18 ms·

Planescape: Torment pitch document (1997) [pdf]

168 points by podiki 3y ago

podiki 3y ago
From this RPGWatch interview: https://rpgwatch.com/show/article?articleid=55 https://rpgwatch.com/show/article?articleid=55 (part 1) https://rpgwatch.com/show/article?articleid=56 https://rpgwatch.com/show/article?articleid=56 (part 2)
j1elo 3y ago
What were the chances? I installed Planescape Torment last night, to play around a bit with it. It's been sitting in my "to-try" list for at least 15 years! I'm however not very fond of having to sit down on my desk to play games with keyboard and mouse, though... I already spend enough of my life sitting in the exact same position for work. That alone discourages me from playing several old games I own (and not so old, like the newer X-Com) and even the newer Monkey Island game (which of course is sitting in the same list for some years now too)
- jaggederest 3y ago
  Well, if there's one game worth your time, PS:T is probably it. Arguably one of the best cRPGs of all time.
  - WastingMyTime89 3y ago
    People have rose tinted glasses when they talk about old games. PS:T was a cut above the other cRPGs of its time mainly because it had adequate writing and an engaging story when most other cRPGs were trite. Still everything after Raven’s maze is just average until the ending where it gets good again and the gameplay outside of dialogue is frankly uninteresting. It’s in a lot of way like the original Dark Soul whose last half is so aweful I’m not sure the awesome first one is enough to redeem the game. PS:T has now been bested by plenty of modern cRPGs. I’m not sure it’s worth revisiting considering how long it is.
    - xanathar 3y ago
      I am a Planescape Torment extreme fanboy and... I have to agree. But it's still worth playing, it is still better than the median cRPG almost 25 years later, and it remains a milestone in cRPGs history: i.e. just like Sgt Peppers or Dark Side of the Moon are still worth listening today.
      - fbdab103 3y ago
        You do not get to lay down such criticism without offering alternative suggestions. What is your top-tier classic or modern cRPG? Edit: Not a fanboy defensiveness or anything. Just rare to see the contrarian opinion on this, and genuinely curious. Other than the trash combat, I really enjoyed my time with PST.
        xanathar 3y ago
        I think all things considered BG2 aged better - it had less exciting plot, but it balanced better all the aspects. That said, I would nudge Pillars of Eternity and Pathfinder: Kingmaker above PST as they have an equally good amount of story, NPC interaction, they balance combat better. Pillars II, Wrath of the Righteous and Tides of Numenera, otoh, are below the PST bar in my opinion but ymmv depending on tastes. On the Divinity side, DOS:2 is also a good competitor in the list, although I find it the story tends to be too diluted by combat. Notably many of the titles I listed above have had Avellone involved at some point (I think he had been involved with Numenera, DOS:2, Pillars I and Kingmaker, maybe more). I was very skeptical about BG3, especially because even if I listed DOS:2 above, I didn't really like it too much, I'm no Larian fan. But I played the early access and it seems to be golden good so far. Otoh I replayed (for the billionth time?) all IE games recently and while I still consider PST to be the best IE game ever (only BG2 comes close) it's definitely not uniform. The plot weakens after leaving Sigil, and so do side quests and non-linearity (it's actually pretty linear overall, but after Sigil it doesn't even maintain the illusion). Even the interactions with NPCs are sometimes lackluster (e.g. I would have "pushed" Morte more on the "don't trust the skull" bit) I felt (but it's personal opinion I'd say) that many interactions in PoE went deeper than that. Anyway, these are opinions and I know of at least one PST fan who would trash the PoEs, Numenera and the Pathfinders (but loved DOS:2), so YMMV.
- modeless 3y ago
  Seems like this is the problem Steam Deck solves.
  - hutzlibu 3y ago
    How do you replace a mouse with it? Is it with a touchscreen or knobs on the side? I think I would still miss a mouse for precision and speed with that ..
    - mateuszf 3y ago
      It has a touchscreen, two joysticks and two touchpad likes surfaces, you can configure them how you like. However the screen is 7 inches and text in games like this or early Fallouts is too small for me, so I planned to use SD for them but resigned.
    - WillAdams 3y ago
      Most of the Infinity Engine games play very well on a Windows tablet with an active stylus. Unfortunately, PST is an early iteration of the engine and I had problems with inventory manipulation --- not sure if that was ever addressed.
    - IggleSniggle 3y ago
      There are capacitive touchpads on both sides of the deck, but calling them that really sells them short. It has an extensive controller mapping system. I play a lot of strategy and RTS games, and they can be set up with a wide variety of customizable overlays and haptics, that you can mix with button-chording as desired
      - NamTaf 3y ago
        It's worth also emphasising that they can be combined, so that you can combine the touchpads with the gyro such that the touchpads do coarse mouse movement and the gyro does the fine tweaking. This is apparently surprisingly effective, though I've not tried it myself. Similarly, for FPS the gyro can be used for additional aiming and even set such that it's only enabled when one of the joysticks is touched (via the capacitive receiver).
- tmoravec 3y ago
  If it helps, I've played PS:T on an ipad and it was playable.
- NikolaNovak 3y ago
  What are your other methods of playing besides keyboard and mouse? The newest monkey Island is steam Deck verified and also works with gamepad on your tv computer etc :) I think new x-com games are steam deck playable. And original xcom game is eminently playable on any old laptop :)
  - NamTaf 3y ago
    One of the steam deck's really underappreciated features is the trackpads. You can use them to play a whole heap of KB+M games that were otherwise off bounds for a handheld. I've been playing through the Sam & Max episodic games this way: trackpad for pointer, and buttons for clicks. It doesn't need fast-paced interactions so it's very forgiving there. When more speed is needed, I've heard others combine the trackpad with some minor gyro mouse input such that the touchpad does the coarse pointer manipulation and then gyro does the fine detail. Apparently you can get quite fast with this approach.
- VHRanger 3y ago
  P:T is available on android as a beamdog port. It plays very nicely for that format.
- pluijzer 3y ago
  PS:T is also available for iOS, Android and Switch. The controls have been adapted for the platforms and play great. And ofcourse like others have pointed out the Steam Deck is amazing also older games. The new Monkey Island is also available for atleast the Switch btw.
  - j1elo 3y ago
    Sadly the deprecation of 32-bit Android apps has done a lot of damage to backwards compatibility... Wonder what would have happened if Android was a Microsoft platform :-) https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/87197/pst-ee-on-android-13 https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/87197/pst-ee-on-androi... Basically, the game doesn't work any more on my Android 13 device, because devs need to go back to it and recompile the sources for 64-bit ARM. Naturally with a change like that with no compatibility layer available, there will be tons of apps and games left behind as abandonware, because their devs have better things to do (if they are even still around, at all!) than going back and recompiling all their source code. We'll see if BeamDog ever gets to it for PS:T!
- hombre_fatal 3y ago
  When I lived in a house with a treadmill, I hooked my Macbook up to a TV and used a gamepad mapped to mouse (move, click, scroll) input to play a lot of older games while walking. It’s what inspired me to build my own remap software. Because yeah I can’t sit at a computer to play games.
  - cmcmcm 3y ago
    Can you tell me more about the gamepad and software you used? I've been looking for a decent solution like this for ages.
- User23 3y ago
  The Torment enhanced edition plays great on the iPad. I assume there is an Android release too.
- axus 3y ago
  I purchased "Planescape: Torment: Enhanced" in Google Play on my Amazon Fire tablet a couple years ago. Probably missed out on a few keyboard shortcuts, but like you I don't sit at the computer for gaming much anymore.
- channel_t 3y ago
  I definitely feel this ever since switching primarily to remote work. I buy PC games periodically that are often amazing but I struggle to find myself able to dedicate much time to them because I already spend way too much time in the room taking care of work stuff. Console games are more doable because I can play them on the couch. Does this make me want to go back into the office full time? Not sure. The quick commute from my bed to my desk might be worth the sacrifice, but part of me definitely longs for the work of the before times.
- caseysoftware 3y ago
  X-Com 1 & 2 on ipad are good too. Sure, you don't have the same flexibility as on the computer but it's nice NOT to be tied to the same device in the same place.
- daishi424 3y ago
  XCOM (2012) is super convenient with a gamepad, I finished both new games (with Long War mod on top) with a 360 controller. Give it a try, its control scheme is designed very well.
v-erne 3y ago
>> Tons of Total Babes: This game will have lots of babes that make the player go “wow.” >> There will be fiendish babes, human babes, angelic babes, asian babes, and even undead babes. Well, I did not expected this level of honesty about what target audience really want. It almost like finding "and its also addictive, in most profitable kind of way" in Marlboro brand pitch deck. Its kinda refrshing.
- smcl 3y ago
  Then a few sections later > Babes: Think babes. Then think more babes. Slightly different times :)
  - checkyoursudo 3y ago
    It strikes me as not a little weird that the word for a hot, sexy member of either sex is the same as a word for a very, very small child. Like, "Why, hello there, infant." dogwhistle
    - stavros 3y ago
      Similarly to when people call their significant others "baby".
    - hombre_fatal 3y ago
      [flagged]
    - bourneavent 3y ago
      That's because they call you "Daddy" in the bedroom. There's actually sort of a real reason for this. In the traditional monogamous or even polygamous relationship throughout human history it's usually the Male taking care of the female. Women when seeking a relationship are sort of searching for a caretaker that has sort of father like qualities of having enough resources to take care of them, taking a dominant role... etc. The relationship most similar to it is father and daughter I can sort of see why the linguistics have sort of merged. Obviously, in the last century, things have changed and the etiquette of relationship dynamics need to be spoken of in a way that's more egalitarian. But you can't completely deny millions of years of human anthropological behavior. If men usually played more dominant/caretaker roles in relationships in the majority of civilizations, then along that timescale certain behaviors become a bit ingrained biologically through natural selection. It's not surprising to see these attributes creep into language.
anthk 3y ago
I remind you all that GemRB runs BG 1/2 and Planescape Torment under GNU/Linux, OSX, Windows, Mac, Android... with ease.
sametmax 3y ago
I often wish they make this game a TV show or even a series of movies, because the scenario, beyond the fact it's amazingly good, has potential for a lot of new arcs, thanks to the very concept of the game. Characters scream for a bigger screen, with colorful personalities and back stories, plus they got a design made to scale to awesomeness. And with the world building, you got a solid base plus endless possibilities. I enjoyed the game very much, but let's face it, it's too old for most new gamers to appreciate.
ricardobayes 3y ago
Wow this reads so fresh, it's written beautifully. Even if you just skim it you get the point, and subjectively, it's very funny. I love the self-deprecating humor.
- markeibes 3y ago
  Yeah objectively it's not very funny at all.
gilbetron 3y ago
My gaming group had a big ole Planescape campaign in 1995/1996, and the DM, myself and my then-girlfriend, now wife, went to Gencon. We met the creators, and did some fun little Planescape sessions they had set up. In our campaign, my wife was playing a red-headed tiefling with a devil's tail named Lilah. Being nerds, we of course told the Planescape devs all about our campaign. My wife even has a sketch of Lilah from Tony D in the (then, just released) Planewalker's Handbook. In 1997, Planescape Torment came out, and we loved it. However, it was a bit shocking to find they had an NPC named Annah, that was a red-headed tiefling with a devil's tail. We still think Annah was heavily drawn from Lilah!
- Waterluvian 3y ago
  While the redhead devil tiefling” motif is very common due to the horns and core concept behind the race, that’s a really warming story nevertheless.
  - gilbetron 3y ago
    This was actually before the 3rd edition take on tieflings with the horns, although we agree it isn't an uncommon motif, except almost no one knew much about Planescape in 1996 - the events were really sparse because it was considered a really "weird" setting by the core attendees of Gencon. It was literally the three of us, one or two other people, and most of the Planescape devs. Which was fun hanging out with them, including Tony D, Monte Cook, Colin and several others. The next year, in 1997, the three of us went again, and there was a trivia contest for Planescape lore. They had to stop letting us answer questions because we were ringers :)
corysama 3y ago
I’ll just leave this here ;) https://store.steampowered.com/app/466300/Planescape_Torment_Enhanced_Edition/ https://store.steampowered.com/app/466300/Planescape_Torment... BTW: 4K resolution support.
- fbdab103 3y ago
  GOG DRM free alternative [0] [0] https://www.gog.com/en/game/planescape_torment_enhanced_edition https://www.gog.com/en/game/planescape_torment_enhanced_edit...
NelsonMinar 3y ago
Not mentioned: "over 800,000 words of dialogue, our game will be remembered as the best eight D&D visual novels ever written". It's interesting how much of this pitch focusses on the gameplay when it's the extensive writing that ends up being memorable.
- pmoriarty 3y ago
  That's probably because the last thing studio execs (and gamers, who eat up so much shoddily written garbage) care about is writing. If gamers rewarded well-written games, and avoided poorly written ones, pitches would focus a lot more on writing.
GartzenDeHaes 3y ago
> 1 security vendor flagged this URL as malicious (Phishing) https://www.virustotal.com/gui/url/9ed70fc608cd35117a0079556353cf90344166b52535524a393915e28f52e899?nocache=1 https://www.virustotal.com/gui/url/9ed70fc608cd35117a0079556...
ineedasername 3y ago
Technical limitations made it difficult to deliver on every single aspect of the pitch, but I’d say it filled the spirit of the game intended by this doc. It goes a long way towards explaining how it so significantly differentiated itself from the more sterile (but battle focused— which was fun too) Icewinf Dale games or the Baldur’s Gate games that had a bit more guardrails build into them. All of those stand out as exceptional classics, but Planescape was unique among them.
sedatk 3y ago
The document contains spoilers for anyone who’s willing to play it today.
sn41 3y ago
I played Planescape back around 2015 or so, for the first time. I felt an uncanny similarity to the movie "Memento" by Christopher Nolan, which, coincidentally, was filmed around the same time, developing on themes from the earlier movie "Following" (that came out in 1998). Then I came to know that this was actually a major point of discussion, with various theories swirling around it.
klipklop 3y ago
Like others have said, the final game is different. One of the best games ever made with one of the most creative settings. Really loved the NPC companions. They were so deep and some of them you could make more powerful just by having a conversation with them. It’s a rare D&D property where wisdom is a more important stat than strength.
t0bia_s 3y ago
I finished PS:T about year ago. It was so refreshing experience and story telling compared to nowadays game production. I'm still hoping for finished translation of Disco Elysium to my native language to have similar experience. My EN is not good enough to completely enjoy chatty RPG.

168 points by podiki 3y ago

From this RPGWatch interview: https://rpgwatch.com/show/article?articleid=55 https://rpgwatch.com/show/article?articleid=55 (part 1) https://rpgwatch.com/show/article?articleid=56 https://rpgwatch.com/show/article?articleid=56 (part 2)

j1elo 3y ago

What were the chances? I installed Planescape Torment last night, to play around a bit with it. It's been sitting in my "to-try" list for at least 15 years! I'm however not very fond of having to sit down on my desk to play games with keyboard and mouse, though... I already spend enough of my life sitting in the exact same position for work. That alone discourages me from playing several old games I own (and not so old, like the newer X-Com) and even the newer Monkey Island game (which of course is sitting in the same list for some years now too)

jaggederest 3y ago
Well, if there's one game worth your time, PS:T is probably it. Arguably one of the best cRPGs of all time.
- WastingMyTime89 3y ago
  People have rose tinted glasses when they talk about old games. PS:T was a cut above the other cRPGs of its time mainly because it had adequate writing and an engaging story when most other cRPGs were trite. Still everything after Raven’s maze is just average until the ending where it gets good again and the gameplay outside of dialogue is frankly uninteresting. It’s in a lot of way like the original Dark Soul whose last half is so aweful I’m not sure the awesome first one is enough to redeem the game. PS:T has now been bested by plenty of modern cRPGs. I’m not sure it’s worth revisiting considering how long it is.
  - xanathar 3y ago
    I am a Planescape Torment extreme fanboy and... I have to agree. But it's still worth playing, it is still better than the median cRPG almost 25 years later, and it remains a milestone in cRPGs history: i.e. just like Sgt Peppers or Dark Side of the Moon are still worth listening today.
    - fbdab103 3y ago
      You do not get to lay down such criticism without offering alternative suggestions. What is your top-tier classic or modern cRPG? Edit: Not a fanboy defensiveness or anything. Just rare to see the contrarian opinion on this, and genuinely curious. Other than the trash combat, I really enjoyed my time with PST.
      - xanathar 3y ago
        I think all things considered BG2 aged better - it had less exciting plot, but it balanced better all the aspects. That said, I would nudge Pillars of Eternity and Pathfinder: Kingmaker above PST as they have an equally good amount of story, NPC interaction, they balance combat better. Pillars II, Wrath of the Righteous and Tides of Numenera, otoh, are below the PST bar in my opinion but ymmv depending on tastes. On the Divinity side, DOS:2 is also a good competitor in the list, although I find it the story tends to be too diluted by combat. Notably many of the titles I listed above have had Avellone involved at some point (I think he had been involved with Numenera, DOS:2, Pillars I and Kingmaker, maybe more). I was very skeptical about BG3, especially because even if I listed DOS:2 above, I didn't really like it too much, I'm no Larian fan. But I played the early access and it seems to be golden good so far. Otoh I replayed (for the billionth time?) all IE games recently and while I still consider PST to be the best IE game ever (only BG2 comes close) it's definitely not uniform. The plot weakens after leaving Sigil, and so do side quests and non-linearity (it's actually pretty linear overall, but after Sigil it doesn't even maintain the illusion). Even the interactions with NPCs are sometimes lackluster (e.g. I would have "pushed" Morte more on the "don't trust the skull" bit) I felt (but it's personal opinion I'd say) that many interactions in PoE went deeper than that. Anyway, these are opinions and I know of at least one PST fan who would trash the PoEs, Numenera and the Pathfinders (but loved DOS:2), so YMMV.
modeless 3y ago
Seems like this is the problem Steam Deck solves.
- hutzlibu 3y ago
  How do you replace a mouse with it? Is it with a touchscreen or knobs on the side? I think I would still miss a mouse for precision and speed with that ..
  - mateuszf 3y ago
    It has a touchscreen, two joysticks and two touchpad likes surfaces, you can configure them how you like. However the screen is 7 inches and text in games like this or early Fallouts is too small for me, so I planned to use SD for them but resigned.
  - WillAdams 3y ago
    Most of the Infinity Engine games play very well on a Windows tablet with an active stylus. Unfortunately, PST is an early iteration of the engine and I had problems with inventory manipulation --- not sure if that was ever addressed.
  - IggleSniggle 3y ago
    There are capacitive touchpads on both sides of the deck, but calling them that really sells them short. It has an extensive controller mapping system. I play a lot of strategy and RTS games, and they can be set up with a wide variety of customizable overlays and haptics, that you can mix with button-chording as desired
    - NamTaf 3y ago
      It's worth also emphasising that they can be combined, so that you can combine the touchpads with the gyro such that the touchpads do coarse mouse movement and the gyro does the fine tweaking. This is apparently surprisingly effective, though I've not tried it myself. Similarly, for FPS the gyro can be used for additional aiming and even set such that it's only enabled when one of the joysticks is touched (via the capacitive receiver).
tmoravec 3y ago
If it helps, I've played PS:T on an ipad and it was playable.
NikolaNovak 3y ago
What are your other methods of playing besides keyboard and mouse? The newest monkey Island is steam Deck verified and also works with gamepad on your tv computer etc :) I think new x-com games are steam deck playable. And original xcom game is eminently playable on any old laptop :)
- NamTaf 3y ago
  One of the steam deck's really underappreciated features is the trackpads. You can use them to play a whole heap of KB+M games that were otherwise off bounds for a handheld. I've been playing through the Sam & Max episodic games this way: trackpad for pointer, and buttons for clicks. It doesn't need fast-paced interactions so it's very forgiving there. When more speed is needed, I've heard others combine the trackpad with some minor gyro mouse input such that the touchpad does the coarse pointer manipulation and then gyro does the fine detail. Apparently you can get quite fast with this approach.
VHRanger 3y ago
P:T is available on android as a beamdog port. It plays very nicely for that format.
pluijzer 3y ago
PS:T is also available for iOS, Android and Switch. The controls have been adapted for the platforms and play great. And ofcourse like others have pointed out the Steam Deck is amazing also older games. The new Monkey Island is also available for atleast the Switch btw.
- j1elo 3y ago
  Sadly the deprecation of 32-bit Android apps has done a lot of damage to backwards compatibility... Wonder what would have happened if Android was a Microsoft platform :-) https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/87197/pst-ee-on-android-13 https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/87197/pst-ee-on-androi... Basically, the game doesn't work any more on my Android 13 device, because devs need to go back to it and recompile the sources for 64-bit ARM. Naturally with a change like that with no compatibility layer available, there will be tons of apps and games left behind as abandonware, because their devs have better things to do (if they are even still around, at all!) than going back and recompiling all their source code. We'll see if BeamDog ever gets to it for PS:T!
hombre_fatal 3y ago
When I lived in a house with a treadmill, I hooked my Macbook up to a TV and used a gamepad mapped to mouse (move, click, scroll) input to play a lot of older games while walking. It’s what inspired me to build my own remap software. Because yeah I can’t sit at a computer to play games.
- cmcmcm 3y ago
  Can you tell me more about the gamepad and software you used? I've been looking for a decent solution like this for ages.
User23 3y ago
The Torment enhanced edition plays great on the iPad. I assume there is an Android release too.
axus 3y ago
I purchased "Planescape: Torment: Enhanced" in Google Play on my Amazon Fire tablet a couple years ago. Probably missed out on a few keyboard shortcuts, but like you I don't sit at the computer for gaming much anymore.
channel_t 3y ago
I definitely feel this ever since switching primarily to remote work. I buy PC games periodically that are often amazing but I struggle to find myself able to dedicate much time to them because I already spend way too much time in the room taking care of work stuff. Console games are more doable because I can play them on the couch. Does this make me want to go back into the office full time? Not sure. The quick commute from my bed to my desk might be worth the sacrifice, but part of me definitely longs for the work of the before times.
caseysoftware 3y ago
X-Com 1 & 2 on ipad are good too. Sure, you don't have the same flexibility as on the computer but it's nice NOT to be tied to the same device in the same place.
daishi424 3y ago
XCOM (2012) is super convenient with a gamepad, I finished both new games (with Long War mod on top) with a 360 controller. Give it a try, its control scheme is designed very well.

v-erne 3y ago

>> Tons of Total Babes: This game will have lots of babes that make the player go “wow.” >> There will be fiendish babes, human babes, angelic babes, asian babes, and even undead babes. Well, I did not expected this level of honesty about what target audience really want. It almost like finding "and its also addictive, in most profitable kind of way" in Marlboro brand pitch deck. Its kinda refrshing.

smcl 3y ago
Then a few sections later > Babes: Think babes. Then think more babes. Slightly different times :)
- checkyoursudo 3y ago
  It strikes me as not a little weird that the word for a hot, sexy member of either sex is the same as a word for a very, very small child. Like, "Why, hello there, infant." dogwhistle
  - stavros 3y ago
    Similarly to when people call their significant others "baby".
  - hombre_fatal 3y ago
    [flagged]
  - bourneavent 3y ago
    That's because they call you "Daddy" in the bedroom. There's actually sort of a real reason for this. In the traditional monogamous or even polygamous relationship throughout human history it's usually the Male taking care of the female. Women when seeking a relationship are sort of searching for a caretaker that has sort of father like qualities of having enough resources to take care of them, taking a dominant role... etc. The relationship most similar to it is father and daughter I can sort of see why the linguistics have sort of merged. Obviously, in the last century, things have changed and the etiquette of relationship dynamics need to be spoken of in a way that's more egalitarian. But you can't completely deny millions of years of human anthropological behavior. If men usually played more dominant/caretaker roles in relationships in the majority of civilizations, then along that timescale certain behaviors become a bit ingrained biologically through natural selection. It's not surprising to see these attributes creep into language.

anthk 3y ago

I remind you all that GemRB runs BG 1/2 and Planescape Torment under GNU/Linux, OSX, Windows, Mac, Android... with ease.

sametmax 3y ago

I often wish they make this game a TV show or even a series of movies, because the scenario, beyond the fact it's amazingly good, has potential for a lot of new arcs, thanks to the very concept of the game. Characters scream for a bigger screen, with colorful personalities and back stories, plus they got a design made to scale to awesomeness. And with the world building, you got a solid base plus endless possibilities. I enjoyed the game very much, but let's face it, it's too old for most new gamers to appreciate.

ricardobayes 3y ago

Wow this reads so fresh, it's written beautifully. Even if you just skim it you get the point, and subjectively, it's very funny. I love the self-deprecating humor.

markeibes 3y ago
Yeah objectively it's not very funny at all.

gilbetron 3y ago

My gaming group had a big ole Planescape campaign in 1995/1996, and the DM, myself and my then-girlfriend, now wife, went to Gencon. We met the creators, and did some fun little Planescape sessions they had set up. In our campaign, my wife was playing a red-headed tiefling with a devil's tail named Lilah. Being nerds, we of course told the Planescape devs all about our campaign. My wife even has a sketch of Lilah from Tony D in the (then, just released) Planewalker's Handbook. In 1997, Planescape Torment came out, and we loved it. However, it was a bit shocking to find they had an NPC named Annah, that was a red-headed tiefling with a devil's tail. We still think Annah was heavily drawn from Lilah!

Waterluvian 3y ago
While the redhead devil tiefling” motif is very common due to the horns and core concept behind the race, that’s a really warming story nevertheless.
- gilbetron 3y ago
  This was actually before the 3rd edition take on tieflings with the horns, although we agree it isn't an uncommon motif, except almost no one knew much about Planescape in 1996 - the events were really sparse because it was considered a really "weird" setting by the core attendees of Gencon. It was literally the three of us, one or two other people, and most of the Planescape devs. Which was fun hanging out with them, including Tony D, Monte Cook, Colin and several others. The next year, in 1997, the three of us went again, and there was a trivia contest for Planescape lore. They had to stop letting us answer questions because we were ringers :)

corysama 3y ago

I’ll just leave this here ;) https://store.steampowered.com/app/466300/Planescape_Torment_Enhanced_Edition/ https://store.steampowered.com/app/466300/Planescape_Torment... BTW: 4K resolution support.

fbdab103 3y ago
GOG DRM free alternative [0] [0] https://www.gog.com/en/game/planescape_torment_enhanced_edition https://www.gog.com/en/game/planescape_torment_enhanced_edit...

NelsonMinar 3y ago

Not mentioned: "over 800,000 words of dialogue, our game will be remembered as the best eight D&D visual novels ever written". It's interesting how much of this pitch focusses on the gameplay when it's the extensive writing that ends up being memorable.

pmoriarty 3y ago
That's probably because the last thing studio execs (and gamers, who eat up so much shoddily written garbage) care about is writing. If gamers rewarded well-written games, and avoided poorly written ones, pitches would focus a lot more on writing.

GartzenDeHaes 3y ago

> 1 security vendor flagged this URL as malicious (Phishing) https://www.virustotal.com/gui/url/9ed70fc608cd35117a0079556353cf90344166b52535524a393915e28f52e899?nocache=1 https://www.virustotal.com/gui/url/9ed70fc608cd35117a0079556...

ineedasername 3y ago

Technical limitations made it difficult to deliver on every single aspect of the pitch, but I’d say it filled the spirit of the game intended by this doc. It goes a long way towards explaining how it so significantly differentiated itself from the more sterile (but battle focused— which was fun too) Icewinf Dale games or the Baldur’s Gate games that had a bit more guardrails build into them. All of those stand out as exceptional classics, but Planescape was unique among them.

sedatk 3y ago

The document contains spoilers for anyone who’s willing to play it today.

sn41 3y ago

I played Planescape back around 2015 or so, for the first time. I felt an uncanny similarity to the movie "Memento" by Christopher Nolan, which, coincidentally, was filmed around the same time, developing on themes from the earlier movie "Following" (that came out in 1998). Then I came to know that this was actually a major point of discussion, with various theories swirling around it.

klipklop 3y ago

Like others have said, the final game is different. One of the best games ever made with one of the most creative settings. Really loved the NPC companions. They were so deep and some of them you could make more powerful just by having a conversation with them. It’s a rare D&D property where wisdom is a more important stat than strength.

t0bia_s 3y ago

I finished PS:T about year ago. It was so refreshing experience and story telling compared to nowadays game production. I'm still hoping for finished translation of Disco Elysium to my native language to have similar experience. My EN is not good enough to completely enjoy chatty RPG.