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Numenera: The Amber Archive

Created by Monte Cook Games

The wondrous and inspiring science-fantasy RPG Numenera returns in a new edition filled with new art, creatures, lore, numenera items, and adventures. Step into the amazing Ninth World—a critically acclaimed, fan-loved RPG setting like none other!

Latest Updates from Our Project:

Solo Play Unlocked!
23 days ago – Sat, Feb 28, 2026 at 11:25:58 AM


Iadace, backers—

You’ve done it again, and another stretch goal is behind us. We are now making Iadace, You Beast—a new, standalone solo game for Numenera. It’s available as an add-on and, better yet, added to the rewards of every backer at the ALL-IN (print and PDF) and (in PDF) ALL-IN (PDF only) pledge levels.


What’s that, you say? You aren’t backing at one of those levels? Consider upgrading—it was a great deal to start with, and since the campaign launched we’ve added these items:

  • Tales from the Amber Archive (an entire book full of standalone, low-prep adventures)
  • The new Cypher Deck (featuring 100 cyphers in addition to those in the Amber Archive Deck)
  • Iadace, You Beast (the solo-play game you just unlocked)
  • And an upgrade to the Ninth World Explorer’s Pack, an ALL-IN (print and PDF) exclusive

We’re only about halfway through this campaign. How many additional rewards will we add before it’s over?

Every time we unlock a stretch goal, we throw in a little bonus reward for every backer, no matter their pledge level—a vinyl sticker. We asked you to vote for the next design, and (by a pretty narrow margin) here’s what you chose. Check out that laptop for the full selection of stickers you’ve unlocked so far!


Stretch Goal: Cypher Dust Jacket

Like a strange bit of the numemera pried from the wall of an ancient, sprawling prior-world vault, this one might seem a bit odd—but once you start to use it we think you’ll really love it!

As you adventure in the Ninth World, you’ll get a lot of use out of both the new Numenera book and the Cypher Character Rulebook. The latter is a beautiful book with a striking cover image, but what if it was a bit more Ninth-World themed?

Let’s Numenera it up, with a beautiful deluxe dust jacket!


This premium-quality, double-sided dust jacket slips neatly onto your Cypher Character Rulebook, giving it an elegant Numenera vibe. It will be available as an inexpensive add-on, and added to the rewards of all backers at the ALL-IN (print and PDF) pledge level. We’ll unlock it when we reach 2925 backers.

And, of Course, a Sticker!

As with every stretch goal, we’ll also include a free bonus for every backer. Which of these should be our next sticker design?


Vote in the poll below and help us choose!

And Keep Spreading the Word!

This campaign is really soaring, and that’s 100% down to you! Crowdfunding campaigns only take off like this when their backers keep the buzz going. We still have over two weeks to go, and loads of exciting stretch goal ideas we’d love to unlock!

Here are a couple of sharable graphics; right-click to download them and share them on social media. You can also compose your own post, of course, or find inspiration and images from ours—you can find all our social media accounts here.


The more we all share, the more backers we reach—and the more stretch goals we unlock!

Thanks for your support!
—Team MCG

Numenera AMA with designer Sean K. Reynolds this afternoon!
26 days ago – Thu, Feb 26, 2026 at 10:05:46 AM

Greetings, backers, and happy almost-Friday!

This campaign is moving at a truly incredible pace, and we’re excited to keep unlocking stretch goals, expanding existing books, and adding all-new content. In the whirlwind of all this excitement, however, you might have an unanswered question or two about Numenera: The Amber Archive.

Join MCG’s own Sean K. Reynolds on Reddit (r/numenera) this afternoon, starting at 2 pm CST, to ask your burning Ninth World questions! 

If you have questions and queries about Numenera, the new edition of Cypher, or anything else, don’t miss this AMA! You can head to Reddit now to drop your questions, or hang out in real-time from 2 pm CST to see his answers come to life or ask for follow-up information!

If you have questions about campaign fulfillment, timeline, shipping, etc, please check our FAQ (though Liv and Kate will also be available to answer technical questions on Reddit).

Psstt… we’re less than 40 backers away from unlocking Iadace, You Beast, a whole new type of play for Numenera. Help spread the word about this campaign and AMA to smash through that goal!


See you on Reddit!

—Team MCG

Beasts Expanded—Now Let’s Talk Solo Play!
27 days ago – Tue, Feb 24, 2026 at 01:18:42 PM


Iadace, backers—

Once again you have amazed us with your support, and another stretch goal has been met! We’re expanding Beasts of the Amber Archive with yet more all-new Ninth World creepies, crawlies, and, erm, fly-ies?


You also took us over what is, for us, a very meaningful milestone: when we passed $517,255, we surpassed the funding total for the original Numenera crowdfunding campaign. That was a record-smasher at the time, and more importantly led to the founding of Monte Cook Games. All of us here at MCG thank you for your support, then and now!

(If you haven’t read it already, you can learn more about our small but mighty team on the crowdfunding page.)


To celebrate this milestone, we went a bit extra on the bonus sticker, with a sticker sheet featuring multiple creatures. The voting was really close, but, as mentioned in our last update, you chose this sheet:


You Brought Us To This Point—Please Keep It Up!

Can you believe we aren’t even halfway through this campaign? How much more can we unlock? That’s up to you!

Please keep spreading the word. It’s been backers like you who have driven this campaign to so much success, and unlocked so many stretch goals. Only backer-driven word of mouth allows campaigns like this to soar!

You can find sharable posts, great topics to discuss, and graphics to grab at MCG’s social media accounts.


Stretch Goal: Iadace You Beast Solo Game!

You’ve uncovered a powerful artifact—a mechanical companion—that lets you travel the Ninth World (even if it is a bit, well… erratic). Gather necessary bits of numenera to keep yourself and your companion alive, all while exploring new places, fighting fierce creatures, and dealing with dangerous (or helpful) NPCs. And do it all by yourself. Iadace, You Beast is a solo RPG for Numenera—the first of its kind!


This game is stand-alone and comes with everything you need (except dice), but can also be used with existing Cypher and Numenera supplements, including the Calaval's Eyes! Deck, for a broader experience. It includes easy Cypher-based rules for solo play, character sheets, locations, creatures, numenera, a unique set of Calaval’s Eyes! cards, and more.

Explore solo play with your current Numenera character or create a new character to traverse the Ninth World. You can even invite players from your existing game to join you for a session or two!

Iadace, You Beast! will be available as an add-on, and added to the rewards of backers at the ALL-IN (print and PDF) and ALL-IN (PDF only) pledge levels. We’ll unlock this awesome solo game when we reach 2825 backers!

Let’s Have Another Sticker, Too!

Every time we unlock a stretch goal, we also throw in a free bonus reward for every backer, no matter your pledge level. Let’s vote for the next sticker:


Vote in the poll below!

And please keep sharing this campaign, so we can unlock this goal and many more to come!

Thanks for your support!
—Team MCG

Smashing a Ninth World Record!
28 days ago – Mon, Feb 23, 2026 at 12:51:46 PM

Greetings, backers—

Thanks to your fantastic support, this morning we passed a truly incredible threshold: $517,255. What makes this number particularly special (besides being over the gobsmacking half-a-million mark) is that it represents the funding total for the original 2012 Numenera crowdfunding campaign!

That campaign set records as the first TTRPG crowdfunding campaign to surpass $100,000—and by 5 times that amount, no less! It launched Numenera and founded Monte Cook Games, and we’ve never forgotten the thousands of backers who made it happen—and brought MCG into existence.

Over a decade later, the Ninth World is still very much at the core of Monte Cook Games. It’s a setting that's uniquely near and dear to us, and we’re so excited to share this new phase of the Ninth World with you all!

So to celebrate this special milestone, our bonus sticker for our next stretch goal is extra bonusy! Instead of a single sticker, we’re adding a small, creature-themed sticker sheet, drawing on fan-favorite Ninth World creatures from the past decade. 

We asked you to vote on the sticker sheet you’d like to see come to life, and the poll was a nail-biter! With over 350 votes, the final score was 48% to 52%—the closest poll we’ve seen in this crowdfunding campaign so far.

And the winner is… 

Brendril and softer friends!

We’re about 40 backers away from unlocking an expansion to the Beasts of the Amber Archives bestiary and giving every backer this sticker sheet! Keep up the good work share news about this campaign, and we’re sure to smash through this goal in no time! 

After that, who knows? Over the years, many devoted Ninth World GMs and players have requested hundreds of interesting products, expansions, guides, and gameplay additions. How about we unlock a whole new type of play?


—Team MCG

Numenera Upgrade! Let’s Talk Beasts!
about 1 month ago – Thu, Feb 19, 2026 at 01:34:24 PM


Iadace, backers—

The middle weeks of a campaign are always a bit less exciting than the opening—but that hasn’t slowed you down much! Thanks to the great job you’ve been doing spreading the word, we’ve unlocked yet another stretch goal, just two days after the last one. Your Numenera book is getting a premium upgrade, with a lustrous foil cover that won’t be available to non-backers!


You also chose this sticker design, which we’re adding to the rewards of all backers, regardless of pledge level, as a free bonus reward.


This Is YOUR Doing!

This campaign is really turning into something big—and like all big campaigns, that’s because of the backers. We work hard to spread the word, but there are thousands and thousands of gamers out there that we will never be able to reach. But you can! Campaigns really soar when the backers enthusiastically share news about them.

Our backers have been doing that, which is why we’re hitting goals so quickly. Keep it up! Here are links to our social media accounts, where you can find images to grab, ideas for things to say, and posts you can share. If you take just a minute, you can help keep up this wonderful momentum!


Stretch Goal: Moar Creatures!

Over a billion years and eight prior worlds, every element of life on earth has been shaped, molded, and reformed, often time and time again. The ancients affected the creatures of this world in ways large and small. Their goals and purposes are long-forgotten and inscrutable—and the results often weird, mysterious, and frightening.

Beasts of the Amber Archive introduces dozens of all-new Ninth World creatures. And it does more: it helps you use those creatures to craft exciting, immersive, and memorable encounters, with detailed lore, secret knowledge, lair maps, ideas for interactions, and alternate abilities. It’s more than a bestiary—it’s a helpful guide for bringing the Ninth World to life at your game table.


So let’s have more of that! Beasts of the Amber Archives is already a hardcover book, but let’s make it even heftier. For this stretch goal we’ll add another dozen or so all-new creatures to this awesome, inspiring bestiary. We’ll unlock this expansion when we get to 2725 backers!

And of Course the Stickers!

This goal is very likely to take us over a special threshold: $517,255. That was the funding total for the original Numenera crowdfunding campaign, way back in 2012. It was a massive record at the time—no RPG had ever funded above $100,000. That campaign founded Monte Cook Games, and we’ve never forgotten the thousands of backers who made it happen—and brought MCG into existence.

So to celebrate this special milestone—and the expansion of the Beasts of the Amber Archive—our bonus sticker is exra bonusy! Instead of a single sticker, we’re going to add a small, creature-themed sticker sheet. Which one should we make?


Vote now! And remember to share this news, so we can unlock this stretch goal and keep up the amazing momentum of this campaign!

Thanks for your support!
—Team MCG