Cypher Solo

It is really not very often that I release solo rules for a game that already has a viable set of solo rules for it. The exceptions have been Neon Lords of the Toxic Wastelands, where their solo rules were too basic for my needs, and kind of missed the point of the game, The Investigators Handbook for Call of Cthulhu which was way to complicated for me tastes, and SOLO for Cepheus System by Zozer games where I just didn’t get their style of play. But that is the cool thing about solo play, you only need to please one person, and every soloist has their own style.

I was well aware of Chaos for Cypher System; it has been out for years, so I never released anything to compete against it.

Until this conversation on my discord.

My discord exists as a Ask Me Anything, and that is a direct request from someone who is struggling to play a game solo.

So, here is a set of solo rules intended to be used with Cypher System by Monte Cook Games in my own style.

This book's style is called oracle play, and it uses a set of rules to try to emulate the GM's decision-making. The rules are pretty simple, but there will be a creative burden on you to interpret randomized answers into what they mean for your character or the game world.

Almost every GM must have faced a situation where the players ask a question for which you have no prepared answer and no strong opinion, such as a player that suddenly asks if the silk merchant is left- or right-handed. At this point the GM will often roll a die and decide beforehand if high means left and low right, or some other decision process. The die lands, and you then know the handedness of the silk merchant. That, in essence, is a solo oracle at work. You form a question, decide the odds of the answer being yes or no, and then roll the dice. Once you have an answer, you turn it into something meaningful for the character. The responsibility for answering the question is delegated to the dice. In a solo game, every yes-no question becomes a branching point where you don’t know what will happen next.

There are four core solo tools. The oracle that answers yes-no questions. The muse answers questions that do not fit the yes-no format. The timer controls when events that are outside your control happen. A scene challenge tool sets a challenge for the scene, which gives your scenes an objective or goal to overcome. None of these tools are complicated to use or complex. 

Digital fulfillment will take place using DriveThruRPG. This is the easiest way to distribute your rewards and will ensure your digital books are always available. Physical items will be delivered straight to your door. When you select a physical product, Kickstarter will prompt you for your location, which will be used to calculate taxes and shipping.

This is a low-risk project. The book is written and laid out, and the print files have been submitted to the print-on-demand publishers for approval and proofing.

I am a prolific tabletop RPG writer with over 400 book credits and eleven prior Kickstarter projects fulfilled. If you are unfamiliar with my work, I encourage you to look at DriveThruRPG before pledging.