Numenera is a game in which player characters explore the ruins of aeons past to gather amazing treasures and help build a new future for a world struggling in darkness. Since the launch of Numenera in 2013, we have delivered well on the first part, but we’ve always wanted to do a more thorough job exploring that second part. That desire has led us to Numenera Discovery and Numenera Destiny.
Numenera Discovery will be a book that covers familiar territory; it is basically a revision of the original Numenera corebook. Next summer, we will allow the original corebook to go out of print, and Numenera Discovery will take its place. In Numenera Discovery, you’ll get some revisions to make things clearer and more fun, and to increase the options available to players. Nanos, Jacks, and Glaives will get an overhaul. Many foci and some of the descriptors might see some reworking. You’ll have more options, clearer rules, and perhaps a bit of expansion to the regions of the Steadfast and the Beyond that are covered in the existing corebook.
As excited as we are about Numenera Discovery, we may be even more excited about Numenera Destiny. This title will enable characters to truly become a part of the setting—to help shape the future of the Ninth World. The people of the Ninth World are locked in a medieval-like state, a world of struggle and danger and often suffering in the shadow of the prior worlds’ wonders. Numenera Destiny allows you to build adventures and campaigns in which players don’t just explore the wonders of the past—they utilize them to help lift the Ninth World out of darkness.
You can make the world a better place. Help a community defend itself from abhumans or the iron wind. Create centers of learning or trade. Innovate, build, and protect. Manage an entire community and help it prosper and grow—or simply create a cool base or vehicle for your adventuring group. Numenera Destiny will allow you to take what you discover and make your mark on history as someone who elevated the Ninth World into the future.
Adventuring—exploring the weird and wondrous remnants of the prior worlds—remains, of course, at the core of Numenera play. Numenera Destiny will give you new things to do with your discoveries, along with entirely new and epic ways to structure your campaigns. You’ll discover materials, power sources, and treasures that you can utilize in an entirely new, robust crafting and building system. And perhaps best of all, Numenera Destiny will offer three new character types and a number of new descriptors and foci geared toward this innovative style of play.
Latest Updates from Our Project:
Delve into Horror with The Darkest House
about 3 years ago
– Thu, Apr 01, 2021 at 01:18:58 PM
Iadace, wanderers of the Ninth World,
We hope you are enjoying your adventures in the Steadfast, the Beyond, and perhaps even at the Edge of the Sun. We're writing to tell you about a new type of mega-adventure we've created—and one that your current Numenera characters might enjoy visiting!
The Darkest House knows no bounds and has even found a way to creep into the Ninth World . . .
That house on the outskirts of the village, sitting empty behind a crumbling wall. The one people whisper about. The one that has goneunlived in for years. Sometimes a few hearty souls creep in, it is said, to see what treasures or secrets they can find. Most find nothing—just an empty old house. Some return shaken. A few don’t return at all.
You’ve seen this house before. If not in this town, then in some other. You’ve heard the rumors—and if you haven’t, well, someday they’ll find you.
What happens to a house when it sits alone for so many long years? What jealousies and hatreds does it quietly nurture? What whispers echo through its empty hallways? What waits, crouched within its dark rooms, hungering for the return of life?
The Darkest House is a horror mega-adventure designed to be woven into the RPG you're running now, no matter what game or setting you're playing. In fact, it’s made for your existing campaign, because it really shines when you play it with characters and a party that have already established their history, backstories, bonds, and ideals. It tests and challenges those elements, and builds its horror upon what it uncovers. Your PCs and your campaign will be richer, deeper, and more cohesively bonded after experiencing the Darkest House.
The Darkest House is also an entirely new type of product. Think of it like an RPG book reimagined to make the most of the online environment. Every image and map is conveniently shareable and downloadable. Each encounter is formatted to your screen, giving you everything you need in a single view. Text for sharing with the players is easily copied with a single click. A rich network of hyperlinks makes navigation simple and intuitive. The Darkest House is as easy on the GM as the house itself is challenging to the PCs.
The Darkest House is on Kickstarter now. Check it out—and hurry! The Kickstarter ends this week. There’s exclusive content available only through the Kickstarter, so back it now!
Ptolus Is Coming—Preorders Are Still Open
Ptolus: Monte Cook’s City by the Spire is on press now and coming soon. We’ve updated Monte’s legendary campaign setting for use with the Cypher System. It’ll be out in a matter of weeks, but preorders are open now. It’s your last chance to get in on some great Ptolus deals, and get your copy ahead of street date!
Explore a sprawling fantasy city, presented in amazing detail and steeped in lore and atmosphere. Delve into the extensive dungeons beneath its streets. And maybe, when you're ready, ascend the Spire that looms overhead, the heart of an ancient and restless evil.
An Incredible Setting
Welcome to Ptolus. A city of mysteries, secrets, and dark histories. Ptolus lies forever in the shadow of a towering stone spire reaching impossibly high into the sky, an enigma and a reminder of evil long past. And it sits atop a seemingly endless network of ancient dungeons that draw adventurers from all corners of the Empire.
An Immersive World
Ptolus isn’t just big—it’s alive. It’s a place you can inhabit—a place with atmosphere you feel. It’s fantastic, with page after page of amazing sights and ideas. It’s dynamic. Throughout Ptolus, wheels are in motion and new discoveries are being unearthed. But the story is yet to be told, and Ptolus is set up to make it your story.
An Amazing Product
Ptolus isn’t just 672 pages. It includes a packet with a poster map and dozens of handouts, plus another 300 pages of downloadable content. The layout is uniquely accessible and easy on the GM, with multiple indices, heavy cross-referencing, and quick-access tables and summaries. And premium features include multiple satin bookmarks, top-notch art, and abundant cartography.
New Stuff for Numenera, and a Chat with Monte
about 4 years ago
– Fri, Mar 13, 2020 at 01:13:43 AM
Iadace, Ninth World traveler—
Have a look at these!
These new and recent releases make every Numenera game better, faster, more organized, and incredibly beautiful and inspiring.
The Numenera XP Deck showcases 60 pieces of stunning Numenera art, while giving you an easily given, tracked, and traded token to represent the XP you earn (or grant). They’re so beautiful you’ll hesitate to spend your XP!
The Numenera Playmat displays reference info and tables of interest for GM and players, alike—things like damage track and special roll result info, task difficulty and damage from hazards tables, distance definitions, and armor and weapon damage info. All on a really nice die-rolling surface that’s a stunning centerpiece for your game table.
The Numenera Character Portfolio records your character’s pools, abilities, skills, cyphers, and all your other stats and character info. At 24 pages, it also gives you room for notes, sketches, NPC info, character background, and campaign journaling. All on full-color, heavy matte paper that takes pencil and eraser easily. It also comes in PDF, in both print-optimized and screen-optimized, form-fillable files!
All three of these are now available on the MCG Shop. (And while you’re there, check out Voices of the Datasphere, now on preorder!)
Monte, Bruce, and Sean—plus Special Guest Chris Perkins—Live Tonight!
Want to hear some rollicking tales of Monte’s long-running Ptolus campaign, from the famous game designers who were there? Would you like to be part of the conversation?
Tonight Monte is joined by Bruce R. Cordell, Sean K. Reynolds, and Wizards of the Coast’s Chris Perkins to chat and reminisce about the four-year campaign that was so influential to the modern vision of fantasy gaming. Monte’s four-year Ptolus campaign ran during and after the development of D&D’s 3rd Edition, and the players were all insiders: designers, editors, business and marketing managers, and creative directors for the game. Their influence touches almost every corner of Ptolus, and it’s fair to say that the Ptolus campaign influenced the development of the game as well. Bruce, Sean, and Chris were all players in that original campaign, and they continue to shape leading RPGs today—Bruce and Sean as designers here at MCG, and Chris is the Senior Story Designer for D&D at Wizards of the Coast.
It happens live tonight and you’re invited! Join us to hear their stories and, if time permits, ask a few questions of your own. It takes place tonight at 10:00 p.m. EDT (7:00 p.m. PDT) on the Monte Cook Games Twitch channel.
Tomorrow’s Bones, and the End of This Campaign
over 4 years ago
– Thu, Jan 16, 2020 at 01:54:22 AM
Iadace, Ninth World traveler!
You’re probably aware that, immediately before we closed for our holiday break in December, we fulfilled Tomorrow’s Bones, Shanna’s excellent novel of the Ninth World. (If Tomorrow’s Bones is one of your rewards, and you missed the notification, as always you can log into the MCG Shop, navigate to your coupons (under My Account), and click on the coupon for it.)
That was a momentous fulfillment for this campaign, as it’s the final reward. As of the end of 2019, we have completed and delivered all of the rewards you funded and unlocked—and we did it ahead of schedule!
Thank you for making this a reality. Look at all we’ve accomplished:
From the bottom of our hearts, we thank you for helping continue to explore and grow the world of Numenera! We hope you’re enjoying your rewards!
Wow! That's a lot of stuff!
Exploring a New Campaign Setting
If you’re a fan of Monte’s, or a gamer who loves richly detailed, highly creative fantasy settings, we’re making an announcement tomorrow that might interest you.
We’re bringing Monte’s legendary campaign setting, Ptolus, to the Cypher System and the Fifth Edition of the world’s most popular fantasy RPG!
Originally published in 2006 for the d20 System, Ptolus is the massive campaign setting derived from Monte’s personal D&D campaign, played over the course of several years with a veritable who’s who of luminary D&D and d20 designers at the table. It sold out almost instantly, and has held a legendary place in the minds of RPG gamers ever since.
Ptolus: Monte Cook’s City by the Spire will be released in two versions: one for Cypher System, and one for 5e. Both versions, like the original, will be a 672-page premium-quality hardcover. And like the original, each will also come with loads of additional content in the form of physical handouts and digital materials, for a total of around 800 pages.
The Numenera Deck Box Is Here!
over 4 years ago
– Thu, Oct 31, 2019 at 01:52:45 AM
The Numenera Deck Box hit our warehouses early this week, and we’re now fulfilling it to backers. If the Deck Box is among your rewards, you should have recently received your fulfillment email. We’re really excited about this product, because it’s not just a pretty way to store your cards—like everything we create, we’ve thought hard about how it can make gaming easier for you. (You can take a tour of the Deck Box in a recent update.)
Fourteen pallets of Numenera Deck Boxes in our US warehouse alone!
Not one of your rewards? No problem—the Numenera Deck Box is available from the MCG Shop starting today! Quantities are limited, so if you like what you see, don’t wait: order your copy today. (Kickstarter rewards are shipping before store orders, so backers will get theirs first—but that shouldn’t delay anything by more than a few days.)
Want Something Really Cool to Put into that Deck Box?
We’re currently hoping to hit a stretch goal for the Numenera: Liminal Shores Kickstarter campaign that will unlock the Datasphere Deck. The Kickstarter itself is over, but we’ve extended the stretch goal into BackerKit. If you didn’t back the Kickstarter, you missed some really cool stuff for Numenera, including a stunningly beautiful new XP Deck, character and creature standups, and of course new hardcover supplements that delve into secrets of the prior worlds and exotic locations (and you know that in the Ninth World, exotic really does mean exotic!).
Salvage Deck, Deck Box, and More!
over 4 years ago
– Fri, Sep 13, 2019 at 11:35:09 PM
The Salvage Deck is fulfilling now, the Numemera Deck Box is on a ship, and Tomorrow’s Bones is headed to press soon. More on all that in a minute, but first:
What if you could journey to the very edge of the sun, and there discover jaw-dropping secrets of the prior worlds?
What if you could travel into the datasphere itself, into a weird metaspace filled with new creatures, secrets, treasures—and dangers?
What if you could discover an entire new land in the Ninth World, filled with unknown adventure, unencountered civilizations, and new secrets?
And what if that was just the beginning?
The Numenera: Liminal Shores Kickstarter campaign ends today. Our thousands of backers have unlocked amazing deals, funded some really cool products, and helped set the course for the Numenera game line for the next year and beyond. We really want you to be part of it, too, but you have to hurry. Tomorrow will be too late!
Salvage Deck Is Shipping!
This week we began fulfillment of the Salvage Deck. If it’s among your rewards, in print or PDF, you should have received an email letting you know that it’s now available for redemption. (Missed the email? No problem. Log into your account in the MCG Shop, go to your Account page, and click on Coupons. Click each coupon to add the item to your cart. Add them all before checking out.)
This is just one part of a big batch of fulfillments happening this week, so if you find the website a bit slow, that’s why. We also anticipate that shipping will back up a bit, so we appreciate your patience if your shipment gets out the door a little more slowly than usual.
Deck Box Is on the High Seas
Production of the Numenera Deck Box is complete, and this week it began its long journey from the factory to our warehouses in the US, the UK, and Australia. This process takes several weeks, so we don’t expect fulfillment to begin until later in October. We’re really excited about this one, and we think you’ll love it too!
Tomorrow’s Bones Nears Its Press Date
Tomorrow’s Bones is the final reward for this Kickstarter campaign, and it’s in its final stages. We will send it to press in the weeks to come, and will be fulfilling it later this autumn.
What a campaign it’s been! We’ve delivered what seems like zillions of rewards over the past year or so, and really made some incredible products—thanks to you. We’d love to have your help in forging the next phase of Numenera’s story. Come join us over at the Liminal Shores Kickstarter!
