General News - Colin McComb - What's Next?

Colin McComb's thoughts turn to Planescape: Torment (and what a successor would be like) as he thinks of what's next after mostly finishing his work on Wasteland 2:

Though I was a big fan of my early work (just because it was my early work, and evidence that I was working as a game designer) one of the first things I was truly proud of was TSR’s Birthright, my first published world, which took AD&D into a lower-fantasy setting and let you take the part of a ruler of a realm. Second was my work on the Planescape campaign setting, which allowed a huge degree of creative exploration. In that body of work, Monte Cook and I (along with our able editors, Ray Vallese and Michele Carter) were able to flesh out a significant part of the cosmology and background of the planes, defining and creating a foundation that would lead to my next big gig (and to Monte’s; not only did he help design D&D 3.0, he also produced an amazing string of successes, the latest of which is his Numenera setting).
Third, and perhaps most importantly, was Planescape: Torment. That’s almost certainly the work that people remember best, even if they don’t necessarily remember my name. Working on PST was… well, let’s turn on the Wayback Machine.
I came onto Torment as, I think, the fifth or sixth person when my Playstation Planescape game was canceled. It was a blow to lose my first lead designer gig, but it turned into a real education. The first members of the nascent team had been working on the game’s preproduction for a few months. At that time, it was called “Planescape: Last Rites”, a name that had to change because of the game “Last Rites.” But the concept remained largely the same, though it grew stronger and stranger as we progressed.

More information.

Another Kickstarter, perhaps?

He's posting on RPGCodex about it.

Sounds like Brian Fargo bought the Torment trademark. Colin McComb apparently approached WotC in February about licensing the Planescape setting and WotC refused to talk to him. Which I find utterly baffling. But it sounds like the end goal is going to be Colin McComb and all these guys doing a spiritual sequel to Torment, probably after Wasteland 2 is done.

I remember Birthright - ambitious mix of TBS strategy and RPG adventure, but less than the sum of its parts. It actually was more enjoyable if you completed ignored the RPG and just played the strategy parts.

I don't think he was involved in the game as much as the D&D setting the game took as it's basis. I don't recall the PC game being anything spectacular.

Originally Posted by darkling
He's posting on RPGCodex about it.

Sounds like Brian Fargo bought the Torment trademark. Colin McComb apparently approached WotC in February about licensing the Planescape setting and WotC refused to talk to him. Which I find utterly baffling. But it sounds like the end goal is going to be Colin McComb and all these guys doing a spiritual sequel to Torment, probably after Wasteland 2 is done.

I've always found the TSR/WotC approach to D&D computer games licensing to be baffling. They seem to be their own worst enemies. But they haven't exactly been doing well with the PnP game either, at least not since v3.5. At some point they'll make themselves irrelevant.