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:
Preorders Are Open and Other Cool News
about 6 years ago
– Tue, May 01, 2018 at 10:38:04 PM
At MCG’s offices scattered across North America, we see the early signs of an approaching summer—blossoms on the trees; the chatter of birds; grass turning green and starting to run riot. And the opening of preorders for Numenera Discovery and Destiny!
Yes, that’s right: Last week we opened preorders for the corebooks and Numenera Player’s Guide—so you know July isn’t too far away! If you have friends who missed the Kickstarter, send them to our website.
We’re closing in on production of the corebooks. Numenera Discovery and Numenera Destiny are both in proofing, and just a few weeks from going to press. The slipcase has entered the production process. And the medallions win the prize for first production element completed: The full manufacturing run is complete, and they’re in transit to us now! (If you missed the last update, check it out for a close look at the medallions.)
The Player’s Guide will go to press at the same time as the corebooks. It’s in layout now. The Trilling Shard and Discover Your Destiny are close behind. Keep an eye on the MCG website over the weeks to come for design diaries and other behind-the-scenes looks at the new and interesting elements of Numenera Discovery and Destiny.
We Have the Black Cube!
This isn’t Numenera news, but here’s something you might find interesting: We received the first production copy of Invisible Sun yesterday, and holy mackerel what a production it is! Here’s a look inside:
This game is spectacular and beautiful. If you didn’t back the Kickstarter, preorders are now open—but hurry, because Invisible Sun is almost sold out.
We've Been Gaming, and You're Invited to Join Us
Saturday was International Table Top Day, and to celebrate we streamed a live game of Numenera. You can catch the video on our Twitch channel—be sure to follow our channel to get alerts when we go live. We've been streaming our games a lot lately, so if you've ever wanted to hang out and game with the MCG crew, it's a great chance to do it. (We're usually live in the chat!) And check out the MCG YouTube channel for past games.
A Peek Inside
In our last update we gave you a look inside Numenera Destiny. Here are some spreads from Numenera Discovery, along with a few pieces of art from the corebooks we unveiled as part of preorder launch.
We’ll have more news in the weeks to come, as the corebooks and other titles continue to move toward delivery!
Medallions, Questions Answered, and a Look Inside
about 6 years ago
– Wed, Apr 04, 2018 at 12:14:48 AM
Here’s something you might find cool:
These are actual Numenera medallions from our good friends at Campaign Coins. If you’re backing at a level that gets you the Numenera corebook set in print (and most of you are), or the deluxe Slipcase Set, this is the medallion that will come in your slipcase. These things are super cool—we think you’re going to love them!
You may be wondering how other things are coming along. More on that below, but first we have a few other bits of news.
Did You Catch the Live Q&A?
Monte, Bruce, and Sean were recently live on video taking your questions about Numenera Discovery and Destiny. Player intrusions were the hottest topic in this wide-ranging discussion. If you missed it, you can find the video here.
Live Game Tonight!
Speaking of live on the internet, the design team is playing Numenera live tonight—why don’t you join us? We play every Tuesday at 8:00 p.m. EDT (5:00 p.m. PDT), and we’d love to have you watch and join us in the chat. It’s a great way to hang with MCG folk and get some insights into Destiny and Discovery. And it’s loads of fun!
Catch Invisible Sun before It’s Too Late!
It’s looking like Invisible Sun is going to sell out—right out of the gate. If you didn’t back the Kickstarter, and haven’t preordered, you might want to give it a look. Everyone who preorders is guaranteed a copy. Everyone who doesn’t might miss out. Invisible Sun is an astounding production. But more than that, it’s an incredibly rich and unique RPG with a setting unlike anything that’s come before and design innovations that make it deep, engaging, and an awesome roleplaying experience.
A Peek Inside the Books
Here’s a look inside Numenera Destiny:
Can you believe we are literally weeks away from sending the new corebooks to press? To be clear, we’re talking six or eight weeks, not two or three. Which is good, because it’s a huge project—832 pages, altogether, plus extras, slipcase, and the medallion—and there’s still plenty of work left. But Numenera Discovery is in proofing, Numenera Destiny is in layout, and the Numenera Player’s Guide is headed for editing. So we're really closing in on it!
Corebooks aren’t the only thing we’re working on, of course. The Trilling Shard is done with design, while Discover Your Destiny, Building Tomorrow and Tomorrow’s Bones are not far behind.
We’ll have more news, more frequently, over the next couple of months, as your rewards move into and through the production process. In the meantime, maybe we’ll see you tonight at our Numenera game?
Tonight: Live Numenera 2 Discussion with Monte, Bruce, & Sean
about 6 years ago
– Tue, Mar 20, 2018 at 11:42:55 PM
Darcy fell ill with a nanite-scourge and can't GM our live online Numenera game, Echoes Linger, so the team decided to pull back the curtain and talk about some of their work on Numenera Discovery & Destiny!
Darcy will resume GMing Numenera: Echoes Linger in two weeks, on April 3rd. Stay tuned for a live collaborative world-building session with her and shape the story you see on-screen!
Shanna's character Alerra, a Graceful Jack who Rides the Lightning. Art by Mirco Paganessi
Numenera Stream Coming Your Way
over 6 years ago
– Fri, Feb 16, 2018 at 12:55:14 AM
On February 27th at 5 p.m. PST, we’re launching a Numenera streamed game series that will be played completely live on Twitch, with Monte in the player’s seat as Darcy takes the GM reins for the game that got her GMing in the first place!
Players Monte, Bruce, Shanna, and Sean will be playing fantastic characters with brand-new art, like Shanna’s character below.
Illustration by Mirco Paganessi
We’re beginning with character options from the original Numenera rules, but we’re excited to showcase Discovery and Destiny material later on.
Be sure to watch live on Twitch as we’ll be experimenting with audience interaction! As always, our past episodes will be uploaded to our YouTube. And tell a friend–the Ninth World could always use more explorers.
If you can’t wait for the end of the month to see MCG gaming, tune in Friday February 16th at 7 p.m. PST for The Raven Wants What You Have, our new Invisible Sun streamed narrative.
Hoping to see you in the datasphere.
Illustration by Mirco Paganessi
Progress, News, and a Quick Look at Crafting Cyphers
over 6 years ago
– Fri, Jan 19, 2018 at 12:10:49 AM
It’s been nearly three months since we closed the Numenera 2: Discovery and Destiny Kickstarter campaign, and we here at MCG have been busy. We thought you might enjoy a quick update on our progress, a few design notes, and some new art. Let’s start with some news on your rewards!
Design and writing on the new corebooks and the Player’s Guide are just about done. The bulk of the text has moved into the editing stage, and layout is commencing. It’s really exciting to see books start to take shape where, just a couple of months ago, we were all reading from long, unformatted playtest documents.
The Player’s Kit and the T-shirts are already in production. If you backed for these, you’ll get them ahead of the corebooks. (Although some Player’s Kits components are literally handmade, so even though they’re already underway, it’ll take some time to get them finished.)
Shanna’s fiction seminar will be held on Thursday, February 22nd. If you signed up, you should have recently received an email with more details.
And our intrepid designers are already starting in on Discover Your Destiny and The Trilling Shard, and even Building Tomorrow (the first supplement after the corebooks launch) and Tomorrow’s Bones (the next Numenera novel).
In addition to the Kickstarter rewards, we have some other bits of news to share.
Help Wish Monte a Happy Birthday!
Monte’s birthday is Monday, January 29th. It’s his 50th, which is kind of a significant number to most of us. In addition, 2018 marks 30 years as a professional game designer for Monte, and that also seems like a pretty significant anniversary.
To celebrate these milestones, and to wish Monte a Happy Birthday, we’re putting together a special event. (This is a surprise—Monte doesn’t know about it. Well, he may be starting to suspect, but we’re still basically keeping it a secret.) We’d love it if you participated, and doing so is easy—just play a game.
You can find all the details here. We hope you’ll join us in wishing Monte a happy 50th, and in congratulating him on 30 years of great games!
Want to Watch the MCG Team in Action?
Keep an eye on the MCG Twitch channel—we have some cool stuff coming in the weeks ahead. That’s all we can say for now, but if you follow us on Facebook or Twitter you can catch all the news as it becomes available.
And Now Some Destiny News
Bruce had this to say about his recent work on Numenera Destiny:
“One of the major pieces of new design in Destiny is the completely revised and expanded crafting system. All characters can try their hands at crafting, but the newly introduced type—the Wright—has a lot of advantages. For instance, to craft numenera devices, such as cyphers or installations, crafters need a plan. Wrights, thanks to their experience, can develop new plans every time they advance their tier. Given that a Wright might develop a plan to make a specific kind of cypher, say a rejuvenator cypher for Might, it's not out of the question that when characters set out on an excursion, the Wright could hand out one or more rejuvenators to the other characters.
This means that PCs can make choices about their cyphers a bit more deliberately, whereas before, cypher acquisition was completely random. Of course, PCs still find completely random cyphers, and indeed, the Wright's Always Tinkering ability allows them to create "temperamental" cyphers almost on the fly, which are also random (and only usable by the Wright). But, returning to the example of the Wright with the plan for the rejuvenator: PCs that know they're going into a dangerous situation now have the option to provide the Wright a few extra hours and resources to get ready.”
