Numenera Core Rulebook

Umbrathys · Nov 26, 2014

5 out of 5 rating for Numenera Core Rulebook

The Numenera core-book is an amazing work of art and creative genius. The Cypher system itself is rather simplistic (a tad too simplistic for my tastes, but still fun). This book really shines, though, in the imagined realization of the world / setting / design, etc. This is one of the first RPGs that I read cover-to-cover in one sitting. It is that well written and creative. Additionally, the book is put together with a flow and ease of use that other publishers should pay close attention to. Very well laid out.

Kelanen · Nov 26, 2014

5 out of 5 rating for Numenera Core Rulebook

Superb world with great mechanics and beautiful artwork make for a great system. Fast paced and fun; even for the GM!

Yaztromo · Nov 30, 2014

5 out of 5 rating for Numenera Core Rulebook

Ho avuto l'onore di far parte dei playtesters e ho amato questa ambientazione fin dal primo momento.L'unico aspetto che si adatta un po' meno al mio stile di gioco e' che i giocatori sono fin dal principio dei privilegiati con capacita' nettamente al di sopra della media (mentre io preferisco far partire i personaggi come delle persone assolutamente normali o anche al di sotto, e poi farli imparare e crescere a partire da situazioni di assoluta mediocrita' se non di disperazione, ma queste sono mie preferenze personali...)Quello che mi ha fatto saltare sulla sedia, guardando il "prodotto finito" e' l'assoluta bellezza delle immagini!

Eminence_Grise · Jan 3, 2015

5 out of 5 rating for Numenera Core Rulebook

There's a lot of great things in Numenera: character creation, the setting itself, the no-dice-throwing for the GM (which was a lot better in practice than would have thought), etc. I felt that character options were somewhat lacking in the book. Not as diverse as I would have liked. Fortunately, the Character Options supplement fills this void perfectly.

doswelk · Jan 20, 2015

4 out of 5 rating for Numenera Core Rulebook

I kickstarted this product and love the finished result.

Scrivener of Doom · May 22, 2015

5 out of 5 rating for Numenera Core Rulebook

I don't know why I had avoided this for so long as I was always a fan of Monte's d20 work but I finally got around to getting it and reading it and I am blown away. (In fact, it was the Kickstarter for No Thank You, Evil that caused me to a take a look at it.) This is a really elegant system married to a very imaginative world supported by some fantastic (in the true sense) art. I think I have a new "go to" rules-lite game.

awindgate · Aug 25, 2015

5 out of 5 rating for Numenera Core Rulebook

Over all the thing that keeps me entertained with Numenera is the setting. Its system is great as well but Ive got the most mileage out of the setting that lets you do most anything you want.

Wystan · Oct 20, 2015

5 out of 5 rating for Numenera Core Rulebook

I have to say, having Gm'd Numenera (and The Strange) a few times now... The Cypher system is a Very Strong contender if the people looking at it can give it a chance... I say on a scale of 1-10 it is a 7-8 and could very well be a 10 in the right circumstances and with the right GM and Players.

Rabbitbait · Oct 24, 2016

5 out of 5 rating for Numenera Core Rulebook

A caveat - I've only run D&D games before but have been doing so for the last 36 years (eep).

While the setting is a little bare bones (but very nicely done and a very good mix of sci-fi and fantasy), and there are not a lot of modules out there, the game itself plays so easily and quickly that it is just a joy. The GM intrusion mechanic is inspired and the incremental character growth for the players is fantastic.

I really like how easy it is for the GM to set the difficulty of any task and then for the player to decide how much effort they want to spend to bring the difficulty down. It really does work well, and the narrative focus of the game has meant that players end up being able to try a lot of things that just would not occur in D&D. And a good dice roll can be the difference between achieving a task adequately and being frigging awesome. For example, in our last game one of the characters jumped through a plate glass window to try and catch up with enemies who were escaping from the ground floor. A bad roll could have seen him bouncing off the glass or getting sliced up badly, but he rolled extremely well so leapt through the glass, rolled with the fall and landed facing the enemies with guns blazing. Just awesome.

Excepting that example, I love how the game is centered around discovery rather than combat, and this has made the whole thing a lot more interesting.

The game also plays very fast and can easily go in unexpected directions - you have to be prepared to just go with the flow.

I am playing this game over Roll20, but it is purely voice and videos of the players and I provide a heap of handouts of pictures and good mood music. The combat has worked perfectly in theatre of the mind, which is something I haven't managed with D&D since 1st edition.

In short - this is a breath of fresh air. It is the easiest and best game I have ever DMed. I am now intrigued by the whole Cypher System that holds it together and will be looking at 'The Strange' in the future.

imredave · Mar 25, 2017

3 out of 5 rating for Numenera Core Rulebook

[FONT=&quot]First impressions include gorgeous artwork, well written prose, a sidebar annotation layout which really very helpful. Owners of Monte Cook's previous masterwork Ptolus will recognize these features. The combat and skill system core mechanic is straight forward, roll a d20 try to beat a target number. I thought the idea of being able to spend effort to lower the target number was intriguing. The character creation system at first glance seems very free form and open. One starts one character by filling in the statement "I am an adjective noun who verbs". So far very good, similar to my favorite character generation system from Over the Edge (Pick three things your good at, one weakness, and one secret).[/FONT]
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[FONT=&quot]However, pursual of the subsequent chapters on characters begin the to reveal the dark secret lurking beneath the surface. It turns out there are only three permissible nouns: Glaive, Nano, or Jack (by the way, Monte, use of glaive in this fashion is almost as heinous as the movie's Krulls use of glaive to describe a six pointed psychic shuirekan. True polearmists know that a glaive is a long knife on a stick). There are only twelve permissible adjectives: Charming, Clever, Graceful, Intelligent, Learned, Mystical/Mechanical (yea, I though that would be two different things but it is only one), Rugged, Stealthy, Strong, Strong willed, Swift, Tough.There are twenty verbs (which I won't bother to list) however no two members of the party are allowed to have the same verb. In balance the character creation is closer to 4e character class, theme than Over the edges free form.[/FONT]
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[FONT=&quot]Also surfacing in the character creation chapters is another concern for me, the system is a tri-stat system having only might, speed, and intellect. While tri-stat systems are not completely fatal (I have been playing Ultima Online for years, Skyrim is a more recent example), I find most of them have trouble dividing mechanics between only three stats so that one does not become significantly more important than others. Another source of trouble begins to appear in the equipment section, fixed weapon damage versus fixed armor class. Again a system which requires careful balance, it does look like it is reasonably under control, since both medium, and heavy weapons can get through heavy armor, but armor bonuses will quickly make a character vulnerable only to critical hits (this reliance on requiring critical hits to penetrate armor is what soured me on first edition Runequest).[/FONT]