Man, this game's weird. I like it.
The Game: Noumenon
The Publisher: Abstract Nova
Degree of Familiarity: None, though the book is surprisingly accessible
Books Required: Just the one.
In Noumenon, you play weird insect-human hybrids called Sarcophagi, born into a strange dimension called the Silhouette Rouge, searching for experience and enlightenment. The game is designed as a kind of Rorschach test, in that the symbolism and "truth" of it isn't really explained. Noumenon is from the same company as Exquisite Replicas and Aletheia, both of which have elements of the weird, reality-is-not-quite-reality going.
In some ways, Noumenon reminds me of Nobilis, in that it leans into its strangeness and doesn't try to be much like a trad RPG, but it's much easier to understand (probably because it takes the time to tell the reader what's going on). I like it, might even run it, if I can scare up some dominoes.
Yeah, the task resolution is based on dominoes. Told ya: weird.
Character creation is really straightforward, though. Sarcophagi are all born as blank slates, so there's not really much personality conceptualization going on. Some things come standard: Compound eyes, four arms, two legs, and so on. First thing, though, I choose a Birthright, just some little bug feature that makes me different. I shall take Spinneret; I have a web-shooter on my arm.
Now I give myself a rating of 1 in all nine Traits, and I get 9 points to either boost Traits or buy more Birthrights. Hmm. Having a 1 in something isn't cataclysmic, because the idea is that a group of Sarcophagi (or a "colony") will be working together as much as possible. In other words, if I'm shit at something, someone else should be decent at it.
Well, are there any other Birthrights I would like? I kinda like the idea of having a kind of "weaver of reality's webs" thing going on, so I think I'll take Sensilla, which makes me more perceptive. Weaving reality is actually something you can do in this game and it keys off of the Metamorphosis trait, so I'll bump that to 4. Five points remaining; I'll put them evenly into Awareness, Wisdom, Personality, Communion, and Rapport (I'm no great shakes physically, but I can weave a web if need be!). Although, casting webs is a Violence action, so maybe I'll keep Personality at 1 and bump Violence to 2.
Last thing, I choose a Principle at Oracle level. Let's see. Ooh, I like Time; at Oracle of Time, I can see into the future or the past.
And that's actually it. Interestingly, the book doesn't say anything about names, and the colony communicates telepathically, so I don't know if names are a thing. I'll say that my bug is called "Weaver," for my purposes.
And that's about it. On to the quest given to my colony by the elephant-headed guy in a suit! (No, really.)
