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.

 

[seankreynolds]

I'm a little burned out from 5e, so the idea of a new system and setting is enticing, but not exactly the learning curve of knowing the system.

Fortunately, I wrote this up (intending to make it a video, but never got around to it):

The Numenera Game System… In 60 Seconds

In Numenera there are three character types: Glaive, the warrior. Nano, the sorcerer. Jack, a mix of both.

You have three stat Pools: Might, Speed, and Intellect.

When you roll, you can spend points from these Pools to make a task easier. This is called "applying Effort." To make a climbing task easier, spend 3 Might points. To make a sneaking task easier, spend 3 Speed points.

If you are trained in a skill, attack, or defense, it automatically makes your roll easier.

Your character will have special abilities that cost points from your stat Pools, like a special melee attack that does extra damage and costs you 1 Might, or a psychic scan that reveals information and costs you 2 Intellect.

When you suffer damage, it comes from your Pools.

Resting restores points you've lost or spent.

Players make all rolls. If the character attacks a foe, the player rolls for the attack. If a foe attacks the character, the player rolls for defense.

That's it!

 

[Eyes of Nine]

@seankreynolds I'll see if I can figure out the name of it, but I played it at Origins 2019, so it's been a while. I'll try to collect whatever information I can, but the only thing I really remember is the frustration at the whole experience and the hopelessness of a TPK that ended the entire group. (I may not remember the exact DR, but I do know that I couldn't harm the creature, nor could most of the other pregenerated characters). The adventure was kind of set up like a gladiator fight, if that helps.

Huh. TPK of a demo game sounds like someone wasn't running the game right...

Numenara isn't really an "opposition" game like the way some GMs run D&D (especially older versions).

 

[seankreynolds]

@seankreynolds I'll see if I can figure out the name of it, but I played it at Origins 2019, so it's been a while. I'll try to collect whatever information I can, but the only thing I really remember is the frustration at the whole experience and the hopelessness of a TPK that ended the entire group. (I may not remember the exact DR, but I do know that I couldn't harm the creature, nor could most of the other pregenerated characters). The adventure was kind of set up like a gladiator fight, if that helps.

I've investigated a bit and it sounds like you were playing part of a short adventure called Trailblazer Trials, and in that there are some fights against creatures with Armor 2 or Armor 3 (which is still significant, even though it isn't Armor 5). One solo creature is "the monstrosity," there's one big giant cragworm (kinda like a D&D purple worm), and some groups of scaly humanoids called chirogs. I can see how even that much Armor would be annoying to your poor Nano and their 2-damage light weapon. It sounds like there might have been some miscommunication or confusion about what your character was able to do--I think you might have been playing Marulas the Nano, one of the pregens included in the book, they have a knife and the Onslaught ability, and Onslaught definitely can be a physical bolt or a psychic (Armor-ignoring) blast, and Onslaught is the go-to ability for Nanos in combat, and would have been a good option whether you went force or psychic.

Anyway, I'm sorry you had a bad experience playing Numenera. If you're willing to give it another try, I'll toot my own horn and say that I wrote our Free RPG Day quickstart/adventure for 2018, called Ashes of the Sea, and we've had a lot of really positive feedback about it (how it showcases the system and setting). You can download the PDF for free here: Ashes of the Sea FREE Numenera Quickstart Rules and Adventure - Monte Cook Games

 

[Lord Mhoram]

My first thought was that the GM thought that the level of the monster was it's armor.

I've recently discovered Numenera, and with a background with HERO ( you move the target not the die roll, and you flavor the attack the way you want, but mechanics are pretty much the same) as well as with some narrative time with Genesys & Fate (so the whole intrusion thing is second nature) - I find it easy peasy to pick up and play. I GMed my wife solo through the Vortex wtih only have spent about 8 hours having read the rules.

Just ordered the slipcase, and it likely going to be our go to game for a while.

I am interested in how the setting works under 5E, but I can't afford to buy them to check - more regular Numenera books to buy.

 

[Paragon Lost]

@seankreynolds Yeah, gonna walk away from this debate.

 

[Von Ether]

My first thought was that the GM thought that the level of the monster was it's armor.
...
I am interested in how the setting works under 5E, but I can't afford to buy them to check - more regular Numenera books to buy.

I'd have to agree that it sounds like the GM was confused somewhere.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

I'm not sure why you think that. Just for the Arcana of the Ancients Kickstarter (which BTM is part of), we've posted status updates on June 5th, April 14th, Feb 25, Jan 15, Oct 18 2019, Aug 9 2019, July 15 2019, and Jun 19 2019. Other than the gap around the holidays, that's an update about every six weeks on the status of the books in the project.

He may have been referring to the frustrations around the Ptolus Kickstarter (which I backed again, after being a 3rd edition backer back in the day).

The stretch goals process wasn't fun, it was frustrating, and lots of people in the comments asked for clarity or voting for doors 1, 2 or 3 secret stretch goal method to be dropped entirely, and there was never any public acknowledgement of the concerns. If you go back and look, you'll see quite a few people worried that the secret stretch goal game meant that people didn't get options they might have wanted instead, as the "streets," "dungeon" and "spire" categories seemed to be less clearly delineated than backers thought.

It's obviously difficult-to-impossible to respond to every query individually, but when there's a ton of complaints about the same topic, the apparent decision to not respond to them was not awesome. It certainly made me think it might be better to just wait for books to be available on the retail market next time, if the Ptolus Kickstarter was indicative of how the company handles them, which some folks suggested was the case.

 

[seankreynolds]

He may have been referring to the frustrations around the Ptolus Kickstarter (which I backed again, after being a 3rd edition backer back in the day).

I understand. The way the paths for stretch goals in the Ptolus campaign was definitely a new way of trying things—an experiment—and there are some kinks to be worked out.

 

[Retreater]

@seankreynolds thanks for the input. I will take a look at that starter adventure. It's definitely possible I just had a bad experience with the system. I don't like feeling that there's absolutely nothing I can do to help in an adventure (no matter how creatively I tried to play the character), and that's just the experience I had while demoing the system.
And sorry about poo-pooing on the 5e announcement. Like I said before, I think there's a lot to like about Numenera, even if my experience hasn't been amazing. (There's a reason I've tried it 6 times.)

 

[Von Ether]

@seankreynolds ... I don't like feeling that there's absolutely nothing I can do to help in an adventure (no matter how creatively I tried to play the character), and that's just the experience I had while demoing the system. ...

Again, not asking you to dive in a seventh time, but that feeling is the antithesis of what the Cypher System is about -- speaking as a fan and community content creator for the game.