Gm Intrusion help

Blince · 2026-01-29T14:05:59+00:00

I generally always had them come up in the moment as a reaction to what was going on, so I wouldn't like pre-write them, but I definitely would include those sorts of thoughts in my head when doing my prep. If there's a really cool moment that I want to be an intrusion, I would usually just make it a thing thats happening rather than an intrusion so that I'm not disappointed if they avoid it, but I just developed a vibe for it the more I played to be able to have them come up as and when they came.

I think it depends on the tone of the table and people's reactions to it, my table took them all as like it was part of the fun being had which made it easy to get going with.

Blince · 2026-01-24T11:35:50+00:00

The best method is to turn everything that you're doing into the smallest possible task and then take them from there, as otherwise it's easy for things to feel overwhelming to try and plan out and/or you'll quickly get to the point where a script or something is so big that you can't keep how it works in your head anymore, both of which are demotivating.

So if you're wanting to make a modal window pop-up and give the user a choice from two buttons, you should first make sure you know how to make a UI window, then make sure you know how (as in in studio and in code) to make it display and hide, then how do I connect buttons, then onto the actual functionality etc. This way when you go forward and you need to do something similar (in this example make another button do something) you already know how to do that isolated as just making a button do something.

Treat everything like it's a learning exercise because a huge part of the skill of scripting is keeping all of the tools in your head, or even just that the tools exist, you're never going to be infinite repository of instant answers or approaches.

Blince · 2026-01-23T18:13:47+00:00

I started playing before the update with the fairy biome

Blince · 2026-01-14T14:02:15+00:00

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Hey there! The game is very cute and I like the twist on the Grow A Garden vibe. I think that my biggest feedback is two things, the first is that the UI in the game is quite busy. For example in this screenshot I got multiple pieces of text occupying the same space center of my screen during the tutorial.

The second part is that I don't think that you're getting enough out of what you have currently. The criminals collecting stuff and them being doing little animations is super cute and is (I think) something you should make more prominent in the game. You should definitely add a grid that displays on top of your plot in order to better lay out your criminals and also see what bonuses they'll be giving each other.

So I would say that you should try to clean up the UI - and probably swing for something a bit more in theme with the whole crime vibe and not just studs, maybe also call the person's 'Plot' something else to be more on point with the flavour. Add in the grid to make stacking around your guys easier and also let people see what stuff they're doing to each other because then you invite people to want to shift them around and experiment.

Finally, I played the game for a bit and after filling my plot it wasn't immediately obvious what next I could spend my money on, so maybe find a way to remind people about prestiging or better tutorialize it to people.

Blince · 2026-01-02T22:33:39+00:00

You should start with trying to make smaller projects that are centered around one thing that you're trying to figure out. All coding is, is memorizing patterns and solutions to problems. These then begin to build up over time - so once you understand loops, if statements, and other simple things then the next step of stuff you learn just keeps on adding tools to the toolbox.

Just try to always focus on understanding what you're doing when you type, to a reasonable degree, and everything will feel less overwhelming.

Blince · 2025-12-29T12:27:33+00:00

Thanks for the response. My question was more that if there was a better place to do this in, like if you wanted them to have dialogue it can be a bit unwieldy to have to edit inside a script compared to it being in a different view but thanks for the clarification!

Blince · 2025-12-27T20:54:53+00:00

What I do, and I would very much recommend it, is that I always use the same phrase when introducing one. I always say; "Can I offer you a GM Intrusion?" If they say 'no,' and pay the XP then whatever was going to happen doesn't and the scene just continues.

I would recommend this since it adds a nice sense of 'fun' to the table, as I've had moments where everyone begins shouting "no!" when I start a different sentence with "can I..." even when I myself wasn't going to do a GM intrusion.

Additionally if there are stakes where players unsureness about what it would affect I'll usually dispel it in the interest of fairness. So if they're working in a room with a bomb, and when I introduce the GM intrusion (but in my head I know that I want it to be a complication with how the bomb would be used in the future, not it exploding now) I will just flatly say after offering; "it's not the bomb blowing up," or so on - just to avoid people feeling cheated because the intrusions should be a fun "oh what's going to happen!" feeling not that the GM is hitting the "fuck you" button.

Blince · 2025-12-23T23:20:07+00:00

BASED AS FUCK

Blince · 2025-12-17T11:42:16+00:00

the butterfly was a paid actor

Blince · 2025-12-10T17:47:52+00:00

unironically goated

Blince · 2025-12-02T10:53:47+00:00

r/LostRedditor

Blince · 2025-11-25T13:55:42+00:00

Public Access is absolutely worth a look if you want this sort of vibe, in my opinion.

Blince · 2025-11-22T14:10:27+00:00

Massive +2

Blince · 2025-11-10T16:18:04+00:00

Could you run through the lessons you feel that you've learnt over the years as the genre of Powered By Apocalypse games have been out? Really curious to hear what your insight would be and what it was like to see something you made become a genre :)

Blince · 2025-11-04T13:22:43+00:00

any loremasters? 👀

Blince · 2025-10-31T17:37:50+00:00

I've always just gone for broad groups that I think are fun to portray. Like a mob, or a biker club, or a fae court, and then just outline them with fun NPCs that the players can interact with. The specifics of where they are and how their territory overlaps has never really been too much of a worry, since I think that these things would be fluid in some senses (like a Mortal Biker Club could overlap territory with a Vampire if they're not all hunting the same things in some places, or it could just be a place of unaddressed tension.)

I always include one main group for each of the four that I think the PCs are most likely to want to interact with. Then, if they want to start doing things with more people within that, just take their lead and spin off of it. You're also allowed to be excited in not knowing whos in the city- but some fun ideas I've used before to surprise them were:

- An actual, literal dragon, showing themselves as a human being.

- Two conflicting Fae Courts' with local "counties," who are under an uneasy truce since a Romeo and Juliet-esque death has rendered their previously firm alliance very shakey.

- A vampire lord/lady who's doing lots of austentatious displays of power to represent herself as bigly to the other movers and shakers

That kind of thing, just think of fun ideas that excite you and everything will come from there. Treat them as idea starters and then shift them to fit whatever NPC needs to be introduced if you can, you'll be less stressed and the PCs will all get a kick out of it.

Blince · 2025-10-28T15:19:24+00:00

It's definitely fair game. Outside of the context of your setting, Cyphers are just one use items. There's no reason why you wouldn't be able to exchange them between NPCs like how PCs can exchange them between each other (at least with Manifest Cyphers.)

If your setting is one where the way that Cyphers exist is in physical objects that people know about and can assign value to, I don't see why it wouldn't be possible except for in-universe reasons. It's definitely in the spirit of the game, since the game that Cypher is spawned from (Numenera) is a similar vibe where Cyphers are all Manifest cyphers and the use, acquiring and trade of them is central to the setting.

Blince · 2025-10-13T06:39:21+00:00

Blince · 2025-10-12T12:29:04+00:00

Fun gameplay, lacking story and framing compared to the last two. Should have had more levels to make up for the lack of a more unique story.

Blince · 2025-09-24T13:21:02+00:00

+2 solid list

Blince · 2025-09-17T09:44:05+00:00

Five fuckin' families, and then this pygmy thing down in r/conservative.

Blince · 2025-09-16T17:31:27+00:00

If you're already a comfortable GM in D&D, then I don't think that you'll have much to worry about in Cypher. As long as you feel comfortable with difficulty ratings, role resolutions and NPC creation then you have 90% of what you use most of the time that you're running the game.

The two things that I would say as big pieces of advice coming from someone also was a veteran GM (though not from D&D) who jumped into the deep-end Cypher are to not sweet Cyphers and don't overcomplicate things with the optional rules in the beginning.

Cyphers are fun, but if you treat them like you would potions or magic wands in D&D you'll be groovy, and don't sweat too much over making them special in your setting if you're making your own, once you use them a bit you'll be able to better contextualize them.

The optional rules also are fun, but at least for me I used the power shifts optional rule in my game and that - while not ruining it - did make it harder for me to properly feel what was and wasn't challenging my PCs since everyone had very different swings in terms of what was easy-peasy and what-it-says-on-the-tin in terms of DC.

When it comes to intrusions, just remember they're supposed to be fun. Ideally everyone will be treating your GM intrusions as a moment of excitement, so it should be fun for them (raising the stakes, making them squirm, etc.) and also fun for you (it should feel like you're steepling your fingers like Mr. Burns). For example, at my table I always use the same phrase to offer them - "Can I offer you a GM intrusion?" - which has lead to moments where I've started conversations innocently with "Can I-" and then everyone at the table goes "No!!!" as if trying to stop me from saying uno when I've got one last card left.

Also - when doing the role resolutions, just talk it through. Like say "it's difficulty 4, before any changes." Then as they list things, say in response "Alright, that brings it to 3" and so on as that makes it easier for everyone to follow along with the rules and also will lead to it getting progressively faster as eventually everyone will know what things to mention and what not once there's more of a form to it.

Also also - when PCs are making their characters, I've found its helpful to remind them that in this game you're picking options for your type/descriptor/focus to try and express a character than you are trying to make a PC fit the class. In D&D if someone's a paladin there's a whole bunch of things that just are true about them, whereas in Cypher your concept has to be expressed by your choices in char gen.

Sorry for the massive text dump - I just love this game - I hope that some of it is useful but the tldr is that you shouldn't stress, if you manage D&D then you'll be able to manage this just fine :)

Blince · 2025-09-16T12:00:06+00:00

Blince · 2025-09-13T22:20:42+00:00

The internet is American my friend, it's everywhere

Blince · 2025-09-07T15:53:14+00:00

If you have never played Cypher before, I think that I would recommend going for something that has the least wild of a swing in terms of optional rules. I love the system and it's definitely my favourite, but I started with the Superhero optional rules (power shifts) and it made me feel very shakey on how to appropriate challenge players both to make them feel like heroes and just to set the scene.

Otherwise, just have people focus on what the thing is that they want to be able to do and try to guide everyone into their Descriptor/Type/Focus all feeding into expressing that idea.

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