Characters, Decyphered!

     At the risk of sounding like an old man yelling at a cloud, I gotta say that one thing is that we lost during the rise of the new school is the art of playing tactically— and I don't mean going through dungeons like you're playing Rainbow Six, but making decisions based on the environment before the character sheet. Ironically, as games went further out of the way to empower the characters, they seem to have done so at the expense of the players.  As characters gained more options, they choked out the player, and the character sheet shifted from A glass to break in case of emergency to a comprehensive guide to what your character can and cannot do. That is where, in Cypher System at least, the asset comes in (or the bonus die in Call go Cthulhu, or advantage in Dungeons and Dragons,… you get the idea)

      If Koan Mandala and Ganza Gaming  are to be believed, than Cypher System and Old School Roleplay/Renaissance may in fact be friends—or at least allies of convenience.  I intend a Koan-adjacent take on the principles of OSR by application.  And the name for this marriage of Cypher and OSR to be… OCR! Hey, if it's good enough for Venger Satanis ,…

      Not gonna lie, figuring out how to make a Stand User work in Cypher System was a bit of a challenge for two reasons: one, because Stands in the Jojoverse tend to have their own special abilities and the focus you're probably thinking of (Exists in Two Places at One) is a bit generic, and two, because it involves filtering some of the 80s Teen movie out of supers supplement  Unmasked.   I initially dismissed Unmasked's approach as a solution looking for a problem, but thanks to a Japanese man's fascination with Italian fashion, I have just the problem!  While you cue some JoJo's background music in your head, let's go over our build goals: Have a character that will let players play both Jotaro and his stand Have the stand be the one with the proverbial big guns      With that out of the way, let's stand proud! 

     Even though I typically strive for these Character builds that, the utter monstrosity of the Cleric aside, could be grabbed on the way to Cypher Organized Play, I felt that the vanilla rules didn't quite do Sasha justice.  The Sandvich and Dalokohs Bar are easy enough reskins of any cypher that restores points or allows free recovery rolls, so we'll focus on Sasha today. Mann Company Man-portable Rotary Cannon, 12.7×50mm Level 3 Artifact/ Heavy Weapon, Long Range, Rapid Fire Effect:  Attacks with this weapon are hindered, but can affect all creatures within immediate range of your target and.  You can also create a field of suppressive fire up to a short distance wide—anyone trying to move through it has a 10% chance of catching a stray bullet Depletion:  1 in d12 (increments after each combat or after each use of suppressive fire) Recharge:  reload at home base or any Mann Co. armory.       Try it out, lemme know how it goes, and I'll see you next time. 

     You are heavy weapons guy… and Sasha is your weapon.  She weighs 150 kilograms and fires $200 custom-tooled cartridges at 10,000 rounds per minute.  It costs $400,000 to fire this weapon for twelve seconds.  Some people say they can outsmart you. Maybe… but you have yet to meet a man who can outsmart a bullet.  With that in mind, our build goals are to make someone who: Can hold down a wide area Won't go down like a sack of potatoes at the first sign of trouble Is very much a team player With that out of the way, let's kick some gravel!

And Dave said "let there be someone who can take out a vampire", and He saw that it… actually kinda worked.     For our final week of Christmas @ Gary's, we'll be statting out the Mighty Man of God in the Middle, the original third wheel, the Grand Moff of miracle working… the Cleric!  Conceived as a way to stop a vampire PC  from derailing the First Fantasy Campaign , the cleric eventually found its niche as a sort of supportive gap-filler with some of the fighting man's might and some of the magic-user's magic.  WIth that in mind, our design goals will be to build a character who can  heal and turn undead be the heart of the group be somewhat balanced, in case any of your comrades go down. Without further ado, prepare for come high deus vultage!  First Tier     Just as Fighter Man was a warrior and Magic-User was an adept, our great holy man will be a speaker becau