Cypher Systems

Cypher System is a great RPG that's very simple to learn, with a solid amount of crunch, but is incredibly fast and narrative during play. It's somewhere between D&D/PF and the rules light systems as far as the amount of rules goes, but the vast majority of the rule books are dedicated to vibes of the various genres you can use it for, and character creation. As far as I'm concerned, it has one, if not the, best character creation system, with incredibly flexibility to build the character you have in mind. It has basically no math, and that math can be completely taken over by the GM to speed up play, especially since the GM isn't rolling any dice. A good VTT can also help automate this to make it even more seamless. To my mind, Cypher is the ultimate genre-less TTRPG system. I currently run near future sci-fi and low fantasy bronze age campaigns, and the system feels great for both. I've also run space opera, and hope to run more, and I have plans for weird west, cyberpunk, cosmic horror, post apocalyptic, and even less niche campaigns that will take advantage of the flexibility of this system. And that's without touching any of the "official" settings, which are well written and really fun. For anyone looking for a highly flexible "rules-medium" system with narrative punch and deep character creation, Cypher sits at the top of my list of TTRPGs.

It's a great system for both the GM and the player. Easy to learn to run, simple enough mechanics to make rulings when needed, and easy to make your own NPCs and items if you wanted. As a player the variety in foci and descriptors help you customize your character despite the limit in character types available per setting book. You could have a table full of one type, but due to the mechanic restriction on the focus and the variety on descriptors, plus the ability to choose skills and abilities, allows for all players to feel their character is unique. Monte Cook's books take a little getting used to as far as navigation, but once you understand that it's something you don't think about much and can apply to other game systems under their umbrella (like Invisible Sun, etc).

Really love the ease of running Cypher system. And with an ever growing catalogue of settings, this is a great fit for almost any type of game you want to play. Sword & sorcery, supers, dark mystery, it has it all.

Very easy system to GM. Works pretty well across genres. Home to some of my favorite settings, like Numenera. The Cypher System is one of my faves. Great for those that want a little bit more crunch, let's say medium, then a pure story game, but don't want to have to worry about giant stat blocks and constantly looking up rules.

Cypher System is Monte Cook's dream system. When he created Monte Cook Games, he designed the system he always wanted to play. The result is a not quite rules-light or crunchy system that finds a good middle ground. Where the game truly shines is in the settings though. Before marketing it as a generic system with "genre slices", the settings for Numenera and The Strange were the vehicles to play the system. They are the true gems of the Cypher System. The x3 mechanic for difficulty can feel a little tacked on, as it seems it would just be easier to assign a flat number rather than 1-10 and then x3 to get the difficulty, but it works well enough in practice. Cyphers, the namesake of the system, are really cool. They take the idea of consumables found in most other games and give them a greater purpose. Perhaps my favorite products that support this system are the "Instant Adventures". They are a format of adventures that take almost no prep time. Others have replicated the format for other systems to varying degrees, but these are truly wonderful for the "just add dice" and play situations. The only detraction in my opinion is not of the system, but the retirement of The Strange. It was an innovative world-hopping game that was the best multi-genre game I've ever played. (Think Sliders if you remember that show.) Due mostly to the simplicity of the Cypher system, it worked well and was lots of fun to play.

Great for those wanting less crunch than D&D, but more mechanics than FATE. I learned it because I wanted to know a system that is generic enough to help me run occasional oneshots with my crazy ideas. It kinda of does that, but the Cyphers (one use powers) feel a bit out of place for a generic system. They were clearly designed to support its main CYPHER setting Numenera, where the world is littered with unstable one use magic items. At its core it has a love-or-hate mechanic of spending your it points as the resources for your cool abilities. I love it, but lots of people will get confused and hate it Other than that it works really well as a generic system for oneshots and short campaigns, with the shallow mechanics not holding the interest of players for longer campaigns