Obsidian Entertainment - MCA Interview @ Lightspeed

Planescape: Torment shows up on several best-game-of-all-time lists. Many standard mechanics of video game RPGs (like repeatedly dying and leveling up) are incorporated into the narrative of the game so that each death and level up is part of the protagonist’s story. Take us through the development of Planescape. How did you set out to make this game different from other D&D games?

I had a long list of things I wanted to do with an RPG and a long list of things I hated about RPGs when Planescape rolled around, so that all added fuel to the fire. I started with all the elements I hated, cut those out (no halflings, dwarves, elves, evil wizards, no saving the kingdom, no swords, no attempt to make the undead scary, re-loading after death, regimented class system, and pre-determined alignment) and added stuff I’d always wanted to do (puritan succubus, making the dead more sympathetic, dungeons-in-a-pocket, selfish main quest, fragmented personality of main character, pregnant alleys).
The fact that it was set in the Planescape universe was a plus, because Planescape consciously disregarded D&D conventions in favor of the setting, and that allowed a lot more breathing room for adventure and character ideas than a normal D&D campaign.

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Couchpotato said:

Seriously I would love if they would make more games based on Planescape but its a wish that will never happen.Atari or was it interplay still owns the rights and haven't made any good rpgs in years.

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Grant Morrison’s run on Doom Patrol was the source of inspiration for the pregnant alley in Planescape: Torment–Morrison introduced a character called “Danny the Street” in Doom Patrol who was a living street who was also a transvestite, and I’ve never gotten that character idea out of my head).

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Dhruin said:

I would suggest partly that WotC has retired the Planescape setting (whereas Forgotten Realms is still current) and partly that getting major sales would be hard. It wouldn't be as popular as FR or Eberron (too weird to be mainstream) so they'd rather mine those settings.

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