This is the one that almost got away. I have to go back to October 2020 for the end of the Kickstarter campaign for Here Be Dragon’s ‘Monte Cook’s Diamond Throne. In that dim, dark plague epoch, I was in the midst of some Cypher system love which, paired with my endless exuberance for portentious heroic fantasy, seemed like a great combination.
Since then, Cypher has faded somewhat down my list of go-to systems, though it’s core simplicity and player facing mechanics continue to appeal. High heroic fantasy has most recently arrived in the shape of more inventive F20 with Shadow of the Weird Wizard, and fantasy in general is now dominated with anything Dragonbane. The Lands of the Diamond Throne are chock full of tippy toe high fantasy treats, a gorging of magic and protentious heroics against carefully mechanical odds.
So, four years then. Well, I just remembered that I never got the books that had been sent out. I think, sometime in 2023 I said to the company, Here Be Dragons, that’d wait for the last big thing, The Width of a Circle epic campaign. Of course, it never arrived, although it looked as though it was being worked on. So that patient approach almost cost me everything, as the whole thing slipped from my cosciousness as I was very busy retiring and loafing about.
Cut to today and I went on a quest of my own, to navigate old email threads and dust strewn Kickstarter pages to work out how, or even if, I could still get hold of my pledge books. After some faffing about, I discovered a whole sequence of coupons available to me on my account at Monte Cook Games’ webstore. For a shipping cost of £14, my Kickstarter rewards would be shipped to me. Hoorah! I still think that the campaign pack will be produced and sent through at some point, but I will forge on without it.
Worth noting that the slipcase set of the two core books are about to become available through retail at the MCG Store.
An unexpected turn, and a curve ball to my gaming plans, which will see some Cypher in my play, at the very least at some conventions. My immediate next step is always to see what is available on Foundry VTT. As far as I can tell, there is a fairly rudimentary system sheet for Cypher play, which is better than anything I could put together, so I have something to work with. The character creation process of assembling an “I am an adjective-adjective noun who verbs” is just as much of a delight now as when I was fooling with it a few years ago.
Perhaps this will be my Tier 2 group of heroes:
- A Fierce Human Fighter who Was Foretold
- An Honourable Dracha fighter who Performs Battle Rituals
- An Intelligent Human Channeler who Attunes to Mystical Forces
- A Contemplative Human Emmisary who Delves into Akashic Memory
- A Tough Verrik Wanderer who Reveres a Totem Spirit