I’ve heard Cypher described as “a D&D designer’s idea of a storygame”, which I think is actually really fitting. Numenera was specifically designed to appeal to D&D players, down to why a d20 is used instead of something more fitting like a d10, and the setting itself is really just that of D&D, replacing “magic” with “unexplainably advanced technology”. So I think it’s a really great transitional game for D&D players, as it will still *feel* like D&D, but with a narrative first focus.
The MCG Arcana of the Ancients 5e rules expansion/setting which brings Numenera sci-fi concepts into a D&D fantasy world are well worth looking at. Loads of ideas to take across into regular 5e games.
A "D&D designer's idea of a storygame" is incredibly fitting. When Monte Cook talks, for example, of mechanics that let the GM focus on the story, it's pretty clear that his meaning of "story" is more traditional GM-authored/introduced fiction that players interact with and react to.
Rolling a d10 for the system completely changes the probabilities involved, as well removing the need to ever apply effort to ease tasks higher than a difficulty 6. For example, a Difficulty 2 needs you to roll 6 or higher - a 75% chance of success. On the other hand, if we use a d10 for it there's a 90% chance of success. The difference goes up from there with Difficulty 3 going from 60% to 80%, Difficulty 4 going from 45% to 70%, Difficulty 5 going from 30% to 60%, and Difficulty 6 going from 15% to 50% chance of success. That's not a negligible change. Succeeding at Difficulty 10 tasks - which should be impossible using the current system without the proper skills and assets at the very least - becomes much easier as the 0% chance of hitting the target number becomes 10% (target number going from 30 to 10). Sure, they can still apply effort to get that 10% chance higher - but even before that's applied we've already broken the definition of Difficulty 10 tasks: something impossible to be done by normal folk, and something even those at the pinnacle have a hard time doing. Even Difficulty 7 tasks, which requires you to have at least one asset/trained in one skill/expend a level of effort to even have a 15% chance of success gets a 40% chance of success with a d10. So I don't think that using a d20 is simply to appeal to D&D players.
I personally disagree, because D&D is a D&D designers idea of a storygame. D&D is most of all the easiest the learn, but certainly not tailored to a particular playstyle. There are better systems for story focused games, there are better systems for combat focused games and almost all systems are better for survival games, but there is no better game for new players than D&D. Where Numenera really shines is at providing a unique kind of setting for both fantasy and science-fiction players who want to try something entirely new.
Numenera (and the Cypher System) is my favorite RPG to run. It’s so easy to prep, and the rules are super simple to grok. Character creation is so intuitive and is quite fast, and my particular group loves the narrative and mechanical freedom that constantly earning/spending XP provides. I have a player who’s character is an Arkus-a Type from the Destiny corebook focused on social interaction and community-building. The character can’t usually use anything but light weapons, but in the course of play, she acquired her family’s heirloom longsword-a medium artifact weapon. The player came up with the idea that her character, as part of her noble upbringing and education, was trained in basic self-defense with this very family heirloom. That sounded perfectly reasonable to me, and it added an awesome wrinkle to her character story. She spent the required XP, and boom, the character can wield that specific longsword without issue-she recalls the weight and heft of it, how it handles, and can bring to bear the basic martial training her noble station required of her in youth. Obviously, this kind of thing can be modeled in just about any RPG. But it’s baked right in to Numenera-you’re not going outside the rules to make it happen, it’s exactly how it’s intended to work.
I just wish MCG didn't hate/fear the idea of official VTT support. They dipped their toes into a horrible R20 implementation. But a foundry or FG option would be lovely.
To be fair, the Cypher System is so simple, whilst being effective, it doesn't need a lot of platform support to run a game - at least in my experience. I've run the Torg Relics of Power Trilogy under Cypher rules just using raw Roll20 and it's worked just fine. (Old fashioned Torg works very well with Cypher with just a little bit of tweaking.)
Owlbear Rodeo works just fine for Cypher. The there’s not a lot of complex mechanics to you don’t really need a VTT to do the work for you. That said! For those who do like to use VTT, greater support for Cypher would be pretty great.
I have to comment and let you know that I greatly appreciate your clear narration and especially the images that you include to explain the system. This is infinitely easier to understand than watching someone talk to the camera with no visual reference. Great video!
To be fair, most games rules are combat focused because that is where you likely want crunch. Anything more directly Role Play oriented likely doesn't need much more than the players/gm working together to make a story and a few roles made up on the spot.
Agreed. Our Numenera games are not combat-focused. They're about 70/30 split, I'd estimate, between Exploration & Discovery / Combat. Of course the corebook provides combat rules. If it didn't, few would find it useful. I don't consider "lots of combat rules" to be a valid criticism.
Cypher is awesome. It's my favorite system to GM. Easy simple rules. the books are THICK for all the player-end options... the basic rules are only a handful of pages, and could easily be condensed into one page. Probably the easiest prep (like original Space 1889 has easy prep as well). Explaining the rules is the weird part, mainly because the character creation has to be explained at the same time to make sense. I found it easier to explain using a ready-made character as an example in a combat or puzzle situation... and then get into the character creation.
Cypher takes some burden off the GM at the table and makes improvisation easier than most. Yet still provides a wide variety of material, character customization, and combinations. Good mix!
I have not played many Numenera games, but have been a fan of it since Day 1. It was my first KS'd RPG. It certainly does look combat oriented on paper, but I think that is because out of the basic modes of play at a basic RPG level (combat, environment, downtime sort of lens to quote PF2e) combat needs the most description for the players. I found GM intrusions to be far more impactful when used in exploration or when NPCs do something in a political or social move (using nanite pheromones to sway a crowd in a bazaar to become obsessed with a PC so the NPC can get the upper hand for example). I recommend checking out Destiny, it certainly is the less combat of the two and seems to be the new direction MCG wanted to focus on. But I have no table experience with it... yet. Thanks for the video!
Just FYI, the first edition of Cypher System, as a setting neutral game came out in 2015 I think with a revised edition sometime around 2019. The Strange, which was my first exposure to the system, was released in 2014. The system is great and for those that want an alternative to D&D it is an easy transition. I do have to say, it does have combat rules, but those same rules are used for all resolutions. A hacking roll is no different than attacking with a sword or convincing a guard to do x,y,z. So I see how looking at it from the outside it looks like combat is heavy in the game, but that will be very dependent on your GM. I cannot express the great ideas whos seeds came from The Strange, Stay Alive!, and We Are All Mad Here (I am still working on reading some other source books). I just am not a huge fan of the Numenera setting. The games that spawned from Cypher System and that setting are wonderful.
Excellent review! All your reviews are great! The combat-non-combat issue is a good point, but the setting is key here as well as how XP is gained. I've only played this on and off, but it's always a blast because combat is more often a last solution and something the players will only enter if forced. Also, almost every kind of action is "combat", i.e., the resolution of social checks and everything else is akin to "combat". This simplification strengthens the notion of only rolling if necessary, and can incentivise or provoke a lot of creative playing to avoid having to roll dice. XP as a meta-currency works extremely well with the solution that the GM never rolls the dice. It's a very nice structuring of playing and coming up with stories on the fly. But as you say, it needs buy-in from players. This is why it's a great game for new players with little or no expectations and preconceptions about how a RPG is "supposed" to be played. When I picked this game up 8 or so years ago I felt a feeling akin to when I opened the Dungeons & Dragons Rules Encyclopedia for the 0th edition to expand on the red and blue box. It provoked a feeling of the fantastical. I used it to introduced the hobby to my partner and a bunch of non-RPGer friends, and it worked like magi...manipulated nanites... I would love to hear your thoughts on the Numenera: Destiny book.
I love the setting of Numenera, it's a beautifully weird mash of hyper-tech, fantasy, and ruin delving, but I just bounce off the system every time I go near it. Maybe I'll hack it into a different system someday.
@@03dashk64 Hey, fair enough. I'm leaning more towards other styles over time, it feels like, though I may just be wanting variety. I've been itching to run a custom Cortex Prime game or a campaign of Heart: The City Beneath. I've heard some good things about Mythras recently though, added it to my 'To Investigate' list. What's Pendragon like?
@@03dashk64 Sold. Both of those are getting bumped up the list. Thanks for the recommendations! That idea of slowly incrementing your skills via actual use is perfect. Pendragon's lineage play is a very interesting system as well. Not often you see games specify the passing of time like that. Sounds like it works really well here though.
@@03dashk64 It's pretty easy to simply give players more tools. We've played Numenera games in the past in which we awarded twice the number of recommended abilities per tier. The characters simply had a few more cool tricks at their disposal, without any real unbalance.
I really do enjoy running Numenera but have had a player or two bounce off the system. Still, the group I do play with enjoy it quite a lot, and the setting is very good. To note Monte Cook Games are still releasing Numenera content, and I'm about to start a new campaign using the Glimmering Valley book, which sells itself as an ideal way to introduce new players to the game and setting. In general releases have slowed down since they are supporting several other games, but new books specific to Numenera and its setting still get released regularly.
Really good video and overview. I think you covered the points of why Numenera is so good. I really like Numenera and the Cypher system. I don’t get to play it enough. However, on your point that it’s still combat centric really depends upon the GM. I was recently at Gamehole Con and played in quite a few Numenera games. Most were very story driven. In fact, in one, We only had one brief combat in the entire four hour session. The skills and cyphers we carried were perfectly crafted to mesh with the scenario.
I'm gonna tell you one of my cringiest moments as a GM: Numenera was my first TTRPG and I LOVED the idea! So many possibilities. Unfortunately, my first time GMing, I totally tried to bring Fallout into the setting and it understandably was received poorly. I wake up in cringing cold sweats when I remember that. I've learned since then! I love the setting and I can appreciate MCG's thought processes if some of it did have some missteps or oddities. Thanks for reviewing it, I look forward to seeing if/when you do the Destiny book! Also, congrats on the Ennies nomination! I made sure to vote for you, you're doing something unique, fun, and helpful. Thank you!
For some reason, RUclips keeps sending me back to this video. I've seen it, RUclips, watched it and commented. 😄 I will take this third opportunity to offer a counterpoint to one opinion in the video. I disagree that Numenera has reached a long-in-the-tooth, best-days-behind-it stage. Numenera receives constant support via extremely imaginative, high quality supplements. The "Numenera 2" refresh that produced the Destiny & Discovery core pair wasn't the end of it. Since the new core pair released, we've received many amazing supplements, full length adventures, even a sweeping campaign book. There's a ton of depth to the material, now, that wasn't provided by the original book alone. This steady flow of content better shows what a Numenera campaign is for those who find it a bit esoteric. The supplements are also just wildly creative. The creativity and execution of a book like "Voices of the Datasphere" is too much to address in one comment. It's very impressive, and that's just one book. If they stopped now, I'd have enough great material to run Numenera for a lifetime. Yet, I have no doubt that more great ideas will inspire more great books to add to my shelf. (I'm very space conscious. Numenera is one of the only collections I have in hardcover these days. They're too nice to ignore.)
8:00 I can understand where you're coming from, using a computer to build your character but I don't know if I'd really recommend that. I think you might be better off with a true session zero where the players really take the time to create their characters, and write down a separate piece of paper anything they might need to remember, it'll give them a better feel for their character and it's workings even if it takes time and feels a fair bit more clunky to begin with.
Numenera was released after Monte Cook left WotC. It was supposed to be an alternative to 5e. I have GMed a lot of Numenera and combat was always something that could happen but typically it was a game of exploration and diplomacy.
It's a cool setting, but I've found that the very system for rolling slows down gameplay significantly, because you have to tell the GM every single time how many steps you reduce the check by, why, and what bonuses you get etc because there are also abilities that give numerical bonuses.
Numenera is a good game that seems like it was designed exactly for me I've never really gotten into it as much as I'd like. The systems good and by all accounts I SHOULD love the setting, it's inspired by all my favorite books, my favorite artists and movies and everything, Moebius & Miyazaki and Mézières & Moorcock. But in practice reading the books just makes me bored, the setting and art feels like diet Moebius, all the strangeness and weirdness boiled down into a sorta generic sci-fi thing more reminiscent of a retextured D&D Sword Coast than Edena or Sable. I get that the settings already hard to communicate but I want it to be even *weirder*, even more colourful.
I've run it a couple of times, and for me a couple things stand out: Primarily, I agree with the contrast between how it communicates itself as a combat-lite system, but it clearly seems like fighting is still the main bag here. That said, I really enjoy the give and take of leveraging your own skill pools to reduce DCs, but other than that it the cypher system doesn't really belong in the d20 combat realm. If 5e is your only touch point for trpg's, it is a huge adjustment getting into this headspace (for players and GMs: try to make an adventure where you don't have to fight anything and you'll see what I mean). The second thing is this: the organization of the books is a mess. Making a character takes forever because its laid out pretty poorly imo, and it doesn't help that you need to look through 3 books (the player's guide rewrites the character creation process so it's easier) in multiple sections all over the place to make one, given that these character sheets aren't supposed to be complex. The system is actually pretty elegant, but I agree that it suffers from trying to play 5e in it, and therefore takes more work on the front end to build objectives and challenges that suit the system.
Have you had the chance to look at Freelancer: Skies over Tolindia? I absolutely love it to death but it seems to be kinda obscure and underrated. My favorite part of it is the ability system that reminds me a lot of perks in fallout
I remember plying a jack in a game long time ago. He started as a confused cyborg with amnesia and ended pretty much like a re-vengeance Raiden. It was a pretty fun edgy character. The gm never ended the campaign properly, though.
I've only read the first edition, so this might not be entirely accurate anymore. But what I found far more jarring than the combat focus of some of the character options was the balance disparity between some of the options. On the higher tiers the nano gets stuff like teleportation or mind control, all while the glaive gets stuff like 'make several attacks' or 'deal a bit more damage and knock someone prone'. It's quadratic wizards/linear warriors all over again, and that's kinda weird in a setting where everyone is infused with nanobots and possibly cyber/psionic/mutant/something else. I would have expected more abilities like 'you turn into a nine foot monster' or 'supercharge one of your artifact weapons once a day because you instinctively get weapons' or something like that. Same for the Focus: having stuff like 'is a thief' or 'has a bow' on the same level as 'is Professor X' or 'is Magneto' feels like weird balancing.
Monte Cook stated it’s not meant to be balanced. You play what you want to see center stage. The prior edition’s focus on combat was lessened to a large degree. My big bugaboo is that the crafting and community rules are pretty good but hefty to deal with in play. They’re supposed to be “outlier mechanics”, but they’re very tied to certain Roles and Foci, urging you to live in the mini-game of crafting and communities.
It's compatible with 1st edition. The new one made some small changes to things, however. I believe rules regarding Armor were slightly modified, along with a couple others. Still pretty much the same.
Jacks are reworked from the ground up, making them a true Type of their own, rather than an awkward gestalt of Glaives and Nanos. Glaives get new abilities that add versatility and depth. Game language is cleaner. For example, "this task is one step less difficult/more difficult" situations become "this task is eased/hindered." Speed costs for wearing heavier armor is gone. Armor instead imposes an increased cost to Speed tasks on a 1:1 basis. You can still learn to wear armors and avoid this increaed cost. "Numenera Destiny", the new book in the Core Pair, is specifically targeted at the part of the setting for which the original game provided no support: using the numenera to improve lives. In this vein, "Destiny" provides three new Types: the Arkus (pl. Arkai), Delve, and Wright. These classes have abilities specifically designed to allow them to contribute to communities. Glaives, Jacks, and Nanos likewise get a few extra mechanics in "Destiny" that allow them to support communities. The new Types, though, are built specifically for community-focused play. "Destiny" likewise introduces excellent mechanics for salvaging numenera and crafting new devices and structures. A wonderful array of specific bits of numenera are named and described. "Plans" are blueprints/recipes for crafting useful things from these salvaged numenera. The array of cyphers, artifacts, vehicles, "biologicals" (living numenera creations), and "installations" (stationary devices) is amazing. We also get Community mechanics. This outlines how to deal with things on a large, settlement-sized scale. This includes establishing and/or building up a community; dealing with big threats like natural (or unnatural) disasters; or invading armies. It is as clean as easily implemented as you'd expect, operating on the same Difficulty/Target Number mechanic as the rest of the game, just at "Community Level". Numenera 2 is Numenera perfected, in my opinion. The supplements released during this era have been incredible, such as one book describing the vast Datasphere as a fully realized source of adventure, complete with lore and mechanics on how to to and from that "world". The game also introduces the best Downtime mechanics I've ever seen in any game. Running a shop, training militia, developing new abilities, etc... There is now a simple mechanical framework for this stuff. I've used this system in my 5E games with great success. So, the core mechanics are the same, but they've been improved, tidied, and expanded in wonderful ways.
I really want to like Numenera, I think the concept of it is so cool, but for some reason when I actually sit down to read the book I just can't get into the setting at all, even though on paper it sounds awesome
It's so far out there that there's really nothing that we can relate to, other than "the people of the 9th World mostly live in agrarian societies..." Even playing Numenera: Tides of Torment, you're still left like "WTF is this world?"
Start small. Life in a small village community that feels medieval but just has a few weird things present. Like that numenera the size of a cottage that the farmers use to water their fields - every evening it kind of flies up and down over the fields and rain falls from it. They've been using it for as long as living memory. No idea how it works. It just does. They sing to it, of course, and follow a ritual oiling on feast days - just like their forebears have done for so many years. Then one day, it just doesn't come back. It just flies off towards the mountains, maybe if some brave souls can follow its path they can entice it back with a familiar song, and a fragrant annointment before the crops ruin?
In Numenera, you can first begin thinking up stuff as magic or magitech regarding it's purpose, effect, etc. As you would in a high fantasy game. Then you can sprinkle in tech-like description(s) of what it looks like . Since they're supposed to be mysterious and often unknown in how they operate, you don't need to explain how they do so or what their original purpose was. You're still creating fantasy magical stuff, in essence. If the Numenera setting is too quirky for your tastes, then get the Cypher system rulebook and perhaps one of the themed splatbook add-ons if you want to focus on that type of genre setting. There are already multiple starter suggestions for typical types included in the core book, including mixing those genres, and the genre splatbooks add more specifics. Cypher is a universal toolkit so be aware that you'll at least need to pick and choose what you allow for your setting. It's quite modular in that sense.
Seems like a setting perhaps better fitted to a video game or TV series. With the XP serving as a metacurrency, along with stat pools, I feel like a lot of little beads would just be traded back and forth; seems like a few too many pools to track for my tastes.
wwe started playing Numenera, but i have a few issues with it, first the german versíon is written really complicated, i dont know if its the translation or the original text. Second its more combat than wanted, i wanted an explorative game, that makes me wonder whats around the next corner and whats out there. then we altered the recovery system: thruoght the day you have all 4 options, but you can choose wich you do, if you have an hour midday because you take a break from wandering around, you can do that even when you havnt done the 1 min. or 10min. break, wich made us use the points more, and take all the breaks during the day. Third or so, how the adventures are written, nothing is really well explained, for example i am a Nano and have the skill scan wich gives me more or less all the info about something i scan. than the adventure mentins a wired orange goo commimg out of the earth, of course i will scan it. are there informations about its toxisity, or the form, what it is, is it actually liquid?? No, my Dm had to think about that alone, or read it somewhre far later in the book, because why would someone get curios when its mentioned???? like just explai it when you mentin it. its an interesting world, but not really good if you are the DM and dont have alot of time to basically write half of the story. especially if its a story in the rulebook, it should be well written and not like a half decent homebrew campain what i like about it, you can be completly bonkers and free if you have a crazy idea for a homebrew campain and it dosnt really fit into a normal setting, DnD or DSA, or Splittermond, wich are all "normal" mideval fantasy inspired, so i will definetly try and make my campain based onn a waether dice and an underground civilization that whent extinkt. but im new to writing my on stuff, wich sucks. but jeah it dose have its downsides.
this is simple, for npc there is a deck of cards that is special for npc from cypher system fully functional for numenera, and the creatures (also for npc) is just look for conceptual images of creatures on pinterest and give a difficulty value with some modifications (advantages and disadvantages), the same happens with locations different from the book, ... and enjoy endless strange ideas ;)
Creating monsters is quite easy in Numenera/Cypher. Easy enough to do on the fly, once you're familiar with the game. Each gets a base Difficulty number (the one indicating what needs to be rolled on a d20 to beat/defend/influence/whatever against), what is essentially it's hit points (starting number based off it's Difficulty rating times a modifier) plus any specialty bonus or ability to make it stronger at a specific aspect. The monsters in the book usually have one or two special abilities but the "stat blocks" are small and straightforward. I believe there is a splatbook with random generators for some things. Can't recall which. Mostly for coming up with odd things thematic to the setting I think. Hrmm.. perhaps it's in the first bestiary? I know there's a dungeon generator and various other generators in different splatbooks.
Creating monsters, including entirely on the spot, is very easy in Numenera/Cypher. It's one of the things I absolutely love about the system. It allows a GM to focus entirely on the story and what the player characters are doing. A monster simply gets a Difficulty (Target Number) based upon how tough you want it to be. Then, you can simply tweak a few things you want to emphasize. For example, say we're creating a big tentacle monster. You decide it should something common people who find terrifying and deadly, but something that clever, relatively low-tier heroes can face. Difficulty 6 sounds about right. Diff 6 translates to Target Number 18 (6×3). This means the monster starts with 18 health. It means that players need to roll an 18 to hit it, to evade it, resist its special attacks, etc... Very clean and easy. Now, maybe you want the monster to have a bit more health. Cool. Add some extra health. We'll give it 27. Armor? Add a couple of points. We will give it 2 Armor. We said it's big, so maybe it's slightly easier to hit? We will drop its Speed Defense (how easy it is to hit) by one step, meaning it's now Difficult 5 (15). This would be listed as "Speed defense as Level 5". Is the creature really tough, resistant to pain, hard to push around, or whatnot? Then you might add: "Speed Defense as Level 5, Might Defense as Level 7". Does it have a cool attack? Describe it. It's damage and difficulty to avoid are determined by the target number, as always. You could beef it up if you wish. Maybe its attacks deliver a weak poison? We'll tack that on, too. The creature's statblock ends up looking like this: Big Tentacle Monster Level 6 (18) Health: 27 Damage Inflicted: 6 Armor: 2 Movement Speed: Short Modifications * Speed Defense as Level 5 (15) * Might Defense as Level 7 (21) Mild Poison: when a creature is hit by a tentacle attack, it must succeed on a Difficulty 3 (9) Might defense roll or take 3 Speed damage from the poison. That's it. You can do this entirely on the fly because of the ubiquitous Difficulty (Target Number) mechanic being the core of every mechanical interaction. I created this one stream-of-consciousness as I typed. Discovering and fighting/out-maneuvering a few of these would be a fun little encounter, and it took zero prep time to create them. There are guidelines provided in the books. Off the top of my head, I can't really recall how much text is devoted in Discovery, but Numenera Bestiary 1 definitely gives very clear guidance on applying additional health, Armor, and even "swarm" rules. The latter allows player characters to engage monsters in small collectives rather than one by one by one. How tough is it for the Glaive to face a group of 5 frenzied Sathosh compared to fighting a single Sathosh? Swarm rules got you covered. I hope this helps. I absolutely love Cypher System for its clean, easy mechanics. It frees me to focus on the imaginary events of the game rather than the mechanics of the game. Numenera is my favorite Cypher setting, but you can play nearly anything with it. "Gods of the Fall" and the mini-setting in "The Stars Are Fire" are two personal favorites. I think Cypher is an excellent tool for a DM's toolbox. Sometimes you want to play DnD. Sometimes you want something else. Different mechanical frameworks excel at different games.
*WARNING: WALL OF TEXT!* ...sorry. ...I just like getting to talk about my favourite RPG and its system! As a GM for Numenera 2 Discovery/Destiny, allow me to illuminate some things... Discovery is basically a reprint of the original core rulebook, so alot of the wording and such still reflects the original intent of what they wanted Numenera to be...but with some slight updates and balances into certain parts of the book for QOL improvements for gameplay and players. Destiny is the real improvement here... Destiny introduces 3 new Types/Classes, as well as some "optional changes" to the base classes to bring them into compatibility with Destiny's focus on Narrative. This is a HUGE deal, because it allows the Glaive to not just be "the fighty-warrior", but now a tactician... a weapons master... a trainer... and a recruiter! While all 6 types get access to "followers", the Glaive gets the second best advantage here, because they can get more then one, and can also "recruit" (the best is the Arkay, who is a "Leader"-type, and who can get 3 followers, and can raise them upto level 4, i think it is; usually the cap is level 3.). Another aspect for Destiny is that it provides you with extensive rules for creating your own Settlement, how you might come across that, and what it would entale to keep it functioning and safe. A big aspect in this is one of the OTHER new Types, the Wright; whose basically Bob the Builder...or a Fallout 4 Settlement Workshop. They need to know the plan, or create one, and they need the resources to make/build it... but once those requirements are met, they get to making and building stuff! They can even re-energise spent Numenera, or make their own NEW Numenera. This gameplay style is supported by the third new Type, the Delve; whose a splunking, scavanging, barely distinct from a Magpie cleptomaniac...(or so my players have always played them as)...but if you need Idiums and resources, they are PERFECT for the job. Destiny changes up the Core Types to provide them with similar settlement interactivity... as said, the Glaive basically becomes the "Town Sheriff", and can train and recruit "deputies" to provide protect and law enforcement in the settlement (they also add/reduce the severity of Ab-Human or Raider attacks on the settlement, as do Walls or defensive emplacements). The Nano becomes a centre of focus for the Town as an "all-encompassing Wise-Person", and depending on their ability to connect with the Datasphere, may be able to provide services such as "forecasting the weather for crops", "scanning the town for infiltrators", "scanning the area beyond the wall for dangers", "medicine person", and general teacher...they can also take on a Follower who can remain in your Settlement to keep up these services, acting as a Scribe to your Magician, so-to-speak. The Jack actually gets the most handy use here...as a Jack-of-all-Trades, they can basically provide assistance with any task when they are free... and depending on their skills, or gained skills, Jacks can teach people how to be farmers, how to cook certain foods, how to track creatures, how to parkour, how to fight hand-to-hand, etc... ...I dread the day someone thinks of the idea of a Mystic Wright who Dances with Dark Matter...because they're gonna (at level 6) make "Dark Matter Mecha-Godzilla"...OFCOURSE they are... If they go adventuring in the Wastes Beyond the Beyond and encounter Destroyers and Titanosaurs... you bet your SHIN they'll begin working on an Idium to combine with their Dark Matter powers, to...at a moments notice...summon a Dark Matter Mecha-Godzilla. ...Have you MET players?! As soon as they realise thats possible...it'll happen. ...Another Destiny point... Discoveries! Not to be confused with Discovery... Discoveries is a new unique tier to the "items" list... So, you have your general items... then you have your Cyphers, generally 1-off use things... then you have your Artefacts, generally incredible things that have a roll-to-use-or-lose number of uses... and then theres Discoveries; these are things that cant be moved or whatever, and are generally provided as an "End of Adventure" reward... To use some examples from Scifi and Fantasy... a Stargate from Stargate would be a Discovery... a Giant God Warrior from Nausicaa would be a Discovery (though a very BAD one)... a Locator Beacon that Teleports you to an Automated Hospital Satellite would be a Discovery (Fallout New Vegas: Old World Blues sorta thing)... In general, a "Discovery" is something the players "cant take with them"; either its too big, too heavy, or too far away. Another aspect I wanted to touch on is that the Major and Minor Effects from a 19 or 20 are related to your Focus... You describe an example of your Focus manifesting in a Minor or Major effect, and that in turn, guides the way you manifest that effect when you roll well... For Example... a "Dances with Dark Matter" Glaive may create a "Dark Matter Shadow" decoy as a minor effect, and may gain a floating "Dark Matter Shield" that'll block damage for the next 1-2 attacks. But...this is entirely designed to be how the PLAYER describes it for their effect...in this case, it may have been described "Dark Matter Protects Me", thus creating a shadow decoy and a shield. Another thing that Numenera 2 has allowed, is that iv basically established my own world setting and prior worlds outlining... which was basically just the excuse for me to grab a BUNCH of stuff from my interests to plop in as Items, Cyphers, Artefacts, and Discoveries... such as the Green Dragon Dagger from Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers...and yes, if they can figure it out, it WILL summon the Green Dragon Zord! "Give me a Numenera Skill Check" "eeeee...whats the Check?" "20" "What about reduct..." "...that IS with reductions" "12" "The Massive Mechanical Beast that you just summoned begins to rampage" "...aaarrrgh...shiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiite" Nano Player "Well, Im not getting blown up or stepped on...im out!" *teleports away* Wright who Bares a Halo of Fire "Wait, I think I can conjure a Phoenix-like Titanosaur to distract it so we can get away, Jack" Stupid Jack who got what was coming to them "DO IT! DO IT! DO IT!" ...you, ummm...you dont wanna know the rest. Now, I admit I do some homebrew/fudging sometimes to keep a game going, rather then stopping to check rules during. But, if I get anything wrong, I also make sure I give 1-2 XP to my players at the beginning of the next session. A fair compensation that my players have enjoyed; then again, my deal with them was "Dont be murder hobos, and if I get sh*t wrong, I'll give you XP for my F-ups"...surprisingly good tactic.
The best part is, all of Cypher is compatible with all the other games, and add in the Numenera Tech Compendium... And you have access to X-Men... Adeptus Astartes... Vault Dwellers... Star Trek Tricorders... the Doctor's Sonic Screwdriver... Not even making that up!
I have mixed feelings when it comes to Numenera. The best thing about it is the freedom you gain through the rules lite system and the plethora of abilities and Numenera you can use. Character creation is simple but fun and leveling up feels powerful. But the cipher system is not well designed. My biggest gripe is that this combat heavy system forces you to cast everything from your lifepoints. Especially defense is a big problem. Example: Having to dodge an attack gives you 4 outcomes. Meet the die roll, miss the die roll, spend effort to decrease difficulty and succeed the roll, spend effort to decrease the roll and fail. 3 out of these 4 outcomes result in you losing points in a pool. And the worst outcome is the effort+fail one, which can easily empty one of your pools and make you so much worse at everything. I am a player who is unlucky when it comes to rolling dice. Statistically, I roll 3 times the amount of nat1's then the average player. So having a system that punishes you severly for rolling bad is my bane. I died several times during our games. So as much as I love the storytelling in the setting and the ease at which you can start to play, I do dislike combat. Numenera is a lot better as a thriller, a exploration based game or a pure social game then a combat focused one.
Want a pet dog? Check out Seskiis and Thumans, two dog-like creatures of the Ninth World? Wolves? What's a wolf? We do have Broken Hounds- creatures built like gaunt wolves with vaguely avian skulls.
One of the few issues I have with the setting is that, there isn't much difference between it being Earth, a billion years into the future, with nothing recognisable of the Earth familiar to us, and having it set in an entirely different world. In other words, I find saying this setting is Earth is narratively useless.
That's certainly true, if you want to play it that way. Yet, I've always found it appealing that humans seem to have some enduring, special connection to Earth. To quote an in-setting NPC (Discovery p.41): “Humans lived on Earth many millions of years ago, in at least one if not many great civilizations that rose and fell. For some of the planet’s history, there were no humans. But now humans are back. How can that be? Where were they in the intervening time?” ~Visixtru, varjellen philosopher I love this, even when it's only a background detail. It can certainly be entirely ignored, but it really adds to the mood of the setting for me.
I opened this video to see what yall had to say about this system I had vague feelings of distaste about but was almost immediately reminded why I hate it. The player's HP being tied into your ability to roll well is so ass backwards I'm actually kind of surprised Monte Cook came up with it. It leads to your players being hyper conservative, avoiding basically *any* situation that could lead to them taking damage of any kind. After all, that's power they lost against their will. They might have needed those 2 points to succeed down the line.
I really love the setting, as it is a unique take on science fiction, that appeals to fans of classic fantasy nonetheless. The idea, that technology can seem like magic is not new in itself, but it wasn't ever realized that good. Numenera ventures further into the future than other settings, thus making the world more mysterious and the discovery of new advanced technologies more exciting. As far as the rules go though, I'm far less excited. For me as a DM being more used to easy to learn systems like D&D 3.x/Pathfinder and 5e, the game seems rather difficult to learn and rules heavy. The concept of all rolls being done by players makes player character death infinitely more likely than in other systems and constantly changing cyphers make it harder for a character to specialize, as "abilities" switch from session to session.
please please provide subtitles for your Deaf and Hard of Hearing viewers! Especially especially when you've got distorted voice because the autosub is especially useless then
I’ve heard Cypher described as “a D&D designer’s idea of a storygame”, which I think is actually really fitting. Numenera was specifically designed to appeal to D&D players, down to why a d20 is used instead of something more fitting like a d10, and the setting itself is really just that of D&D, replacing “magic” with “unexplainably advanced technology”. So I think it’s a really great transitional game for D&D players, as it will still *feel* like D&D, but with a narrative first focus.
The MCG Arcana of the Ancients 5e rules expansion/setting which brings Numenera sci-fi concepts into a D&D fantasy world are well worth looking at. Loads of ideas to take across into regular 5e games.
A "D&D designer's idea of a storygame" is incredibly fitting. When Monte Cook talks, for example, of mechanics that let the GM focus on the story, it's pretty clear that his meaning of "story" is more traditional GM-authored/introduced fiction that players interact with and react to.
Rolling a d10 for the system completely changes the probabilities involved, as well removing the need to ever apply effort to ease tasks higher than a difficulty 6.
For example, a Difficulty 2 needs you to roll 6 or higher - a 75% chance of success. On the other hand, if we use a d10 for it there's a 90% chance of success. The difference goes up from there with Difficulty 3 going from 60% to 80%, Difficulty 4 going from 45% to 70%, Difficulty 5 going from 30% to 60%, and Difficulty 6 going from 15% to 50% chance of success. That's not a negligible change.
Succeeding at Difficulty 10 tasks - which should be impossible using the current system without the proper skills and assets at the very least - becomes much easier as the 0% chance of hitting the target number becomes 10% (target number going from 30 to 10). Sure, they can still apply effort to get that 10% chance higher - but even before that's applied we've already broken the definition of Difficulty 10 tasks: something impossible to be done by normal folk, and something even those at the pinnacle have a hard time doing. Even Difficulty 7 tasks, which requires you to have at least one asset/trained in one skill/expend a level of effort to even have a 15% chance of success gets a 40% chance of success with a d10.
So I don't think that using a d20 is simply to appeal to D&D players.
@@deliathrana6212 that bit comes straight from the mouth of Monte Cook.
I personally disagree, because D&D is a D&D designers idea of a storygame. D&D is most of all the easiest the learn, but certainly not tailored to a particular playstyle. There are better systems for story focused games, there are better systems for combat focused games and almost all systems are better for survival games, but there is no better game for new players than D&D. Where Numenera really shines is at providing a unique kind of setting for both fantasy and science-fiction players who want to try something entirely new.
Numenera (and the Cypher System) is my favorite RPG to run. It’s so easy to prep, and the rules are super simple to grok. Character creation is so intuitive and is quite fast, and my particular group loves the narrative and mechanical freedom that constantly earning/spending XP provides.
I have a player who’s character is an Arkus-a Type from the Destiny corebook focused on social interaction and community-building. The character can’t usually use anything but light weapons, but in the course of play, she acquired her family’s heirloom longsword-a medium artifact weapon. The player came up with the idea that her character, as part of her noble upbringing and education, was trained in basic self-defense with this very family heirloom. That sounded perfectly reasonable to me, and it added an awesome wrinkle to her character story. She spent the required XP, and boom, the character can wield that specific longsword without issue-she recalls the weight and heft of it, how it handles, and can bring to bear the basic martial training her noble station required of her in youth.
Obviously, this kind of thing can be modeled in just about any RPG. But it’s baked right in to Numenera-you’re not going outside the rules to make it happen, it’s exactly how it’s intended to work.
Love Numenera. My group is doing our first campaign of it as we speak!
Great video as always
Thanks for this video, my favorite RPG reviewed by my favorite RPG reviewer. Keep up the good work and good luck with the Ennies. Love from Colombia!
Thanks for the love! 🙏🏼
I just wish MCG didn't hate/fear the idea of official VTT support.
They dipped their toes into a horrible R20 implementation. But a foundry or FG option would be lovely.
To be fair, the Cypher System is so simple, whilst being effective, it doesn't need a lot of platform support to run a game - at least in my experience. I've run the Torg Relics of Power Trilogy under Cypher rules just using raw Roll20 and it's worked just fine. (Old fashioned Torg works very well with Cypher with just a little bit of tweaking.)
Owlbear Rodeo works just fine for Cypher. The there’s not a lot of complex mechanics to you don’t really need a VTT to do the work for you.
That said! For those who do like to use VTT, greater support for Cypher would be pretty great.
there is a numenera implementation for foundry, but i don't know how complete or official it is
I have to comment and let you know that I greatly appreciate your clear narration and especially the images that you include to explain the system. This is infinitely easier to understand than watching someone talk to the camera with no visual reference. Great video!
To be fair, most games rules are combat focused because that is where you likely want crunch. Anything more directly Role Play oriented likely doesn't need much more than the players/gm working together to make a story and a few roles made up on the spot.
This will only seem true if your experience with tabletop RPGs is limited to systems that are combat-focused.
Agreed. Our Numenera games are not combat-focused. They're about 70/30 split, I'd estimate, between Exploration & Discovery / Combat.
Of course the corebook provides combat rules. If it didn't, few would find it useful. I don't consider "lots of combat rules" to be a valid criticism.
I love Numenera. It's definitely not perfect, objective it's probably far from it, but it will always have a place in my heart
Same!
Cypher is awesome. It's my favorite system to GM. Easy simple rules. the books are THICK for all the player-end options... the basic rules are only a handful of pages, and could easily be condensed into one page. Probably the easiest prep (like original Space 1889 has easy prep as well). Explaining the rules is the weird part, mainly because the character creation has to be explained at the same time to make sense. I found it easier to explain using a ready-made character as an example in a combat or puzzle situation... and then get into the character creation.
Cypher takes some burden off the GM at the table and makes improvisation easier than most. Yet still provides a wide variety of material, character customization, and combinations. Good mix!
Awesome video! It's great to see Numenera getting love.
I have not played many Numenera games, but have been a fan of it since Day 1. It was my first KS'd RPG. It certainly does look combat oriented on paper, but I think that is because out of the basic modes of play at a basic RPG level (combat, environment, downtime sort of lens to quote PF2e) combat needs the most description for the players. I found GM intrusions to be far more impactful when used in exploration or when NPCs do something in a political or social move (using nanite pheromones to sway a crowd in a bazaar to become obsessed with a PC so the NPC can get the upper hand for example).
I recommend checking out Destiny, it certainly is the less combat of the two and seems to be the new direction MCG wanted to focus on. But I have no table experience with it... yet.
Thanks for the video!
Just FYI, the first edition of Cypher System, as a setting neutral game came out in 2015 I think with a revised edition sometime around 2019. The Strange, which was my first exposure to the system, was released in 2014. The system is great and for those that want an alternative to D&D it is an easy transition.
I do have to say, it does have combat rules, but those same rules are used for all resolutions. A hacking roll is no different than attacking with a sword or convincing a guard to do x,y,z. So I see how looking at it from the outside it looks like combat is heavy in the game, but that will be very dependent on your GM.
I cannot express the great ideas whos seeds came from The Strange, Stay Alive!, and We Are All Mad Here (I am still working on reading some other source books). I just am not a huge fan of the Numenera setting. The games that spawned from Cypher System and that setting are wonderful.
Excellent review! All your reviews are great!
The combat-non-combat issue is a good point, but the setting is key here as well as how XP is gained. I've only played this on and off, but it's always a blast because combat is more often a last solution and something the players will only enter if forced. Also, almost every kind of action is "combat", i.e., the resolution of social checks and everything else is akin to "combat". This simplification strengthens the notion of only rolling if necessary, and can incentivise or provoke a lot of creative playing to avoid having to roll dice. XP as a meta-currency works extremely well with the solution that the GM never rolls the dice. It's a very nice structuring of playing and coming up with stories on the fly. But as you say, it needs buy-in from players. This is why it's a great game for new players with little or no expectations and preconceptions about how a RPG is "supposed" to be played. When I picked this game up 8 or so years ago I felt a feeling akin to when I opened the Dungeons & Dragons Rules Encyclopedia for the 0th edition to expand on the red and blue box. It provoked a feeling of the fantastical. I used it to introduced the hobby to my partner and a bunch of non-RPGer friends, and it worked like magi...manipulated nanites...
I would love to hear your thoughts on the Numenera: Destiny book.
Great review! Would love to see a review of Invisible Sun, an other game from MCG.
I checked your channel before for Delta Green, but just recently got interested in Numenera and than I see u did this recently, what a coincidence
I love the setting of Numenera, it's a beautifully weird mash of hyper-tech, fantasy, and ruin delving, but I just bounce off the system every time I go near it. Maybe I'll hack it into a different system someday.
@@03dashk64 Huh. Seems we have similar tastes in RPGs. I also have the same problem with D&D. 5e, at least. It's why I run PF2e instead.
@@03dashk64 Hey, fair enough. I'm leaning more towards other styles over time, it feels like, though I may just be wanting variety. I've been itching to run a custom Cortex Prime game or a campaign of Heart: The City Beneath. I've heard some good things about Mythras recently though, added it to my 'To Investigate' list. What's Pendragon like?
@@03dashk64 Sold. Both of those are getting bumped up the list. Thanks for the recommendations! That idea of slowly incrementing your skills via actual use is perfect. Pendragon's lineage play is a very interesting system as well. Not often you see games specify the passing of time like that. Sounds like it works really well here though.
@@03dashk64 It's pretty easy to simply give players more tools. We've played Numenera games in the past in which we awarded twice the number of recommended abilities per tier. The characters simply had a few more cool tricks at their disposal, without any real unbalance.
Any chance we get a video about Numenera Destiny next?
I love your videos! Numenera holds a special place in my heart.
Loved the video. You’ve done an excellent job explaining the setting and mechanics in an easily accessible manner.
Thanks!
I really do enjoy running Numenera but have had a player or two bounce off the system. Still, the group I do play with enjoy it quite a lot, and the setting is very good.
To note Monte Cook Games are still releasing Numenera content, and I'm about to start a new campaign using the Glimmering Valley book, which sells itself as an ideal way to introduce new players to the game and setting.
In general releases have slowed down since they are supporting several other games, but new books specific to Numenera and its setting still get released regularly.
Great review as usual. I'd love you to review Numenera Destiny too.
Great review !
Really good video and overview. I think you covered the points of why Numenera is so good. I really like Numenera and the Cypher system. I don’t get to play it enough. However, on your point that it’s still combat centric really depends upon the GM. I was recently at Gamehole Con and played in quite a few Numenera games. Most were very story driven. In fact, in one, We only had one brief combat in the entire four hour session. The skills and cyphers we carried were perfectly crafted to mesh with the scenario.
Yeah, a good GM could really make this game sing.
I'm gonna tell you one of my cringiest moments as a GM: Numenera was my first TTRPG and I LOVED the idea! So many possibilities.
Unfortunately, my first time GMing, I totally tried to bring Fallout into the setting and it understandably was received poorly. I wake up in cringing cold sweats when I remember that. I've learned since then!
I love the setting and I can appreciate MCG's thought processes if some of it did have some missteps or oddities. Thanks for reviewing it, I look forward to seeing if/when you do the Destiny book!
Also, congrats on the Ennies nomination! I made sure to vote for you, you're doing something unique, fun, and helpful. Thank you!
For some reason, RUclips keeps sending me back to this video. I've seen it, RUclips, watched it and commented. 😄
I will take this third opportunity to offer a counterpoint to one opinion in the video. I disagree that Numenera has reached a long-in-the-tooth, best-days-behind-it stage. Numenera receives constant support via extremely imaginative, high quality supplements. The "Numenera 2" refresh that produced the Destiny & Discovery core pair wasn't the end of it.
Since the new core pair released, we've received many amazing supplements, full length adventures, even a sweeping campaign book. There's a ton of depth to the material, now, that wasn't provided by the original book alone. This steady flow of content better shows what a Numenera campaign is for those who find it a bit esoteric.
The supplements are also just wildly creative. The creativity and execution of a book like "Voices of the Datasphere" is too much to address in one comment. It's very impressive, and that's just one book.
If they stopped now, I'd have enough great material to run Numenera for a lifetime. Yet, I have no doubt that more great ideas will inspire more great books to add to my shelf. (I'm very space conscious. Numenera is one of the only collections I have in hardcover these days. They're too nice to ignore.)
8:00 I can understand where you're coming from, using a computer to build your character but I don't know if I'd really recommend that. I think you might be better off with a true session zero where the players really take the time to create their characters, and write down a separate piece of paper anything they might need to remember, it'll give them a better feel for their character and it's workings even if it takes time and feels a fair bit more clunky to begin with.
Numenera was released after Monte Cook left WotC. It was supposed to be an alternative to 5e. I have GMed a lot of Numenera and combat was always something that could happen but typically it was a game of exploration and diplomacy.
i loved playing torment; tides of numenera. i didnt know there was more to numenera
Numenera is awesome! Thanks for this video. What is, in your view the best virtual table-top platform for this game?
Amazing overview, thank you
Sup Dave. Do you have any plans to review Exalted 3e? I'm really curious to hear your take on it
It's a cool setting, but I've found that the very system for rolling slows down gameplay significantly, because you have to tell the GM every single time how many steps you reduce the check by, why, and what bonuses you get etc because there are also abilities that give numerical bonuses.
Yeah I can see that, now that you mention it. Kinda clunky.
you did a great job explaining this very strange game
Numenera is a good game that seems like it was designed exactly for me I've never really gotten into it as much as I'd like. The systems good and by all accounts I SHOULD love the setting, it's inspired by all my favorite books, my favorite artists and movies and everything, Moebius & Miyazaki and Mézières & Moorcock. But in practice reading the books just makes me bored, the setting and art feels like diet Moebius, all the strangeness and weirdness boiled down into a sorta generic sci-fi thing more reminiscent of a retextured D&D Sword Coast than Edena or Sable. I get that the settings already hard to communicate but I want it to be even *weirder*, even more colourful.
Awesome review
I've run it a couple of times, and for me a couple things stand out: Primarily, I agree with the contrast between how it communicates itself as a combat-lite system, but it clearly seems like fighting is still the main bag here. That said, I really enjoy the give and take of leveraging your own skill pools to reduce DCs, but other than that it the cypher system doesn't really belong in the d20 combat realm. If 5e is your only touch point for trpg's, it is a huge adjustment getting into this headspace (for players and GMs: try to make an adventure where you don't have to fight anything and you'll see what I mean).
The second thing is this: the organization of the books is a mess. Making a character takes forever because its laid out pretty poorly imo, and it doesn't help that you need to look through 3 books (the player's guide rewrites the character creation process so it's easier) in multiple sections all over the place to make one, given that these character sheets aren't supposed to be complex.
The system is actually pretty elegant, but I agree that it suffers from trying to play 5e in it, and therefore takes more work on the front end to build objectives and challenges that suit the system.
Have you had the chance to look at Freelancer: Skies over Tolindia?
I absolutely love it to death but it seems to be kinda obscure and underrated. My favorite part of it is the ability system that reminds me a lot of perks in fallout
I remember plying a jack in a game long time ago.
He started as a confused cyborg with amnesia and ended pretty much like a re-vengeance Raiden. It was a pretty fun edgy character.
The gm never ended the campaign properly, though.
I've only read the first edition, so this might not be entirely accurate anymore.
But what I found far more jarring than the combat focus of some of the character options was the balance disparity between some of the options. On the higher tiers the nano gets stuff like teleportation or mind control, all while the glaive gets stuff like 'make several attacks' or 'deal a bit more damage and knock someone prone'. It's quadratic wizards/linear warriors all over again, and that's kinda weird in a setting where everyone is infused with nanobots and possibly cyber/psionic/mutant/something else. I would have expected more abilities like 'you turn into a nine foot monster' or 'supercharge one of your artifact weapons once a day because you instinctively get weapons' or something like that.
Same for the Focus: having stuff like 'is a thief' or 'has a bow' on the same level as 'is Professor X' or 'is Magneto' feels like weird balancing.
Monte Cook stated it’s not meant to be balanced. You play what you want to see center stage. The prior edition’s focus on combat was lessened to a large degree. My big bugaboo is that the crafting and community rules are pretty good but hefty to deal with in play. They’re supposed to be “outlier mechanics”, but they’re very tied to certain Roles and Foci, urging you to live in the mini-game of crafting and communities.
I have the 1st addition of the game. Is it still the same system or are there any major changes to the rules?
No it’s the same system and rules.
It's compatible with 1st edition. The new one made some small changes to things, however. I believe rules regarding Armor were slightly modified, along with a couple others. Still pretty much the same.
Jacks are reworked from the ground up, making them a true Type of their own, rather than an awkward gestalt of Glaives and Nanos.
Glaives get new abilities that add versatility and depth.
Game language is cleaner. For example, "this task is one step less difficult/more difficult" situations become "this task is eased/hindered."
Speed costs for wearing heavier armor is gone. Armor instead imposes an increased cost to Speed tasks on a 1:1 basis. You can still learn to wear armors and avoid this increaed cost.
"Numenera Destiny", the new book in the Core Pair, is specifically targeted at the part of the setting for which the original game provided no support: using the numenera to improve lives.
In this vein, "Destiny" provides three new Types: the Arkus (pl. Arkai), Delve, and Wright. These classes have abilities specifically designed to allow them to contribute to communities. Glaives, Jacks, and Nanos likewise get a few extra mechanics in "Destiny" that allow them to support communities. The new Types, though, are built specifically for community-focused play.
"Destiny" likewise introduces excellent mechanics for salvaging numenera and crafting new devices and structures. A wonderful array of specific bits of numenera are named and described. "Plans" are blueprints/recipes for crafting useful things from these salvaged numenera. The array of cyphers, artifacts, vehicles, "biologicals" (living numenera creations), and "installations" (stationary devices) is amazing.
We also get Community mechanics. This outlines how to deal with things on a large, settlement-sized scale. This includes establishing and/or building up a community; dealing with big threats like natural (or unnatural) disasters; or invading armies. It is as clean as easily implemented as you'd expect, operating on the same Difficulty/Target Number mechanic as the rest of the game, just at "Community Level".
Numenera 2 is Numenera perfected, in my opinion. The supplements released during this era have been incredible, such as one book describing the vast Datasphere as a fully realized source of adventure, complete with lore and mechanics on how to to and from that "world".
The game also introduces the best Downtime mechanics I've ever seen in any game. Running a shop, training militia, developing new abilities, etc... There is now a simple mechanical framework for this stuff. I've used this system in my 5E games with great success.
So, the core mechanics are the same, but they've been improved, tidied, and expanded in wonderful ways.
@@elementzero3379 Thanks for the detailed explanation. The whole world building aspest including crafting and community sound interesting.
I really want to like Numenera, I think the concept of it is so cool, but for some reason when I actually sit down to read the book I just can't get into the setting at all, even though on paper it sounds awesome
It's so far out there that there's really nothing that we can relate to, other than "the people of the 9th World mostly live in agrarian societies..."
Even playing Numenera: Tides of Torment, you're still left like "WTF is this world?"
Start small. Life in a small village community that feels medieval but just has a few weird things present. Like that numenera the size of a cottage that the farmers use to water their fields - every evening it kind of flies up and down over the fields and rain falls from it. They've been using it for as long as living memory. No idea how it works. It just does. They sing to it, of course, and follow a ritual oiling on feast days - just like their forebears have done for so many years. Then one day, it just doesn't come back. It just flies off towards the mountains, maybe if some brave souls can follow its path they can entice it back with a familiar song, and a fragrant annointment before the crops ruin?
In Numenera, you can first begin thinking up stuff as magic or magitech regarding it's purpose, effect, etc. As you would in a high fantasy game. Then you can sprinkle in tech-like description(s) of what it looks like . Since they're supposed to be mysterious and often unknown in how they operate, you don't need to explain how they do so or what their original purpose was. You're still creating fantasy magical stuff, in essence.
If the Numenera setting is too quirky for your tastes, then get the Cypher system rulebook and perhaps one of the themed splatbook add-ons if you want to focus on that type of genre setting. There are already multiple starter suggestions for typical types included in the core book, including mixing those genres, and the genre splatbooks add more specifics. Cypher is a universal toolkit so be aware that you'll at least need to pick and choose what you allow for your setting. It's quite modular in that sense.
This Rpg Stories VTT that is sponsoring..did you actually try it? It sounds nice and looks even better
Not yet, but I’ll be backing it.
Seems like a setting perhaps better fitted to a video game or TV series. With the XP serving as a metacurrency, along with stat pools, I feel like a lot of little beads would just be traded back and forth; seems like a few too many pools to track for my tastes.
wwe started playing Numenera, but i have a few issues with it, first the german versíon is written really complicated, i dont know if its the translation or the original text.
Second its more combat than wanted, i wanted an explorative game, that makes me wonder whats around the next corner and whats out there.
then we altered the recovery system: thruoght the day you have all 4 options, but you can choose wich you do, if you have an hour midday because you take a break from wandering around, you can do that even when you havnt done the 1 min. or 10min. break, wich made us use the points more, and take all the breaks during the day.
Third or so, how the adventures are written, nothing is really well explained, for example i am a Nano and have the skill scan wich gives me more or less all the info about something i scan. than the adventure mentins a wired orange goo commimg out of the earth, of course i will scan it. are there informations about its toxisity, or the form, what it is, is it actually liquid?? No, my Dm had to think about that alone, or read it somewhre far later in the book, because why would someone get curios when its mentioned???? like just explai it when you mentin it.
its an interesting world, but not really good if you are the DM and dont have alot of time to basically write half of the story. especially if its a story in the rulebook, it should be well written and not like a half decent homebrew campain
what i like about it, you can be completly bonkers and free if you have a crazy idea for a homebrew campain and it dosnt really fit into a normal setting, DnD or DSA, or Splittermond, wich are all "normal" mideval fantasy inspired, so i will definetly try and make my campain based onn a waether dice and an underground civilization that whent extinkt. but im new to writing my on stuff, wich sucks. but jeah it dose have its downsides.
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I love this game.
In some ways, the base came reminds me more of Dungeon World than DnD
Fantastic setting but I'm not a fan of the game system itself. I use Into the Odd with it and it works great.
Dave, does it include information for creating your own monsters and weird NPCs?
this is simple, for npc there is a deck of cards that is special for npc from cypher system fully functional for numenera, and the creatures (also for npc) is just look for conceptual images of creatures on pinterest and give a difficulty value with some modifications (advantages and disadvantages), the same happens with locations different from the book, ... and enjoy endless strange ideas ;)
Creating monsters is quite easy in Numenera/Cypher. Easy enough to do on the fly, once you're familiar with the game. Each gets a base Difficulty number (the one indicating what needs to be rolled on a d20 to beat/defend/influence/whatever against), what is essentially it's hit points (starting number based off it's Difficulty rating times a modifier) plus any specialty bonus or ability to make it stronger at a specific aspect. The monsters in the book usually have one or two special abilities but the "stat blocks" are small and straightforward.
I believe there is a splatbook with random generators for some things. Can't recall which. Mostly for coming up with odd things thematic to the setting I think. Hrmm.. perhaps it's in the first bestiary? I know there's a dungeon generator and various other generators in different splatbooks.
Creating monsters, including entirely on the spot, is very easy in Numenera/Cypher. It's one of the things I absolutely love about the system. It allows a GM to focus entirely on the story and what the player characters are doing.
A monster simply gets a Difficulty (Target Number) based upon how tough you want it to be. Then, you can simply tweak a few things you want to emphasize.
For example, say we're creating a big tentacle monster. You decide it should something common people who find terrifying and deadly, but something that clever, relatively low-tier heroes can face.
Difficulty 6 sounds about right. Diff 6 translates to Target Number 18 (6×3). This means the monster starts with 18 health. It means that players need to roll an 18 to hit it, to evade it, resist its special attacks, etc... Very clean and easy.
Now, maybe you want the monster to have a bit more health. Cool. Add some extra health. We'll give it 27. Armor? Add a couple of points. We will give it 2 Armor.
We said it's big, so maybe it's slightly easier to hit? We will drop its Speed Defense (how easy it is to hit) by one step, meaning it's now Difficult 5 (15). This would be listed as "Speed defense as Level 5".
Is the creature really tough, resistant to pain, hard to push around, or whatnot? Then you might add: "Speed Defense as Level 5, Might Defense as Level 7".
Does it have a cool attack? Describe it. It's damage and difficulty to avoid are determined by the target number, as always. You could beef it up if you wish. Maybe its attacks deliver a weak poison? We'll tack that on, too.
The creature's statblock ends up looking like this:
Big Tentacle Monster Level 6 (18)
Health: 27
Damage Inflicted: 6
Armor: 2
Movement Speed: Short
Modifications
* Speed Defense as Level 5 (15)
* Might Defense as Level 7 (21)
Mild Poison: when a creature is hit by a tentacle attack, it must succeed on a Difficulty 3 (9) Might defense roll or take 3 Speed damage from the poison.
That's it. You can do this entirely on the fly because of the ubiquitous Difficulty (Target Number) mechanic being the core of every mechanical interaction. I created this one stream-of-consciousness as I typed. Discovering and fighting/out-maneuvering a few of these would be a fun little encounter, and it took zero prep time to create them.
There are guidelines provided in the books. Off the top of my head, I can't really recall how much text is devoted in Discovery, but Numenera Bestiary 1 definitely gives very clear guidance on applying additional health, Armor, and even "swarm" rules. The latter allows player characters to engage monsters in small collectives rather than one by one by one. How tough is it for the Glaive to face a group of 5 frenzied Sathosh compared to fighting a single Sathosh? Swarm rules got you covered.
I hope this helps. I absolutely love Cypher System for its clean, easy mechanics. It frees me to focus on the imaginary events of the game rather than the mechanics of the game. Numenera is my favorite Cypher setting, but you can play nearly anything with it. "Gods of the Fall" and the mini-setting in "The Stars Are Fire" are two personal favorites.
I think Cypher is an excellent tool for a DM's toolbox. Sometimes you want to play DnD. Sometimes you want something else. Different mechanical frameworks excel at different games.
@@elementzero3379 - Great example!
*WARNING: WALL OF TEXT!* ...sorry.
...I just like getting to talk about my favourite RPG and its system!
As a GM for Numenera 2 Discovery/Destiny, allow me to illuminate some things...
Discovery is basically a reprint of the original core rulebook, so alot of the wording and such still reflects the original intent of what they wanted Numenera to be...but with some slight updates and balances into certain parts of the book for QOL improvements for gameplay and players.
Destiny is the real improvement here...
Destiny introduces 3 new Types/Classes, as well as some "optional changes" to the base classes to bring them into compatibility with Destiny's focus on Narrative. This is a HUGE deal, because it allows the Glaive to not just be "the fighty-warrior", but now a tactician... a weapons master... a trainer... and a recruiter! While all 6 types get access to "followers", the Glaive gets the second best advantage here, because they can get more then one, and can also "recruit" (the best is the Arkay, who is a "Leader"-type, and who can get 3 followers, and can raise them upto level 4, i think it is; usually the cap is level 3.).
Another aspect for Destiny is that it provides you with extensive rules for creating your own Settlement, how you might come across that, and what it would entale to keep it functioning and safe. A big aspect in this is one of the OTHER new Types, the Wright; whose basically Bob the Builder...or a Fallout 4 Settlement Workshop. They need to know the plan, or create one, and they need the resources to make/build it... but once those requirements are met, they get to making and building stuff! They can even re-energise spent Numenera, or make their own NEW Numenera. This gameplay style is supported by the third new Type, the Delve; whose a splunking, scavanging, barely distinct from a Magpie cleptomaniac...(or so my players have always played them as)...but if you need Idiums and resources, they are PERFECT for the job.
Destiny changes up the Core Types to provide them with similar settlement interactivity... as said, the Glaive basically becomes the "Town Sheriff", and can train and recruit "deputies" to provide protect and law enforcement in the settlement (they also add/reduce the severity of Ab-Human or Raider attacks on the settlement, as do Walls or defensive emplacements). The Nano becomes a centre of focus for the Town as an "all-encompassing Wise-Person", and depending on their ability to connect with the Datasphere, may be able to provide services such as "forecasting the weather for crops", "scanning the town for infiltrators", "scanning the area beyond the wall for dangers", "medicine person", and general teacher...they can also take on a Follower who can remain in your Settlement to keep up these services, acting as a Scribe to your Magician, so-to-speak. The Jack actually gets the most handy use here...as a Jack-of-all-Trades, they can basically provide assistance with any task when they are free... and depending on their skills, or gained skills, Jacks can teach people how to be farmers, how to cook certain foods, how to track creatures, how to parkour, how to fight hand-to-hand, etc...
...I dread the day someone thinks of the idea of a Mystic Wright who Dances with Dark Matter...because they're gonna (at level 6) make "Dark Matter Mecha-Godzilla"...OFCOURSE they are... If they go adventuring in the Wastes Beyond the Beyond and encounter Destroyers and Titanosaurs... you bet your SHIN they'll begin working on an Idium to combine with their Dark Matter powers, to...at a moments notice...summon a Dark Matter Mecha-Godzilla.
...Have you MET players?! As soon as they realise thats possible...it'll happen.
...Another Destiny point...
Discoveries! Not to be confused with Discovery...
Discoveries is a new unique tier to the "items" list... So, you have your general items... then you have your Cyphers, generally 1-off use things... then you have your Artefacts, generally incredible things that have a roll-to-use-or-lose number of uses... and then theres Discoveries; these are things that cant be moved or whatever, and are generally provided as an "End of Adventure" reward... To use some examples from Scifi and Fantasy... a Stargate from Stargate would be a Discovery... a Giant God Warrior from Nausicaa would be a Discovery (though a very BAD one)... a Locator Beacon that Teleports you to an Automated Hospital Satellite would be a Discovery (Fallout New Vegas: Old World Blues sorta thing)... In general, a "Discovery" is something the players "cant take with them"; either its too big, too heavy, or too far away.
Another aspect I wanted to touch on is that the Major and Minor Effects from a 19 or 20 are related to your Focus... You describe an example of your Focus manifesting in a Minor or Major effect, and that in turn, guides the way you manifest that effect when you roll well...
For Example... a "Dances with Dark Matter" Glaive may create a "Dark Matter Shadow" decoy as a minor effect, and may gain a floating "Dark Matter Shield" that'll block damage for the next 1-2 attacks. But...this is entirely designed to be how the PLAYER describes it for their effect...in this case, it may have been described "Dark Matter Protects Me", thus creating a shadow decoy and a shield.
Another thing that Numenera 2 has allowed, is that iv basically established my own world setting and prior worlds outlining... which was basically just the excuse for me to grab a BUNCH of stuff from my interests to plop in as Items, Cyphers, Artefacts, and Discoveries... such as the Green Dragon Dagger from Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers...and yes, if they can figure it out, it WILL summon the Green Dragon Zord!
"Give me a Numenera Skill Check"
"eeeee...whats the Check?"
"20"
"What about reduct..."
"...that IS with reductions"
"12"
"The Massive Mechanical Beast that you just summoned begins to rampage"
"...aaarrrgh...shiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiite"
Nano Player "Well, Im not getting blown up or stepped on...im out!" *teleports away*
Wright who Bares a Halo of Fire "Wait, I think I can conjure a Phoenix-like Titanosaur to distract it so we can get away, Jack"
Stupid Jack who got what was coming to them "DO IT! DO IT! DO IT!"
...you, ummm...you dont wanna know the rest.
Now, I admit I do some homebrew/fudging sometimes to keep a game going, rather then stopping to check rules during. But, if I get anything wrong, I also make sure I give 1-2 XP to my players at the beginning of the next session. A fair compensation that my players have enjoyed; then again, my deal with them was "Dont be murder hobos, and if I get sh*t wrong, I'll give you XP for my F-ups"...surprisingly good tactic.
That’s quite the write-up. Thank you for sharing!
The best part is, all of Cypher is compatible with all the other games, and add in the Numenera Tech Compendium...
And you have access to X-Men... Adeptus Astartes... Vault Dwellers... Star Trek Tricorders... the Doctor's Sonic Screwdriver...
Not even making that up!
@@saraphys5555 Damn, that’s pretty cool.
Awesome!
Dave, could you please cove
Kult: Divinity Lost? It's really a deserving game. A very grim and dark City of Mist.
I have mixed feelings when it comes to Numenera. The best thing about it is the freedom you gain through the rules lite system and the plethora of abilities and Numenera you can use. Character creation is simple but fun and leveling up feels powerful.
But the cipher system is not well designed. My biggest gripe is that this combat heavy system forces you to cast everything from your lifepoints. Especially defense is a big problem.
Example: Having to dodge an attack gives you 4 outcomes. Meet the die roll, miss the die roll, spend effort to decrease difficulty and succeed the roll, spend effort to decrease the roll and fail.
3 out of these 4 outcomes result in you losing points in a pool. And the worst outcome is the effort+fail one, which can easily empty one of your pools and make you so much worse at everything.
I am a player who is unlucky when it comes to rolling dice. Statistically, I roll 3 times the amount of nat1's then the average player.
So having a system that punishes you severly for rolling bad is my bane. I died several times during our games.
So as much as I love the storytelling in the setting and the ease at which you can start to play, I do dislike combat. Numenera is a lot better as a thriller, a exploration based game or a pure social game then a combat focused one.
So, no dog stats?
Too far in the future!!!
Want a pet dog? Check out Seskiis and Thumans, two dog-like creatures of the Ninth World?
Wolves? What's a wolf? We do have Broken Hounds- creatures built like gaunt wolves with vaguely avian skulls.
One of the few issues I have with the setting is that, there isn't much difference between it being Earth, a billion years into the future, with nothing recognisable of the Earth familiar to us, and having it set in an entirely different world.
In other words, I find saying this setting is Earth is narratively useless.
True but you can easily just say it's on an entire different planet. It doesn't matter at all if this is earth or not.
@@Sh0cklyz That's exactly my point
That's certainly true, if you want to play it that way. Yet, I've always found it appealing that humans seem to have some enduring, special connection to Earth.
To quote an in-setting NPC (Discovery p.41):
“Humans lived on Earth many millions of years ago, in at least one if not many great civilizations that rose and fell. For some of the planet’s history, there were no humans. But now humans are back. How can that be? Where were they in the intervening time?”
~Visixtru, varjellen philosopher
I love this, even when it's only a background detail. It can certainly be entirely ignored, but it really adds to the mood of the setting for me.
@@elementzero3379 Good point. It adds to the mystery.
I opened this video to see what yall had to say about this system I had vague feelings of distaste about but was almost immediately reminded why I hate it. The player's HP being tied into your ability to roll well is so ass backwards I'm actually kind of surprised Monte Cook came up with it.
It leads to your players being hyper conservative, avoiding basically *any* situation that could lead to them taking damage of any kind. After all, that's power they lost against their will. They might have needed those 2 points to succeed down the line.
I really love the setting, as it is a unique take on science fiction, that appeals to fans of classic fantasy nonetheless. The idea, that technology can seem like magic is not new in itself, but it wasn't ever realized that good. Numenera ventures further into the future than other settings, thus making the world more mysterious and the discovery of new advanced technologies more exciting.
As far as the rules go though, I'm far less excited. For me as a DM being more used to easy to learn systems like D&D 3.x/Pathfinder and 5e, the game seems rather difficult to learn and rules heavy. The concept of all rolls being done by players makes player character death infinitely more likely than in other systems and constantly changing cyphers make it harder for a character to specialize, as "abilities" switch from session to session.
The Numa Numa verse.
Hearing it pronounced "fo-sai" hurt my brain. Lol. It should be pronounced "fo-kai". Like a derivative of the word focus.
Goog it, professor.
Numenera discovery: to descover.. the start of the riddle.
numenera destiny: your end goal.. the conculsion of the riddle.
never found it hard
please please provide subtitles for your Deaf and Hard of Hearing viewers!
Especially especially when you've got distorted voice because the autosub is especially useless then
Numbers is an art book in search of a game
The setting is to incoherent, as for me. Too unstable, not enough rules
Setting seems aweful. The system seems mildly interesting. Pass
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