- The "effort points" system didn't make much sense. With any half-decent metagaming one doesn't EVER lose a skill check.
I still think that the effort points are a pretty neat idea, even if misused in the actual game. I like the notio that you can succeed at skill checks without meeting some arbitrary fixed stat threshold in exchange for using a limited resource, since, even if it encourages metagaming, it's still a more
fun metagame than figuring out the stat thresholds you need to reach beforehand so you can finish the quests you want. Where this falls apart is that, in T:ToN, the stat pools are
not a meaningful limited resource, because you can pretty much rest all you like (it's nice that resting changes some missions, but it doesn't work as a systemic limitation) and even if you don't, you can restore your pools with consumables. Most of all, you don't really have situations in which you'd be forced to go through a lot of checks in a row so you'd actually be in danger of running out. The system only really does anything if the player deliberately avoids cheesing with resting and item use and tries to rest as few times as possible.
So the issue is that Numenera just isn't a very good fit for a game centered around talky quest-solving in a city hub (although, in all fairness, I'm not sure if there
is a system well-suited for that). The Numenera setting itself isn't about that, but moreover, the PnP game itself is good for exactly one type of play - creative problem solving in dungeons. In that scenario the stat pools (as well as the Cyphers and such) work out all right, since they're a way to inflict attrition on the player's resources without involving a fight. Even in a video game, the Effort system could work out well in a game structured like, say, the new Shadowrun games, that is, missions; you'd have to go through a sizeable area with multiple problems and encounters without the opportunity rest or return later, so you'd actually have to conserve your resources and figure out the most efficient way to get through while getting as much done as possible. Actually, I think that's what the Crises were
supposed to be like, but they're just too short and simple to require any strategy. I guess, ultimately, this sort of thing isn't really appropriate for a PS:T spiritual successor, so all these Numenera systems that actually have a point in their proper context end up existing in a vacuum.
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