Part 1: The Ninth World | Starter Kit - Numenera

Summary

Detailed Summary of "Part 1: The Ninth World | Starter Kit - Numenera" (Geek & Sundry, Starter Kit)

Podcast: Critical Role & Sagas of Sundry
Host: geekandsundry
Episode: Part 1: The Ninth World | Starter Kit - Numenera
Date: December 15, 2025
Main Theme:
This episode serves as the kickoff to a new campaign in the Numenera universe, introducing both the game (set on a far-future, post-apocalyptic Earth) and the playable characters. It is an accessible, step-by-step character creation and onboarding session for newcomers and seasoned roleplayers alike, guided by Monte Cook, creator of Numenera.

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1. Episode Overview

• Purpose: This Starter Kit episode is designed to introduce players (and listeners) to the unique setting and mechanics of Numenera. Game designer Monte Cook leads five participants through the character creation process and begins to set the campaign's narrative backdrop.
• Tone: Warm, encouraging, community-focused, and playful, with frequent quips, casual banter, and a collaborative spirit.

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2. Key Discussion Points & Insights

A. Introduction to Numenera & The Cypher System

• Setting Description
  • Monte Cook (03:47):
    “So after all these great civilizations have fallen in the distant, distant future, what we have is the Ninth World. And in the Ninth World, the people there have about a medieval level of technology. But because there’s all the leftovers of these prior worlds, they look at that stuff as though it’s magic. Right. So it’s like a science fiction setting that feels like a fantasy setting.”
• Cypher System Goals
  • Focus on exploration and discovery rather than just combat. (04:14)
  • Accessibility for new Game Masters—GMs focus on story, not dice-rolling; all dice-rolling is player-driven.
  • Encouragement of “the weird”—an element of mystery and wonder from past civilizations.

B. Step-by-Step Player Character Creation

Each participant walks through building their character’s “sentence” (descriptor, type, and focus) with Monte Cook:

i. Tara as Byx (05:49–12:33)

• Character: Stealthy Jack who explores dark places; a mute child orphaned by tragedy, prefers dark/cave environments for safety.
  • Notable quote (06:24):
    “Byx is a kid, and I don’t want anyone to know their gender...Bix was saved, but their entire family was killed.”
• Mechanics:
  • High speed (dexterity), specialized in hiding, skills in stealth and defense.
  • Drawback: less proficient with dramatic physical feats (e.g., climbing).
  • Carries tools (knife/hatchet) but prefers avoidance over fighting.

ii. Davilu as Devloo (12:41–18:13)

• Character: Strong glaive who fuses flesh and steel; an impulsive, cybernetic warrior who was mortally wounded and rebuilt with technology.
  • Notable quote (13:38):
    “She was injured, probably mortally, and was brought back to life by being fused with, like, metal and computer parts and all that stuff.”
• Mechanics:
  • Extremely high might and speed.
  • Unarmed combat focus; deals extra damage with metal fists.
  • Defensive abilities and armor from both cybernetics and leather clothing.

iii. Jeremy as Ajnia (22:21–29:03)

• Character: Mystical mechanical Jack who commands mental powers; inspired by the Vision from Marvel Comics, with a hidden third-eye, telepathy, and subtle cybernetic/magical gifts.
  • Notable quote (23:16):
    “Ajnia—it’s the other name for the third eye chakra… helps you to go into other dimensions when you’re meditating and things like that.”
• Mechanics:
  • High intellect, skills with Numenera, psychic/magic detection.
  • Drawback: People sense something’s "off" about them.
  • Equipped with a Buzzer weapon (shoots razor discs), “Pierce” ability for extra attack power.

iv. Erica as Shanza (29:07–35:15)

• Character: Rugged Jack who exists partially out of phase; appears ghostly due to a hereditary curse, survived exile in the wilderness.
  • Notable quote (29:58):
    “She exists partially out of phase, so she is very ghostly, transparent looking, and that has caused her a lot of strife in her life.”
• Mechanics:
  • Balanced might/speed, skilled in survival and animal handling.
  • Drawback: Difficulty interacting with people.
  • Wields a bow (nature-themed), glaive (melee), can briefly pass through objects.

v. Jason Charles Miller as Adaran (35:23–42:41)

• Character: Learned nano who rides the lightning; an eccentric, electricity-obsessed scholar with a penchant for collecting ancient knowledge.
  • Notable quote (44:18):
    “He’s a learned nano who rides the lightning. He looks rather eccentric, kind of like a cross between the professor in the Metropolis movie and Nick Nolte’s mugshot.”
• Mechanics:
  • High intellect, specialized Numenera expertise, knowledge in history/geography.
  • Offensive (Onslaught: electrical blast) and defensive (Ward: constant armor) powers.
  • Drawback: Inept at interpersonal interactions.

C. Setting Establishment and Adventure Hook

• Aldervale:
  • A remote village built around a mysterious artifact called the "Sing Song," which occasionally emits musical chimes.
• Morrow, the Prodigy:
  • Village savant deciphering the Sing Song’s chimes, convinced they're actually a coded map to coordinates somewhere in the Black Riage mountains (50:08).
  • He plans an expedition, but is physically frail. The party decides to escort him, each for their own reasons—quest for knowledge, need for adventure, seeking answers about the Numenera, and for protection.
    • Highlights from reasons given (53:07–54:16):
      • “You are knowledge. There’s no way I’m letting you go out there by yourself.” — Adaran (53:07)
      • “I believe you have answers to a lot of questions about the past worlds that I have.” — Shanza (53:19)
      • “I sense magic and I sense there’s a lot in you and around you. And I want magic to help you find the real magic of Numenera.” — Ajnia (53:47)
      • Byx offers wordless support, holding out a hand.
• Group Dynamics and Playfulness:
  • Casual conversation about each other’s character traits (e.g., Davilu’s part-machine status and need for sleep at 54:46), highlighting camaraderie and light roleplaying.

D. Episode Cliffhanger and Teaser

• End-of-episode preview:
  • The party is about to embark into dangerous mountains. Quick-cut cliffhanger teaser plays (55:16–55:33)—hinting at vertical cliffs and accidents:
    • “It’s an almost vertical cliff, and that could be dangerous.”
    • “Bix loses their grip.”
    • “Bix, I’m coming for you.”
    • “Bix actually falls.”

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3. Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

| Timestamp | Speaker | Quote | |-----------|---------|-------| | 03:47 | Monty Cook | “So after all these great civilizations have fallen... what we have is the Ninth World... a science fiction setting that feels like a fantasy setting.” | | 06:24 | Tara | “Byx is a kid, and I don’t want anyone to know their gender... Bix was saved, but their entire family was killed.” | | 13:38 | Davilu | “She was injured, probably mortally, and was brought back to life by being fused with, like, metal and computer parts.” | | 23:16 | Jeremy | “Ajnia—it’s the other name for the third eye chakra… helps you to go into other dimensions when you’re meditating and things like that.” | | 29:58 | Erica | “She exists partially out of phase, so she is very ghostly, transparent looking, and that has caused her a lot of strife in her life.” | | 44:18 | Jason Charles Miller | “He’s a learned nano who rides the lightning. He looks rather eccentric, kind of like... the professor in the Metropolis movie and Nick Nolte’s mugshot. His hair is just everywhere.” | | 53:07 | Jason Charles Miller | “You are knowledge. There’s no way I’m letting you go out there by yourself.” | | 53:19 | Erica | “I believe you have answers to a lot of questions about the past worlds that I have.” | | 53:47 | Jeremy | “I sense magic and I sense there’s a lot in you and around you. And I want magic to help you find the real magic of Numenera.” | | 54:16 | Tara as Byx (nonverbal) | Byx holds out their hand to Morrow, wordlessly committing to the quest. |

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4. Timestamps for Important Segments

• Introduction to Numenera & Cypher System: 03:47–05:03
• Tara builds Byx: 05:49–12:33
• Davilu builds Devloo: 12:41–18:13
• Jeremy builds Ajnia: 22:21–29:03
• Erica builds Shanza: 29:07–35:15
• Jason builds Adaran: 35:23–42:41
• Party introductions & setting description: 44:18–50:08
• Adventure hook—protecting Morrow: 50:08–54:16
• Closing cliffhanger: 55:16–55:33

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5. Summary Impression

This episode is a compelling gateway for players (or listeners) new to Numenera or tabletop RPGs in general. Listeners are drawn into the process of bringing unique, personal characters to life, under the expert guidance of Monte Cook. The cast’s diversity of backgrounds—both in-character and in player experience—demonstrates how welcoming and flexible the game can be. The setting teems with possibility and “weirdness,” and even before the adventure begins, strong emotional hooks and party dynamics are established.

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6. Character Roster Quick Reference

| Player | Character | Full Sentence | Notables | |------------------------|---------------|----------------------------------------------|-----------------------------------| | Jason Charles Miller | Adaran | Learned nano who rides the lightning | Obsessive, eccentric, scholarly | | Erica | Shanza | Rugged jack who exists partially out of phase| Ghostlike exile, wilderness skills| | Davilu | Devloo | Strong glaive who fuses flesh and steel | Cyborg, impulsive, hand-to-hand | | Jeremy | Ajnia | Mystical mechanical Jack who commands mental powers | Psychic, secretive, odd aura | | Tara | Byx | Stealthy jack who explores dark places | Mute, child, tragic past, stealth |

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Listeners who missed the episode will get a feel for Numenera’s tone, mechanics, and the personalities already animating this campaign. Next episode promises the party’s perilous trek into the strange wilds of the Ninth World—a journey with rich collaborative storytelling ahead.

Transcript

[Dungeon Master]

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[Sponsor Voice]

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[Jason Charles Miller]

Welcome to your starter kit. I'm Jason Charles Miller. Some of the most fun moments of my life have been spent with my friends playing role playing games, rolling dice, slaying a few monsters, and most of all, telling stories together. I want to bring that same satisfaction of collaboration and discovery to other people. And that's why I created Starterkit. Today we'll be learning to play Numenera. Numenera takes place on a far future Earth a billion years from now. Civilization has risen to dizzying technological heights and collapsed into dust eight times over the millennia. And a ninth civilization is struggling to rise amid the mysteries and dangers those previous eight left behind. Numenera is the brainchild of Monte Cook, a longtime, influential voice in the world of role playing games and one of the architects of Dungeons and Dragons third Edition. Moni will be our game master, leading our journey through the ninth world and teaching us the elegant cipher system that powers Numenera. Moni.

[Jeremy]

Hey, Jake.

[Jason Charles Miller]

Hey, Come on in.

[Monty (Game Master / Monte Cook)]

Happy to be here.

[Jason Charles Miller]

So tell me about the world of Numenera.

[Monty (Game Master / Monte Cook)]

So after all these great civilizations have fallen in the distant, distant future, what we have is the ninth world. And in the ninth world, the people there have about a medieval level of technology. But because there's all the leftovers of these prior worlds, they look at that stuff as though it's magic. Right. So it's like a science fiction setting that feels like a fantasy setting.

[Jason Charles Miller]

So you created a whole new gaming system for this. Tell me a little bit about that.

[Monty (Game Master / Monte Cook)]

What I wanted to do with the Cypher system is create something that is not necessarily as focused on combat as some games, but is focused more on exploration and discovery.

[Jason Charles Miller]

Okay.

[Monty (Game Master / Monte Cook)]

And I wanted to make something that was really easy to be the gm. I wanted the GM to focus entirely on telling the story. That's why the GM doesn't roll dice in this game at all. Right. The players do all of that. And I also really wanted to focus on. On what I call just the weird. Right. And because you've got all these prior civilizations and these things that are left over and to our characters, some of that stuff gets really, really weird and kind of incomprehensible, but in a kind of a majestic way.

[Jason Charles Miller]

Well, I can't wait to play. And we're gonna meet our party soon. The table's yours.

[Monty (Game Master / Monte Cook)]

Thanks. I'm Monte Cook, creator of Numenera and. And this is your starter kit. The ninth world is built on the bones of the previous eight life Here is about struggle, about discovering the wonders of the worlds that came before it, but not for their own sake, but as the means to improve the present and to build a future. Most people in the ninth world are simple farmers or laborers. But there are those who risk mysterious dangers to recover the relics of the past. So let's meet our players and build those characters.

[Tara]

Hey.

[Monty (Game Master / Monte Cook)]

Hey, Tara. I'm Monty.

[Tara]

Monty, it's so great to meet you.

[Monty (Game Master / Monte Cook)]

So I'm to understand that you have not played a role playing game before.

[Tara]

I've never played a role playing game before. I've never watched a role playing game before. I really know nothing about this, but I'm very excited about it.

[Monty (Game Master / Monte Cook)]

It's going to be great. You're gonna be fantastic.

[Tara]

Okay. All right.

[Monty (Game Master / Monte Cook)]

So this is your rule book. Okay. And this is your starter kit. That's your character's name.

[Tara]

That's my name. Cool.

[Monty (Game Master / Monte Cook)]

So we talked a little bit about your character. Why don't you tell me what you've kind of decided on as far as what you want your character to be like?

[Tara]

Okay. So Byx is a kid, and I don't want anyone to know their gender. Bix was always very helpful around the house, around the farm, and was following the footsteps of the dad, and some sort of marauders or somebody came in and was ravaging the town, and the whole family was killed while Bix was sort of away from the house a little, maybe nearby in a cave. And they saw it happen from a distance, but they weren't there. So Bix was saved, but their entire family was killed.

[Monty (Game Master / Monte Cook)]

So a tragic background.

[Tara]

Yeah.

[Monty (Game Master / Monte Cook)]

And then that's kind of shaped byx a little bit.

[Tara]

Yeah. So Bix doesn't really speak. Bix can speak, but doesn't.

[Jeremy]

Okay.

[Monty (Game Master / Monte Cook)]

That will make for some interesting challenges.

[Davilu]

Okay.

[Monty (Game Master / Monte Cook)]

But I think it'll be really fun at the table. Yeah. I think this sounds like a great character. So now, based on your character description, we've already kind of decided that the noun, the type is gonna be a jack.

[Tara]

Yes.

[Monty (Game Master / Monte Cook)]

Now, jacks are the kind of people who are. They're a little bit good at everything and, you know, sort of they can be sometimes kind of sneaky. They can be, you know, eloquent. They can be all kinds of different things, and you can shape that however you want. I think that the focus, that's the verb part of the sentence should be maybe explores dark places. Does that sound like something that fits Bix?

[Tara]

Absolutely. I think that Bix probably feels the safest in a cave or maybe In a dark place, because that's almost a comfort.

[Monty (Game Master / Monte Cook)]

So that gets us two parts of the sentence, but we still need a descriptor. This is the adjective part of the sentence. And I'm thinking maybe for Bix, we want to go with stealthy. That really kind of fits the rest of it. Right. Which would mean that you are a stealthy Jack who explores dark places.

[Tara]

Stealthy Jack who explores dark. Do I need to write this down?

[Monty (Game Master / Monte Cook)]

Yes. This is where we bring out your character sheet, and that is in the book. Okay. And now if you open that up, the first thing we're gonna talk about are your stats. Now, these are kind of what makes your character you. Right. And in Numenera, we have three stats. There's might, which is, like, strength and toughness. There's speed, which is quickness, but it's also dexterity. And then there's intellect, which is what it sounds like, but it's also like, how well you are at interacting with people. Now, as a Jack, you start with a base in 10, but you get to customize that and add up to six points in any way you want.

[Tara]

So Bix would probably have more dexterity.

[Monty (Game Master / Monte Cook)]

You might want to just have 16. Speed.

[Tara]

Oh, I do have 10. I'm adding additional to that.

[Monty (Game Master / Monte Cook)]

Exactly. So you can just fill that in. Now, there's also a concept in the game called edge. Edge is the thing that you are best at, because it's like a discount. Every time I'm going to ask you to spend points out of a pool, if you have an edge in that pool, you spend one less.

[Tara]

Oh, it's one of these things.

[Monty (Game Master / Monte Cook)]

Yes, exactly. It's a new numerical value. It's just a one that you would put. And I would recommend.

[Tara]

So add it to speed.

[Monty (Game Master / Monte Cook)]

Yeah. Next to it, just where it says edge.

[Tara]

Oh, the edge. I see why that's there.

[Monty (Game Master / Monte Cook)]

Okay.

[Erica]

Okay.

[Monty (Game Master / Monte Cook)]

All right. The next thing that we would do for your character is figure out what your skills are. That's what explores dark places does. It gives you a bunch of these sort of stealthy kind of, you know, operate in the shadows kind of skills. So you're already good at a lot of those things. Okay, great. But as your stealthy descriptor figures in, it actually kind of doubles down on that.

[Erica]

Okay.

[Monty (Game Master / Monte Cook)]

And it's gonna make you even more. So the first thing that stealthy does is it's gonna add two more points to your speed, making that actually 18.

[Tara]

Okay.

[Monty (Game Master / Monte Cook)]

And then so it'll make it so that your hiding skill there is actually. So what the little T's mean is trained.

[Sponsor Voice]

Okay.

[Monty (Game Master / Monte Cook)]

That means that.

[Tara]

So I have some skill in it.

[Monty (Game Master / Monte Cook)]

You're some skill. But the S's means specialized.

[Sponsor Voice]

Oh, okay.

[Monty (Game Master / Monte Cook)]

So you'll actually be specialized. You can black out, circle there next to hiding, because you'll be really good at that.

[Tara]

Okay.

[Monty (Game Master / Monte Cook)]

There is a drawback, however, to being stealthy. You know, you're really good at kind of moving around kind of, you know, silently and quietly and so people can't see you. But when it comes to, like, more dramatic movements, like climbing a cliff or running really fast, you're not so great at that. And so we call that an inability. And it's kind of like a negative skill, really. Now, as a Jack, again, you're really good at a lot of things. It gives you the flex, skill, ability. We'll get to that in the game itself. So, really, the only other things that we need to talk about are the things that Bix carries with them. I thought maybe not in a sense of getting into a fight, but more as more like tools might carry a knife or a hatchet because you could.

[Tara]

Get something in the space.

[Monty (Game Master / Monte Cook)]

Exactly, exactly. Right. And so under attacks, if you do have to get into a fight for damage, that's what that is. Each one of them does two. So the last thing that we need to do is get you your jack. Tricks of the trade. These are the special things that you can do because you're a jack. I think that because of Bix's nature, you know, they're a kid, they're small, they're probably kind of fast and quick. Maybe it should be hard to even get hold of them. So let's have you have as your trick of the trade as one of them. It's called skilled. Without armor, you're fast as long as you're not encumbered.

[Tara]

So that protects me because I'm not being able to be caught.

[Monty (Game Master / Monte Cook)]

Right.

[Tara]

Okay.

[Monty (Game Master / Monte Cook)]

Right. Another good sort of defensive thing. If Bix is down in caves and whatnot, they're probably, for a kid at least, kind of tough. Right. They probably run into some scrapes and whatnot. So let's have Bix be skilled with defense, specifically might defense. And that's kind of what that means, is that gives you resilience. Okay, so I think that you're done. I think that's. You've got a numenera character.

[Sponsor Voice]

Thank you.

[Monty (Game Master / Monte Cook)]

All right, and we will gather together in a few minutes and get started.

[Sponsor Voice]

Great.

[Tara]

Thank you so much. I'm excited.

[Erica]

Hi.

[Monty (Game Master / Monte Cook)]

Hi. Nicole. I'm Monty.

[Davilu]

Nice to meet you.

[Monty (Game Master / Monte Cook)]

So we didn't talk about this before, but what role playing game experience do you have?

[Davilu]

I have some. I've played D and D. I play more than the average person, I guess.

[Sponsor Voice]

Yeah.

[Monty (Game Master / Monte Cook)]

We have worked out a little bit about your character. Why don't you tell me exactly what you've decided on?

[Davilu]

I wanted a character that was strong and fierce and independent and maybe just a little too impulsive and doesn't think things through and just kind of like, acts before thinking about things.

[Monty (Game Master / Monte Cook)]

Do you see yourself as more like a warrior type character or.

[Davilu]

Definitely warrior. Yeah, definitely. Getting in there, fighting as much as she can.

[Monty (Game Master / Monte Cook)]

Okay. Yeah. Okay. We have a character sentence in Numenera that makes everyone sort of a blank blank who blanks. Now, the warrior type is called a glaive. That's the middle part of the sentence. We have already kind of worked out what the latter part of the sentence is too. Why don't you tell me a little bit about the fuse's flesh and steel part?

[Davilu]

Because my character is the sort of impulsive. She's gotten in some scraps before, and one was really bad where she kind of. She was injured, probably mortally, and was brought back to life by being fused with, like, metal and the computer parts and all that stuff.

[Monty (Game Master / Monte Cook)]

Awesome.

[Davilu]

And I understand that in this world, like, it's kind of something to be ashamed of.

[Monty (Game Master / Monte Cook)]

It can be, but you can, you know, you can own it too, if you want. Right.

[Davilu]

No, I think she's definitely the type that owns it and resents people for, like, looking down on her type.

[Monty (Game Master / Monte Cook)]

I like it.

[Davilu]

Yeah.

[Monty (Game Master / Monte Cook)]

Very, very cool. Okay, so here is your Numenera rulebook.

[Davilu]

Cool.

[Monty (Game Master / Monte Cook)]

And here is your starter kit.

[Davilu]

Oh, boy.

[Erica]

Oh, nice.

[Davilu]

Got my character's nameplate in there.

[Monty (Game Master / Monte Cook)]

You'll find the dice that you'll be using.

[Davilu]

Ooh, yeah. Love it. And a notepad and paper that I'll definitely need.

[Monty (Game Master / Monte Cook)]

Okay, so let's take a look at your character sheet, which is in your rule book there. All right, so right at the front here, we've got your name, which is Develoo. Develoo.

[Davilu]

Mm.

[Monty (Game Master / Monte Cook)]

All right. That's a very cool name. Thank you. Now, remember, I said every character has a sentence. You're a blank blank who blanks. So there's still one thing that we have to determine. Right. And that's the descriptor, which is sort of the adjective in the sentence. I'm keying off of something that you said. You said you wanted to be strong.

[Davilu]

Yes.

[Monty (Game Master / Monte Cook)]

We could just use strong as your descriptor. Devloo would be a strong glaive who fuses flesh and steel.

[Davilu]

Great.

[Monty (Game Master / Monte Cook)]

So if you open that sheet up, what we get to are the stats. And as a glaive, you've already got some base figures for these. Plus, you've gotten enhancements in both your might and your speed. Because you fuse flesh and steel. Right. You've got cybernetic parts that are making you faster and stronger than most people. You do get six more points to divide up among those three stats. However, you want to kind of customize your character further.

[Davilu]

I think I'll add three to might and speed.

[Monty (Game Master / Monte Cook)]

Okay, that makes sense.

[Davilu]

So that'll be 17 and 16.

[Monty (Game Master / Monte Cook)]

So next we want to take a look at your skills, and some of this is going to come from your descriptor. So first of all. Well, I forgot that it's adds plus four to your might. Wow, you are really strong. But you know, that makes sense, right? You've got metal arms and whatnot. You can crush things with your bare hands.

[Davilu]

So that'll be 21.

[Monty (Game Master / Monte Cook)]

That's amazing. Wow, that's a great starting set. And you'll also have two extra skills for being strong. One is just you're good at breaking things. Right. Which sort of makes sense.

[Sponsor Voice]

Great.

[Monty (Game Master / Monte Cook)]

So you can write that down. With your other skills. You're trained in breaking and then also in jumping. So each one of those would be. You'd use the T for trained.

[Davilu]

Great.

[Monty (Game Master / Monte Cook)]

Now, glaives are really good with weapons and whatnot. What do you see as your weapon of choice?

[Davilu]

I don't picture her having a weapon. I picture her fighting hand to hand. And because she's so enhanced, that's a good enough weapon.

[Monty (Game Master / Monte Cook)]

That's great. So one of the glaive abilities that you can choose is called no need for weapons. Great. And you just punch people. So you can write that down under special abilities. And you get to choose one other ability. I might recommend something kind of defensive, maybe, like, you could use your speed to be better able to dodge incoming attacks. We would call that speed defense.

[Davilu]

Sure, that sounds great.

[Monty (Game Master / Monte Cook)]

You can write that down as well. For most people, your fist would do two points of damage, but because of your metal hand and whatnot, you'll do four points of damage. You can write that down.

[Davilu]

Great.

[Monty (Game Master / Monte Cook)]

So the only other thing really to talk about is your equipment. I thought maybe you should probably wear some kind of armor. If you wore a leather jacket or something like that, that would give you some protection, but it wouldn't be encumbering at all.

[Davilu]

And it would look badass.

[Monty (Game Master / Monte Cook)]

It would look badass.

[Tara]

Yeah.

[Monty (Game Master / Monte Cook)]

Yeah. And because you're already partially metal, you get one point of armor for that, and then the leather gives you a total of 2 points of armor.

[Davilu]

Cool.

[Monty (Game Master / Monte Cook)]

All right, I think we are finished with your character. You're ready to go.

[Davilu]

Thank you. Can't wait.

[Dungeon Master]

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[Monty (Game Master / Monte Cook)]

Hey, Jeremy.

[Jeremy]

Hey, Monty. Nice to meet you, man.

[Monty (Game Master / Monte Cook)]

Nice to meet you.

[Jeremy]

Yeah. All right. Love this.

[Monty (Game Master / Monte Cook)]

How familiar are you with roleplaying games?

[Jeremy]

Definitely a rookie.

[Monty (Game Master / Monte Cook)]

Yeah.

[Jeremy]

This is Sagas of Sundry Madness was my first game ever.

[Monty (Game Master / Monte Cook)]

All right.

[Jeremy]

Which was awesome. And I'm like, I'm hooked now.

[Monty (Game Master / Monte Cook)]

So you want more?

[Jason Charles Miller]

I want more.

[Monty (Game Master / Monte Cook)]

All right. Well, welcome to it.

[Jeremy]

Yeah.

[Dungeon Master]

Awesome.

[Monty (Game Master / Monte Cook)]

All right. This is your rule book.

[Jeremy]

Cool.

[Monty (Game Master / Monte Cook)]

And this is your starter kit.

[Jeremy]

Yeah. Look at that.

[Monty (Game Master / Monte Cook)]

Yeah, it's beautiful.

[Jeremy]

Did, like, somebody jump out at me?

[Monty (Game Master / Monte Cook)]

I'll hold it open for you here.

[Tara]

Wow.

[Monty (Game Master / Monte Cook)]

Nameplate with your character.

[Jeremy]

Very cool.

[Monty (Game Master / Monte Cook)]

Could you pronounce that for me?

[Jeremy]

Ajnya.

[Monty (Game Master / Monte Cook)]

Ajnya. And there's your dice.

[Jeremy]

Oh, yeah. Do a little roll here. Oh, yeah. Look at that.

[Monty (Game Master / Monte Cook)]

Very cool. So we talked a little bit about the character that you'd like to play, and I know that you've kind of referenced the vision from Marvel Comics. Tell me about your character.

[Jeremy]

Well, Ajnia was. It's the other name for the third eye chakra, which is like the pineal gland and all that kind of helps you to go into other dimensions when you're meditating and things like that. And also the vision, because not only is the vision awesome, but I like the idea of having those mental powers and being able to command mental powers also. I thought about maybe it was something that made me feel a little bit vulnerable, and I don't really want others to know I have this power.

[Monty (Game Master / Monte Cook)]

Oh, okay, great. We could make that work.

[Jeremy]

Yeah.

[Monty (Game Master / Monte Cook)]

So let's turn this idea into a Numenera character.

[Jeremy]

I love it.

[Monty (Game Master / Monte Cook)]

All right. Based on the things that you'd already said, I thought that your type. Your character type might be jack. Kind of makes you a little bit good at everything. You're a Jack of all trades, basically. Sounds great. Very obviously, for you, the focus would be commands mental powers. We've already written that down in your sheet. But that's basically. You can use telepathy, right. You can talk to your friends, you can talk to strangers. Just exactly what it sounds like, right?

[Dungeon Master]

Yeah.

[Monty (Game Master / Monte Cook)]

And so all we need to do is determine what your descriptor would be.

[Jeremy]

Okay.

[Monty (Game Master / Monte Cook)]

Now, in the world of Numenera, there's kind of this dichotomy of the stuff left over from the prior worlds. It's called the Numenera, and some people think of it as magical, but some people realize that it's actually technological.

[Jeremy]

Okay.

[Monty (Game Master / Monte Cook)]

Do you have an idea of how you would see that?

[Jeremy]

Well, couldn't there be maybe a little bit of both?

[Monty (Game Master / Monte Cook)]

It could be both, sure. Absolutely. So what I'm getting at here is that we have a descriptor for you, and it's got two names. Mystical and mechanical.

[Jeremy]

All right.

[Monty (Game Master / Monte Cook)]

Right. If you want, you can call it both. Right. You can call it mystical Mechanical.

[Jeremy]

Mystical Mechanical.

[Monty (Game Master / Monte Cook)]

All right, I like it.

[Jeremy]

Very cool.

[Monty (Game Master / Monte Cook)]

Okay. So if you open up the character sheet to the inside, then we have three stats. Now, as a Jack, you kind of Start out pretty good at all of them. So your starting stats are 10, 10 and 11. A 10 in intellect, but you get one for commanding mental powers too. You get to customize that a little bit further by adding six points to any of these scores in any combination.

[Jeremy]

Well, I think intellect would be high. Right.

[Monty (Game Master / Monte Cook)]

It sounds like that makes a lot of sense to me.

[Jeremy]

So maybe three here.

[Monty (Game Master / Monte Cook)]

Okay, let's add two to might and then one. And then mystical mechanical is going to give you two more in intellect. So that's going to bring it up to 16. So that's pretty good. There's something called edge and we'll get to this more as we're playing. But basically which of these three things that you really are best at, the one that you can really use a lot without kind of tiring yourself out, sounds like maybe it's intellect.

[Jeremy]

Yeah, that's what I would go for.

[Monty (Game Master / Monte Cook)]

Yeah.

[Jeremy]

This is a character, not me personally.

[Erica]

Right.

[Monty (Game Master / Monte Cook)]

Cause that's Right. Right.

[Jason Charles Miller]

We always have to distinguish.

[Monty (Game Master / Monte Cook)]

Right.

[Jeremy]

Because that edge would be somewhere else.

[Monty (Game Master / Monte Cook)]

So I would just put one in edge for intellect. Okay. All right, so now next we're going to talk about your skills. I thought that might defense would be a good one. Might defense is sort of like how hardy you are and can you take poisons and diseases and how well you can resist that kind of thing.

[Dungeon Master]

Sure.

[Monty (Game Master / Monte Cook)]

And mystical mechanical also gives you some skill. Anything involving mechanical. Mystical stuff, sure. Right. So we can just call that the Numenera. So you'd be trained in using the Numenera anytime you want to identify. You know, if you find something weird out in the wilderness or you come upon something you don't understand that comes from these prior worlds. You know, you're better at that than most people. You have a little bit of knowledge in that.

[Dungeon Master]

All right.

[Monty (Game Master / Monte Cook)]

Mystical mechanical also gives you a couple of cool special abilities. One is that you can kind of sense magic. Again, in this context, magic means the leftovers of the prior worlds numenera. Right. But you can sense when it's around. And then the other thing that I think that you'll kind of like, it's called hedge magic. This is like little telekinetic kinds of things that you can do with the power of your mind, you know, moving little objects.

[Jeremy]

That's on her special ability too. Yeah.

[Monty (Game Master / Monte Cook)]

Unfortunately, Mystical mechanical comes with kind of a drawback.

[Jeremy]

Uh oh.

[Monty (Game Master / Monte Cook)]

People kind of sense that there's something not quite right about you. The hair and their arm kind of stands up when you get close.

[Jeremy]

Like, oh, this guy's A little shitty.

[Monty (Game Master / Monte Cook)]

Even though you're trying to cover up your mental powers, it's almost like it bleeds out of you a little bit. Jacks get these things called tricks of the trade, which are little abilities. Like, one might be that you're really good at just dodging attacks, and that would be. We'd call that speed defense.

[Jeremy]

I like that.

[Monty (Game Master / Monte Cook)]

Okay, and then what kind of weapon do you see yourself carrying? A weapon?

[Jeremy]

Yeah, definitely.

[Monty (Game Master / Monte Cook)]

Okay, what do you see?

[Jeremy]

I don't know. I want to think I could come out and just start shooting laser beams.

[Monty (Game Master / Monte Cook)]

Out of my hands. You'll get there. You'll get there.

[Jeremy]

I want to jump the gun, Monty. I want it now.

[Monty (Game Master / Monte Cook)]

I know.

[Jeremy]

Okay, but yeah, so to start with, though, shooting something.

[Monty (Game Master / Monte Cook)]

Yeah. So in Numenera, they're at about a medieval level of technology, except. Except they have a few things that they've picked up from this stuff that's around from the past. Right. So there are these things called buzzers, and it basically magnetically projects a little razor disc. So you could have a buzzer if you wanted to. As a Jack ability, you could have the ability called pierce. And Pierce allows you to do even more damage with that kind of an attack. I love all that. All right, cool, cool. So you want to write down Pierce under special abilities.

[Dungeon Master]

Pierce.

[Monty (Game Master / Monte Cook)]

Mm. And then under attack, you'd put buzzer.

[Jeremy]

That just sounds dangerous.

[Monty (Game Master / Monte Cook)]

All right.

[Jeremy]

Very cool.

[Monty (Game Master / Monte Cook)]

That I think, wraps up our character. Awesome.

[Jeremy]

I'm excited. Thank you.

[Monty (Game Master / Monte Cook)]

Cool.

[Jeremy]

This is gonna be fun.

[Micah Ruthers]

Hi.

[Sponsor Voice]

Hi.

[Monty (Game Master / Monte Cook)]

Erica.

[Erica]

Nice to meet you.

[Monty (Game Master / Monte Cook)]

Nice to meet you. So you ready to play some new Monera?

[Erica]

I'm so ready.

[Monty (Game Master / Monte Cook)]

Do you have any role playing game experience?

[Erica]

Yeah, but mostly just Dungeons and Dragons.

[Monty (Game Master / Monte Cook)]

Yeah. Okay.

[Erica]

I've done like one shots of some other games, but I haven't ventured out too far.

[Monty (Game Master / Monte Cook)]

That's a baseline I can work with. That's totally great. This is your rule book for Numenera.

[Erica]

Oh, awesome. Thank you.

[Monty (Game Master / Monte Cook)]

And this is your starter kit.

[Erica]

So cool. Oh, nice.

[Monty (Game Master / Monte Cook)]

So your character's name is Shanza. Shanza, yeah. Very cool.

[Erica]

Oh, my gosh. This box is so cute. Oh, these are beautiful.

[Monty (Game Master / Monte Cook)]

Yeah, those are the dice that we'll be using today. Mostly be using the 20 sided.

[Erica]

Is this a dice tray? Oh, that'll be handy.

[Davilu]

Cool.

[Erica]

I'm so excited.

[Monty (Game Master / Monte Cook)]

We talked a little bit about your character ahead of time. Why don't you tell me what you've kind of decided on?

[Erica]

Well, she exists partially out of phase, so she is very ghostly, transparent looking, and that has caused her a lot of strife in her life.

[Monty (Game Master / Monte Cook)]

Yeah.

[Erica]

She got it from one of her ancestors who was and, like, an exotic animal merchant.

[Monty (Game Master / Monte Cook)]

Okay.

[Erica]

And so he came across this crazy, like, interdimensional creature that bit him. You know, he led most of his life unaware, but then eventually he just kind of, like, disappeared. And so somehow after generations, they thought.

[Monty (Game Master / Monte Cook)]

That, you know, that fits into Numenera perfectly.

[Davilu]

Oh, good. Yes.

[Jason Charles Miller]

That's great.

[Monty (Game Master / Monte Cook)]

That's great. And so what kinds of things do you do? Are you more a warrior, More of a outdoorsy person?

[Erica]

Outdoorsy person. She was sort of exiled.

[Micah Ruthers]

Sure.

[Erica]

They thought she was like a cursed ghost.

[Monty (Game Master / Monte Cook)]

Probably spent some time out in the wilderness.

[Erica]

Yeah, a lot of time by herself. Anytime she tried to interact with people, they tried to exorcise her. And, you know, just so you live.

[Monty (Game Master / Monte Cook)]

By your wits and you're kind of on your own a lot. That sounds like a Jack to me. Jack is kind of short for Jack of all trades. You're kind of a little bit good at everything. So in Numenera, what we do is we have a character sentence that describes the character, but it also sort of informs the game mechanics. So you're a blank. Blank who blanks. Now, we've sort of already figured out that you're a Jack who exists partially out of phase. Right. So we just have to decide what the descriptor is. What you're saying to me sounds an awful lot like, you know, Aragorn Ranger type. So there's a descriptor in Numenera called Rugged, which fits that perfectly. So let's take a look at your character sheet. So all we need to do is add the rugged part.

[Erica]

Okay, cool.

[Monty (Game Master / Monte Cook)]

You can open it up. And all of the important stuff that will come up during the game is in the middle. We'll start with the stats. Now, as a Jack, you kind of start out a little pretty good at all of them. You start out with a base score of 10 in each of them, but you get to choose to add six points in any combination to those three stats to kind of customize how you see your character.

[Erica]

Well, I feel like, as you said, might and speed are pretty important.

[Monty (Game Master / Monte Cook)]

Yeah. You could just kind of focus half in one and half in the other.

[Erica]

Yeah, I don't need to be that smart.

[Monty (Game Master / Monte Cook)]

So what Rugged does as a descriptor is it gives you a lot of skills, and we've recorded most of those on your character sheet already, but they're the kinds of things that you would sort of expect. You're really good at operating in nature and tracking and those kinds of things. The drawback is that because you're used to spending time alone in the woods, you're not great at interacting with people. So this is called an inability, and it's kind of like a negative skill. It's not that you can't do it. It's just that for you, it's a little bit harder. You probably relate to animals better than people. As a jack, you get some special abilities. They're called tricks of the trade. They're little things that you have picked up. And for your character, I think something maybe defensive to kind of you've had to keep yourself alive on your own. You could have saved skill with defense, but you can kind of choose do you want it to be, you know, you're good at defending yourself physically, like dodging, or maybe you're good at resisting. Like if someone's trying to affect your mind with some kind of weird ability.

[Erica]

Probably dodging.

[Monty (Game Master / Monte Cook)]

Yeah. Okay.

[Erica]

Just based on the life I imagine living.

[Monty (Game Master / Monte Cook)]

So we just call that speed defense.

[Erica]

Okay.

[Monty (Game Master / Monte Cook)]

Do you see yourself as. You're pretty tough. You probably get into fights now and again. Do you want a combat sort of ability?

[Erica]

Yeah, that would probably be a good idea.

[Jeremy]

Yeah.

[Monty (Game Master / Monte Cook)]

Okay. You probably want to have a bow or a crossbow, something like that.

[Erica]

Yeah, a bow sounds more nature y to me.

[Monty (Game Master / Monte Cook)]

Okay. And then what about when you've got to get a little bit closer? What sort of weapon do you see.

[Erica]

Using a Glaive is the long with the blade. Right.

[Jason Charles Miller]

Okay.

[Erica]

That's what I see her using.

[Monty (Game Master / Monte Cook)]

Okay. So there's an ability called thrust, and it allows you to do more damage. You'll just want to note that thrust costs. One might point we'll get to what that actually means as we're playing the game. And so then under attacks, you'd put your bow.

[Erica]

Okay.

[Monty (Game Master / Monte Cook)]

You can just go and put four points of damage. And the Glaive, that also does four points of damage. You'll just want to remember that if you use thrust, it'll do five.

[Erica]

Okay. Do you see your character wearing armor mostly like leather?

[Monty (Game Master / Monte Cook)]

Yeah. Like a jacket or a jerkin or something like that. Okay, great. That's light armor. And so you'd put one in the circle there for armor. Okay, great. And so the only other thing we've got is the exist partially out of phase.

[Erica]

Yeah.

[Monty (Game Master / Monte Cook)]

That's the ability where you basically can move through solid matter. You kind of have to concentrate. And so you can't move really fast. Fast yet. Right. You'll get better at it.

[Erica]

Okay.

[Monty (Game Master / Monte Cook)]

And that should Be everything that we need to get started.

[Erica]

Okay, cool.

[Monty (Game Master / Monte Cook)]

All right, a couple minutes. We'll just gather everyone together and we'll start playing.

[Erica]

All right.

[Monty (Game Master / Monte Cook)]

Hey, Jason. All right.

[Jason Charles Miller]

Time to dig in.

[Monty (Game Master / Monte Cook)]

Yeah. Yeah. Well, so I know you've got some role playing game experience. Why don't you tell me a little about that?

[Jason Charles Miller]

Started playing D and D when I was 8. Played that pretty much my whole life in one capacity or another. Played a lot of the other role playing games that came out at that time, like Gamma World, Star Frontiers, cool stuff like that. Cool.

[Monty (Game Master / Monte Cook)]

But you've not played Numenera before?

[Jason Charles Miller]

No, and I've decided not to because I want to learn with everybody else.

[Monty (Game Master / Monte Cook)]

All right, well, here's a copy of the rules for you.

[Jason Charles Miller]

This is great.

[Monty (Game Master / Monte Cook)]

And here is your starter kit.

[Jeremy]

Whoa.

[Jason Charles Miller]

All right.

[Monty (Game Master / Monte Cook)]

So we got a nameplate in there?

[Jason Charles Miller]

Yeah, my name tag for my character.

[Monty (Game Master / Monte Cook)]

What character name did you choose?

[Jason Charles Miller]

I came up with the name Idaran.

[Monty (Game Master / Monte Cook)]

Awesome.

[Jason Charles Miller]

I thought that was kind of, you know, futuristic and medieval sounding at the same time.

[Monty (Game Master / Monte Cook)]

Some dice.

[Jason Charles Miller]

All right, this is awesome. I'm ready to play.

[Monty (Game Master / Monte Cook)]

Cool. Awesome. We have talked a little bit about the kind of character that you want to play. Why don't you tell me a little bit more about that?

[Jason Charles Miller]

Some of the things that I was looking at was there was a trait, I guess, called rides the lightning, where he can control electricity. And that was really fascinating to me.

[Monty (Game Master / Monte Cook)]

So you're gonna be playing a nano. And what a nano is is that it's someone who sort of understands the Numenera better than everyone else. And so a lot of people think of them as, like, sorcerers or wizards, but what they really are, people who understand the past a of lot. Little bit better.

[Jason Charles Miller]

Oh, okay, great.

[Monty (Game Master / Monte Cook)]

And rides the lightning is a perfect focus for you. So we've already got. You're a nano who rides the lightning. We want to choose a descriptor for you. I can tell you right now, I think what you're probably going to be interested in is a descriptor that's maybe like, intelligent or maybe learned that shows that you have really kind of mastered some of the lore.

[Jason Charles Miller]

I think for him it's learned. Like maybe he spent his early youth discovering old books or finding, you know, looking for. Just thirsting for knowledge.

[Monty (Game Master / Monte Cook)]

Okay, great, Great. Adarran is a learned nano who rides the lightning.

[Jason Charles Miller]

Okay.

[Monty (Game Master / Monte Cook)]

Now, as a nano, intellect is gonna be your strong suit. Right. We're gonna start you with 12 in intellect.

[Dungeon Master]

Okay.

[Monty (Game Master / Monte Cook)]

But might and speed, not as much your thing. So you start with a 7 in might and a 9 in speed. But here's the good news. You have six points to divide up among those pools however you want.

[Jason Charles Miller]

I think I'd like to spread it out, actually, to give him more of like a. If he's gotta get in a scuffle, I don't want him to fall apart immediately. Okay, so can I add two to each?

[Micah Ruthers]

Sure.

[Jason Charles Miller]

Okay, great.

[Monty (Game Master / Monte Cook)]

And as you're doing that, I'll also tell you that your descriptor learned is gonna also add two more to your intellect.

[Jason Charles Miller]

Oh, great. Okay, what's the edge there?

[Monty (Game Master / Monte Cook)]

So what edge is? Think of it as your employee discount. Right. Okay. Anytime each one of these stats, you're gonna be spending points out of those pools. So you have an edge of one in intellect. That means that anytime you're gonna spend intellect points, the first one's free.

[Jason Charles Miller]

Oh, great.

[Monty (Game Master / Monte Cook)]

So the skills over here, you'll see we've already got one, and it's you're skilled in the Numenera. Now, the Numenera is the word that we use to represent all of the past wonders and technology. It's kind of the general term that we use for anything from the prior worlds.

[Jason Charles Miller]

Okay, so it's not like an energy force or anything. It's just.

[Monty (Game Master / Monte Cook)]

No, no. If you see a weird device, that's the Numenera. If you see some kind of weird energy field, that's Numenera.

[Jason Charles Miller]

Got it.

[Monty (Game Master / Monte Cook)]

Okay. As a learned character, you're going to have three extra skills that you can choose. But these skills need to be sort of intellectual, lore, knowledge skills. So you could be trained in history or geography or anything that you think suits your character.

[Jason Charles Miller]

Are they out of the book or they're just out of.

[Monty (Game Master / Monte Cook)]

There is no skill list. Okay, great. They're customized to what you want your character to be good at.

[Jason Charles Miller]

Well, I think history and geography for sure.

[Monty (Game Master / Monte Cook)]

Okay. Rather than choose a third one, you could double up on one of these, including your knowledge of the Numenera. So you could be specialized in that.

[Jason Charles Miller]

I'll take your advice and double up on the new Monera.

[Monty (Game Master / Monte Cook)]

I think that's a wise move. So the only thing I need to inform you, and this is the bad news of learned, is that because you're learned, you have spent so much time in libraries and focused on learning and everything that you're not really a people person. You have an inability with interaction. It's something that you're particularly not good at. You can still try it, but it's not your forte. Okay, so as a nano, you're going to get to choose two special abilities, kind of cool powers that we're going to incorporate into your character concept of having devices sort of hidden around your person.

[Jason Charles Miller]

Okay, great.

[Monty (Game Master / Monte Cook)]

Now I'm going to recommend for sure based on your character description that one of the things you're going to want to choose is onslaught. And onslaught is you shoot a blast of energy. Right. And for you that's perfect because that would be the electricity. Right. The other one is more up to you. Maybe you want something that is protective. What sort of things do you have in mind?

[Jason Charles Miller]

I feel like it would be protective and maybe like party protective.

[Monty (Game Master / Monte Cook)]

Yeah. So at first tier, the defensive power that you have available to you is just protects you. It's called ward. And the nice thing about Ward though is that you don't have to activate it or anything. It's just always on and it always gives you a point of armor. You'll want to mark down a one in the little circle for armor.

[Jason Charles Miller]

Great.

[Monty (Game Master / Monte Cook)]

So the only other thing that we need to do is take a look at your focus ability. Now you've already chosen rides the lightning and focus ability at first tier is called shock. You activate this power, you touch someone. Zap. Right, great. So with your electrical powers you'll have a ranged attack with the onslaught or a close in melee with your touch.

[Jason Charles Miller]

Okay, great.

[Monty (Game Master / Monte Cook)]

Now over on the other side of the character sheet, we've got equipment. As a nano, you don't start with a lot of stuff.

[Jason Charles Miller]

So my concept of a giant suit of electricity is not going to fly at tier one.

[Monty (Game Master / Monte Cook)]

Not a tier one, but it's a great aspiration. Right? It's his dream. But what you do start with is some books because you're learned.

[Dungeon Master]

Right.

[Monty (Game Master / Monte Cook)]

You start with a book on the Numenera and you start with two other books.

[Jason Charles Miller]

So book on Numenera for sure.

[Monty (Game Master / Monte Cook)]

Right. And then two others.

[Jason Charles Miller]

See, I thought maybe he might have found a book on Nikola Tesla and that's what inspired him. For a billion year old book.

[Monty (Game Master / Monte Cook)]

Well, a billion year old book's probably not gonna, but having a book specific specifically about electrical things and whatnot, totally a viable choice.

[Jason Charles Miller]

Okay, what might you suggest for the third one?

[Monty (Game Master / Monte Cook)]

You're probably gonna be exploring weird new places. You might be encountering weird new life or plant life or anything you might want like a reference for something like that.

[Jason Charles Miller]

Flora and fauna.

[Monty (Game Master / Monte Cook)]

Sure, sounds great. You could also carry some kind of light weapon.

[Jason Charles Miller]

I might have like a, you know, a walking stick or some kind of item. But I think he'll primarily mostly Due.

[Monty (Game Master / Monte Cook)]

To zapping, shocking and charging. Alright, cool, cool. So I think that gets you a finished new Manera character you're ready to play. Okay, thanks, Jason. All right, well, I'm so glad you guys all have joined me here to play some numenera today. I think it's gonna be a good time. So you all live in what's called the ninth world, the far, far distant future. There have been all these prior worlds that have come and gone, civilizations that have risen and fallen, and they've left behind the remnants of their civilizations and the discoveries that they made and the incredible advances that they made. So you live amongst all of these ruins. Everywhere you look there's some reflection of this deep, deep past. So even though you all come from a society that we might describe as maybe medieval in level of technologies, technology, you've got all these remnants of things that they're basically just magic to you. Not all of these remnants are helpful or good, right? There are creatures, there are weird diseases, there are strange weather. Everything in this world from our point of view is a weird, weird thing. But nevertheless, you all have decided to brave these dangers and go the steps, step farther that most people in the ninth world don't take. Most people stay to their little village and never go out into the world. But there's just something in you that has propelled you to go farther than most people. So with that in mind, why don't we start talking about who you guys are and introduce yourselves to each other. Jason, let's start with you.

[Jason Charles Miller]

My character's name is Adaran. He's a learned nano who rides the lightning. He looks rather eccentric, kind of like a cross between the professor in the Metropolis movie and Nick Nolte's mugshot. His hair is just everywhere. He wears like a Mitch mash of different clothing. He's got sort of wires running everywhere. He's obsessed with lightning and he's obsessed with electricity.

[Jeremy]

Very cool.

[Dungeon Master]

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[Monty (Game Master / Monte Cook)]

Let's just go around the table.

[Erica]

All right. I'm Erica and I'm playing Shanza. Shanza is a rugged Jack who exists partially out of phase. So basically she looks like a ghost all the time. She's transparent, but from what you can tell, she has short, kind of like curly hair. If she wasn't transparent, she'd be pretty bronze skinned. And she's very slender and muscular.

[Davilu]

Cool. I'm playing Davilu. She is a strong glaive who fuses flesh and steel. So she is part of cyborg basically. But she's like a warrior. She's super strong. Think like Serena Williams or any of the women on Themyscira. But she happens to have like robotic parts. So I am picturing like an arm is like that and it's circuitry that's running all throughout her body. And yeah, that's who she is.

[Jeremy]

I'm Jeremy. I'm playing Ajnia. As you can see, I've got my third eye crystal here. Ajnia is a mystical mechanical Jack who commands mental powers. Kind of like the vision Marvel vision, but part vision, part badass. I just love to get into the minds of people around me, even though sometimes it gets me into trouble and it makes me a little vulnerable and it makes me a little bit like, oh, I kind of know what's going on, but I don't know if I.

[Monty (Game Master / Monte Cook)]

Should really use that.

[Jeremy]

So that's Ajnea.

[Tara]

I'm Tara. I am playing Bix. Bix is a stealthy Jack who explores dark places. And Bix is a child. Bix saw their family killed in front of them and so is mostly mute and also doesn't want any anyone to know their gender. Very cool, very secretive.

[Monty (Game Master / Monte Cook)]

So the five of you, you all know each other. You've known each other for a little while. You live in a place. It's a little village. It's called Aldervale. And Aldervale is located in the foothills of a black mountain range. Dark, dark, tall, massive peaks that is known as the Black Riage. Most people just think of it as just impassable. And the people of your village, most of them are herders. They tend these flocks of these creatures called yal that have long, long yellow hair that they use for wool. But you also use yal for meat. As well, it's a fairly quiet, tranquil place. And there's one really unique thing about Aldervale, and that is that it was built around a remnant of the prior worlds. And the locals all call this thing, this big device that's just sitting in the middle of the village. They call it the Sing song because it occasionally just emits these chimes. Just makes music. And everyone just thinks, oh, that's cool. Right? We've got a little music. Everyone except for one person. There's a young man in Aldervale, and his name is Morrow. He's young, but he's a prodigy. Everyone thinks of Morrow as being wiser and more knowledgeable about the numenera, about the past, the remnants of things from the prior worlds, more knowledgeable than anybody else. And Morrow has a theory. Maro thinks that the chiming sound is a code. And after quite a bit of study, he has, he thinks, deciphered the code. And he thinks that what this Sing Song is actually emitting is a series of coordinates for a place somewhere deep in the mountains. So Morrow has decided he's gonna go off and find this place. He thinks that's his destiny. The problem is Morrow is kind of frail. He spent most of his time, you know, with his nose in a book. He is not a physical person. And everyone in the village has tried to talk him out of this. They don't want him to go. Everyone is pretty sure that he can't possibly survive this trip. But he's determined because this is his destiny. And so some of you have decided. Maro needs an escort. Maro needs someone to go with him. When Maro learns of this, you can see tears kind of begin to well up in his eyes. And he looks at all of you and he says, I can't even express how much this means to me that you would help me with this. Why? Why. Why are you coming with me?

[Jason Charles Miller]

You're the most knowledgeable guy I've ever seen in our village. Our small little village. I mean, I thirst for knowledge, and you are knowledge. There's no way I'm letting you go out there by yourself.

[Monty (Game Master / Monte Cook)]

I appreciate that, Shanza.

[Erica]

I believe you have answers to a lot of questions about the past worlds that I have. And I want to help you find these answers to what you're for looking.

[Monty (Game Master / Monte Cook)]

Thank you, Davilu.

[Davilu]

I was built to fight, and there's no way I'm getting any fighting done in this town. I need to get out of here and see what's out there.

[Monty (Game Master / Monte Cook)]

I'm really gonna Be glad to have you along. Ajnia Maro.

[Jeremy]

I sense magic and I sense there's a lot in you and around you. And I want magic to help you find the real magic of Numenera.

[Monty (Game Master / Monte Cook)]

Thank you. So then he looks at Byx and he knows that Byx doesn't speak.

[Tara]

So Byx looks at Morrow and holds up the pack. Cause Byx has a little pack with all of Bix's things. And Bix reaches out their hand.

[Monty (Game Master / Monte Cook)]

Marrow takes their hand. Marrow takes their hand and he nods and he says thank you. I'm going to go try to get some rest. I know it's a big journey, but I'd really like to leave tomorrow morning. And Maro leaves. He goes back to his house, probably to gather his things and maybe get some sleep. Who knows? Probably a stressful. A stressful, anxious night, but nevertheless. But you guys are all still here together, man.

[Davilu]

I'm ready to leave now. I just want to go.

[Jason Charles Miller]

Do you ever have to sleep, by the way?

[Davilu]

That's a ruse question. Do you go up to everybody and just ask them?

[Jason Charles Miller]

Well, you're like half, like machine or something. I'm still trying to figure you out.

[Davilu]

I'm still a person.

[Erica]

I'm gonna go to bed.

[Monty (Game Master / Monte Cook)]

All right. You've all decided to help Morrow on Maro's quest and head out into the black riage. It's not gonna be easy. And we'll find out what happens on that journey next time on Starter Kit.

[Jason Charles Miller]

Next time on Starter Kit.

[Monty (Game Master / Monte Cook)]

It's an almost vertical cliff, and that could be dangerous.

[Jeremy]

I got an idea. We both take a shot.

[Monty (Game Master / Monte Cook)]

Bix loses their grip.

[Davilu]

Bix, I'm coming for you.

[Monty (Game Master / Monte Cook)]

Bix actually falls.

[Glass Cannon Podcast Announcer]

The war is over and both sides lost. Kingdoms were reduced to cinders and armies scattered like bones in the dust. Now the survivors claw to what's left of a broken world, praying the Darkness chooses someone else tonight. But in the shadow Dark, the Darkness always wins. This is old school adventuring at its most cruel. Your torch ticks down in real time, and when that flame dies, something else rises to finish the job. This is a brutal rules light nightmare with a strange that emerges organically based on the decisions that the characters make. This is what it felt like to play RPGs in the 80s. And man, it is so good to be back. Join the Glass Cannon podcast as we plunge into the Shadow Dark every Thursday night at 8pm Eastern on YouTube.com theglasscannon with the podcast version dropping the next day. See what everybody's talking about and join us in the dark.

[Sponsor Voice]

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[Micah Ruthers]

If you love those, wait what moments you'll love. Something you should know I'm Micah Ruthers and on my podcast we explore the fascinating ideas hiding in plain sight, like how elevators change the entire world, how gravity affects your health more than you think, or how to instantly become a better conversationalist. Each episode is fast, fun and full of insight you'll want to share, so give it a try. Search for something you should know Wherever you get your podcasts.