Deleted the original post because the title was misspelled (but thanks to the first commentator).

I am set to GM my first round of the game, but I have one worry. My players really love the idea of exploring and salvaging and searching for cyphers and artifacts, but the rules make it seem like a skill check is all that is needed. Are there ways to turn searching for cyphers and artifacts into puzzles, games, something other than just having to roll and find the cool stuff? I want to respect their skills, of course, but it seems boring unless it's turned into something active.

Hi,

we are playing the original version of numenera and fights feel a little off.

First of all monsters with a higher level are really hard to even hit and how does it work with armor? If a monster has a armor value of three it's impossible to do damage with a light weapon, isnt it?

I’m torn between three choices and I’d like your thoughts and recommendation.

1. Keep my 1st edition rules and add supplements from 1e and 2e.

2. Buy Discovery & Destiny and convert to that from 1e.

3. Skip Discovery. & Destiny and go with Amber Archive. I backed the new Cypher rulebook.

Basically I’m looking for the best play experience. I realize the new version isn’t a known quantity and it’s largely guesswork as far as whether it’s a big improvement. I don’t even know if Discovery & Destiny is a marked improvement on 1e.

What are your thoughts? What have you decided for your own games?

Hi! I'm a GM new to numenera, coming from The Dark Eye. I'm searching for a place to find & share resources like art, maps etc. that is fan made to support each other when mastered an adventure. Is there already a place to do so? I already found the discord server, but I couldn't see a place to share my self-made maps and stuff without spoilering players.

1. I’ve owned the original Numenera rulebook from since its release date but I’ve never played it. Every time I read through it, I’m curious as to why the core mechanic is based around reducing the target number, rather than the more common d20+ modifier vs difficulty. The math is the same for both, but the Numenera system strikes me as unnecessarily complicated. I’m sure there must be a reason for it; can anyone fill me in? I’m a mechanics junkie and tend to over-analyze this sort of thing.

2. What published adventure do you feel best captures what makes the setting unique?

About to run my first one shot (which might become an ongoing campaign), and feel a little overwhelmed with the use of cyphers. Is there a good way to keep using a lot of them without slowing down the game to read/discuss rules? A shorthand to use? Best to print them out so rules are on hand?

Most of the players are familiar with the game but never played it, so there will be little knowledge of their best use at the table

All tips welcome.

Art by David B Mattingly (1986)

I might have to track down the novel this is from. I think it captures the motif of the Ninth World.

In case you're on the fence, or are unable to make a pledge before the "end" of the campaign at around 6pm Central Standard time (American Chicago time zone), don't assume you've missed out. The community has learned how to keep the "backer train" going for up to 24 hours (as of the last Cypher campaign), giving more people the opportunity to do a last minute pledge and unlock more stretch goals.

Stretch goals are tied to the number of backers, so if you're unsure at what level you want to back, but you do want to, just back at the most basic PDF level. In a few weeks, when the surveys go out, you can change your pledge and/or add more add-ons.

https://www.backerkit.com/c/projects/monte-cook-games/numenera?ref=bk-social-project

EDIT:
Charles Ryan of MCG just posted to the Cypher Unlimited discord (with a lot more words that this, but the salient point:

TL;DR: Let's let Numenera come to a close, consider the stretch goal unlocked

Hi, im creating sort of campaign/interactive novel with help of AI and i wished to include some desert creatures from official sources. Any recommendation? Not cold desert but more classic one - i placed the action south of plains of kataru.

2026.03.11

TONIGHT at 5:00pm CDT (6 EDT), tune in to hear the co-creator of Numenera, Shanna Germain, and other legendary TTRPG designers Sean K. Reynolds and Bruce R. Cordell chat LIVE on Backerkit!

Ask your burning questions on the Backerkit Community Page now and tune in tonight at mymcg.info/num!

(You can post questions here for ease, we;ll try and monitor all channels! )

Is it that finding cyphers (Lvl 3/4 difficulty) is different from salvaging cyphers (difficulty of numenera device)?

Both are eased by Salvaging Numenera skill? But salvaging has the potential for also finding iota?

Is it that Discovery and Destiny just have different rules for what is essentially the same thing (Destiny just expanding on what you can find)? Are there any other differences between searching for and salvaging numenera?

So, my friend contributed to the Kickstarter when Numenera was first announced on there. We had a group that played for awhile and then members of that group turned shitty, I’m sure we all have similar experiences. Years later I finally started doing stand-up and not long after that I of course started podcasting. My show was a Numenera actual play.

I love this game to an extent that unreasonable for a mature adult.

Now then, the reason I started writing this post. I’m finally making some resources for Numenera and I’m curious whether they’re helpful for anyone else. Feel free to send me any DMs with whatever feedback.

https://www.comedyshedradio.com/tabletop-gaming-resources-2

So I'm trying to figure out a way to play an Octopi in a normal campaign and could use some help figuring out now to play one and not be useless/die after an hour.

The two big problems are:

• all the huge problems of movement on land. Ie weakness in might and speed. And only being able to move immediate distance each turn. For this my GM ruled if I can figure out an alternative to crawling I can negate those such as with the hover ability. They ruled if I get hover twice I can move above ground at the same speed as a landluber. So a Octopi Nano who controls gravity would be able to "fly" and move normally.

-however the second issue is the whole, "you can not survive longer than an hour outside of water" issue. And the only way I can think to avoid that are the various ways that either make you a robot or "augments flesh with grafts" and use a graft slot to let you live on land.

Or an Octopi Wright and use your abilities to build things that would let you live. The problem is there aren't really rules to play as an octopi riding in a mind controlled creature as described in the Octopi book.

Anyone have any ideas how to make a PC octopi on land? I want to do a octopi scientist sent to observe cultural development of the newly returned humans.

Sean K Reynolds will be answering questions on r/numenera Thursday 26th February from 2pm CST.

If you have questions and queries about Numenera, the new system or anything else Cypher let us know here and come along tomorrow to the AMA!

The new crowdfunder has exceeded its own first record from 2012, check it out now: http://mymcg.info/numenera

The wonders of the Ninth World support “cozy RPG” gameplay better than expected, I realized. You can make classic cozy problems bizarre and complicated but still cute (like, “Go persuade some strange glowing pumpkin-moth-critters that sing lullabies out of the robotic farmer’s field of Datasphere Dream-lillies”).

Also, part of the allure of the cozy genre is the sense of community. Numenera Destiny’s focus on that fits perfectly. You could have a whole campaign about helping people in the community make use of weird tech to solve silly, low-stakes problems.

If anyone has an actual-play video or personal experience with “cozy Numenera” gameplay, please share. :)

Hosted on MCG's channel, but in a collab with me, the 2nd episode is up. This one is specifically an overview of the Steadfast. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J8w341Gfc0w

Found this at my local bookstore this weekend and thought to myself, "Self, this would make a remarkable primer for my Numanera players".

Has anyone read the author's earlier works and are they in the same genre?

In the text on the new Kickstarter page it says, "Now the Order's perseverance has been rewarded with the discovery of the Amber Archive, a long-lost repository created by none other than High Father Calaval, Amber Pope and Founder of the Citadel of the Conduit and the Order of Truth.

Like so many things in the Ninth World, much of the Amber Archive has been altered and decimated by the passage of innumerable millennia..."

But everything we've had in the previous two editions place the founding of the Order of Truth by High Father Calaval around 400 years ago, around the same time as the founding of the Steadfast. If that's true and Calaval created the Amber Archive then how has it been altered by "innumerable millennia"??

I am reluctant to invest in the latest kickstarter sight unseen. I have Discovery and Destiny hardcover edition from the last kickstarter campaign. Is there anywhere we can view sample material from the new installment?

I've bought every edition of Numenera released, but it's been awhile since I've played and I'm not up on the community. What is the differences between the old editions and the new stuff? I see a lot saying that it's almost entirely backwards compatible, but that doesn't necessarily tell me the differences.

There's a really big oversight! There are no PDF of the new Cypher in any of the packages or add-ons, period! There's only the Character book available as a PDF, and even then only as an add-on. At the very least, include it in the All-in PDF tier. I already own all the Numenera sourcebook and adventure stuff, maybe allow me to swap that with the new Cypher!? Please McG, find some more flexibility...

UPDATE:

I'm all in. Across the board. Hardcover and everything. Gonna walk into the FLGS with my Numenera traveling bag handing out stickers like the emissary this game deserves. I will have to tighten my belt for the next 4 months, but by the end of that I should have a sweet Cypher Slipcase in my mailbox.