Monte Cook's Blog, page 87

Is Monte Cook Games Reinventing RPGs—and Kickstarter?

As the Kickstarter campaign for Invisible Sun closes in on what looks to be a record-setting conclusion, it’s clear that in addition to introducing massive innovations in the design and play of tabletop roleplaying games, Monte Cook Games is also blazing new trails in the process of crowdfunding. The campaign, which as it enters its final week seems likely to dethrone MCG’s Numenera as the most highly funded original property tabletop RPG, has included numerous features that are literally rew...

What Has Been Revealed So Far

This is a quick summary of much of what has been revealed about Invisible Sun. We will update this article as we post updates with more information. In Invisible Sun, your character is a magic-using person called a vislae. Your character statement is: “I am a [FOUNDATION] [HEART] of the order of [ORDER] who [FORTE].” Foundationrepresents the character’s past, their relationships, their living situation, and their general circumstances. In Invisible Sun, none of these things are inconsequentia...

Cypher Chronicles, vol. 32-2016

Iadace, and welcome to Cypher Chronicles! Exciting News, Interviews, and Reviews The Invisible Sun Kickstarter campaign has turned dark…to the Nightside. The Nightside is a current of magic that flows through the suns in the opposite order of the traditional Path of Suns, starting with Gold and moving back up to Silver.Are you a daring vislae? One who is willing to experience and interact with darker, more dangerous forces? One who will cast the spell one of the Black Cubeduring the Nightside...

Invisible Sun Interviews Roundup

The MCG team has been doing a lot of interviews about the Invisible Sun RPG in the past couple of weeks. Just in case you missed some, here’s a listing of all the interviews that have been recorded and published so far: August 6: MCG Seminar at Gen Con August 16: Encounter Roleplay August 19: RPG Academy August 20: Misdirected Mark August 22: Tome Show August 24: Role Playing Public Radio August 29: Thoughty Blog August 30: Cypher Live August 30: CypherCaster Magazine September1:Gnome Stew Th...

A World Where Anything Is Possible

A world where anything is possible. For some, this is a curse. Undirected, the human mind can wander and loop, coming back on itself and going nowhere. For others, it is a dream; unfettered the imagination can soar and bring others to new, more interesting places. Roleplaying games are a framework upon which we hang our characters, concepts and ideas and let them fly for others to see. Structure is important—motivation, direction, conception. Without a clear structure, players get lost… How d...

Cypher Chronicles, vol. 31-2016

Numenera Character Options 2 Jacks, Nanos, and Glaives—and now Seekers and Glints, too! Numenera Character Options 2 introduces two new character types to the Ninth World, the first new types since the Numenera corebook. You also get more than two dozen new foci, 35 new descriptors, and loads of other cool stuff for building or advancing Numenera characters.Numenera Character Options 2comes out in late September, but you can grab a free preview, which includes several descriptors and foci you...

The Demogorgon of Modern Gaming Life

Like so many geeks, I am utterly in love with the Netflix show, Stranger Things. I don’t want to spoil anything, in case you haven’t watched it yet, so I’ll just say I adore it for its beautiful storytelling, complex characters, and wild imagination. For its homage to the ’80s, to music and culture, and to Dungeons & Dragons. But, there’s another reason that Stranger Things beckons to me – because it’s a reminder of what gaming was like before I became an adult. Hours spent in the basement (o...

Numenera Character Options 2

Build a Character as Wondrous as the Ninth World Itself! In the tradition of the originalNumenera Character Options, this book expands your choicesto build a truly creative character. New location-based and racial descriptors, exciting new foci, new organizations, and two new types—the first added to the game since the Numenera corebook—give you more fun, wonderful, and weird choices than ever before. Numenera Character Options 2includes: Two new character types. The Glint is a master of int...

Monte Cook Games’s Invisible Sun Campaign Explores Innovative New Ways to Crowdfund

The Kickstarter campaign for Monte Cook Games’s next big RPG, Invisible Sun, now in its second week, has smashed through its ambitious funding goal and is already racking up stretch goals. It looks likely to eclipse the record-setting campaign for Numenera, MCG’s flagship line—but that’s not what really makes this campaign newsworthy. Rather, it’s the way Monte Cook Games is breaking new ground in the crowdfunding process—once again! The Kickstarter Campaign as an Experience “Invisible Sun is...

Gaming Introverts

It was only a few years ago that I started thinking about introverts and extroverts. It was the book Quiet by Susan Cain that really got me thinking, and it crystallized a lot of realizations for me. I’m a huge introvert. I know that some of you reading this probably have a hard time believing that. You’ve seen me in Kickstarter videos, giving seminars and classes at conventions, running games (sometimes in front of crowds), or managing other large, very public events. What you don’t see, of...