Monte Cook

I really like the concept behind Numenera (the world in which the story is set) which is basically a riff on the Arthur C. Clarke maxim that "any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic." Set billions of years in the future, the technological artefacts left behind by 9 extinct civilisations are completely inscrutable to humans but capable of great power.

This short story is a teaser for Numenera, the table-top game world created by Monte Cook. The story is just too short to really deliver. Can't wait to get my hands on the game, though!… (more)

There's something really satisfying to me about a campaign setting that explains why people might be so cavalier about their lives in a world with a reasonably high standard of living (as most D&D settings are). It is also nice to give players the option to keep playing after death rather than rolling a new character, and to be resurrected without that becoming a major adventure all on its own. The feel of a city where ghosts and living people cohabitate openly is really fresh, especially since it avoids the baggage of necromancers and necrocracy.

I have just begun DM'ing a campaign in D&D Fifth Edition, using this sourcebook for the setting. Even after so many changes and intervening editions, about 80% of the material in the book is still applicable and works very well. I ran the level one adventure about a malfunctioning magic lantern almost verbatim, and my players really enjoyed it.

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