RPG: Monte Cook Games Launches ‘Cypher System’ Open License, New SRD This Summer
Monte Cook Games steps into the open-license RPG ring with the Cypher System Open License, coming this summer. Get ready for games.
Monte Cook Games has been bringing the Cypher System to different genres for years now. It started with Numenera, a game so far in the future that Moebius could have illustrated it:
From there, though, the game system quickly grew. Now, you’ll find a variety of titles. There’s Tidal Blades and Old Gods of Appalachia, which recently finished successful Kickstarter campaigns, as well as The Strange. Just to illustrate a few.
Now The Cypher System will have an “open license.” In a nutshell other people can “freely create and market tabletop roleplaying games compatible with, and using the rules from, the Cypher System.”
The Cypher System Open License
In their announcement, Monte Cook Games outlined how it’ll all work:
Through the Cypher System Open License, publishers will be allowed to duplicate content from the Cypher System Reference Document (CSRD), a version of the Cypher System rules that includes nearly all rules content in the Cypher System Rulebook, plus content from other MCG sources. Character generation, core game rules, optional and variant rules, creatures, cyphers, items, artifacts, and more will be included in the Cypher System Reference Document. Text from this forthcoming CSRD may be duplicated, in part or in full, within products created under the Cypher System Open License.
Publishers are invited to capitalize on the commercial success of the Cypher System (as evidenced by nearly $3 million in Kickstarter funding this year alone, as well as ten years of Monte Cook Games products) and make the most of its amazing flexibility, ease of play, narrative focus, and fun gameplay as they bring their creativity to life. Open licensees will be able to create adventures, settings, supplements, and even entire, self-contained games using the Cypher System, and to modify, change, and add to the Cypher System rules as best serves their vision.
They included a glimpse of some forthcoming CSOL games:
- Mystery Flesh Pit National Park – A game about being a park ranger at a cosmic horror national park
- Blood & Chrome – A cyberpunk version of the Cypher System
- GM Roulette – A way to play with everyone taking a turn in the GM seat
What is the Cypher System? In a nutshell it’s a game about actually using the items you find. Potions, ethers, megalixirs—all the things that sit until the end of the campaign. These items have a use here. They help power your character more than anything else. The Cypher System allows for varied sessions even within the campaign because of it.
It takes a bit of buy-in and learning how to work with it. But in the end, the Cypher System is a rewarding character and level-driven game that supports a variety of settings and genres. You can read more about the Cypher System Here.
Be on the lookout for the Cypher System Open License
