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Cypher System for new players

Some of my general favorite things about Cypher System games versus other RPGs:
  • The game plays fast. I very rarely find myself looking things up. I typically prefer to bookmark pages I think I need on the PDF rule books and keep the books off the table. It works really well!
  • The players have all the agency. They can decide what things to spend Effort on and what to ignore. Players take a little bit of convincing that an expendable resource like the Pools or cyphers should be used, but by the end of a first session, I find most acclimate to the system.
  • The DM doesn't roll dice. It's a lot easier to act like the players' friend and advocate when you don't try to kill them with hot dice.
Predation in particular is awesome because it has dinosaurs. It's even better because it combines dinosaurs with future technology. We played the whole game grinning and having a good time.

Character creation was fast! With 3 players, we created a Karn (warrior), Tec (adept) and Pteryx (explorer). Choosing a Type, a Descriptor and a Focus for each was done in about 30 minutes. There was one hiccup in the process; I didn't understand the listings for starting equipment. In the end, my understanding is that the starting equipment for each type is based on the character Type from the Cypher System Rulebook.

The adventure we played through was the sample adventure in the Predation book. I liked it, the players found it interesting and it gave us something to run with. The player decisions and the GM intrusions kept the game interesting and lively.

One thing that is very different about the Cypher System that these players have yet to learn: there's no XP derived from combat and no reason you have to fight anyone by default. The adventure could have been handled easily without ever using a combat round. Still, much lighter, faster and less deadly combat than in an average D&D game.

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