Numenera (2013) review 

Numenera is absolutely a game which Plays better than it reads. A lot of the design choices that seem odd on first glance really sing when employed at the table - particularly GM Intrusions and the pool-spending systems. It genuinely feels like the system that the creators wanted to play themselves. If you haven't spent time with it, the GMing chapter is extremely important and really helps convey the ethos behind the game and how to run it better than the rules chapters.

I had a chance to play Numenera a couple years ago and I really enjoyed it. I'm hoping to get a copy at some point, but it's a little lower on my "to acquire" list right now. Not to be too much of a downer, but my friend who was really into it and ran it for my group passed away suddenly last year, so I'm not sure when I'd end up playing it again. I played the 2nd Ed., and I'm honestly not sure about the differences. It was online, with old friends who've gamed together off & on since the 90s, and there was a lot of hand-waving of mechanics. What I really liked was the mysterious, "Dying Earth" sort of setting, the weirdness, and trying to be creative with how you might use a given cypher. We didn't get into it, but the second core book of the new edition gets into community building and that interests me a lot. I tend to be less interested in wandering murder-hobo play, and more into building something and changing the world, or at least the local area. When it comes to games, I prefer brief, logically organized, simple clarity in the actual rules, and then plenty of inspirational lore which you can then use as a springboard to build your table's version of things. I tend to prefer it when those two things are separate. Give me ten pages of ultra easy rules and 300 pages of juicy lore and I'm in heaven. Whatever the case, I am planning to use the idea of cyphers in some of my other games, like Dungeon Crawl Classics. DCC is a game where I kinda love wildly outbalanced stuff, and I think cyphers can do that.

I remember playing a different Monty Cooke system called The Strange, and it had similar vibe and mechanics. I think Numenera adds a fair amount of actual body, whereas the Strange feels more “theatre of the mind”. To answer your ending question: prose and narrative are all well and good for setting a general tone, but if it comes at the cost of accessibility, it is a damning thing indeed. Your idea to add a pop-out box on the side for clarity’s sake or a glossary is better, and I’ve seen Onyx Path take that route, though clumsily.

Informative, efficient, and kind-- nice review

Watched this and checked out your channel. As I’ve never heard of any of these games, I’M IN 💯! Subscribed!

I have not played Numenéra with others, but I own several products. What I really like is the focus on exploration and dealing with strange/alien environments, technologies and creatures. Most "monster statistics" focus on what a creature looks like, how it acts, and WHY it does that. Numberwise, most creatures only have one "diffculty level" from 1 to 10, multplied by 3 for hitpoints. This also makes it easier for a GM to guide players through this strange world. I perceive encounters way less like "reducing hitpoints until the monster dies", but much more like "how do we deal with this phenomenon, and what can we get out of it?". The technological remnants from past civilisations are called "cyphers", can be found on a regular basis, and can be really useful as "one-time use magical items". This gives the game an almost "engineering" kind of vibe to me.

So excited for your review and the comparison between the additions!! I've heard a lot about this game but don't know anyone who plays it

Thank you for another fantastic review!

I'd describe Numenera as a excellent bridge from D&D to other indie games. Rolling still involves a d20, and a 1 and a 20 both mean the same things that they do in D&D. Character creation invovles choosing from various categories to create a person with interesting abilities or strategic strengths. At the same time the GM does much less work in regards to session prep, because of the way difficulty is abstracted. I've used this game multiple times to appeal to folks who formerly only played D&D, to great effect.

I like prose though brevity and clarity has its place also .

I like my game rules to be concise. The less that I have to struggle with at the table the better. All the fluff can be done in other books. Short and sweet is my preference. I've really begun to embrace the zine community when looking for new RPG content.

“Intrusions” sound similar to “compels” in Fate Core, where GM presents complications and offers fate points in exchange (or you can spend a fate point to refuse GM's compel), and you can ask for a compel for yourself. It also can feel a bit mean. I guess it's just a different style of play that doesn't work for everyone?

I played Numenera when it first came out. I liked the setting but was not as sold on the rules. Example, the players (if I remember correctly) roll all the dice. The game master does not. I think a lot of people like both “sides” rolling dice.

Yeah that way of describing gm incursions sounds mean - but i agree that it could be fun in the right hands, just sounds like the writing needs some work