Like, a lot.
I'm in no way saying that Monte Cook ripped off my ideas. I'm saying that we independently came up with a lot of the same ideas or same kinds of ideas. In several places, I like some of his ideas better and wished I'd thought of that. In other places, there are obvious differences.
First, what do the two games have in common?
They are both set in a far-far-future Earth, many eons removed from our modern society. Enough so that Earth almost resembles an alien world compared to today.
They both use Arthur C. Clarke's concept of advanced technology being indistinguishable from magic.
They both have genetically modified post-humans: Xoogs and Abhumans.
They both have "wizards" that master super-advanced technology as a form of magic. Cydorian wizards use a world-spanning force field called the Oudh, super-gadgets, and artificial intelligence energy beings called Aya. Numenera wizards use nanotech which is everywhere, a globe-spanning "data-sphere", or implanted cybernetics.
They both rely on the theme of the cyclical nature of civilization and history, that the present is built on the successive layers of past civilizations. Cydoria has multiple super-advanced civilizations building upon the previous before being wiped out by various apocalyptic catastrophes. Numenera has the "Ninth World" built upon the previous eight "worlds" or epochs.
They both have strange future-tech artifacts from lost cultures that mimic magic items in D&D.
Frankly, even with all the work I put into my fictional future-history, I'm a little jealous of the concept of the Ninth World and wished I'd thought of something that cool. I also like the idea in Numenera that the soil is composed of silica and fine-grained metal and plastic from the decayed and ground-up remains of the eight previous worlds.
As for wthe differences?
Well, the biggest difference is in tone. Swords of Cydoria is much more humanistic. The people in Cydoria are pretty much like people from the 19th or early 20th century. Numenera's people are more post-human, more removed from our way of thinking.
Swords of Cydoria is also more pulp. It's meant to feel like an adventure story from the 1930s. It's Flash Gordon and John Carter and Buck Rogers mixed with Star Wars and Firefly.
Numenera is more of a modern sci-fi story. It's more rooted in transhumanism and post-modernism.
Cydoria is more grounded in a sense of realism. It's dirty and greasy, almost steam-punk with an overlay of Sword and Sorcery. Whereas Numenera is very gonzo. There are giant goldfish mounts and holographic clothing. Numenera feels a lot more like the new 4E version of Gamma World.
I'm very impressed with Numenera's setting and there's a lot in it I wish I had thought of or had done. Numenera adds a lot more interdimensional and interstellar action. I tried to keep Cydoria more firmly rooted. Cydoria has magic-tech, but mankind never created FTL. Instead, in Cydoria, Mankind terraformed and settled all the worlds of the solar system and created artificial worlds out of space habitats. I tried to keep magic and interdimensional stuff out of it.
I really like what Numenera's done with its previous 8 worlds. It has done a much better job with imagining and integrating the legacy of those worlds with the 9th world.
Other than that, I think I like my monsters better.
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