Numenera: The First Guests in the Needle Universe

Hello Ninth Worlders and beyond.

Last Saturday marked my first guests into the Needles Universe. +Megan Peterson  and Aser Tolentino from The Redacted Files. Not only were they part of the foundation of the podcast series but GM Numenera and The Strange, respectively. The Redacted Files' audio casts  cover everything from Call of Cthuhlu, to The Strange, along with a prolific blog. Speaking of the blog, now that I am properly geared up for taking on the community I really want to do more, such as audio casts, GM interviews and a lot more so next week I will be setting up a Patron Account, if you have any suggestions for monthly donator perks, let me know.

 From their choice of games and themes the Needles universe suited them down to the ground. I will be doing an with them next week after they finish their guest spot on the 31st.  If you fancy having a go with a one shot in the Needles Universe, or perhaps a short stay, give me a message either on google+ or on twitter @Proftesla.

Their first session turned out to be full of much darker things. Here's the set up for the guest game:

A man by name Froge, who is now wheelchair bound and in his late eighties , received a surprising letter. He used to investigate tales of strange and wondrous stories to write down and sell with his co-author Zeigev.  One of these tales was of a living house that could move at will. It's beating heart an object made from the wood  used in the Acardaeum.  After many years of searching the pair had found their quarry and entered after a particularly violent Iron Wind. What happened inside remains locked up and repressed by Froge, who only remembers fragments of the horror. There were stories inside gruesome tales in a very distinct penmanship, a script burned into his mind. His lasting memory was closing the door behind him alone, soaked in blood. When he turned around in fear of something chasing him, the house had gone.  Fifty or so years have passed since and the letter he received was penned by the same hand as the books from the house. It invited him to a private dinner on the edge of the Morianna Nature Reserve, close to the trade route to Jyrek. Now that he cannot follow up the invitation he seeks someone else to survive the house, and bring back a tale to finish his novel.

For the guests they took a very surprising approach to the characters. Not only did they play as a pair, their characters came as one two. Again I can't really discuss this, this week but their actions were certainly entertaining. I can however talk about how I linked their characters into the game and the overall mythos.  As mercenaries on one level or another it allowed me to follow up on an unexplored connection with one of the players, as well as to the house. Thanks to Megan a more recent visit to the house left a trapped group one less member on their way out, as well as fuller stomachs.

Next week I will be hosting Andrew Wieland from the community.  And for the first time I get to use my creative juices and add something to the Numenera universe in the form of a new descriptor. Guldspar. Now if you know your Needles mythos the Guldspar a gold veined empath who can also share sensations. They haven't really been featured before as a main character within the game, although Shroud did take the Guldspar drug, the player soon vacated his seat at the table and therefore died. So a W.I.P for their descriptor.

Guldspar

As a Guldspar Monk you were either forced into service by being injected as part of determining your guilt for a crime, or you were devoted to the idea of existing linked with a hive of other, like minded individuals.

Guldspar

A Guldspar Monk is injected with a liquid called Judgement, it is a vial of golden shimmering liquid full of nanites that establish long distance networks with any other individual injected with Judgement. Depending on the dosage and experience with the nanites, a user can have no control over what they experience or project to being able to manipulate others and to network with hosts who try to hide their broadcasts. Some have been able to use their nanites to establish a network with those that have not taken Judgment, extending as far as allegedly allowing direct communication.

 The liquid, after injected, forms flowing golden veins underneath the skin. Depending on the dosage the nanites can infect the bloodstream, allowing them to convert it to allow the nanites to survive. This results in the host's blood turning gold and certain physical characteristics taking on a golden hue.

Some of the ideas behind the abilities of the Guldspar are taken as religious tenants. Some venerate the Guldspar Monks by joining them but not injected by Judgement. They show their devotion with a tattoo or marking on their skin of golden veins. The Guldspar Monks are in certain regions very common, making this religion and their appearance therefore unremarkable and mundane. The Guldspar are seen as a neutral party to that of the local law enforcement and generally seen as upstanding members of society, which has increased their reach to broader social circles and geographical locations.

The Guldspar have also invented a drug called the Gate to the Forking Path which allows them to force a disconnection with others around and reconnect to the Data-Sphere, allowing them to experience alternate lives in their mind's eye. However this can cause an addiction to the alternative lives and the data sphere, resulting in withdrawal from reality.

Smart: + 2 to Intellect

Mental Esoteries: Any ability that requires the manipulation of the mind or the connection between minds, you are trained in.
Skill : Body Language
Skill: Perception

Inability: When in the presence of other Guldspar or sources of psychic energy/strong emotion, you cannot help but feel the state of mind  and/or  senses. You have an inability in defending against psychic based attacks from that source.

Inability: When in the presence of other Guldspar or sources of psychic energy/strong emotion, you cannot help but feel the same state of mind/ or senses. You can, at times, be completely taken over by your sensations and lose your next action.

Equipment: 12 vials of Gate to the Forking Paths

Initial Link to the Starting Adventure:

1. You witnessed another PC committing a crime which the Guldspar may now sense. You are undecided if you should tell them this and are trying to ascertain more evidence.

2. You have lived your life taking far too much of Gate to the Forking Paths, your own identity is lost on you are searching for people whose traits you would like emulate.

3. You have been tasked by the local law enforcement to inject another party member with an untraceable amount of Judgement as they are under suspicion on a crime and their guilt needs to be decided.

4. You have felt a strong emotional or psychic presence and require a group to investigate. You feel as if this emotion could overwhelm you.

Intrusion: If an entity that the PC is linked with takes damage, she takes one point of intellect damage for every successful injury on the entity. If the creature dies the PC receives the same killing blow and intellect damage.

Intrusion: After taking a considerable about of Gate to the Forking Paths, the PC becomes socially withdrawn and suffers an inability to social interactions for 28 hours.

Let me know what you guys think in the comments.

Like I said right at the top, if you want to take a seat at the Needles table and join in with the mythos and feature in the story blog and on here, let me know. If there is anything Numenera that's going on in your life right now, or you want to promote something you're already doing in the Cypher Universe I'll be happy to give you a shout out on here.

Dont forget to subscribe, add me to your circles & follow me on twitter @proftesla. Hope you guys are having an awesome week (apart from all the storms) and I'll talk to you guys later on in the week. 

/Drew - Tesla

(PS. Sorry about the  delay)

Numenera: Outside the Lines

I have to say last session would have to be the best session I have played in a long time. I would say it was just a generally better session than last week but there were a few things I noticed that helped.

True to form, as I said last week, I ditched the pre-generated and I was set free. After spending two sessions looking over it, I was pretty much in a position where I felt comfortable messing the whole thing up without worrying out things going wrong. I skipped parts, described some incorrectly, I got the layout wrong and missed a few encounters but that was the joy of it. I wasn't spending most of the session trying to fill in the story between the lines. I was actively rubbing the lines out and spilling the story all over the place. Okay that already got a little out of hand but it was that sense of freedom that truly got me going.

It was a much more fluid game, allowing me to switch between the predestined narrative and bring in the characters backgrounds and allowing for increased player agency. Now a little spoiler as to how this came about: The Acardaeum (Ack-Car-Day-Um). This narrative device is how I've brought in the players personal stories. The Acardaeum is different to each individual, this also includes the translation and definition of the word. Although not noticeable to Ninth Worlders, the word itself has a perception filter of sorts, customizing the word to the individual. I brought these into the personal backgrounds of the new characters as a way to link them to the narrative without confining their expression. I fitted the character and play style to the narrative, not forcing them to work within my narrative.

This device is also going  be key for the subplot to the game. The underlying narrative of the Acardaeum not only brings the individual characters into conflict within the group but also creates simultaneous action as the majority are looking for the Acardaeum individually and so will act altruistically to further their own goals. The subplot, like the main plot functions in a very similar manner.

The map of Thaemor  for the group has been marked with purple landmarks at certain locations. If they players choose to take it upon themselves to go to these locations, they are specifically to advance the main plot. Much like the primary quest chain found in many RPGs. The personal story is also voluntary, it is up ot the individual to follow their own narrative, but as all are linked nobody will be left out of the action. This is all well and good but planning narrative sections requires at least bit of planning. This has resulted in a survey of sorts, polling the interests of my players.  After every quest chain the players are offered a choice of sets of quests. Darkperch, Thaemor/Hawk-Eye Bounties, Auspar and personal. These quests for myself are considered a one-shot but that depends on the players themselves. Once the group[ has decided on a list of quests to take, they then select two out of that list and then I offer them both the week after. This not only allows me to guage the mood and the current objectives of the group but also allows me to plan a little better, reducing the spectrum of quests and focusing on quality rather than breadth of option.

This, in a roundabout way, brings me back to my original topic, how awesome my last session was. Not only did I find running ad-hoc was not only more engaging with the players but also more exciting and interesting as sometimes, even I don't think too far ahead so even I am riding by the seat of my pants. The unknown is great feeling for me a blank canvas where my words and ideas take shape regardless of their form. As I was more engaged, so too were my players. If there was even a slip of concentration the world would start to crash around my players, forcing them into urgent action, keeping their interest and concentration on the game.

There is something about this I also want to mention. As I was discussing with one of my players, the existence of webcams and their use within the online TTRPG community. On many occasions  that I have either listened to or watched via Twitch or You Tube, the players are all on webcam. The focus is on the individual, allowing for greater dynamics of interaction, brought about the physicality broadcasting to the group can bring. The individual is under scrutiny, bringing back the interactions missed from a physical game. This, in my opinion, is the best way to ensure player participation, as well as increasing concentration and involvement across the board. Let me know your opinions!

GMs: Physicality of speech effects more than just the interpretation from the webcam. Gestures, facial expressions even standing up and pacing around will all affect how you say something. Take the phrase. "The house is on fire." Using the physicality of speech, try different ways of expressing the same phrase with differing intents and perspectives. Does the way you express it change its interpretation, or does the underlying meaning behind it influence how you say it?

PCs: Imagine yourself in a situation with a burning house. Create different scenarios about how it occurred and then express them with as much physicality as you can. Try and use your tone and movements to infer one of the other players committed the deed without saying it.    

Have you never played Numenera, can't find a game or just can't get enough? I invite you to take a seat at my table for a one-shot: Saturday's 14:00 EST/19:00 GMT for around four hours.

Don't forget to follow and share & keep up to date with Twitter @proftesla

Have a great week and I will talk you guys later on,
/Drew - Tesla

Numenera: Within the Lines

Hello everyone,

I firstly want to say thank you for the hugely positive response to my last blog, it is seriously appreciated.

Also a big thankyou to Jeff Brown for the awesome new art of Auspar:

So as most of you will know season two started two weeks game time, and a last week blog time. I thought it might be best with the two new plays I now have ,to start the game off without dumping them into my complex crazy kind of DM style. To that end I am running one of the pre-generated adventures re-skinning them to work for my own campaign.

In my opinion to make a successful re-skin you need a couple of things, patience, creativity, logic and interest. A re-skin can be just reassigning the quest giving NPC or perhaps a relevant assistant NPC or re-tooling it down to the fabric on the furniture. However I will give this one disclaimer before I continue. In practice I was pretty bad at all of this.

The couple of hours I spent going through the various adventure options and trying to break it down so that I could weave in my own storyline was difficult. Many of the times I ended up over complicated the matter or not fully understanding the implications in the planning stage. Creativity and logic are a given, you won't be able to re-skin an adventure to suit your own narrative without some form of these skills.

For me however, interest has got the be the biggest influence. Although the adventure, like most of MTG works, was inspiring, however as I was running the it, my inspiration was waning. The problem I personally found was that it broke my flow of conversation with the players. I was wanting to keep referring down to what was written, trying to make sure I remembered what was going on and making allowances for player agency. In all honest I got bored and being bored as a GM kills the game.

A happy GM usually results in a satisfied player, but a bored GM can ruin the experience for them. The game itself was not that successful, most of the time the players were not concentrating on the game itself. Now this could be down to the 'on rails' adventure I was running or my feelings towards it were subconsciously drifting into my play style. As they became more and more disinterested I was more frustrated and at the end I decided to jack the whole thing in.

Running or re-skinning an adventure for me is difficult. I run on my own imagination and this has served me pretty well. The pre-written adventure jarred with my play style. But this is just me, I take my hat off to the Asset Team for MCG and anyone out there reading this that run adventures. They feel to me, completely different skills.  Let me know in the comments if you usually run one-shot adventures or more of a free-style campaign, or your own variant. Adventures are a good place to get inspiration and more than likely you will be more passionate about your own ideas. 

As Season Two starts I want to also make a quick announcement. I will be running one-shot style sessions with my group as they take on more adventures. Not only am I asking you guys for inspiration, but I'm also offering you a seat at my table. I'd love to have a new perspective on my game and the offer is for anyone and everyone. We normally play Saturdays 19:00 GMT for around four hours.  If you're interested let me know.

GMs: Think about your own play style and how you have developed as a GM. What adventures got you excited or invested in? What type of game play turns you off and why?

Players: Do you prefer choice or to follow more as a reaction to the GM. What would you do if you're given a room as a starting point? Explore yourself, ask the GM questions or wait until something happens?

Hope you all enjoy Season 2 and I'll catch you all next week.

/Drew-Tesla