The Book Reveals Hidden Truths

Once again, I have ventured into the Ninth World of Numenera.

At the Roleplay Club I frequent, we try to be accomodating towards new arrivals so it's fairly easy to get a spot at a game whenever you show up. As my shifts were causing chaos in my schedule, I have had no regular spot so I got to play various characters whenever I had a spare evening to play.

This time I was playing a sneaky character whose main characteristic was being constantly suspicious of others. So while I was drinking and cracking jokes at the table, my character remained observant and silently assessing the situation as it unfolded. When it came to scenes where our group was interacting with NPCs, I didn't have much to do actively without breaking character.

So I reached for the book and perused it while listening to the other players.

I've mentioned before that, as a system, Numenera relies on a specific sentence descriptor as its base for a character concept. Said phrase being: 'I am a [adjective] [noun] who [verb].' I've also mentioned that I have not felt that this sentence was anything more than a conceptual guideline, having very little to do with your character from a mechanical standpoint.

It seems I was wrong.

Within the confines of two covers, I've found a list of adjectives, nouns and verbs (although I feel they were closer to verb phrases at times) that you can combine to create your character. Each of them came with a unique set of traits, backed up by system mechanics, to incorporate them into the game.

I was not aware this was part of the system and a quick comparison of the list to my character showed me that certain descriptors my character had were missing from the list. Maybe they were taken out of some supplementary materials or were simply not used mechanically. Whatever the case may be, I suppose this is what gave me a bad impression of the game initially as I'm quite fond of the modularity inherent in such a character creation system.

This matter requires further investigation...

Numenera, Once More

It's been well over a month since I sat down to play Numenera.
I nearly forgot about the game until I came by this trailer.



I must admit that I've never played Planescape: Torment. A sad fact I hope to rectify in the future, as I've heard a lot of good about the game. Based on that, the above trailer and having experienced the setting, this game offers great promise.

I feel the setting is far better suited to a video game than a roleplaying game. The art looks fantastic and gives that feel of a futuristic setting, although I suppose you'd have to play through the game to see its scavenging approach to technology, unlike most sci-fi settings where science rules supreme.

I'm especially looking forward to seeing the game's approach to story-related choices. The graph at the end of the trailer looks promising. If the choices are major enough that they change your experience of the gameplay, and crafted appropriately, it might be worth playing more than a few times. Most of the time, when I encounter choices within a game, they generally only change NPC responses, which in a narrative sense is hardly any change at all.

Since I'm alredy talking about Numenera.

A while ago I've received an email from Kickstarter informing me about The Night World, a boardgame set in the same setting. I did not back the game neither have I properly looked at it but I do have to admit, the recent character art is looking pretty sweet.

I still think that the setting has some interesting ideas and the art looks great.

I do hope that it will work better in these new mediums than it did as a roleplaying game.

Entering The Ninth World

It's a map!

This week I had the pleasure to sit down and play a game of Numenera.

It's a fantasy setting based in the far future.

You're in a world that has seen the rise and fall of civilisations that were far beyond the scope of our current one in terms of technology. It's billions of years into the future and humanity is once again rebuilding itself in a world filled with ancient technology.

The game takes seriously Arthur C. Clarke's words that 'Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.' As such, we had a moment where we entered through a portal, found ourselves in some kind of structure and found a small room with buttons on the wall. When one was pressed, the doors closed! We experienced a strange sensation of the floor moving up and when it stopped, the doors opened to show that everything changed!

We found a lift.

It is odd playing in a setting where instead of explaining any out of the ordinary item as magical, we say it's just science. Superior and advanced science but science nonetheless!

I'm told it was a Kickstarter game and the official game site confirms it.

Numenera's website also mentions that its system is easy to run.
'Numenera gameplay involves a simple die roll that determines success or failure for any kind of action.'

It's true that we only ever had to roll a d20 for any sort of check but this is hardly anything new. I've not found many systems where you'd have to roll multiple times and do some complicated math to use a Skill, for instance, analysing an artefact. One roll either tells you what it is or what you think it is (or nothing at all, GM discretion advised).

Most system complexity stems from combat. Sadly, we experienced very little in terms of combat. The one opportunity we had, we prefered to use the sneaky approach to re-stealing items rather than go on a suicide mission so I can't comment on combat complexity here.

When I first heard about this game, I was told that characters are made by choosing descriptors and adding them into a sentence: I’m a [blank] [blank] who [blanks].

I believe my character was a Clever Jack who Runs Swiftly. There's three character classes called Glaives (analogue to warriors), Nanos (wizard-like) and Jacks (jack-of-all-trade). While my skillset did reflect the character, I was disappointed that choosing the descriptors didn't provide me with any mechanical benefits. It was meant to be used as a Concept which, being structured as a specific sentence, I found highly limiting.

I wasn't fond of the way Cyphers worked either. That's what artifacts of bygone times are called within the setting. They provide you with an awesome effect! I was highly excited to read that my character had a device that would turn her invisible but my excitement died quickly when it was mentioned that Cyphers are one-use items only. This does fit in well with a focus of discovering and scavenging lost technology as it forces you to continue the practice but it also means you can't keep what you found for long.

So if you think you can walk around with a sword that shoots laserz, you can! Only once...

I would much prefer some other limits to the devices rather than a simple one-use limitation.

I have to say, I wasn't sold on the game at first. The setting required me getting used to it but I can see potential in it now. My initial thoughts on the system, having played through one session, aren't great but it's nothing that can't be worked with. All in all, the game session was enjoyable and it did provide a different feel when you imagined your fantasy with sci-fi influences.