Welcome to a new Cypher System game!  We can hash out exactly which Cypher System game we want to play, what tier we want to start at, brainstorm character ideas, and everything else we need to solidify our start.

First off, which game?  Several people said they had Numenera.  As I said in my interest check post, I have nearly the full run of Cypher System books, including:

Numenera
Numenera Discovery & Destiny
The Strange
Predation
Unmasked
Gods of the Fall
Cypher System core rulebook

Is Numenera something we all want to do?  Or is there greater interest in something different?

Hey there gamers!

So what are we all thinking here?  I could likely get enthused about whatever sort of sci-fi action we all agree on.  My experience with Cypher system is in the generic Cypher rules, though I do have the books for the Strange and Gods of the Fall also.  I know basically nothing about the Numenera setting and don't have the books, but I'm glad to learn if that's the way we want to go.

I was quite frankly unaware at quite how far the Numenera system had been expanded, while I have no doubt I could find and make use of any specific expansions to that system I am only really able to comment on the original setting itself.

If the systems really are the same then there should be no reason not to play characters from any of them thrown together via the Numenera settings paradigm of unusual events regardless of what the core story uses as its world setting.

Oh and for tier I am all about skipping the massively overused Tier 1 and starting at either Tier 2 or 3.

P.S.  I found the core rules and figured out how to build the character well enough using nothing but that, so I don't really care what setting we are in at all now.
This message was last edited by the player at 16:13, Sat 22 Sept 2018.

* waves * :)

I really enjoy Numenera ("an Empathic Nano who Works Miracles"), and have been interested in trying The Strange.

Either of those options would work well for me...  :)

+1.  I am definitely more interested in the Sci-Fi end of things (including The Strange's Mad Science, Psionics, "Supers", etc.), and less interested in the Magic end of things...  :)

Numenera is sort of the ultimate sci-fi.  It takes place a billion years in the future of Earth, when eight great civilizations who commanded immense power over various scientific principles have risen and then fallen.  Matter and energy were theirs to command.  But this is the Ninth World.  Humans don't use "natural resources" to build their semi-feudal communities, they use the imperfectly-understood technology of the past (the numenera).  You'd mine building material from a hill that was once a war memorial statue, get metal from an ancient crashed ship capable of going through dimensions, plow your fields with a blade made from the heart of an ancient star and with beasts once bred as war mounts for some distant conflict.

On the surface, it looks like a fantasy campaign in terms of how most people live.  People without much experience might look at someone with studied control over gravity and call them a wizard.  The numenera is not well understood.  Even those who study the past and can get use out of it don't really know its original purpose, but they can certainly make it work for what they need.  But this is a campaign where you can have cyborgs and werebeasts and energy vampires and genetically modified soldiers all working alongside each other to delve into the ruins of the past to make a better future.

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The Strange is set on modern-day Earth.  The premise is there's a dark energy network (The Strange) created an unbelievably long time ago by an alien race.  It allowed for quick travel to other worlds by "translating" you there - your original body goes into a fold of space-time while a new body, completely adapted to the local environment, is now available for your use in the new area.

The Earth is particularly unique in that the area around it in The Strange encourages recursions to grow.  These are limited worlds based on the collective imagination of humanity.  You'll find a world that comes from fairy tales, myths and legends, TV shows, movies, books, or songs.  New Centropolis is a superhero world, Ardeyn a fantasy world, Gloaming from modern-day vampire and werewolf movies, Ruk a sci-fi world, etc.  There are worlds for Star Trek and Firefly, 2001 and General Hospital, Zootopia and zombie films, and so much more.  Most people in these worlds are shadows, like NPCs in a video game, with no understanding that they're in a limited world.  Some gain the spark of true sentience, which can be useful, or (in the case of, say, Professor Moriarty) terrifying.

You play agents of The Estate, who explore and defend all these recursions, and protect Earth from reckless use of The Strange, which could attract a planetvore to destroy all life as you know it...

The fun part of this, mechanically, is that you can change your focus for every new recursion.

So if you're a Clever Vector who Serves and Protects on Earth, you could be a Clever Vector who Slays Dragons on Ardeyn, a Clever Vector who Solves Mysteries in Gloaming, and a Clever Vector who Is a Cyborg in Ruk.

This sort of game lets you basically play in multiple genres without ever having to switch games.  ;)

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Numenera and The Strange are the two oldest properties, so obviously I have the most books for them.

Armed with that information, does that give people a better idea of what's what with those two settings?

Hi all!

Personally, I find Numenera's setting more compelling as I tend to prefer secondary worlds. It doesn't hurt that I already have most of the books.

That said, I haven't gotten a chance to play the Strange, so I wouldn't mind trying that out either!

I don't know if there is a way to adapt something like a 17th or 18th century setting or the Great Pendragon Campaign to the Numenera setting but if so I'd be interested in that sort of historical/medieval setting.

When Worlds Collide: Converting Numenera and The Strange has some ideas for combining the two settings.

We could start with the Numenera setting embedded within The Strange as a recursion, with the potential for side trips to other recursions as the game progresses...  :)

EDIT:

+1 for interesting historical recursions.  It is always fun to be in a setting with extraordinary powers and abilities, trying to stop bad guys with extraordinary powers and abilities, and all the while trying not to attract the attention of the Inquisition while using said powers.  :o

One important question I have: what preferences does the GM have?  If the game is going to survive and thrive, then it will need to be something that excites both GM and players...  :)
This message was last edited by the player at 22:18, Sat 22 Sept 2018.

While I like many historical things, I cannot guarantee a huge amount of historical accuracy if we do go that route.  I could likely handle it on a more limited basis, such as in a recursion, rather than extended.  While I know much of the trappings of medieval Europe, I also know the trappings of Ancient Egypt too.

Having Numenera as a recursion is definitely possible.  I ran a game with that premise for a while, but it succumbed to player attrition before we could get into the Numenera party very deeply.

Would everyone else have interest in a Strange campaign?  That is literally the "something for everyone" option.  While set on modern-day Earth as a default, your character's world or recursion of origin doesn't have to be Earth.  One could have gained the spark in their own home recursion due to Reasons, and joined the Estate later. If we have a merry band of misfits, the Estate might send you to new or lesser-known areas of known recursions due to your mixed experience giving you more tools to get the job done.

In reply to GM (msg # 10):

Would it be possible to build a (starting) character using Numenera and/or the core rules? I can pick up the Strange if I need to, but I figured I'd ask first

Certainly possible, though I can supply the needed information for the type, as they're a bit different in The Strange than Numenera.  Numenera has glaives, jacks, and nanos.  The Strange has vectors (glaive-ish, fighters, athletes), spinners (jacks, rogues, fast-talkers), and paradoxes (nano-like, strange powers, psychics).

The Foci available in each recursion or world in The Strange is limited by the laws and the theme.  Most worlds have Standard Physics laws, some also Magic, Mad Science, Psionics, or others.  You aren't going to find a spellcaster on Earth in the classical sense, because of the underlying laws of Earth don't support magic, for example.

Not to say that people won't have some fantastical powers on Earth for their types, they just don't have the trappings and technicolor side effects of such things in more spectacular recursions.  One paradox power, for example, is similar to Onslaught from Numenera - it does a small amount of damage at a distance.  In Numenera, that might be from a bolt of fire or electricity or something.  In The Strange, on Earth, the same sort of thing might cause a bookcase to fall on someone, or a rug to trip them.  Same mechanical effect, less likely to be caught on the nightly news.  In the Strange in a recursion with Magic laws, however, the same effect might look like fire bolts again.  In a Mad Science recursion, it might look like nano-darts or little killer drones or something of the sort.

If we all agree on The Strange, I'll have lists of Foci up for our most likely target recursions (and which Foci can be dragged from recursion to recursion).