A decade on and Monte Cook Games is still making weird, inclusive games

This month is a great time for Shanna and Monte Cook, game designers. Monte Cook Games is celebrating yet another successful crowdfunding campaign. Appalachia’s Old Gods smashed its goals — and Kickstarter’s own tabletop records — garnering more than $2 million in backer support. August 2022 also marks an important milestone: It’s officially been a decade since the two launched their first crowdfunding campaign for Numenera, which is powered by Cook’s own Cypher System.

Cypher is a “rules lite” RPG game engine that emphasizes narrative and ease-of-use. Cypher’s game masters are less concerned with dice than they are about keeping the story moving. This allows players to jump in and create characters as quickly as three sentences. Powers and features are drawn from the system’s namesake — think of cyphers as modular, single-use abilities that incentivize discovery, experience, and creativity. The rich science fiction fantasy world of NumeneraThis story takes place eight years after the fall of humanity. Cyphers are used to motivate characters and stories, and challenge players to decide what happens next.

MCG has many plans to celebrate Gen Con. They’ve compiled and bound some of their favorite adventures, drawn from the many public events that they’ve run at Gen Con over the years, including this year’s batch, into Ten Years of Adventure. This hardback book will only be available for purchase in Indianapolis, and on the MCG website. MCG also announces the Cypher Software Open License. This will allow independent developers to create and sell Cypher-compatible games.

Image: Monte Cook Games

They’re also set to launch another crowdfunding campaign for The Weird Backerkit was their first use of it, a resource that is system and setting independent for both players and GMs.

“There are some great books out there that are meant for fiction writers that are just meant to spark your creativity,” explained creative director, lead designer, and co-founder Monte Cook. “I’ve been wanting to do something similar [for GMs and players] for a really long time.” The book will cover everything from player characters to NPCs to magic items to spells and abilities, along with advice on how to weave (a lot or a little) weird into your game. Cook has not yet provided any details, although MCG shared exclusive images of Cook’s cover and some amazing art with Polygon. The crowdfunding campaign will be launched later in the month.

The first meeting was a great start. NumeneraMCG’s design team sought to achieve a balance between an engaging, captivating weirdness and accessibility. The Cypher System was designed and implemented in an elegant and simple-to-learn manner. “The idea was to have very straightforward game mechanics for a very weird setting,” Cook said. It’s an approach that’s informed much of the success of the publisher in the years that have followed.

Image: Roberto Pitturru/Monte Cook Games

Image: Martin de Diego Sábada/Monte Cook Games

Image: Gaia Degl’Innocenti/Monte Cook Games

Citing You’re evil, no thanks!, the publisher’s kids-and-family-focused game, senior designer and co-founder Germain explains what prioritizing accessibility and inclusivity actually looks like in practice.

“We looked into everything from what fonts are good for someone who’s dyslexic to lowering the hurdles for someone who’s nonverbal, or for a kid who’s on the spectrum, or who has ADHD. How do we make a game so that they can come to the table and feel like they have a way to interact without having to jump through a bunch of hoops?” she said.

Cypher was created as an avenue to spark the interest of those who see the TTRPG rules and numbers as barriers to story and play. It evolved into Cypher. Invisible SunTo address the frustrations and endless struggle of scheduling, player and GM absent are made a game mechanism. You’re evil, no thanks! forming as a response to how parents used Cypher with their kids, it’s evident that the designers at MCG listen to how people use their products and work to eliminate any hurdles they might encounter.

MCG’s critical and compassionate spirit is evident in everything it does. From the care that goes into making its artwork representative of the audience, to the language used by designers to provide safety and consent tools to larger TTRPG players, to all aspects of MCG’s work.

Image: Roberto Pitturru/Monte Cook Games

“The game table is such a great place to try and make the world so much better and so much more empathetic because you have people who are hopefully willing to be vulnerable, tell their stories and become someone else. We really wanted to facilitate that in a safe, supportive, inclusive manner,” Germain explained. Cook and Germain agree that Gen Con is the best event because people see themselves within the MCG worlds.

Cook believes this statement is particularly relevant because of the way he remembers, through his time at Wizards of the Coast and TSR, the subtleties and sometimes explicit ways corporate policy dictated how inclusive and open-minded creative teams were. “I’ve been in meetings where people have said, ‘The problem with this product is that it doesn’t have a white male in the cover and there has to be a white male on the cover,’” he recalls. Cook and Germain were inspired by the idea of not replicating that toxic culture within their company. “I knew that I wanted to have a company that really focused on the creators and that the creativity wasn’t run by the marketing department,” Cook said. “We also wanted to overcome those game industry assumptions, like that you can’t afford to pay people very well, you can’t give good benefits, or treat our employees well.”

Cook also recalls how Coleman Charlton, Terry Amthor, Kevin Barrett, and Pete Fenlon — key figures at Iron Crown Enterprises, responsible for the Middle-earth Roleplay (MERP Rolemaster lines in the 1980s — all helped him get established in the industry, and he is now trying to pay that forward.

Image: Monte Cook Games

“Having been in the industry for a long time, a lot of my thoughts are turning toward helping new creators and young creators in the same way that I was helped,” he says. Aside from attracting established designers and old friends, like Charles Ryan, Tammie Ryan, Bruce Cordell, and Sean Reynolds, MCG has welcomed newer designers to the fold, like Dominique Dickey, who’s known for their work on TRIAL, Tomorrow, Revelation III, Lesbians from Thirsty-SwordThe latest news from Wizards of the Coast Journeys through the Radiant Citadel. “Experience by its very nature is something that you can get, but enthusiasm and talent are things that a person can bring to the table,” Cook said.

Dickey started at MCG as an intern in 2019, after being tipped to the opportunity by fellow game designer and creative writer Ajit George (who led production of Dungeons & Dragons’ Journeys through the Radiant Citadel) whom they met at the Science Fictions & Fantasy Writers of America’s Nebula Conference. Dickey wrote during that first month-long tenure with the publisher. Heist on Miracle IVThe Cypher System’s science fiction adventure, “It was a very educational experience for me, but it was also very validating as a designer that I can make something start to finish,” they said.

They gained confidence from the experience of publishing their original work for the first-time. MCG gave them an opportunity to shadow other employees at every stage of production, and they were able to write. Dickey was able to add more credits including those with Wizards of the Coast. He returned to MCG as both a design editor and designer this May.

Aside from the relaxed atmosphere of the company’s culture, Dickey says they really feel like they’re working alongside people who know them and understand how they work. Recently Dickey drafted a new adventure for an as-yet-unannounced project, and looked to their previous writing for MCG as well as Bruce Cordell’s work to inform the style, tone, and pacing. Cook came back with a comment that Dickey says they have now hanging above their desk: “I didn’t hire you so that Dominique Dickey can write MCG products. I want MCG to publish Dominique Dickey products.”

“And that’s the moment where I was like, It’s a wonderful feeling to be valued and seen here..”

Reflecting on the past decade, Germain said: “I’m able to bring all these parts of my personality to bear in building and growing this company and in doing so I think we’ve built a company that invites all of our employees to do the same. We want them to be themselves when they come in the door. We want their creativity and their experiences and their passions.”