Secrets of the Crucible is now available in PDF on DrivethruRPG! Here's the link .

This book is great. So many interesting customization options.

Yeah, I think the species-creation rules are worth the cover price alone. I wonder if they anticipated a lot of confusion and even backlash at choosing this setting (as it seems to have a devoted card-playing fanbase, but not any real pull with those of us into TTRPGs). So they knew they'd have to include lots of customization options to make the book appeal to both readerships.

I have to say that I was not really interested in this setting at all. But, after getting the PDF (for the species creation rules alone), I am actually starting to love this setting! I think from a marketing standpoint, the articles that were posted advertising the setting (at least for me) failed to do it justice or draw me in at all. But in just reading the first page or two of the Introduction, I was drawn in. After reading more of the lore, I can't wait to get this setting on the table!

For those familiar with Numenera how might this setting compare, at least concerning Earth?

I am not familiar with the Numenera setting, so I cannot speak to how it compares, but here is an excerpt from page 9 that describes the world of the Crucible.

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To begin with, one must understand that the Crucible is not just large, but preposterously so. Indeed, it is so vast that some claim the world is unending, or at least growing at such a rate that any hopes of mapping it are doomed before they start. What is apparent to all thinking beings is that the Crucible is artificial, for it has not been guided by laws of planetary formation, but rather has been stitched together as if unhinged creators snatched their favorite terrains from untold millions of planets and then merged them into a single orb. Each new day brings the arrival of fresh biospheres somewhere on the world, their appearance via inexplicable processes seeming more like magic than science. Myths to explain how this strange world came to be are plentiful, but facts are few.

To venture into each new region of the Crucible is akin to stepping into an entirely new world. Environments range from the frozen lands of Zeron—home to creatures composed of liquid helium who glide slowly over superfluid lakes—to the steaming rainforests of Lushzania, a green **** best known for its insectoids who worship an enormous carnivorous plant. Simply because one region has breathable atmosphere does not mean an adjacent one won’t be toxic enough to choke even rocky life-forms like Sylicates. There are areas that project emotions onto inhabitants, roaming forests that bring their terrain along with them as they migrate, and dreaded underground domains that are home to demonic beings.

Even gravity fluctuates, with extremes ranging from the subterranean realm of Iridius, where gravity changes with the tides, to the acrid desert of Lishtaar, where gravitons travel so slowly most beings can outrun them. From the floating cities of Sanctum to the burning vol- canoes of the Everfire, there is no end to the marvels that can be found upon the Crucible.

While the Crucible does have barren regions, most of its innumerable lands, oceans, aerial islands, under- worlds, and misted realms are teeming with life. Like the terrain, the world’s flora, fauna, and even civilizations are perplexingly varied, for they too have been plucked from planets across the galaxy and stranded upon this patchwork wonderland.

Additionally, the Species that have been created for this setting are wonderful! They are rich with culture and as diverse as one can imagine. The explanation is that individuals, groups, entire cities, and portions of planets are taken from their worlds and lives and instantly appear on the Crucible with no explanation. A person could open the door to their bedroom and as soon as they step through, they find themselves on the Crucible, never able to return. The Crucible is older than anyone's recorded history and is full of species from all across the universe. Most have lived on the Crucible for generations, but new species, cultures, and worlds are constantly being added and incorporated. The world is constantly shifting and changing. You could have your home base established in a small town that has been there for 100 years. Then, one day when you return from an adventure, your town has been moved 100 miles away to make room for a new biome. Of the pregen species, The Martians make me laugh and remind me of the movie Mars Attacks.

Æmber is the driving resource of the Crucible. It is a stone/mineral/material that is harvested and can be used for any number of amazing things from powering entire cities, crafting awesome weapons, performing magical feats, to creating food. It is also shaped into the predominant currency of the world, though some cultures still use their own form of currency from their previous world.

Everything is possible in this world. Every type of campaign you could imagine is possible and it can get pretty crazy with the ever changing landscape. You could start the game with a Sci-Fi type tone only for it to become one of horror halfway through and then ending in political intrigue. You can move from a backwater, low tech market place to an advanced AI manufacturing facility just by crossing the street in a major metropolitan city. The Crucible is only limited to one's imagination.

You need to put that as a review. If I hadn’t purchased it already that would’ve certainly sold me on it!

As far as the biomes go, are they sudden shifts, subtle or both? Is the Crucible largely set, allowing for travel to be viable? Or is it, “Where did our house go now ?”

From my understanding they could be both, though I got the feeling they were more subtle. In my mind I pictured the town waking up one morning and finding they are surrounded by mountains whereas the night before they were surrounded by swamps. Or a rich aristocrat owned a penthouse on the edge of a city overlooking the beautiful crystal forest with its kaleidoscope of colors only to wake up in the morning overlooking a smog producing metallurgy factory because the crystal forest was moved to make room for the newest addition. I guess if you were awake and saw the shift, it would be a sudden jolt, though I have yet to find in the book that they discuss what that shift looks like. So my guess is that is totally up to the GM in how to portray that, if at all.

In the description of the Hub City (one of the main trade cities in the setting), it describes new species and groups to the Crucible find their way to the city and settle on its outskirts to create a new home for themselves, thus creating a new sector to the city and expanding its borders. But the city also expands up and down as well as out. So, to Hub City anyway, there is growth just like any other real world city some of it rather quickly and unplanned as new groups move in and other growth planned construction that is as fast as a construction company can build.

Travel is completely viable and there are many different forms of travel but there is no space travel as there is an invisible wall in the sky preventing anyone from leaving, though the Martians (and countless others) are constantly trying to get their spacecraft up into space. The vehicles and modes of transportation could be high-tech advanced machines to genetically, grown creatures, to a horse and buggy. You could have your PCs travel around in an air speeder, on motorbikes, or ride a giant centipede across the Plains of Whispering Insults.

As for "Where did our house go," As a GM, I wouldn't use that all that often. You could use it as a story hook and the PCs build a locator beacon so they can always find their home. In which case, it would just be narrative flavor that their home moved. But, the Crucible itself is largely set. Hub City is always there and the Plutonic Mountain Range has been there for millions of years. Page 185 has a generalized, sketched map of the Local Group (the main "continent" of this book, though this continent is larger than most planets). It gives you a general feel of the layout but no specific details of exact locations of the different landmarks.

I very much appreciate you taking so much time to explain all this. And your name is awesome.