Numenera - What's it for, how does it play, and general questions

[Yora]

The big criticism about GNS is that no game actually fits into any category. Which is why very few people try to apply it to something.

Found the announcement for the Cypher System Rulebook. That one really sounds like it might be a lot more suited to me.
Could quite possibly be something similar to the D&D SRD, where you got just the bare rules for people to adapt as thy see fit, but maybe there will also be some useful advice on how to adapt it to certain styles of settings. Summer 2015 would be pretty soon.

I like the Cypher System a lot more than Fate, Savage Worlds, or GURPS. A truly generic system that I actually like would be really neat. Though I wonder how much focus on single use powers there will be. They are pretty big in Numenera, but that's also part of the setting. Anyone know how it's handled in The Strange?

As a rules question for Numenera: Supposed I am a 1st level Jack with Skill in Defense for Speed. Instead of learning a new skill with my XP, I learn the trick Trained without Armor. Does that mean I am trained in Speed Defense all the time and specialized when not wearing armor?

[Talakeal]

No game clearly fits in any one category, but I still find GNS fairly useful for describing a games tendency to line up with player motivations.

Like 4e tends to have mechanics that are overly gamist for me and Spirit of the Century has a lot of mechanics that are too narrativist for me. I have never actually played a game that had elements that were too strongly simulationist for me, but I have heard of lots of games that have dozens of pages of charts and require graphing calculators to run so those would probably fall into that category.

But Numenera is the first game I have seen that took a conscious choice to introduce a lot of, to me, questionable decisions, but without a clear focus. I don't like the 4e making martial characters use the AEDU system, but I can atleast see why they did it and understand the type of player who prefers it that way.

[Gamgee]

Narrative is the focus of the game. That should be abundant due to how rules light it is and it makes it so the GM can focus on the story and descriptions of the scenes more. Also it must be appealing to a lot of people with it consistently being in top 10's everywhere. It is also selling very well even now. Given how slow the rpg book industry is compared to others.

It lets there still be rules so its got the barest minimum of simulation going on and there is consistency, but its such a light system the GM and players can just play and end up almost anywhere by the end of the session. This way the GM can make an encounter in several seconds if he's good enough like myself. I like how well my improve style which was always hamstrung and hindered by any other system is embraced here.

I don't even plan sessions anymore barring a really special stand out one. All I do is write down the names of NPC's the players encounter who might be important later and jot down why. Some NPC's are quite important and memorable so I need to take some notes for them if they are involved in any on going plots.

[Talakeal]

Narrative is the focus of the game. That should be abundant due to how rules light it is and it makes it so the GM can focus on the story and descriptions of the scenes more. Also it must be appealing to a lot of people with it consistently being in top 10's everywhere. It is also selling very well even now. Given how slow the rpg book industry is compared to others.

It lets there still be rules so its got the barest minimum of simulation going on and there is consistency, but its such a light system the GM and players can just play and end up almost anywhere by the end of the session. This way the GM can make an encounter in several seconds if he's good enough like myself. I like how well my improve style which was always hamstrung and hindered by any other system is embraced here.

I don't even plan sessions anymore barring a really special stand out one. All I do is write down the names of NPC's the players encounter who might be important later and jot down why. Some NPC's are quite important and memorable so I need to take some notes for them if they are involved in any on going plots.

I am not questioning that people like the game as I consistently hear good things about it, I just can't quite figure out why as both the rules and setting appear to be so vague that it is more of a non game. Of course, some people like freeform, so maybe that is the point.

I wasn't aware the a narrative style game simply meant a lack of simulationist or gamist mechanics. Most narrative games that I am aware of give players the ability to alter the world around them or even the other characters, and aside from a few minor background options I am not seeing a lot of that here.


Also, on a related question, is Numenera a real word? Because the rest of the group laughed at me when I didn't know how to spell it during the game and the GM implied that it was a regular word that everyone should already know how to spell, but I am not seeing it in the dictionary and internet searches don't come up with any results not talking about the game.

[Ravian]

I don't think it's a real word. At the very least, nothing comes up aside from the game.

[Yora]

It probably is a made up extension of the latin word "numen", which means something like divine splendor or awe. Sometimes also divine power or supernatural force. The plural of it is numina, so I think Numenera is most likely made up.

[SparksMcGee]

The big criticism about GNS is that no game actually fits into any category. Which is why very few people try to apply it to something.

But isn't that the point? Every game has those elements in some scale.

[Yora]

No. According to GNS, plenty of systems try to have all those elements, but it always results in a dissatisfying game. Best case scenario is a game where different players can each enjoy the game fully at different times.

Every game always has all three elements all the time is probably the most common argument people have to denounce the whole thing as nonsense.

[SparksMcGee]

No, GNS says you can't focus on all three and cover all the bases.
But if you have already decided it's nonsense, there is no point in having this conversation. ^^

Sorry for interrupting your discussion.

[Yora]

Yes. That's a very popular thread derailer. It's not necessary for discussing the pros and cons of Numenera.

Once a character has an Edge of 3 or 5, is there any reason not to use Effort all the time?

[TheLoneCleric]

Yes. That's a very popular thread derailer. It's not necessary for discussing the pros and cons of Numenera.

Once a character has an Edge of 3 or 5, is there any reason not to use Effort all the time?

Basically,no. But if you uber focus your edge for one of the primary 3 stats then that's the benefit you get. However that can have a drawback. If you burn an edge on that action for the round...that's it. You may only apply edge ONCE per turn. So if you wish to use effort for damage, or another companion roll like speed related, etc. You can't keep applying it.

[Talakeal]

It probably is a made up extension of the latin word "numen", which means something like divine splendor or awe. Sometimes also divine power or supernatural force. The plural of it is numina, so I think Numenera is most likely made up.

Yeah, I felt the same way and was spelling it like "numina", which was apparently so wrong it was laughable.

[Yora]

Basically,no. But if you uber focus your edge for one of the primary 3 stats then that's the benefit you get. However that can have a drawback. If you burn an edge on that action for the round...that's it. You may only apply edge ONCE per turn. So if you wish to use effort for damage, or another companion roll like speed related, etc. You can't keep applying it.

Are you sure? I can't find anything like that in the rules. The only limitation I see is that you can only use Effort to the maximum of your Effort score per action. If your Effort limit is 2, you can not take 2 levels of Effort on your attack roll and 2 levels on the damage. You could do 2 levels to the attack roll, 2 levels to damage, or 1 to attack and 1 to damage.
But I can't see anything that would in any way hint that you can't use Effort on your defense rolls later in the round as well.

[Kaun]

Are you sure? I can't find anything like that in the rules. The only limitation I see is that you can only use Effort to the maximum of your Effort score per action. If your Effort limit is 2, you can not take 2 levels of Effort on your attack roll and 2 levels on the damage. You could do 2 levels to the attack roll, 2 levels to damage, or 1 to attack and 1 to damage.
But I can't see anything that would in any way hint that you can't use Effort on your defense rolls later in the round as well.

Yeah the edge can only be applied once per action. So once your edge is 3 you should use it constantly.

[Knaight]

It probably is a made up extension of the latin word "numen", which means something like divine splendor or awe. Sometimes also divine power or supernatural force. The plural of it is numina, so I think Numenera is most likely made up.

I vaguely remember it actually being based on the phrase "New men era", shoved into one word. Basically, they just took a way to summarize a lot of the setting, in that it does focus on eras with new people in them with the alluded to previous eras absolutely being there, and made a word out of it.

[Yora]

Possible, but Numenera is not the world, but the magic items. Calling the items "men era" would be strange. But quite possible they just like the sound of it and used the word for something else.

[Knaight]

Possible, but Numenera is not the world, but the magic items. Calling the items "men era" would be strange. But quite possible they just like the sound of it and used the word for something else.

It's also the name of the game, which could easily have come first and then been stuck on the items as a title drop.

[Raimun]

Numenera is just your average fantasy rpg, except magic is technology. That's it.

Okay, there are some small nifty ideas, like the idea that everyone gets two backgrounds, in addition to a class (only three of them, yawn).

In a nutshell, the rules of the game are mediocre and the setting is slightly inspired.

It's not a bad game but I still wouldn't recommend Numenera for anyone.

[Yora]

I think it looks like a pretty neat rules light system that still works with character stats instead of narrative elements.

[Knaight]

I think it looks like a pretty neat rules light system that still works with character stats instead of narrative elements.

There are some things about it which are a bit interesting, but there are a lot of rules light systems which are also light on narrative elements. Numenera didn't really do anything all that new - but it does have a quirky dice mechanic regarding the 17+ rolls, and if that particularly appeals to you it's not a bad option. Personally, were I to use the setting I'd port it over to a different system.

[Raimun]

There are some things about it which are a bit interesting, but there are a lot of rules light systems which are also light on narrative elements. Numenera didn't really do anything all that new - but it does have a quirky dice mechanic regarding the 17+ rolls, and if that particularly appeals to you it's not a bad option. Personally, were I to use the setting I'd port it over to a different system.

Numenera-setting+Savage Worlds-rules. Wink-wink. Nudge-nudge.

Basically, characters are just like in normal Savage Worlds but every player character gets one extra Edge along the lines of the "super powers"-background (forgot what was the exact name... noun? verb? adjective? ... pronoun?) (you know, magnetic or other elemental control, being a cyborg or being really good with a bow and shield) and one really high Skill-die that relates to that Edge.

[NichG]

I wouldn't really call Numenera rules-lite. It's in the middle of the road - a lot less crunchy than GURPS or D&D, but much more crunchy than FATE and the like. The big experimental thing it does is the idea of making most of a character's power burst rather than sustained. Constant bonuses to things are rare - if you don't spend from your pools, you're not that much better at things than a starting character. Also, a lot of a character's 'cool power toolkit' is loaded into their Cyphers, which are one-use items that explicitly get replaced very very quickly during play - so what your character is capable of is constantly changing, and you need to constantly consider 'what can I do with what I have right now?' rather than 'how can I build this for the future?'

[Yora]

I would say "medium-light".

[kyoryu]

and you need to constantly consider 'what can I do with what I have right now?' rather than 'how can I build this for the future?'

This is a welcome idea for me. It's very much old-school D&D.