Dagon's lair offers a new Torment: Tides of Numenera interview in both French and English with Brian Fargo, Colin McComb and Kevin Saunders. It covers a lot of familiar ground but also reveals some new names involved, including Aaron Meyers, one of Planescape: Torment's artists who also worked on Icewind Dale I & II, KotOR II and Neverwinter Nights 2.
Brian Fargo talks about the team of concept artists including Andrée Wallin, Dana Knutson, Nils Hamm and Chang Yuan. Wallin we know from his work on Wasteland 2, more of his art can be found here. Knutson is a huge name in Planescape history, instrumental in developing the setting with Zeb Cook and responsible for the creation of the Lady of Pain, see more of his work here. Nils Hamm is an experienced artist who provided a lot of Magic the Gathering art, see some of his work here. Chang Yuang did the dog and rail thug art we've seen, more of his art here.
On to the interview.<blockquote>You already said you will be working with Monte Cook and Numenera. Numenera is a completely different setting, as it is set in a distant future. How will you adapt the Torment IP to this setting ? Will you only use Numenera’s rules or are you going to adapt the Torment « philosophy » to the Numenera overall setting ?
(Colin)
The way we see it, Torment is a specific thematic story style, not necessarily tied to a particular setting. It is an intensely personal story, not an epic – but every story feels like an epic to the person living it, and we will bring a story of struggle, tragedy, and potential redemption. The Numenera setting is a natural, perhaps even inevitable choice for the kind of story we want to tell here, focusing as it does on mystery, abandonment, and secrets that may never be revealed.
We will be adapting Numenera’s rules for the game–Monte has created a fantastic tabletop setting, and we plan to make use of his work as the basis for our game. However, we have story elements that we need to quantify and explore that Monte (rightly) didn’t build into his system that are specific to Torment.
What about the people in charge of the scenario ? Are the « chosen ones » selected ? Will be Chris Avellone be related in any way in your project ? Could you talk a bit about the overall scenario/story of the game ?
(Brian)
Colin McComb is the creative lead, with his experience in world-building and fiction writing as the cornerstone of the story and thematic elements. He worked on both developing the Planescape setting and as a designer on Planescape: Torment. Torment’s project director is Kevin Saunders, who was the lead designer and producer for Mask of the Betrayer, which some of the hardcore RPG fans feel was the game closest to PS:T yet. We have several great concept artists involved, including Nils Hamm, Andree Wallin, Chang Yuan, and Dana Knutson, who was the primary concept artist of the Planescape setting. Mark Morgan is creating the game’s soundtrack – he’s already created a piece for Torment and completely nailed it. A lot of great talent is involved.
Chris Avellone won’t be working on the project, but is very supportive of what we’re doing. He also referred both Colin and Kevin to me, so in that way he helped Torment form.
We will be sharing more details on the story soon but it is a bit too early. </blockquote>
Brian Fargo talks about the team of concept artists including Andrée Wallin, Dana Knutson, Nils Hamm and Chang Yuan. Wallin we know from his work on Wasteland 2, more of his art can be found here. Knutson is a huge name in Planescape history, instrumental in developing the setting with Zeb Cook and responsible for the creation of the Lady of Pain, see more of his work here. Nils Hamm is an experienced artist who provided a lot of Magic the Gathering art, see some of his work here. Chang Yuang did the dog and rail thug art we've seen, more of his art here.
On to the interview.<blockquote>You already said you will be working with Monte Cook and Numenera. Numenera is a completely different setting, as it is set in a distant future. How will you adapt the Torment IP to this setting ? Will you only use Numenera’s rules or are you going to adapt the Torment « philosophy » to the Numenera overall setting ?
(Colin)
The way we see it, Torment is a specific thematic story style, not necessarily tied to a particular setting. It is an intensely personal story, not an epic – but every story feels like an epic to the person living it, and we will bring a story of struggle, tragedy, and potential redemption. The Numenera setting is a natural, perhaps even inevitable choice for the kind of story we want to tell here, focusing as it does on mystery, abandonment, and secrets that may never be revealed.
We will be adapting Numenera’s rules for the game–Monte has created a fantastic tabletop setting, and we plan to make use of his work as the basis for our game. However, we have story elements that we need to quantify and explore that Monte (rightly) didn’t build into his system that are specific to Torment.
What about the people in charge of the scenario ? Are the « chosen ones » selected ? Will be Chris Avellone be related in any way in your project ? Could you talk a bit about the overall scenario/story of the game ?
(Brian)
Colin McComb is the creative lead, with his experience in world-building and fiction writing as the cornerstone of the story and thematic elements. He worked on both developing the Planescape setting and as a designer on Planescape: Torment. Torment’s project director is Kevin Saunders, who was the lead designer and producer for Mask of the Betrayer, which some of the hardcore RPG fans feel was the game closest to PS:T yet. We have several great concept artists involved, including Nils Hamm, Andree Wallin, Chang Yuan, and Dana Knutson, who was the primary concept artist of the Planescape setting. Mark Morgan is creating the game’s soundtrack – he’s already created a piece for Torment and completely nailed it. A lot of great talent is involved.
Chris Avellone won’t be working on the project, but is very supportive of what we’re doing. He also referred both Colin and Kevin to me, so in that way he helped Torment form.
We will be sharing more details on the story soon but it is a bit too early. </blockquote>
