Just thought I’d give you a brief peek at what character creation in Numenera looks like, at least at this stage (which I’m calling the alpha test stage).

Creating characters in Numenera is meant to be quick and easy (with options and customizable detail for those who like to tinker). It’s built, in fact, like constructing a sentence that describes your character. In prior articles, I have mentioned that each character has a type, a descriptor, and a focus. The sentence looks like this:

I am a [descriptor] [type] who [focus].

In other words, descriptor is an adjective, type is a noun, and focus is a verb. So you might say, “I am a tough glaive who controls beasts.” Or perhaps “I am a clever nano who consorts with the dead.” Or even, “I am a graceful jack who explores dark places.” This means that foci always have interestingly constructed names like, “Commands Mental Powers,” or “Wields Gravity Itself.” It’s odd at first, but once you’re used to it, it’s fun.

Even though type is in the middle of our sentence, you start there. Because the noun is the anchor of the sentence, right? As I’ve stated earlier, there are only three types: glaives, nanos, and jacks. Your type gives a basis for what your stats will be, and what you’re initially trained in and good at. Your type also helps determine your background and starting equipment.

Descriptors are pretty straightforward. There will be a dozen or so, and they just tell you something about your character’s talents, personality, or particular way of doing things. They might be something straightforward like “strong” or something a bit more nuanced like “sneaky.” These provide a few skills and things of that nature, and perhaps modify your stats and starting equipm. Descriptors also help define how you got involved with the other PCs and got to the point where you start your first adventure.

Foci are numerous, and really define your character, making it something really special. Some of these are like professions or areas training, making it clear that your character is a leader, a weapons master, or a rugged wilderness wandering. Others, however, are almost like superpowers, like wielding fire or creating illusions. Foci are some of the best expressions of the numenera in the game, and might arise from the use of nanotechnology, genetic experimentation, mutations, or any of a number of other sources. Foci grant your character new, specific, and unique abilities. They also present you with a way to have a special link with one or more of the other PCs in your game.

Those are the “three choices” of character creation. Once you’ve got an idea of what they are, it’s pretty fast. I’ve watched someone create a Numenera character in about 5 minutes. The three choices basically determine everything about your character–although as I said, those that like to tinker will have a lot of customizing options if you’re into that. In future articles, I’ll give you an overview of stats and how they work (it’s likely pretty different than what you’re used to), skills and abilities, and more.

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2. 

   Matt · August 13, 2012 at 8:46 am · Reply

   Hey Monte. I am a veteran gamer and contributor to your Kickstarter campaign. I love the fact that you’re integrating narrative elements into your design. The basic character creation system sounds great. You stated previously that you’ve designed this system to enable busy GMs to facilitate gaming sessions with minimum hassle. In addition to simple character creation and on-the-fly NPC generation, have you thought about including a robust, on-the-fly adventure generator?

   Thanks,
   Matthew
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   Xaelvaen · August 13, 2012 at 10:07 am · Reply

   I’ll admit it, I’m a tinkerer, but I find myself really wishing I had this system a decade or so ago when I was really into showing new players the game. This approach is amazing, however. I read your article speaking on this topic back on your livejournal page, and I’m really glad to see you putting it to good use. Really eager to see your statistics/attributes, however – thats always my favorite part of a system. They just have that fundamental building block feel, typically, but with your character design process, I’m curious how they are going to ‘weigh in.’
4. 

   Steven A. Torres-Roman · August 13, 2012 at 5:50 pm · Reply

   Very nice! I look forward to hearing more about the game. I like the genre, the simplicity of what we’ve seen so far, and the sketch of the world.

   We met briefly at the U of W when you gave your talk about Gods & Gaming. (My cowriter, Cason Snow, and I are writing that book on teen programming using RPGs for librarians.) I would like to talk to you, if I may, about including your game in our book. The final copy won’t be out before we have to submit our guidelines, but perhaps we could get enough info from playtest documents, etc.?

   In any event, good luck!
5. 

   Dan Martland · August 14, 2012 at 5:44 am · Reply

   Whilst the system sounds evocative, my question would be on how flexible the elements are and how easy it is to ‘roll your own’. They sound kind of broad-brush so far. I can be a wilderness guy *or* have wacky powers? What if I want to be a wilderness guy *with* wacky powers?

   I have a fundamental dislike of class / level systems personally, and would rather see some kind of guided points spend mechanism.

   So how flexible will character creation be?

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7. 

   McDougle · February 22, 2013 at 3:20 am · Reply

   Very interesting… I´m usually playing Shadowrun 4 and take several days to create a new character(reading rules, combing through cyberware, equipment etc.).

   My first thought was: Wow! 3 Classes? That´s narrow… but Numenera is only starting off and has giant potential for growths… with the customization you mentioned, I bet we will be able to build quite a lot of differentiated characters.