Sou Tenken (Order #11459110)
Predation
Chapter 1
FROM tHE FAR FUtURE
tO tHE ANCIENt PASt
“
Elza, you’ve got incoming. Better hurry.”
Dast could talk to her, from headset to
earbud, but she couldn’t talk back. So
he had no way of knowing if she’d heard him,
unless she gave him a gesture, and he didn’t
dare turn his long-range lenses away from the
operatives to check.
From his position in the treestand, Dast
could make out two… no, make that three
operatives heading down the dirt path
SATI, page 116 through the swath of thick jungle. SATI, from
the look of the nautilus logo on their armor.
The one bringing up the rear had a laser
pistol—definitely SATI issue—and a young
raptor on a lead. The raptor’s feathers flicked
with an orange bioluminescence each time it
passed through a heavily shaded spot. Stolen?
Bioengineered by SATI for some unknown
purpose? Captured? With SATI, anything was
possible.
Right now, the more important question
was: did the operatives know that Elza was
there? Their demeanor denoted more stroll
than hurry, which was good. But either way,
there was only one place to go in this jungle,
and that was toward the time-travel lab. The
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Sou Tenken (Order #11459110)
supposedly abandoned time-travel lab that Elza
was currently trying to break into.
As he watched the operatives, a close-in fuzz
of black appeared in his lenses, disappeared,
returned.
“Vanta,” he hissed at the microraptor next to
him. “Back up.”
He felt her ruffle her feathers—a sure sign
that she was bored of sitting here, doing
nothing—but she did as he asked. Miracle of
miracles. He loved the beast, but to say she
was stubborn wasn’t doing her hard little head
justice.
Adjusting his lenses—and ignoring the
smear that Vanta’s antics had put across his
vision—he turned his gaze back to Elza. She
was still crouched in front of the panel next
to the door. He couldn’t see her hands, but
he knew she was desperately working the
fingerprint lock that would gain them access
to the lab. She needed another five minutes,
maybe ten.
She didn’t have that long.
He lowered his voice and spoke slowly into
the headset. “Elza, thumb up if you can hear
me. You’ve got maybe three minutes.”

No response from her. Shit. Think.
This was supposed to be an easy job. Break
into an abandoned time-travel biolab. Steal
something called a volcanic predictor. Head
back to Saul and get their money. In fact, Dast
was up here keeping an eye out for the rexes
that sometimes roamed these woods in packs.
That he’d see humans had never crossed his
mind.
But the lab didn’t appear to be abandoned.
Saul forgot to mention there was a fingerprint
lock. And three SATI operatives in full gear were
about to round the corner and give Elza a very
unpleasant surprise.
A glance at the operatives showed that they’d
picked up the pace a bit. Had they seen her?
No, they were joking, laughing. Behind them,
the raptor popped its head up, alert, a giant
clawed foot flexing. Hunting stance. It was
looking toward the lab. The guy bringing up the
rear stopped, his eyes on the raptor, and said
something to the other two.
“She’s not going to make it, Van. They’re
going to ambush her.”
Dast dropped his lenses and glanced over
at the nerezza. She was all black, shadow-
Sou Tenken (Order #11459110)
FROM tHE FAR FUtURE
tO tHE ANCIENt PASt
on-shadow. A tiny button embedded in the
side of her beak blinked on and off. He kept
her cybernetic elements turned off whenever
he could; she was just too impetuous to run Volcanic predictor,
around throwing sparks off her body. page 172
“What do you say we buy her some time?”
He pushed his fingerprint to the button,
holding it there until it turned solid red.
Instantly, Vanta’s black feathers crackled with
the low hum of electricity. She let out a soft caw,
spread her four wings, and launched herself
toward the operatives.
“Show-off,” he said. Unlike Vanta and Elza,
he was all organic. He’d have to get down the
old-fashioned way. Climb.
Nerezza, page 142
7
 Predation

TEC BACKGROUND CONNECTION

Roll Background
1 You studied under a master chemist for years, right up until the day you blew up the lab, and nearly blew up
yourself and your mentor along with it.
2 Your parents were members of the Butterflies and attempted to discourage your interest in technology right up
until the day you left home.
3 A creature you helped create went on to kill a fellow tec. Although it wasn’t your fault, you still feel responsible.
4 During a drunken celebration, you came up with a fantastic idea for a world-changing technology, but no matter
how hard you try, you can’t remember it.
5 You would rather swing a sword than read a book, but you’ve finally admitted you have no aptitude for the
former. And designing weapons is almost like using them.
6 You once got lost in a deep natural cavern where you stumbled upon a secret stash of technology. You’re
determined to return to it, if you can only find it.
7 For years, you and your partner ran a scam in which you pretended to predict the future of anyone who paid you
a few nautils. Then you discovered that your partner believed they really could see the future.
8 You’ve always been fascinated by time anomalies and have devoted much of your life to finding and studying them.
9 Your father was a well-respected scientist until one day he disappeared without a trace.
10 You are pretty sure you once worked with other SATI tecs on a top-secret project, but the details seem fuzzy and
no one there claims to remember you.
11 You were always a fast learner, but got bored quickly and went off to seek different kinds of adventure. Now
you’re ready to come back to the science you love.
12 You’ve heard rumors that SATI is working to restore time travel to Grevakc and you desperately want to be involved.
13 One of your close friends is also a tec, specializing in genetics and botany. The two of you meet regularly to share
discoveries.
14 You have a fascination with robotics and cybernetics, but so far haven’t had the opportunity to try your hand at
them much.
15 You hail from a small town along the Chalk Road where you spent your early days trying to figure out how to
make crops grow better.
16 An experiment you conducted in the past went horribly awry. The locals remember you as a dangerous and
foolhardy individual.
17 Your grandmother was one of the original commuters. She never talked about what she did for SATI, but before
she died, she told you she kept a journal. You don’t know where it is.
18 People you meet often seem to be put off by your favorite object: a tiny dinosaur preserved in a jar.
19 You accidentally injected yourself with an experimental growth hormone meant for a bambiraptor. You’re still
waiting to see if there are side effects.
20 You fell in love with a scientist and applied for a job at the lab where she worked. She eventually left, but you
stayed on, having found a new passion.

Butterflies, page 118

TEC STAT POOLS
BUILDING YOUR TEC
Nautils, page 60 A Tec is constructed primarily from the Adept
Stat Pool Starting Value type described in the Cypher System Rulebook.
Time anomaly, page 74 Might 7 The Tec gains the option to choose from most,
but not all, of the Adept ability choices, plus
Speed 9
SATI, page 116 some derived from select abilities of other types
Intellect 12 and flavors described in the Cypher System
Bambiraptor, page 135 Rulebook.
You get 6 additional points to divide among In some tiers, Tecs may also choose selected
your stat Pools however you wish. abilities from the Cretaceous abilities list.
If available, these abilities are noted in the
abilities sections for each tier.
At second and higher tier, a Tec can
always choose an ability from a lower tier

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Sou Tenken (Order #11459110)
 CHARACtER tyPE

instead of adding one from the current tier, SECOND-TIER TEC

and can replace one lower-tier ability with a
different one from a lower tier. Finally, a Tec
with a companion has the option to choose
companion abilities at each tier after the first,
as noted below.
The full text of Cypher System Rulebook
abilities is not replicated here. Please refer to
the Cypher System Rulebook for details on your
ability and equipment choices. At each tier,
a chart is provided that includes Tec abilities
available at that tier, plus abilities available from
other sources, if any.
You gain the abilities noted for a second-tier
Adept, except as follows.
• All Tecs choose from the special abilities
presented in the Second-Tier Tec Abilities
chart, drawn mainly from the Adept list,
but occasionally from alternate types and
additional flavors. Where those abilities
are not second-tier Adept abilities, they are

FIRST-TIER TEC Adept, page 29

You gain the abilities noted for a first-tier Adept,
except as follows. Flavors, page 50
• All Tecs have the Knowledge Skills ability.
• All Tecs choose from the special abilities
presented in the First-Tier Tec Abilities
chart, drawn mainly from the Adept list,
but occasionally from alternate types and
additional flavors. Where those abilities are
not first-tier Adept abilities, they are tagged
in the chart. The Tec chooses only from the
abilities on the chart, so the Adept abilities
Erase Memories, Far Step, Hedge Magic,
Magic Training, Push, and Resonance Field
are not available.
• All Tecs start with a companion of their
choice.

FIRST-TIER
TEC ABILITIES
Choose three abilities + Knowledge Skills First-tier Adept,
page 30
Distortion
Onslaught Datajack, page 53
Practiced With Light Weapons
Decipher, page 39
Resonance Field
Scan Hacker, page 54

Sculpt Flesh Knowledge Skills,

Shatter page 61
Ward Machine Interface,
Crossed Wires (Cretaceous ability) page 54
Datajack (tier 1 Technology flavor)
Scramble Machine,
Decipher (tier 1 Explorer) page 54
Hacker (tier 1 Technology flavor)
Understanding, page 46
Knowledge Skills (tier 1 Skills and Knowledge
flavor) *Preselected
Crossed Wires, page 34
Machine Interface (tier 1 Technology flavor)
Scramble Machine (tier 1 Technology flavor)
Understanding (tier 1 Speaker)

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Sou Tenken (Order #11459110)
 Predation

Chapter 5
CHARACtER DESCRIPtOR
AND FOCUS

DESCRIPTORS formidable force for interacting with others,

y
our descriptor is what defines your
character—it changes the way you
Driven, page 71 tackle every action that you take. Your
descriptor places your character in their current
Descriptors, page 64
situation or adventure, and helps provide a
Clever, page 67 sense of their motivations. It is the adjective of
the sentence “I am an adjective noun who verbs.”
The Cypher System Rulebook details fifty
Tec, page 21 descriptors. You can choose from any of the
descriptors there, regardless of type, or from
Osteon, page 30 one of the new descriptors presented in this
chapter. The Cypher System Rulebook selection
of descriptors is robust and likely suitable for
most players. A Clever Osteon would be a
If you have Expanded Worlds, you could also
choose from the following descriptors:
Adroit
Beneficent
Chaotic
Heroic
Lawful
Relentless
Serene
Young
while a Driven Tec has the potential to make
amazing scientific discoveries. That said,
the new descriptors provided here—Daring,
Empirical, Savage, Slick, and Volcanic—were
designed specifically with Predation in mind,
allowing characters to immerse themselves in
the setting in unique ways.
NEW DESCRIPTORS
DARING
Sure, there’s probably a well-worn path
somewhere, but who cares? You’d rather go
your own way, break the rules, and not just
push the boundaries, but pretend they don’t
even exist. You might be the mad scientist, the
trailblazer, the daredevil, or the wild storyteller.
Whatever you do, you go your own way—and
it’s everyone else’s loss if they don’t appreciate
the heights of your ingenuity.
You gain the following characteristics:
Innovative: +4 to your Intellect Pool.
Try Anything Once: Any time you attempt
something that you’ve never done before and

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Sou Tenken (Order #11459110)

that you aren’t trained or specialized in, you
gain an asset on that task.
Skill: You are trained in one of the following:
scientific discovery, pathfinding, or storytelling.
Inability: There is nothing worse than
following the rules. So boring. You have an
inability in all tasks related to laws, rules, and
social norms.
Initial Link to the Starting Adventure: From
the following list of options, choose how you
became involved in the first adventure.
1. Your latest scientific experiment went
horribly wrong. You need to collect the
equipment to begin again and heard that this
might be a way to get it.
2. You’ve been growing bored and this
seemed like just the wild adventure you needed.
3. One of the other PCs heard you telling a
fantastical story, but didn’t hear the end. They
convinced you to come along so you could
finish it.
4. One of the other PCs is really intriguing
to you, but you’re not sure why. You’re coming
along to find out more about them.
Sou Tenken (Order #11459110)
CHARACtER DESCRIPtOR
AND FOCUS
EMPIRICAL
You trust only what you can see with your own
eyes—and sometimes not even that. You’re
most comfortable when you’ve had time to
complete your research, find all the facts, and
figure out the truth.
You gain the following characteristics:
Observer: +4 to your Intellect Pool.
Quick Study: When you take a round to study
whatever’s in front of you and gain the facts,
you feel more confident that you’re about to do
the right thing. You gain an asset on your next
non-combat action.
Skill: You are trained in all actions involved
with conducting experiments or tests to
discover proof, discern the truth, or glean
information.
Inability: If you haven’t had time to study
something, you have a hard time taking action
and moving forward. Whenever you receive an
intrusion (either by rolling a 1 or by getting one
from the GM), any action you take in response
is one step more difficult.
Initial Link to the Starting Adventure: From
the following list of options, choose how you
became involved in the first adventure.
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 Predation
Western Interior Seaway, and scarcity, the future and the past. The law
page 106 is visible along the streets, but the lawless
have learned to use the shadows and hollows
of the city to their benefit. Everywhere you
SATI hydrolab, page 83 look there is a mix of scientific technologies
coupled with homes built of the bones and
skin of behemoths. Most of the streets are little
more than dirt paths formed and compacted
by the passage of large dinosaurs, carriage
Gridelin Wilds, page 92 wheels, and human footsteps. Some sections
of the city have electricity (from solar, water,
Chalk Road, page 92 or other sources) that powers lights, cold
storage, scientific equipment, and electronics,
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Sou Tenken (Order #11459110)
KELAINO’S MASCOT:
SUE THE T. REX 2
About fifteen years ago, a young T. rex
showed up at Kelaino’s gates. Standing
just a few feet high, the creature was
clearly hurt—limping, whimpering in pain,
missing an eye, and covered in gashes.
The city rallied around the creature, which
seemed grateful for the medical assistance,
the attention, and the food. They dubbed
her Sue the T. rex 2, after one of the most
complete T. rex fossils ever found. As she
healed and grew, Sue captured the hearts
of the citizens and she remains the city’s
mascot to this day.
Unusually small for a T. rex, Sue only
stands about 6 feet (1.8 m) tall, but she’s
still nearly 30 feet (9 m) long. Sue mostly
hangs around outside the builtbone wall,
welcoming visitors, cooing for food, and
allowing children to ride on her tail while
she slowly and carefully walks around in
circles.
while other parts are candle- and fire-lit,
with machinery powered by handcranks or
dinosaurs. Along the water, trained dinosaurs
and elegant riverboats carry supplies, visitors,
and sightseers, while children use worn,
repaired nets to catch ray-finned fish and river
crabs in the hopes of feeding their families.
LAYOUT AND STRUCTURE
The semi-circular city is partly surrounded by
the builtbone wall, a wall that is “grown” from
a mixture of bones, malleable concrete, and
strong metal. It grows slowly, entwining its
branches together a little more each year to
become stronger, wider, and higher. Currently,
the bonebuilt wall stands around 20 feet (6
m) tall and surrounds all of the city that is
not backed up against Torotix Run, a wide,
deep river that runs all the way to the Western
Interior Seaway.
The southernmost stretch of the city lies
along the banks of Torotix Run. An offshoot,
Mikro’s Fork, branches into the city itself. A small
manmade stream runs under, and powers, SATI’s
hydrolab, which in turn powers parts of the city.
There are various docks and harbors along the
water, used by fishermen, travelers, and others.
Off to the right, appearing in constant
struggle with the builtbone wall, is an ever-
encroaching swath of jungle known as Gridelin
Wilds for its unusual purple-grey trees.
A section of the Chalk Road runs directly
through the northernmost part of Kelaino, and
 Creatures and NPCs

LytHRONAX 8 (24)

Sometimes a creature’s name tells you everything you need to know about it. The “king of gore” Lythronax means “the
is one of those creatures. Growing to a size of more than 26 feet (8 m) long and weighing in at gore king.”
2.75 tons, the lythronax is already designed to be a killer—no upgrades needed. With a mouth full
of giant, banana-shaped meat cleavers, the lythronax can inflict huge amounts of damage, crush
bone, and carve out huge chunks of flesh in a single bite.
Scientific name: Lythronax argestes
Common name: Lythro, gorebeast, gorer
Motive: Hunger GM Intrusion: The
Environment: Areas near lakes, floodplains, and rivers, particularly where prey gathers   lythro gets a grip on the
character and shakes
Health: 55
them, knocking them one
Damage inflicted: 12 points step down the damage
Armor: 1 track.
Movement: Long
Modifications: Initiative as level 9 due to hunting instincts; all tasks involving
critical thinking as level 7 due to intelligence
Upgrades: No one seems to know what to do with lythros.
You can occasionally see an upgraded lythro
running around in the world, wearing the
remains of a control collar,
capturing device, or other
upgrade. 
Combat: Lythros are all bite
and no bark. Everything
they do is focused on
ripping, tearing, chewing,
and consuming.  
Interaction: Lythros can be
lured away or tricked with
live food. Occasionally, they
can be trained the same way,
but as a general rule, they’re not
particularly smart and training can
quickly turn into a surprise game of
predator and prey. 
Use: Run.  
Loot: Their brightly colored feathers are
coveted for creating equipment,
armor, and decoration.

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Sou Tenken (Order #11459110)
 Predation
someone else’s companion. Maybe they built
a fighter-type companion, but are running
another player’s more snuggly companion,
which they didn’t want to do. One way to solve
these concerns ahead of time is to have players
create their companions together, as part of the
first play session. Players show up with their
characters finished, but then work together with
the other players to design their companions.
This allows everyone to get to know the
companions, gives players the opportunity to
help build a companion they’re interested in
running, and creates shared stories of character
and companion backgrounds that will deepen
connections and provide new roleplaying
opportunities.
For characters who don’t start out with
Companion dispositions, companions, but gain them through gameplay,
page 57 this mechanism is already built in. The other
characters will be there to provide feedback and
advice when a character is purchasing, taming,
or otherwise gaining their companion.
Make it easy on yourself. If it’s your first time
running Predation (or any game with more PCs
than players), you might consider having each
player run the companion of the player on their
left or their right. The consistency means it
will be easy to remember who is playing which
creature. Use signs or notes to help you—as
well as the players—keep track.
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Sou Tenken (Order #11459110)
Once you’ve run the game a few times and feel
comfortable, you can suggest that players work
together to create interesting player/companion
pairings. If a player really wants to run another
player’s cute, furry mammal companion, there’s
no reason not to make that happen if you can.
Help your characters choose appropriate
companions. A companion is a long-term
commitment for a character, and it’s important
that the two make a good team. If a character
is lean in fighting, they might want to consider
a more combat-focused dinosaur to help them
out in tough spots. Alternatively, a tough fighter
might decide to take a companion that can help
them out in interactions or other non-combat
situations.
Personality matters too—this is where the
companion dispositions come into play. They’re
designed to help the players understand more
about how and why a companion might act
the way that they do. They also give the player
running the companion some guidance for
roleplaying.
Match players with companions. Some
players may not have much interest in running
a dinosaur in addition to their own character
(or they may feel overwhelmed at the idea of
doing both at the same time). If that’s the case,
you might match them up with a companion
that has more passive abilities or personality.

Other players might be even more interested
in playing the dinosaur than in playing their
own character. Companions that are outgoing,
gregarious, or mischievous can be fun for those
types of players.
Keep the setting in mind. Dinosaurs as
companions can be tricky due to their size.
While many buildings in Grevakc are created
with large creatures in mind, not all are. If
the players enter a building that’s made for
humans, do their companions get stuck in the
doorway? Do they break through the ceiling if
they raise their head? Or do they stay outside?
What do they do while they’re out there?
Think about size and space as the characters
move through the world. A character who
finds mechanical wings so they can fly can’t
carry their heavy sauropod with them into the
skies. How does that creature get to the new
location? You don’t have to go into detail—the
assumption is that dinosaurs can make their
way through the world on their own without
too much trouble. Feel free to hand-wave
through that kind of thing a little bit. “So your
companions arrive at the location shortly after
you do. It looks like they got into a scuffle with
something between here and there—they’re
a little roughed-up—but for the most part, it
seems like they made it just fine.”
Of course, it’s also an opportunity to make
something interesting happen. “So your
companions arrive at the location shortly after
you do. Ferris, you notice that your companion,
Appleseed, seems to have a rolled piece of
paper pinned to his collar. That wasn’t there
when you saw him last.”
Consider combat. If every character at
your table takes a fighter-type companion, it
potentially doubles the number of PCs that
Sou Tenken (Order #11459110)
RUNNING PREDAtION
could attack any creature you throw at them.
You might want to consider adding one or two
additional creatures to combat scenarios to keep
them challenging for players. (If you’re unsure
how much of a challenge the group is ready for,
adding another creature via a GM intrusion at an
appropriate moment is a great option.)
Help players remember their companions.
It’s easy for players who aren’t used to having
companions to focus on their characters and
forget about the dinosaurs at their side. It’s
likely that, at least at first, you’ll have to remind
players to use their companions. Have NPCs,
other creatures, and the environment interact
directly with companions, use GM intrusions Companion GM
on companions, and provide opportunities for intrusions, page 161
PCs to work together with their companions.
Remember that companions are PCs, not
NPCs. You might find yourself falling into
the habit of treating companions as NPCs,
rather than PCs. It’s an easy mistake to make,
especially if you run other games where
companions work in a more NPC-style fashion.
If you catch yourself starting to describe what
a companion is doing or why, stop and turn
the action back over to the person running the
companion.
Players may also forget that they’re the
personalities behind the companions, expecting
you to narrate their actions as you do with
NPCs. Don’t be afraid to nudge them gently
into roleplaying the creature if they seem
hesitant or forget. One of the nice things about
companions is that because they’re creatures,
they don’t typically speak. For players who are
nervous about roleplaying through dialogue,
companions give them a chance to use
gestures, movements, and other non-verbal
actions.
157
 More Campaign and Character Options for
Predation—or Any Cypher System Game!
Over 40 new foci, such as Changes Shape,
Makes Prophecy, Conducts Rocket Science,
Hacks the Network, Is Wanted by the Law,
Plays Too Many Games, Helps Their Friends,
and Is Hunted by Moths.
Plus over 35 new
creatures, along with other character options,
equipment, artifacts, and more!

Boost your Predation campaign, or build

worlds of your own. Get advice, equipment,
and new rules for running Cypher System
games in post-apocalyptic, mythological, fairy
tale, childhood
adventure, historical, crime and
espionage, and hard
science fiction settings.

Expand your worlds with Expanded Worlds!

Available now from the MCG web store:

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Sou Tenken (Order #11459110)