GenCon approaches, and, as it does, our list of things we can’t wait to get our hands on grows. High on that list is the latest adventure for Numenera, titled Jade Colossus: Ruins of the Prior Worlds. Once again Bruce Cordell does the writing honors, bringing the odd, strange, and fun that we’ve come to expect from Numenera.
There are a few things that make this particular adventure different. First, this is a full-on Numenera mega-dungeon capable of being a tent-pole location for an entire campaign. We not only get information on the Jade Colossus, recently erupted from the earth, but also the community its arrival has disrupted, the “prosperous but isolated” city of Ballarad. Using Ballarad as a home-base for the players (as well as a potential source for additional adventures), the entire campaign can focus on exploring the Jade Colossus and its numerous mysteries. Conversely, Ballarad and the Colossus could be locations included in a wider campaign.
As you’d expect, there are new monsters and strange tech treasures included in this adventure, but there are also additional goodies that raise the value of this book. These include brand new foci for player characters and organizations for them to join or oppose. Most intriguing is the Numenera Ruin Mapping Engine, “a robust system for generating maps and content for prior-world sites.” Details are still sketchy on just what, exactly, this is, but we’re expecting a series of random generators for creating ruin maps and populating them with monsters and treasures, all with a strong focus on the bizarre and mysterious we’ve come to associate with Numenera. This could be an invaluable tool for you if your players love to zig when you expect them to zag.
Jade Colossus: Ruins of the Prior Worlds is a 144 page full-color hard-back book. While it is not available today, you can pre-order the book at your Dragon’s Lair Comics and Fantasy®. Monte Cook Games is expecting to release the book just next month, so you won’t be waiting long.
