[Numenera] Who's into it, Whaddya think?

[WTFWWD]

As the title, Who has gotten a copy of Numenera? Has anyone played it yet? What do you think about it?

[Asmodai]

Still pawing through it. The game is beautiful, and I love the 80s european comics vibe that pervades it. My biggest beef right now is the fact that due to the layout, most of the art seems to have been shrunk more then was necessary. Still, it does allow for a very concentrated book, and i love how they used the fringes for easy reference and details on the setting.

[GungHo]

Haven't played a bit of it, but the production values are off the chain.

[Dogbert]

It's pretty much d&d with somewhat more flexibility, a different system (a GUMSHOE variant), and a truckload of resentful writing against d&d... and "GM empowerment."

[Pilo]

I played it this weekend.

My table deplores that the character evolution is that limited. We'd rather can buy more powers before changing tiers. I also regrets that armor reduction cost that much.

Regarding the publised book, I find the Player's guide useless as it is only a copy of the player part of the corebook.

I do not understand why the weapon's equipement part is that important for a game that is supposed to be about finding lost things in old ruins. I think the authors should have focused on tools to analyse and comprehend things instead.

We all had a hard time to imagine what science-fantasy is, and what it looks like.

On the other hand we quite enjoyed the game and look forward to it.

[Gamgee]

I finally got to play a little, it was great. We had about 20 minutes of game time only, we'll likely finish the first adventure this weekend. I'll put a more in depth post up then.

So far in that twenty minuted my players seem absolutely enamored with the setting. One of them got the glass mirror oddity that shows more stars than there are and had eidetic memory so he tried to memorize all of the stars in case the mirror broke. I told him even with his powers that was simply impossible. So he settled for memorizing them in that one spot.

Another was trained in breaking inanimate objects and tried to break the earth semi-successfully. He crushed a large rock he could just barely lift above his head in two hands. I told him it would be impossible, and then he goes and does it. So his grand plan is to break earth one stone at a time.

And we didn't even get to anything important yet. :smallconfused:

[pasko77]

I've read the rules a few times, there is a question I'd like to submit about powers.

Do powers like "Stasis" (2 tier esoterie) need to hit?
Is Stasis horribly broken as it seems?

[Rushalt]

I've played it for about 4 hours yesterday (at work so was getting interrupted by breaks and lunch and actual work) and had a good time with it. It seems to me that you need a fairly competent DM who has experience so they would be able to easily identify the difficulty of the actions the PCs take, and that's really the only negative I have came across so far but with only 4 hours im sure we will find something.

As of now I feel like speed defense is a little overpowered atm. I made a "Graceful Glaive who fuses with metal" and started with stat pools of 13/21/7 and 1 edge in might and speed. With that I was able to dodge just about anything that was thrown at us due to the fact that if I spent any effort to dodge it would lower the difficulty by 3 not complaining though since im the "tank".

What did you guys make and how is it working out for you. Have you guys found any other over powered abilities or play styles yet or vise versa.

[Kaun]

They any closer to getting a physical copy of this out for sale? As far as i can see its pdf only from drive through. And 20 bucks is a little steep for a pdf.

EDIT: Never mind, found it on Amazon. All the regular places i buy books from and my LFG had no listing for it.

[Alcibiades]

I've read the rules a few times, there is a question I'd like to submit about powers.

Do powers like "Stasis" (2 tier esoterie) need to hit?
Is Stasis horribly broken as it seems?

The section titled 'Action: Attack' (pg. 91) states that esoteries and abilities that affect enemies require a roll. For most esoteries that's an intellect roll - others like the ones that require a touch just need a melee attack.

If you miss, you don't expend the use of the power and you can try to apply it with another action next turn.

I bought it a week ago and I had a lot of fun on my first adventure. I won't be playing it a lot unfortunately, since my group doesn't like the setting too much - they liked the vision behind the mechanics, though.

I agree that Speed defense seems like a very powerful tool when you look at the bestiary. Of all the things to be trained in, this seems like the thing you'd get most mileage out of.

[Kaun]

Managed to find a copy at one of my (not so L) LFG's, selling for $78AUD :smalleek:.

Put it on the list of things to buy when im ready to start a different game. A lot of the stuff im reading interests me, the book looks well made, but for the moment i think i will just keep my eye on forum threads about it rather then picking it up myself.

[Rushalt]

We've opted to stop playing Numenara (dm wasn't feeling the setting and if the DM isn't into it it's rather hard to for the players to enjoy it) and start up 13th age.

[Kaun]

We've opted to stop playing Numenara (dm wasn't feeling the setting and if the DM isn't into it it's rather hard to for the players to enjoy it) and start up 13th age.

I have started looking over the core book this week, how did you find it?

[Poerts]

I'm utterly loving it. Just picked it up and only played one game so far, but it was great. Very rules light and very good at making my players feel both powerful and challenged. I could see some people disliking this (as it does leave a lot of the logical work up to the DM and it does not make much effort to appeal to stats-junkies). I wouldn't run a more desperate low-powered game in this system, but as a game of slightly over the top heroic Science-Fantasy it's pretty great.

I adore the Intrusion system, as I am normally afraid to risk pissing off my PC's with random ****ty surprises (I don't even use traps very often in D&D). I found it extremely effective as a way to carefully adjust the pacing of the adventure, making otherwise boring moments very intense. Also, it's a good source of XP, so my players didn't care that they were suddenly facing tougher odds.

The setting isn't anything too special, but it's interesting enough to do some cool stuff with, and is a bit of a grab-bag. It reminds me slightly of Rifts if Rifts didn't feel like it was made by an excitable 13 year-old with a percentage fetish. This is entirely A-OK in my books.

[Scowling Dragon]

I like the post-post-post-post-post-post-post-post-post-post-post-post-post-post-post-post-post-post-post-post-post-post-post-post-apocalyptic setting.

Looks like solid fun.

[Gamgee]

My PC's are loving intrusions as well. Some of them are asking me to create them. They like the "little chaos" moments they cause. I have to tell them I can't just do an infinite string of them. :smallbiggrin:

[Jacob.Tyr]

I ran about 4 hours of it last night, quite a bit dedicated to player creation. We started the Beale of Boregal, though, and made it up to getting components for Darvin.

The book is very well done, in my opinion, and I rather like the system as a rules light setup.


Thoughts:
Setting-
I love the setting and the fluff, and I love how in the adventure there isn't even all that much as a given save for important parts. I feel like there's a lot of freedom for improvisation, and I enjoy that the players are rolling everything. The players also really enjoyed the setting, but I'm not sure how much of that was from the game and how much came from me being able to really get into it and bring it to life, so ymmv there.

I like the explicit freedom in the system for why you're "special". You could have latent genetic modifications that popped up millions of years after genetic engineering fell out of the realm of human understanding, or maybe nanites have integrated into your body at some point in your life. Or you're consciously aware of these things, and have done some potentially questionably actions to augment yourself. It can be active, passive, explained or unexplainable, even downright bizarre. Hell, maybe your "magical" powers come from a tiny mutant squirrel that lives in the hood of your cloak and helps you out by 'casting' or using pyschic powers to enhance your strength and speed.


Mechanics-
The mechanics are incredibly fluid, making action very quick and keeping the players engaged throughout. I used a DMPC, to help round out the group, and the players rolled for him the entire time which makes me feel safer having him there.

That being said we are used to DnD/PF, and as written things wind up feeling very, well, repetitive. One player commented on how the lack of a grid and limited power options made it feel like a stream of "I hit it with my sword". I like the optional rules for adding effects to attacks, and I'm probably going to institute them for the next game, most likely modified to ignore the + level to the required damage traded. Thinking of making it a second task roll in order to give up damage in exchange for the effect, such that if you fail the full damage still goes through (assuming you hit), but if you succeed you get your attack and the damage reduction.

Intrusion-
Ok, I used this once. It went well, but I'm sheepish regarding it. The players are also fairly timid about expending effort, I think, so situations where they don't have to roll are few and far between and the preset campaign doesn't make me feel like there are many options for it. This again probably has to do with getting used to a system, but I'd really like to work it in more frequently so the players have the ability to spend XP more freely on alternate advancement. If your group is already comfortable with FATE, I think this mechanic will be much more intuitive. I'm going to work on the mindset of using it to make things happen, and see what I can do with it in the future.


Equipment:
I like that everything is simplified and standardized. Honestly, I'm ruling that just about any player concept equipment wise is acceptable. A pistol is just a medium weapon, a revolver is a medium weapon that can spray and takes an action to reload, etc etc.

Overall:
The PDF was worth the $20, as I wasn't willing to pay $60 for a hardcover book that might just be a one shot test run. I'm not sure if we'll continue playing it, but it's something I'm definitely happy to have in my collection. Smooth, fast, rules light system that honestly doesn't take long to explain and setup. The fluff is incredibly well done, and is much easier to get people excited about who might not be interested in the hobby (sci-fi is an easier sell for me than elves and magic). I think it might become an "introductory" RPG for me in the future, at the very least, and I'm happy to have it.

[Morty]

Having read some of the rules... Monte Cook really can't design interesting non-magical abilities to save his life, can he. Glaive Fighting Moves and Jack Tricks of the Trade (with significant overlap between them) look as though he thought about them for a while and then cobbled something together so he could move on to cool magic stuff.

[NichG]

I just got a copy and I've been reading through it. I find the setting stuff amazing and I will certainly mine the Cypher/Esoterie/etc lists for ideas for other games as well.

I've got mixed feelings about the actual mechanical system. While it feels serviceable to me, there's too much I can't tell without a chance to play/run it I think. However, I get the impression that the system really relies on something that the book states, but which really bears repeating:

Very often the book calls for 'things the GM finds logical', and I think its easy to read that as 'don't let the players do things that don't make sense'. However, I'd say that for the system to really shine, you need stronger logic than that - basically, there should be a rationale behind every bit of 'weird' such that when players mess with things/stick Cyphers together/modify Artifacts/whatever, they respond in a consistent way that - most importantly - the players can figure out over time.

If you buy into the claim that Numenera is primarily about discovery, then I think you need to have a very good 'system behind the system' in place as a DM that you can use to consistently judge what is logical and what is not. Otherwise, I'm worried that eventually it will feel like it doesn't matter what you do: if you can harvest 1d6 Cyphers of any kind from hunting any creature of the Ninth World, make an interplanetary teleporter from the salvaged remains of any ruin, etc, then why does it matter which creature you hunt, which ruin you salvage?

[Jacob.Tyr]

Having read some of the rules... Monte Cook really can't design interesting non-magical abilities to save his life, can he. Glaive Fighting Moves and Jack Tricks of the Trade (with significant overlap between them) look as though he thought about them for a while and then cobbled something together so he could move on to cool magic stuff.

Honestly I find all of the esoteries sort of bland as well. I'm a huge fan of the foci abilities, though. I think those are the most interesting parts of Numenera and I love that it's separate from class mechanics. I'm really loving seeing what different players pick as their focus, most of them are ones I myself wouldn't even have really looked at too hard.

It's definitely rules light, though, and looking into the "abilities" for interesting and tactical power isn't what you want to do in this sort of system. It's easy to tell what players are used to what system based on what they try to do: 3.X and 4e players just use their abilities almost exclusively, AD&D players seem to improvise on top of it quite a lot, and those with more experience with rules light can blow you away with what they pull out. Encourage improvisation, experimentation, and narrative power.

If you don't fully describe an area to your players, encourage them to create things in the space and use it to their advantage. If they want to do a called shot, up the level of the task and give them a minor or major effect if they land it. If they involve a piece of the set in their action, give them a bonus for doing so. Rules light is far from simple, and can actually be a lot harder to learn. You just have to make sure your players know that the rules are some things they can do, not everything they can do.

[Morty]

Honestly I find all of the esoteries sort of bland as well. I'm a huge fan of the foci abilities, though. I think those are the most interesting parts of Numenera and I love that it's separate from class mechanics. I'm really loving seeing what different players pick as their focus, most of them are ones I myself wouldn't even have really looked at too hard.


At least Nano abilities don't have overlap with anything else. And even if they're bland, they still let you do something new, instead of just adding some numbers to something anyone can do. As for foci abilities... to be honest, from what I've seen of them, it applies here as well. The actually interesting ones are overtly "supernatural".

[Jacob.Tyr]

At least Nano abilities don't have overlap with anything else. And even if they're bland, they still let you do something new, instead of just adding some numbers to something anyone can do. As for foci abilities... to be honest, from what I've seen of them, it applies here as well. The actually interesting ones are overtly "supernatural".

Perhaps we have different ideas of "interesting". Truth be told, I think my favourite is Fuses Flesh and Steel, but I get that it isn't exactly a powerful one or one that opens extra options. After that I really like Entertains.

As far as powerful goes, I think Controls Beasts is probably the top one. The companion and mount features wind up giving you way more action economy than any other character will have.

For options I think Leads, Lives in the Wilderness, Explores Dark Places, and Works the Back Alley's are probably the top tier. Talks to Machines is also up there.

Overall Best I will grant you are "supernatural" in nature. Controls Gravity and Rides the Lightning specifically. Both are strong in and out of combat. Controls Gravity group flight is definitely a game changer, and the teleport + self flight in Rides the Lightning are likewise. Combine that with the combat abilities in them and you have some incredibly powerful options, assuming obstacles that can be passed via flight and combat.

[Kalmageddon]

I just got a copy and I've been reading through it. I find the setting stuff amazing and I will certainly mine the Cypher/Esoterie/etc lists for ideas for other games as well.

I've got mixed feelings about the actual mechanical system. While it feels serviceable to me, there's too much I can't tell without a chance to play/run it I think. However, I get the impression that the system really relies on something that the book states, but which really bears repeating:

Very often the book calls for 'things the GM finds logical', and I think its easy to read that as 'don't let the players do things that don't make sense'. However, I'd say that for the system to really shine, you need stronger logic than that - basically, there should be a rationale behind every bit of 'weird' such that when players mess with things/stick Cyphers together/modify Artifacts/whatever, they respond in a consistent way that - most importantly - the players can figure out over time.

If you buy into the claim that Numenera is primarily about discovery, then I think you need to have a very good 'system behind the system' in place as a DM that you can use to consistently judge what is logical and what is not. Otherwise, I'm worried that eventually it will feel like it doesn't matter what you do: if you can harvest 1d6 Cyphers of any kind from hunting any creature of the Ninth World, make an interplanetary teleporter from the salvaged remains of any ruin, etc, then why does it matter which creature you hunt, which ruin you salvage?

Yeah pretty much this.
It's also one of those instances where I ask myself "if the GM has to do all the work, why have a rule set to begin with?" I honestly think that this game would be better as a freeform rpg, the setting is interesting but underdeveloped and the game mechanics are bare boned just like any other indie rpg.
I'm sick of having to fill the gaps for these games.

[Raimun]

Fun game, from what I can tell after playing it briefly.

As always, the simplicity of the system is a double edged sword. On one hand, it really speeds up the game, on the other, some mechanics make me groan and feel like there is not enough variety.

Some random thoughts:

I like the setting. It feels fresh.

The three classes (they are classes, danggit!) should get more skill trainings of their choice. Something like: Glaive should get perhaps 3 skill trainings, the nano 4 and the jack 5. Right now, all classes offer only one skill training. If the game is about discovery, why the characters are so ill equipped for it?

More focuses! Want! I really like this mechanic. Descriptors are cool too.

Connections are really fun. They offer instant random intraparty social dynamics before the game has begun.

There's not much point to use xp for re-rolls... unless it's a "do-or-die"-situation. I managed to get an advance mid-game, which really helped me out. As always, static bonuses are way better than "one use only"-stuff.

Violence is still an acceptable solution, no matter what the rulebook says. However, if you want it to be a reliable option, you don't get as much exploration skills.

As mentioned above, the fighting moves feel kinda meh. Plus 1 point to damage...? Yay. Haven't seen that before.

Random gadgets are interesting. I never actually got around to using mine but random starting equipment is kind of exciting. You never know what you get.

[NichG]

I and a couple of people on the Numenera boards came up with an extended set of Tricks of the Trade (http://www.knowledgeoftheninth.com/cypher-jack.html) for Jacks in order to fill in their tendency to be 'kinda Glaivey, kinda Nanoey, nothing of their own'. I think it helps a bit but I haven't had a chance to see it in play.

After talking with that community a bit, I'm convinced more than ever that the heart of the game is basically magical-MacGyver-on-steroids - the cyphers. It feels like the way the game wants to play is, everyone has 4 one-use, highly specific, very powerful abilities. Here's a situation - use those abilities to solve it, and get random replacement abilities in the process.

Also, the place to use XP rerolls is Artifact durability checks. Spending 1xp every 20 uses or so to refresh a 1d20 durability Artifact that you like is much better than spending 3xp and a bunch of Cyphers to make one from scratch.

[Jacob.Tyr]

I and a couple of people on the Numenera boards came up with an extended set of Tricks of the Trade (http://www.knowledgeoftheninth.com/cypher-jack.html) for Jacks in order to fill in their tendency to be 'kinda Glaivey, kinda Nanoey, nothing of their own'. I think it helps a bit but I haven't had a chance to see it in play.

After talking with that community a bit, I'm convinced more than ever that the heart of the game is basically magical-MacGyver-on-steroids - the cyphers. It feels like the way the game wants to play is, everyone has 4 one-use, highly specific, very powerful abilities. Here's a situation - use those abilities to solve it, and get random replacement abilities in the process.

Also, the place to use XP rerolls is Artifact durability checks. Spending 1xp every 20 uses or so to refresh a 1d20 durability Artifact that you like is much better than spending 3xp and a bunch of Cyphers to make one from scratch.

If you don't mind my asking, what boards do you visit for Numenera?

[NichG]

If you don't mind my asking, what boards do you visit for Numenera?

The only one I'm aware of is 'Ninth World Hub' (http://ninthworldhub.com/). I'm not sure if there are others. There's also 'The Ninth World' (http://theninthworld.com/), which is a collection of fan-made content.