{"id":313,"date":"2014-08-04T23:24:26","date_gmt":"2014-08-05T03:24:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/talkingnerdy.org\/?p=313"},"modified":"2014-08-04T23:41:12","modified_gmt":"2014-08-05T03:41:12","slug":"rpg-monte-cook-games-is-a-bit-stranger","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/talkingnerdy.org\/?p=313","title":{"rendered":"RPG &#8211; Monte Cook Games is a bit Stranger!"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Who is <a title=\"Monte Cook\" href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Monte_Cook\" target=\"_blank\">Monte Cook<\/a> you ask? Really&#8230; Well if you\u00a0do not know who I am speaking about you need to come out of the cave you have been hiding\u00a0in and look him up. He has worked for several RPG companies the\u00a0most notables are TSR, Wizards of the Coast, and Paizo.<\/p>\n<p>I had the privilege meeting Mr. Cook and I am sure he remembers me from\u00a0Gen Con (Right Mr. Cook? ::Chuckles::) I mean you only met thousands of fanbois during that 4 days!<\/p>\n<p>Most will know him for his contributions to\u00a03rd Edition Dungeon &amp; Dragons&#8230; well until recently that is. In September 2012 Monte Cook Games turned to Kickstarter to crowd-fund\u00a0a new RPG that was\u00a0<span style=\"color: #252525;\">set a billion years in the future in a science fantasy post-apocalyptic setting called <a title=\"Numenera\" href=\"http:\/\/http:\/\/www.numenera.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">Numenera<\/a>. The rules (Cypher System) were streamlined to\u00a0focus on\u00a0the story and\u00a0action of the players characters. The Kickstarter raised over $500k which was over 25 times the funding amount needed and with that extra funding was able to add supplemental books and accessory for the setting. The list can be found on the <a title=\"Numenera Kickstarter\" href=\"https:\/\/www.kickstarter.com\/projects\/1433901524\/numenera-a-new-roleplaying-game-from-monte-cook?ref=nav_search\">kickstarter page<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_322\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-322\" style=\"width: 230px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"http:\/\/talkingnerdy.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/numenera.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-322\" src=\"http:\/\/talkingnerdy.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/numenera-230x300.jpg\" alt=\"Numenera RPG\" width=\"230\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"http:\/\/talkingnerdy.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/numenera-230x300.jpg 230w, http:\/\/talkingnerdy.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/numenera-788x1024.jpg 788w, http:\/\/talkingnerdy.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/numenera-177x230.jpg 177w, http:\/\/talkingnerdy.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/numenera.jpg 900w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 230px) 100vw, 230px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-322\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Numenera RPG<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><a title=\"Bruce Cordell\" href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Bruce_Cordell\" target=\"_blank\">Bruce Cordell<\/a> (You know who he is right, please tell me you do!) came up with a concept for another setting that used the base mechanics of Numenera<span style=\"color: #252525;\">\u00a0(Cypher System)<\/span>. Just over a year later in\u00a0October of 2013 MCG\u00a0launched their 2nd kickstarter called <em><a title=\"The Stange\" href=\"http:\/\/www.thestrangerpg.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">The Stange<\/a>\u00a0<\/em>looking to raise $60k. In November 2013 they successfully funded The Strange pulling in over $400k which allowed them to add supplemental and accessory for the setting. The list can be found on the <a title=\"The Strange Kickstarter\" href=\"https:\/\/www.kickstarter.com\/projects\/1433901524\/the-strange-a-tabletop-rpg-by-bruce-cordell-and-mo?ref=nav_search\">kickstarter page<\/a>.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_323\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-323\" style=\"width: 231px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"http:\/\/talkingnerdy.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/TheStrange.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-323\" src=\"http:\/\/talkingnerdy.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/TheStrange-231x300.jpg\" alt=\"The Strange RPG\" width=\"231\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"http:\/\/talkingnerdy.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/TheStrange-231x300.jpg 231w, http:\/\/talkingnerdy.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/TheStrange-788x1024.jpg 788w, http:\/\/talkingnerdy.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/TheStrange-177x230.jpg 177w, http:\/\/talkingnerdy.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/TheStrange.jpg 1256w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 231px) 100vw, 231px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-323\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Strange RPG<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>What caught my attention The Strange kickstarter was one\u00a0paragraph.<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><em>&#8220;The Strange\u00a0<span style=\"color: #121a0d;\">is a game that crosses multiple worlds, called recursions, which player characters can explore and defend. In\u00a0<\/span>The Strange<span style=\"color: #121a0d;\">, your characters change with each world they travel to, taking on new aspects suited to help them function in that recursion&#8217;s unique laws and structures. But dangers found in these recursions threaten not only characters, but also our very own Earth.\u00a0If characters persevere, however, they can not only save themselves and Earth, they may even gain the ability to create a recursion of their own!&#8221;<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n<p>I love the idea that characters change depending on the recursion they are in. How can you ever get bored of a character that changes to fit into the world they enter? Two of the recursions that have been revealed are Ardeyn and Ruk and these are just the tip of the iceberg. I was however very intrigued with one recursion that I saw on a <a title=\"Recursion Map\" href=\"http:\/\/www.montecookgames.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/6-Map1-Shoals-of-Earth-HugoSolis-2014-05-19.jpg\" target=\"_blank\">map<\/a> posted by MCG and the name is Oz. Yes that is right recursions can be brought into existence\u00a0by\u00a0the fact millions of people are aware of a fictional\u00a0place and it&#8217;s occupants.\u00a0This is explained in detail in the core book but one line says it all.<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><em>&#8220;Many recursions were seeded into the\u00a0network by the creative resonance of pure\u00a0imagination (so-called \u201cfictional leakage\u201d),\u00a0and over time these recursions have\u00a0matured into places that are quite real.&#8221;<\/em><\/p>\n<p>This opens up so many worlds that you and your friends can explore, the list is practically endless. You can bet I will be creating a recursion of Middle-Earth, the Walking Dead, and who knows I might even create a Harry Potter \/ Zombie mash-up!<\/p>\n<p>If you think this sounds cool and intresting\u00a0just head on over to <a title=\"The Strange\" href=\"http:\/\/www.montecookgames.com\/welcome-to-the-strange\/\" target=\"_blank\">www.montecookgames.com<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0read more about it on their blog or better yet get the free preview <a title=\"The Strange Preview\" href=\"http:\/\/www.montecookgames.com\/product\/the-strange-corebook-pre-order\/\" target=\"_blank\">here<\/a>!<\/p>\n<p>Stay tuned Nerds next up &#8220;Creating a Character&#8221; in\u00a0the Strange!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Who is Monte Cook you ask? Really&#8230; Well if you\u00a0do not know who I am speaking about you need to come out of the cave you have been hiding\u00a0in and look him up. He has worked for several RPG companies the\u00a0most notables are TSR, Wizards of the Coast, and Paizo. I had the privilege meeting [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[5,4,14,10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-313","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-games","category-review","category-rpg","category-tabletop"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/talkingnerdy.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/313","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/talkingnerdy.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/talkingnerdy.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/talkingnerdy.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/talkingnerdy.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=313"}],"version-history":[{"count":18,"href":"http:\/\/talkingnerdy.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/313\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":333,"href":"http:\/\/talkingnerdy.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/313\/revisions\/333"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/talkingnerdy.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=313"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/talkingnerdy.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=313"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/talkingnerdy.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=313"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}