Cypher Shorts
What is this?
The Cypher System is a Tabletop Roleplay Game (TTRPG).
Cypher Shorts is a format of playing Cypher that is centered around a “One Shot” game.
A “One Shot” game is played in only one session that should last between three to four hours. Regular TTRPG play is made up of multiple sessions over a few weeks, months or even years. Multiple sessions are referred to as a campaign. You can think of a campaign like a TV show or series, and One Shot as a movie.
All Cypher games include at least two people, though typically a group will range from five to seven people. The person who is “running” the game is called the Game Master (GM) and everyone else is called a player. Everyone at the table will take on the roles of characters within a fictional setting “run” by the GM. Each player will control one character (called a Player Character or PC) and the GM controls everyone else (these characters are called Non-Player Characters, or NPCs.)
From this point on, the description of rules will be slightly different from playing Cypher normally – if you were to refer to any of that material – and will instead be focused on playing it in the Cypher Shorts format.
How do you play a tabletop roleplaying game?
TTRPG is played by sitting around a table with friends and telling a story together. Each of the players tells everyone what their character is doing, and the GM tells them how the world reacts and what the outcome of what they’re doing is. This is mediated through the specific game you’re playing, which will have some amount of systems that help resolve points of the story where the GM can no longer tell you exactly what would happen.
Example: You say that your character picks up a cup? Easy, anyone can do that. You say that you try to crack a safe? Well, then we need to refer to the game to figure out what happens next.
How you play your character is up to you, if you were to watch any content online of people playing a tabletop game (usually Dungeons & Dragons) most people will change how they talk, put on a voice, perhaps even dress up. You can do this, if you want, but it shouldn’t be thought of as required. Simply describing what your character does, or says is just as valid.
This is a game where you can, with few limits, really do anything. If you’re not sure, ask the GM. Do not worry about “being bad,” or about not being a professional actor. The only way to be “bad” at one of these games is by being a bad person to play games with, and that is not specific to TTRPGs.
Okay, but then how do you play Cypher?
There are two sources that I recommend where you can learn how to play. There is this excellent website that has basically all the Cypher System info on it for you to look at: nowhere better to learn how the game works than from the people who wrote the book. There is also the video below which runs through how to do it for those who prefer to watch a video.
Just as a note again, remember that in Cypher Shorts when you create characters you are using different options to regular Cypher play. This is explained here on the website if you’re curious.
Wait, that's it?
Yup, that’s it! Now you need only trust the pilot and wait for me to provide you with a Google Doc that will include the premise for the adventure as well as what character creation options (and what those represent in the setting) that will be available to you. Whenever we do end up playing, you will only need to bring a firm character idea with an idea of what of the options you’d be interested in playing, and something to make notes on and write with.
Don’t worry about dice, I’ve got you covered. However if you DO have dice that you want to show off, you will only be needing a six sided and twenty sided die to play.
This product is an independent production and is not affiliated with Monte Cook Games, LLC.
It is published under the Cypher System Open License, found at http://csol.montecookgames.com.
CYPHER SYSTEM and its logo are trademarks of Monte Cook Games, LLC in the U.S.A. and other countries. All Monte Cook Games characters and character names, and the distinctive likenesses thereof, are trademarks of Monte Cook Games, LLC.