Numenera (New tabletop RPG from Monte Cook)

[Cainad (dec.)]

http://www.numenera.com/

So Monte decided to produce something that doesn't use d20 core rules (still uses a 20-sided die, though). This resulted in an explosively successful Kickstarter: $517,000 of $20,000 goal.

Overview:

Numenera is a science fantasy roleplaying game set in the far distant future. Humanity lives amid the remnants of eight great civilizations that have risen and fallen on Earth. These are the people of the Ninth World. This new world is filled with remnants of all the former worlds: bits of nanotechnology, the dataweb threaded among still-orbiting satellites,  bio-engineered creatures, and myriad strange and wondrous devices. These remnants have become known as the numenera.

Player characters explore this world of mystery and danger to find these leftover artifacts of the past, not to dwell upon the old ways, but to help forge their new destinies, utilizing the so-called "magic" of the past to create a promising future.

I'm excited. I just need to find me some other tabletop players that are available, since all my friends have moved away.

[The Good Reverend Roger]

Don't get too excited.  Monte Cook hasn't FINISHED anything since Ptolus.

He's the Warren Ellis of the gaming world.

[Cainad (dec.)]

  Will bear that in mind. Still, I like what I see so far.

[The Good Reverend Roger]

Will bear that in mind. Still, I like what I see so far.

After the whole D&D Next mess, I wouldn't buy anything with his name or Michael Pearl's name on the wrapper if it was INSULIN and I had THE BEETUS.

I mean, it was FUNNY and possibly the best meltdown in the industry's history, but fuck if I'll pay good money for their shit.  In addition, this kickstarter thing is a fucking hoot.  Now you can pay for their development, meaning they have no risk, even if they don't finish the product.

Even Paizo got in on that scam.  They have a new campaign world with some kind of online setup (once again, finding every mistake Hasbro, WotC, and TSR ever made, and doing them again) that you can only get hardcopies of if you pay enough into the kickstarter.

Fuck that noise.  This is not North Korea.  No.  I want a REAL BOOK on a REAL SHELF in a REAL GAMESTORE, or GTFO.  None of this digital communism for me.

[Cainad (dec.)]

I've wondered about that, the Kickstarter thing. The only one I've ever contributed to (The Gamers 3: Hands of Fate) is in full production swing and the people involved already have a record of successfully churning out products. But I suspect that the love affair with Kickstarter will fade in the coming year or so, as more promised products get delayed or dropped.


What was the deal with D&D Next? I know Monte left development, so I know there had to be some kind of meltdown, but I know next to nothing about it.

[The Good Reverend Roger]

I've wondered about that, the Kickstarter thing. The only one I've ever contributed to (The Gamers 3: Hands of Fate) is in full production swing and the people involved already have a record of successfully churning out products. But I suspect that the love affair with Kickstarter will fade in the coming year or so, as more promised products get delayed or dropped.


What was the deal with D&D Next? I know Monte left development, so I know there had to be some kind of meltdown, but I know next to nothing about it.

It's a tale almost too ticklish to tell.

So there's this "leak" in which the NYT reports 5th ed.  Hasbro then sends some lady who speaks only corporatese to "admit" that they're doing this...And that they are actively soliciting player input, so it will be the rules the players want.  "Their game system".

Meanwhile, Michael Pearl writes this huge rant on a game site (Mayfair?), explaining that he did his job too well with 4th Ed, and that the players are a mob of philistines that wouldn't know a balanced system if it bit them on the ass.

Then a REAL leak happens, in which it is revealed that the entire rules system was ALREADY written by Cook & Pearl, and the surveys and input were never even looked at.

THEN they decide that they need to make some changes, because Pearl isn't happy with Cook's work (I believe it was the part where Pearl wanted no cross-classing), and Cook threw a gigantic and very public tantrum and left, taking all of his intellectual property with him.  The game was supposed to be out for Christmas, and now it looks like another year.

In the meantime, 4th Ed is in the tank (why buy a horse if it's going to die in 11 months?) and has largely been pulled from the shelves with nothing to replace it.  Paizo has been selling out like hotcakes as a result, but has decided to take the additional income and spend some time repeating every mistake Hasbro ever made (D&D minatures, D&D Online, etc), and has decided to ignore due dates, meaning they ship product about as fast as Warren Ellis (COMING IN DECEMBER er APRIL um...We'll get back to you.)

It's the perfect storm of stupidity, arrogance, pomposity, and FAIL.

[Cainad (dec.)]

Wow, I didn't know about the system that Monte decided to take his ball and go home with. Shitty (although without any player feedback, it might well have been crap anyway).

I've played one game with the playtest rules (not the most recent one, I think the one before it), and had a pretty good time. I liked the fact that I could read a few pages of info and create a character in a new system in about an hour, and still play something that felt very much like D&D. I know a lot of people cry foul about "dumbing down the game," but the sheer amount of time it takes to bring someone up to speed in other RPGs means that finding and keeping new players has, in my experience, always been excruciatingly slow.

[The Good Reverend Roger]

Wow, I didn't know about the system that Monte decided to take his ball and go home with. Shitty (although without any player feedback, it might well have been crap anyway).

Actually, player feedback is the DUMBEST thing they've ever mentioned.  Think about it.

I've played one game with the playtest rules (not the most recent one, I think the one before it), and had a pretty good time.

Already gone.

[Cainad (dec.)]

Wow, I didn't know about the system that Monte decided to take his ball and go home with. Shitty (although without any player feedback, it might well have been crap anyway).

Actually, player feedback is the DUMBEST thing they've ever mentioned.  Think about it.

Oh, right... the RPG fanbase...

I've played one game with the playtest rules (not the most recent one, I think the one before it), and had a pretty good time.

Already gone.

OTOH, I probably could have played almost any system with that group and enjoyed myself. I'm not exactly a game design aficionado.

[The Good Reverend Roger]

Wow, I didn't know about the system that Monte decided to take his ball and go home with. Shitty (although without any player feedback, it might well have been crap anyway).

Actually, player feedback is the DUMBEST thing they've ever mentioned.  Think about it.

Oh, right... the RPG fanbase...

I've played one game with the playtest rules (not the most recent one, I think the one before it), and had a pretty good time.

Already gone.

OTOH, I probably could have played almost any system with that group and enjoyed myself. I'm not exactly a game design aficionado.

I'm a snob.  Ask me how much of a snob I am.

[Cainad (dec.)]

I'm scared to ask that of ANYONE who used to work in the business of tabletop RPGs.


I can't afford snobbery. The only game store in reach that I can find is mostly WH40k and doesn't really do D&D game nights or anything comparable. All my IRL friends have moved away, and we have a weekly Pathfinder game played through Roll20. Everyone else I know within reach who plays are either retarded or otherwise undesirable to play with.

[The Good Reverend Roger]

I'm scared to ask that of ANYONE who used to work in the business of tabletop RPGs.

I didn't.  I worked in the RPG industry.

I can't afford snobbery. The only game store in reach that I can find is mostly WH40k and doesn't really do D&D game nights or anything comparable. All my IRL friends have moved away, and we have a weekly Pathfinder game played through Roll20. Everyone else I know within reach who plays are either retarded or otherwise undesirable to play with.

Well, that's just it.

1.  Book rules or GTFO.  I publish a cheat sheet at the beginning of each campaign that spells out the whole six (6) rules clarifications/house rules that I use, and which optional rules are in play.  After that, if I get stuffed on a rule, I go with whatever the book says.  This has led to insane levels of player over DM ownage, but that's how the game is played.

2.  3-6 players.  No more, no less. 

3.  The "black die" rule is in effect for a new player, until they have been through 3 sessions.  Basically, I put a coffee cup on top of the fridge when a new player joins.  If, after the session, there are any dice in the cup, the new player is out.

4.  Table Nazi.  If you talk over my flavor text, your character slips and falls prone, or in a social situation, someone just decides they don't like your face.

5.  NO 3rd PARTY RULES allowed.  Paizo only, no 3.5/3.0/3rd party shit.

Amazingly enough, this has led to me having a waiting list of players.

[Cainad (dec.)]

I think we have too much water in our brains, down here in Swamp Yankee territory. Or I'm just living in a soulless place that drains anyone of the will to stick to a weekly hobby.

[The Good Reverend Roger]

I think we have too much water in our brains, down here in Swamp Yankee territory. Or I'm just living in a soulless place that drains anyone of the will to stick to a weekly hobby.

I prize continuity highly.  One of the reasons I have a waiting list is that I run the same game for a minimum of 6 months, and usually for a year and a half or so before restarting.  Apparently, most DMs scrap and start over 2-3 times a month.  What's the point?

[Cainad (dec.)]

I think we have too much water in our brains, down here in Swamp Yankee territory. Or I'm just living in a soulless place that drains anyone of the will to stick to a weekly hobby.

I prize continuity highly.  One of the reasons I have a waiting list is that I run the same game for a minimum of 6 months, and usually for a year and a half or so before restarting.  Apparently, most DMs scrap and start over 2-3 times a month.  What's the point?

We all want continuity, at least the people I've played with. In practice, it's almost never worked out, for any number of excuses (mine included). The Roll20 thing is the best run we've had in a long time at keeping a continuous game.