Review RPG Codex Review: Torment: The Explorer's Guide

[Prime Junta]

Sawyer doesn't make things up on the spot.

Then he's a worse GM than I thought.

 

[Septaryeth]

That's still not "cosmic logic" or anything even close to it. It also suffers from the basic problem of the Tides: it's pretty hard to intuitively grasp what kinds of actions are attuned to which type of tide or tides.

That sounds rather depressing, so essentially the setting is saying that nothing you do truly matters? That everything is inherently random and weird because they won't matter anyway?
I can see how the approach of "Everything you do will be a speck of dust compare to the unknown mess we called history and be forgotten in the next world" makes some interesting arguments for nihilism in video games, but to have it enforced by a setting that pretty much screams FUCK EVERYTHING is kind of...I don't know.

Boring? Uninspired? Just like real life. Heh.

 

[Prime Junta]

Sawyer doesn't make things up on the spot.

Then he's a worse GM than I thought.

im just picturing prime junta at the numenera gaming table screaming at the DM over his worldbuilding

I wouldn't do that. I'd play along for the session, then thank the DM politely and tell him that I'll be dropping out of the campaign. It's happened.

(Improvisation is crucial to good gamemastering though.)

 

[Fenix]

Interesting argumentations.
Yeah, P:T (PST) is definitely reminds me Ancient Greek tragedy. Theomachism motives maybe?

Also

Fate Unlock Code
You've spent one whole year on the Codex. Now post about it and get banned.

Huh...

 

[Kem0sabe]

From the review it sounds like the setting is just a bunch of weird shit thrown into a blender without any consideration for logic.

 

[Fenix]

The Game Analists - brilliant and funny. )

But this change nothing in lack of logic in adra-ruins and adra-this and adra-that, adra here adra there adra everywhere.
Looks like crutch nothing more.

 

[Fry]

I also feel that T:ToN is held back by Monte's insistence that none of the past may be revealed or explained

Has he actually said this? If so... ugh.

I like the idea of the technological junk of past civilizations and all, but a world in which none of the old tech can be explained is fundamentally irrational and anti-humanist. Might as well just call the tech magic and the old civilizations gods since there's no functional difference if the humans of Numenera's world are stuck in a perpetual state of ignorance.

 

[felipepepe]

But this change nothing in lack of logic in adra-ruins and adra-this and adra-that, adra here adra there adra everywhere.
Looks like crutch nothing more.

It was pure bullshit, playing the game we learn that Adra is like this super-material made of souls that the ancients used to build magical apparatus and a fucking colossus. Stuff made with Adra is extremely resistant and green:

This is made of Adra, not those ruins.

"Yo, magical cement" was a smart-ass reply for the grognards after seeing that the environmental artists had no notion of physics.

 

[mindx2]

What does that statue remind me of........... oh, yeah.... this:

 

[BlackGoat]

I'm working on a game project and everytime I'm drawing out some architecture thoughts of the Pillars half-arches and the Numa-Circus cobblestones has me breaking out into a cold sweat, wondering what I might be overlooking or what I don't know about how things actually work, what is fodder for future Codex scorn, sending me into a spiral of reference image googling seeking historical justification for what I'm making

 

[felipepepe]

I'm working on a game project and everytime I'm drawing out some architecture thoughts of the Pillars half-arches and the Numa-Circus cobblestones has me breaking out into a cold sweat, wondering what I might be overlooking or what I don't know about how things actually work, what is fodder for future Codex scorn, sending me into a spiral of reference image googling seeking historical justification for what I'm making

Good, fear keeps you on your toes. It's like playing a game with permadeth.

 

[Grauken]

I'm working on a game project and everytime I'm drawing out some architecture thoughts of the Pillars half-arches and the Numa-Circus cobblestones has me breaking out into a cold sweat, wondering what I might be overlooking or what I don't know about how things actually work, what is fodder for future Codex scorn, sending me into a spiral of reference image googling seeking historical justification for what I'm making

There's always a Codexer who will find fault with something, worrying about that is like worrying about dying whenever you enter a car (this is amusing)

 

[Prime Junta]

I'm working on a game project and everytime I'm drawing out some architecture thoughts of the Pillars half-arches and the Numa-Circus cobblestones has me breaking out into a cold sweat, wondering what I might be overlooking or what I don't know about how things actually work, what is fodder for future Codex scorn, sending me into a spiral of reference image googling seeking historical justification for what I'm making

I've been working on a game project for two years or so. I haven't yet dared to present it at the Gazebo for that very reason. Worse, it's relatively near-future relatively hard-sci-fi, so I don't even have "adra" or "magic technology" to justify it with (outside a couple of strictly circumscribed areas where I do have these kinds of elements).

But I will, one of these days.

 

[Darth Roxor]

I'm working on a game project and everytime I'm drawing out some architecture thoughts of the Pillars half-arches and the Numa-Circus cobblestones has me breaking out into a cold sweat, wondering what I might be overlooking or what I don't know about how things actually work, what is fodder for future Codex scorn, sending me into a spiral of reference image googling seeking historical justification for what I'm making

print this and put it within sight's reach for added motivation:

 

[Infinitron]

I also feel that T:ToN is held back by Monte's insistence that none of the past may be revealed or explained

Has he actually said this? If so... ugh.

I like the idea of the technological junk of past civilizations and all, but a world in which none of the old tech can be explained is fundamentally irrational and anti-humanist. Might as well just call the tech magic and the old civilizations gods since there's no functional difference if the humans of Numenera's world are stuck in a perpetual state of ignorance.

Correct me if I'm wrong, Prime Junta, but I think it would be permissible to explain the functionality of specific technological artifacts on a piecemeal basis. It's only the full context of past civilizations that you can't reveal.

 

[Prime Junta]

Correct me if I'm wrong, Prime Junta, but I think it would be permissible to explain the functionality of specific technological artifacts on a piecemeal basis. It's only the full context of past civilizations that you can't reveal.

They have repeatedly stated that official Numenera products will never reveal anything about the past worlds/civilisations, or explicitly state anything about the original design or purpose of any of their artefacts. They're only described in terms of appearance and empirical characteristics. Sometimes the original purpose is readily inferrable though: to pick an example from T:ToN, a buried spaceship with the engines now serving as power sources for a forge. But that's as far as it goes.

 

[Florian Gheorghe]

But maybe there is still hope for the game right? I was sure from day 1 that it won't be a mach for PS:T but maybe it will be at least more interesting then Pillars of Eternity. I don't want a weird game for the sake of being weird I do like what I have seen so far in the Beta thought.

 

[Prime Junta]

But maybe there is still hope for the game right? I was sure from day 1 that it won't be a mach for PS:T but maybe it will be at least more interesting then Pillars of Eternity. I don't want a weird game for the sake of being weird I do like what I have seen so far in the Beta thought.

As I said in the review and many times here, I like the beta a lot, especially after they revamped the intro. I don't know how Torment-y it's going to be, ultimately, but it's a very good game in its own right. The incoherent setting won't ruin that; it just means it won't contribute much.

 

[Brother None]

I'm working on a game project and everytime I'm drawing out some architecture thoughts of the Pillars half-arches and the Numa-Circus cobblestones has me breaking out into a cold sweat, wondering what I might be overlooking or what I don't know about how things actually work, what is fodder for future Codex scorn, sending me into a spiral of reference image googling seeking historical justification for what I'm making

That approach will likely add a lot of time to your gamedev cycle without adding a lot of quality. Someone is always going to find flaws in your game, what's important is being able to iterate when such feedback comes in. Fail early, fail often is key to gamedev. RPGs, especially great ones, are too complex to try to plan and account for everything.

 

[Excidium II]

I'm working on a game project and everytime I'm drawing out some architecture thoughts of the Pillars half-arches and the Numa-Circus cobblestones has me breaking out into a cold sweat, wondering what I might be overlooking or what I don't know about how things actually work, what is fodder for future Codex scorn, sending me into a spiral of reference image googling seeking historical justification for what I'm making

You forgot Wasteland 2's unrealistic european railroad car model.