Cypher System

[Senkusha]

For my birthday this year, I was awarded a gift card over at DTRPG, so I went looking for a new system... you know me...miss I have a problem and collect WAY too many systems...anyway.

I took to DeepSeek and ran a query to determine a game that would allow me to run an epic magical girl battle between Fate and Nanoha. I wanted tons of spell slinging, massive devastation, and ease of customization. After about eight different suggestions, it recommended a game system I don't have: Cypher System.

What intrigued me is the use of Stat Pools. Everything is powered by them. You spend points out one of your Stats (Might, Speed, or Intellect) and that allows you to do some Action. This means there's no Spell Slots. Perfect. I don't want to be limited to like five spells and then be done for the day. And although there isn't a Health Stat per se, any damage that you take is removed from your Might Pool (first). Recharging is pretty easy too, since there's several mechanics listed in the book to recover your Stat Pools.

Great. This looks like it could be a winner. The game is also highly customizable, and is genre-agnostic, and with over 1000 Abilities (I think that's what they're called) I shouldn't have any problem designing my two protagonists to get involved into a little after school cat fight! Now I just need to figure out why these two friends want to blow each other to Kingdom Come?

[1stop]

Cypher System sounds like one of those gems you discover by chance and end up loving. I like that it’s not too rigid. You can twist it into any kind of story you want. That flexibility makes it fun, especially when you want something fresh.