Interview with Urquhart at PC Gamer: PoE expansion to be released in 2 parts, TCG to be Kickstarted
Interview with Urquhart at PC Gamer: PoE expansion to be released in 2 parts, TCG to be Kickstarted
Interview - posted by Zed on Sun 5 April 2015, 19:24:10
Tags: Chris Taylor; Feargus Urquhart; Obsidian Entertainment; Pillars of EternityPC Gamer, once upon a time a paper magazine of some decent repute, have posted an interview with Obsidian Entertainment's Feargus Urquhart. There's the usual Kickstarter and publisher Q-and-A, as well as some game design questions probably not best answered by Feargus. But there's more! At the end of the interview, Feargus reveals some information about Obsidian's near-future plans:
So the expansion will be released in two parts, and each part will have content spanning more than "just three, four hours." Adam Brennecke has previously mentioned that the size of the first expansion is going to be about the size of Baldur's Gate's Tales of the Sword Coast. The "being released in two parts" information is news, however. We also learn that someone - not Obsidian - will be Kickstarting a Pillars of Eternity card game designed by Chris Taylor. I bet this will involve Paizo, as they are already in business with Obsidian, and card games are kind of what they do.
Speaking of expansions, can you give us any details on what might be coming in the future?
Sure. So, with the Kickstarter we announced that we were going to do an expansion, and so how we're approaching that is to actually do the expansion in two parts, and have one part out sooner than the other part. The idea being that people are really enjoying Pillars right now and they're going to get finished their first or second playthrough within in the next two weeks, a month, something like that. And so, we definitely want there to be content for them to enjoy and I think we're going to be talking about that pretty soon. I don't think we've released anything specifically, but it really ends up being this concept of this story that expands parts of what you would see in those sort of old school expansions we made for Icewind Dale and Baldur's Gate. So not just these three, four hour downloadable DLCs, but definitely big chunks of a story and a new hub to go to and things like that.
So that's kind of how we're really approaching it, like we've done with Eternity throughout is this idea of, these games kind of went away but not for a reason they should have. The industry shifted to so much console with this idea that PC wasn't so much of a gaming platform, which I know no one thinks that anymore. So, back then when you got an expansion you got this meaty thing with hours and hours of gameplay. And that's really what we're trying to do. So, while we're splitting it in two, it is like one continual story that people get to play.
Do you have any plans for an Eternity tabletop RPG or anything like that? I mean, you created this new world and all this new lore, do you see that expanding out to other media?
Absolutely. So, actually one of the things we're going to announce very soon, I don't even know if I talked about it. Not in the latest backer update but the next backer update, we're definitely going to talk about how we're going to be Kickstarting... not us, but another group is going to be Kickstarting a Pillars of Eternity card game. This isn't like a CCG or anything like that, but it's more just a fun, kind of, four people get around and play a single session card game. You have heros, and you have a village, and all that kind of stuff, and you can take your heroes into a dungeon, and you can also take your heroes and armies and attack your friends while they're playing, so it's kind a very fun card game and it's actually designed by Chris Taylor. Not... there's two Chris Taylors. [Laughs] It's Chris Taylor, a friend of mine for many many years who was the lead designer of Fallout.
So, that's the first thing we're really looking at, and also, absolutely on the tabletop roleplaying. We're not sure yet how we're going to do it, we were kind of going back and forth on, do we use the game's rules, do we use someone else's rules, do we come up with another set of rules? And it's something we're going to be talking [about] soon. But absolutely, we want to expand. New books, roleplaying, all that kind of stuff.
HBO series, I presume?
Absolutely! I don't think George RR Martin has done enough with his work. [Laughs] So that's our goal. We need to one-up him.
Sure. So, with the Kickstarter we announced that we were going to do an expansion, and so how we're approaching that is to actually do the expansion in two parts, and have one part out sooner than the other part. The idea being that people are really enjoying Pillars right now and they're going to get finished their first or second playthrough within in the next two weeks, a month, something like that. And so, we definitely want there to be content for them to enjoy and I think we're going to be talking about that pretty soon. I don't think we've released anything specifically, but it really ends up being this concept of this story that expands parts of what you would see in those sort of old school expansions we made for Icewind Dale and Baldur's Gate. So not just these three, four hour downloadable DLCs, but definitely big chunks of a story and a new hub to go to and things like that.
So that's kind of how we're really approaching it, like we've done with Eternity throughout is this idea of, these games kind of went away but not for a reason they should have. The industry shifted to so much console with this idea that PC wasn't so much of a gaming platform, which I know no one thinks that anymore. So, back then when you got an expansion you got this meaty thing with hours and hours of gameplay. And that's really what we're trying to do. So, while we're splitting it in two, it is like one continual story that people get to play.
Do you have any plans for an Eternity tabletop RPG or anything like that? I mean, you created this new world and all this new lore, do you see that expanding out to other media?
Absolutely. So, actually one of the things we're going to announce very soon, I don't even know if I talked about it. Not in the latest backer update but the next backer update, we're definitely going to talk about how we're going to be Kickstarting... not us, but another group is going to be Kickstarting a Pillars of Eternity card game. This isn't like a CCG or anything like that, but it's more just a fun, kind of, four people get around and play a single session card game. You have heros, and you have a village, and all that kind of stuff, and you can take your heroes into a dungeon, and you can also take your heroes and armies and attack your friends while they're playing, so it's kind a very fun card game and it's actually designed by Chris Taylor. Not... there's two Chris Taylors. [Laughs] It's Chris Taylor, a friend of mine for many many years who was the lead designer of Fallout.
So, that's the first thing we're really looking at, and also, absolutely on the tabletop roleplaying. We're not sure yet how we're going to do it, we were kind of going back and forth on, do we use the game's rules, do we use someone else's rules, do we come up with another set of rules? And it's something we're going to be talking [about] soon. But absolutely, we want to expand. New books, roleplaying, all that kind of stuff.
HBO series, I presume?
Absolutely! I don't think George RR Martin has done enough with his work. [Laughs] So that's our goal. We need to one-up him.
So the expansion will be released in two parts, and each part will have content spanning more than "just three, four hours." Adam Brennecke has previously mentioned that the size of the first expansion is going to be about the size of Baldur's Gate's Tales of the Sword Coast. The "being released in two parts" information is news, however. We also learn that someone - not Obsidian - will be Kickstarting a Pillars of Eternity card game designed by Chris Taylor. I bet this will involve Paizo, as they are already in business with Obsidian, and card games are kind of what they do.
