cypher (click through to find a post you can link to, as well!):
Thanks so much for your support!
—Team MCG
Community Leaders
Become an active participant Learn more
Previously backed this creator's crowdfunding project
Engaged with this project 20+ times 🌟
I realized in the whirlwind of last weekend, I completely forgot to include the winner from our last creature poll in my most recent Update! And it's a funky one, too.
It was a tie—or was it??
The front end displayed an even 50/50 tie... but our back-end statistics revealed that the Minotaur actually won by just two votes. That being said, we've decided to give you both, since this matching set works so well together (and it was SO close)! You can look forward to having both the Erinyes and Minotaur in the Cypher Bestiary II.
Liv
Cypher Bestiary II will include new creatures, but we'll also pull from the over 1500 creatures we've previously published for the original edition of Cypher. Help us select some of those existing creatures to include. Vote for your favorite—and tell us why, or how you've used or encountered these creatures (or plan to) in your games, in the poll comments!
Previously backed this creator's crowdfunding project
Engaged with this project 20+ times 🌟
Project Update: And that's a wrap! Open this update for KEY INFORMATION!
After several hours of Overtime Mode last night, the Cypher—Advanced! campaign has drawn to a close. Thank you all so much for your wonderful support! We are so excited to be bringing you the Cypher Bestiary II and Cypher Decoded, complete with all the creatures and genres that you selected, as well as everything else we’re making as a result of this flash campaign.
If you missed the campaign's closing, you can still make a late pledge!
Once again, Cypher players, GMs, and fans prove just how truly unique they are: your dedication to great games and an even better community is wonderful. When we were first floating the idea of this campaign, we knew we had books we truly believed in—tools for making your game more unique, deeper, and more comprehensive. It is thrilling to know 2500 of you agree!
We want to tell you a bit about where things go from here—and we have some very exciting news for you—but first, let’s give credit where credit is due:
While this campaign was running, Sean was heads down, working on developing Predation and the final review of Face Your Fears. Bruce has been hard at work on The Strange and other books funded in the Cypher: Faster, Easier, and Even Better! crowdfunding campaign, while Monte has been working on Jewel in the Sky. After passing her baby, Predation, to Sean for development, Shanna’s been working on the preliminary design for a new project (read on to find out what!).
Dominique has been editing a variety of products, including the Cypher Deck and Manifest Cypher Deck—all while making sure these updates are clear and error-free! And Teri has been diligently herding cats—er, valued team members—making sure everything is going to get into your hands on time.
Bear and Javier have been polishing new books and getting them through their production phases. During this campaign, they’ve also designed stickers, imaged new products, and handled graphic design!
Jen and Kate have answered your questions (and are always available to provide support to you, our wonderful community) while prepping for Gamehole Con, which is just a few short weeks away.
Tammie has been steering the ship and keeping the logistics plates spinning (don’t ask us how she manages to make it look so effortless—we have no idea). And Charles and Olivia planned and ran this campaign—while also attending trade shows, making guest appearances on Cypher Unlimited, and generally running around like maniacs.
We are a small team, but we’ve worked diligently to keep all of our products coming while also running this campaign. We all thank you very much for backing this campaign. We love making mind-blowing RPGs with beautiful production values and immersive experiences, and your support makes that possible.
The Immediate Future
The Next Few Weeks
In the meantime, we will get the pledge manager fully set up. The pledge manager gives us the information we need to fulfill your pledge and lets you manage your add-ons and make any pledge upgrades you want. We’ll notify you when we open the pledge manager, which should be in about three weeks. Please look out for and respond to that notification!
The Next Few Months
At the same time, please pay attention when you do get communications from us. Our emails and updates include critical information about your rewards.
When Your Rewards Ship
This is an important part of the process because it ensures we have accurate delivery information for every item we send out. (With thousands of backers getting rewards, it's amazing how many people will change their address over the fulfillment period.) You'll pay for shipping at that time.
Please pay attention to communications from us—don't let our updates or emails go to your spam folder, or otherwise ignore them, because if you do you could miss out on some of your rewards.
Celestial prophecies, political intrigue, and forbidden magic. Dreamwalking, sea-singing, and crow communication. Dangerous gods, difficult choices, and sweet romances. Explore The Meridian, setting of Rebecca Roanhorse's bestselling Black Sun trilogy!
Thanks for your support!
Previously backed this creator's crowdfunding project
Engaged with this project 20+ times 🌟
Project Update: We’re in Overtime Mode!
We’ve reached the scheduled closing time for this campaign—but it’s not over yet!
BackerKit has a feature called Overtime Mode: as long as new pledges keep rolling in, the campaign remains open.
- Overtime Mode is dependent on the Backer Train.
- Each new person who backs Cypher—Advanced! resets the Backer Train timer to 10:00—functionally extending the campaign by 10 minutes.
- As long as someone backs within 10 minutes of the last person, the campaign keeps going!
- Cypher—Advanced! will only end once 10 minutes have passed without any new pledges being made.
How long will Overtime Mode last? Sometimes it’s just ten or fifteen minutes, but often it’s several hours—or even well into the night. During the Cypher: Faster, Easier, and Even Better! crowdfunding campaign, it lasted days! It all depends on whether pledges keep rolling in—and that depends on you.
So please go out there, share this campaign, and help spread the word!
Previously backed this creator's crowdfunding project
Engaged with this project 20+ times 🌟
Project Update: It’s the last day of Cypher—Advanced, & we have exciting news about Roll20!
It's the final day! Let’s see some stats 📊
- Have closed in on $250,000—quintuple our funding goal. How much further can we take it?
- Voted in 13 polls, choosing from 26 options to select 5 creatures for the Cypher Bestiary II, 4 genres for Cypher Decoded, and 4 free stickers!
- Cast 4,147 unique votes in polls! (Not counting today's poll.)
- Left 174 comments on updates.
- Posted 35 new threads in the Community tab.
- Got $10 off StartPlaying Cypher with code SPC26!
Those are some pretty fantastic numbers! (And yes, I really did count them all.) I wonder how much higher we can get a few of them before the campaign ends tonight?
The Cypher Character Sheet is waiting for you on Roll20 🎲
We're so excited. This elegant, full-featured character sheet is a wonderful asset for anyone who plays Cypher online. It's the first in a series of steps to bring top-notch support for Cypher to the VTT realm!
You can roll dice directly from the character sheet. Applying Effort? It automatically adjusts your Pool points—and it calls out special roll results (extra damage or effects). You can easily share details of abilities, gear, and skills via chat. A fluid design gives you a thoughtful layout at any screen size. And you can import characters directly from the new Cypher Tools Character Builder! (Find instructions here.)
When we announced the new edition of Cypher last year, we committed to full VTT support—in fact, we included VTT implementation as a reward in the Cypher: Faster. Easier. And Even Better! crowdfunding campaign. We've been working diligently on bringing that support to life. The Roll20 Cypher character sheet is the first step, to be followed by the forthcoming Cypher rules compendium, asset packs, and Cypher support on additional VTT platforms.
A new website for Cypher!
(Honestly, this is something we really wanted to get done last month, with the launch of the Cypher Character Rulebook. But we're a small team, and as you've seen these past weeks we've been very, very busy!)
The results for your last genre poll are in!
So far, you’ve added Espionage, Pulp Action, and Ultraviolence! We asked you to add one more genre to this lineup: either Psychic or Capers!
The votes are in! At 45% to 55%, Psychic just took the win!
That's the last poll for genres, but it won’t be all of the genres included in Cypher Decoded: Monte and the team still have a few secrets—and several more cool ideas!
It’s time for the final poll of this campaign!
On one side of the ring we have the awful, half-bull, half-man, miiiiinooootauuuur! And in the other corner, the one, the only, furious Erinyes!
Vote now! The poll will close tomorrow morning (even if the campaign has finished being in overtime mode).
Thank you from the bottom of our hearts for such an amazing flash campaign!
But WOW—you have amazed us!!
We had an astounding first day, with well over 1,000 backers taking us over $100K. Over the past two weeks, we’ve more than doubled that with over 2,300 backers and nearly $250K—meaning we are now quintuple-funded over our original $50,000 goal.
Thank you for not only supporting this campaign, but also going out and sharing the word about Cypher. We see you, and we appreciate it more than words can express.
Let’s have a smashing final day!
How does Overtime Mode work?
- Overtime Mode kicks in at 7:00 pm CDT, when this campaign is scheduled to close.
- Overtime Mode is dependent on the Backer Train.
- Each new person who backs Cypher—Advanced! after 7:00 pm resets the Backer Train timer to 10:00—functionally extending the campaign by 10 minutes.
- As long as someone backs within 10 minutes of the last person, the campaign keeps going!
- Cypher—Advanced! will only end once 10 minutes have passed without any new pledges being made (after 7:00 pm).
- How can you help this campaign have a phenomenal end? Share the word about Cypher! The more new eyes that see the campaign, the longer it is likely to last. You fantastic Cypher fans were able to keep Cypher: Faster, Easier, and Even Better! open for DAYS after the campaign officially closed.
After the campaign closes, you’ll see another update from us detailing the next steps. Almost certainly this won’t be until Monday (we’re going to
—Liv (and all the members of Team MCG)
Community Leaders
Become an active participant Learn more