TEXT:  
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  CypherHeroes I
  Requires the Cypher System Rulebook from Monte Cook Games. 
  Distributed through the Cypher System CreatorTM at DriveThruRPG.
  
  CypherHeroes I 
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  CYPHERHEROES I
  By Nathan Rockwood
  INTRODUCTION
  CypherHeroes I provides advice and inspiration for the use of cyphers in superhero campaigns. It 
  is ideally used in conjunction with a fleshed-out superhero setting, such as one based on the rules 
  sketched out in pages 266-272 of the Cypher System Rulebook.
  Part I: Kinds of Heroic Cyphers provides four ideas for superhero-themed subtle cyphers, and Part 
  II: Gaining Heroic Cyphers offers optional rules for distributing cyphers in genre-appropriate ways. 
  The Appendix: Sample Heroic Cyphers contains exactly what it sounds like: some examples to get you 
  started. 
  Of course, all CypherHeroes content can be used together or piecemeal, at the GM’s whim. Future 
  CypherHeroes releases may include lists of cyphers, foci, superheroic and supervillainous NPCs, story 
  seeds for CypherHero campaigns, and more.
  Written by Nathan Rockwood
  Additional writing and editing by Annalee Flower Horne
  Cover art by Sarah ‘Neila’ Elkins, colored by Annalee Flower Horne
  Interior art by Sarah ‘Neila’ Elkins and Robert Pitturru
  Larcenous Designs, LLC, is owned by Nathan Rockwood, and is dedicated to both creating games and promoting 
  the treatment of games as literature.
  www.LarcenousDesigns.com
  This product was created under license. CYPHER SYSTEM and its logo, and CYPHER SYSTEM CREATOR and its logo, 
  are trademarks of Monte Cook Games, LLC in the U.S.A. and other countries. All Monte Cook Games characters and 
  character names, and the distinctive likenesses thereof, are trademarks of Monte Cook Games, LLC. 
  www.montecookgames.com
  This work contains material that is copyright Monte Cook Games, LLC and/or other authors. Such material is used 
  with permission under the Community Content Agreement for Cypher System Creator.
  All other original material in this work is copyright 2016 by Larcenous Designs, LLC, and published under the 
  Community Content Agreement for Cypher System Creator.
  
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  PART I: KINDS OF 
  HEROIC CYPHERS
  While gadgets, crystals, ancient or alien relics, 
  and other physical objects can make for good 
  manifest cyphers in a heroic setting, subtle 
  cyphers offer a wide range of possibilities that 
  can be tailored to the genre beautifully. Here 
  are some examples. They can be used with any 
  method of subtle cypher distribution, but are 
  especially appropriate with the two methods 
  suggested below in Part II: Gaining Heroic 
  Cyphers. They each also include individual 
  examples of how they might be delivered to PCs, 
  tailored to their natures.
  HEADLINES
  The Dapper Pugilist strikes fear into the hearts of 
  evildoers! And also their faces! He strikes those, 
  too!
  A CypherHero is defined as much by her 
  reputation as by her intentions and abilities. 
  Headlines can be subtle cyphers that grant social 
  abilities, such as intimidation, persuasion, the 
  favor of the city’s cops, and so on--but they 
  can also be used to provide the inspiration that 
  a hero needs in order to keep going, providing 
  recovery, protection, or even power boosts 
  (CSRP, pg 365). When starting with new PCs, 
  or after a large chunk of downtime, it could be 
  particularly interesting to let players come up 
  with a recent headline about their CypherHero, 
  and then have the GM fill in the power it grants.
  GMs can provide headlines as cyphers when 
  the CypherHeroes check the news the day after a 
  major confrontation, or even in a moment of dire 
  need: An-almost defeated hero, about to give up, 
  is contacted by their team, and told of how Their 
  City is Counting on Them!
  ROGUE’S GALLERY
  “We’ve dealt with The Wizard of Zo before; I 
  bet I can find a way to suppress his heinous 
  magicks!”
  Other than a hero’s reputation, the villains they 
  face are probably their most important measure 
  of self. From evil clowns to baddies in costumes 
  with the inverse of the PC’s color scheme, an 
  iconic nemesis (or even a recurring anti-hero 
  who switches sides at the drop of a hat) is going 
  to massively influence both what a hero needs 
  to do, and how they feel about themselves and 
  their job as they do it. A defeated villain can be 
  a source of knowledge or reluctant assistance, 
  their weaknesses can be exploited in future 
  conflicts, or even (for truly dramatic moral 
  ambiguity) their villainous powers used for 
  ‘good.’
  GMs can easily grant villain-based cyphers by 
  saying, for example, the heroes learned a trick 
  last time they fought a particular baddie, which 
  can disable/destroy/detect/etc. similar enemies. 
  However, this could also be an opportunity for 
  CypherHeroes with a large Rogue’s Gallery to 
  face down new opponents by asking the GM for 
  a cypher based on fights with a previous villain. 
  During a gearing-up scene, Freedom’s Friend 
  might ask, “Last second-day we managed to 
  shut down DarkMaster’s mental control powers.
  Is it possible we learned something we can use 
  against The Wizard of Zo today?” Perhaps the 
  GM will call for a “search” roll, to represent the 
  research, crafting, and testing of new tricks they 
  learn from their villain... or, if it fits well enough, 
  perhaps they will simply grant the cypher.
  
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  extremely powerful cypher, but one that could 
  only be useful in this particular situation, 
  or against this particular foe While a secret 
  weakness might seem to be too ‘reusable’ to be 
  a cypher, keep in mind that the villain can return 
  later having learned from their mistakes and 
  compensated for these vulnerabilities.
  Finding these cyphers might be the subject of 
  an entire story arc, as the CypherHeroes track 
  down leads and follow clues, or they could be 
  gained through social interaction with a villain’s 
  family, former friends, spurned love-interest out 
  for revenge, and so on.
  PART II: GAINING 
  HEROIC CYPHERS
  The Cypher System rulebook (page 343) is clear 
  that gaining subtle cyphers should be managed 
  by the GM and should not be something the 
  players can trigger at will. However, here are 
  some suggestions inspired by superhero fiction 
  that rely on tweaking this rule a bit. These two 
  methods trade some (but certainly not all) of 
  the GM’s control of cyphers for better thematic 
  support of the genre. 
  SIGNATURE MOVES
  Before leaving his Basement of 
  Brooding, Grittyman took a moment in 
  front of his mirror to practice Walking 
  Away from Explosions, limbering up his 
  hips in case he should be unable to stop 
  the bomb beneath Cityville Stadium. At 
  least he’d survive, no matter how sad-
  and-angry-at-the-world surviving made 
  him.
  Sometimes protagonists in heroic 
  fiction have powers that, mysteriously, 
  only work at plot-convenient times; such 
  as when they remember them, or after 
  a side-character’s exposition explains 
  how they recharge it very rarely. These 
  moves might be too powerful or unusual 
  to fit into normal character abilities, but 
  CypherHeroes can be given recurring 
  cyphers to simulate them, just like 
  dungeon crawling adventurers have 
  recurring cyphers to account for healing 
  potions, scrolls, and so on. 
  However, because it would be 
  too convenient to let players both 
  dictate and summon cyphers, GMs should 
  consider working out with their players a set of 
  suggestions for appropriate ‘signature moves.’ 
  The GM can refer to this list when doling out 
  cyphers, which lets the player have some input 
  without giving them total control. Whether they 
  are subtle or even manifest (iconic pieces of 
  gear like tracking devices, grappling hooks, etc), 
  how often they come into play should depend 
  not on when they might be useful, but on the 
  pacing at which the story can handle them. Their 
  absence can be explained as unstable powers, 
  budget problems, time constraints, the dangers 
  of overuse, and so on.
  TIPS AND SECRETS
  It took some digging, but once they were able to 
  track down Tantrum’s secret identity, his mother 
  was more than willing to explain how his powers 
  worked--in exchange for their promise to bring 
  him to justice alive!
  CypherHeroes will sometimes find themselves 
  facing villains or challenges that are seemingly 
  impossible, even for them. In these situations, 
  research, planning, and great effort will often 
  result in them learning a secret that levels 
  the playing field. This information offers an 
  
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  in safe conditions, and so on. Just keep in mind 
  that these skills, abilities, and gadgets are indeed 
  cyphers, and not the more permanent artifacts, 
  skills, and abilities that cost XP. CypherHeroes 
  are constantly rotating the abilities they use, 
  even when they might logically want to be using 
  one of them much more often (and if they decide 
  the power of a cypher they once used was so 
  important to their character that it should come 
  back into play, you can of course discuss adding 
  it as an artifact, a power, or simply a cypher you 
  grant them more frequently).
  This method is essentially a re-skinning of the 
  standard ‘loot the room and search the bodies’ 
  mechanic, but the re-skinning is important. If 
  the heroes can’t make it back to their usual 
  base, what do they do? Build a new, temporary 
  hideout, and gain appropriately altered cyphers? 
  Stay with a different group of CypherHeroes, and 
  borrow their gear for a while?
  RECOVERY ROLLS
  This method of cypher distribution signficantly 
  alters the normal pattern of ‘search for cyphers-
  identify cyphers-discard or store excess cyphers.’ 
  It requires the GM to be good at making up 
  cyphers on the fly, have a list planned out, or 
  be willing to randomize frequently. However, in 
  exchange, it allows CypherHeroes and GMs to 
  have a greater degree of control over the PC’s 
  current abilities, at times and in ways that reflect 
  many common elements of the superhero genre.
  For this method, modify the four standard 
  recovery rolls to include the following benefits, 
  but only if the characters can justify the bonus 
  in a thematically appropriate way. For example, 
  a character in battle can easily take advantage 
  of Plan B! but wouldn’t have the time for a 
  10-minute rest, let alone be able to Gear Up! 
  On the other hand, someone sleeping for 10 
  hours can’t participate in a training Montage! 
  unless being asleep is thematically or comically 
  appropriate for their character as a method of 
  preparing for combat. 
  The descriptions below suggest changes to 
  cypher identification. This is meant to reflect that 
  CypherHeroes may have repeating abilities and 
  gear, but the GM still has final say.
  And, as a last note, if as a GM you like these 
  options but think they grant PCs too much 
  control over cypher generation, consider adding 
  the ‘search’ roll back in: PCs make recovery rolls 
  normally, but must ALSO succeed in searching in 
  order to gain cyphers.
  BACK AT BASE
  Considering your close call with DarkMaster 
  and his mind-controlled cronies, you and your 
  teammates make it back to your base in Barry’s 
  Book Barn relatively unscathed. This being the 
  one store in the city that no-one ever goes into, 
  you should be safe for now, and can spend some 
  time trying to figure out a way to counter his 
  new Hypno-Blast….
  This is the simplest method of cypher 
  regeneration for CypherHeroes. Research, 
  training, building and testing new gear, arguing 
  loudly with each other--however superhero 
  comics, movies, and shows flavor it thematically, 
  these are the interludes when heroes gain new 
  and boosted abilities that only last for one issue 
  or episode. After most major conflicts, heroes 
  who take time to prep or practice should be 
  allowed a chance to regain cyphers, just like 
  dungeon crawlers take time after a big fight to 
  search the area for treasure. 
  Mechanically, treat this just like searching for 
  and identifying cyphers, in terms of the number 
  found and the identification of them, but flavor it 
  as appropriate to the CypherHeroes in question. 
  That might mean this is described as ‘crafting 
  gear,’ ‘learning new skills,’ testing and trial-runs, 
  practicing new applications of their power sets 
  
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  APPENDIX: SAMPLE 
  HEROIC CYPHERS
  HEADLINE: DAPPER PUGILIST 
  DECLARED KNOCKOUT NEWBIE!
  Level: 1d6+1
  Effect: Earned for making a strong first 
  impression, the Dapper Pugilist can use this 
  headline to keep up the streak by K.O.ing a 
  number of mooks or henchmen, in immediate 
  range, equal to the cypher’s level.
  ROGUE’S GALLERY: THE SECRET OF 
  DARKMASTER’S HYPNO-BLAST
  Level: 1d6+3
  Effect: DarkMaster whispered an alluring and 
  powerful secret to you as he was being hauled 
  away. You may dominate the will of one NPC of 
  the cypher’s level or lower, implanting a long-
  term goal or changing one major ideal of theirs 
  permanently; the target also finds all of their 
  emotions, especially love, joy, and happiness, 
  dulled. Or, with an effort of will, forget this 
  secret to render the Hypno-Blast useless, and 
  gain an asset to resist mind-influencing effects 
  for one day.
  SIGNATURE MOVE: 
  FREEDOM’S FRIEND’S 
  COLLAPSING CANE 
  STRIKE
  Level: 1d6
  Effect: Stun one target in 
  immediate range for one 
  round; the next round, they 
  are dazed.
  TIPS AND SECRETS: TANTRUM’S MOM
  Level: 1d6+2
  Effect: Since he believes his identity is secret, 
  asking Tantrum about his mother or revealing 
  you know how he got his powers will surprise 
  him, leaving him unable to use his auto-stun 
  ability, Cry of the Giant Baby, for a number of 
  rounds equal to the cypher’s level.
  FIRST RECOVERY ROLL: PLAN B!
  Crouched behind the overturned car, your armor 
  still smoldering from that last attack, you radio 
  your team: “Alright, so now it’s angry….”
  One action. You may choose to either regain 
  Pool points as normal, or gain a cypher. The 
  cypher is impromptu and poorly planned, and so 
  is unidentified. The GM may tell you more-or-
  less what it does, or what you hope it will do, but 
  it must be used as if unidentified (requiring an 
  Intellect roll against its level), unless you have 
  1-10 minutes to spend studying it.
  SECOND RECOVERY ROLL: GEAR UP!
  Before heading out on patrol, you hydrate and 
  consider your options. The new toy the Doc built? 
  Or is it time to see what was in the pile of gear 
  you took off The Wizard of Zo when you arrested 
  him yesterday? 
  10 minutes. You regain Pool points as normal, 
  and also gain a cypher. At the GM’s option, the 
  cypher is identified already, if it is a cypher 
  common in your campaign. If not, you may 
  use the 10 minutes of the rest to make a single 
  roll to identify it. Further attempts will take 
  additional time, and be at the GM’s discretion.
  THIRD RECOVERY ROLL: REGROUP!
  “DarkMaster says he’ll kill the mayor if we don’t 
  surrender to him before midnight. I say it’s 
  finally time we take the fight to him!”
  You regain Pool points as normal, and gain two 
  cyphers. They are unidentified, unless common. 
  FOURTH RECOVERY ROLL: MONTAGE!
  Speedrun races on her treadmill and 
  simultaneously works on beating her best time 
  in Portal. Freedom’s Friend meditates in the 
  sanctuary, holding her teammates in the Light. 
  You put the finishing touches on Doc’s new 
  anti-telepathy helmets and give your weapons 
  a thorough cleaning. The next time you face 
  DarkMaster, he won’t get away! 
  You regain Pool points as normal, and gain 
  one already-identified cypher per allied PC who 
  also participates in this Montage (up to your 
  maximum cypher limit). At least one of these 
  cyphers should reflect a goal you are preparing 
  for, but the GM decides how it does that. 
  Note that each allied PC who participates also 
  gets their own new cyphers. Three CypherHeroes 
  would generate up to three new cyphers for each 
  of them, if they can hold that many.
  
SOURCE: textdata/thevault/Cypher System/Suppliments/Cypher Heroes I.pdf