Rewards—How to Get ‘Em—plus Words from Sean on Using Cypher Right Now in Your Game
Hello, million-dollar backers!
We’ve got another great essay, part five of Sean’s series on using the new Cypher rules in your game right now, but first we wanted to explain how your Cypher crowdfunding rewards will be fulfilled. This is soopa important, so please have a read through and let us know if you have any questions.
Your Cypher Character Rulebook is about to fulfill!
The Cypher Character Rulebook has been at the printer for several weeks now, and we expect it to hit our warehouses in the middle of July. We are, of course, preparing now so that we can begin fulfillment as soon as it reaches our doorsteps (docksteps?).
Here’s a look at the overall plan:
· We’ll fulfill the Cypher Character Rulebook this month.
· The Cypher GM Guide goes to press soon. We expect to fulfill it in early September.
· The slipcase and Cypher Bestiary will be done in October, and we’ll fulfill them then.
As always, you’re in control of when you receive your crowdfunding rewards. If you’re ready to get your campaign rolling right away, claim your books as soon as they become available. If you’d rather save a few bucks on shipping, it’s fine to wait until October to claim all these rewards at the same time.
Either way, all of the components will be available for you by October—but we didn’t want to make you wait that long if you'd like to have your Cypher Character Rulebook now.
How do you know when these are available?
When crowdfunding rewards are ready, you'll receive an email via BackerKit letting you know. We'll also be keeping you up-to-date with updates.
Digital Crowdfunding Rewards
You'll be able to redeem your digital (PDF) crowdfunding rewards on any of these platforms: BackerKit Pledge Manager Digital Rewards, DriveThruRPG, and/or the MCG Shop. The file will be the exact same on all three platforms, and you may download it from one platform, two platforms, or all three platforms should you desire.
Physical Crowdfunding Rewards
Unlike digital crowdfunding rewards, there is ONLY ONE WAY to redeem your physical crowdfunding rewards, and that is on the MCG Shop. You'll log in to your Monte Cook Games store account and use a special process to redeem your rewards for free(just pay shipping).
If you don’t have an account on the MCG Shop yet, simply create one by completing the registration process on the log-in page—just be sure to use the email address you gave us on the survey in BackerKit.
This is how to do it. Seriously, check out that article and bookmark it. It has screenshots and everything.
As always, if you have any questions, please let us know.
Right, now onto the playing of games!
Using the New Cypher Rules in Your Game Right Now Part 5
We’re up to the fifth update in our series about some of the changes to the Cypher rules and how you can start incorporating them into the Cypher System game you’re playing right now. This one is probably the biggest change to the game.
PCs Take Wounds Instead of Pool Damage
In the new Cypher, most attacks against PCs no longer deal Pool damage. Instead, attacks against PCs inflict a minor wound, moderate wound, or a major wound, depending on how powerful the attack is. (These three types of wounds are called severities.)
Most characters can take five minor wounds, four moderate wounds, and three major wounds. Especially tough characters—like raging barbarians, defensive warriors, and battle priests—might start with an extra minor wound.
(A successful block roll reduces an attack’s damage by one severity, such as turning a major wound into a moderate wound, or a minor wound into nothing).
If you take your last minor wound, all subsequent minor wounds become moderate wounds. If you take your last moderate wound, all your tasks are hindered by one step, and all subsequent moderate wounds become major wounds. Each major wound you take hinders you by one step, and if you take your last major wound, you die.
Something that deals 1 to 3 damage is a minor wound. Something that deals 4 to 7 damage is a moderate wound. Something that deals 8 or more damage is a major wound.
Some attacks and effects still do Pool damage, like a poison that inflicts Speed damage or a psychic attack that inflicts Intellect damage, but they’re much rarer than they used to be.
Oh, and the damage track? It’s gone, it’s no longer a thing. So a creature or effect that moves you a step down the damage track in Cypher System, probably inflicts a major wound in the new Cypher. (It’s an intentional parallel between how moving three steps down the damage track will kill you, and taking three major wounds will kill you.)
The three common ways to remove a wound are rallying (fast), treatment (medium), and resting (slow).
Rallying is “walking it off.” You spend an action and some Might (2 for a minor wound, 5 for a moderate wound) and remove the wound because it wasn’t as bad as it looked. You can’t rally a major wound.
Treatment is applying a bandage, using first aid, or even undergoing surgery. Removing a minor wound (difficulty 0) takes one minute. Removing a moderate wound (difficulty 3) takes ten minutes. Removing a major wound (difficulty 6) takes an hour. (The GM might alter the treatment times for some genres, like superheroes bouncing back more quickly.)
Resting removes wounds as part of a recovery (in addition to getting Pool points back like you normally would). A ten-minute recovery removes all minor wounds, a one-hour recovery removes one moderate wound, and a ten-hour recovery removes all moderate wounds and (on a difficulty 6 treatment task) one major wound.
(PCs still inflict damage instead of wounds, and NPCs and creatures still use health instead of wounds.)
Why the Change?
This way, the resources you use for your abilities (and to keep yourself alive when attacked, like applying Effort to a defense roll) are separate from your character’s health. Now that there’s no penalty for having 0 points in a Pool, you can feel free to spend your entire Pool however you wish. And using Effort on a defense roll won’t cost you as much or more than the damage from the attack. And there’s no risk that having 0 Might or 0 Speed means you’re suddenly vulnerable if you’re hit.
– Sean K Reynolds, July 2026
Next time is our last article in this series, and it’ll show you a fun way that we’ve made it harder for you to fail a task that you’re skilled at…
We’ll be at Gen Con in Indy at the end of July, so come by the booth for a demo—or, better yet, sign up to play Cypher now!
How About Some New Strange and New Predation Types?
Hello, million-dollar backers!
We have a double bill of info this time, with updates from both Bruce and Shanna, so grab a drink and read on.
The Strange “2.0”
Full time design for The Strange “2.0” is in full swing. That means new iterations of the mechanics for types, foci, and descriptors are in progress, as are some minor conceptual tweaks to the rules of translation. Translation is the process through which your character moves into new limited realities and takes on the context of a limited dimension seeded by Arthurian myth, a popular video game, or a series of novels about a murderous android. Making the process easier to understand and use at the table is one of my goals for this effort.
Many other updates are planned, including new adventures, organizations, and the evolution of campaign-spanning threats…
However, for this design insight peek, let’s return to the basic types. The Strange was originally published with three types—the Paradox, the Spinner, and the Vector.
The new Strange is probably going to have about seven. Working names are:
Librarian
Narrator
Paradox
Prodigal
Spinner
Surge
Vector
Take a gander at the draft text introducing the first of these—the Librarian.
Librarian
Your love of reading sustains and nourishes you. Books number among your oldest friends. They’ve always been your most profound refuge. The more you read, the more you feel like you know the characters as well as or better than your actual friends. That eventually proved literally true—somehow, you’ve learned to pull animals, objects, and even individuals from fiction and directly into the real world.
Plus the draft names of the Librarian’s tier 1 special abilities:
Fiction Cyphers
Lure From a Story
Pluck From Fiction
Translate
Sound like fun? Yeah, I can’t wait!
– Bruce Cordell, June 2026
New Predation Types to Play!
Predation is nearly complete, and it’s full of all kinds of new character options, abilities, cyphers, dinosaurs, and adventures! Here’s a sneak peek at the types that you’ll be able to choose from for your characters:
Baronyx. Much like an ambush predator, you’re a sneaky, rogue-y type who leans toward light armor and light melee weapons.
Dino Whisperer. You have an uncanny ability to interact with the creatures around you and you work best in collaboration with them.
Dinophile. A walking encyclopedia, you’re full of useful (and perhaps some less-than-useful) knowledge that just might save the day and solve the mystery.
Karn. A strong, fighter type, you like heavy weapons and getting right in the middle of the fray.
Mimic. Your style is ever-changing, as you pull tricks and techniques from those around you and put them to good use.
Osteon. Storytellers and soothsayers, you’re able to connect to the future and the past through your tales of wonder and woe.
Pteryx. Explorer, wanderer, wonderer—you love to move through the world, discovering it (and yourself) as you go.
Sawbones. You’re a caretaker who patches up your team and can turn your healing skills into hurting skills when necessary.
Scav. The world gives you what you need if you know how to find it—you scavenge and combine whatever’s around so that you can survive and even thrive.
Tachyon. Wielding dual weapons and moving at the speed of light, you harness the power of time in every action you take.
Tec. A geek through and through, you use science and technology to solve problems, defend your allies, and save (or possibly) break the world.
– Shanna Germain, June 2026
Next time we'll have more how to use Cypher in your game right now. Thanks again for your support.
The Cypher early access material has been out for a few weeks now, and we’ve loved getting to see the excitement bubbling from it! (If you backed at the All In pledge level and have not yet redeemed your early access PDF, please log in to BackerKit and check your account).
Shanna has some exciting design updates about Predation to share!
A cyber-armed adventurer throws a meaty treat to his tiny dinosaur against a backdrop of a bustling market filled with humans and dinosaurs
Shanna Germain, the lead designer for the new edition of Predation, says:
Predation is coming along apace! The PDF adventure is finished and moving into layout (and it will include some special goodies, including the first look at the updated character sheets and the new character options).
The Predation corebook is also getting filled with all kinds of lovely new character and companion options, cyphers and artifacts, art, adventures, and, of course, MOAR ROARS!
You want a gecko companion? You got it. Dreaming about attending a musical dinosaur freestyle event (aka dino dancing) with your dino buddy? Let’s do it. Want to know what it’s like to stand next to a bajadasaurus? (Look it up, seriously, you want to). Well, now you can!
And we'll have new art of all these things to show you soon! I can’t wait.
Shanna will be diving into designing the new edition of Numenera next!
Robed disciples make their way in line through a field of pinky/white flowers towards the towering mushroom temple in the distance
We’ll soon have an update with the final instalment of our Using the New Cypher Rules in Your Game Right Now series, so stay tuned.
Project Update: Using the New Cypher Rules in Your Game Right Now: Part 4
Hey there million-dollar backers!
We have an updated Cypher Character Rulebook file for you! The first seven chapters of the Cypher Character Rulebook have been laid out, and we'd like to share it with you. This is still a work in progress—it isn't proofed, and some art is missing. This updated version will shortly be sent to the Early Access backers. The early access document are downloadable from the BackerKit survey page, rather than from the MCG shop account page. Please check your BackerKit account.
This is the third in a series of updates covering some of the changes to the Cypher rules and how you can start incorporating them into the Cypher System game you’re playing right now. To catch up on any you've missed, check out our other recent updates!
</alt>Spells and abilities fly in a pitched battle against a giant molten creature</alt>
Block and Dodge Instead of Speed Defense
It’s always been a little odd that the nimble unarmored PC and the slow heavily-armored PC use the same kind of defense against physical attacks (a Speed defense roll), meaning they’re both trying to dodge out of the way, when really the armored character should be trying to use the armor to absorb some or all of the attack. It also means that even the slower armored character probably puts points into their Speed Pool in case they need to use Effort on Speed defense rolls.
In the new Cypher, every character has two options for defense against physical attacks: dodge, which is a Speed roll, and block, which is a Might roll. If you successfully dodge, you take no damage. If you successfully block, you take less damage (but still some, because you did get hit).
Armor eases your block tasks (one step for light, two for medium, three for heavy), but hinders your dodge tasks by the same amount. If you’re not practiced in that armor, the dodge hindrance also applies to all your Speed tasks.
Some attacks (like a death ray that only needs to touch you) can still require you to dodge, even if you’d normally use block.
Why the Change?
Speedy characters have an incentive to not wear armor—armor makes it harder for them to dodge.
Might-based characters now can mostly rely on Might and don’t need Speed (one “tank” playtest character relied on heavy armor and blocking, and at tier 6 they had 30 Might and only 14 Speed).
Although it’s not the goal of the Cypher rules to make things “realistic” (the game is too abstract for that), we think it makes sense that a speedy unarmored character and a tough armored character rely on different defensive options.
Wait a second … we didn’t tell you how much to reduce the damage for a successful block defense! For now, reduce the damage by whatever Armor value the armor gives you. The full explanation is in the next article in this series, because damage itself is changing …
</alt>Laser fire cuts through zombies as armored soliders defend their technical expert examining a ruby in a plinth</alt>
Reach for Jewel in the Sky
Looking for adventures for Cypher? Jewel in the Sky is in its last week of crowdfunding and still reaching new stretch goals! Play this megadungeon with a difference, as either a sci-fi or fantasy party. Or why not run two groups and have both? Pledge now to secure your adventure!
The First Megadungeon Built Entirely for Cypher is Here!
Hello, backers—
What an exciting time to be a Cypher fan!
Cypher has finished design, and is currently in editing and layout. Many of you have likely seen the early access versions (whether through the document itself or our ‘Using the New Cypher Rules in Your Game Now’ series)—maybe you’ve even played a game yourself! We’re so excited for the print editions to enter production, and we’ll have a larger update later this month to share progress on corebook layout and the gorgeous Cypher dice!
Jewel in the Sky is the first megadungeon built from the ground up for Cypher. It’s not an adaptation, or a conversion—it’s the easiest megadungeon you will ever run, and the most interesting megadungeon your players will ever experience.
An eight-mile-long island floating 1000 feet above distant mountains, filled with dark passages, huge vaulted rooms, mysterious devices, and dark magic. Things that crawl, slither, and moan. Monsters, creatures, and dark forces. And strange and unimaginable treasures, waiting for those brave—or foolish—enough to claim them.
The base on Vocurru was established to investigate the strange qualities of minerals unique to its planet—but because the inhabitants have only a medieval level of social development, the base has always operated in secret.
Now it’s gone offline. Communications are down. The fate of base personnel is unknown, and a rescue party is on the way. But what will they discover on a planet that doesn’t play by the known rules of physics?
Play Jewel in the Sky as a classic fantasy dungeon filled with unusual discoveries. Or drop it into a space opera sci-fi game, and play as the visitors reclaiming their base on a world unlike any ever encountered. It’s specifically designed to play either way—and to deliver twists and surprises that will make this dungeon crawl a weird, exciting, and memorable adventure! Once you explore the island of Voccuro, there won’t be any going back…
We’re so excited to be a part of Backerkit’s MegaDungeon Month! We’re joined by a host of storied dungeon creators, including Goodman Games; Kobold Press; Troll Lord Games; Ghostfire Gaming; Loke Battle Mats; Rowan, Rook, & Decard; and many other TTRPG designers in one epic cross-collab event, including special cross-project stretch goals for backers who support multiple campaigns.
Using the New Cypher Rules in Your Game Right Now: Part 3
Hey there million-dollar backers!
This is the third in a series of updates covering some of the changes to the Cypher rules and how you can start incorporating them into the Cypher System game you’re playing right now. To catch up on any you've missed, check out our other recent updates!
Players Control Ability Durations
Time in a game session is pretty flexible; you might have a combat encounter, then travel for an unspecified amount of time before another encounter happens. The GM probably doesn’t care if it’s been 45 minutes or 90 minutes, but you need to know because it might mean some of your cyphers and abilities have expired. This forces the GM to accurately track time passing (often coupled with how fast you’re traveling and therefore how far you’ve traveled), and means that instead of thinking about what to do next, you’re thinking about what abilities have ended and whether you have to use an action to start them up again.
In the new Cypher, most duration-based cyphers and character abilities end when you use a specific recovery (formerly called recovery rolls). For example, instead of Shroud of Flame lasting ten minutes, it lasts until you use a ten-minute (or longer) recovery.
To use this in your current Cypher System game, use these rough guidelines:
Anything that lasts about a minute now ends when you use a one-action or longer recovery.
Anything that lasts about ten minutes now ends when you use a ten-minute or longer recovery.
Anything that lasts about an hour now ends when you use a one-hour or longer recovery.
Anything that lasts more than a couple of hours now ends when you use a ten-hour recovery.
This change doesn’t affect abilities that are “always on,” like Eyes Adjusted, or instant or one-round abilities like Onslaught.
And speaking of recoveries, in the new Cypher you can use your four recoveries in any order you want. Most groups (including our MCG home games) already played it that way as a house rule, so we decided to make it the official rule.
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Why the Change?
Putting control over cypher and ability durations in the players’ hands frees up the GM to focus more on the story instead of details like how fast the characters are moving or how many minutes it’s been since they last stopped. Plus, this change presents some interesting tactical options for your character. For example, if you have three active abilities that end on a ten-minute or longer recovery, and you’re wounded and tired, you can decide if you want to use a ten-minute recovery (and end all three of those abilities), or push on longer to take advantage of those abilities as long as possible.
Stay tuned for more ways to use new Cypher rules in your game!
It's the Last week for Numenera: The Amber Archive!
Have you seen the Datasphere Deck Tool (which will be a great new feature for your Cypher decks—not just Numenera!)? Looked into the huge library of free PDFs—45 titles totaling over 4500 pages? Checked out Beasts of the Amber Archive, with scores of new creatures that are 100% compatible with your Cypher game? Or just explored the loads of new material we're bringing to the storied Ninth World setting of Numenera?
Did you know that Cypher: Faster. Easier. And Even Better! is MCG's 33rd crowdfunding campaign? We've been doing this for a long time, but the crowdfunding environment is always changing. And like a good GM, we know that we can always get even better at our craft. So help us understand how you interact with our campaigns through this poll.
Crowdfunding campaigns that really soar always do so because their backers enthusiastically spread the word. How often have you talked publicly about this Cypher campaign?
Feel free to elaborate, or talk about your favorite ways to reach new backers, in the comments on this poll!
Great news! You’ve unlocked The Strange, adding the first entirely new product to this campaign’s rewards. We’re so excited to be making this hefty hardcover campaign setting, which is now part of the rewards for all backers at the ALL-IN (print and PDF) pledge level (and in PDF for ALL-IN (PDF only) backers).
You can also get it as an add-on, but seriously: why add on a single book when you can upgrade your pledge and get so much more? The ALL-IN pledge levels were a great deal to start with, and are now even better—and the campaign is just getting started!
If you’re new to The Strange, this dimension-hopping, intrigue-filled campaign setting has been a fan-favorite for years, but the original has been long out of print. Learn more about it in our last update.
Your Bonus Reward
As if a whole new book isn’t enough, your rewards now include another sticker! Voting was very close this time, but we have a winner:
We add a vinyl sticker as a free bonus reward for all backers, every time we unlock a stretch goal. Vote for the next one below!
Shall We Expand the Cypher GM’s Guide?
One of your first stretch goals was an expansion to the Cypher Character Rulebook. The design team would love to similarly grow the GM’s book, particularly adding more equipment, cyphers, creatures, and artifacts to supplement the copious guidance and rules options for the many genres it covers. We anticipate this will add roughly 24 pages to the heft of the book, giving you that much more for your campaigns and adventures!
We’ll unlock this expansion when we reach 2600 backers.
And while we’re at it…
Let’s Choose Another Sticker
We’ve unlocked three stretch goals so far, and added three bonus vinyl stickers rewards on top of those goals. We’ll add a fourth if we unlock this expansion. Which design would you prefer?
Vote in the attached poll! The winning design will be our next bonus reward.
You Make It Happen
This campaign is going gangbusters, and we have so many more stretch goals we’d love to hit. The way to make that happen—the only way—is for backers like you to help spread the word. If you haven’t already, don’t forget to tell us about your character—it’s fun, you’ll help spread the word, and maybe you’ll win some cool, custom art for your character!
You made short work of that stretch goal! Thanks to all your great help spreading the word, the upgrade to the Cypher Character Rulebook, the Cypher GM’s Guide, and the matching version of the Cypher Bestiary has been unlocked, and they’re all getting foil-printed covers!
And as a bonus reward, every backer gets this vinyl sticker added to their rewards! That makes two you’ve unlocked so far. Here's the winner of today's poll, and the collection you've built so far.
Let Us Tell You about The Strange
Earth. The present day. The world as we know it.
Except: in the dimness of a chaotic extra-dimensional zone known by a few as “the Strange” lie thousands of Earth’s “recursions”—pocket dimensions that spawn from human myth, legend, and fiction. Rarely larger than a continent, and sometimes no bigger than a few city blocks, these aren’t full-fledged parallel universes. Rather, they’re reflections of human imagination—one might be the halls of Valhalla; another the sands of ancient Egypt; yet another the foggy East End of Jack the Ripper’s London or even the plains of Rohan. If a realm has been imagined on Earth, there is probably a recursion somewhere in our world’s shoals that represents it.
These mini-worlds have gone unnoticed for millennia, but in recent times, a rare few have discovered them—and how to reach them. Some do so for the sake of discovery. Some for plunder. A few for even more nefarious purposes. Regardless of these motives, the rare but increasing traffic between Earth and its recursions has inevitably allowed forces from these realms to discover ours.
For while most beings in these recursions are simply facets of the fiction that creates them, a rare few have “the spark.” Awareness. An ability to recognize that their own realm is limited—but that a broader, fuller world exists. Some of these beings cast ambitious eyes on our Earth. And some are very, very dangerous.
The Strange roleplaying game was originally published by MCG about a decade ago, and powered by the Cypher System. (In fact, its publication predates the original Cypher System Rulebook.) It’s been out of print for a while, but remains a fan favorite. Player characters work for The Estate, a secretive organization that seeks to protect Earth from the dangers increasingly leaking into our world. Adventures set on Earth have an X-Files sort of feel, as the PCs investigate odd happenings and combat other shadowy figures and organizations that exploit the Strange and its recursions. When adventures take them into these other realms, the PCs usual take on aspects of the recursion. They don’t just visit a space-opera realm. They translate to it, becoming, in part, the types of aliens and characters that inhabit that world.
It's a dimension-hopping game filled with intrigue, mystery, and planet-threatening danger. And we want to bring it back!
Stretch Goal: The Strange
We want to create a whole new edition of The Strange, powered by Cypher! It will be a setting book you use with your Cypher corebooks (it won’t contain its own game rules), and will be thoroughly revised and updated, with new content, adventures, and options.
And it will be a whole new book—a thick, hefty hardcover—added to the rewards of the ALL-IN (print and PDF) pledge level, as a PDF to the ALL-IN (PDF only) pledge levels, and available as an add-on for backers at other levels.
We will unlock The Strange when we reach 2200 backers.
Oh, and a Sticker!
Every time we unlock a stretch goal, we throw in a bonus reward—a free thank-you for every backer, no matter what pledge level. Help us choose the next vinyl sticker to add to the collection:
Vote for your choice, and it will be added to your rewards, for free, when we unlock The Strange!
It’s Up to YOU
We need your help to reach 2200 backers and unlock The Strange. If you haven’t already, you can take part in this contest to help spread the word—and maybe win some beautiful custom art for your Cypher character!
And here are some great graphics to share on social media, on reddit, or wherever you talk about games online—right-click to download them:
We’ve got another great essay, part five of Sean’s series on using the new Cypher rules in your game right now, but first we wanted to explain how your Cypher crowdfunding rewards will be fulfilled. This is soopa important, so please have a read through and let us know if you have any questions.
Your Cypher Character Rulebook is about to fulfill!
The Cypher Character Rulebook has been at the printer for several weeks now, and we expect it to hit our warehouses in the middle of July. We are, of course, preparing now so that we can begin fulfillment as soon as it reaches our doorsteps (docksteps?).
Here’s a look at the overall plan:
· We’ll fulfill the Cypher Character Rulebook this month.
· The Cypher GM Guide goes to press soon. We expect to fulfill it in early September.
· The slipcase and Cypher Bestiary will be done in October, and we’ll fulfill them then.
As always, you’re in control of when you receive your crowdfunding rewards. If you’re ready to get your campaign rolling right away, claim your books as soon as they become available. If you’d rather save a few bucks on shipping, it’s fine to wait until October to claim all these rewards at the same time.
Either way, all of the components will be available for you by October—but we didn’t want to make you wait that long if you'd like to have your Cypher Character Rulebook now.
How do you know when these are available?
When crowdfunding rewards are ready, you'll receive an email via BackerKit letting you know. We'll also be keeping you up-to-date with updates.
Digital Crowdfunding Rewards
You'll be able to redeem your digital (PDF) crowdfunding rewards on any of these platforms: BackerKit Pledge Manager Digital Rewards, DriveThruRPG, and/or the MCG Shop. The file will be the exact same on all three platforms, and you may download it from one platform, two platforms, or all three platforms should you desire.
Physical Crowdfunding Rewards
Unlike digital crowdfunding rewards, there is ONLY ONE WAY to redeem your physical crowdfunding rewards, and that is on the MCG Shop. You'll log in to your Monte Cook Games store account and use a special process to redeem your rewards for free(just pay shipping).
If you don’t have an account on the MCG Shop yet, simply create one by completing the registration process on the log-in page—just be sure to use the email address you gave us on the survey in BackerKit.
This is how to do it. Seriously, check out that article and bookmark it. It has screenshots and everything.
As always, if you have any questions, please let us know.
Right, now onto the playing of games!
Using the New Cypher Rules in Your Game Right Now Part 5
We’re up to the fifth update in our series about some of the changes to the Cypher rules and how you can start incorporating them into the Cypher System game you’re playing right now. This one is probably the biggest change to the game.
PCs Take Wounds Instead of Pool Damage
In the new Cypher, most attacks against PCs no longer deal Pool damage. Instead, attacks against PCs inflict a minor wound, moderate wound, or a major wound, depending on how powerful the attack is. (These three types of wounds are called severities.)
Most characters can take five minor wounds, four moderate wounds, and three major wounds. Especially tough characters—like raging barbarians, defensive warriors, and battle priests—might start with an extra minor wound.
(A successful block roll reduces an attack’s damage by one severity, such as turning a major wound into a moderate wound, or a minor wound into nothing).
If you take your last minor wound, all subsequent minor wounds become moderate wounds. If you take your last moderate wound, all your tasks are hindered by one step, and all subsequent moderate wounds become major wounds. Each major wound you take hinders you by one step, and if you take your last major wound, you die.
Something that deals 1 to 3 damage is a minor wound. Something that deals 4 to 7 damage is a moderate wound. Something that deals 8 or more damage is a major wound.
Some attacks and effects still do Pool damage, like a poison that inflicts Speed damage or a psychic attack that inflicts Intellect damage, but they’re much rarer than they used to be.
Oh, and the damage track? It’s gone, it’s no longer a thing. So a creature or effect that moves you a step down the damage track in Cypher System, probably inflicts a major wound in the new Cypher. (It’s an intentional parallel between how moving three steps down the damage track will kill you, and taking three major wounds will kill you.)
The three common ways to remove a wound are rallying (fast), treatment (medium), and resting (slow).
Rallying is “walking it off.” You spend an action and some Might (2 for a minor wound, 5 for a moderate wound) and remove the wound because it wasn’t as bad as it looked. You can’t rally a major wound.
Treatment is applying a bandage, using first aid, or even undergoing surgery. Removing a minor wound (difficulty 0) takes one minute. Removing a moderate wound (difficulty 3) takes ten minutes. Removing a major wound (difficulty 6) takes an hour. (The GM might alter the treatment times for some genres, like superheroes bouncing back more quickly.)
Resting removes wounds as part of a recovery (in addition to getting Pool points back like you normally would). A ten-minute recovery removes all minor wounds, a one-hour recovery removes one moderate wound, and a ten-hour recovery removes all moderate wounds and (on a difficulty 6 treatment task) one major wound.
(PCs still inflict damage instead of wounds, and NPCs and creatures still use health instead of wounds.)
Why the Change?
This way, the resources you use for your abilities (and to keep yourself alive when attacked, like applying Effort to a defense roll) are separate from your character’s health. Now that there’s no penalty for having 0 points in a Pool, you can feel free to spend your entire Pool however you wish. And using Effort on a defense roll won’t cost you as much or more than the damage from the attack. And there’s no risk that having 0 Might or 0 Speed means you’re suddenly vulnerable if you’re hit.
– Sean K Reynolds, July 2026
Next time is our last article in this series, and it’ll show you a fun way that we’ve made it harder for you to fail a task that you’re skilled at…
We’ll be at Gen Con in Indy at the end of July, so come by the booth for a demo—or, better yet, sign up to play Cypher now!
