The Ninth World Turns - A Numenera PBP (Inactive)

Game Master ATXRedBeard

The city of Aian, a place of great promise and of great fragility, lies at the southern border of the lands known as The Steadfast, a region loosely allied under nine flags. The Nine Rival Kings have a wary peace; they are held together by a deep fear of the unknown and by imposing geographical boundaries. The Nine are comfortable enemies. Historically balanced in power & position, they keep one another busy by fighting petty & timeless squabbles. It is from in and around these lands that you all emerge, each dislodged from the comforts of home by forces that at once unite us and leave us alien. Forces that enable us to tell our stories, and that urge us to weave the tapestry of our life with the fabric we might find already around us.

You all enter Aian from different roads. But forces in the city conspire to drive you together. Large machinations are at work, seeking to disrupt the balance of power that has long kept the lands of the Nine distinct. The rulers are not content with the petty squabbles of their fathers, each is grasping for power and resources to upset the status-quo. Resist or submit, change is coming to The Steadfast, will you sit passively on the sidelines of history, or will you rise up to claim your place?

Party Image - Thanks to Basai for the Drawing

Aian Traveller’s Journal:

Entry 7
“I arrived in Aian yesterday evening and managed to find a room in a traveller’s inn. It is hard to believe, but the rumors appear to be true. This city, if you can call it that, is total chaos! There are no walls or gates, no guards posted, no tariffs or customs agents. Anyone could march anything through these streets without ruffling a feather or raising any suspicion! I depart now to try to get a greater sense of the city. It is difficult to have any idea of it’s size or structure from within these streets.”
Entry 8
“This city is anarchy on earth. Is there no government here? As I wandered the streets I found little to orient the mind. On every corner is a hawker, along every street are shops and stores aplenty. Signs and advertisements are hung at all angles, some shrieking in foreign languages, others scrolling messages day and night. I happened to be in the street trying to make sense of what was around me when I nearly got run over by a caravan. What must’ve been a dozen hulking beasts that took up the width of the alley and were covered from top to bottom with containers and bundles came lumbering through the street, barely seeming to disrupt the hawkers and rabble. I followed them for the better part of an hour before they made their way into a guarded courtyard. As I watched the caravan disappear around the corner, a rough approached me and told me off. I have attempted to make a crude map of the city, I plan to return here to try to get a better sense of what these men are guarding. Who could these beasts belong to?”
Entry 9
“It took me hours to find my way back to the inn last night! These streets defy all logic, one could almost believe that they change configuration constantly. While I wandered the streets looking for a familiar sight, I happened upon a large open-air market. I didn’t realize how claustrophobic these streets make you feel until I got the chance to catch my breath and have some space to myself. A man was boiling water on some sort of fire-box, so I paid to join him for some refreshment. I had begun to wonder if we could possibly be of the same species, these Aian’s and us, but at least these people drink the same barley tea that we do! They can’t be all bad. I asked the old man for directions and he laughed at me! He told me to “trust in my feet to get me where I needed to go,” whatever that means.”
Entry 16
“I decided to relocate to an inn closer to that guarded courtyard, and I found work at a noodle shop along the street. Caravans are a pretty regular site along this road, coming and going once every few days at the least, multiple times a day sometimes. After a few days of this, I asked the boss who those caravans belonged to and he told me not to ask those sorts of questions in this town. He said ”These streets don’t belong to nobody and it ain’t nobody's business who’s usin’ them neither.” These Aian’s are queer folk indeed, but one can’t help but feel free to be oneself in this city. I am making enough in this shop to afford my small room and board, and a bit more for myself.”

Game Rules:

Game format
Players and DM post on the Discussion tab leaving the Gameplay tab for the turn recaps where all the information is put in a chapter-like post with additional information such as OOC information, maps, pictures, health status, etc.

Player Profile:
Race & Class should be formatted as follows:
Race should have your pools. Ex: "M-10/10 S-14/14 I-16/16"
Class should be Descriptor-Class-Focus. Ex: "Tough Jack who Needs no Weapons"

Game and turns
The game will be run this way: I will post a turn on the Gameplay thread and you will all respond to it on the Discussion thread. I expect you all to write at least one to two paragraphs per turn. I will then post a turn recap on the Gameplay thread with all your responses incorporated and will describe the results, add something to it setting up a new situation where your input is needed, and then wait for your responses again on the Discussion thread. I will try to this 4-5 times a week. These are for turn recaps but I check the boards at least once a day (more like several times) and questions or small comments may be issued throughout the day.

This turn recap will also have OOC information such as health status, ongoing effects, maps, and general information to help you in your responses.

You will have 24 hours to respond once the turn recap has been posted.

Turn replies
I expect the vast part of your responses in character; if it is not then please add OOC in front of any comment, question, etc. (or you may use the ‘comment’ format .)

I want you to write about ‘intended actions and intended results’. For example, you may want to say, I shoot him with my crossbow, roll the appropriate dice, and describe how your enemy is hit (if the dice went your way). But none of this has happened yet unless you see it come out on a turn recap because there may be unforeseen circumstances not known to the player. I encourage you to describe as best you can your actions.

There are two types of turns: regular and combat. It is strongly encouraged to involve other PCs and NPCs in your responses to regular turns (sometimes even combat turns) by ‘tagging’ them (asking them questions, requesting them to do something, etc.); this gets the ‘roleplaying juices’ flowing and makes for a much better game.

General play
I expect you all to be mature and play in character as much as possible. For example, if I describe an NPC that is part of an organization and your character has no way of knowing that, then I do not want you, the player, to fill in for the character and use that knowledge. We, as players, know a lot of things that our characters do not, so please keep that in mind. For example, when I describe an action that a character does alone without being seen by the other characters, we will all know about it and enjoy it (hopefully) but I don't want your characters to take any actions based on that knowledge.

I want to adapt to what you all like, so things may change. I strongly encourage you to ask questions, send comments, and suggestions. I need to know what you like and what you don't like so we may adjust accordingly.

Cypher Rules:

Identifying Cyphers:
For cyphers lvl 1-5 - Identification is a lvl 2 Intellect Action
For lvl 6-8 - diff 3 action
For lvl 9+ - diff 4 action
If one person identifies the cypher, the whole group can use it.
Cypher Size:
Anoetic vs Occultic - Anoetic take up 1 Cypher slot, Occultic take up 2 (Corebook p.279)
Looting Cyphers - in your action post tell me what you do. If you trade out or take a new cypher etc. If multiple people want the same one I will roll to determine who gets it.
Maximum # of Cyphers:
Home-Brew rule: You can exceed your cypher cap by up to 2 cyphers. But, instead of only getting free GM intervention on rolls of 1, I would get free intervention on rolls of 1 + (amount exceed cap.)
Example: if you are a nano with cap of 3 and carried 5 cyphers (exceed by 2), anytime you rolled a 1,2,or 3 I would get a free DM Intervention.
Example: if you were a Jack with 3 cyphers(exceed by 1), I would get DM Intervention anytime you rolled a 1 or a 2.