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:
The Salvage Deck—and Look at This Deck Box!
over 4 years ago
– Wed, Aug 28, 2019 at 10:43:33 PM
Look what arrived in our warehouse!
The Salvage Deck lets you easily and quickly generate all the results you want from a salvage attempt: shins, iotum, oddities, artifacts, parts—even GM intrusions. It helps you save time at the game table and in prep by skipping the salvage tables and simply drawing a card. The top portion gives you the salvage result, appropriately weighted by rarity, so you get results similar to the salvage rules in Numenera Destiny. The bottom portion presents an interesting twist or event for use if a GM intrusion is triggered. Most of these intrusions are useful not just during salvage attempts, but any time the PCs are exploring the inscrutable ruins of the prior worlds—doubling the utility of this handy, time-saving supplement.
We’ll fulfill the Salvage Deck in the days to come, so if it’s one of your rewards look for your redemption email soon!
That leaves us with only two items remaining from this Kickstarter campaign: the novel Tomorrow’s Bones, and the Numenera Deck Box. In our last update we gave you a sample chapter of Tomorrow’s Bones. This time we want to show off the Numenera Deck Box a bit.
That’s a first-off-the-presses copy of the Numenera Deck Box. The full print run will be complete within about a week, and then it will be carried across the seas to us. We anticipate fulfilling it to you in October.
Here are a few photos for a closer look at some of the features you just saw:
Get Your Hands on a Deck Box—and More!
Want to win a Numenera Deck Box? What if it came with the Salvage Deck—plus EVERY Numenera deck published to date? (That’s three creature decks, two cypher decks, the Artifact Deck, the Intrusion Deck, the Ruin Deck, the Asset Deck, the Weird Deck, and more!) And, what if it also came with a deluxe corebook set?
Got questions about the Ninth World? Is there anything you’ve ever wanted to ask Monte (or anyone on the MCG design team) about Numenera—or anything else? We’re holding a Numenera AMA live by video next week, and you’re invited! Join us on the MCG Twitch channel Thursday, September 5th at 7p.m. EDT to talk to Monte and the design team live!
Take a Sneak Peek at Tomorrow’s Bones
almost 5 years ago
– Thu, Aug 15, 2019 at 11:35:27 PM
Last night we launched preorders for Tomorrow’s Bones, one of the last few remaining rewards for this Kickstarter campaign.
Captain Cire and her dedicated crew sail the Ninth World’s seas aboard a living (and opinionated) ship called Nye. But when Cire uncovers an artifact that makes her question her friendships, her past, and even herself, it sets her on a dangerous voyage to a place she promised herself she’d never go: home.
In Kaparin, the man known only as Ebon has dedicated his life to protecting the orphaned children of his beloved city. When a friend from his past arrives on the city’s shores, bringing news of impending destruction, he finds himself caught between everything he loves and everything he fears.
Together, the two must brave the deepest reaches of the sea, fight off the many dangers of the Ninth World oceans, and save each other from the clutches of an ancient enemy.
Living ships, kick-ass pirates, gay romance, tiny time travel, weird machines, and four-winged ka-drakes of death and candy kisses. And a fast-paced, delightful story of the Ninth World’s seas.
In addition to cofounding Monte Cook Games and serving as a designer and our Managing Editor, Shanna is a heck of a writer with numerous awards for her work including the C. Hamilton Bailey Poetry Fellowship, the Utne Reader award for Best New Publication, multiple ENnies, and the Origins Award for Best Roleplaying Game.
Don’t forget that we launched another of your rewards, The Ninth Word website, a few days back. And that it contains an awesome, three-part Numenera story by Monte. You can check that one out now!
Liminal Shores Unlocks Another Book!
If you like what you got from the Numenera 2: Discovery and Destiny Kickstarter campaign, you’re going to love what we’re unlocking with Numenera: Liminal Shores. Including our stretch goals, we have funded (and in some cases already upgraded) four new Numenera books—and they’re going to be really cool. If you’ve ever wondered what goes on in the datasphere, or contemplated the mysterious purposes of prior-world civilizations, you have to check out this campaign.
Announcing The Ninth Word (and Some Free Fiction from Monte)
almost 5 years ago
– Sun, Aug 11, 2019 at 02:28:34 AM
Back during the Numenera 2: Discovery and Destiny Kickstarter campaign, we invited you to post fiction and art to the Kickstarter to put your spin on the Ellomyr saga and the Ninth World. You and your fellow backers took us up on that invitation with such enthusiasm and creativity that we said we’d build a website where you could continue to post and share fiction, art, and other Numenera-related content.
Today we’re excited to launch The Ninth Word, and once again we invite you, and every Numenera fan, to take part!
The Ninth Word is a public but curated site, meaning that anyone can post an article or artwork or poetry or character sketch or whatever Numenera-related content they want (subject to some basic terms and conditions), but someone from MCG will look it over to make sure it’s a good fit before it goes live. The process is simple:
Click Create Account and set up your account. Make sure you use a valid and active email address. (It's all free, of course.)
Click Submit, and that’ll bring up a page where you can write or paste in your story, add images, and so on. Give it a category and a bio, and click the Submit button.
You’ll get an email confirming your submission.
Sometime soon, we’ll review your submission, and you’ll get a notification when it’s approved and live (or if not, the email will tell you why not). For the most part, we aren’t reviewing your submission for content or quality, but just to make sure it fits the terms and conditions ensuring the site isn’t accepting spam.
You are limited to two submissions per day. By all means, post lots of content—just pace yourself!
Feel free to repost items you created during the Numenera 2 Kickstarter campaign, and of course to create new content. It's open and live, so you can get started right now!
To get the ball rolling, Monte has written a story we’re posting to The Ninth Word. The first part is live now, and the second and third parts will go up in the days to come. Check it out!
Win a Free Set of Numenera Bookends (and More)
In our last update we showed off the new Numenera bookends. If these are among your rewards, look for them to fulfill in the coming week. If they aren’t, good news: you can win a set and more—they come with three great Numenera hardcover supplements and a really nice slipcase!
Check out the raffle here. Help spread the word about the forthcoming Liminal Shores Kickstarter campaign—the more you do, the greater your chances of winning! (Some terms and conditions, of course, apply.)
Over the years we’ve been asked many times about the prior worlds, about what lies beyond the lands we've detailed in the Ninth World, and about how life on Earth is even possible a billion years from now.
It's time to give you what you've been asking for.
Liminal Shores, our brand-new foray into the Ninth World, involves the datasphere, the mysterious network of ancient transmissions and information responsible for the supernatural-seeming glimmers that Ninth Worlders sometimes, like strange visions, receive. Through exploration of the datasphere, a new wealth of information presents itself, both about the world the PCs live in as well as the prior worlds.
Voices of the Datasphere, offering a whole new method of gameplay involving traveling into the datasphere, allows not just travel to a unique environment, but interesting alterations to your characters as you explore there.
Liminal Shore, detailing a whole new portion of the Ninth World, unveils previously unknown intelligent species, creatures, locations, cyphers, artifacts, and more.
Edge of the Sun, an adventure/sourcebook, sends characters to a mysterious structure near the sun—which might be responsible for making life on Earth possible a billion years in the future. And after millions of years, it could be failing . . .
All three titles will reveal previously unshared details not just about the datasphere, but also about the prior worlds, works, and legacy. We're really excited to see the Numenera line continue into new realms, and we think you'll love it, too. You can find out more about this campaign here.
Numenera Bookends, the Last Few Rewards—and a Big New Announcement
almost 5 years ago
– Fri, Jul 26, 2019 at 02:36:21 AM
We are almost at the end of this campaign. After over a year of incredible new products that you helped make a reality, we have only a few rewards left to fulfill:
The Ninth Word is the website we promised for sharing Numenera fan art and fiction. This will be free to all Numenera fans. Look for an announcement very soon!
The Salvage Deck has completed production and is in transit to us now. If it’s one of your rewards, it will be heading your way in August.
Tomorrow’s Bones is a thrilling tale set on the Ninth World’s oceans. It’s going to be quite a novel—almost half-again as long as The Poison Eater and The Night Clave, and every bit as exciting! It’s nearing the end of the editing process and will be going to press in the near future.
The Numenera Deck Box is in production, and just about finished. It’s incredible. You’re going to really love this one!
And finally, there’s this:
The Numenera bookends reached our warehouse this week, and they are beautiful! We can't wait to fulfill them to you, but due to the crush of pre-show preparation and activity, fulfillment will happen after we return from Gen Con. These hefty resin-cast bookends are elegant and practical. If they’re among your rewards, you’re going to love them! (If not, don’t despair: we have a limited quantity of extras that will be available on the MCG Shop.)
What’s Next for Numenera? How About a Big Announcement?
With only a few items left to fulfill, and the last game title (Explorer’s Keys) going live to the public early next month, you might wonder what’s next for the Ninth World.
Or perhaps you’ve wondered some other things. Like, when and how did the planet Mercury disappear from the Earth’s skies? How does the datasphere work, and who made it? Why hasn’t the sun, as modern physicists expect, grown over the next billion years to wipe out life on Earth?What is so important about our planet that it, and our solar system, have been engineered to last so very long?
There are many, many unanswered questions about the Ninth World. Those are some that are most frequently asked of us.
Tomorrow we’re announcing Numenera: Liminal Shores. This set of Numenera titles—Voices of the Datasphere, Liminal Shore, and Edge of the Sun—will address these questions and a million others, and expand your Numenera game in amazing new directions. Explore a vast new realm. Uncover never-before-revealed secrets of how the ancients shaped the Ninth World. Face the legacy of those secrets—and, possibly, the utter destruction of the Ninth World.
As a Numenera 2 backer, we’re sharing this news with you first. Look for the Numenera: Liminal Shores announcement tomorrow!
Explorer’s Keys and Creature Deck 3
almost 5 years ago
– Fri, Jul 12, 2019 at 02:12:36 AM
We have some exciting fulfillment news for you today. Explorer’s Keys and the Creature Deck 3 are both about to go out—that's right, two more titles from this Kickstarter campaign! More details on that in a minute, but first:
Numenera and Invisible Sun are Up for Multiple ENnie Awards!
We’ll be there too! We’re running loads of great games (as we do every year) and exciting seminars (ditto). But did you know that this year Monte and Shanna are both Industry Guests of Honor at Gen Con?
Stop by our booth and check out some of the rarities, new releases, and other items you might not be able to find elsewhere. Say Hi to the team, and maybe grab an autograph or two. Don’t miss An Evening with MCG! You can find all the details at the MCG website.
Preorders for Your Best Game Ever Close Soon!
Preorders for Your Best Game Everare still open—but only for a few more days. This is a really fantastic book, penned by Monte with contributions from dozens of other professionals from across the RPG industry. Check it out—there’s a rockin’ deal on preorders, but once they close next week, that deal is gone forever!
Fulfillment of Explorer’s Keys and Creature Deck 3
Explorer’s Keys reached our warehouse on Monday, and the Creature Deck 3 arrived the next day. We would have started fulfillment today, but unfortunately our fulfillment goddess, Tammie, is out sick. Like all of us, she’s super-eager to get the process rolling—it’s taken quite a whammy to keep her away from her desk. It will be the first thing that happens as soon as she can stagger back. Hopefully (for many reasons!) that’s just a matter of a day or two. If those titles are among your rewards, look for your fulfillment emails soon!
