Torment: Tides of Numenera is sweeping to victory on Kickstarter, powered along its final hours perhaps by the knowledge that the original Planescape: Torment lead designer Chris Avellone will be joining the team.

A press release indicates that Avellone, who also worked on Knights of the Old Republic 2 and Wasteland 2, will be joining to “review and provide feedback on all creative elements of the game, including the story, characters, and gameplay areas.”

The Kickstarter is pushing to reach the $4 million mark, which would make it the most funded game Kickstarter on record and allow for new stretch goals such as more cities, a better soundtrack and greater depth. At $4.5 million, a player stronghold will be added. Take a look!

Source: Kickstarter

In a discussion about game stories I was having a few weeks ago with some game-writer friends of mine, the subject turned, as it inevitably tends to do, to Planescape: Torment. We all agreed, as we inevitably do, that the game features one of the best, if not the best narratives in gaming — but an interesting comment was made that forced me to start replaying the game for the first time in a number of years, and re-examine my opinion.

All the rumours are true: Brian Fargo and inXile announced overnight that another Torment game is in the works, and many of the original design team are heading back to make it happen.

The new game will not be set in the Planescape setting due to licensing issues, but it will instead be set in the Numenera universe, which was conceived by Monte Cook and which blasted through its Kickstarter goal last year. Cook is one of the original designers on Planescape: Torment and also one of the key figures behind D&D’s iconic 3.5 edition.

“The more we explored the Numenera setting, the clearer it became that it’s a natural fit for a Torment game. And it isn’t too surprising that Numenera’s aesthetics work well for Torment given that Monte was a key designer for the Planescape setting,” said inXile’s Brian Fargo to Rock, Paper, Shotgun.

“Numenera is very exotic and rich, but is a flexible universe that empowers and support GMs. As Torment desires certain locations or features, we’ll be able to do what we need to while fully respecting the setting. This goes beyond a typical licensing arrangement as Monte will be giving us direct input and even provide writing for some of the game areas. I’m really pleased to have Monte be part of the team.”

Joining the team are Colin McComb, Kevin Saunders, Adam Heine, Dana Knutson and Ray Vallese, all of whom worked on the original Planescape. They are “absolutely” thinking about using Kickstarter as a funding model, so start saving up now. More information can be found at the RPS interview or head here for information on the setting.

Source: RPS

Just yesterday, we reported that Colin McComb was thinking seriously about a spiritual successor to Planescape: Torment. After that was reported all around the gaming-side of the Internet, McComb himself contacted Eurogamer to say, yes, he would be moving forward with the sequel.

“As you may recall, Chris [Avellone] mentioned his ideas for a spiritual successor to Torment with some frequency over the summer. This stemmed (at least in part) from discussions he and I were having about the possibility of resurrecting the IP, and this led to my reaching out to Wizards of the Coast,” he told Eurogamer.

“That did not yield fruit, but it did get the two of us talking about what we’d like to see in any regard, and we both agreed that Planescape was not the best route for us to take anyway, due to the mechanical issues and editorial oversight WotC would want.

“The Project: Eternity Kickstarter took them in a different direction than a direct successor. I told Chris that I would not work on a Torment successor without his approval. We talked about it for a bit, and he told me that he was entirely comfortable with me moving forward on a Torment game without him, and he gave me his explicit blessing to do it.

“Right now he’s incredibly involved with Project: Eternity, and I do not want to distract him from a project that is incredibly important to his company. With that said, I would be happy – no, wait, overjoyed – to have him on board in any capacity whatsoever.”

So the game has received its blessing from the great Avellone, and it’s definitely moving. That’s still a long way from finished and installed on our computers, but it is definitely a start that we can get excited about.

Source: Eurogamer

A spiritual successor to the ever-popular Planescape: Torment has been hinted at by Colin McComb, a central figure in Black Isle’s history. Without wanting to make any promises, while discussing in a blog post what he is going to be working on next, McComb discusses Torment extensively.

“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.”

There are, of course, problems with this idea — including the fact that they don’t own the rights to the Planescape roleplaying setting, and Wizards of the Coast aren’t hot on the idea of licensing it. “I first approached them in February, and it became clear early on that they didn’t seem very interested in talking to me. That’s okay, though. Other, equally cool options exist.”

Chris Avellone has also professed interest in creating a sequel to Planescape: Torment, though McComb claims neither he or Avellone are interested in a direct sequel so much as a spiritual successor.

“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.”

Source: VG247 and Colin McComb’s Blog

In other old-school RPG news, Chris Avellone has told GamesIndustry International that he is sorely tempted by the idea of putting up a Kickstarter for the potential funding of a PlaneScape sequel. He’d want to do it rather differently to the original, however. “To be honest I don’t know if I’d want to do it as a Planescape game,” he said. “I think 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.” Well, I’d still pledge money.