Numenera: The Introduction and Why it Matters

The first tabletop game I want to examine is Monte Cook's Numenera. This book made a huge splash when it was first released following a successful kickstarter campaign. The hype was real for this one, and I got caught up in it hard. Numerous sites released glowing reviews of the book and for the most part I agree with what was said. At face value, the book is a gorgeous piece of art with some really smart design decisions. However, there are some flaws to this gem. I'll get to those later down the road. Right now, we're focusing on the introductory chapter to the book and how to draw readers in.

Numenera: A game of sci-fi fantasy adventure.

Numenera begins with a short piece of fiction, The Amber Monolith, but I'm going to skip that part for now. In a later post I want to discuss the pros and cons of opening fiction in a book, so for now we're just going to look at how Monte Cook draws us into the game.

This book does away with a traditional opening chapter and drops the reader straight into the Ninth World (the name of the setting in Numenera). This is actually a bold decision by the writer. Traditionally, an RPG book will begin the book with an opening piece about what an RPG is and how it is played, along with some minor setting information. Looking at a few newer games, this seems to be a recent trend. We will not be focusing on that right now. We are just looking at how Numenera draws us in.

The first part of Chapter 1, labeled Welcome to the Ninth World, begins by dropping the reader straight into the back story of the Ninth World. There is a lot of information in this short introduction that does not pay off until much later in the book. The author goes into detail on what is the Ninth World. Just to make sure everyone is on the same page, the world of Numenera is built upon eight separate ages of humanity that each fell into ruin. The Ninth World is the most recent age and is obsessed with finding the relics of the past.

That is the main crux of Numenera, discovering the relics of the past and using them to build your future. The introduction continues on to explain what kind of things you can expect to do in the game but it is very brief. It is a tiny snippet of what you can expect.

This introduction to the setting wraps up by going into the politics and make up of the Ninth World. It goes into brief detail on the Amber Pope and a few other organizations. Reading through this, the information is really brief and does not paint how vast and expansive the world actually is. This brief section on the Amber Pope could have been cut for a look at what the world is like. I'll get to this later, but the author put a lot of love into making this world very open and expansive. The main selling point of the book is its world, and space was wasted on politics that might not be interesting to a potential reader.

Luckily, the next section redeems the previous paragraphs. The People of the Ninth World goes into detail on who actually lives in this strange sci-fi landscape. There is too much information to really go into detail. Just know that it gives you a look at the NPCs you'll potentially meet, some enemies that might crop up including the strange mutated creatures of the Ninth World, and who you will play as. This is what an introduction should do. It gives you a brief and tantalizing taste of what this game is all about from a more human perspective. It continues this later on in the section by trying to explain the Ninth World from a twentieth century perspective. It is more of a summary of other things that have been said, and could have been better integrated into the other parts of the introduction rather than a separate section.

I'll wrap this up quickly. The final part of the section goes into detail on the different types of Numenera. This is a decision that is baffling me. There are three detailed sections dedicated to Artifacts, Cyphers, and Oddities. Is this needed? From a new readers perspective, not really. Looking at descriptions of items you might get in your campaign is not that interesting. And yet, Numenera is built upon the discovery of these relics. It would have been better if the author had merely summarized the information into a few paragraphs.

Let us take a closer look at what is the purpose of an introduction.

A good introduction should be painting a picture of something like this.

The introduction draws the player into your book. Drivethru offers a little sample of your book for potential readers. This little sample is most likely your introductory chapter. It is the first taste your reader gets of your product. When reading various RPGs, I have become aware of just how important an introduction is. There are some books that you begin and either skim through the introduction or just flat out skip it. That should not be happening. Now let us look at what Numenera does right.

It drops the reader right into the world. This is important because you should not beat around the bush when expressing to the reader what your game world is about. I will be exploring an extreme example of why this is important in another RPG Lab later on to help illustrate my point. Just know, it is best to push readers straight into the meat of the game. However, the book should have expanded on the setting because that is the main reason you are going to be buying this book. The introduction serves its purpose but it could have been tightened up to ensure the reader keeps reading the introduction.

Let us apply this to my own game. My game is built upon a central setting like Numenera. Because of this, that little introduction is very important. With a game like Dungeons and Dragons or Savage Worlds, the mechanics are what draws the players to the game. You have to sell potential readers and answer the question, "Why would I play this when I can just play D&D and make up my own setting?" Reading and examining this first chapter of Numenera has given me a lot to think about. I need to wait until a majority of the game is written before I write the introduction, but I think it should be a constant thought in my head as I'm writing. How do I sell this game (for free mind you) in a flooded market? That is the real challenge.

To conclude this first part, let us break down what a good introduction looks like:

1. You need to draw in new readers with a taste of what they can expect.
2. Give an engaging explanation of the setting.
3. Tell potential players who they are going to be playing.
4. Keep it short and keep it tight on the details.

I am a big fan of games with built in settings while some friends of mine prefer the make it up yourselves games. Choosing to set my game in its own setting carries many challenges and advantages. We will discuss those later on when we get into Numenera's mechanics along with the recent trend of "rules lite" games. Until next time.

If you want to continue the discussion, leave a comment. You can also follow me on twitter @RisTigger.