A "newish" aspect of the RPG hobby is the rise of rules-lite games. Simply put, rules-lite games are really simple and don't take the commitment of a D&D style epic. You can pick up the book, a character sheet, a GM that knows the rules, and pretty much go. I've played a few of these rules-lite games with mixed results. My Numenera game was the most successful. With a game like Numenera, it doesn't take long to understand the rules. As people become busy or sessions get canceled, having these simple games nearby can save a game night with your group.
That being said, there are disadvantages to rules-lite in that they're pretty thin games. The best you can get out of them are a few sessions unless you're group really loves the setting. There is very little meat to actually latch onto. Numenera is structured very differently from these smaller games. It's a big game with a lot of reaching ideas, but the mechanics are simple and easy to follow.
I'm going to skip talking about the "classes" and character generation of Numenera for now and just focus on the base mechanics.
So here's an interesting aspect of Numenera, a player only gets one action per round. Compare that to D&D where you get around 4. This can feel extremely limiting to a player that wants their Jack to leap 12 feet through the air onto the monsters back and stab it in the eye. Alternatively, it keeps the action flowing quickly as players only have to think of one thing to do during their turn. In my experience, if you're playing this game very loosely, these rules actually make a lot of sense for a group that just wants to have a good time.
For a game like Numenera, the mechanics take a backseat to the story. Is this a bad thing, or a good thing? Well it really depends on what kind of game you're running. In a later article I want to talk about "crunchy" role playing games and how those compare to rules-lite. For now, lets discuss mechanics.
The problem with writing this article is, because the rules are so simple, there's not much to talk about. My only comment is that it works for what Monte Cook was trying to accomplish, and there lies the crux of what an RPG writer needs to think about. How do the mechanics fit with the world you're presenting. For a game like Warhammer, the mechanics need to be brutal and tactical (at least I'm assuming I don't actually play Warhammer). The mechanics need to compliment and enhance your setting.
How can they enhance your setting? Well Numenera kind of gives us a good example. The Numenera are strange and often dangerous objects of power and technology. The book provides a wealth of examples and mechanics for how to use them in your game. Providing so many examples helps GMs and players get a feel for what Numenera are and how they relate to the world. In my game, during the later sessions, I started to create my own Numenera. Now, if Numenera didn't have any of those examples, it would be much harder to imagine what a Numenera is and does. If you give a strong mechanical base for the readers, they can begin to play around with those mechanics and create their own ideas.
For my own RPG, there is an ambiguous mechanic of the world like the Numenera. Writing this has helped me realize I need to give players that strong base to work off of. The point of the game is to make your own, lets call them Numenera for now since I haven't decided on an official name, and explore the endless possibilities you can create. Gamers creating their own things in your world is what you should be striving for, but only if that's the point. Like most things, some games are designed with rigid backbones in mind, which is perfectly fine. D&D is like that.
Lets get into some nitty gritty and talk about Experience. At its general core, experience is just a mechanical number that tells your players when they get stronger. Simple and easy to implement if you're a combat focused game because monsters have a set experience they give to the players. If you're a game like Numenera and many other rules-lite games, this system needs some tweaking. For Numenera, experience is granted when the players make a discovery in the world. Not the most elegant system and it can leave some players feeling shafted if the GM doesn't award them experience for something they see as important. The game also offers experience for completing personal goals (a system I really encourage). This is a departure from the norm which can be really creative in the right circumstances. I'm not a fan of Numenera's experience system.
For a game like this, you're not meant to be going on grand quests that span years. A chronicle is supposed to span a few sessions and then end, at least that's the best way to play these games based on the mechanics. Still, awarding experience based on something nebulous like discovery can be a contentious thing. The best thing, I think, is just giving flat XP at the end of a session. For my own game, I'm going to stick with the more traditional style XP system for now but that might change as I explore the setting. We're going to end our discussion of XP right now because I have some opinions on other stuff relating to XP in a future article (most likely the last one). I am, however, interested in looking at other systems of XP generation. It's going to be a tough thing to nail down later on in the development process.
I think that's about it. So what is best for my game? I'm guessing somewhere in the middle. While I like most rules-lite games, and will sometimes get into them, they have a very short appeal timer. If you've got even one "gamer" in your group, these kinds of games will most likely bore them. Meeting somewhere in the middle between crunchy and lite appeals more to my sensibilities. I'm not a "gamer" or a role player. Unfortunately, Numenera didn't give me much insight into mechanical design. It's much too simple to be of much use (the mechanics chapter is only 29 pages). One thing I did notice is the inclusion of an "Optional Rules" section. I'll have to contemplate that for the future. Disappointing.
Next week, character creation where we explore what a class actually is, and if it's important for a game. Until then.
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