Castaway: A Sci-fi One-shot intro to Cypher

About the adventure

You awaken with no memory of where you are...or who you are. Can you survive the dangerous jungle of an alien planet while trying to figure out where your memories went? What's more, is there something on this planet that's even more of a threat than the wild animals? Castaway is a convention-style one-shot from Monte Cook games, and is the perfect introduction to the Cypher System! This adventure has everything you need to learn this amazing, versatile system, all while engaging in a fun sci-fi story with a dollop of horror thrown in for good measure. This adventure is designed with prebuilt characters to let you learn and have fun with the system for a session without having to invest the time in rolling a character. I've fully set this game up on Foundry VTT (no download or previous foundry experience required, all in browser!), an immersive experience with ambient sound, images, and music. I even have video chat set up on Foundry, so you shouldn't need any more than one browser window to play (if anyone has issues, we will use Discord as a backup for chat). I'll have macros set up for you to make rolling as easy as possible, and will be able to help you understand your character sheets as we play. This game is going to be very beginner focused, though more seasoned Cypher players are more than welcome! Just know we'll take things a little slow to make sure everyone can keep up. Also, I do implement the X-card system. Feel free to read up on it here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1SB0jsx34bWHZWbnNIVVuMjhDkrdFGo1_hSC2BWPlI3A/edit

Additional Details

How to prepare

While this campaign is for beginners, you will want to have some familiarity with the rules. I made a half-hour video on YouTube that I will request you watch ahead of time if you haven't already tried to learn them on your own. You don't need to memorize it, just make you you have a general idea of how things work! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cxa2X7T01Zs A webcam isn't required, but a mic certainly is. I've found the audio/video chat client I have on Foundry tends to work best with the Chrome browser, but I think it should be ok with others. And if we need to switch over to Discord, we certainly can, so please have Discord at the ready! We will also use Discord to organize and pick characters. I Will send you a link to it at least 1 day before the session so you can log on, pick a character, and ask me or the others questions. Otherwise that is all you should have to bring. I'll send you the vtt URL, and your login info before the session begins.

What I provide

I have everything set up ahead of time on foundry. There will be music, some ambient background sound, and a fairly simple grid for the battlemaps. Everything is set up here and ready to go, so all you need to do is show up with some basic knowledge, and a hankering for an adventure!

Gameplay details

This adventure can be a little dark, even slightly horror-esque at times. It is nothing too intense, but I would give it a PG-13 rating. Not for kids. We will use X-cards. I also require my players to fill out a Consent in Gaming form that I will link to. I ask this because I want this game to be comfortable for everyone at the table, and will anonymously have a list of Veils and Lines posted on the vtt when we play, so all players know the topics. I don't foresee a lot of challenging subject matter in this one-shot, but I want all players respected. Failure to follow this will result in a private message warning from me at first, and removable from the session after.

Content warnings

(none)

Safety tools used

(none)

How will character creation work

This particular one-shot uses pre-built characters, not only to make it an easy first-time Cypher experience, but in a way is actually kind of part of the story.

Players can expect

• Find a game to join solo or search for a professional game master for you and your friends/coworkers/family.
• Book your session and wait for the Game Master to approve you.
• If you don't have a blast with your first game, your next game is on us.