Chris Avellone "very tempted" to do a Planescape: Torment Kickstarter
But would dump D&D and Planescape setting for a new game.
Decorated RPG designer Chris Avellone is "very tempted" by the idea of reviving Planescape: Torment using Kickstarter, he told GamesIndustry International.
He was lead designer of the beloved 1999 PC role-playing game.
But if he did revisit Planescape: Torment, he'd ditch the Dungeons & Dragons rules along with the associated Planescape setting. They "got in the way", he said, and without them "you could actually come up with a much better game".
"Yes! Very tempted," he said of a Planescape: Torment Kickstarter.
"... To be honest, I don't know if I'd want to do it as a Planescape game - a better approach would be to ignore the D&D mechanics and respect what Planescape was trying to do and what the game did, and see if you can do what Fallout did when it became the spiritual successor to Wasteland.
"If you made a game using some of the concepts of Planescape - the metaphysical ideas and the plane travel - without using the D&D mechanics, you could actually come up with a much better game. With Torment, I'd argue that the D&D base actually, in places, got in the way of the experience. It was a lot harder to make a game with those ideas in it with D&D mechanics, so much that we had to break a lot of them. We had to ignore certain spells, change up the class mechanic so that you can switch at any time you like by remembering abilities.
"It was a lot harder to make a game with those ideas in it with D&D mechanics, so much that we had to break a lot of them. We had to ignore certain spells, change up the class mechanic so that you can switch at any time you like by remembering abilities."
Chris Avellone, lead designer, Planescape: Torment
"That was stuff that D&D didn't allow for," he added, "it was too restraining in some respects. If we did do a spiritual successor, then I don't know if we'd use the Planescape licence or attach the mechanics, perhaps something that has a different feel to Torment."
Planescape: Torment wasn't flawless - Eurogamer's original review scored it 7/10. But it was peerless - an argument explored in our 2009 Planescape: Torment retrospective. The game followed an immortal central character called the Nameless One, who embarked on a quest to uncover his true identity and past lives with about the most eclectic bunch of followers we can ever remember assembling.
Today, you can revive the engrossing and often bizarre adventure courtesy of Good Old Games, which remastered Planescape: Torment for modern operating systems. But be warned: it's a very long game, and the fiddly D&D mechanics haven't aged particularly well. The graphics are also outdated, obviously - illustrated brilliantly by the game's glitzy opening cut-scene posted below.
Chris Avellone and Obsidian Entertainment are helping Brian Fargo and InXile Entertainment make Wasteland 2 - one of the most successful projects ever on Kickstarter. The first screenshot of Wasteland 2 was released the other day, for feedback purposes, and the game itself is due out next year.
Chris Avellone and Obsidian are also collaborating with Trey Parker and Matt Stone on a South Park RPG for publisher THQ. The game's due in March 2013.