Release Monte Cook’s Numenera setting comes to 5e with Beneath the Monolith

Beneath the Monolith brings the setting of award-winning science-fantasy RPG Numenera to the Fifth Edition ruleset!

Take your wizard, ranger, and rogue to the Amber Monolith, across the Cloudcrystal Skyfields, and to other wonders of the Ninth World.

The Ninth World:

They say there have been eight worlds before ours. Eight times the people of this planet, over vast millennia, built their civilizations, reaching heights we cannot even fully imagine now. They spoke to the stars, reshaped the creatures of the world, and mastered form and essence. They built cities and machines that have since crumbled to dust, leaving only their barest remnants.

This is the Ninth World. The people of the prior worlds are gone—scattered, disappeared, or transcended. But their works remain, in the places and devices that still contain some germ of their original function. To the ignorant, these workings of the ancients are magic. But the wise know differently …

The Ninth World is the setting of Monte Cook’s multiple-award-winning Numenera RPG. Beneath the Monolith brings this critically acclaimed world to 5e. Explore the ruins of incomprehensible civilizations. Discover the numenera, ancient technologies so advanced that most people think they’re just magic. Encounter creatures weird, fierce, and dangerous. Open doors to new worlds and alternate dimensions. And, perhaps, unlock some of the mysteries of the prior worlds.

This is one of our most-requested releases—5e fans, come visit the Ninth World!

Our first 5e release, Arcana of the Ancients, will help you get the most of this book. It contains loads of cyphers, artifacts, creatures, and additional content that brings a Ninth World campaign to life, along with great advice and information on running weird science-fantasy games in 5e.

 

[Curmudjinn]

This is such a great setting. I wish it had more interest, but nearly everyone seems glued to the community outrage threads.

Definitely look into and try out the Numenara setting when you have time. Truly amazing work and I wish it had the love of an official D&D setting.

 

[GMMichael]

I got this years ago, but it didn't say "5e" on the cover. Have I been using it wrong?

 

[dalisprime]

I got this years ago, but it didn't say "5e" on the cover. Have I been using it wrong?

Nah, they decided to run a 5e adaptation of the Numenera setting to jump in on the popularity of D&D since Cypher wasn't getting as much traction in the community.

 

[LuisCarlos17f]

Have you thought anytime about how would be a d20 system of "The Strange" if WotC publishes an open licence of an updated d20 Modern?

 

[dalisprime]

Let's just say I'm not a fan of everything jumping on the 5e bandwagon. We had that bubble burst in the early to mid naughties with everybody and their cat switching to d20.
Systems are best when they stand on their feet IMO. At some point the market will become over saturated again, with the looming recession, sooner rather than later at that, because people will be less inclined to buy stuff for the sake of ownership.

 

[LuisCarlos17f]

My opinion is many players don't want to learn new systems. I love my Eclipse Phase corebook, but I don't understand totally the list of abilities scores totally.

 

[BigZebra]

Let's just say I'm not a fan of everything jumping on the 5e bandwagon. We had that bubble burst in the early to mid naughties with everybody and their cat switching to d20.
Systems are best when they stand on their feet IMO. At some point the market will become over saturated again, with the looming recession, sooner rather than later at that, because people will be less inclined to buy stuff for the sake of ownership.

Choice is good. More people will play the setting now probably. And perhaps that results in some conversions?

 

[Plageman]

Let's just say I'm not a fan of everything jumping on the 5e bandwagon. We had that bubble burst in the early to mid naughties with everybody and their cat switching to d20.
Systems are best when they stand on their feet IMO. At some point the market will become over saturated again, with the looming recession, sooner rather than later at that, because people will be less inclined to buy stuff for the sake of ownership.

The main difference between the current situation and what happened back in the early 2000's is that there won't be shelf space occupied by lesser quality products. Now everything is handled via PDF and/or kickstarter orders.

But I do agree with you with products being converted from a proprietary system to a "generic" one just to ride on the popularity of a game system, be it 3.x, PF1 or 5e, is a bad decision. It won't help the sale of the other line as often times the conversion process is either too complicated system-wise or needs to rebalance every encounter in case of adventures/campaigns.

 

[Fenris447]

Wow I totally missed the emails to redeem these from the Kickstarter. Glad I saw this! My hardcover's on the way and I'm currently browsing the PDF. I don't plan to run an actual Ninth World campaign, but the crunch is very useful for my homebrew game.

 

[Shardstone]

The main difference between the current situation and what happened back in the early 2000's is that there won't be shelf space occupied by lesser quality products. Now everything is handled via PDF and/or kickstarter orders.

But I do agree with you with products being converted from a proprietary system to a "generic" one just to ride on the popularity of a game system, be it 3.x, PF1 or 5e, is a bad decision. It won't help the sale of the other line as often times the conversion process is either too complicated system-wise or needs to rebalance every encounter in case of adventures/campaigns.

It's still more profitable then making your own game.

The amount of new games that are made compared to those that survive is staggering. Its the reason my Kickstarter, Scavenger, was 5E and not its own system - there just isn't enough money for most games. Even PbtA and OSR stuff was very, very barebones, indie, and without any polish until the last 5 or so years, both having been around for 10 minimum. People who want to make some money from this industry either have to work on popular games (of which 5E is orders of magnitude above the rest) or bite the bullet and make very little, even no money, for a long time.