Numenera: Interview with Andreas Walters - Author of Ninth World Assassins

D: Can you tell us a little about your background in Table Top RPGs?

A: Started playing in middle school with D&D third edition, played that and 3.5 until about high school until our GM became "too cool to be geek." From there I took over GMing, I remained playing predominately playing D&D (Occasionally playing Star Wars Saga and Mutants & Masterminds) until until Monte Cook kickstarted Numenera, which was where the real change happened.

D: What has been your favourite to play?

A: Although I have relatively limited gaming diversity experience, I would say I have had a lot of fun with D&D 3.5 and Star Wars Saga, despite its broken mechanics (which I personally fixed).

D: Do you have a moment that you will always remember from a game?

A: two session mega-battle against Asmodeus, where the players Mephistopheles asked for the players help to free Levistus and help him take down the Lord of Hell. Mephistopheles took the crown as Lord of Hell and the players got the 7th layer (Levistus got the 8th).

D: What have been your inspirations?

A: Computer: Warcraft 2 & 3, Heroes III of Might & Magic, Elderscrolls Series (Morrowind, Oblivion, Skyrim)

Videography: Firefly Series, Ghost In the Shell, all Miazaki Movies, Stargate, and Star Wars  

RPG: 3.0 Forgotten Realms Handbook

Books: Redwall series, Michael Criton books, Dragon Lance series.

D: Can you tell us a little about Metal Weave Games?

A: We're small company making big things. Originally we were Knowlege of the Ninth, as some of you may remember from the Ninth World Hub days. I started out by learning how to PDF peoples content in a professional manner. And from there when the Numenera Limited License was announced, I made Ninth World Assassins, and continued creating.

D: What attracted you to the Cypher System?

A: Well, I was just getting into twitter, and this whole thing about Numenera was blowing up my feed thought it was spammy like the rest of the kickstarters I saw, but it seemed to get quite a bit more attention, so I checked it out and liked the concept. 

D: What was the concept behind Ninth World Assassins  and how did it come about?

A: Initially it was just going to be a short supplement of poisons (since the book had listed poison as both cypher and equipment). In addition, if I was to make a poison, there wasn't really any guidance on such matters. I thought doing some foci would be good too, and I just kept adding to it until it felt like a real supplement.

D: Can you give a brief overview on the creation process?

A: So a lot of it comes down to recording all your ideas somewhere and then developing them. I have a lot of ideas, lots of them, its just a matter of making 

For example, Organization Membership, the corebook lists quite a few organizations and I saw that their membership perks were really weak. Yeah you could probably do more with roleplay, but the problem is that if the player dosen't know what options are available to him, he may never use them to the potential he could have. So I created a guild system that would allow the guild to take a more active role in campaigns without making the guild everything that's going on.

D: Is there anything you are particularly proud of in Ninth World Assassins ?

A: I'm actually quite proud of this book, poisons are the poster child, however I do want to give a shout-out to the foci and guild system

D: Is there anything of your own you would recommend if they like Ninth World Assassins ?

A: I like to create diverse works, so the content of everything that I have produced so far have been quite different from each other. Naval Encounters was done in a similar manner to ninth world assassins but put a greater focus on the weird vessels of the ninth world. 

D: What else have you developed for the Cypher System?

A: I published the Mechanical Bards Ninth World Tales, Naval Encounters and Naval Perils; Cloak and Dagger (The Strange) and Southern Sorrows (Numenera Module) will release soon too.

D: Is there anything you are working on at the minute?

A: Lots of things, currently the Baby Bestiary, Scavengers, Non-Player Cards, and our cypher licenses, Cloak and Dagger and Southern Sorrows.

D: Are you writing for other systems? If so what?

A: Creating new systems is some of the things we do, for instance Scavengers which just got funded on kickstarter. We're also looking into doing some writing for Savage Worlds.

D: Any plans for the future?

A: We have lots of plans, unfortunately we cannot discuss any of our cypher-system plans until they come under license. All I can say is to keep an eye on us, we're very busy working on new games, game supplements and systemless game aids. 

D: I just want to say thank-you for being an inspiration and being core to my Numenera Universe. (Any further comments?)

A: You were pretty thorough, thanks for the interview.

http://patreon.com/cityofneedles

Numenera: 100th Blog Post, GeeklyInc, Scry Hawk Chronicles Project and Patreon

Iadace internet,

First and foremost I just want to say thank-you for all the support I have had over the past 8 months. Every single one of you have been instrumental in how the core campaign has shaped up and has inspired me to go a lot further than just the blog. I  also want to celebrate that that as of the 1/04/2015 (yes the date is a little suspect) I have reached my 100th blog post on my core City of Needles novel. It's currently  totalling one novel and couple of chapters in to the second. I have never written so much in my life and I have enjoyed every second of it, which has to be a testament to Numenera itself as a story-teller's dream.

Halfway through March, I applied to to be a writer for GeeklyInc and luckily landed myself a position for their Table Top section. As most of you know I've never played another system, in fact I've only managed to play half a game of Numenera as a player. With the Numenera system and setting, along with my Master of Arts Degree in Literature and Creative Writing I've managed to create systems and spreadsheets to help me through the baby steps of GM'ing with narrative design at the forefront. I'll be taking everything I've learned and will be writing up a new series on there, exclusively talking about Numenera. This will include how I fell in love with game as a writer and how its systems, settings and rules help create a game where narrative driven content can be an inspiring and freeing experience for both the GM and the players.

On the back of my 100th post for the core campaign novel; next week I will be launching The Scry Hawk Chronicles over on Twitch. Starting from the week of the 6th of April, I will be running 5, two part adventures, set in the Needles Universe. The adventures all stem from from the organisation known as the Scry Hawks, a black-ops style order of the Hawk-Eye. You can find more information on the campaign itself and my 22 community players over at Scry Hawk Wikia.

The first game and adventure titles are:

Falco: Firday 10th/24th April, 19:00 BST - The Village of Stone

Lanius: Saturday 11th/25th April, 17:00 BST - The Shadow Excavation

Vultur: Sunday 12th/26th April, 18:00 BST - The Grand Orators Tome

Elanus: Tuesday 14th/28th  April, 17:00 BST - The Dodona's Twin

Strix: Sunday 19th April/3rd May, 17:00 BST - Kaledon's Reprise

If you've been reading my core campaign and the stuff on here, there has been quite a lot of work put into it so far. By my best estimate I have over 120k  words for the novel and a diverse range of topics on here. I've decided to set up a Patreon to help further both the blogs and the livestreams. The money will be going towards production costs, time needed to write the blogs and hopefully in the future more productions such as podcasting with your support. The Numenera community has been the foundation for a passion that has been nurtured and grown by you. I don't think I would be in the position today where I could say I've written a novel and a half, GM'd and played my first ever TT-RPG, and now confident, inspired, and perhaps a little insane enough to GM 5 more games.   If you like what you've read so far and want to support me further I would greatly appreciate it.

To close, I just want to say a thank-you to +Monte Cook, +Shanna Germain, the Numenera Community, the G+ Table Top Roleplayers, my core campaign players, my 22 Scry Hawks and everyone else in between. You've changed my life.

/Drew - Tesla

Numenera: Interview with Ryan Chaddock - Author of Whisper Campaigns

D: Can you tell us a little about your background in Table Top RPGs?

R: I've been playing RPG's for a long time.  I started with D&D 2nd edition, the D6 Star Wars, Cyberpunk, and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, all at once basically.  From there I moved on to GURPS, Car Wars, and the White Wolf line, which I became obsessed with.  I started playing and then running Vampire LARPs and that turned my hobby into a lifestyle.  Eventually we were self publishing our own version of Vampire LARP among my play group and that's where I learned to put together books.

D: What has been your favourite to play?

R: That's a hard one.  Right now I really enjoy the play of the Cypher System games (Numenera and The Strange) at the table.  They're the perfect balance of interesting dice rolls, risk/reward mechanics, and interesting settings.  In terms of theme and plot though Vampire the Masquerade is my home base.  I always go back to that well and it really informs everything else I play.

D: Do you have a moment that you will always remember from a game?

R: For me it was a LARP moment.  I had constructed a plot where the villain who was threatening the city turned out to have been the sire (creator vampire) of the character in charge.  The player totally went along with it and ultimately defected to the other side in a speech in front of the city during which he revealed everyone's secrets.  For me, creating a plot and then having people totally buy into it is the fun part.  I love the collaboration of it and I love being part of something bigger.

D: What have been your inspirations?

R: In terms of stuff outside of the RPG world, growing up it was scifi and fantasy- Asimov books and the Dragon Lance novels for instance.  Right now it's TV.  We really live in the golden age of TV series.  House of Cards, Game of Thrones, True Detective, Sherlock.  I think TV can be really great as a guide to plotlines that span many episodes, which is closest to what tabletop gaming is like.

D: Can you tell us a little about Ryan Chaddock Games?

R: We're a little company that's comprised of me, my wife Katherine, and my co-author Jordan Marshall.  We've also had writing from Joseph DeSimone.  I guide the process and do most of the design and development.  Jordan helps with writing, and Katherine edits.  Katherine and I trade off doing layout.  I have a few playtesters back in Oregon (we moved to Indiana recently) who I keep in contact with.  We mostly put out Numenera and The Strange supplements right now, but we've done a setting for Fate and plan on producing D&D content once the new OGL comes out.

D: What attracted you to the Cypher System?

R: The setting really.  I was reading Monte Cook's blog back when he left Wizards and when he started talking about the setting I really got inspired.  I pledged the kickstarter and signed up for the playtest.  I started running several of those a week, really organizing my life around understanding the game.  During the kickstarter I had somehow convinced my local game store to pledge at a level where Monte would come out and talk and run games, so I met him and Shanna Germain just as the game was coming out.  When the limited license was released I already had been putting up fan content for a while and had some stuff ready to go.  I put together my first book in 2 and a half weeks.  It was intense.  Cypher System became important to me because it represented the distillation of what I wanted in a game.  It's not about complex optimization, it's about the places and people of the Ninth World.  I think all those years of LARP had shown me that rules are incidental to the game.  They actually get in the way.

D: What was the concept behind Whisper Campaigns and how did it come about?

R: I'm a long time Vampire player and someone with more than a passing interest in politics.  I've been a political activist, an elected student representative, and hold a degree in applied economics and public policy. My years running LARP as well have given me a bit of experience seeing politics play out and I think I've gleaned a few things that most people haven't.  We wanted to make a supplement about court life in Numenera that took a lot of those lessons and made them work for people who haven't picked them up.  We wanted a primer, as well as a mechanical shorthand for political intrigue.  We wanted to emphasize how much more thrilling a battle can be when your place in society is on the line, for instance.  So, that was the plan.  I think the book works because we married that advice with houses and player options that are very Ninth World.  They're weird and creepy and that's what you really need to pull it all together and make it Numenera.

D: Can you give a brief overview on the creation process?

R: Usually I've got ideas for a book floating around for 3 or 4 months before we start it.  Once we start we write an outline and decide who's going to write what.  Usually I focus on stuff with a lot of mechanics, and Jordan focuses on things that are more about background detail and fiction.  Before I begin writing I start making the art, in particular the background / border art for the interior.  I need to have a sense of the feel of the book.  I then make a playlist to listen to while writing.  This really helps me get into the head space of the book.  I need to be able to put headphones on and get back into it at the drop of a hat.

We write separately, but Jordan is our roommate so we touch base every day on how we're doing.  Once the book is starting to come together we start to edit and revise.  All along the process I'm usually making art from Creative Commons source images I grab mostly from Flickr.  Once most of the writing is done we start the layout and I'm usually making art and doing small bits of writing as we do that, to get the spacing right. Then we all go through the book and look for problems and typos one last time.

D: Is there anything you are particularly proud of in Whisper Campaigns?

R: I think the intrigue cypher system is the weirdest thing I've published yet.  I hope some people are using it.  It really comes from a lot of experience I've had writing similar systems for Vampire, so it's been playtested well.  

D: Is there anything of your own you would recommend if they like Whisper Campaigns?

R: I think our book on crime in the Ninth World, Wits Alone, really dovetails with Whisper Campaigns well.

D: What else have you developed for the Cypher System?

R: Beyond our Numenera line, we've made a couple books for The Strange.  The first was The Translation Codex, which is a massive tome containing a hundred Foci for use in constructing recursions (fictional universes) for the game.  More recently we came out with Broken Immersion, a guide to emphasizing the video game origins of Ardeyn (a recursion derived from an MMO).

D: Is there anything you are working on at the minute?

R: I'm finishing up the principle writing on a book called The Wander, which presents story seeds and character options for campaigns centered on the Wandering Walk of the Ninth World.  

D: Are you writing for other systems? If so what?

R: I've written for Fate in the past, which was a real learning experience for me.  I'll probably revisit Fate soon, as it's fun to develop for.  I'm also working on D&D content as much as I can.  I'm interested in writing a campaign setting focused on the politics of a new nation being forged in a time of war.  Sort of American Revolution meets Game of Thrones.

D: Any plans for the future?

R: I've been dabbling in cartography for a while now and plan on continuing to pursue that.  I've been writing freelance here and there as well (ENWorld's new magazine uses a piece I wrote as an example of their articles), and I'm hoping to continue doing that.  If the OGL for D&D allows for running Kickstarters I'll be trying my hand at a KS campaign for my D&D setting.  I'm also considering starting a podcast on gaming topics in the future.  Lots of stuff to do!

D: I just want to say thank-you for being an inspiration and being core to my Numenera Universe.

R: Haha, thanks.  Glad I could be of service!

Numenera: Scry Hawk Campaign

For quite a while now I've been wanting to run a second Numenera campaign that was more for either Twitch or podcasting. So below I present to you the details for the Scry Hawk Campaign. If you're interested in taking part let me know either via google+, twitter @proftesla or on skype professor_tesla.

Numenera Campaign: Scry Hawk

Project Name: Scry Hawks

Medium: Skype and Roll 20

Broadcasted: Via Twitch/Podcast

Times: Six Hour Window 9AM PST, 12PM EST, 5pm GMT - 3PM PST, 6PM EST, 11PM GMT. Sign sheet here

Session Length: Four Hours

Scheduling: Bi-Monthly (one case/cast per month)[I usually like two sessions to get max story and character development before changing]

Cast: Ensemble. No set cast required, first come first serve to availability. Anyone of any skill/experience level can join

System: Numenera

Additional Material: Character Options, Ninth World Assassins- Andreas Walters , Whisper Campaigns - Ryan Chaddock, City of Needles - Andrew Wilson

Setting: Needles Universe Thaemor

Story so far:

The Scry Hawks have always worked independently of their brothers and sisters in other Hawk orders. They are also the most elusive and dangerous order of the Hawk-Eyes. Within Thaemor at least, they have utter authority and their actions, although questionable, can never be challenged. They operate outside law, government, guilds and royalty and pride themselves on their anonymity. Their  primary function is to protect the Steadfast at any cost. This has lead them into other regions and their unchallenged behaviour in Thaemor is nearly always met with resistance at every turn. They are a law unto themselves and in that regard, an infractions or incursions beyond Thaemor's borders, is dealt with swiftly and harshly.  

The current situation in Thaemor is dire. Auspar, the capital city, has suffered a great catastrophe called The Great Descent. Most of the city has suffered some form some structural damage, as the ground beneath them sunk. During the chaos, or it is now believed just before, the Mad King, Holva the First was kidnapped. In his place, a power-hungry Chancellor Pheylor has become Chancellor Regent.  With no objects to his mental state, the citizens, including the city guard now follow him blindly. His new protectors, the Shadow Guard, have now, with increased money from taxation, begun to spread across the Steadfast like a plague and there is little information on why, in the first time in Auspar's history, the city guard have become a Steadfast wide army, with armaments and equipment to match.

There has been a sudden rise of a sect within the local religious group called the Purple Order. Throughout Thaemor they have spread the word of the Great Devourer looming to consume the world, but none of them can agree on how this will happen, or how they can be saved from it. Their varying theories stems from the abilities of the Order, being able to read individually specific materials, by feeling the contours, bumps and edges, they would interpret as a form of prophecy. The First Oraea of the Vessel has unified a large number of Order members under the same belief. A young girl who was changed into amethyst allowed the Orders members to read her entire body, regardless if they were not able to read amethyst in the first place. The words inscribed on her told the tale of the Herald and the Heretic. This was coupled with the voices of both entities contained within her, making her the Vessel, and unfortunately due to her crystalline nature, shattered when the Great Descent started.  With the ability for all to read the prophecy, they now believe in unison that the end of the world is already upon them. It is now understood that Great Devourer is from another plane of existence and his vanguard referenced in the amethyst of the girl has already been sighted within Thaemor's borders and perhaps have already been here for quite some time. They are women, believed to be clones, with incredible strength, speed and acuity. Their very existence calls into question the scepticism of the Purple Order's beliefs, and presents the credible possibility of invasion or an extinction level event.

The preservation of the Steadfast is the Scry Hawks upmost responsibility, and investigating the threats now posed to the citizens of Thaemor has taken precedent. There is no telling what is on the horizon, but the Scry Hawks will be the first ones there, armed with weapons and information, ready to hold back the tide.

Numenera: Kill Your Darlings

...Or in other words, no person, place or object is safe from death's scythe.

So I've got some news for you, firstly City of Needles has just reached over 4000 views and Venicia 3000 so again I'd like to say a big thankyou to you reading this, everyone that's been involved with the campaign and the community at large. Remember to get in contact if you want to take a guest seat at my campaign for a session or two, just get in contact.

tHa prominent figure from my campaign who I had planned to help in the development on two of my characters, I killed. It wasn't on purpose, as their death served no purpose, but they were in the wrong place and the wrong time and well, it's my first NPC death of the game that I hadn't factored in the game play. In all honesty, it was awesome.

For those of you unfamiliar where the term comes from, reportedly it originated with Faulkner although an earlier example from has been found from notes on 1914 lecture: "On Style" by Arthur Quiller-Couch. As a GM assigning any sort of narrative importance to an NPC, it should be done lightly. An example from an earlier post was the factor of  the narrative importance in a quest chain. The value is only the weight of the preferred outcome, it is never a guaranteed outcome, nor should it ever be considered as one. It is the idea that these actions are more likely to happen in the circumstance knowing your party or own machinations. Assigning a similar value to an NPC however is difficult, as giving them any value at all will most likely result in plot armouring (the idea that a GM will negate circumstances or change them to keep an NPC alive due to subjective reasoning) rather than allowing the natural progression of interaction.

In that regard, referring back to the quest chain post, you need to keep your options open. Unless the last survivor from a lost planet, speaking a dead language, dies and is the only person in known existence and in any reality or dimension to know what this person knows; then someone else can give your PCs the interactions they need.  A quest given in a tavern might be overheard and most NPCs have families, guilds or groups that can continue their roles. A great character will be remembered for their deaths by you and your group, but they soon start to pile up and grow stale as they survive each and every encounter. Heroes of legend and myth are told of their great deeds and usually die a glorious death to suit their life, and so all NPCs, in my opinion should suffer the same fate.

If this all sounds a bit too much then perhaps I could walk you through it:

Q. Okay, I did what you said and I'm going to allow my NPC to die, what do I do now?
A. How are they going to die? Is it the right time? What's going to kill them? Who can see?


Q. Whoa, slow down, okay first things first. The party is under attack by bandits and have left the NPC unguarded, now what?
A. Can the NPC defend themselves, do they have any sort of protection and can they get to any reasonable cover?


Q. The NPC is a suspected criminal is currently tied up, he has been stripped of his armour but he can get to a rock that the PCs are using for cover. This doesn't sound like the right time for him to die, is it?
A. No, he's currently in the group so unless there is something that can attack the group as a whole from where they are, then it's not logical and you really don't want to force something like that especially in the middle of your players. How is the groups rapport with the criminal, does anyone in the group have any reason to trust his words?


Q. One of my players has been chatting to the NPC all day and seemed to have hit it off, the party also knows that the criminal may actually be a freedom fighter, although they are being paid by who the NPC opposes. Is that any use?
A. Definitely, have the NPC ask for the particularly chatty PC to free your NPC's hands so they can help with the fight. [If you really want this option here, try to play on what your PC's already know about your NPC to get them freed, usually something they say due to their restraints]


Q. They didn't buy it, none of them trust the NPC enough to give him a weapon. What now?
A. Well this is for you to decide, would your NPC flee, try to free themselves, or act as a distraction?


Q. I wanted them to realise he was a freedom fighter so they could join his cause later on after a big scene against the sheriff. But right now, he would probably try to free himself to get into the fight...He's picked up one of the swords from the ground, now what do I do?
A. Depending on your characters next actions will determine how they will be viewed by your party forever. If your freedom fighter is as heroic as I think he is, use them to try and take an attack for the chatty PC, or if someone else is more suitable you can choose them.


Q. Now what?
A. This is pretty much the easiest bit, use what you know of your NPC and the current situation to create the rolls needed for combat for the particular circumstance. Then tell me what happens.


Q. He survived, he actually survived but barely, and managed to save the PC in the process. They are mending him now and it would seem everyone's already adjusting their views on their quest giver and the 'criminal'. They're even now planning to go back to the NPC's camp to regroup and take down the sheriff.
A. You put your NPC into mortal danger and survived, and now your party has changed their views, has an awesome story to tell and your NPC became much more than just a way to get into a faction you want your players to get into.

OR 

Q. He died, I don't really know what to do. The group are a bit stunned that he died knowing this was the way they were getting the money they needed, but they needed him alive. Now there's pretty much no chance my group will ever join the freedom fighters. What have you done?
A. You put your NPC into mortal danger and he died, but that's great. Make it obvious there is something on his body that would lead your group back to the freedom fighters, perhaps even a letter that would emotionally spur on your group.

Q. I don't think even need to do that, one or two suggested that after what he had done for them, they should probably take his body back to his group. I can work with that for next session, I can' definitely work with that. It's the outcome I wanted, although it's a lot earlier than I was prepared for. Did I just have a conversation with a voice in my own head?

Okay so most of that might have sounded a little cliché and probably too much like a government sponsored video than anything else but I hope it at least demonstrates how life goes on. Putting your NPCs at risk of dying not only will force your players to assign priorities and change how they act but also changes your party's view of them. Did they die valiantly or survive a legendary fight? Were they poisoned as the group slept, or murdered in the street when someone failed a perception roll. Perhaps they die a suitably horrible death for their deeds while turning their back on your party. If you think back to the quest chain; there is always options, there are always other paths and so many more NPCs to kill!

If you take this on a grander scale of things, places and objects too have their frailties and can always be broken or replaced. Take it from me, I built Auspar and then pretty much destroyed it.

Remember if you like this don't forget to share, put me into some of your circle shaped things, restrict yourself to 140 words with @proftesla on twitter, or help me make more with my Patreon https://www.patreon.com/cityofneedles.

Talk to you guys later.

/Drew - Tesla 

Numenera: Rosta Change and Lady Luck

The first of the Needle's guest sessions is over and a new one has began. As I mentioned a few weeks back I had come up with the idea for a Guldspar descriptor. A player from the community by the name of +Andrew Wieland  took up the mantle. You'll find out later on this week how he plays his Guldspar but his character was definitely something me and my players were not expecting. In fact the Guldspar has joined the group as a permanent member. However there is a flip side to this. Due to new commitments, Chance's character is now retired indefinitely. If you've been following from Season One you would know him better as Chloe. So I would just like to say thank-you to him for playing and I hope we play again soon.

However I still want you at my table! If you've been watching Real Rollplay on itmeJP's channel on You Tube, they've been running West Marches. It a DnD 5e living town, for multiple one shots, to help build a universe. I've used this as inspiration for Season 2. Your character and your actions will be added to the Needle's lore, placed in the character hall of fame on the Wikia and will hopefully not brutally murdered. If you like the idea of the possibility of the chance of not being brutally murdered by your GM, come join me on Saturdays at 2pm EST. Give me a shout ahead of time on either twitter @proftesla, on here or on Skype professor_tesla.

Now that's out of the way I can talk about what I really want to, Lady Luck. She's fickle, loves everyone but you and dresses up as RNJesus and sits on your shoulder as you play. By the time you've finished a game she probably owns your soul an immeasurable amount of times over and cursed your dice forever. In the Numenera universe, I personally don't see enough of her. If your characters keep back enough XP, she can be easily dismissed. Training and skills knock her down to size along with any relevant extras. If players essentially control the difficulty then how can fate intervene.

Now the Cypher System does have that in place with the GM Intrusion but this is human. A person decides when things are thrown into chaos. I've been trying with my games to keep myself as far removed from chance when it comes to skills. I use GM Intrusions to throw complications at the players that perform a functional role, such as changing combat situations, ambient assaults and for when things slow down a little. I've given Lady Luck the chance to mess things up for my players herself by increasing the amount of rolls they do.

For my game nothing is ever certain and nothing is ever guaranteed, unless the difficulty is zero. I've found all too often from other players that as soon as someone becomes skilled it becomes far too varied a skill and applicable in more than one situation. In life someone can become trained as a runner, but they will become specialised in long distance, sprint, cross country etc.  This is how I've been working my skill system. A player can be trained in the Numenera, but Skilled in a special subsection such as mechanical or biological. This has helped my characters not only get a better understanding of their characters, it also invites chaos as specialising will always have its inherent flaws giving rise to chaos and complication

.

I also try to get characters to roll as much as possible. Sometimes a player will give a long rant about their actions and for some of them, a GM could allow without a roll. However nearly everything has a chance to go wrong so as they talk, I create them as a series of events. Conflicts between players involve a modified dice rolls from both parties and not just a one sided affair. Also psychologically, sometimes I will be mean and just ask for a dice roll even if nothing is involved. Sometimes a failed perception check is just that, or perhaps you just missed your doom. Never knowing what's real, where's safest to go, and what lies ahead are my key tools for woo-ing Lady Luck.  There is one huge caveat to all of this, it suits my campaign and my play style. I play completely ad-hoc with some notes and an general idea and the more rolls my characters do, the more the narrative develops for me and the game becomes more interesting and more deadly for them. I will keep saying this, your style is what makes you a GM, improving your skills is always good. If it doesn't feel right, don't force it because it's a good idea, or a lot of people suggested. You will always know what suits you.

GMs: How do you deal with a player who talks about multiple rounds of action? Do you allow it, break it down into rounds, get them to roll for part of it or something completely different.  Do you invite Lady Luck to your table often, could you throw something at your players that puts everything into chaos in just one dice roll?

Players:  When has Lady Luck cut you down in your prime, or given you a vast wealth. Was that down to pure luck or did something in the game help you with your aim. If so, try to find other assets that have been unused, ask your GM for anything to help you out.  Throwing chaos into your solution not only brings excitement and intensity, both you and your GM will become more engaged (and for me as a GM, really happy).

Talk you guys next week and hope you enjoy this weeks now permanent player. Remember to get in touch via the comments or on twitter @proftesla and please come join!

/Drew - Tesla

Numenera: Character Intergration & Guest Interview

First and foremost I want to say thank you for all your support for both the narrative blog and this tech one over the past four plus months. I've set up a Patreon account if you wish to support with what I'm doing. I want to do so much more, such as podcasts, new games, Twitch, You-Tube and more writing.

Hopefully you will know by now that I am inviting you to join in with the Needle's universe campaign. Not only am I looking to you guys for inspiration and suggestions, but I'm reserving a seat just for you, you only have to claim it. For those that have taken me up on the offer two have already taken part. Megan and Aser from The Redacted Files are my first guests in the universe and here a little post game interview:-

D: Could you tell everyone who you played ?  

M: Lavinia Marsh, a Mad Nano who Crafts Powerful Poisons 

A: Randall Whateley, a Clever Jack who Entertains

D: Did you know much about the universe before you played? 

M: I was pretty new to the world and had just read the Season 1 summary and the wiki entries for the living characters 

A: I knew the basic geographical and political details about the setting, garnered from the wiki page.

D: Since you've read the blog and some of the Wikia, what do you think  to the campaign story so far? 

M: I liked the take on the Beyond All Worlds adventure quite a bit. It was run with a different background than what I have used, which made it fun for me to read. I liked the use of the third party materials and it inspired me to go buy some of those for my own campaign. 

A: The political manoeuvring and overlapping conflicts, as well as the flawed characters, lent the world a sense of gritty realism I find lacking in the original Ninth World materials.

D: The regular cast loved having you with us, what did you think of them? 

M: I think the wide variation in personalities caused a lot of unexpected moments, that were fun to play through. 

A: The diversity of character outlooks and styles of play made for a surprisingly dynamic story that provides the cast with interesting challenges. They always seem to find entertaining ways to overcome them.

D: From the two sessions, what  was your most enjoyable moment? 

M: I liked using my “Self-Inflicting Poison” on Froge. 

A: The sudden onset of the Iron Wind. It was unexpected but alarmingly plausible and emphasized the alien nature of the Ninth Wor

D: From the two sessions, what was your most memorable moment? 

M: I think the scene with the dinner table, where Lavinia was trying to do whatever she had to, in order to get out of this house again. 

A: The room of mirrors. It defied expectations and truly created a feeling of powerlessness. 

D: This is definitely a spoiler but can you tell us if you survived? 

M: Yes! 

A: Yes! 

D: Overall, what do you think of Needle's Universe? 

M: I really like the intrigue with the guilds and all the factions. It’s very different then the take I have of the Ninth World in my game and it’s a lot of fun to manoeuvre through. 

A: See above. 

D: The regular Needle's cast would love you to have you back, would you come and play in the Needles Universe again with us sometime? 

M: Of course! And we would love to have you come play with us as well. 

A: Absolutely

For players joining my table I try not to railroad them into specific characters that I'm looking for that fit with the campaign. The ideas behind a GM's narrative is just that, ideas. The world we inhabit is not by design nor should it be, and neither should your characters. Characters that are thrown into unexpected situations are far more interesting than a generic hero going on a quest.  I believe player agency to be one of the most important aspects of table-top gaming and so I don't get to choose. What I can do however, is mould characters. Lavinia and Randall started off as a mercenary duo. It only took a few quick edits, mainly of names and places, that contextualised the characters.

Having set up an established world, and having the Wikia on hand to explain the finer points, doing this grounds the player in a sense of realism within the universe. All characters in any game should feel like that. A player shouldn't feel placed on the world, neither should a character feel newly spawned. The more you know about the world you're in, the more you can bond people to it, creating for a more compelling and interesting narrative.

For one of my players however, the appearance of Lavinia and Randall brought unexpected news. Although going any further would count as a spoiler, I have tried to tie them both into one of the greater, and more character-centric plotlines. It did involve a bit of meta-gaming on my behalf but it worked for the players. There are at times where a GM wants to pass information privately to another character, and thanks to online play, this can be done via private message. However, I did not want to deliver the information myself, so I had my guests deliver it for me. Not only was it up to them when and where they said it, it would also come as a complete surprise to my player. It was in fact such a surprise that  we had to talk about its implications after the game for a quite a while.  

Being able to throw curve balls at my regular players, with using my guests to help facilitate it is great, not only does it shake things up but it gives every character a sense of purpose.

GMs: Think about how you disseminate information to your players. How much information do they know about the world from just being in it, and how much have you had to tell them? Can you provide more information via experience? Could you use another character to inform another on what you want them to know?

Players: Do you actively seek out information about your world around you, or do you let it pass by? Outside of what your character is doing now, how much do they know about the wider world? Do you know something another PC doesn't, or could never know? Is anyone in your party keeping secrets from you?

This weekend I have another guest player, playing, as I mentioned last week, a Guldspar. If you wish to join in don't hesitate to ask and follow me on twitter @proftesla, google+ or support me via Patreon.

Talk to you guys later on this week,

/Drew- Tesla