Review: Numenera by Monte Cook

Numenera - Monte Cook Games

Numenera is a really rich adventure setting. The Cypher System is an innovative twist on the venerable d20 role playing system. You have three stats: Might, Speed, and Intellect. These stats function as both the basis for your d20 rolls but also as a life pool which you can expend to help you make rolls and at the same time represent your health. This is a much better implementation of the core mechanic in the Warrior Cats RPG. The emphasis in Numenera is on exploration not combat. This might be daunting for traditional role players, especially GMs who are used to orienting their adventures around combat and conflict. For the player the game encourages creative resolution of problems. To meet the demands of the focus on exploration the setting requires a lot of commitment, from the GM, to be able to run this game.

Likes: Rich setting, innovative mechanic which simulates real effort very well. Great sense of danger despite the emphasis not being on combat. 

Dislikes; Commitment level for GMing. 

Fun: This is a fun game, good sense of danger and encourages creative problem solving.
Quality: Our GM raves about the support material for Numenera. The only thing I've disliked is the very artsy character sheets, but better options are available online. The artwork is great. The mechanics are solid.
(re)Playability: We've been playing this off and on since the books came out (our group all bought into the Kickstarter) and have only really scratched the surface of the setting.