NPCs in Numenera
So, early on in the Kickstarter for Numenera we added a bestiary as a stretch goal. This bestiary will be filled with creatures, but will also have some characters and character types, because not everything that you interact with is a “monster.” Plus, in the Ninth World, some things that seem like monsters are actually potential allies, and some things that look harmless most certainly are not.
NPCs (including creature of all types) in Numenera do not have the same kind of stats as PCs. As simple as it is to make a Numenera player character, it’s far simpler than creating a PC. Or, to put it a different way, each NPC is precisely as complicated to make as the GM wants it to be.
Everything in the game system can be given a rating from 1 to 10. This is true of an animal, a town guard, a door, or an artifact. Basically, the GM is deciding on this rating for his or her world’s own internal consistency. From a game mechanics standpoint, there is no right or wrong. (If you’re coming from 3rd or 4th Edition D&D, I can’t stress this enough.) This rating is much more important from a verisimilitude standpoint than a mechanical one. While characters too have ratings (levels), there is only a casual correlation. It’s a handy guideline, but not a rule. You don’t just use rating 1 stuff if the PCs are level 1. You use rating 1 stuff if it’s appropriate to whatever’s going on in the story. Your beginning characters in Numenera will likely encounter stuff with a rating of 3 or 4 right out of the gate. And maybe more. It’s okay.
Once you’ve decided on the rating, you get a target number. Target numbers are basically the rating times 3. That’s its target number for everything. So in a fight, a PC fighting a level 4 opponent has to roll a 12 or higher to hit, a 12 or higher to dodge from the foe’s blows, and a 12 or higher to affect it with some weird effect from a device. Even if it has special stuff going on, it’s stilled keyed off that number. If it’s poisonous, the roll needed to resist its poison is 12. Etcetera etcetera. Its entire “stat block” is 12.
Sound easy?
Of course, to keep things interesting, there are other factors, but each is unique to a given NPC. Some NPCs might be rated as being really good with a particular attack, and thus gain a bonus to their base number. So a level 4 automaton that blasts foes with an extremely accurate energy blast might be a 12 on everything, but a 15 with its blaster.
NPCs and creatures, of course, can have all kinds of weird powers or weaknesses, and they might have armor or special weapons. But these exceptions are all layered on top of an extremely simple core with a single default score. So they never get very complex. The point of this kind of design is to keep things really, really simple unless they deserve to be more complex. If the town guard is gullible, your GM notes might say, “Level 3 guard (9), can be easily tricked (6).” You added a tiny bit of complication with that last clause, but you did it because it makes the encounter with him more interesting and to quantify the world you’re crafting. So the tiny complication is absolutely worth it. Adding notes and mechanical alterations because of the guard’s cooking skill and his predilection with metallurgy probably isn’t worth it.
And best of all, really straightforward creatures, like the dreaded stiletto beetle and its nasty stinger, can be represented entirely by one number with no exceptions, and it will still be an interesting, quick encounter.
This also tells you how characters interact with the rest of the world. If a locked door has a rating of 5, it will take a roll of 15 or higher to bash it down. Or pick it. Or phase through it. Or whatever. Like an NPC, these simple stats can be altered with specific exceptions. So the level 5 steel door might have a substandard lock that only requires a 9 to pick, for example.
It’s important to note that creature toughness or any other kind of difficulty in the game is a matter of the GM giving meaning to the fictional reality of the setting, not performing game mechanical mathematic surgery. There is no concept in Numenera of “a challenge of N level is appropriate to a party of N+X level characters” or anything of the sort. As I’ve written earlier, PCs don’t get XP based on defeating foes or bashing down doors. So there is no right or wrong.
That said, the Numenera corebook will be overflowing with examples of standard NPCs, objects (particularly cool numenera artifacts), challenges, creatures, and so forth. And the follow up books will present even more. These will work as references, but more importantly as a way to teach GMs to create their own–even on the fly.
The point here is to keep the game focused on the story and the cool ideas. If the GM doesn’t have to keep a lot of numbers and die rolls in his head, he can spend his time thinking about what might happen next, or what the implications of PC actions might be. And if the “stat blocks” aren’t bogged down with lots and lots of numbers–many of which might never come into play in the relatively short encounter–there is more room to discuss the cool ideas behind the NPC. In other words, if you encounter a woman who can walk through walls and remove single memories from your mind with her touch, that’s the cool and important stuff we want to focus on.
Numenera is a game about the characters and ideas that make great stories.
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That sounds great, and in some ways similar to the way I do NPCs for most games. really looking forward to this one Boss…
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oh monte, why does it have to be July, I want a time machine so I can play numenera now. Oh well, at least I get the playtest notes at my pledge level
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At a high enough pledge level he’ll make you a character with a time machine. Next best thing!
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Simply elegant! nuff said!
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This could be controversial. I love this kind of “story over mechanics” rules, but… This could be too simplistic for a big portion of the community, specialy the ones coming from 3rd and 4th edition, and pathfinder. I’m pretty sure this is one of the parts of Numenera that you want to check with the community the most. Am I wrong?
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I think that is actually a good thing to draw such a stark distinction. Even though I think they are good games, I don’t feel Pathfinder’s or D&D’s complexity targets me (any more). Diversity in RPGs is a good thing because it can cater to different demographics, needs, and playstyles.
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Totally agree. While I really enjoy my weekly Pathfinder game and the complexity of the ruleset there is another part of me that has been itching for a different sort of RPG experience to change things up at the table. So far Numenera is really scratching that itch.
I don’t really see any real controversy here just a different style of game.
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I’m all for lots of games and lots of gaming styles. I also enjoy Pathfinder and D&D (obviously).
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This blog entry in particular has just cemented my purchasing of the rpg when its released.
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You know… not too late to get all the pdfs for a very low cost on Kickstarter! Still a few days left!
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Definitely recommend that you invest in the Kickstarter. $70 gets you the printed core book and every single other product in PDF. Another $60 lets you upgrade to a Kickstarter-only leather bound version.
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Monte, a quick question about this from the PC standpoint – will there be such things as training in combat? You’ve mentioned you can train to reduce DCs (like in your xp expenditure post), and thus I was wondering if combat could be ‘trained’ down similarly, such as attacking more easily or dodging more easily?
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Yes.
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I’m really looking forward to this. I have not read a single thing about Numenera so far that I dislike or disagree with, and I can hardly wait for next summer. As a matter of fact, I already sold my Thursday group on it, and then we were all disappointed when I realized it wouldn’t be out until next summer. We’ll probably play some variant of Fate, like Diaspora or Dresden Files, until then.
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Why include the base number? Why not a guard 6 rather than a guard 2×3?
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I assume since the game has a level cap of 6 for characters (and probably NPC’s) the x 3 multiplier gets you more milage out of your 1 – 6 levels relative to the D20 dice you are rolling (difficulty 3 – 21)
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I also assume it’s because we’re already used to rating things on a 1 to 10…we do it almost every day. I assume too that as you apply training, circumstance modifiers and effort its easier to adjust the 1 to 10 number than trying to subtract 3 for each step the difficulty is reduced. That’s how I read it at any rate.
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Agreed totally Andrew, where 3-21 serves as an NPC base difficulty, but tasks, and adjusted NPC’s can have target numbers as high as 30 ( 10 rating x 3). I also agree with you the absolute genius of using the instinctive “on the scale of 1-10..” that we use every day to rate many things in our real lives. Gaming just got less painful in a very good and common sense way.
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Same comment as Geoff why have unnecessary math? Just have things rated from 3-30, or is having things increase in difficulty with an incfrement of 3 important somehow?
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I really like the system. My only question, thought – how would NPC vs. NPC be handled? I realize that nine out of ten times, the Gamemaster can simply decide who would win for the sake of story. But, what about outcomes that are important to the players, such as when one of them sics his pet/minion/robot/whatever on an enemy?
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