Again! Really? Onwards!
Yes. Another entry in my “review”-series of the Cypher system as experienced through Numenéra (first entry, second entry). This time I won’t just be covering RAW, but also suggest other ways to enhance and enjoy your game set in the Ninth World, where discovering the past is key to unlocking the future.
Assets and creativity
In Numenéra skill checks, or the roll of the die, is never (well, very rarely) modified by additions or subtractions to the result. Instead it is the difficulty that is modified, up or down, depending on being trained, having an inability, being specialised, making one or more efforts, or other environmental and narrative elements.
Generally it is being trained (or specialised) in a skill that reduces the difficulty one or two steps; that is, reducing the target number by three, or six. Having an inability (think anti-skill) increases the difficulty one step. Effort is also a central and important mechanic that can reduce the difficulty, sometimes more than one step, by spending points from the appropriate stat pool*. Additionally “assets” can also be used to reduce the difficulty. An asset would be something useful for the task, for instance a crowbar when trying to open a door or chest, lock picks when trying to pick a lock and so on. Sometimes gear is needed to simply attempt a task, so these things may not be considered a difficulty-reducing asset at all times; sometimes they’re enablers.
Playing Numenéra is (like all RPGs) about narrating what you do, it is about playing an explorer in an unknown, weird and sometimes crazy world of absurdities that cannot always (and should not always) be understood. When playing the game, it is encouraged to describe and explain what you do, how you do it and what you use to do what you’re doing. This should at times be considered an asset, unless the GM awards XP for the factor of cool you just added to the encounter/session/game. In some rare instances a GM may want to award both XP and an asset for the task at hand.
During a meeting or negotiation, really good roleplaying should be rewarded with XP, but if the player instead or in addition is creative by pointing out actual or plausible facts and information for the agreement and the context, this could be treated as an asset. If the character knows more because of information gathering in-game and says they make use of that, that would be an asset. If a character in combat narrates a particularly cool sequence, award XP. If the character narrates a particularly clever way of using the environment to his or her benefit (either for defense or attack) one could argue this to be an asset for either defense or attack. While this could potentially result in lots of difficulty reduction, there’s a limit in that there’s sensibility. Not all enemies are alike, some enemies are experienced, sometimes a strategy good against thugs in Uxphon is a bad strategy against thugs in Qi. You never know. Fighting something unknown and weird isn’t likely to gain any benefit from the classic “Haha! I’m actually left handed! Take that!” or similar moves, that against a regular human opponent may give you an asset the first time you use it. And there’s this: Generally, assets based on descriptions should only apply once per encounter, unless there’s something that would/could plausibly be done multiple times with the same effect.
Experience points as a resource
In Numenéra XP can be considered as a kind of Destiny point (from FFG’s Star Wars RPGs,) in that it is a resource to be spent not only between sessions, but during play. While not strictly RAW, I would see no real problem with letting players spend XP to introduce a fact or an asset for the task at hand. This is not unlike the immediate, short- and medium-term benefits as listed in the Numenéra core rulebook on page 110-111, it also places even more narrative power in the hands of the characters. Also, as with the Destiny points, there needs to be a flow of spending and awarding XP that enables the joint storytelling of the group. Being stingy with XP will either deprive the players of re-rolls, negate intrusions and/or general creativity (if they hoard them for character advancement) or seriously hinder them in advancement as they spend them on re-rolls, against intrusions or creativity. So with time and effort you’ll find a good way of handing out just enough XP for the players to use them for re-rolls and intrusion negation, and perhaps some creative additions, while still allowing them to save a few for the eventual advancement.
*The pools serves as characteristics and is a limited supply of points a character possesses. These double as health and a resource to be spent activating fancy heroic stuff like special combat moves, esoteric magic/tech abilities and other cool things.
