Arvan Eleron chats with Shanna Germain, Monte Cook, & Patrick Rothfuss about Torment:
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Thanks Eye!
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Torment: Tides of Numenera - Arvan Eleron Chat
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Patrick's comment about fallout 4 is priceless.
No just the first hour. The rest is just Arvan playing Torment.
Start from around 12:12. Arvan introduces everyone and describes what they are known for and what they are working on. Finished intro at 15:00.
They mostly talk about writing and narrative in games because they are all writers. They meaning Shanna Germain, Monte Cook, Patrick Rothfuss and Brad Beaulieu.
Snippets:
- Shanna is working on a source book for the Torment game
- Brad is currently working on book 2 of a new series
- Patrick hosted a world builders charity and has written bestsellers
15:00 -> talks to Monte about the feel of the Numenera setting and how it stays cohesive. What was the organising principle?
"This is a world where people regard technology as magic"
"Technology had to be so weird it didn't seem familiar" ~ not to the audience or its inhabitants
ie. dangerous world and not a lot of travel
17:30 -> Working with people in another medium to realise your vision - where is the line drawn?
"gut feel"
"fortunate because he knows Colin McComb"
"more a question of what you can't do with the setting"
19:26 -> Asking Shanna about working on the source book. What are your governing principles putting together a book?
"Colin was very close to our vision"
"How would this be great for the tabletop?"
"Keep the emotional truth of the thing not the mechanical thing" ie "cool details and exciting possibilities"
23:00 -> Brad asks what Numenera is not to Monte
"Numenera is not starwars, startrek, cyberpunk" etc
"You find some new thing - you have to test it; you have to figure it out"
"You use it but your pretty sure thats not what it was meant to be"
25:00 -> What is the genesis of Numenera?
"Has been on the back shelf for 20 years" ie since pre TSR days
"Thought the audience would be pretty limited"
27:00 -> What expectations were there?
"Creation of a setting was something I had done before"
ie. They were focused on the tabletop experience not computer game applications
29:30 - > Shanna is working on three things:
- Poison Eaters 1 the novel
- Source book for Torment Tides of Numenera (explores the regions of the game)
- Setting for some dinosaur thing called Creation
35:45 - > How do you make the game fun for characters
"Designed to encourage a extremely narrative story-base experience"
ie. We make things easier for the gamemaster - empowering them. Takes dice rolling away, no math needed. Thats on the players
ie. You can introduce plot complications as a GM. There to encourage story crafting.
"The players have authority over there own character"
ie. effort allows characters to prioritise whats important for the character
39:25 - > To Shanna.
Says the game made it an easy transition for the source book.
"Characters you fall in love with" is the important aspect
ie. don't make too many rules
42:00 -> Patrick says he doesn't need to worry about the rules just staying faithful to the world
"How do I take advantage of these simple mechanics to good narrative effect"
"All I'm really in charge of is my companion character"
"Taking advantage of the mechanics available in a game"
On GMs
"The gamer extroverts want to roleplay"
"The gamer introverts want a game"
46:00 -> To Monte Cook - What will excite players about the Torment game?
"Story is fantastic"
"Cool places that have been designed"
-> Shanna
"The game guides you which is where its really good" ~ over the tabletop where a GM would have to.
53:00 -> To Patrick - What can games do that is unique?
"The difference between a novel and a choose your own adventure book"
"Portal has an amazingly engaging story" - despite being linear
"You can have beautifully scripted narrative" 101:50
56:20 -> What did you like about Planescape?
-He played it 15 years ago but one of his top 10.
- a top 5 narrative experience ; the original fallouts then planescape
104:00 -> How did Patrick get involved with the kickstarter?
- He's working on a companion character
- He declined to work on a novella and did the comic instead which turned out to be harder.
114:00 -> Asked about his prose writing and character design
- hopes to have a video game of his own one day with good narrative etc
117:11- "Most people haven't experience real dialogue choice these days"
"fallout has so little dialogue. So little narrative dialogue choice - I don't have words for how much of a disappointment and a shitfest it was. Portal which offered you no dialogue choice had better dialogue choice than fallout"