Comment by crooked-v
7 years ago
Numanera makes me go "meh", because it seems to mostly be an attempt to put a gloss of exoticity over tremendously unexciting game mechanics.
7 years ago
Numanera makes me go "meh", because it seems to mostly be an attempt to put a gloss of exoticity over tremendously unexciting game mechanics.
The mechanics are supposed to get out of your way and Numenera’s Cypher system seems to do that job well.
The setting too leaves a lot of room and options for a good DM to expand into and build upon.
You can base almost any kind of story in Numenera, with tech levels ranging from primitive to medieval to hyper-sci-fi.
"You can use it with any kind of story" is a bad thing, not a good thing. A game's mechanics should reinforce its story or themes. Even the granddaddy of generic games, GURPS, has this in some measure in the way its mechanics reinforce a gritty, high-tension feel where every single HP and FP is precious.
> "You can use it with any kind of story" is a bad thing, not a good thing.
And yet that is what every successful RPG does.
Story != Themes.
Setting/cosmology/pantheon/bestiary/etcetera != Story.
D&D is the system, or “game”, with many settings from Planescape to Spelljammer.
The Forgotten Reams is a setting, with many stories from Drizzt Do’Urden to Neverwinter Nights.
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