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:
Check Out Building Tomorrow!
over 7 years ago
– Thu, Sep 06, 2018 at 01:29:08 AM
Today we launched preorders for Building Tomorrow, and you know what that means: Release of the first supplement following the new Numenera corebooks isn’t far away! You can download a free preview of Building Tomorrow from the MCG website now. We’re really excited about this book, which builds upon the coolest new features of Numenera Destiny.
So what do you get in the 192-page hardcover Building Tomorrow? Hundreds of new cyphers and artifacts to find or build. New types of numenera items (biological and otherspace). New varieties of iotum and loads of plans for automatons, vehicles, and installations. New communities to integrate into your campaign—or use as your home base. And to tie it all together, high challenges—hooks and threats related to Ninth World-communities that you can build adventures, story arcs, or even entire campaigns around.
The book is at the printers now, and we expect it in our warehouse in just a couple of weeks. At that point we’ll start fulfillment, so if you’ve backed for Building Tomorrow, look for your redemption email late this month or perhaps very early in October. The street date for the book is in mid-October.
(Didn’t back for it? Hop over to the MCG Shop and place your preorder now. You’ll still get your copy ahead of street date—right after we fulfill to backers, in fact!)
Speaking of Fulfillment
Some international backers are still awaiting their slipcase sets. We're really happy to be working with a UK fulfillment house to keep the costs of shipping down for UK and international backers, and overall this process greatly cuts down on shipping times. But the scale of the Numenera fulfillment is far and away the biggest and most complex since we began shipping out of the UK, and that’s not even counting fulfillment of Invisible Sun, occurring at almost the same time. That’s put a lot of new and unforeseen strain on the system, but we're ironing out the last of the kinks, and everything should be smooth going forward. Even with these delays, you should receive your slipcase set well ahead of street date. We’re super sorry that some backers are still waiting, and thank you from the bottoms of our hearts for your support and patience.
Cypher Play: Numenera Starts in October
The new season of Cypher Play, our organized play program, launches on October 1st. This season launches with the new Numenera corebooks, and you can bet it’s going to make the most of all the great new game options introduced in Numenera Discovery and Numenera Destiny. Cypher Play is only at retail stores, so if you’d like to take part make sure your friendly local game store has signed up. (It’s free for them and for you, and great for building a Numenera community in your area, so there’s no reason not to!)
Delivery Updates, Player's Kits, & Your Best Game Ever!
over 7 years ago
– Thu, Aug 23, 2018 at 02:04:16 AM
Iacade, friends,
Slipcases with NumeneraDiscovery and Destiny are flying out of our warehouses to backers and preorder customers. And we’ve got more exciting new about products shipping, but first, let me update you really quick on our current Kickstarter campaign for Your Best Game Ever.
I told you about Your Best Game Ever already, but if you don’t know what that book is, you can jump to the Kickstarter page and read about it there. But here’s what I really want to tell you about: this campaign is also launching a revised version of the Cypher System Rulebook, and through stretch goals, we have unlocked four (!) Cypher System sourcebooks.
The Stars Are Fire, a science fiction sourcebook with a complete, ready-to-use setting by Bruce Cordell. Stay Alive!, a horror sourcebook with a complete, ready-to-use setting by Sean Reynolds. Godforsaken, a fantasy sourcebook with a complete, ready-to-use setting by me (Monte Cook). We Are All Mad Here, a mythic/faerie tale sourcebook with a complete, ready-to-use setting by Shanna Germain.
All of these books will have new creatures, new rules, helpful suggestions and guidelines, and adventures as well as the setting.
You can get the new Cypher System Rulebook, all four sourcebooks, Your Best Game Ever, a deluxe version of Your Best Game Ever, Cypher System character portfolios, a GM Notebook, and a Player Notebook, all in print and PDF, in the I Want It All! level of the Kickstarter and above. (Plus maybe more—the campaign is still going strong!)
Numenera Player’s Kits
I told you there was more exciting product news. Check out the Numenera Player’s Kits:
Note that’s Sean’s dice tray--because the dice trays come personalized!
These should start shipping next week. Getting them from the manufacturer was quite an adventure.
If you follow our other campaigns, you’ve probably heard us mention that international shipping can be subject to the occasional GM intrusion. We’d hoped to have these kits out to you a few months back, but they suffered one of those unexpected setbacks. The Player’s Kit components were shipped to us in what’s called an LCL shipment (“less than container load”); that is, since they only took up a single pallet’s worth of space, they shared a container with freight from other shippers. (This is all arranged by the freight brokers and shipping lines.)
When the container arrived in the U.S., it turned out to be over the weight limit and to contain some cargo that was misidentified and potentially hazardous. Either one of those conditions would normally require a specialty freight handling company to offload it, take it out of the port, repack it in a bonded location, and then return it to port for Customs clearance. Figuring out how to get two such companies to coordinate on the task proved to be tough, apparently, because it ended up taking nearly two months.
Ultimately everything worked out, and the pallet finally reached us last week. We think it was worth the wait! It just goes to show that no matter how carefully we plan, sometimes there are events outside our control that affect the timing of a delivery.
The kits are beautiful, and we can't wait to get them into your hands!
N2 Fulfillment
We're happy to report the fulfillment process for Numenera Discovery and Destiny Slipcase Sets, Discovery in print, Destiny in print, and Numenera Player's Guide in print, (and The Trilling Shard in print for Kickstarter backers) is well under way for Kickstarter backers and preorder customers. As noted in the last update, rewards and preorders are shipping a little slower than we'd like in the UK and Europe, but the fulfillment house is dealing with three fulfillments for us, plus fulfillments from their other customers, so your continued patience is greatly appreciated by all involved. The remaining Kickstarter rewards and preorders will be going out the door in the days to come. In the meantime, we hope you are enjoying your PDFs of the above products.
Customer Service
Last week was a doozy for us as we worked long and hard to respond to a backlog of queries, and we're very happy and relieved to be back on track. If you submitted a ticket prior to August 17th, but you haven't heard from us, please resubmit your ticket because it likely went awry somewhere in transit. If you submit a ticket with us this week (after August 17th), it will be handled no later than the end of this week. Thank you for your support and your kind words while we've been working to respond to all of your queries.
UK delivery, deluxe editions, and Ask-Monte-Anything
over 7 years ago
– Tue, Aug 14, 2018 at 12:01:14 AM
Just a very quick update on some fulfillment news!
UK Delivery
Some UK backers are experiencing a "shipment pending" notice after they place their order. This seems to be a situation where our shipper is sending the packages, but is a bit slower to update their books as the shipments go out. In most cases, it's not delaying the delivery, despite the information lag. We're still working with them to fix it, but you should have your books sooner than you expect!
Deluxe Editions
Deluxe editions are moving along, and we should have news very soon on their arrival date in our warehouse! They look gorgeous, and we're so excited to get them into your hands. More details on delivery as soon as we have it.
As a side note: We've had a few backers who have mentioned they're missing their coupons for Numenera Discovery and Destiny. In almost all cases, they upgraded to the deluxe edition (and forgot :)). So, if you're missing your coupons, please double check and see if that's the case for you. If so, those coupons will be in your account as soon as the deluxe editions arrive. (And, of course, if not, please let us know so we can figure out what went wrong).
Building Tomorrow Cover Reveal!
Customer Service
We are still very hard at work on getting caught up with customer service. We know that we're behind and aren't responding in the timely manner that you're used to, and we sincerely apologize. Thank you for your patience as we continue to work our way through all of your messages.
In a few cases, we're discovering that messages have been eaten by internet gremlins on the way to us (or on the way to your inbox–please check your spam filters!). If you haven't heard anything at all from us by early next week (not even a form response), this is likely the case. At that point, we ask you to try contacting us again.
AMA-a-Thon
Monte is doing an AMA-a-Thon today!
Today, starting at 4pm PDT, Monte will be trapped at his webcam answering questions live from the audience on topics ranging from gaming advice, his career, or who his favorite Avenger is. (It's Cap. Of course it's Cap.)
The more pledges for Your Best Game Ever that are made during that time, the more questions he'll have to answer!
We have some great special guests lined up from our rock-star cast of consulting experts, too. Be sure and spread the word to keep him spilling secrets until he needs a snack break and we can bring on the guests to answer some questions!
Discovery and Destiny Print Books are Here! (And More!)
over 7 years ago
– Tue, Jul 24, 2018 at 10:56:16 PM
Iadace, travelers, and well met.
We have a new Kickstarter and we think you’ll be really interested in it because it’s for a book aimed at anyone and everyone who plays roleplaying games. It’s called Your Best Game Ever and it’s a system-agnostic guide to everything having to do with RPGs that don’t involve rules: gathering the right group for you, creating interesting characters, hosting a game, running a game, building a world, crafting adventures, dealing with problems that arise at the table and so much more. Best of all, it’s not just theory, but is filled with actionable items that you can incorporate into your next game session. Please check it out and spread the word to all your gaming friends.
(Update: between the time we started writing this and now, the Kickstarter funded! Wow! So we're already on to our first stretch goal! (Check it out here!)
But back to Numenera! The exciting news is that we received the print versions of Numenera Discovery, Numenera Destiny, the Numenera Player's Guide, and The Trilling Shard at the warehouse yesterday! If you backed at levels that give you the print books, you should have received an email about fulfilling your rewards. (Regardless of whether you got an email or not, you can also go directly to your account on the Monte Cook Games store and check your coupons to see what products you have available to redeem.) We’re thrilled to get these books out to you!
By the way, for those of you who redeemed your PDF of Numenera Destiny, but now find you no longer have access to that PDF in your MCG Shop downloads folder, fear not! A depleted cypher temporarily removed the file from your account, but like good Nanos, we’re working hard to restore your access (should be restored by the end of the day).
This was our biggest Kickstarter campaign ever, for two (!) 400+ page corebooks, plus other books and materials. In other words, it all adds together to make this our biggest fulfillment ever. In that light, please be patient with us. Customer Service is likely to continue to be slammed through the next few weeks, and GenCon is going to make that even harder. We’ll be shipping throughout the convention, but communication with us is going to be difficult during that time.
Meanwhile, come join us tonight, Tuesday, at 5pm PDT, for a live game of Numenera run by me (Monte)! We’re using the new books and so if you want to see them in action, this is a great way to do it. The explorers (played by Shanna, Bruce, Sean, and Darcy) in a prior world ruin just met some strange intelligent creatures. Friends? Foes? Come find out!
Oh hey, I mentioned GenCon earler. If you’re going to GenCon, we have a lot of Numenera-related events, including a free panel discussion on Numenera called Discover Your Destiny. We also would love to see you at a brand-new event called An Evening with MCG. It’s Thursday night at 6 PM and there will be casual chats with your favorite designers and other MCG staff, trivia, and lots and lots of fun.
Discovery and Destiny PDFs Are Here!
over 7 years ago
– Wed, Jul 11, 2018 at 10:34:12 PM
Did You Get Your PDFs?
The PDFs for Numenera Discovery and Destiny are ready for backers! You're the first to get them (hurray!). If you didn't get an email from us about your rewards, you can still grab them (but first, you might want to check and make sure you allow our emails from Constant Contact to get through to your inbox; that's how we let you know about all available Kickstarter rewards).
How to get your rewards: Please go to the MCG Shop and log on to your MCG Shop account. From your MCG Shop account page, click COUPONS and you will see all of your available redemption coupons (you won't see coupons for any rewards that are still in production). Click on a coupon to redeem it. If you have more than one reward to redeem, return to the COUPON page and repeat the process until all the rewards you wish to redeem are in your cart. You can also purchase any other products by adding them to your cart before completing the checkout process.
WHAT'S NEXT? We have loads of wonderful rewards to fulfill in the coming weeks:
The Trilling Shard PDF
The Trilling Shard in print
Numenera Player's Guide PDF
Numenera Player's Guide in print
Numenera Discovery in print
Numenera Destiny in print
Numenera Discovery and Destiny slipcase set, standard edition
Numenera Discovery and Destiny slipcase set, deluxe edition
Numenera 2 Player's Kit
At our summit this past week, the design team also signed and numbered books for those of you who are getting rewards at the autograph levels!
If any of the above products are Kickstarter rewards or add-ons for you, we'll be in touch with you when we begin fulfillment for them. Your patience is greatly appreciated while we activate our fulfillment machine cypher.
First off-the-press versions, ready for signing
QUESTIONS? If you have any difficulty with the reward redemption process, or questions about your rewards, please send a message to [email protected] or use the MCG Contact Us page. We respond to messages Monday - Friday from 9 AM - 5 PM CT, except for holidays. We are a small team and your patience when contacting us is greatly appreciated; it can take us many days to respond to all queries. (We are a little behind currently due to the high volume of queries and our week-long summit. But we promise we're hard at work on it and will get to you as soon as we can.)
OTHER NEWS Invisible Sun: We currently have exactly 9 Invisible Sun Black Cubes available for pre-order. And then we're sold out (except for at some retailers, who have already placed their orders). 9 is a special number in #InvisibleSunRPG. There are no coincidences. Get yours today.
Announcing Your Best Game Ever! We just announced our next project -- Your Best Game Ever, a gorgeous hardcover book that's for every game and every player. It's filled with tips, tools, and techniques for running and playing your best game ever--no matter what game you play, or where you play it. It's not a rule book -- it's a tool book!
