Torment Torment: Tides of Numenera Beta Thread [GAME RELEASED, GO TO NEW THREAD]

[Turjan]

If Planescape is open to licence from 11/02/2013 (date of that article), why hasn't anyone pick it up ? It's 2017.

It's popular by itself, but in a very small niche.

Yup. I guess the popularity of the Planescape setting is seen in too rosy terms on this board because of the admiration for Planescape Torment. Many players didn't like the setting because it was too weird. Then there was the Planescape cant, which many people hated. It also turned out, when WotC looked at the TSR financials, that much Planescape material was costly to produce and yielded little return. This was the major reason why material for the Planes was very scarce in 3.x times.

 

[Irenaeus]

Bitching about Trump at inxile? So thats another toxic, lib infested work environment right there.

i wonder how much of that librul crap leaked into the game.

Not much as far as I could tell. Just a ridiculously huge number of women in position of leadership (there's still AA one billion years in the future). There's some talk about refugees and other pet, but mostly minor stuff. Oh, and fake Lando is a FAG (spoilers).

 

[Irenaeus]

What's old about that, inshillitron? That Planescape is superior to Numenera which itself is superior to boring retarded crap like PoE?

No, that the Planescape setting doesn't exist anymore. It's gone, old man

Yeah, I don't have 20 Planet Escape books in my hard drive.

 

[Irenaeus]

mostly because it really can't be as bad as POE and "m'lady gods don't exist" *tips fedora* am I right?

Actually, that's not canon at all. It was simply an insane theory of some heretic rebel who was rightfully executed.

 

[Fowyr]

It's popular by itself, but in a very small niche.

Yup, I remember playing Planescape cRPGs that were not Torment, but they were

Spoiler

FRUA modules based on modules from the Planescape Campaign Set.
And they were never really popular.

Everyone and their dog wants new Torment, not just Planescape game.

 

[Fairfax]

If Planescape is open to licence from 11/02/2013 (date of that article), why hasn't anyone pick it up ? It's 2017.

It's popular by itself, but in a very small niche.

Yup. I guess the popularity of the Planescape setting is seen in too rosy terms on this board because of the admiration for Planescape Torment. Many players didn't like the setting because it was too weird. Then there was the Planescape cant, which many people hated. It also turned out, when WotC looked at the TSR financials, that much Planescape material was costly to produce and yielded little return. This was the major reason why material for the Planes was very scarce in 3.x times.

PS:T definitely would've helped Planescape books, but it came out after it had already been abandoned. The last Planescape book came out in early 1998, while PS:T was released in December 1999.

You're right that most people though it was too weird, though. Planescape as a whole is not very appealing to more casual players.

"Today we're going to run a Planescape adventure."
"Ok, DM, but what is Planetscape?"
"Planescape."
"What is that?"

""

Meanwhile they could just go ahead and play this:

People still love Planescape because it was fantastic if you were willing to put in the effort of learning it. However, that was a hard sell to the mainstream audience, specially with Forgotten Realms, Dragonlance, Birthright, Ravenloft, Dark Sun, etc having a lot of great, more accessible books at the time.

 

[Grotesque]

hey Roguey ! did you asked for a refund on Torment - Numenera?

 

[Stainless Veteran]

If Planescape is open to licence from 11/02/2013 (date of that article), why hasn't anyone pick it up ? It's 2017.

It's popular by itself, but in a very small niche.

Yup. I guess the popularity of the Planescape setting is seen in too rosy terms on this board because of the admiration for Planescape Torment. Many players didn't like the setting because it was too weird. Then there was the Planescape cant, which many people hated. It also turned out, when WotC looked at the TSR financials, that much Planescape material was costly to produce and yielded little return. This was the major reason why material for the Planes was very scarce in 3.x times.

PS:T definitely would've helped Planescape books, but it came out after it had already been abandoned. The last Planescape book came out in early 1998, while PS:T was released in December 1999.

You're right that most people though it was too weird, though. Planescape as a whole is not very appealing to more casual players.

"Today we're going to run a Planescape adventure."
"Ok, DM, but what is Planetscape?"
"Planescape."
"What is that?"

""

Meanwhile they could just go ahead and play this:

People still love Planescape because it was fantastic if you were willing to put in the effort of learning it. However, that was a hard sell to the mainstream audience, specially with Forgotten Realms, Dragonlance, Birthright, Ravenloft, Dark Sun, etc having a lot of great, more accessible books at the time.

All true, but I just wanted to add that Dark Sun wasn't really accessible for Forgotten Realms and Dragonlance enthusiasts, and the last sourcebook in 2nd ed came out in 1996. Same goes for Ravenloft, it was never that popular either, although I think it was more popular than Dark Sun due to gothic themes being still trendy in 90s. I don't think that they would've sold the rights to WW if the setting was really popular.

 

[Turjan]

All true, but I just wanted to add that Dark Sun wasn't really accessible for Forgotten Realms and Dragonlance enthusiasts, and the last sourcebook in 2nd ed came out in 1996. Same goes for Ravenloft, it was never that popular either, although I think it was more popular than Dark Sun due to gothic themes being still popular in 90s. I don't think that they would've sold the rights to WW if the setting was really popular.

Yup. It didn't help that Dark Sun used a rather different ruleset. Also, they basically ran Dark Sun into the ground via the metaplot. The Dark Sun of the end had nothing to do with the boxed set of the beginning.

 

[t]

Thanks for the responses, and my apologies for not getting back to you sooner. I was sick for part of the week and am playing catch up now.

I guess inXile still has one only Sea manning the support emails. I actually feel quite bad for him, reading all of those angry rants about refunds.

Anyway, waiting for those $80 and looking forward to the release and some reviews. I will definitely buy the game if it turns out good, but I'm not giving it any special treatment. Just waiting for reviews and/or sales.

 

[Fairfax]

If Planescape is open to licence from 11/02/2013 (date of that article), why hasn't anyone pick it up ? It's 2017.

It's popular by itself, but in a very small niche.

Yup. I guess the popularity of the Planescape setting is seen in too rosy terms on this board because of the admiration for Planescape Torment. Many players didn't like the setting because it was too weird. Then there was the Planescape cant, which many people hated. It also turned out, when WotC looked at the TSR financials, that much Planescape material was costly to produce and yielded little return. This was the major reason why material for the Planes was very scarce in 3.x times.

PS:T definitely would've helped Planescape books, but it came out after it had already been abandoned. The last Planescape book came out in early 1998, while PS:T was released in December 1999.

You're right that most people though it was too weird, though. Planescape as a whole is not very appealing to more casual players.

"Today we're going to run a Planescape adventure."
"Ok, DM, but what is Planetscape?"
"Planescape."
"What is that?"

""

Meanwhile they could just go ahead and play this:

People still love Planescape because it was fantastic if you were willing to put in the effort of learning it. However, that was a hard sell to the mainstream audience, specially with Forgotten Realms, Dragonlance, Birthright, Ravenloft, Dark Sun, etc having a lot of great, more accessible books at the time.

All true, but I just wanted to add that Dark Sun wasn't really accessible for Forgotten Realms and Dragonlance enthusiasts, and the last sourcebook in 2nd ed came out in 1996. Same goes for Ravenloft, it was never that popular either, although I think it was more popular than Dark Sun due to gothic themes being still popular in 90s. I don't think that they would've sold the rights to WW if the setting was really popular.

Dark Sun was niche, yes. Birthright wasn't particularly successful either, but my point is that all of these settings were a lot more accessible than Planescape. As for Ravenloft, it was just licensed to WW for a while, they got it back and released more 3.5E books afterwards. They also brought it back in 5E last year.

 

[Luckmann]

My favourite D&D settings (despite never having played PnP D&D) is easily Planescape, Spelljammer and Dark Sun. Not sure what that says about me. I'm sure we'll see a not-Dark-Sun rehash framed in a lesson about global warming and the plight of climate refugees before long.

 

[FeelTheRads]

What's up with Spelljammer, by the way? Think that's completely dead?

 

[Irenaeus]

I like Mystara.

 

[Stainless Veteran]

Dark Sun was niche, yes. Birthright wasn't particularly successful either, but my point is that all of these settings were a lot more accessible than Planescape. As for Ravenloft, it was just licensed to WW for a while, they got it back and released more 3.5E books afterwards. They also brought it back in 5E last year.

Yeah, I know about Ravenloft. Never got or read 5ed books though, only 2nd edition. WW run was lackluster, I somehow doubt that 5th edition is better. But yeah, I agree WotC concentrated on the lowest common denominator accessibility in their settings, and don't even get me started on Eberron.

 

[Stainless Veteran]

My favourite D&D settings (despite never having played PnP D&D) is easily Planescape, Spelljammer and Dark Sun. Not sure what that says about me. I'm sure we'll see a not-Dark-Sun rehash framed in a lesson about global warming and the plight of climate refugees before long.

It just means you have a monocled taste, good sir.

1) Planescape, 2) Dark Sun and 3) Ravenloft for me though, Spelljammer being the fourth, and Al-Qadim the fifth favorite setting.

 

[Roguey]

hey Roguey ! did you asked for a refund on Torment - Numenera?

No, I liked the novellas, and I'm going with this to the bitter end.

I also can't back out of Wasteland 3 since I already took advantage of the free keys.

 

[t]

hey Roguey ! did you asked for a refund on Torment - Numenera?

No, I liked the novellas, and I'm going with this to the bitter end.

I also can't back out of Wasteland 3 since I already took advantage of the free keys.

You can ask for a partial refund. I have redeemed WL2 and Sea just deducted it from my pledge. I have also redeemed Torment Beta, but he will just disable this when the game comes out I guess.

I feel like "going to the bitter end" is silly since you have an option. Would you back it today? If no, then you probably should refund.

 

[Russia is over. The end.]

Activision refuses to sell/license Arcanum to Obsidian. They just want to own it and not do anything with it. Big companies are dumb.

Maybe they figure Arcanum universe could potentially be turned into some popamole shit down the roat, just like Fallout. Fallout1-2 and Arcanum have definite similarities between them.

 

[Fairfax]

What's up with Spelljammer, by the way? Think that's completely dead?

Yes. WOTC released some of the books as pdfs recently (along with many other old settings, including Planescape), but that's about it.

Dark Sun was niche, yes. Birthright wasn't particularly successful either, but my point is that all of these settings were a lot more accessible than Planescape. As for Ravenloft, it was just licensed to WW for a while, they got it back and released more 3.5E books afterwards. They also brought it back in 5E last year.

Yeah, I know about Ravenloft. Never got or read 5ed books though, only 2nd edition. WW run was lackluster, I somehow doubt that 5th edition is better. But yeah, I agree WotC concentrated on the lowest common denominator accessibility in their settings, and don't even get me started on Eberron.

Oh, Eberron. Pure trash, but that's exactly why it was a perfect fit for 4E.

 

[Irenaeus]

Oh, Eberron. Pure trash, but that's exactly why it was a perfect fit for 4E.

We have some Eberron fans here, most notably Lhynn

 

[Turjan]

Oh, Eberron. Pure trash, but that's exactly why it was a perfect fit for 4E.

Honestly, while I don't like the setting very much, I played in two very enjoyable pnp campaigns in the setting (3.5). It served its purpose.

 

[Roguey]

You can ask for a partial refund. I have redeemed WL2 and Sea just deducted it from my pledge. I have also redeemed Torment Beta, but he will just disable this when the game comes out I guess.

I feel like "going to the bitter end" is silly since you have an option. Would you back it today? If no, then you probably should refund.

I want to evaluate it myself though. I'm more tolerant of things than a lot of people here.

Maybe they figure Arcanum universe could potentially be turned into some popamole shit down the roat, just like Fallout. Fallout1-2 and Arcanum have definite similarities between them.

Troika were going to do this themselves with Journey to the Center of Arcanum. Figured it would have happened already if there were any interest in doing so.

 

[Jedi Master Radek]

You're right that most people though it was too weird, though. Planescape as a whole is not very appealing to more casual players

People who say that something is too weird for them genuinely scare me. When most of the entertainment is the same, copy of the copy, watered down, stripped of uniqueness and made safe, being weird is a merit in itself. Even if author does not properly uses this weirdness it is still better than a sea of mediocrity.

 

[Stainless Veteran]

You're right that most people though it was too weird, though. Planescape as a whole is not very appealing to more casual players

People who say that something is too weird for them genuinely scare me. When most of the entertainment is the same, copy of the copy, watered down, stripped of uniqueness and made safe, being weird is a merit in itself. Even if author does not properly uses this weirdness it is still better than a sea of mediocrity.

I get what you're saying, but I think that being weird for the sake of weirdness, when nothing is ever explained, and just a random mishmash of cool things is a problem in itself. One of Numenera's main problems, but not limited to it.

Off-topic novel rant

I've read not so long ago a cyberpunk/virtual reality/post-apoc novel, called Escapology. And it had it all, corporations, Water world after apocalypse, said apocalypse was incurred by man-made digging machines that dug through Earth's crust, virtual reality which look like sea, unconsious mind manifesting in this virtual reality as some marine life avatar, giant city-ships, tranny hacker main character, diversity, mental illness, people divided by classes by their jobs (just renamed cyberpunk terms though), evil AIs which looks like giant ant queens and can materialize, haptic holograms killing people, and so on. Did all this assorted stuff, which could've been cool if developed properly and given thought (except for trannysm and diversity), made the novel good? Or even better than the novels which have less "weird stuff"? Sadly no, it was incoherent garbage, because all this ideas didn't mesh, they were thrown on the reader without rhyme or reason, other than to look cool. Again, kinda like Numanuma.