Numenera

Numenera

Numenera Logo
Designer(s)	Monte Cook
Publisher(s)	Monte Cook Games
Publication date	2013
Genre(s)	Science Fantasy
System(s)	the Cypher System
Playing time	Varies
Random chance	Dice rolling
Skill(s) required	Role-playing, improvisation
Website	Numenera.com

Numenera is an award-winning science fantasy tabletop role-playing game (RPG) set in the far distant future, written by Monte Cook.^[1][2][3][4] It has been translated into Italian^[5] and German,^[6] with more translations to come.^[5]

Game

Setting

Numenera is set on Earth approximately one billion years in the future. The setting is called "The Ninth World" due to the fact that eight civilizations have risen and fallen prior to the current era.^[7]

Character Creation

Character creation has been simplified by having players fill in the blanks to the statement:

"I am a __________ __________ who _________s."

1. The first blank, the adjective in the sentence, is filled in by a character's "Descriptor", a way to describe the character's strongest characteristic.
2. The second blank, the noun of the sentence, is filled in by a character's "Type", which is either a "Glaive" (a warrior type), a "Nano" (a technology adept type), or a "Jack" (as in jack-of-all-trades).
3. The third blank, the verb of the sentence, is filled in by a character's "Focus", or what the character is most known for or their special talent.^[8]

Technology

The name "Numenera" is a reference to the bits of technology leftover from past civilizations. With a nod towards Clarke's Third Law, "any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic",^[9] the setting treats technology with much the same approach as magic in a fantasy setting. The native tech level is roughly medieval.^[10]

Development

The Numenera Team

Lead Designer: Monte Cook^[11]
Lead Artist: Kieran Yanner^[11]
Lead Editor: Shanna Germain^[11]
Contributing Artists: Scott Purdy, Lee Smith, Patrick McEvoy, Eric Lofgren, Guido Kuip, Matthew Stawicki, Keith Thompson, Jeremy McHugh, Jason Engle^[12]
Cartographer: Christopher West^[12]

Inspirations

"If you're a fan of outside-of-the-box gameplay such as that found in Planescape, Dark Space, or Chaositech, the far-future stories of Gene Wolfe, Michael Moorcock, or Jack Vance, or mind-blowing visuals like those found in the work of French artist Moebius, you're going to love Numenera." - Monte Cook^[13]

Launch

Numenera was launched via a Kickstarter campaign, that set a record for "most money raised for a tabletop role-playing game" at $517,255 by 4,658 backers,^[14] surpassing the previous record set by the Kickstarter for Traveller 5th edition.^[15] Originally intended just to fund the initial Core rulebook, the campaign more than doubled its fund goal within the first 24 hours.^[16] "Stretch-goals" that were announced as the level of funding grew increased the output of products, ending up producing an entire game line.^[17]

Products

Core Products

Title	Authors	Date	Pages	Formats	ISBN
Numenera Corebook	Monte Cook	August 14, 2013	416	Print, Deluxe, PDF	ISBN 9781939979001
The main rulebook for the game
Numenera Player's Guide	Monte Cook	August 14, 2013	64	Print, PDF	ISBN 9781939979018
Book focused on the player characters; subset of content from the Corebook
The Ninth World Bestiary	Monte Cook & Bruce Cordell	February 2014	160	Print, PDF	ISBN 9781939979094
A collection of Numenera creatures
Numenera Character Options	Monte Cook	May 2014	96	Print, PDF	ISBN 9781939979148
Cards representing Numenera creatures
Technology Compendium: Sir Arthour's Guide to the Numenera	Monte Cook	August 2014	160	Print, PDF	ISBN 9781939979209
A collection of Numenera cyphers, oddities and artifacts
The Ninth World Guidebook	Monte Cook & Shanna Germain	January 2015	256	Print, PDF	ISBN 9781939979247
A setting book about the Ninth World, its locations and denizens

There are also some adventure collections that have appeared in print:

Title	Authors	Date	Pages	Formats	ISBN
The Devil's Spine	Monte Cook	October 2013	96	Print, PDF	ISBN 9781939979025
Three 32 page adventures, "The Devil's Spine", "The Mechanized Tomb", "The Other Side of the Maelstrom"
Weird Discoveries: Ten Instant Adventures for Numenera	Monte Cook	April 2015	96	Print, PDF	ISBN TBD
Ten fully developed adventures that can be run with little preparation time.

Adventures & Glimmers

Glimmers are short, PDF-only publications meant to enrich the game experience.

Title	Authors	Date	Pages	Formats	ISBN
The Nightmare Switch	Monte Cook	August 14, 2013	32	PDF Only	ISBN N/A
A Kickstarter exclusive adventure

Game Aids

Title	Date	Pages	Formats
Numenera GM Screen	August 14, 2013	N/A	Print, PDF
Four-panel, landscape format vinyl GM's screen
Numenera XP Card Deck	August 14, 2013	30 cards	Print, PDF
Cards representing a character's XP points
Numenera Cypher Card Deck	August 14, 2013	120 cards	Print, PDF
Cards representing cypher Numenera available in game
Numenera Cypher Card Deck 2	2014	120 cards	Print, PDF
Cards representing cypher Numenera available in game
Numenera Creature Card Deck	February 2014	100 cards	Print, PDF
Cards representing Numenera creatures
Numenera Cypher Chest	2014	250 cards	Print
Contains the XP, Cypher and Creature decks.
Numenera Character Sheets	2014	104 (print)	Print, PDF
Blank character sheets and a character generation walkthrough.

Fiction

Title	Authors	Date	Pages	Formats	ISBN
The Amber Monolith	Monte Cook	August 2012	18	PDF Only	ISBN N/A
Introductory short story to the Numenera setting; included within the Corebook
Tales from the Ninth World	Monte Cook	June 2013	79	epub, mobi, PDF	ISBN N/A
Collection of short stories set in the Numenera setting

Related Products

There have been several announced tie-ins to the brand:

• Numenera App by 3lb Games, for iOS, Android & PC^[18]
• Thunderstone Advance: Numenera by AEG, an expansion to the Thunderstone deck-building card game, set in the world of Numenera.^[19]
• Torment: Tides of Numenera by inXile, a spiritual successor to Planescape: Torment by Interplay.^[20] This computer game was also launched by Kickstarter and was itself a record setter for Kickstarter, being the fastest to $1 million up to that time.

• Reaper Miniatures is releasing a boxed set of 28-mm scale miniature figures for Numenara.^[21]

Awards

Numenera products have received multiple awards,^[22] including:

• 2013 Diehard GameFAN Tabletop Gaming Award (Best New Game)
• 2014 ENnie Award SILVER (Best Game: Numenera corebook, Best Interior Art: Numenera corebook, Best Cartography: Numenera corebook, Best Monster or Adversary: The Ninth World Bestiary, Best Podcast: Numenera: The Signal)
• 2014 ENnie Award GOLD (Product of the Year: Numenera corebook, Best Setting: Numenera corebook, Best Writing: Numenera corebook, Best Production Values: Numenera corebook, Best Aid or Accessory: Numenera Creature Deck)
• 2014 Origins Award (Best New Roleplaying Game: Numenera)

References

External links

• Numenera (Official Site)