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Monte Cook’s Numenera Corebook
Nov. 13th, 2013 09:27 pmThe Ninth World thrives on technomagic known as “numenera”, the remnants of the prior eras that is sufficiently advanced to act like both science and sorcery. Cook got creative and built something that plays vaguely like medieval high fantasy but allows for all the spec-fi hypertech and anachronisms you’d like. (Both the feel of the world and the “step” mechanic for the core system remind me of Earthdawn; though the setting is much more like a sane version of Gamma World.) The systems are designed to be narrative-focused, freeform and dramatic—very little attention is paid to actual distances, durations or details in favor of “Is it big enough to matter? Then it changes the difficulty by one step.”
( Details. Plus a little M&M rambling. )
Overall: This is a game in the finest White Wolf tradition, where the players’ willingness to “build a narrative” with the GM is supported by the fast-and-loose framework of rules and complications. (Gamists and simulationists, along with rule lawyers and certain types of powergamers, should beware.) I think the bigger issue here is this game would probably work best with three or four players, so that everyone has a chance to pursue their own motivations, get multiple character-specific GM Intrusions per session, and show off their clever tricks. My gaming group usually has six to nine players (and a hard two-hour limit per game session), which limits how much focus individual characters can get. I may still try this at some point, because flexible systems tend to be appreciated, but unless it’s a huge hit, I doubt we’d be making a mainstay out of it.
( Details. Plus a little M&M rambling. )
Overall: This is a game in the finest White Wolf tradition, where the players’ willingness to “build a narrative” with the GM is supported by the fast-and-loose framework of rules and complications. (Gamists and simulationists, along with rule lawyers and certain types of powergamers, should beware.) I think the bigger issue here is this game would probably work best with three or four players, so that everyone has a chance to pursue their own motivations, get multiple character-specific GM Intrusions per session, and show off their clever tricks. My gaming group usually has six to nine players (and a hard two-hour limit per game session), which limits how much focus individual characters can get. I may still try this at some point, because flexible systems tend to be appreciated, but unless it’s a huge hit, I doubt we’d be making a mainstay out of it.
