Using Rules to Define Genre

Last time, I covered some changes we might make on how to track damage a player character sustains. Today, I’d like to explain how it becomes a wonderful tool to help define genre differences.

In Cypher, we try to cover all manner of genres, and the different genres are often defined by what characters do. In an action movie, characters perform incredible feats and fight the bad guys, probably without superpowers, magic, or ultratech devices. In an epic fantasy, noble warriors and powerful wizards defend the weak against the forces of darkness entirely differently than, say, Spider-Man or Superman would.

But, another difference you’ll notice from genre to genre is that characters in these stories are affected by the dangers of their worlds differently. And we don’t even have to bring supernatural powers into it (although we can). One might argue that a Lovecraftian investigator, Indiana Jones, and Ethan Hunt all attempt to maintain the veneer of being characters who live in the real world. Each of them is going to react to falling from a great height in different ways. The investigator’s leg is probably broken at least, but Indy grimaces in that way only Harrison Ford does, struggles painfully to his feet, and then gets on with whatever he was doing. Ethan Hunt might give some sign that it hurt, but likely pauses even more briefly than Indiana Jones before getting up and running impossibly fast for an impossibly long distance to defuse the bomb or whatever.

Or take the different subgenres of fantasy. Aragorn’s going to get all manner of cuts and bruises, but he can fight off literal hordes of orcs (and worse). When we read of Locke Lamora, however, there’s little question that a sword slash or crossbow bolt or two could bring him down.

It’s really interesting to see how characters’ ability to withstand punishment can vary from genre to genre (or subgenre to subgenre). Wounds in Cypher, then, can easily be modified to reflect this. In a dungeon exploration-style fantasy game or a modern-action game, characters can get the ability to withstand a few more minor or moderate wounds. A superhero can take a few extra major wounds and keep going.

But there’s more. The amount of time it takes to recover from a wound is affected by this as well. Our pulp action hero might pull themselves out of a cave-in, take a moment to catch their breath, and be fine, while a sci-fi character who survives a battle with a warbot might have to spend some considerable time in the med bay. Conan might shrug off the blow of some tentacled monster, but a person in a modern-day horror story might end up in the hospital (or worse) after their encounter with the very same creature. (It’s funny how Lovecraftian monsters are so ubiquitous that they show up in virtually every genre. Rather than making changes to the monster’s stats to make it appropriate, it makes more sense in Cypher to make changes to the PCs.)

The amount of time it takes to recover from wounds can easily be modified based on genre, as well as how many wounds a character can suffer before facing any effects. Both of these attributes—recovery time and wounds sustained before consequences occur— factor as easy “dials” to turn to make the game work in the way that feels right. And it’s nice that these are rules hacks built right into the game and ones you only need to fiddle with once (or at least, once per campaign), because once you use this metric to help define the setting, you don’t need to do it again. While we provide genre-by-genre guidance for what to do in this case, a GM can modify it in different ways. Want a gritty, deadly superhero game? Simply don’t give the characters the ability to take more wounds (or recover from them so quickly). Want a non-lethal post-apocalypse game where the characters can just keep going and going? Easily done.

The wounds system can even provide a surprising tool regarding character abilities, because some characters might actually improve (in a sense) when they take wounds. Imagine a raging barbarian style character who actually gets a bonus to attacks after suffering a certain number of wounds because it’s enraged them further. Or an action hero whose ability to stand toe to toe with the villain only comes at the end of the fight, rather than at the beginning. This is also a great way to portray the “little guy who’s dangerous when cornered” idea for some characters. Still other characters might gain abilities when their allies reach a certain threshold of damage, because they are so invested in protecting them from harm. Or some kind of strange wizard or other supernatural character might gain access to an ability they wouldn’t have until they are “on the ropes,” so to speak, like the Human Torch’s “nova” ability.

We can use mechanics to vary genre in other ways too, but they’re not quite so easy as adjusting recovery time or effects from wounds, which is why we’ve done the work for you. A big way is what we call genre abilities. Your character type gives you a bunch of abilities at character creation, and not so much as you advance (unlike focus, which just keeps granting you new abilities every time you gain a new tier). Instead, at higher tiers, you can choose new genre abilities appropriate for your character and genre, irrespective of your type. These are things that we deem to fit any character of a particular genre. Are you a character in a sci-fi game who wants to be a good pilot, but you don’t want to take the starship pilot type? How about a thief in a fantasy setting who wants to know a little magic? (Gray Mouser, anyone?) These new rules have you covered. Although not a part of the actual character sentence, these ability options almost act like one, making it clear that your setting is very important to your character’s essence, much more than ever before. You’re not just a swift archer who defends the weak, you’re a swift archer who defends the weak in an epic fantasy setting.

There are other ways the rules help us define and represent genre as well. Most of them are pretty straightforward, like equipment and skills available. If you’re a Cypher fan already, some of them you’ll be familiar with, like Horror Mode for horror games. And of course we’ve also worked hard to make cyphers adapt better to different genres. More on that in a future article.