Welcome to the Ninth World

The people of the Ninth World believe that there have

been eight worlds before this one. From what is known,
some of them reached the height of civilization and
technology, each of them ended and only vague theories
exist to what happened. The Ninth World is about 300
years old at this point and society is a weird mix of
medieval society with science fiction like influences,
because of the remnants of the old world.

Most strange seeming things in the world are due to

highly advanced technology that cannot be fully
understood. This is a fact, however, some people might deem it magic, gifts (or curses) from gods or a mixture of all.
In some places, live is relatively easy within communities if the soil and climate are good, other parts, life is a lot
harsher. The world outside settlements or cities is dangerous, thus, only few people are willing to travel between
communities.

You are some of those few and choose to travel throughout the continent for money, adventure, discovery or your
very own reasons.

So, what’s the deal?

The land of Seshar is a dry desert crisscrossed with
artificial waterways created in days long past. The village
of Redstone lies upon one of these waterways, flourishing
due to its brisk trade in stone quarried nearby and its
extremely capable clave of three Aeon Priests1.

Redstone is a moderately sized village carved into the

side of one of the canals in a slope. A quarry at the top of
the slope gives the village its name, as it’s the source for
an interesting red stone that always seems to contain a
pattern of multiple straight lines with regular angles.

Recently, news has come out of Redstone that a

mysterious illness is haunting the town and the aeon
priests have send for help. You are accompanying Deymish. His boat is an 18-foot (5.5 m) wooden trow with a synth2
sail that—even fully loaded—glides along a river seemingly effortlessly.

Seshar is well-known to Deymish, with its strange, winding waterways. He knows

the risks, but makes his living on his boat anyway, frequently employing a few
strong arms and smart brains to help with would-be raiders as well as large
cargoes—or in some cases both. He pays each hired hand/guard 3 shins3 per day,
but they get paid when he gets paid for the shipment.

Happy Sailing and good Luck!

1
Aeon Priests are members of the Order of Truth, an organization based in the Steadfast that reveres the people of the past and
their knowledge on a quasi-religious level of adoration and faith.
2
Synth is plastic in all of its varieties (hard, soft, rigid, flexible, transparent, opaque, and so on) and a highly common material.
3
Shins are (a) currency. The ninth world doesn’t really know a formalized monetary system. Shins are can be small trinkets,
beats, shells and whatnot and are used for trading.
System Basics
Players always roll against a difficulty. The roll is difficulty x3.

Task Difficulty What it means Target Roll on a D20

0 Routine: Anyone can do this *
1 Simple: Anyone can do this most of the time 3+
2 Standard: Typical task requiring focus 6+
3 Demanding: Requires full attention 9+
4 Difficult: Experienced people succeed 50/50 12+
5 Challenging: Even trained people often fail 15+
6 Intimidating: Normal people almost never 18+
succeed
7 Formidable: Possible only with incredible skill 21+
8 Heroic: Worthy of tales told for years 24+
9 Immortal: Worthy of lifetime legends 27+
10 Impossible: Normal humans couldn’t consider 30+

Character skills, favorable circumstances, or excellent equipment can decrease the difficulty of a task. For example, if
a character is trained in climbing, they turn a difficulty 6 climb into a difficulty 5 climb. This is called “easing the task
by one step.” If they’re specialized in climbing, they turn a difficulty 6 climb into a difficulty 4 climb. This is called
“easing the task by two steps.”

A skill is a category of knowledge, ability, or activity relating to a task, such as climbing, geography, or
persuasiveness. A character who has a skill is better at completing related tasks than a character who lacks the skill.
A character’s level of skill is either trained (reasonably skilled) or specialized (very skilled). If you are trained in a skill
relating to a task, you ease that task by one step. If you are specialized, you ease it by two steps. A skill can never
decrease a task’s difficulty by more than two steps.

Anything else that eases a task (help from an ally, a particular piece of equipment, or some other advantage) is
referred to as an asset. Assets can never ease a task by more than two steps. You can also ease a given task by
applying Effort. This costs 3 points from the relevant stat Pool, minus any Edge. Using Effort eases a task by one step.

Some words on Character Creation

Each character has a simple statement that describes them, like: “I am a [adjective here] [noun here] who [verb
here].” For example, Naveed is a Heroic Glaive who Thunders and Lobin is a Clever Nano who Focuses Mind Over
Matter.

In this sentence, the adjective is called your descriptor. The noun is your character type. The verb is called your focus.
In some games, character type might be called your character class. It’s the noun of the sentence “I am an adjective
noun who verbs.” My suggestion is to stick with Glaive, Nano or Jack for now. Glaives are tanky or fighters, Nanos are
“wizards” or techie and Jacks are a mixed class.

Your descriptor places your character in the situation and helps provide motivation. It’s the adjective of the sentence
“I am an adjective noun who verbs.” Focus is what your character does best. It’s the verb of the sentence “I am an
adjective noun who verbs.” While it’s perfectly fine to have multiple characters of the same type, I will advice against
two characters having the same descriptor.

Numenera is a lot less crunchy than D&D. You can build a character just by browsing through your options and
picking them without really looking at the stats. Most likely, you will end up with a playable character. For a
overview, I recommend actually looking into this “character generator”: http://troyjonesiii.blogspot.com/p/blog-
page_10.html. Otherwise, the “Numenera Player’s Guide” would be the perfect source for you.