For Players Archives

The special materials described in the Numenera core book may not be as flashy or exciting as the Artefacts and Cyphers scattered throughout the Ninth World, but they do have interesting potential all of their own. This is the first of a small series of articles to explore what the developing societies of the Steadfast […]

Designing a Focus is a lot harder than writing a Descriptor.  There’s a lot more to balance and the Focus, by its very nature, has more impact on the character than a Descriptor does.  On the other hand, there are so many Foci and they take so many different tacks that it’s hard to compare […]

Premise:  Numenera PC’s don’t know much about prior world technologies and can’t identify Cyphers.  Hilarity ensues (and people probably die). Ok, here’s the idea- let’s strip off all the identifying characteristics from Cyphers and make them really just a shot in the dark. Sure it sounds crazy, but here’s the catch: when you activate a […]

Tucked away in the optional (what Monte Cook calls the “advanced”) rules chapter are a couple of playable non-human races for player characters, one of which are the reddish-violet Varjellen.  Harsh and alien, I find the Varjellen extremely compelling as they just don’t value things in the same ways that humans do.  First off, Varjellen […]

I’ve talked at length with my players and other friends about the Glaive type.  It’s a great type and fills an important, beloved role in our games.  But Glaives sometimes have a hard time at the table in my games and I’d like to talk about that. It’s possible you haven’t run into this.  The […]