The Ninth World and Small Adventures in Skillbuilding
Gather strength with mysterious cyphers, important quests, and upgraded skills in the endless lands of The Ninth World.
Perhaps one of my most unusual board game boxes exists with The Ninth World: A Skillbuilding Game for Numenera. It’s designed to be stored vertically, and I’ve always been intrigued by it! There was a time long ago when I tested out the cooperative 2-player mode… So I had some idea of how the solo mode would play out. Off to explore this world!
Game Overview
Game Name: The Ninth World
Publication Year: 2018
Designers: P. Peterson, B. Radakovich, and M. Selinker
Artists: Many (35 Credited)
Publishers: Lone Shark Games and Monte Cook Games
Solo Mode: Included in the Base Game
With a magnetic closure that unfurls to show the score board, this is often a recognizable box! Gameplay is about protecting the town from the dangers in the wilderness. Creatures, cyphers, quests, and more provide points of interest as skills grow over the course of 9 rounds.
First Play
April 1, 2022
Complexity
3
Latest Play
April 2, 2022
Expansions
0
Setup Time
5 Minutes
Lifetime Plays
2
Play Time
30 Minutes
High Score
104
Game Area
36" x 20"
Low Score
94
The Cypher System
For anyone familiar with Numenera in the RPG world, there is a common way of describing a character. Here, that convention transfers over within the game.
I randomly chose Selis to play as. She can be labeled as a Charming Glaive Who Likes to Break Things. Cool!
Mechanically speaking, this provides a pair of starting level 1 skills and a unique special ability to utilize.
As I got started, a lot of this boiled down to a very numerically-based system of thinking. The story elements didn’t really come through as much as they do in RPGs.
Solo, but Not Alone
With the solo mode, my character acted as the lone hero in most instances. However, during setup, I had a trio of allies added to the play area to use during play.
Once, and only once, I had the option to discard an ally to gain an extra 2 points in one of their specialized areas.
Phases provide a clear sequence of play, and each ties into a specific skill. Matching skill cards don’t have to be used, but they revert to a power of 1 if it’s the wrong phase.
Truth be told, I forgot all about these allies! Maybe I got lucky in some instances, yet I never had to use them.
Intriguing Artwork
This was certainly a busy and complete world! Every location had its own artwork, along with some details. It was only a shame a lot of it was hidden away.
Areas take shape vertically like this within a specified set. Rounds advance into new regions, some of which provide special abilities or bonuses at the right times.
The core area consists of 5 town cards and the wilderness, which constantly threatens the town with challenges.
Managing these dangerous cards sometimes requires saving up or finding better cards in town. Lots of choices!
Another Dimension
I might have been playing in another world, but the Calico Critters found me anyway! Pretty sure you can find them everywhere you go, if only you look closely. Ha ha!
Good thing they arrived: I needed a reminder to collect valor points along the way. For every 3 rounds, there was a minimum score threshold I had to reach to continue.
There were some very tight rounds! I only pulled ahead by a few points here and there, desperate to hang on.
As interesting as the tension was, it almost boiled down to a numbers game. Just… Very procedural, despite the art.
Many Sights to See
I felt a sense of tension during play, yet I didn’t feel very connected to the world. A lot of the quests called for specific things to happen to complete each tier.
Essentially, I had to look at the card text to see what would chain together. And not from a thematic standpoint: It all came down to where I could score lots of valor points.
The way the town was in peril definitely felt different with both plays, owing to the various wilderness cards.
My first play saw the minimum score threshold go up and up. Later on, creatures damaged the town as more arrived.
Font Woes and Losing the Setting’s Immersion
It might sound minor, and perhaps it is, but the font turned out to be something that took me out of the world entirely. I struggled to read the names of some cards. Were those names necessary? For the most part, not at all. Yet I usually do all I can to immerse myself in a board game, even if it’s designed to be abstract or pretty light on the theme.
Part of my disappointment came from the disconnect: This setting is simply steeped in lore and stories! Not even a bit of flavor text was present on the cards. The locations featured some lore… On the opposite side, which is never seen during play. I completely forgot to even check it, as I assumed there were simple card backs. But that didn’t save it.
There were so many ways I could see this game playing out in thematic ways. One of my quests was to attend a wedding, and that came down to interacting with a couple of cards, collecting valor points, and discarding it.
Even the finale of my second play was anticlimactic, despite me pulling together 8 combat points and defeating a huge monster for a whopping 15 valor points! It was still a fun experience… Just didn’t turn out to be as narrative as I hoped.
Maximum Charm
I played a very balanced approach with skills that all went up, adding to my valor points. But I never did get close to reaching the highst level of any skill… Enter the dogs!
Note that I played it cool by choosing the Dalmatians for this game. Why? Numenera… Numerous spots! The perfect combination and so great, it transcends worlds. Ha!
If the Calico Critters had any of the skills, it was definitely charm. This little family showed off their charming skills!
And although there aren’t any Stealthy Elephants around this time, someone got even cuter trying to be one…
Session Overview
Play Number: 1 and 2
Solo Mode: Included in the Base Game
Outcome: 94-89 and 104-78 (2 Wins)
There were a handful of nerve-wracking moments when I was too close to the minimum score threshold, yet it all worked out in the end. Advancing my skills was quite a lucrative strategy, and possibly a dominant one. Never did I skip that phase, yet cyphers, quests, and combat were regularly left out as I worked on everything else. It wasn’t a bad game by any means, yet it left me with a lackluster and mediocre feeling. Alas, not one of my favorites!
%
1 Play
Affordability
Price & Value
5
Functionality
Challenges & Mechanics
6
Originality
Design & Theme
7
Quality
Components & Rules
7
Reusability
Achievement & Enjoyment
7
Variability
Distinctness & Randomness
8
+ Pros (Positives)
- All of the artwork is unique and showcases a world of wonders and mysteries behind each and every card.
- Play time is generally pretty quick and flows relatively smoothly with a set sequence of phases and actions.
- Cards might chain together, especially quests, leading to interesting decisions and challenges in terms of timing.
- The wilderness is vastly different from play to play due to the huge deck and variety in the card types.
- Keeping up with the minimum score threshold can be difficult at times in an enjoyable and mildly tense way.
- Unique abilities help make each character a little different, as some are most useful in certain situations.
– Cons (Negatives)
- The main font for the card titles is difficult to read from afar, taking away from the fantastic artwork and world.
- Although there are different challenges with the wilderness, gameplay often follows a fairly similar path.
- Setup and cleanup can be awkward with the integrated board around the box, along with the tight box sleeve.
- Not every game needs to have a strong theme, yet this one appears to have it and boils down to pure mechanics.
Victory Conditions
Protect the Town & Meet the Threshold
- Overall Goal Progress 100%
Goals and Milestones
Score at least 90 points.
Score at least 100 points.
Win at least 1 game with the town undamaged.
Continue the Conversation
Have you played The Ninth World: A Skillbuilding Game for Numenera? What are your thoughts about it? This was another instance of me trying out a new solo game that I wasn’t too sure about. As I always say, I’m not going to love every game, although I’m happy I gave this one a chance! It certainly has its interesting points. Plus… All the skills!
I think there are two ways of thinking about RPG mechanics. Well, lots more than two, but bear with me.
For some people the mechanics are a compact way of describing the character – “a pretty good pilot but not the best in the world” maps to “Piloting-16”. Then when there’s some question about whether something will work, you have a mechanical way of finding out. But it’s basically there to describe the imaginary person whose adventures you are following, not a goal in itself.
For other people (and I think a lot of dungeon-bash boardgames take this approach) the mechanics are the point – what matters is the +1 sword skill, the +10 hit points, and the person they theoretically represent becomes secondary.
I don’t think either of these is wrong (though I’m firmly in camp A) but when both sides use the same terminology it can lead to expectation mismatch. I wonder whether the designers felt that people who wanted more of a narrative would simply play the RPG?
Ah, very interesting assessment! I hadn’t considered this, but I think you’re definitely onto something. Part of this ties in with the way I talk about setting up the right expectations when playing a new game. I definitely wanted something more akin to an in-depth RPG character, yet the mechanical numbers played a major role.
I also wonder if this was designed to give non-RPG players a taste of the world, while those who prefer a narrative would naturally gravitate towards the RPG. Thanks for sharing and bringing up some thought-provoking points!