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People News Colin McComb on What's Next: A New Torment RPG?

Crooked Bee

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Tags: Colin McComb; Planescape: Torment; Torment: Tides of Numenera

So I've been looking through my Twitter feed backlog today and came across a very intruguing blog post from Colin McComb, who as you may know wrote for the pen-and-paper Planescape and was also Chris Avellone's second on Planescape: Torment. In this post, he hints at a new Infinity Engine-style spiritual successor to Torment, and even seems to imply he's already secured the Torment IP - or am I misreading this? Aaanyway, here's an exceprt from the blog post:

Though I was a big fan of my early work (just because it was my early work, and evidence that I was working as a game designer) one of the first things I was truly proud of was TSR’s Birthright, my first published world, which took AD&D into a lower-fantasy setting and let you take the part of a ruler of a realm. Second was my work on the Planescape campaign setting, which allowed a huge degree of creative exploration. In that body of work, Monte Cook and I (along with our able editors, Ray Vallese and Michele Carter) were able to flesh out a significant part of the cosmology and background of the planes, defining and creating a foundation that would lead to my next big gig (and to Monte’s; not only did he help design D&D 3.0, he also produced an amazing string of successes, the latest of which is his Numenera setting).

Third, and perhaps most importantly, was Planescape: Torment. [...] I must have been only about six or seven months out from my TSR gig, so Planescape was still fresh in my head, and I became the go-to guy for matters of Planescape lore. The team grew significantly as we ramped up production, and I became Chris Avellone’s second for a lot of issues; he and I worked closely enough that we’re still good friends, though we haven’t seen each other regularly for 12 years.

I learned a hell of a lot from Chris: how to structure a dialogue, how to build in some real reactivity, how to condense ideas and stories to deliver maximum impact. The best part is that he didn’t sit down to show me–he just did it near me. And even though he and I both loved the setting, we saw ways that we could tell the story better by deviating from it.

But that’s not really the point of this post. The point is that of all the games I’ve written, the one that I keep circling back to is Torment. And now that the bulk of my work on Wasteland 2 is largely complete (with some iteration work that still needs to be done), I can start thinking about Torment seriously. [...]

I have a lot of ideas about what to put into a new Torment game, but my primary goal would be to help the player tell a story that was evocative of the original Torment without aping it. To be faithful to the odyssey of the Nameless One, and to recognize that it has ended, and that stories of Torment are ongoing.

What would you want to see?​

And here's the comment about the Torment IP and the new game (?) being an Infinity Engine-like:

This would be a game in the vein of the Infinity Engine titles. I’ve got… let’s say I’ve got an in with the Torment IP. Planescape itself, not so much – but I think I’ve got something equally as cool lined up.​

Somebody pinch me. I wonder what Chris' role in this might be.
 

Zed

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The cat's out of the bag None, you might as well spill it.
 

l3loodAngel

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PST without MCA is like breakfast cereal without milk. If he is out, my money is also out.
 

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He obviously would be part of any PS:T spiritual successor. But people would still be butthurt because it'll be RTwP again. :smug: Probably will use Project Eternity's engine.
 

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We are gonna get BG Torment. Torment: Shadows over Riva and Torment of the beholder before the day is done.

Why is it people so desperately have to have some name like that to fund a game? I bet if Guido did the Torment makeup for his KS and he name dropped everything he'd have got ten times the money. He didn't name drop crap, and he got nothing even though he's got more to show than most of these KS in spite of what tards say.
 

Charles-cgr

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I wonder if those plans have anything to do with the industry's top names not peeping a word about Thorvalla.
 

majestik12

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the industry's top names not peeping a word about Thorvalla.
This is what puzzles me a lot. They were all sucking each other's cocks so eagerly during other campaigns. Even Brenda's lame ass joke of a pitch got a shitload of hype from other devs. For Guido - nothing except for a Cole pissing on his project, and mr. Sirotek. Why is mr. Henkel so despised?
 

Charles-cgr

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the industry's top names not peeping a word about Thorvalla.
This is what puzzles me a lot. They were all sucking each other's cocks so eagerly during other campaigns. Even Brenda's lame ass joke of a pitch got a shitload of hype from other devs. For Guido - nothing except for a Cole pissing on his project, and mr. Sirotek. Why is mr. Henkel so despised?

One can only speculate, which would probably lead to saying stupid things but this and the media silence are very strange. Guido's project may be getting in some people's way. Perhaps this is what he's getting in the way of. Or perhaps it is on a more personal level.
 

FeelTheRads

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It's obvious Avellone wanted to be TNO on the cover but Henkel got his place so he hates him. There. Mystery solved.
 

almondblight

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One can only speculate, which would probably lead to saying stupid things but this and the media silence are very strange.

They are. It didn't even make RPS's Kickstarter catchup - for the second week in a row, and the second week in a row where people in the comments are asking about it. Maybe Guido stepped on some toes? Maybe people saw that the Kickstarter was off to a bad start, wouldn't make it, and didn't want to embarrass him? It's...odd.
 

Brother None

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This is what puzzles me a lot. They were all sucking each other's cocks so eagerly during other campaigns. Even Brenda's lame ass joke of a pitch got a shitload of hype from other devs. For Guido - nothing except for a Cole pissing on his project, and mr. Sirotek. Why is mr. Henkel so despised?

I don't get it, to be honest. I tentatively asked Fargo if there was some bad blood stuff but he said they'd been talking about something else just a month ago. No bad blood there, though Henkel referring to himself as "the creator of PS:T" raised some heckles. It's becoming quite baffling how much the media is ignoring that pitch.
 

Moribund

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the industry's top names not peeping a word about Thorvalla.
This is what puzzles me a lot. They were all sucking each other's cocks so eagerly during other campaigns. Even Brenda's lame ass joke of a pitch got a shitload of hype from other devs. For Guido - nothing except for a Cole pissing on his project, and mr. Sirotek. Why is mr. Henkel so despised?
In every job I've had there's a bunch of asskissers who act the same way and never actually do anything except cockblock the few people who have the ideas and do the dirty work.

Really makes me wonder, especially since none of those guys have done anything good I like since I was like 8 or something. Maybe they were not the driving forces behind any of that.

In other news he has something called Oathbreaker: the Magus's tale.

Magus's.

You mean magi?
 

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Really makes me wonder, especially since none of those guys have done anything good I like since I was like 8 or something.

You do realize that description fits Guido Henkel himself quite accurately, right

 

Moribund

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Really makes me wonder, especially since none of those guys have done anything good I like since I was like 8 or something.

You do realize that description fits Guido Henkel quite accurately as well, right

Yes I do :roll:

I agree he's done less than nothing since torment, but that applies to everyone involved with it. Same with everyone who worked on fallout but tim cain, and almost all the classic RPGs from back in the day or we'd have a lot more of them.

To me it's interesting they all brofist each other except this one guy. Maybe he was a jerk, but he also did all the RoA games so it can't be a fluke. Unlike fargo who is a money and sales guy and MCA who's never come close to making a game half that good since.

So it really makes me wonder. And so far PE is not impressing me in the least. You can make a dream game and what do you do, derivative knockoff of all your previous games that hits the nostalgia note every chance it gets.
 

Infinitron

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Moribund Consider this - perhaps they've all been burnt by the failure of Shaker and they don't want to give their endorsements to another failed project.
 

Moribund

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Moribund Consider this - perhaps they've all been burnt by the failure of Shaker and they don't want to give their endorsements to another failed project.
I doubt that. I think half of them would blow a goat for 5 dollars.

I thought it was telling when MCA came out to bash on rebirth of black isle. It had two former members but he said "no one I know". More than a little self serving twisting of facts.

I'm guessing that Guido's neanderthal brain is too advanced for these pathetic sapiens to comprehend. A sort of temperamental genius, uncompromising like werner herzog. He does stuff his own way, and doesn't listen to reason, accumulating enemies as he goes without realizing it.

The pitch supports this. It's clear to me if no one else the art quality is beyond superb, however he's concentrating on making the stuff at the last minute instead of on selling it to people who seem to be too plebian to comprehend how much cool stuff he's doing and how much more detail he's got then most the games.

Except the card thing, that's crap and doesn't inspire confidence.
 

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I had forgotten about Thorvalla. I tend to rely on the codex for my game news and it hasn't been mentioned much. I hadn't known that Henkel had actually started his Kickstarter project. The whole situation is somewhat depressing. There should be room for the kind of game he's talking about in the market. If I weren't utterly broke right now I would definitely back it at a somewhat high tier. As it is I can only back it at the $15 tier. Not that it matters since there's no way the game is going to make its 1 million goal. The goal was really too high for someone whose claim to fame is the relatively obscure RoA series and some vague contribution to PS:T. Aside from the timing (he should have waited until January at least) there is also the issue of who is actually going to be making the game. He needs to convince investors/backers that he can actually succesfully create a game. You need management skills for that. And the skill of the rest of the development team is important. His kickstarter video should have spent time discussing who he intends to hire for various positions. And include some of them in the video. A financial investor would normally want to see the resumes of everyone on the team before committing. I think people will eventually realize that kickstarter projects are no different. The investment may be a lot smaller, but throwing money at every kickstarter that sounds promising is risky.
 

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