...and oddly enough, neither of them has anything to do with the system — I'm holding out on judging it until I give it a whirl at the table.

First. The setting. I was promised Book of the New Sun and instead what I got was Hawkmoon. Which is to say, the weirdness is not as upfront as I expected. New Sun had people dueling with plants, fair maidens in suspended animation in a pond, and entire mountain ranges sculpted in the image of immortal tyrants. Hawkmoon's got knights in plate armor and feathered helmet and emblazned shield, and an off-the-cuff "oh yeah, guy's riding a giant pink flamingo and carrying a 'flame lance'".

Second, which goes hand-in-hand with the above. The gap between text and artwork. Every character illo looks like a Kirby New God or a cyberpunk Jedi. Instead, most characters would feel right at home in the Forgotten Realms.

But what's really sad is that you could say the same about the setting's polities, and there you have peeve the third. I know Monte can write interesting settings — big fan of Arcana Unearthed/Evolved's Lands of the Diamond Throne here, and I'm told Ptolus, too, is a great setting — but Numenera's feel, I dunno, phoned in? This is the rich mercantile kingdom, this is seagoing kingdom, over there you have the decadent empire... I could work with a little more identity, something less Planet of Hats would be nice.

Does this make sny sense to anyone else?

Yeah I too was expecting something more gonzo or just out there but I got a D&D-ish game instead.

The system and setting was created by the guy who headed the team that made D&D 3e, this surprised you?

I agree the setting info comes across as a bit bland, but I did not get any D&D feel from it like so many others seem to get.

I have heard that the setting gets more fleshed out and more gonzo in the supplement Ninth World Guidebook. I have only skimmed the supplement myself but it looks awesome.

Well, it's Monte Cook. Mr Midwest Vanilla.

Quote from: Christopher Brady;856950The system and setting was created by the guy who headed the team that made D&D 3e, this surprised you?

IIRC, Jonathan Tweet was the 3E lead designer. Monte was one of the three lead designers (along with Skip) but not THE head.

Quote from: fellowhoodlum;856949Yeah I too was expecting something more gonzo or just out there but I got a D&D-ish game instead.

"Gonzo" is one of these words that sees a bit too much use and sometimes gets equated with inconsistency or silliness, so I tend to avoid it. What I want of a far-future science-fantasy RPG is alienness, the feeling that one is "not in Kansas anymore" that writers like Clark Ashton Smith, Jack Vance and Gene Wolfe evoke in me, and I hope to evoke in my players.

Quote from: Christopher Brady;856950The system and setting was created by the guy who headed the team that made D&D 3e, this surprised you?

Like I said, I've read great setting material by Monte in the past.

Quote from: nitril;856954I agree the setting info comes across as a bit bland, but I did not get any D&D feel from it like so many others seem to get.

I definitely got a "palette-swapped new school D&D" feel. But I don't think this is a bad thing.

Quote from: nitril;856954I have heard that the setting gets more fleshed out and more gonzo in the supplement Ninth World Guidebook. I have only skimmed the supplement myself but it looks awesome.

That's good to hear! The strong dollar is dissuading from even impulse PDF purchases, but I'll look into it. When you skimmed it, what (if anything) caught your eye?

Quote from: The_Shadow;856959Well, it's Monte Cook. Mr Midwest Vanilla.

Chicago is pretty cool, and vanilla doesn't have to be bland.

Bah, my primary sources of adventure and setting inspiration were always going to be doing Google image searches for Moebius, Heavy Metal Magazine and Jodorowski.

I rarely ever use a game's pre-defined setting anyway. Forgotten Realms? What's that?

Quote from: The Butcher;856963That's good to hear! The strong dollar is dissuading from even impulse PDF purchases, but I'll look into it. When you skimmed it, what (if anything) caught your eye?

Sadly I have only looked at the pictures and skimmed some of the text I haven't had the time to actually read the document through yet. Ironically I can't recall anything in particular that stood out at the moment (but to be fair it has been some time since I looked through the document).

There are some reviews out there though that might give you more information.

https://rpgrunkleplaysgames.wordpress.com/2015/02/06/numenera-ninth-world-guidebook/
http://www.amazon.com/Numenera-Ninth-World-Guidebook/dp/1939979242

Quote from: The_Shadow;856959Well, it's Monte Cook. Mr Midwest Vanilla.

Hey, he did The Book of Vile Darkness. That's some serious out-there shit, man. It's got a warning sticker and everything.

Quote from: Necrozius;856965Bah, my primary sources of adventure and setting inspiration were always going to be doing Google image searches for Moebius, Heavy Metal Magazine and Jodorowski.

I rarely ever use a game's pre-defined setting anyway. Forgotten Realms? What's that?

I'm cool with throwing out the setting and digging into my 1970s issues of Heavy Metal for inspiration, but nothing I've heard about the rules says that this is a system that does anything special in that regard.