By Jason Campbell
You may have heard that Monte Cook Games has a crowdfunding campaign for a new version of the Cypher System, called Cypher: Faster. Easier. And Even Better! The campaign ends Sept. 26, 2025.
FULL DISCLOSURE: Because the kind folks at Monte Cook Games knew that I was planning a Backerkit campaign for a game based on the Cypher System in August, they let us know the basics of their upcoming Cypher campaign ahead of the public release of that information. All that they told us is already public knowledge, we have not been paid for this article, and have never been employees of Monte Cook Games.
The current Cypher campaign includes a free 15 page preview PDF describing some of the changes in the next version of the game system. We thought this would be a good chance to evaluate ChatGPT in analyzing text. Here we’ll show ChatGPT’s summary of the preview document along with our thoughts on their accuracy, and our own thoughts on the changes.
Overview
ChatGPT begins by summarizing the document as;
The document is a preview of the new edition of the Cypher System RPG—a flexible, narrative-driven roleplaying game created by Monte Cook Games.
In general that’s a decent summary but it doesn’t bode well that the first sentence isn’t technically correct. Monte Cook calls this next version “Cypher”, instead of “Cypher System”. The main issue with the ChatGPT summary is tone, not surprisingly. The preview begins with a description of the goals of Cypher, which is to create a narrative focused game of collective story building. Here’s a quote from the first page;
The rules and the dice help the game run smoothly, but it’s you, the other players, and the game master (GM), not the rules or the dice, that direct the action and determine the story—and the fun.
The description of “how to play the game” is that the players describe what they want to do, and if it’s a task that could fail, the GM assigns a difficulty level and the players roll a d20 to find if they succeed. ChatGPT does a good job of outlining the play procedure, it just loses what the author would likely see as the most important part.
Characters
ChatGPT summarizes the section on characters this way;
Built from three parts:
Descriptor (adjective, e.g., “Clever”)
Type (noun, e.g., “Warrior,” “Druid”)
Focus (verb, e.g., “Wields Two Weapons”)
→ Example: “I am a Clever Starpilot who Commands Mental Powers.”
Again this is a good summary of the mechanics, but it misses the most important changes to the new system. The first sentence in this section is;
Cypher’s dozens of character types put you immediately in the action as a starship pilot, a druid, or a swashbuckler
Players familiar with the current Cypher System will be familiar with the four basic character Types; warrior, adept, explorer and speaker. These types are used to build characters that fit within any genre, so an adept might be a wizard in a fantasy game or a science officer in a science fiction game. A major shift in the new Cypher game is that the game will include character types for specific genres, so a wizard will (likely) be a Type in the fantasy genre, while a scientist might be a Type in a futuristic game.
Additionally, the new Cypher has all characters beginning with a core character, which gives you basic statistic pools and abilities, then that core character is refined by choosing Descriptors, Types and a Focus.
Character Progression
The preview describes how XP is earned and what it’s used for. ChatGPT does a good job in this area and includes the summary;
Player intrusions: Spend XP to change the story in your favor.
Resource points: Used during downtime for personal goals.
This is accurate and also highlights a new concept: Resource Points. The way XP works is largely the same as the current Cypher System; you earn them in various ways and can spend them for in game benefits such as rerolling dice or a player intrusion, or you can expend them for Advancements, benefits a character gains in the process of attaining the next Character Tier.
Resource Points are a new concept – when you spend XP for a Character Advancement you gain a Resource Point, as described in the preview;
Resource points are a way to accomplish goals you set for yourself during what is typically treated as downtime. Need to know a secret way into the castle? Need to get the ship’s hyperdrive back online? Need to convince someone to keep an eye on things while you’re gone? Spend resource points.
Combat
The preview describes combat in steps from the beginning of the conflict through the round of attacks and defenses. ChatGPT does a good job of summarizing;
Structured in rounds (actions + small activities).
Attacks work like tasks; enemy level = difficulty.
Weapons deal flat damage (light = 2, medium = 4, heavy = 6).
Etc., etc.
The preview describes it similarly. This is interesting for those familiar with the current Cypher System as the new Cypher introduces what some might consider the most important change: the introduction of a wounds system – yet it’s included in the description of combat – not highlighted at all.
The current version of the Cypher System has a character losing points from their statistic pools when they take damage – the same pools they spend from to use special abilities. The wound system is similar to games such as Blades in the Dark, where you take minor, moderate or major wounds.
Key Features
ChatGPT lists;
Key Features
Genre-agnostic (fantasy, sci-fi, horror, superheroes, etc.).
Focused on storytelling and creativity, not complex rules.
Fast, flexible, player-driven gameplay.
This is a pretty good description and I think Monte Cook Games would be happy with “Focused on storytelling” and even more so with “Fast, flexible, player-driven gameplay”. That’s a good summary of Cypher.
Conclusion
The ChatGPT summary is mostly accurate, but that assumes you read the entire summary. While the authors begin the preview, and each section, with what they consider the most important thing, the ChatGPT summary leaves that until the end of its summary.
The new Cypher is targeted at bringing new players to the game of Cypher. You can see this in the switch from damage coming from your character’s statistic pools to separating damage into a wounds system. While the challenge of resource management of statistic pools was a favorite of many current Cypher System fans, it was viewed negatively by many players of other TTRPGs. The new wounds system attempts to target a solution that current fans and new players will like. The idea of having specific Types such as Druid or Tinkerer is meant to appeal to those new to the game as it makes getting into a game quicker. The current Cypher System asks you to translate Warrior to Barbarian or Paladin. The new Cypher game aims to help a player build their character to match their character concept with genre specific Types.
It’ll be interesting to see how the new Cypher game works – it’s expected around summer 2026, although some pledge levels of the Backerkit campaign give early access.
What do you think? Are you excited about the upcoming Cypher game? Let us know!
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