# The Strange Corebook



## Morrus (Aug 29, 2014)

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## TrickyUK (Nov 12, 2014)

*4 out of 5 rating for The Strange Corebook*

Numenera presented a good system. Now MCG gives you an alternative setting. The system works well and has been adapted effectively. The one negative I would mention is there is a lot of similarity in the text with the previous Cypher System book.


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## Morrus (Nov 13, 2014)

*4 out of 5 rating for The Strange Corebook*

Using the same engine as Monte Cook's Numenera RPG, this rule-lite game starts to show the flexibility of the system.  Like its predecessor, it's gorgeous, and the setting and rules conspire to inspire.


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## Nojo509 (Nov 15, 2014)

*5 out of 5 rating for The Strange Corebook*

Most of the alternate worlds are created as fiction on earth, and take on a reality out in the strange, a malevolent world of dark matter and beings that eat planets. Clean, easy rules, and you can mix and match most of the creatures and items from Numenera with The Strange.


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## synthapse (Nov 16, 2014)

*5 out of 5 rating for The Strange Corebook*

A beautiful book for a fantastic game.


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## FallenAkriel (Nov 17, 2014)

*5 out of 5 rating for The Strange Corebook*

Combine the excellent Cypher System with a campaign setting of infinite possibilities, remind us of the best in Planescape mix with World of Darkness Mage.


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## marroon69 (Nov 17, 2014)

*5 out of 5 rating for The Strange Corebook*

OK first off I have been a Cypher system fan boy from the start. I picked Numenera because of the setting but love it due to the system. This uses the same system, easy, fast, and fun. But once again the setting is the setting that is the focus, X-files meets Doctor Who (sort of). Basically modern day with ability to travel to recursions, a recursion is something totally new..it could be another dimension or it could be someones video game world given life. Once again the setting is the key with a great fast rules system.


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## DocSER (Nov 19, 2014)

*5 out of 5 rating for The Strange Corebook*

I followed the development of this game from its kickstarter through its release.  I was excited by the possibility of mixing different genres with play focusing on a fantasy setting one week with a visit to a Sci Fi setting the next week (or any other combination we can imagine).  It seemed like a fun way to explore several other settings that I wanted to play but was not sure about developing a whole campaign there.  The release of the book did not disappoint.  The Cypher System is rules light and allows for the story to take the lead.  The core book provides the whole system, character creations, along with heaps of setting material.  You will find not only a basic Earth setting (with a bit of an X-Files feel), a fantasy setting and a Sci Fi setting (biomechanics themed), you will also find exotic realms -- called recursions -- like a marketplace of crows and the land of Oz.  The core rulebook could supply countless hours of cross-genre play and I look forward to playing in this setting for years to come.


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## Dahak (Nov 22, 2014)

*5 out of 5 rating for The Strange Corebook*

Powered by the Cypher System (originally used in Numenera), The Strange nimbly walks a line between traditional and narrative RPGs.  It does feature parallels to traditional classes, feats and backgrounds, but attributes are treated as resource pools rather than static ratings. The layout is reminiscent of an annotated college textbook (though much prettier) with two column text supplemented by sidebars containing definitions or cross-references. In the PDF version, the cross-references are hyperlinked, as is the index and table of contents. Without giving much away, the setting brings to mind Torg, Nine Princes in Amber, Stargate SG-1, Fringe and Sliders, among others, with its mix of worlds of different genres.


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## Umbrathys (Nov 25, 2014)

*5 out of 5 rating for The Strange Corebook*

Yep, this book is really, really good.  Imagine a rule-set / game where ANY world or ANY game you can come up with fits within the paradigm and coverage of the rules.  The Cypher system is elegant in its simplicity (possibly a tad to simplistic, but that is a minor quibble).  Where this book shines, however, is not in the use of the Cypher system, it is in the purely fantastic and remarkably imagined infinity of ideas.  You can literally drop any of your favorite RPG worlds into this book as a recursion with very little effort.  Given that most fantasy, horror, and sci-fi RPG's can have their protagonists translated to the Cypher system with very little effort (trust me, Vampire, Ravenloft, Heroes Unlimited, it only takes a small amount of effort , this book offers truly unlimited future potential.


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## Dark Kain (Nov 26, 2014)

*5 out of 5 rating for The Strange Corebook*

So we have a game that sports Demons, Dragons, Golems, Robots, Green Men from Mars, Animated Heart Trasplants, Crazy Cyborgs (addicted to grafting body parts), Dark Energy Pharaohs, Shoggots, The Jabberwock and Professor Moriarty. And somehow it manage to blend them in a way that Makes Sense and is incredible fun to play! 

Welcome to the Earth of The Strange, where basically any fictional story worth of mentioning spawns dozens of "recursions", worlds in miniature where most of the populations is made of literal NPCs that follow blindly their made-up lives with near-zero autoconscience, while only a selected few are capable of recognizing the nature of their world, learning how to travel to our own Earth and how to benefit from this (often not in a friendly way). 
Of course there is also the problem of 100% genuine Earth natives thinking that an army of Undead Skeletons armed with Laser Rifles would be a good investment. 
 All due to a billions years old alien thingamajig made to create a galactic network that wasn't really ready to the overwhelming amount of fiction the modern human society produces and consumes daily. 

The game use the Cypher System ruleset that, by now you surely know ad nauseam, is the same rule system of Numenera. That system was good for Numenera, but is just wonderful for The Strange: a game were a GM is involved in narrating a story about stories gains quite a lot from eschewing DM dice rolls entirely and keeping a purely narrative approach of having things happen when they should (or when it is cool) and rewarding XPs to the players for this. Not to mention that the whole Descriptor/Type/Focus character creation is even better in The Strange, giving the ability to change your character's persona on the fly by swapping foci (a procedure that requires two minutes top, but create notably different characters) when translating (aka traveling and adapting) to a new recursion. 

And the amount of gaming potential is incredible: want to play Doctor Who meets X-files? The Earth is your playground. Traditional heroic fantasy with a twist? Ardeyn. Political based Sci-fi? Ruk. Mafia wars (where everybody is an humanoid crow)? Crow Hollow. Lovercraftian horror? Obviously. World of Darkness styled horror? Easy as pie with a couple of extra rules to be a vampire or a licantrope as a bonus. Want to play Superman VS Goku? I swear there is a recursion just for you. So go and grab this manual: even if somehow you don't like the rule system (Don't worry: I won't judge) it is filled with enough ideas to keep you GMing for a couple of centuries.


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## theoysterking (Dec 3, 2014)

*3 out of 5 rating for The Strange Corebook*

I bought this book because a) Monte Cook is a gaming genius and b) the concept reminded me of WEG's Torg. I spent many a happy gaming day during college around the TORGasbord. Unfortunately, I'm disappointed, even though the art is gorgeous, and I think the world of the Strange may well provide fruitful for my own gaming experiments. It's a beautiful coffee table book, but too pricey if that's all you get out of it.I have yet to run or play a game, but I already feel hemmed in by the character options. For my money, the biggest flaw of D&D is the level-based system, and the Strange/Numenera system unfortunately duplicates it with the structured character options. There are only three classes, modified by a set of descriptors and foci. Normally, character generation is my favorite part of a book, but I found it hard to slog through the options, and I was not inspired to start crafting a character. That can't be the effect the designers hoped for. Perhaps the world is expansive enough and game play will be sufficiently exciting enough that I'll change my mind in time.


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## Wystan (Dec 24, 2014)

*5 out of 5 rating for The Strange Corebook*

This is an interesting and unique take on the multiple worlds theory, I backed as a KS backer, but then also bought a second copy and additional PDFs to give away. The system is amazing and is fun to read and play.


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## JLant (Jan 1, 2015)

*4 out of 5 rating for The Strange Corebook*

Nice graphic design and creative concepts.  Re-stating the cypher system was a minus for me; would've preferred expanded setting specific material but YMMV.


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## Eminence_Grise (Jan 3, 2015)

*5 out of 5 rating for The Strange Corebook*

Pros:- A very rich and original setting, that will take time to sink in and digest. - A character creation slightly different from Numenera.Cons:- Choosing focus the first time characters go to a recursion can be time consuming.


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## Diehard GameFAN (Jan 20, 2015)

*5 out of 5 rating for The Strange Corebook*

All in all, The Strange is another fantastic release from Monte Cook Games. I’ll admit I prefer Numenera‘s setting but that is 100% subjective. The Strange really is a fantastic game that came out in this summer of consistent top notch products. As such, I’m glad I’m covering it a little later than I normally do, because otherwise it might have been lost in the shuffle of all the big releases that came out around the same time. So if you missed the game in August when it first came out, here’s your chance to add it to your winter holiday of choice wish list and hopefully receive a copy of it in December. In many ways, The Strange reminds me of the old game Lords of Creation mixed with Numenera rules and trust me when I say, that’s a pretty big compliment.


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## ibkevg (Feb 9, 2015)

*5 out of 5 rating for The Strange Corebook*

The Strange setting offers so many possibilities with the idea of recursions being worlds that you can travel between. The Cypher system at it's core is straightforward and flexible, while the book itself is well written, well organized and is beautifully illustrated. Overall this is a great new RPG!


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## Blitzner (Nov 26, 2016)

*3 out of 5 rating for The Strange Corebook*

The general ideia and the setting are brilliant. But the system and players options don't keep the same pace. "You can be anyone anywhere", except that is somewhat like 8 characters options.


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## spiggs18 (Mar 14, 2017)

*5 out of 5 rating for The Strange Corebook*

Just like Numenera Before it another beautifully illustrated and well organized book. The setting is great for pretty much trying different genres and playstyles. Then again I love the Cypher System for pretty much everything.


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## Daramere (Aug 2, 2017)

*3 out of 5 rating for The Strange Corebook*

The Strange promises new experiences and exploration. However, as presented in the core book, the game is not focused on that sort of play, instead emphasizing intrigue between a small number of worlds. Additionally, the Cypher System is not the best fit for the Strange (for example, the most defining aspect of a character in the Cypher System becomes essentially meaningless in the Strange).


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