Project Update: Can’t Wait for Adventures in the Cypher System?
We hope your summer is going well. We have some news on your remaining rewards for Adventures in the Cypher System.
It's Only Magic
Creature Deck Check
Can’t Wait for Adventures in the Cypher System?
So why not sign up for a game? Our sold-out events occasionally have no-shows, so come see us and we'll see if we can fit you in! Even if we can't, you can still get a demo of any of our games at MCG's home base, which is room 132 on the Hoosier Concourse.
Hope to see y’all at Gen Con!
P.S Don't forget to check out The Anywhere Door; your support will help us build an amazing community on Moonbeam. It's crowdfunding right now!
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Web3 blockchain tech provides no real tangible results and at best is a fintech grift for money laundering and environmental destruction. The use of this “technology” is extremely unethical. The impact to energy alone is detrimental to our planet. I never thought you would partner with such an unethical and dubious platform but I guess now it’s time to hang up the Cypher system for good. I cannot in good conscience support you anymore due to your investing and suspiciously crowdfunding blockchain communities.
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Hi there, I’ve seen the most recent starter set update you provided about three weeks ago and I’d appreciate hearing any additional information. We’re all experienced with crowdfunding and we know things happen. “We’re waiting too,” isn’t reassuring as a response.
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https://www.montecookgames.com/coming-soon/ has listed IoM, CS Starter Set, and AitCS for a while now (a month or two at least?) with their various expected publication dates of June/Summer. But the Creature Deck 2 hasn't made an appearance as of yet (other campaign decks have been listed). When do you think it will be available? Is there something about card deck printing that makes the release date so uncertain that you can't even put it on the list like Magnus Archives' "Fall 2024" expected arrival date has been for quite a while now?
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So, I was just wondernig when the Cypher System Starter Set will be ready for us pledgers that has that included? Since I would love to order everything (and more) at the same time to reduce shipping, I would love to have a timetable to relate to.
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Just got the PDF for It's Only Magic (physical copy on it's way)! I've just had a chance to skim over it and it looks fantastic! One of my favorite Cypher System books. I really want to run this. I also have to say that "Remote Slap" is the best power ever. ;)
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Project Update: Check out this Excerpt of "Ghosts of Ironsaddle" from Adventures in the Cypher System!
In our last update we showed off some page spreads from It’s Only Magic. We’re excited to let you know that title is now off to press. We expect to receive it in June and to begin fulfillment shortly thereafter!
But that’s not all. The next book, Adventures in the Cypher System, isn’t far behind. It’s through editing and is now well into the layout phase. To give you a taste of what’s inside, we have excerpt from one of the adventures, “Ghosts of Ironsaddle,” by Bruce R. Cordell.
Bounty Hunting
Cursed Beasts: Cursed beasts are a fusion of two or more different beasts stitched together with dire sorcery, or creatures that time would’ve been better off forgetting. Sometimes called “cryptids” by alchemists, cursed beasts include chupacabras, jackalopes, grizzly bulls, deathtumblers, quetzalsaurs, and nightcrawlers, among others.
Bounties Offered: Most western towns offer a bounty on cursed beasts, sometimes because their parts are useful to alchemists, but more often because cursed beasts are scourges and the fewer of them, the better.
However, the PCs have a deal with an alchemist named Huyen Reeves, who promised she’ll pay the characters five times the standard bounty for chupacabra quills, nightcrawler egg sacs, grizzly bull pelts, and quetzalsaur wings.
Standard Bounties and Rewards
- Nightcrawler egg sac $10 (moderate)
- Chupacabra quills (10) $50 (moderate x5)
- Grizzly bull pelt $150 (expensive)
- Quetzalsaur wing $300 (expensive)
What PCs Know About Cursed Beasts
Chupacabra: Part huge dog, part crocodile, and quilled like a porcupine. PCs found one as a mummified corpse and harvested what quills they could (see Tally So Far).
Grizzly Bulls: Rumored to be a bison magically crossed with a grizzly bear. Filled with demonic rage. No PC has seen one.
Nightcrawlers: These huge worms are a dozen or more feet (3.6 m) in length. They prey upon those sleeping rough or under scant shelter, pulling them down beneath the ground. No PC has seen one.
Quetzalsaur: Pulled out of time by cursed magic, this giraffe-sized flying monstrosity has an elongated, spike-shaped face and a 40-foot (12 m) wingspan. No PC has seen one, and they probably hope not to.
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Tally So Far: The characters have successfully gathered the 10 chupacabra quills (from an air-mummified chupacabra corpse), which are carefully stored in a game bag.
Thanks to their deal with the alchemist who’s agreed to pay extra, that’s about $300 (one expensive item’s worth of bounties). To pay off their various debts and/or satisfy their specific needs, they’ll have to do much better.
Harsh Landscape: The dry creek bed beneath PCs’ mounts is uneven, with sandy soil broken up by rocks and boulders. Scents of pine and warmed stone fill the air. To the north, rocky outcrops lead into a series of jagged, bleached badlands. A wide plain of scrub brush and rocky outcrops borders the PCs’ route to the south. Ahead, the storm-wreathed heads of low mountains brood, but the weather in the arroyo is clear and dry.
Choice of Cryptids
Nightcrawler Castings: Choose a PC; they notice something resembling a termite mound. Ask that character to make a difficulty 4 Intellect-based roll for cryptid lore. A success means they realize the lumpy spire of tubular, compacted soil is probably a nightcrawler casting, given its large size—3 feet (1 m) tall—and it’s sulfuric odor. If PCs investigate directly, the find the texture is crumbly and airy, collapsing with a light touch. This reveals some partly digested animal bones mixed in with the rest.
Following up, PCs discover that additional castings are visible to the north, popping up with more frequency in the canyons between the jagged, bleached badlands. Given the number of castings visible farther into the canyon, PCs suspect a whole clew of nightcrawlers (4–6 individuals) must have moved through the area recently.
Tracking the Nightcrawlers
Tracking The Crawlers to their Burrow: It’s a routine task to track the crawlers into a canyon. The canyon sides rise about 50 feet (15 m) high on average, though sometimes much higher, and are topped by scraggly pines. The trail of castings peters out about a mile into the canyon, though the canyon continues. If PCs take a moment to look around, they notice a 3 1/2-foot (106 cm) diameter tunnel on one canyon wall concealed by a thick growth of thistle.
Tunnel in the Canyon Wall
If PCs attempt to determine how recent the castings outside the tunnel are, a successful difficulty 4 Intellect-based roll for cryptid lore reveals the freshest ones are probably from about a half-hour before sunrise.
If PCs decide to wait outside the tunnel in hopes of ambushing a nightcrawler, a couple emerge when twilight arrives, but they attempt to retreat back into their warren if attacked.
Nightcrawlers resemble 20-foot (6 m) long earthworms. Their skin is a stitchwork of hide stripped off past prey, all somehow still animate, but voiceless.
GM intrusion: The bitten character is caught in the nightcrawler’s mouth until they succeed on a Might roll as their action to escape. Caught targets take damage automatically each round and their physical tasks are hindered (including their escape task).
Nightcrawler Warren
The narrow tunnel in the canyon wall descends steeply, curving downward some 40 feet (12 m) into pitch darkness. Human-sized creatures could crawl through single-file, but the narrow confines hinder all their physical tasks. If PCs have light or can see in the dark, they see the tunnel opens into a natural cave some 60 feet (18 m) in diameter. The floor is covered in loose soil redolent of sulfuric acid (it’s made of collapsed castings). Besides the entrance tunnel leading from the canyon the PCs used, four other tunnels lead off toward other subterranean locations.
Warren Defense: At any one time, about four adult nightcrawlers rest in the warren, and (as a GM intrusion) two more adults arrive to reinforce those already in conflict within a couple of rounds. Six voracious nightcrawler young (level 2) are also present in the warren.
The nightcrawlers vigorously defend their warren, chasing after retreating PCs, or if the PCs prove the stronger, defending it to the death (though the last couple attempt to escape through side tunnels).
GM intrusion (group): Two more adult nightcrawlers arrive to reinforce those already in conflict.
Exploring Nightcrawler Tunnels: If the PCs want to explore the warren’s side tunnels (or they feel overwhelmed and need to flee in that direction, and/or you decide the time is right), the characters encounter the wandering ghost town of Ironsaddle in a subterranean vault about half a mile (800 m) deeper; see Discovered by a Ghost Town (found in Adventures in The Cyphers System). Otherwise, they don’t find much and eventually find other exits to the surface.
See you at Gen Con?
Thanks again for your support!
—Team MCG
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I found a nice treat on MCG's webstore! - https://www.montecookgames.com/store/product/its-only-magic/ There's a nifty preview of It's Only Magic for download there... Huzzah!
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Seriously I hate the bestiary with its fold out pages, and would not have backed it if that was stated in the kickstarter. I really wish there had been a option for a refund for it.
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Why am I walking into local game stores and finding copies of rust and redemption, when I haven't even gotten my pledge yet? Makes me rethink backing anything else from MCG anytime in the future. Super delayed delivery of your backers, but retail sales happening? That's some pretty shady and terrible treatment of your backers.
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I'm sorry, I know this has been asked. Other people have asked but often they have jumped straight to rudeness, I'm going to try to remain as polite and respectful as possible. But I'm not clear on what's going on. The Starter Set's coming "basic rules, pregenerated characters, and introductory adventures." I'm pretty sure that the basic rules are already out there. And pregens seem like something that wouldn't be too difficult for the game's developers to come up with. So is it the adventures we're waiting on? I'm not trying to be a dick, it just feels like this is something you guys could have sent out by now. I'm just hoping somebody can explain some of the processes that have gone on, and presumably still ongoing, between the time the campaign ended, and the time it it's ready for dispatch. Were there some major unforeseen setbacks?
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What is the status on all of the physical and digital rewards? I received The Cypher System Rulebook and Rust & Redemption book but I am still missing the following: 🧰 Cypher System Starter Set in print 📄 Cypher System Rulebook in PDF 📙 It's Only Magic in print 📄 It's Only Magic in PDF
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Project Update: A Peek at It's Only Magic, an Awesome Online Character Builder, and More!
Things are moving quickly for the Cypher System, and for your rewards. Just a couple of weeks after fulfillment of the Cypher System Bestiary, It’s Only Magic is in proofing now, and heads to press soon. We’re going to give you a peek inside, but first, here are a couple of other bits of exciting Cypher System news:
The Cypher System Character Builder Is Now Live
Build, store, advance, maintain, edit, and even share Cypher System characters online with this free tool. There are multiple modes for creating characters—the Guided mode, in particular, is super fast and easy. It takes you through the process step-by-step. You can build a character in literally three or four minutes.
And when you’re done, generate a form-fillable PDF character sheet, export it to a VTT, or simply play your character right from the Character Builder.
The Character Builder includes all the character options from the Cypher System Rulebook plus all of our existing genre books—The Stars Are Fire, Godforsaken, We Are All Mad Here, Stay Alive!, Claim the Sky, and even Rust and Redemption. So you have thousands of character options from a huge range of genres. Build virtually any character you can imagine!
Did we mention it’s free? And available right now?
Last Call for Knights of Dust and Neon!
We’re currently funding two more genre books plus a really cool new Cypher System setting—but the campaign ends this week, so time is running out.
Remember, as a backer of this campaign, if you return to back Knights of Dust and Neon you’ll get a super-exclusive gift added to your rewards: a set of all-new foil-stamped XP cards to add to your Cypher System XP Deck. If you received the foil-stamped deck as a backer of this campaign, you know how stunningly beautiful the cards turned out. There is no other way to get these new cards, and they’re exclusive just for you. Don’t miss the chance to grab them—check out the campaign now!
And Now a Look at It’s Only Magic
We’re really excited about this hefty genre book covering every aspect of modern magic.
The final rewards of this campaign continue to march toward conclusion, too. We’ll give you a look at the Adventures in the Cypher System adventure book in our next update—and maybe even be able to show off a production copy of the Cypher System Starter Set.
It's a really exciting time to be a fan of the Cypher System!
Now that we’ve taken you through all the exciting news, why not take a few minutes to give the new Character Builder a try? And don’t forget to share your thoughts on it, and the Cypher System Bestiary, online before Knights of Dust and Neon comes to a close this week!
Thanks again for your support!
—Team MCG
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Project Update: XP Deck, Bestiary, and Other Fantastic News!
We have a bunch of great news to share with you today!
We’re Fulfilling Decks and the Bestiary!
The same goes for the foil promo deck. If you signed up to be notified of the campaign, or backed in the first 48 hours, you’re getting this reward for free! Again, redemption instructions are in that email.
Photos don’t do these cards justice—you really have to hold them in your hands to truly appreciate their magnificence. If you missed out on this promo (or if you’re getting these cards, and want even more), we have great news. We’re currently running the Knights of Dust and Neon campaign for new Cypher System books and other cool items. As an Adventures in the Cypher System backer, if you also back Knights of Dust and Neon, we’ll add another mini-deck of five new foil-stamped XP cards to your rewards!
You don’t have to do anything to claim them—just back the Knights of Dust and Neon campaign at any pledge level, and as a returning Adventures in the Cypher System backer, the mini-deck will be yours. This is an exclusive offer just for backers of this campaign—nobody else will be able to claim these new foil-stamped cards.
Character Builder Is Testing Now
Join Us on Knights of Dust and Neon
And as we mentioned above, as an Adventures in the Cypher System backer, your rewards will include another, all-new mini-deck of foil XP cards, automatically, as an exclusive thank-you for returning!
Thanks again for your support!
—Team MCG
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