Numenera Destiny

A Review of the Role Playing Game Supplement Numenera Destiny

Numenera Destiny by Monte Cook, Bruce R. Cordell and Sean K. Reynolds is a role playing game supplement published by Monte Cook Games. This is one of a pair of supplements that make up the core books for the revised version of Numenera, the other being Numenera Discovery. Numenera is a Cypher System game, but the Cypher System rulebook isn’t needed to play as this is a complete system in and of itself.

The supplement is available as a 418-page PDF from DriveThruRPG for $19.99 but was purchased at a reduced price as part of a special bundle. One page is the front cover, three the front matter, one the Table of Contents and four the Index.

Numenera DestinyA Better Future explains that the original Numenera Kickstarter led to the creation of the game and of Monte Cook Games, and more products. The idea of Numenera Destiny came about due to the idea that players were creating their own worlds in games, and that this supplement offers the ability to do so, and is the second core book for the game, even though Numenera Discovery is complete in and of itself.

Part 1: New Characters starts with Chapter 1: Destiny Characters which explains that this supplement adds additional character options to those in Numenera Discovery. These characters are suited for inspiring others, exploring ruins and building wondrous things. There are three new character types; Arkus, the natural leader, Wright, the builders and crafters, and Delves, who expand the boundaries of the known. There are also new descriptors and foci.

Chapter 2: Character Type covers the three new character types introduced in the supplement. Character types are the noun part of the character, and each is given an overview of its abilities, background, how to advance and six tiers of advancement, along with player intrusions, which are a counterpoint to GM intrusions. The new character types have community abilities, so a sidebar has community abilities for the three Discovery types, glaive, jack and nano.

Chapter 3: Character Descriptor has 12 new descriptor options. The descriptor is the adjective part of the character description and each is covered along with its benefits and four options it can be used to link the character to the starting adventure.

Chapter 4: Character Focus covers the verb part of the character sentence. There are 32 new foci in this section, and many have a theme in keeping with the creation, community, building and moving into the future theme of Numenera Destiny. No two characters should have the same focus. Each focus has a description, four possible connections to choose from to connect to other PCs, minor and major effect suggestions and six tiers of abilities.

Part 2: Salvaging and Crafting starts with Chapter 5: Building the Ninth World. This chapter gives a brief overview of salvaging and crafting, which are covered in more detail in the next chapters.

Chapter 6: Salvaging explains that ruins are everywhere and that as part of the game characters will already be exploring them. Whilst doing that, they can look for essential crafting ingredients called iotum, which can be used to fashion unique objects, repair broken artefacts and cyphers and craft things such as artefacts, installations, vehicles and more. Parts are the more mundane items that can be used. A sidebar looks at terminology. Following this are rules on salvaging iotum, parts and other numenera, with an iotum salvage flowchart. Sometimes characters will be looking for a specific type of iotum. Following this is a table that can be used to randomly determine iotum, then different types of iotum are described individually; one of these has a table of what might happen when it’s activated.

Chapter 7: Crafting starts by explaining that it includes building common items, which requires materials, but it also involves crafting numenera. Such requires iotum and directions on how to build them, called plans. These are not blueprints, but a combination of knowledge from different things, and which specify what’s needed to make the numenera. Sometimes seeds of plans can be found and can be developed into complete plans, such as by Wrights. Assessing and reducing crafting difficulty are looked at, along with relevant crafting skills; there isn’t a single skill that can be used to create a numenera as well as a normal item. Various tables give crafting examples and how the time made to make them is affected. Substituting iotum in crafting, what happens when a crafting project is set aside, doing multiple projects, repairing damage and different kinds of modification are looked at.

Chapter 8: Commonplace Objects and Structures starts by explaining that plans for these kinds of things differ from those plans gleaned from dead civilisations. They are born from the lore and practical knowledge of the people of the Ninth World. Crafting commonplace items is similar to but easier than crafting numenera. The plans can serve as guides to a range of creations, or as contributions to community stats, as covered in Chapter 28, or to ease crafting. The parameters that a commonplace plan has are covered, as well as the possibility of using iotum and parts in commonplace crafting. Following this are tables on various commonplace items that can be crafted, divided into different categories, such as weapons, armour, structures, and transport.

Part 3: The Numenera starts with Chapter 9: Using the Numenera. This brief chapter explains that wrights and others with plans can attempt to craft numenera devices, and it mentions that two later chapters expand the cyphers and artefacts available.

Chapter 10: Numenera Plans looks into how these work, how plans and plan seeds can be found and explains that the plans for artefacts and cyphers are more general than those for installations, automatons and vehicles. One cypher plan and one artefact plan are provided as bare bones templates with notes on additional iotum requirements as the minimum crafting levels advance. Tables list the cyphers and artefacts with minimum crafting levels, followed by details on improvising plans, such as crafting at higher than minimum level and crafting without a plan. This is followed by instructions for how a GM can create a plan. Next are secondary effects and crafting setbacks, followed by an artefact template. More tables have minimum crafting levels for installations, vehicles, automatons, cyphers and artefacts. These are followed by more details on each of the plans listed, which cover all kinds of different things.

Chapter 11: Cyphers has more cyphers for the game. The opening paragraphs explain that all the new cyphers have connections to building a community, crafting, salvaging, exploration, cooperation, communication and any other theme introduced in Numenera Destiny. Otherwise, they are the same as cyphers from other sources.

Chapter 12: Artifacts has more artefacts for the setting. The opening paragraphs explain, again, that all the new artefacts have connections to building a community, crafting, salvaging, exploration, cooperation, communication and any other theme introduced in Numenera Destiny.

Part 4: The Setting starts with Chapter 13: Communities of Destiny. This short chapter starts by explaining that this supplement introduces new NPCs, locations and organisations, like Discovery, but it takes a detailed look at them, rather than the broader strokes of the other book. It then gives an overview of what each of the chapters in Part 4 covers.

Chapter 14: Umdera – Follows the Dream Titans gives the stats and an overview of this mobile community, the area it is found in, a map, points of interest and NPCs and adventure hooks, which are divided into The Weird and Hearsay.

Chapter 15: Enthait – Moon Meld You follows the same pattern as the previous chapter, with an overview of the community, where it is found, a map of the region and the town, locations, NPCs and adventure hooks.

Chapter 16: Rachid – Hears the Catholith’s Whispers again follows the same pattern, with an overview, where the place is found, a map of the region it is in and the settlement itself, NPCs, locations and adventure hooks.

Chapter 17: Taracal – Sails the Sea of Secrets follows the familiar pattern with an overview of the location, which in this case is a floating and movable arcology, where it can be found, a map of the region and side-one map of the settlement, NPCs, locations and adventure hooks.

Chapter 18: Delend – Under the Changing Moon is the final one of the detailed communities, again following the same pattern with an overview of the place, maps of it and where it’s located, NPCs, locations of interest and adventure hooks, along with an unusual event.

Chapter 19: Starter Communities explains that the idea behind Numenera Destiny is that the characters are helping to build a better future, and that the eleven communities in this chapter are places where characters could make big changes. The communities are given an overview, then each is covered in a similar manner to the ones in the previous chapters, though in less detail.

Chapter 20: Organisations adds more organisations to the setting to go with the ones described in Numenera Discovery, with the new ones including those focused on exploration and building community and civilisation. Four new organisations are described, each given an overview, descriptions of members of note and the benefits of being a member.

Part 5: Creatures & Characters starts with Chapter 21: Using Destiny Creatures and NPCs, which is a single page chapter explaining that the new creatures in the supplement are intended to integrate with Numenera Destiny‘s themes of community. It also explains the important elements of creatures and NPCs.

Chapter 22: Creatures has the new ones in alphabetical order. Each covers a single page and they also have what are essentially adventure hooks for each monster, along with the stats, interaction and loot, if applicable.

Chapter 23: Nonplayer Characters explains that NPCs don’t follow the same rules as PCs, instead having varying abilities. Most NPCs are best created using a simple method, but some are more important and this chapter contains examples of these. A variety of NPCs are described, using the same method as the creatures, but two to a page.

Part 6: GMing Communities starts with Chapter 24: Tools for Destiny GMs. This is a single page that gives an overview of the rest of the chapters in the section and what they cover.

Chapter 25: Founding a Community starts at looking at why characters might decide to found a community and the benefits of such. It then specifically looks at communities in the Ninth World; many communities, especially outside the Steadfast, are isolated and the expanses between them make travel dangerous. There’s a brief definition of terms used related to communities and a variety of adventure ideas related to founding them. Finally, it looks at how a community might naturally emerge and the difference between characters adopting a community in contrast to just visiting it.

Chapter 26: Community Stats looks at what the stats for communities mean. First, it looks at the difference between a base of operations and a community; bases lack ranks, though they could evolve into a community if enough people settle there. It then explains what the various parts of the community stats, which were used with the more detailed communities covered earlier, mean, and how to assign them to other communities, the effect characters can have on the stats and how to assign stats to existing communities covered elsewhere.

Chapter 27: Community Actions looks at how communities interact with various threats, and each other in conflicts, using their rank and sometimes other factors. This provides a simple way of judging what happens when the characters are not involved, with ways by which the characters can become involved. Community interactions are not always violent, and not all violent actions are with enemies, but can be natural. There are details on hordes, what hordes are, different kinds of hordes, armies and creatures of significant power threatening communities, and some example creature horde classifications.

Chapter 28: Laying Out a Community looks at how this can be done. Layout may be abstracted, where the only thing mapped is the relative locations, or mapped properly, which can be done to a grid scale or to a short distance scale. Examples of each are provided, and unless there is a plan or the base is inherited, layout is probably going to be between abstracted and mapped. A sidebar explains that NPCs can build things, and the effects of the reactive field, which is how numenera installations can react with each other, are covered.

Chapter 29: Guiding a Community looks at how characters can influence a community. There are long term tasks they can do, some unique to different types, others suitable for everyone. The benefits and limits of long-term tasks are covered, followed by example tasks, both general and specific to different types of characters. What the tasks involve and the benefits gained and time taken are covered. The character types from this and the other book are covered. Finally, there are various community events that can take place, which may be beneficial, disastrous or somewhere in between, along with how such events are determined. These events shouldn’t destroy the characters’ community by pure randomness.

Chapter 30: Running a Destiny Campaign looks at how such a campaign involves a community which takes a larger role in the game, at least as important as a major NPC. It looks at how a community can be described with NPC interactions and how the GM can run a community, including how to get the player characters invested in the welfare of a community. Creating and running community-based adventures is looked at, and how to get the player characters to drive the community’s arc. It looks at long-term play and running it, using iotum as treasure, how it and installations have many forms and how to GM wrights, delves and arkai.

Part 7: Adventures starts with Chapter 31: Adventures Overview, which gives a brief summary of each adventure.

Chapter 32: The Door Beneath the Ocean has the characters potentially aiding a community of former slaves whose current home is threatened by a volcano, and the possible establishment of a new community, which the characters could then get involved with, if they desire.

Chapter 33: Trefoil has the characters using a shrine to get to an otherworldly place called the Trefoil, where there are three devices which can be salvaged for the iotum that the characters are after, though one of them their guide wants to use to restore his dead daughter.

Chapter 34: The Red Plague has the characters helping a town where a disease has broken out, possibly spread by them, and once the disease is dealt with, deal with another threat as an attempt is made to extort things from the settlement.

Chapter 35: Terminus has the characters being recruited to destroy an object that is heading towards the Earth which will, probably, destroy it if it impacts. There are options given that would mean the impact does not destroy the entire campaign setting, which is never a good thing to happen anyway.

Part 8: Back Matter starts with Appendix A: Vehicle Movement and Combat which has some brief rules on riding, piloting or operating vehicles plus on combat between them including if they are numenera.

Appendix B: Defenders of Ellomyr is a single page about the defence of the settlement, along with a list of names of the defenders. Perhaps a playtesting game.

Appendix C: Glossary is a glossary of setting and game terms, along with a thanks to playtesters.

Appendix D: Destiny Character Sheet is as it says.

Appendix E: Community Stat Sheet is again obvious.

Numenera Destiny in Review

The PDF is well bookmarked with major and minor sections linked. The Table of Contents is less thorough but is hyperlinked. The Index is also hyperlinked. In addition, there are various internal links from the sidebars that lead to parts of the book referenced in the nearby text, though this isn’t obvious. Navigation is very good for a book of this length. The text maintains a two column with sidebar colour format and appeared to be free of errors. The sidebars, as well as having the previously mentioned internal links, also include supplemental data, references to Numenera Discovery and stats. There are a lot of colour illustrations, all of which appear to be custom, up to full page in size. Presentation is very good.

Just like the other core book, this is a complete game in and of itself; it is possible to run a game of Numenera without a copy of Discovery. The main difference is that they are different kinds of game, when it comes to theme, with this book being more about settlements. All the needed rules are included, along with a bestiary and some sample adventures and adventure books. Like Numenera Discovery, this is at its base a simple system, despite the length of the book. The extra is setting material, bestiary, adventures and various additional rules, including those on running settlements.

Again, you can use this as a game in and of itself without picking up a copy of Discovery, but having both adds more detail to the setting as well as adding more options for playing. One or the other core book will do, depending on what kind of game is being run, but having both grants more options. Numenera Destiny is again a surprisingly simple game at base and it can be found by clicking here.


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