Introductions

Hello everyone!

Thanks for joining the game. I haven't settled 100% on what sort of game this will be, and I only know who one of you is at the moment. Please introduce yourself, the character you'd like to play, and a little bit about what you like in a play-by-post game.

Hi, real name is Justin if that matters to anyone. Joining this game for two main reasons; trying out Numenera, which I've never played before, and trying out PbP gaming. I've only ever been in a PbP game one other time, and it died off shortly after it began. With that being said, I'm not too sure what type of character I want to play, or what I like in a PbP game. Sorry I'm not any help, but I'm pretty easygoing and can adapt to different game styles. I do work a 45-50 hr/wk job, but I usually hop online long enough each day where I could post several times a week. Looking forward to learning more about Numenera and getting started!

Hi,

Other than running a few CoC games a few years ago, I haven't played an RPG in close to 30 years. Numenera has rekindled my interest and am looking forward to jumping in. I've submitted a character (at least I think I have) that I'd like to play, Kleas Huszar the Exlied Glaive who Needs no Weapons. If that doesn't fit in with what you're trying to do, no worries, I'll come up with something else.

Haven't tried play-by-post, but have done a lot of other gaming (mostly hex and counter wargames) using VASSAL and other tools. I shouldn't have any issue getting on here in the evenings (Eastern Time) to check and see what's going on.

- Szem

My name is Chris. I think you know me as The Worst DM. I have never actually played a play-by-post game before so I don't really have any expectations for how this will go.
I really just wanted to try Numenera since I bought a bunch of the books months back. I created a jack for a character, but, since it is my first character in this system, it may not be all there.

Hi! I appear to be unique in being an old hand at PbP gaming here. I've played a number of them on other boards.

Protip for those of you that are new: good PbP games rely on combat a *lot* less than tabletop games, because it's so much slower to resolve (a quick battle can easily take several days; a drawn-out boss battle that would take a few hours in person can be a week or two in posts). On the other hand, the written word is *much* better for characterization and roleplay than in-person play, so you can get much more into your characters and their interactions with each other and the world.

Some other random mechanics things I've liked from previous games:

* keeping rolls and roleplay separated, so you can read the posts and just get continuous roleplay. The best way I've seen this handled is just putting random rolls into spoilers in posts, so they can be expanded as necessary, and doing combat mechanics in a separate thread entirely, with the main story thread instead containing roleplay of the results of combat (either done by the players as they finish each turn, or done by the GM at the end of each round).
* heavy use of conditionals (if/then) in mechanics posts, so you can provide results for both success and failure up-front and let the GM choose which one results, rather than having to back-and-forth with the GM and take extra time. Numenera might make this easier to deal with, though of course GM intrusions can always pop up.

As for characters, I've got a few in my head, but one in particular I wanted to play as soon as I picked up the book I can stat as either a Glaive or Jack. If we end up lacking a Nano I can possible stat her as that as well; it doesn't make a huge difference to her character concept.

Okay, current plan is to stat up Cherise as a Graceful Jack Who Fuses Flesh And Steel, though I'm still not sure about my descriptor - maybe Mechanical or Tough would work too.

Basic backstory (though I can obviously tweak it to work better with the game) is that she was an independent explorer, seeing the world with nothing but what she could carry in a backpack. Not quite a Peregrine, but close. In one town in the Beyond she helped the local guardmen deal with an infestation of blink moths that had wintered in a nearby cave and were now harassing farmers; while fighting, she took a full blast of their withering venom to her right arm and passed out from the pain. When she woke up, she was resting in a house in the village, and her arm was gone - in its place was a dull golden prosthesis, hollow and made of twisting, vine-like threads of flexible metal. The local Aeon Priest explained that they had a numenera, rarely used, which could recast flesh into undying metal, called filigree. It was rarely used because once the process was started it couldn't be stopped; the entire body would slowly be converted into the metal, and it was fatal. It could only be slowed by regular exposure to the same numenera again. She lived in the village for a while, but her wanderlust eventually sent her exploring again, despite the priest's dire warnings. I'm thinking her adventure hook would be to look for more knowledge on the numenera, to turn her filigree from a death sentence into an unstoppable advantage.

Still trying to come up with a decent back story for Kleas, something that will both explain why he was exiled and how he became trained in un-armed combat. If nothing else, it will give me something to do while at work tomorrow. :-)

- Szem

Great to have you all aboard!

I believe Numenera is especially well-suited to PbP because it has an emphasis on creativity and discovery, and combat is rarely your best option. Toward that end, I think I'll start this with the Numenera version of "You meet in a tavern and decide to go questing," which is that various events have led you to working with a clave of Aeon Priests who need help investigating Numenera. Your hook is up to you (there are several in the character creation guide), and your mutual connections are yours to decide.

I'll start a thread and approve your characters. Let me know why you are working with the Aeon Priest named Illisan. Do you owe him a favor? Are you in it for the thrill or for the money? Do you have a greater goal and these escapades are merely your means of funding it?

For an idea of how I've run PbP elsewhere using Numenera, you are welcome to read a Numenera game I ran a while ago here.

I'm getting an error when I click on the link you've provided for your past run. I'd be interested in checking it out.

As the GM do you have access to our character builds or is there something else we'll need to do in order to get our characters approved?

Thanks,

- Szem

I fixed the link, thanks for letting me know.

I just have to approve you character after you submit it. If there's anything that needs adjustment with the sheets let me know, they're brand new.

Sorry for the delay. Still looking over the corebook and getting the feel for the setting. I'm working on making a Learned Nano who Rides the Lightning.

Delays are inevitable in the PbP world, don't fret.

Apparently captain_max needs to check his sanity!

Thanks for the reminder! I'll send cyphers and oddities to everyone soon.

I don't know if this is the proper place to ask, but I'll give it a go. What is the purpose of a Cypher or Artifact's level and how is it used?

I'd imagine if there is some sort of activation needed in order to get the Cypher/Artifact to work this number would represent a difficulty level. For Cyphers/Artifacts the level represents damage and so forth, so that's pretty straight forward, but what about something like a Intellect Enhancement Cypher? Does the level have any meaning?

A related question concerning creatures. If a creature has a modification like "Breaks objects as level 9", what does that mean, and how is it used during game play?

Thanks,

- Szem

I guess I spend too much money on there.

Cypher/Artifact level can flex for damage and duration reasons. It usually doesn't matter much, but a level 3 fire grenade would deal less damage than a level 5 needle wall.

Acting as an X level actor is pertinent for making competing skill rolls, or stating that it can automatically succeed at actions of X level. Climbing as a level 5 creature for example would mean you'd need to roll 15 or higher to match it, and it can automatically climb anything of difficulty level 5.