Musings about the world, life, and everything in it.
Sunday, August 23, 2026
Morgan's CypherCon 2026 Excellent Adventures
Another free online convention. Monte Cook's Cypher system.
I'm sort of lukewarm on the Cypher system, but I wanted to play more of it with different GMs.
I played in Old Gods which was still the older Cypher system. Three games which were using the new Evolved Cypher system. Six-Gun Doomsday was based on the older Cypher system.
I was impressed by the variety of settings, each using Cypher. Definitely easier to use than GURPS. The new Evolved Edition did clean up a number of issues I had with the old Cypher system. Gone is the required order of Recoveries, you can use any Recovery in any order. Though a number of the experienced GMs said everybody house ruled this, now it's an official rule. Instead of the pools being your HPs, you have 3 new wound tracks; this worked a lot better, but did make the PCs fairly unkillable, or at least in the games I played in. With the original system of HPs equal to your pools, the death spiral was too steep. I did like the changes.
I felt Tier 2 PCs were much more powerful than Tier 1 (starting) PCs. Though powerful Cyphers in The Neon Saint Remembers and Gnash Their Terrible Teeth made the PCs distinctly more powerful. The most powerful PCs was in Neon Saints with lots of tech and heavy weaponry. It's Only Magic was the next with magic abilities. Then Puffypants Playhouse with all the gags we picked up (they didn't count as Cyphers for our carrying limit). Then Six-Gun Doomsday with our abilities and Cyphers. Finally, Old Gods as we were mostly normal people with a few Cyphers.
I look forward to the next Cypher convention as the variety of settings is amazing and the system plays better than before (but still not my favorite system due to the Task Difficulty 3x math for Target Numbers).
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Descendants of a town's founding families must perform a ritual to bind the Blackbrook beast, a creature their ancestors made a bargain with - and betrayed.
Physical or digital dice welcome
Beginner and Established Player Friendly
Overall, a good adventure. A good table of Players.
=== SPOILER SECTION START ===
PCs find themselves on the shore of the river without any memory of going there. Soon, the curse of the Blackbrook beast turns a small patch of our skin scaly. Only one PC made their save throw.
JC Harris stayed at the brook to make a cypher from the mud for some protection.
Lulie went home to pick up a charm that protected the wearer (member's of the original bloodlines) from mental attacks by the Blackbrook beast, made by Autumn Abernathy. I asked and found that all the PCs belong to the original bloodlines.
The rest of the PCs break into the library looking for Autumn Abernathy's effects and journals, but find only an unopened letter addressed to Granny Badstone, the journals are missing. Meanwhile, Lulie runs interference with the local Deputy, stepping in front of his car on patrol and then wasting his time and talking to him. He finds out the Plunkett brothers (local bullies) have been up to no good, breaking into the library and Hurly's General Store, but was stopped by Tipple the Cat.
PCs visit Granny and delivers the letter, but she tells the PCs the original families have broken their promises and deserve the punishment of the Blackbrook beast. The deal was the families were to protect and keep the river clean, in exchange they were to get prosperity and progress. The sawmill and the mines have polluted the land and river. The curse strikes again and JC develops gills.
PCs visit Hurly's General Store. JC talks to her mother (who plays the mandolin) about the Blackbrook beast, she vaguely remembers mention of a ritual that requires an Eye, Power, Sound, and Guide to bind the beast. Lulie asks Tom Hurly about Tipple's brave adventure and learned that the Plunkett brothers might have been trying to steal the taxidermy bear's remaining eye. Tipple is very protective and hangs out in the bear's mouth. It's also full of piss and vinegar. I tried to give it a treat.
PCs get past the warded cemetery attached to the sawmill. Perform a Ouija board seance on August Abernathy's grave and learn that we needed the eye of a bear (a fresh one is good, but a taxidermy glass eye is ok), a creature of the dark (Skin Tom located at the Plunkett farm), music from an instrument shellacked by a water beast, and Granny Badstone.
One of the PCs convinced Granny Badstone to help (with an ability). We go to the Plunkett farm, and find Skin Tom had skinned the Plunkett brothers. We cut a deal with him to help us. I steal the bear's eye (with a Shadow ability) avoiding Tipple. JC gets her mother to bring her mandolin (spent 2 XP to make the mandolin an heirloom with the right shellac which makes sense because earlier generations had cast the ritual before).
PCs succeed with the ritual, our scaly skin and JC's gills disappear. PCs start an environmental group to cleanup the waters, hoping to affect change before the next ritual is required, whereupon we could cut a new deal.
GM tells us Tipple can turn into a level 4 creature and it would have been amusing if we tried to take the eye. Which was funny because that's what I expected when I was told Tipple scared off the Plunkett brothers. I figured it transformed into some sort of monster cat. And I had mentioned this earlier to the others.
Five children have vanished without a trace, and the only clue is a hit animated show leaving young viewers in unstoppable, hypnotic laughter. The Estate is sending your team undercover as Netflix corporate lawyers to investigate. But the moment you arrive on-site, the investigation spirals into a cartoon nightmare.
Standard physics unravels and logic breaks down as you navigate a reality-bending gauntlet. Can you outmaneuver Professor PuffyPants and rescue the kids before the final credits roll?
No experience required (can be an introduction to Cypher)
Safety Tools: red light check + preamble questions
Trigger Warnings: cartoon violence
This was a great game. Lots of Toon fun. Very imaginative scenario.
My favorite game of the convention. Good Players, Good GM.
=== SPOILER SECTION START ===
Children have been mesmerized by Proffessor Puffypants Playhouse and a number have disappeared. PCs pretend to be lawyers and visit an apartment where a kid is mesmerized. The PCs are sucked into toon town. We turn into cartoon characters and fall thousands of feet.
Quinn spots a small bucket of water and dives into it. Jamie blows air into his thumb and balloons up his body and floats down like a leaf. Pheonix turns his noodle-like legs into springs and bounces on them.
Hundreds of kids are watching Puffypants onstage and all laugh in synchrony. Backstage, Puffypants' sidekick, Freddy Platypus, is despondent. He tells us Puffypants has gone over the deep end and needs to be stopped. Puffypants has put 4 items he despised to the 4 cardinal points and if we retrieve them, we can use them to defeat him.
1. Pout Potion of Weeping in the Willow Swamp. 2. Unfunny Scroll Paradox in the Gagreel Grave Yard. 3. Remote Control in the Cutting / Editing Room. 4. Terms of Service in the Legal Dept.
Being contrary, we did them in reverse order.
Legal Dept - we had to defeat various pieces of legal paper (User Agreement, Privacy Agreement, etc.) When we hit the "I agree" button, the paper would rollup into a scroll and fall to the ground. I refused to hit any of the buttons and would rather destroy them. Quinn was brave enough to accept various agreements. The last paper was Updated Terms of Service which Quinn "Accepted."
Cutting Room had animated giant scissors. Jamie snuck by them, but when he picked up the Remote Control, they attacked us. He was able to dodge a few of them and Pheonix set some of the celluloid on fire which distracted some of the scissors. We fled with the Remote Control.
Gagreel Grave Yard was protected by Laughing Hyenas. I told Hyena jokes (thank goodness for the internet) which made some Hyenas roll in laughter. Quinn and Jamie attacked the ones that didn't laugh. I had to tell a series of jokes. We got the Rick Paradox scroll.
Weeping Willow Swamp had these Rats of Unusual Sighs (ROUS) which were very depressed. Jamie petted them and gave them pep talks. Pheonix tried to convince the Weeping Willow to give up the Jar of Tears, but failed. Quinn gave it a shot and it worked, making the Weeping Willow untangle its roots from the jar. The Weeping Willow then extended its branches, so Pheonix gave it a warm hug (I guess I'm a tree hugger), and it pulled back more of its roots and revealed a Flag Gun.
Once we got all our quest items we returned to the center stage and Freddy tells us to attack Puffypants, and when he gives us the sign, we're to finish Puffypants off.
Using our items, plus other gags that we had picked up, we knock Puffypants down to 1 HP. Freddy then stands on a rake handle (there was a rain of rakes earlier) and gives Jamie the sign. Jamie steps on the rake and launches Freddy onto Puffypants' face, diaper butt first, and takes Puffypants out.
One of the gags was a Flag Gun that unfurls a BANG! flag. After use, 3 rounds later, "something" will happen. After stunning Puffypants with the Rick Paradox, I reminded the GM that it's been 3 rounds since the BANG! I rolled a 3 (on a d20), thinking that the higher the better, I was sorely disappointed. Then a grand piano fell on Puffypants doing massive damage. GM swore that's what a 3 is, he didn't fudge the result.
Once Puffypants was defeated, kids start vanishing. Freddy takes over the show (probably not a problem as Netflix cancels lots of new shows) and the PCs return home to find the kids aren't mesmerized anymore and the missing kids have returned.
On the street, some kids recognized the PCs as being on the very last Puffypants show.
A cyberpunk crew is hired to steal a predictive AI worshiped as a digital saint. The job should be simple: infiltrate the corporate cathedral, extract the AI, and escape. But once inside, the Saint begins returning memories the crew did not know were stolen and every recovered memory suggests this is not the first time they have tried to kill God.
The game is beginner friendly.
Content/Trigger Warnings: Cyberpunk violence, Strong language, Religious themes, Artificial intelligence, Memory manipulation, and difficult moral choices.
The netrunning system worked pretty cleanly because it was simple and used the same mechanics as everything else. Though it was still a 2-step process. Hack in (roll dice). Affect a system (roll dice). Whereas if a PC wanted to just attack something or affect something with a skill, they just rolled once.
Game was ok. Sneak in, eventually screw up, then bring out the violence, and more violence. PCs are pretty powerful. GM had lovely illustrations of various locations. Players were good tactical Players which was needed for this game.
=== SPOILER SECTION START ===
We had 3 choices of entry point as our heli was being intercepted: Helipad, Maintenance spire, or Cathedral main entrance. We chose the Maintenance spire.
As we break in and do things, we get flashes of memory, things we don't remember. This was the best bit as the PCs had to decide if what they're doing is the right thing or they're being manipulated. The bits of memory we had to read were a little bit too long (several paragraphs), but added a lot of flavor to what was going on.
We go through some maintenance areas, then to the main Cathedral, then to a Angel Delivery Hub, then elevator, then Main Memory, then Core AI, then escape. We were able to sneak all the way into the Main Memory. Then we had to deal with a few guards when our Netrunner finally failed several rolls. Then all hell broke loose.
We had to shoot the guards, disable the elevator, climb down the shaft, face massive resistance inside the Core AI. Most of the action happens here where we fight waves and waves of guards, automatic guns, black ICE, tougher guards, etc. The fight was exciting.
We got the AI and then instead of turning it in, we turned it loose to be free. We decided the memories we recovered were real and that the AI had helped us in the past. That giving it to our contractor wouldn't be a good idea.
GM gave us a map, but I think he took us through the cinematic tour as the rooms we went through didn't quite match the given map and our chosen route.
Overall, the game was fine for what it was.
=== SPOILER SECTION END ===
Sunday, August 23, 2026 9:00 AM - 12:30 PM
Gnash Their Terrible Teeth — It's Only Magic
System: Cypher
GM: ZealZaddy
5 Players (Tier 1 PCs): NicholasTerry (Nick as Axl Kihn - clumsy creative adept), solarpggames (Tom as Nell Wunch - appealing intelligent speaker), ElMagioso (as JJ "Medium" Bach - empathic adept who shepherds), dmkacey (Kimberley as Kitt Watts - dishonorable graceful explorer), Morgan Hua (as Fenix Purdy - impulsive brash adept)
A family friendly adventure taking place where wild things roam. The school has a sinkhole that everyone has been warned to stay away from—but at night you can hear sounds coming up from below. Forest sounds, and animal growls, and the gnashing of teeth. One of everyone’s best friend’s (Rowan) said they saw an eye peering up from below. Then they disappeared. So ‘somebody’ has to investigate.
Novices preferred and those who want a cozier experience.
safety tools: MCGs Consent in Gaming.
Trigger warnings: none
The setting is really Hogwarts and the PCs are The Holdovers during school break. That wasn't really indicated in the game description. All the PCs do magic. A good table of Players and a good scenario. We were up to some hijinks before we went into the sinkhole.
=== SPOILER SECTION START ===
PCs are stuck in school during break. Rowan wanders off, but the PCs decide to break into the Dean's office to change our grades. I said, we, but it was my PC's idea. I succeed in using a magic pen to update our grades, making B- to B+ and B to B+, etc. I also went through the Principle's Confiscation box and grabbed a Cypher, but I had my limit, so I gave it to Kitt who was a klepto anyway.
Kitt noticed through the window that Rowan had climbed into the sinkhole we were warned about.
We climb the chain link fence (to keep kids out) and find that Rowan had hid various personal items (I termed it junk) under a flat rock that Kitt tipped over. (GM gives us flashes of memory where we treated Rowan badly). I conclude that Rowan was going to commit suicide. JJ tried to contact Rowan's spirit in case he was dead. If he was, we weren't going into the sinkhole. His spirit didn't respond, so we knew he was alive.
Next step, into the sinkhole. I made the vines grow bigger and stronger before we climbed into the hole. At some point, we enter a giant cavern where there's stars above us and a cloud beneath us. We find we're feeling lighter. Kitt and I let go and float through the clouds. The others follow. Actually, Axl had to push JJ. Axl notices a key and grabs it. We land in a forest.
There are ferocious beasts in the forest who I distract with an illusion of a dancing cat wearing a top hat and cane. I notice a tree with a keyhole in it. The key opens up a door and we slip through. On the other side are Wild Things. The Wild Things are ungentle giants and even when they're trying to do kindly things, they could accidentally hurt us.
After some shenanigans including a conga line of Wild Things, we find Rowan, now King of the Wild Things. After much apologizing and threats by the Wild Things under the direction of Rowan, we convince Rowan to come back with us. His crown disappears.
The Uber Wild Thing, twice as large at the other ones, then gets pissed off that Rowan was leaving. It rouses the other Wild Things to attack us. We flee. Axl plants a bomb. And we barely get out, Nell and Kitt had to escape the clutches of the Uber Thing. After the bomb went off, I closed and locked the door behind us.
We climbed the trees, used telekinetic powers to push us into the clouds which made us lighter, and allowed us to reach the vines. Outside, Ms Anode, our art teacher (and minder) was waiting for us. Kitt told her that we saw Rowan go into the hole to save someone and we went in after him (and she rolled a nat 20). Kitt tells Rowan to help support her as she limped back towards the school. PCs head back to the school.
As the sinkhole mends itself and disappears, my PC, without turning around, waves the back of his hand at Ms Anode and announces, "Fixed it!"
The reconciliation with Rowan was really well done by all the Players. It was natural and heartfelt. I give big stars to all the Players for good roleplaying. My memory was that I off-handedly told Rowan to "Oh, grow up!" which hurt him greatly. It took me some effort to figure out how to apologize properly. My PC was brash and a bit unthinking, so I told Rowan, that you know I'm a bit brash and when I told him to grow up, it was unkindly and that I remember when I was told this myself it hurt my feelings too. I'm sorry I said that. Truly sorry. But we're also growing up and we make new friends, we lose friends (and I make an aside about how I'll probably lose touch with Kitt in the future), and make enemies. That Rowan losing our friendship is part of growing up. But we still cared, we went into the hole after him because we cared about him. There was still some more back and forth, but you get the drift.
=== SPOILER SECTION END ===
Sunday, August 23, 2026 1:00 PM - 4:30 PM
Let us, Prey—a Six-Gun Doomsday adventure
System: Cypher - Six-Gun Doomsday
GM: Shadomain (Jason C)
5 Players (Tier 1 PCs, 1 dropped out): Lolly3838 (as Elias Thornwind the shaman), qinqin0133 (Ibrahim as preacher Father Ripley), rainidae (bitterbudd as Selene the hunter), Morgan Hua (Mad Mack as graceful eccentric inventor)
The heroes begin desperately trying to escape a pursuing fiendish horror. The heroes meet as they attempt to escape, soon realizing that none will survive without working together. They flee through the ruins of a strange steam train which changes as they move through it.
The heroes are survivors of the weird western/horror apocalypse of the Six-Gun Doomsday setting.
List any specific book(s) being used: Six-Gun Doomsday. Players will have access to the Six-Gun Doomsday Players’ Guide PDF. Note that Six-Gun Doomsday was written using the CSRD 1, but makes several important rule changes to enable simpler and more dramatic play. It doesn't use the CSR ability pool damage system of the CYPHER wounds system, but a simpler “5 strikes and you’re out—probably?” system.
Pre-gen character sheets provided. Note that character sheets use the Six-Gun Doomsday character template system, which allows players to quickly customize their character’s abilities by answering three questions about their character.
Experience level required: beginner
Safety tools: MCG Consent in gaming PDF (PG 13 rating)
Trigger warnings: Gothic Horror, sometimes itching into a character’s past for horror. Potentially claustrophobia, although this can be veiled.
Pretty much railroady, but that was how it was described in the description, though we're really fleeing through train tunnels and we're not on the train. Scenario was run by the designer. Thought the scenario was ok and I enjoyed it. There was some good roleplaying, especially the annoying preacher. What's more annoying than a holier than thou preacher, a holier than thou preacher during the apocalypse (because he's right).
=== SPOILER SECTION START ===
My PC is chased by a black void into a shack where there are other PCs. Before we can do anything, we drop through the floor into a train tunnel that slopes upwards. We find some equipment uphill and downhill of us is the sound of an approaching train. We take the stuff and flee.
We go through a series of locations and get pieces of a device. A school house, a tree house, and finally a farmhouse. In the farmhouse is a void knight. Behind us are rushing void buffalo.
The assembled device is a platform with a telegraph key (trigger), a telescope (sight), and a small rocket (weapon). We figure we need to shoot it at something, but we're not sure if it's the darkness chasing us or something else. In the school house was a cryptic clue: "You are drawn forward, not chased."
After a few rounds of fighting the void knight, I decide to shoot him (vs the buffalo). The rocket hits him and does enough damage to knock him down. Elias binds the knight to the floor with magic. And Father Ripley who had manifested Excalibur and was fighting as The Hulk, lands the killing blow. Meanwhile, void buffalo were running through the farmhouse and doing damage to us. Once the void knight was dead, the buffalo vanish and we show up at the exit of a train tunnel, outside is sunlight and a peaceful meadow.
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