If you’ve been waiting for me to write about Foci in #Numenara 2 under the #NinthWorldMechanics tag, me too.

Having failed to construct a personal taxonomy which sparked joy, I’m just going to have to do this The Nails style.

Primarily that means it’ll be under #NinthWorldPrimer

If you’ve got 6+ players, definitely consider using the other 30 mumble Descriptors in #Numenara 2: Destiny to give the players more differentiators. I’m an advocate for using all the #NinthWorldMechanics up to the point of option paralysis. For some people, that’s going to mean going so far as to incorporate 3rd party Cypher / Numenera source material. But life is simpler for a GM retaining a Doable Dozen options during chargen.

#NinthWorldMechanics The second edition provides a classy & familiar dozen descriptors for PCs to select from. #Numenera 2: Destiny provides 3x as many more, in case your players have unconventional tastes or just want to make use of the community mechanics.

Each character has a value, for each Stat. A tier 1 PC is going to have a value between 9 & 12 (inclusive) for each Stat. Part of advancing tiers includes increasing the Stat values. Other effects can grant long or short term modification to Stat.

Which is fine. Each Stat undergoes fluxes during a session. Each Stat is a pool. Playing #Numenara , much of the time, is spending from one or more pool. Pools start a session full, each at the corresponding Stat’s value.
#NinthWorldMechanics

Step 3 here has two different judgments for the GM. Let’s talk about the first. If you’re already familiar w/ #MonteCookGames & their stat pool mechanism, you’re excused from the rest of this #NinthWorldMechanics 101 thread. It’s identical among #Numenara settings.

At any point in resolving that sequence, before rolling a die, the player may offer the GM a 1 xp bribe to “make the problem go away”. The player suggests a way that the world could be kinder to them. Each type has kinds of situations at which they excel.

The GM is not required to accept the bribe but if they do, the xp is spent & the world altered.

Players may not offer bribes which they don’t have.

It’s a newer addition to #NinthWorldMechanics in #Numenara 2.

A lot of people in the #NinthWorld get called “arkus”, in the same way that the term glaive gets tossed about. To the degree that glaive approximates “bad-ass”, arkus is a “boss”. Lots of people get called boss; only a few of them can run a Kingdom.

Those are the Arkai of Numenera. The leaders for whom incredible power over lives is in reach. The right words in the right ears for the job. That’s an arkus.

#NinthWorldMechanics

A lot of people in the #NinthWorld get called “arkus”, in the same way that the term glaive gets tossed about. To the degree that glaive approximates “bad-ass”, arkus is a “boss”. Lots of people get called boss; only a few of them can run a Kingdom.

Those are the Arkai of Numenera. The leaders for whom incredible power over lives is in reach. The right words in the right ears for the job. That’s an arkus.

#NinthWorldMechanics

NPC Glaives are going to be the top notch caravan guards, bodyguards, warlords & knights that you meet in the #NinthWorld

PC Glaives are going to be called upon to defend everyone from themselves to a City of half a million people. To defeat foes w/ neither names nor numbers.

Don’t expect this type to be a non-brainer. Numenera types have no dump stats, no autopilot types. There’s a lot of fun to be had in the Glaive’s Moves.

#NinthWorldMechanics

Glaive is a fun word & if you are fond of weapons of a certain type, you already know one meaning the word has. In #Numenera it’s a bit less precise.

Roughly, calling some creature, some structure, some person, a “glaive” is to term them, sardonically or precisely, a “bad ass”. Not all of the people called glaives are capital-G Glaives.

But no one would ever ironically call a Glaive a glaive. They’re unmistakable.

#NinthWorldMechanics

W/e the type, each PC gets an origin story. How they became a better Bad-Ass, Rapscallion or Spoop. A more communal Ambassador, Scout or Smith. Or v-v. #Numenara 2 adds community to the 3 types you know from Numenera 1.

It’s the first bit of boundary settings, sketching the world grammar. Each PC is in the world for a reason; work back from that. There’s loads of suggested origins to swipe & modify in the books. I like to let the PC go big.

#NinthWorldMechanics

If you know other #RolePlayingGames, you probably know what a character class can be. If you’re new to the hobby, they’re kind of like jobs. In Numenera, they’re called Types.

In the 1st edition, there are three character types:

Glaive, Jack & Nano.

The 2nd edition adds three more:

Arkus, Delve & Wright.

Any given PC & many NPCs will have a single type during the course of their life.

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In a conflict, when the player is attempting a Task which is an attack upon another being, the range of good numbers expands to include 17 & 18.

But 19-20 are good all of the time.

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In fact, those good results might make it worth rolling even if there are enough steps of easing that the task is difficulty 0, which ordinarily requires no roll. There’s always the 5% chance it’ll come up a 1, but an equal possibility of hitting the maximum effect.

Note that only difficulty 0 tasks let you opt in to rolling. Difficulty 7+ tasks don’t let you roll & hope for that 20. Impossible remains impossible but trivial can become epic.

#NinthWorldMechanics

Step 6: the player rolls a 20-sided die to determine the outcome. If they roll at least the target number, they succeed. So if the final difficulty of a task is 4, a 12 on the d20 is success, an 11 is failure. A 7 is failure. A 14 is success.

A 19 is great & a 20 is awesome so keep an eye out for those, a 1 is rude.

#NinthWorldMechanics

A novice character can only apply enough Effort for 1 step. Still, that brings No Way tasks in to the Fifty-Fifty Shot range, w/ enough Skill & Asset.

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Which stat pool? Well that’s w/e stat pool the GM decided applied to the task. Putting Effort in to a Might task? That’s spent from the Might pool, naturally.

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Here’s the really cool part. After they’ve gotten those tasks 4 steps easier, the player’s still not out of tricks. Want to turn a normally Out of the Question difficulty 10 task in to a difficulty 0 Don’t Need to Even Roll task?

After you’ve taken it down to difficulty 6 w/ Skills & Assets, the player can spend points from a stat pool. That’s called Effort. A v capable character can get 6 steps of easing from that expenditure.

#NinthWorldMechanics

If the character has some situational assistance (the right tool for the job, a friend on the inside, the jump on someone, a book on the topic) then they can get 1 or 2 steps of ease from an Asset.

Just like Skills, h/e many Assets apply, total easement possible is 2 steps.

#NinthWorldMechanics

For any given task, a Skill can provide 0 (it doesn’t apply, like using a Climbing skill to deftly purloin an important paper), 1 (you’ve Trained in the skill) or 2 (specialized) steps of ease.

No matter how many skills might apply, that 2 steps is the most help that Skills can do for the character.

#NinthWorldMechanics