karthink

First, thank you so much for making a new Torment game. Planescape: Torment was an eye opener to how rich and fulfilling RPGs can be if they strive a little higher. It remains, bar none, the best RPG I have ever played. With the wonderful Numenera setting and various design elements that you are adding, like the meres and the labyrinths of the protagonist's own consciousness, Tides of Numenera promises to provide even more depth and (hopefully) emotional resonance.

That said, I have a few questions--and possibly uncommon concerns--about the project, escpecially with PS:T fresh in my mind:

1. From what I've read of Numenera, the potential for wonderful weirdness is high in this one. But how do you plan to play the science-as-magic angle? It would be a giant missed opportunity if we end up with, say, spells, enchanted items, or melee weapons with a unique spin in the lore but mechanically and functionally similar to ever fantasy cRPG ever. I imagine the Ninth World setting gives you a chance to completely rethink the mechanics of engagement with the world (I don't mean just combat), and toss away long unquestioned RPG staples. What are some design elements--in the setting, dialog, interaction, and combat or exploration mechanics, say-- that you think really drives home the uncommon science-fantasy setting and distinguishes it from our usual sci-fi or pure fantasy RPGs?

2. A similar question about the setting: If we are dealing with tribal or medieval cultures in a post-post-post singularity world, are the differences between these cultures and our present view of (say) medieval times going to be merely superficial? Will there be traits wrought by a billion years of (un)natural evolution and the numenera in the fundamental fabric of these societies that lead to completely differing norms of morality, empathy, justice, sexuality and so on? (Differing both from us and from each other.)

3. The emphasis in the pitch on the question: What does one life matter?, and the bizarre tale of the changing god was a great hook for the Kickstarter. Presumably, you are framing this question as a parallel to "What can change the nature of a man", but I felt PS:T was never really about that question. While I could feel an undercurrent of that theme often, I came across the question itself just thrice in all of Planescape: Torment, roughly equally spaced in time, to make me reflect on my experience so far and think. I think people latched on to it because it's simple, catchy and sounds deep--which I felt was a disservice to the brilliant, often quotable writing in the rest of Planescape: Torment. My concern from watching the kickstarter pitch is that Tides of Numenera might throw its question in the player's face all the time, which I feel would be rather unsubtle, and a shame. Thoughts?

4. PS:T had more than one "item gate", puzzles in the way of progress that depended on obscure items. Example: finding a hammer/crowbar in the alley of lingering sighs, which brought to mind some of my less happy experiences with point and click adventure games. Do you have more, um, innovative ideas to meter progress in Tides? Hopefully ones that don't involve clicking on piles of debris hoping to find the right thingamajig? I'm okay with the idea of the world being a collection of gated hubs (or anything else, really), my question is about the keys to them.

5. While PS:T avoided or subverted many common RPG tropes, you still could barge into someone's home only to have them ask you, a stranger, for help on a personal matter. (To its credit, this only happened twice, and one time it was contextualized with TNO's past.) Is this trend going to continue? Will we have to arbitrate disputes between strangers with no reason to besides shifting our tide alignments? These are long standing RPG tropes that most players are accustomed to and wouldn't bat an eyelid at, but I'm really hoping you can shake things up here.

Finally, a suggestion if I may: God AIs, living islands and hive mind societies, these are all well established sci-fi tropes today. Please, please try to go above and beyond the expected quota of delightful (and disturbing) weirdness and mind-blowing concepts and settings, assuming of course that these ideas manage to fit your narrative themes. RPGs are too scared these days to offer anything but rehashes of widely accepted (usually Hollywood/TV fantasy/sci-fi inspired) settings. All I'm saying is: Don't hold back, let's have a world that makes Sigil and The Planes seem quotidian.

The Bloom sounds like a great start. :)

Okay guys, the big questions:

• Pre-rendered backgrounds or real time rendering? In either case, won't the isometric view limit the scale of objects you can show on screen? (Like the amber obelisk, for instance--not that the obelisk itself is in the game.)

• Turn based/ Real time with pause combat? Or something new? On a scale of deep, clear fuschia to a murder of crows, how do you rate Planescape: Torment's combat?

• As the budget (and the scope) of the game increases, thanks to Kickstarter, by how much do you think the release will be pushed back? I am totally fine with this by the way. To quote Miyamoto: "A delayed game is eventually good, but a rushed game is forever bad."

• What is your estimate of the expected word count when you get down to it? I still have trouble wrapping my head around the idea that I read through about half of Planescape: Torment's crazy 800,000 words sitting at my screen, completely enraptured. :)

PS: The last question is important because it is how I get my friends who devour fantasy novels to put their hats into the Torment Kickstarter ring.

(Note to mods: Err, my other set of questions went too far out of hand to add in these more straightforward ones. If "double dipping" is disallowed on this subreddit, please delete this post.)

Thank you, that's exactly what I needed to hear. I understand that you had to find a really delicious hook to convince viewers.

You guys did a bang up job on the Kickstarter pitch and webpage! It seduced many non-gamers I know who are into speculative or fantasy fiction.

For example, if you are skilled in numenera, then you would get insights that reflect more of the science-fantasy feel.

So the apparent genre of the game depends to some extent on the PC's build? This sounds ingenious.

My question was about enough of the flavor of the Ninth World permeating the mechanics (such as the form of communication with NPCs, and environment navigation) and items (such as the equivalents of armor and other accoutrements--if these exist). It's a vague question, but your answer is quite enlightening, thanks.

they managed to keep a certain... grin?

The word you're looking for is rictus. As in Mortimer "Morte" Rictusgrin