I'm not totally convinced that's true (which we'll see during the mechanics chapters), but for now, it's a nice thought. Another nice thing that gets called out here: it's very hard to make a character who only excels at one part of the game (combat vs intrigue). I like that the author clearly expresses that there's more to having fun than just "telling a great story" - that player enjoyment can also come from getting a kickass piece of gear, or beating a tricky combat challenge, or even just seeing the numbers on their sheet go up. The next section is about player satisfaction, clearly laying out what players and GMs get out of a) traditional fantasy heroic stuff and b) espionage/intrigue challenges and stories. I'm skipping over the next section, which is literally titled "Obligatory RPG 101 Section" because, well, it's the Obligatory RPG 101 Section. You can kinda feel the technical background of the author coming through, which isn't a bad thing! I definitely prefer clear-but-dry to flowery-and-vague, especially when it comes to the rules text (later). This game’s rules and setting are informed by real-life information security principles, such as encryption and network defense, as well as intelligence community concepts, such as tradecraft and link analysis, all of which are presented in a context that makes sense for a high-fantasy setting rife with conflict and intrigue. However, instead of adopting a “hacking as combat versus technology” abstraction that so many modern role-playing games adopt, Cryptomancer provides an unglamorous and unapologetic take on information security. is a game that providess avenues for players to play fantasy characters who attack and defend the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of information systems that support kingdoms and factions. It's also a little dry and more than a little wordy. One thing to note is that the writing is extremely clear and mostly free of typos (I only spotted a few mixed-up words across the 400+ pages, which is pretty impressive for a no-budget indie game). The book opens with a nice introduction that sums up the two (sometimes conflicting) aims of the game: to provide an extremely detailed approach to intrigue-based campaigns, and also to have all the dungeon-looting fun of Every Other Fantasy RPG (tm). So, preamble out of the way, let's dive in! Oh, and if the game sounds cool to you, please
It's a really new game, so this will be more of an overview than an in-depth analysis (also, this fucker is 400 pages, and like half of it is a textbook about security). Shows - the game is fastidiously concerned with encryption, informational control, and hacking, with all the other fireballs 'n' swords stuff as a distant afterthought. It was created by two infosec professionals - Chad Walker and "Timid Robot Zehta" (no, I have no idea either) and it
Cryptomancer posted: Kill all the orcs, hack all the things.Ĭryptomancer is, like the helpful banner above says, a fantasy roleplaying game about hacking.
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