I haven’t written much about tabletop gaming on this blog, but as my latest Numenera campaign wraps up after nearly three years and I prepare to start the next campaign with a new system (Invisible Sun) it seems like an ideal time to start writing about it. Don’t worry, I still plan to post plenty of will hobby crafting content on this blog, but this gives me something to write about even when life makes it hard to find time to build things.
The campaign that’s wrapping up has been fun, and has seen the characters rise from neophytes to the kind of massively overpowered adventurers that shape the world (in this case, liberating their home town). The setting and story has been (somewhat haphazardly) documented on in WorldAnvil, and there’s also an in-character journal that one my players has maintained for the whole campaign. I’ll probably do a lessons-learned write-up about it in the future, but for now lets talk about what comes next.
Numenera was powered by Monte Cooke’s Cypher System (it is in fact, the inspiration for that system). But whilst Invisible Sun does draw inspiration from the Cypher System, it’s a much more complex (one might even say baroque) system, with a bit more to understand. We’re still in the character generation phase for our new campaign, so we’re mostly dreaming up ideas and familiarizing yourself with the new ruleset.
The setting is going to be a bit challenging to bring to life appropriately, it’s a very surrealist concept where the everyday world is a mere shadow of the Actuality – a lively, magic filled and very narratively malleable world. I’ll need to figure out the best way to incorporate those elements whilst keeping the continuity and maintaining some kind of internal consistency (because I know my players, and I know that will matter to them.
It’s also designed to be a lot more player led and has some unique ideas that give the players ways to signal to the GM what kind of narratives they’re looking to play. One of the more unusual mechanics is that characters choose a story arc as part of character creation (with mechanics for adding more later). These are tied into how characters earn Acumen, which are just one of the types of experience points the system uses. I’m very interested to see how this pans out with my group of players. I don’t quite know what to expect but it should be interesting.
Because of the more player driven approach to the story, I’m not planning out any big story arcs out the gate. I’m planning to use their chosen arcs to get the story running and let the story develop on its own. Certainly, some of the more memorable parts of prior campaigns were things I never planned, and at this point in my GMing career I’m confident enough in my ability to wing it and adapt to what my players bring to the table.
It looks like I’m in for an interesting journey, and I’m looking forward to it. I’m sure I’ll post more on this as things go on.