So I've recently starting reading the Numenera RPG, and I've got some questions:
What's the best sourcebook after the main book?
What are some good descriptor/focus combos?
Why doesn't the GM get to roll any dice?!? I like rolling dice.
Do you use the intrusions mechanic to award XP, or something different?
Is there somewhere to download all the art from the books?
Bueller? Bueller?
>>43481610
>Why doesn't the GM get to roll any dice?!? I like rolling dice
Probably because they don't need to roll dice to be able to storytell.
>>43482302
You don't need to, but I like to.
The cypher system rulebook has better rules for armor penalties.
Use DP instead of XP, the Monte Cock XP spending system is dumb.
Roll the dice as the DM for hidden perception tasks and other shit. That or you have a monster that knows chaos burst or someshit. You'll need a d20 at least.
Ninth World Guidebook, beastary, and arthour's guide to the numenera are ok. The charater options book is pretty necessary, it gives you more spells, foci, and descriptors.
>>43482386
Thanks. What's DP?
Has anybody here used Numenera or the Cypher system to play other settings?
I would think Rifts, for example, would be vastly improved by using these rules.
>>43482424
It is described in the corebook. Its basically Fate Points or bootleg XP.
>>43482791
Shoot, I must have missed that. I've been reading mostly setting fluff and just skimmed the basic rules.
Is the d20 a good choice of die in this system? Seems awfully swingy considering there are no modifiers to rolls (just changes in difficulty).
>>43483654
You can modify a task through effort, training, and assets. So there are modifiers through training (ei warrior trained in shortswords, compared to wizard or nano who doesn't get an effective +3).
A warrior/fighter character would also probably have Might or Speed edge which makes it more cost-effective to use effort for certain actions. So in a way there are modifiers, they aren't very apparent on first glance.
>>43481610
I used to like rolling dice as the GM, but these days I've really come to appreciate systems where I don't have to roll for NPCs. I'm a lazy fucker.
>>43481610
This is the most important book besides the core book.
>>43481610
>What's the best sourcebook after the main book?
Which ever you need.
>What are some good descriptor/focus combos?
Doomed and X, literally a deadman walking fucks up most plots and its fun.
Why doesn't the GM get to roll any dice?!? I like rolling dice.
>Do you use the intrusions mechanic to award XP, or something different?
I usually do the norm, but I always use it for GM lightning.
>Is there somewhere to download all the art from the books?
Theres a link floating about, just look.
>>43484561
>fanfic detectedupload the PDF anyway, please
>>43481610
>best sourcebook
Character Options
>why doesn't the DM roll the dice
Easy way to reinforce the notion that in a game, everything revolves around the players. Easy to change if you want.
>intrusions for xp.
I always try to give an intrusion /player every session. If I didn't have enough opportunities to use them yo heighten the action I use them to force character interaction. ( you have to tell this other character about an undefined memory you can't get out of your head, etc.) Sometimes I throw in extra ones Tk get my guys up to the next step of experience.
Personally, I love the cypher system for many many reasons, and am getting my group pretty onto it. However, it does rely heavily on the GM to make it great.
>>43483654
The d20 is essentially a d6 in Numenera, with extra granularity for crits and intrusions.
>>43485099
It wasn't written by Cooke's girlfriend.
Not that that makes it any good. They're both shit writers.
>>43485356
*wasn't
I mean was. Fucking tiny phone keys.
>>43485356
Monte's 40-something and only now does he get a girlfriend?
>>43485428
He may've had other ones.
I think Shanna Germaine is his grill, but 100% sure.
Bruce Cordell did The Strange. He's a better writer and designer.
>>43485500
*but not
Fucking hell.
What's the coolest place to explore and adventure in on the continent?
>>43481610
>Why doesn't the GM get to roll any dice?!? I like rolling dice.
Eh, it frees you up to walk around the table, be animated, and solidifies your place in the game. You create, the characters interact. When you want to alter the world, then you alter it, but they get XP.
Just a design difference, lots of other good games let you roll.
>What's the best sourcebook after the main book?
Character Options, unless you mean sourcebook for setting, then the Ninth World Guidebook is I guess the best for that.
>Do you use the intrusions mechanic to award XP, or something different?
Yes. XP is ridiculously valuable and versatile, probably more than any other game, having it matters.
>Good descriptor/focus combos
Custom ones, they're really easy. Out of the book?
Tough with fuses flesh and steel makes the GM actually learn about the three stat pools, otherwise he'll be locked in Might.
>>43482779
Yes.
>>43485334
This, so yes.
>>43485500
>Bruce Cordell did The Strange. He's a better writer.
Hands down.
>>43486207
Anywhere on the water, or especially under it.
Other than that, I dunno, Lostrei? Throwing the setting aside and going to Ruk in The Strange?
Is the Numenera bestiary any good? Worth the money?
>>43487249
Why not download it and see?
I personally think it's the best Bestiary I own, but I've become disillusioned with a lot of other games monster manuals lately.
As an example, flipping to the first monster in the book: Pic related.
It:
Has a relatively unique typical motivation(self-defense)
Moves faster than it looks, to go with the fact that it's ability is to alter the acceleration of things around it (rocks suddenly going zero to fast, people going fast to zero, etc)
and is some kind of robot
>>43487426
That does sound pretty nifty. Got any download links?
>>43487488
I don't have a non-watermarked copy, you could try some sharing and receiving in the pdf thread.
>>43486559
That's the first doge picture I've actually laughed at.
Do people have their own skill lists for this game, or use the suggested list in the book?
>>43488738
Most probably just use their own, with the list in the book as a guide.
There's not really a need for a defined "list"
If you use the settings, you probably at least have the core related one (e.g. Numenera)
>>43489213
I just find it a bit confusing when the rulebook mentions some skills that are very precise (like picking locks) and then mentions very broad skills like engineering. Are the skills supposed to be very finely-granular like GURPS or very broad like D&D?
>>43486207
Clock of Kala.
>>43487249
Yes, even if you never actually play with it it's pretty cool.
>>43490706
Either. It allows for and contains both, as appropriate and with group discretion.
In the GMing section it talks about it. Some of the descriptors are balanced that way (i.e. one that gives a very broad skill and some minor buffs vs one that gives a very narrow skill and some more significant buffs)
You could have someone who was a high school history professor who was skilled in (History) or you could have someone with their degree in African History who is skilled in both (History) and specialized in (African History)
And many other examples.
>>43490706
Lock picking is constantly applicable in many venues, while engineering is often less useful in an immediate adventuring kind of way.
They're supposed.to be as broad as 3.5 skills.
>>43490853
It'd be really helpful to have a list of both the broad and narrow skills though. Right now it seems like a lot of guesswork and GM fiat.
>>43490891
A list?
You can pick anything you want?
That is so different from guesswork, you just use sense.
Example: Your GM lets you pick one broad and three narrow?
Pick "Chemistry" for the broad (a very broad subject applicable to a lot of shit)
then for the narrow pick something like "Lying," "disguises," and "making meth"
Since you have overlap, you'll be specialized (one step above skilled) for making meth related tasks(meth+chemistry), and just skilled for general chemistry, making yourself disguises, and for specifically lying to people.
>>43491048
So is "swordfighting" a narrow or a broad skill? I can see people arguing a lot about this kind of thing, which is why I prefer books to have explicit lists.
>>43491100
I guess the game just doesn't assume you play with dickheads.
However, sword-fighting is a combat skill so you can't pick it as one of your skills, instead you'd earn it from either your type or focus.
They're classified differently from normal skills.
>>43491141
OK, bad example, but how about this one: is Science the broad skill, with Chemistry and Biology as specializations, or is Chemistry the broad skill, with pharmacology and biochemistry as specializations?
I mean, you can split and combine skills endlessly in RPGs...
>>43491100
>>43491170
It's not a plausible character concept to be trained in "Science"
Science is so broad you might as well ask your GM if you can be skilled in "Knowing Everything"
Seriously, I'm not being combatative here.
Are there firearms in this game? The weapons list only seems to have medieval weapons. Where are the slug-throwers, plasma rifles and whatnot?
>>43491194
Under the artifacts section, unless you're looking for explosives or one-time guns such as nukes/missile launchers, those are under the cypher section
>>43491191
World of Darkness games have Science as a skill.
I'm not being argumentative here either, but a case could easily be made to use a broad/narrow skill list like the one in WOD:
http://wodindex.wikispaces.com/Specialties
>>43491141
Monte cook specifically wrote Numenrra because he was tired of designing games to be asshole proof (DnD.) The GM section has some stuff about that.
The long and short of it is the GM is always right. And is in every game. Numeners is built in a way that can really empower a good GM, but in the hands of a shit one the system is worthless.
Also, fighting and defense skills are separate from utility skills.
>>43491170
>>43491191
Actually, in Numemera science is basically Numenera, and its the whole schtick of nanos to be trained in it.
Ultimately though its down to the gm and his campaign. That said you can never be more then specialized in a skill, so the cieling for mastery stacking is pretty low.
>>43491206
thanks!
>>43491170
Chemistry or Biology would be the broad skills, if you were trained in one twice you could be "specialized in chemistry"
Biochemistry would be narrow. If your PC only knew about biochemistry, and for some reason knew no other fundamentals of chemistry, you could even be skilled and specialized in just biochemistry.
>>43491225
That's why it comes down to a group, some people, or the WW designers, might think it's reasonable to have a character who just.. knows science, and in a particularly cliche game that's okay.
You could make the nerdy scientist character who conveniently comes up with just the right science facts all the time. His training in "Science" would be broad just like "Chemistry" but it'd be a lot more shallow of a characterization.
That said, the game has >>43491316
where one of the fundamental forces that everyone lives their lives by is a skill that many different options in the book gives you.
Is there a short synoptic cheat sheet for all fhe rules, including the optional ones?
>>43491225
>WoD
>"I want to be specialized in Animal Ken: Big Dogs!"
>>43491370
>>43491259
>>43491316
>>43491368
Fair enough, that makes sense.
>>43491380
Thanks again!
Is there a popular N website for fans? A place for homebrew stuff?
>>43491470
There's a website for the cypher system (used to just be for the ninth world.) I forget the name but it's, like, the only one.
>>43491470
I have no goddamn idea, I just have played the game a lot on Roll20 and with coworkers/friends.
There used to be a community, but now I think it's mostly social media stuff like G+
>>43491556
>>43491564
Not a very popular game, is it?
>>43491651
I think it'll grow. My game store always has sourcebooks in stock right when they come.out, and they just kickstarted, like, a year or two worth of sourcebooks.
Plus the videogame. If its good.
>>43491651
?
Compared to what?
It's won a ridiculous amount of awards, even in contests with big-names like DnD where people who haven't even heard of it voted, obviously people like it.
I have three FLGS in my area that carry Cypher System products, including one that gets every new book.
Strange to me, it's apparently most popular in Spain?
>>43491687
I keep forgetting about the video game, it's supposed to be a surprise for my cleansed brain.
>>43491738
Patrick Rothfus is doing some writing for it.
>>43491814
I know, and he's a damn great author.
>>43491738
Putting some further perspective on it, their last kickstarter for a setting book (a.k.a. an expansion) for Numenera had 3300 people give them money and a lot of money at that.
RPG's are bigger than most people think.
>>43491738
I assume he means compared to games that have a ton of discussion. DND, warhammer RPGs, shadow run, WoD, etc. The big dogs.
>>43491848
So why does it only have one fansite?
>>43491853
It has significantly less finances for marketing and thereby less name recognition than DnD, Warhammer, or Shadowrun.
This is a obviously a very large factor in having stores stock it, as well as being known by people. If it doesn't expand in that area, it will never outgrow other games.
It's also significantly (a decade) newer than any of those examples.
>>43491979
It has multiple, but only one English one that has enough people for constant discussion.
Honestly, how many 40k RPG-specific fansites do you even know?
How compatible is the world of Numenera with the Strange RPG? Like, can you travel from the Ninth World to the worlds in The Strange?
>>43492615
Yes, because you want to get out of Numenera and into The Strange. I like the setting a lot more.
You can easily treat Numenera as a very large recursion of Earth where the player characters have the Spark.
Mechanics wise, they're as similar as Dragon age and Fantasy age, a.k.a. identical so there's no worry there.
>>43492662
What is The Strange in a nutshell? It is dimension travel like Planescape or dimension hopping like Sliders?
>>43492696
A little of both, mostly Sliders.
Basically you travel to fiction based worlds, and/or stop their inhabitants from trying to breach into Earth because there are Cthulu-demons who want to eat Earth, but some of the other dimensions are in the way.
You can have a character who is Earth-native, Ruk(biomechanical dimension) native, or Ardeyn(magic-jackal people plane)
Your abilities and appearance and gear changes depending on what plane you travel too, unless you cheat and take a portal.
>>43491470
http://theninthworld.com/
>>43491174
That's kind of a boring list. For a game set 1 billion years from now, it's got all the skills of the 1920s.
Why not add things like Gravitonics or Argolytics or Cliometry to make the world more alien and fantastical?
Iain Banks was really good at this kind of thing. Look at Feersum Endjin, that makes for a weirder setting than Numenera and along the same lines.
>>43487249
Use the creatures in other games no problem. The STRANGE one is generic as fuck, but Numenera's is fuckn gold.
I'm going to run a Numenera campaign based on Moebius's Le Garage Hermetique (The Airtight Garage). It'll have Carnelian, The Major, fnac and all that.
This game is made for it.
>>43494142
Hmm, they could have hired Dr. Seuss to make up some shit for the game.
A missed chance.
>Money
So I've been thinking of creating a "Wealth" stat for my players, instead of using shins.
Basically it's another stat like Might, Speed, and Int. It's used as a gauge to purchase stuff. This would be a generalization of how wealthy the character without specifically saying so.
>Use
When there is an important item to purchase the PCs roll vs difficulty. If they make it? Great they can buy the item. The PC may use effort before OR after the roll to lowered the difficulty.
>Restore
The 'Wealth Pool" is never restored through sleep or other means. Only increases when the PCs find a horde of significant treasure. May have some interaction if they are part of an organization, or have that "Wealthy" perk.
>Upkeep?
The Wealth pool decreases by 1 per (Some amount of time. Game day, Game week, Real Session) whenever the characters don't have a stead job, or haven't bounty hunted for a week, etc.
>Other uses
PC can always spend 1 wealth point at any time to sudden have a basic mundane item they need at any given situation.
Thoughts?
>>43482779
Been really itching to use it in a planescape setting. Is there a cypher list that is more fantasy/magic based yet? Or just more fitting?
>>43494493
D20 modern tried that shit. It was dumb then, and it's still dumb now.
>>43494493
>Thoughts
It diminishes the usefulness of XP to experienced groups, but would be okay for people who are new or used to playing other roelplaying games.
I think it's more cumbersome than useful.
>>43494540
>It diminishes the usefulness of XP
Just because of the mundane item on the spot thing? One could just remove that aspect without a problem.
I find caring about specific amounts of money far more cumbersome in any RPG because it usually leads to some sessions that are dedicated to Shopping.
Play the 40K RPGs? One of them uses a similar idea as a stat for money and it stream lines everything!
But yes, diminishing XP would not be a good in general, I want my PCs spending that.
>>43494602
The only way to know is to try it. A group can usually work the bugs out Very quickly.
My personal group is a fan of numbers, even if they're useless. Gotta push that button and click those cookies.
>>43494602
Are you talking about Rogue Trader?
A money stat works there because characters are involved with vast amounts of wealth. And not just physical wealth either, but influence and power among different groups and factions. It represents a huge number of things that would be nearly impossible to keep track of otherwise. It's not the sort of thing you need when you're some nobody adventurer with a few hundred coins rattling around in your pocket.
Is this fully out yet? Do we have a pdf yet?
anyone read the new space book? how is it?
>>43494934
http://www.mediafire.com/view/gkish55p1e5k8hk/Cypher_System_Rulebook.pdf
it's kinda meh compared to the Strange or Numenera Core, but I prefer how it deals with character types.
>>43495141
Why thank you, Anon!
Have um... Cyber chick.
>>43495105
Not me, but there's a review here:
http://theninthworld.com/reviewing-into-the-night/
>>43492615
There's a sourcebook for that. I can upload it in a week if someone starts a thread for it.
>>43494525
Yeah, there's a generic cypher system book now with all sorts of settings.
>>43494309
It literally is. Moebius art andBook of the New Sun are the two main inspirations.
>>43498092
Moebius art is pretty good so yeah
Bumping for interest. We never get Numenera threads.
If my players ever let me run something that's not Shadowrun, I want to run a game with them as tech salvagers working at the behest of the Amber Caliph (going to go for kind of a golden age of Islam vibe).
>>43495105
>>43497151
Decent. I think some of the most interesting stuff is the near-Earth stuff; there's a sort of fish tank space station in one of the early chapters that I thought was great, plus some space horror stuff. Pulp Mars, cloud city Venus (the described ecosystem has some serious logic holes, but it's visually fascinating as hell), and some space horror derelict vessel stuff. Fun, but not an essential book for the most part.
>>43500827
What's with the green stripe on the moon?
>>43500878
A big power generating ring megastructure. It disappearing and reappearing is the moon going back and forward in time. It temporarily reverts to an ancient prior state sometimes.
Destiny and Numenera seems to have a lot of similarities. Is this just a case of parallel development or was one inspired by the other?
>>43501173
They could share some source material.
Is Numenera itself a skill, for purposes of using numenera artifacts like energy weapons? Or is that a Might/Speed action?
>>43501173
This should be a bio-mech parasite in the game.
>>43501851
Kinda, kinda not, it would be the skill you use to figure out what it does, not necessarily for using it.
>>43501173
Oblivion also had a lot of similar concepts.
There's some cool Numenera-style art here:
http://www.iamag.co/features/the-art-of-eytan-zana/
>>43491225
>World of Darkness games have Science as a skill.
Because WWwas... ;-;100% hippie liberal arts majors
>>43491174
If Lockpicking, Deceiving, Philosophy, etc. are the broad skills, what are their specializations?
Lockpicking Only Rusty Locks? Deceiving Government Officials? 19th Century French Philosophy?
This doesn't make sense.
>>43505320
Those are obviously narrow skills, anon.
To treat you like you really don't know what's going on around you, you can gain benefit in minutiae for a reduced XP cost as a base rule.
>>43505663
So what are the broad skills? "Social Interaction" is mentioned a couple of times. Would "Athletics" group jumping, running and all that? What's the broad group for Chemistry and Biology then?
>>43505788
Narrower skills seem to be things like "Pleasant Social Interaction"
Athletics sure sounds like it encompasses doing things like jumping and running, so that sounds broad as fuck.
Chemistry is so broad it goddamn hurts, do you know what you can apply chemistry knowledge too? Unless the character means it in a specific "I mix things together" way, then it's narrow and he could call it "Concoctions" or "Chemistry mixing"
Did you read the thread? They talk about it in the very thread you are in.
I should storytime some goddamn John Prophet for Numenera.
>>43508151
>enhanced stomach
The power!
Here's a lexicon of strange science fantasy words from The Book of the New Sun, which is handy for any Numenera game.
http://www.pannis.com/SFDG/specific-Shadow-2.html
>>43505788
There aren't really classifications like broad and narrow. There are only things you are trained in, which are skills unless they're attacks.
Broad vs. Narrow comes in when designing what are essentially backgrounds. Some backgrounds give you training in broad areas, some give you training in more narrow areas. As a rule, you can become 'trained' in a skill for 4 xp. You must do this one per 'tier' (level) the book gives examples of how 'broad' those skills should be with a list of examples. (The list provided in this thread.)
For 2xp you can pick up a more narrow skill, one that won't be as generally useful. This can be 'social interactions with people in this area' or 'the history of this tribe' or 'Numenera knowledge about energy systems.' This is described in 'spending xp' I think. Book not on hand.
If you have two levels of training in something you can apply to the task at hand (training in climbing twice, or training in climbing and in 'all movement', etc.) Then you are said to be "specialized', which is like having +6 to your roll instead of +3.
It all comes down to what the GM approves and values.
>>43508230
It gets better! And by better I mean worse.
Player's Guide.
>>43510307
You monster! Get it away!
>>43510322
What's wrong with it?
>>43511002
It only has the absolute most bare minimum of what you need to make a character to play.
>>43511002
There's nothing actually wrong with it, it's just redundant as a PDF.
It's literally the character creation section of the core Rulebook reprinted & republished as a separate product.
This is convenient for players because it means they can pass a couple of smaller softcovers around instead of Cheetohing up the DM's glossy hardback Rulebook.
This is convenient for the publishers because they can sell more stuff.
>>43511298
>This is convenient for elegan/tg/entlemen because they can pass around a short PDF for free
>>43508432
Please continue.
>>43513110
Then I should probably start from the beginning. This was the new Prophet comic, by Brandon Graham and Simon Roy. And it was awesome.
>>43513158
>>43513175
>>43513191
>>43513229
>>43513246
Engage Bionic Commando.
>>43513286
>pure5 tube
>sweet energy drink dude
>>43513310
>does *everything* around here have a quadri-partite maw of teeth?!?
>>43513332
>yes. yes it does
>>43513351
>even the fucking fish!
>>43513371
>oh hey, a farm
>of something familiar...
>...oh shit.
>>43513398
>>43513427
>dream sequence engaged
>>43513439
>let's get slimy!
Next page is already here >>43508151
>hey guys, don't mind me
>I'm a blind, smell-oriented six-limbed alien insectoid just like you
>>43513494
>"nor does he understand the rules of it"
>pretty simple, just eat whoever is lower caste than you
>it's just like Wall St.
>>43513523
>damned dirty apes
>>43513572
>>43513595
>DolMantle
Does the Dol stand for Dolorous?
>>43513607
>"Shit, Bob! Organic bullets can't hurt it!"
>"These hoo-mans are invincible, man!"
Next page is here: >>43508432
>FWOOOSH! should never be the sound a vagina makes
>>43513648
this is good shit
>>43513671
>alien post-coital smoke
>BONUS! The good guy is a cannibal.
>S'cool. It's the future.
>>43513671
This is fucking great, please keep going.
>>43513694
And this is going to be my next Numenera campaign.
>>43513709
>43513709
sounds like a sweet campaign
>>43513709
>Time to get to that satellite and talk to G.O.D.!
>>43513730
I like these peeps, they look cool.
>>43513730
>>43513740
>
Watch action man kill things with macheteknife
knifechete
>>43513740
And that's issue #21 of the new Prophet series. Hope you enjoyed the show, it gets even weirder if you can believe it.
>>43513759
thanks for the ride, i'll have to check it out
>>43513759
do you have more anon?
>>43514012
Have to sleep. I'll post more tmrw if this thread is still alive.
>>43514059
sleep is for the weak
>>43514059
What about now?
>>43514059
Bumping for more adventures of Knifechete Man.
>>43516939
>>43518907
OK, let's do this! More future freakery inbound.
>>43518957
In this issue: delicious foodstuffs, knifechete fights, and giant robots!
>>43518962
>>43518985
>man, those are some large mosquitoes
>>43519028
>GIVE FOOD!
>IN MOUTH!
Uh, sure, buddy, sure, anything you like.
>>43519039
woops, missed the pic
>>43519049
I like how the weirdness is partly explained to the reader in matter-of-fact statements, but Prophet has no clue what the fuck's going on.
It's like the reader is the GM who forgot to give his players the 350-page backstory manual to his homebrew world., but the players are too freaking stoned to care.
>>43519076
>Jeepers, these mosquitoes are bigger than a horse!
>>43519113
>>43519221
>>43519403
>in mouth
>that's what she said
>>43519416
>>43519432
>It is unthinkable! The monster!
>>43519472
>welp, now you're screwed
>>43519487
>John, what did I tell you about making friends, before?
>>43519499
>>43519512
>welp, now everyone's screwed
>>43519520
>cold-starting after 10,000 years
>that is some damn good German engineering right there
>>43519569
>Marx 12
>He's gonna equalize your class real good
>>43519520
>some asshole fucks everything up
sounds about right.
>>43519593
>that IS a nice looking skull
>>43519603
There you have all the evidence, fellow Quid-qids:
>peaceful caravan of monks returning home
>take in an alien lifeform
>he bullies the food-sloppers
>assassinates our new king
>destroys our caravan
>rips apart a peaceful settlement
>leaves a wake of death & destruction
>humans truly are alien monsters
>we were right to wipe them all out 10,000 years ago
Now you know why aliens invade Earth in all the movies.
>>43519636
Thanks anon.
It's always a treat when someone storytimes john propher
>>43519636
What a treat! You have converted this once ignorant anon into a fan of John Prophet.
