Avellone Tempted To Kickstart PlaneScape 2: DO IT!
Oh my goodness, this had better not be a tease. Chris Avellone has told GamesIndustry International that he's "very tempted" to start a Kickstarter for a sequel to Planescape: Torment. Oh God, oh God, you have to do this, please, please, please. Cough, decorum. PlaneScape: Torment has of course been scientifically proven to be the best RPG of all time, with experts demonstrating that anyone who doesn't like it is a giant idiot. The thought of more of this fantastic story, from the brain who wrote it, is like concentrated Christmas. Although... he adds, "I don't know if I'd want to do it as a Planescape game."
That's not as bad as it sounds. Despite the game generally colloquially being known as "Planescape", D&D aficionados will already have been snorting in disgust at the headline of this post, and have begun typing an email to point out Planescape is the D&D realm, Torment is the specific name of this game. By relieving himself of the official D&D rules, you could argue this offers a wealth of new freedom. (I know it's AD&D - I just like making those emails get started.)
"A better approach would be to ignore the D&D mechanics and respect what Planescape was trying to do and what the game did," said Avellone to GI. "And see if you can do what Fallout did when it became the spiritual successor to Wasteland." He'd still keep the plane travel concept and metaphysical concepts, but says the D&D elements actually "got in the way of the experience." He continues, "That was stuff that D&D didn't allow for. 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."
It sounds like he's given it a decent amount of thought already, and obviously Avellone will have been inspired by his involvement in Fargo's Wasteland 2 success. But he's a busy man, with Obsidian also working on the South Park RPG, so perhaps a return for the Nameless One would be a way off, if it were to come to be.
But it turns out, it has to. Because if it doesn't, after this teasing, I will blow up the Earth.