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Torment: Tides of Numenera Kickstarter by InXile [Complete; $4.3 million funded]

N

Naito

Member
9gSQ6PQ.jpg



The Forge of the Night Sky showing the Ruins of Ossiphagan, described in the Update #3.
The erupting volcanoes and surging lava fill the air with acrid smoke and choking fumes.
The bones of an enormous beast lie sprawled across the obsidian fields, its ribs splayed open as if it
had been torn open by some unimaginable predator. The ossified bones have been hollowed out
as homes by some intrepid or foolish citizens,and the wind howls through the openings in a
mournful whistle like a giant flute. In the wastes beyond, creatures of flame and focused minds
trawl the lava and skim its valuable nutrients.
Click to expand...

Wallpaper resolutions available at the tumblr site.
 
S

SquiddyCracker

Banned
Brother None said:
No, you had it right, that's the Last Castoff.
Click to expand...

Great stuff! :D

Yep, I'll be playing as the female MC - she's cool.

Naito said:
9gSQ6PQ.jpg



The Forge of the Night Sky showing the Ruins of Ossiphagan, described in the Update #3.


Wallpaper resolutions available at the tumblr site.
Click to expand...

Cool update!

I am half-considering going on a media blackout, just to keep everything even more awesome when I actually get my hand on the game (in two years :( ).
 
S

SquiddyCracker

Banned
You won't know a special response has been unlocked until after you choose it. I'll explain why in a second. Take this example:
NPC: "Here's the device Colin gave me, though I haven't opened it yet. I want my wife to have that honor." He shows you a capsule made of synthsteel. Shadows seem to slide off it, making it appear brighter than everything else in the room. It bears strange, jagged markings.

1. "Where did he find it?"
2. "Do you know what these markings are?"
3. "I think these markings mean 'Death'."
4. "Do you mind if I keep it for a bit to examine it?"
5. Open it.

Response #3 would only be available if you're trained in Lore: Linguistics. But that skill would only be mentioned after you choose it. The reason for this is because many RPG players—ourselves included—have been trained that specially marked or specially unlocked responses are always going to be the best ones. And so we choose them without thinking.

Of course, you'll eventually be able to figure out which responses are available due to your skills, like when your linguistically inclined character is always deciphering texts, but you'll have to read and think about the responses to do so. More importantly, the Lore-based responses won't always be the best options, just different ones.

If you select Response #3, for example, you might find that admitting your knowledge to this NPC means you don't have the capsule for later:
3. "I think these markings mean 'Death'."

NPC: [Lore: Linguistics] "What?!" He glares at the inscription, as though anger alone will enable him to read it. Then he tucks the capsule back in its bag. "That bastard. I'll get Colin back for this, believe me!"

If you add the concept of Truths and Lies to this scenario, things can get even more interesting:
1. "Where did he find it?"
2. "Do you know what these markings are?"
3. (Truth) "I think these markings mean 'Death'."
4. (Lie) "I think these markings mean 'Wealth'."
5. "Do you mind if I keep this for a bit to examine it?"
6. Open it.

Did I mention we're implementing those, too?
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YES!
 
T

trab pu kcip

Member
FACE said:
Update: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/inxile/torment-tides-of-numenera/posts/547455
Click to expand...

Using skills will be different, too (side note: I say "will," but we're still in pre-production, so any of this can change). Say there's a difficult task you want to attempt—lying to a prison guard or deciphering the text on an ancient puzzle box. Typically, in D&D-style RPGs for example, if you don't have the associated skill, your chances of success are very low, or you might not be able to attempt the task at all. In Numenera, all such tasks are treated the same, and anyone can try them. Training in a related skill or skills will lower the difficulty of the task, but even if you're untrained, you can still apply Effort.

Effort is a concept from the Numenera tabletop game. Essentially you spend points out of the appropriate stat pool (Might, Speed, or Intellect) to lower the difficulty of a task. The idea is, even if you've never been trained in lock picking, a very smart or dexterous character can, with some Effort, increase their chances of cracking a lock.
Click to expand...
this sounds really cool actually!
 
S

SerRodrik

Member
But we have a whole category of Lore skills that represent your knowledge. These skills will enable certain response options in dialogue, giving you choices that a player without the skill wouldn't have. When this happens, there won't be a die roll, because the skill is being used without requiring effort on your part. The unlocked response options are just there.
Click to expand...

This pleases me. Too often dialogue options in RPGs seem to assume your character doesn't know much of anything. I want to play a smart character, dammit!
 
S

SquiddyCracker

Banned
The whole story writing process seems super interesting.
I wish I could have been there and watched you guys.

How about that Brother None, could you ask the guys to maybe set up a camera in one of those sessions, and release the material as part of the behind-the-scenes once the game is released?
 
T

trab pu kcip

Member
SquiddyCracker said:
The whole story writing process seems super interesting.
I wish I could have been there and watched you guys.

How about that Brother None, could you ask the guys to maybe set up a camera in one of those sessions, and release the material as part of the behind-the-scenes once the game is released?
Click to expand...

yes<3 or just give it to us in the next updates *cough*
 
F

FlyingSaucer

Banned
SquiddyCracker said:
1. "Where did he find it?"
2. "Do you know what these markings are?"
3. "I think these markings mean 'Death'."
4. "Do you mind if I keep it for a bit to examine it?"
5. Open it.
Click to expand...

It's a pretty clever understanding of the way the mechanisms of any RPG are exploited by gamers, yet is it really feasible ? In the example here, answers 2 and 3 are in contradiction, with A3 being clearly superior to A2; a player who pay attention could probably still guess what answers are conditionned by their skillset.

Still, it's a really exciting read - if only to show the amount of word that goes in the dialogues :)
 
B

Brother None

Member
SquiddyCracker said:
How about that Brother None, could you ask the guys to maybe set up a camera in one of those sessions, and release the material as part of the behind-the-scenes once the game is released?
Click to expand...
Not a bad thought!

FlyingSaucer said:
It's a pretty clever understanding of the way the mechanisms of any RPG are exploited by gamers, yet is it really feasible ? In the example here, answers 2 and 3 are in contradiction, with A3 being clearly superior to A2; a player who pay attention could probably still guess what answers are conditionned by their skillset.
Click to expand...
Well yeah, but that's kind of the point. It's not meant to obfuscate skills or hide things from you, if you think about it can figure that option is lore-related. But that's the point, it makes you read the options and think rather than just automatically clicking whatever has a skill listed next to it as the auto-win option,
 
L

Lusankya

Member
SquiddyCracker said:
YES!
Click to expand...

I think this is the stuff I love the most about "Western" RPGs. I really like JRPGs, but it's like all dialogue heavy stuff in Japanese games is in Visual Novels, but not very often in RPGs.

It's a great approach to dialogue choices and conversation skills and I wonder if there are already games that doesn't make it obvious what choices are the very best in dialogues?

Shrinnan said:
Be still my beating heart - is it not too late to back this and still receive the rewards?

https://torment.inxile-entertainment.com/store

I just want to make sure that if I donate, that I will receive the rewards. I would totally do Lore Master.
Click to expand...

Yes, you'll get the rewards listed in the respective tier if you donate now. You're still donating and helping them creating the game, you're not pre-ordering the game.

FlyingSaucer said:
It's a pretty clever understanding of the way the mechanisms of any RPG are exploited by gamers, yet is it really feasible ? In the example here, answers 2 and 3 are in contradiction, with A3 being clearly superior to A2; a player who pay attention could probably still guess what answers are conditionned by their skillset.

Still, it's a really exciting read - if only to show the amount of word that goes in the dialogues :)
Click to expand...

Did you stop reading after the dialogue choices? ;)

Of course, you'll eventually be able to figure out which responses are available due to your skills, like when your linguistically inclined character is always deciphering texts, but you'll have to read and think about the responses to do so. More importantly, the Lore-based responses won't always be the best options, just different ones.

If you select Response #3, for example, you might find that admitting your knowledge to this NPC means you don't have the capsule for later:
3. "I think these markings mean 'Death'."
NPC: [Lore: Linguistics] "What?!" He glares at the inscription, as though anger alone will enable him to read it. Then he tucks the capsule back in its bag. "That bastard. I'll get Colin back for this, believe me!"
Click to expand...

So you still have to ponder how much information you're willing to share with the NPCs.
 
S

SquiddyCracker

Banned
I love that particular design decision.
It's kinda annoying when you see a [lore] and you know you'll get a higher XP reward for selecting that option.
 
S

SquiddyCracker

Banned
Now I really want a physical version of the core book.
The numenara world is quite interested, I have no doubts now that it'll be an excellent setting for the game.
 
Z

Zeliard

Member
SquiddyCracker said:
Now I really want a physical version of the core book.
The numenara world is quite interested, I have no doubts now that it'll be an excellent setting for the game.
Click to expand...

The physical Player's Handbook and Corebook should be coming out around the 14th for those eligible for the them. Soon! Can't wait for mine :)
 
M

Musician

Member
I received both the Players Handbook and the Corebook today. I skimmed through it, but it seems like a very interesting take on roleplaying games. My only previous experience has been with DnD and the mechanics of Numenera seems way simpler and greatly superior.

Wish I had some geeky friends to try it out with.
 
Z

Zeliard

Member
Just a heads up to those in the higher physical tiers, there was a miscommunication between Monte Cook Games and the shipping company regarding when items should be sent out, so there's going to be a slight delay on the physical corebook.

Monte Cook said:
I am going to be honest with you. With all that has happened in the last week or so, I haven't been able to stay on top of things the way that I should. There was a miscommunication between Monte Cook Games and the company doing our shipping and fulfillment. They thought that we wanted them to wait until every single package was prepped and packed before sending any shipments out, so that people would all get them around the same time. A fine goal, but that wasn't my understanding of the process, nor my intention. Packing up 7,000+ packages or so is a big job and is still ongoing.

Thus, no packages shipped last week, despite what I said in a prior update. The good news is, when we found out about the miscommunication, we were able to correct it, and packages started shipping today.

In the end, people are going to get their games about a week or more later than I had wanted them to.
Click to expand...

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1433901524/numenera-a-new-roleplaying-game-from-monte-cook/posts

Monte Cook's father sadly passed away recently, so he's had a lot to deal with in a short time.

The Numenera corebook officially releases today for non-backers and you can purchase a PDF version at DriveThruRPG: http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product/114133/Numenera
 
S

SquiddyCracker

Banned
I converted my player's guide into ebook format so I could check it out on my kindle, but it got all messed up :(
Anyway, really dig the world of Numenara, it really is an excellent setting for this game.
 
Z

Zeliard

Member
I received my physical corebook & player's handbook as well a few days ago.

The corebook is a gorgeous piece of work, packed with content; the setting in particular is just remarkably fleshed-out. The art is as beautiful and bizarre as you might expect, and that's particularly evident in the bestiary section, which is filled with a large assortment of oddities that all manage to be both strange yet fitting.

Numenera has every indication of making for a delightful computer game setting, and a proper successor to the imaginative splendor of Planescape. Massive Gene Wolfe/Jack Vance/Moebius influence on the world-building and general look and feel; this is very Book of the New Sun/Dying Earth science fantasy, so if you're a fan of that sort of thing, you're in for a treat.

Arthur C. Clarke's famous maxim is taken to its extreme; there's an attempt to give all of the strangeness some sort of grounded, technological or biological explanation, but critically, many of the Ninth Worlders (who have more accessible knowledge but are largely at a medieval-esque technological level) are unaware of it and thus consider many of these things magical and mysterious in lieu of more knowing observation.

There's a huge section of the map called "The Beyond" which is basically a wilderness of the strange and seemingly inexplicable (yet still populated by a few communities of people and other... things), on the outskirts of what currently serves as civilization. There's another section even farther out on the frontier called, appropriately, "Beyond the Beyond," which I gather is where the Torment game will take place. Now that area is so strange - even by Ninth World standards - that the corebook actually has a listing for many of the communities there simply entitled "The Weird," where a certain truly odd characteristic of a specific village (or one of its "settlers") will be described. It's very easy to see why they chose that section of the world to set Torment in - a great deal of it effortlessly evokes Planescape (there's a location, of sorts, called "The University of Doors" which just screams it).

Haven't playtested it yet, but the game mechanics and rules systems seem likely to change quite a bit in the translation to Torment (Tides/Legacies for example don't feature in the Numenera corebook). The evocative setting is what will probably have the most impact on Torment, and it has immense potential.
 
T

trab pu kcip

Member
Zeliard said:
I received my physical corebook & player's handbook as well a few days ago.

The corebook is a gorgeous piece of work, packed with content; the setting in particular is just remarkably fleshed-out. The art is as beautiful and bizarre as you might expect, and that's particularly evident in the bestiary section, which is filled with a large assortment of oddities that all manage to be both strange yet fitting.

Numenera has every indication of making for a delightful computer game setting, and a proper successor to the imaginative splendor of Planescape. Massive Gene Wolfe/Jack Vance/Moebius influence on the world-building and general look and feel; this is very Book of the New Sun/Dying Earth science fantasy, so if you're a fan of that sort of thing, you're in for a treat.

Arthur C. Clarke's famous maxim is taken to its extreme; there's an attempt to give all of the strangeness some sort of grounded, technological or biological explanation, but critically, many of the Ninth Worlders (who have more accessible knowledge but are largely at a medieval-esque technological level) are unaware of it and thus consider many of these things magical and mysterious in lieu of more knowing observation.

There's a huge section of the map called "The Beyond" which is basically a wilderness of the strange and seemingly inexplicable (yet still populated by a few communities of people and other... things), on the outskirts of what currently serves as civilization. There's another section even farther out on the frontier called, appropriately, "Beyond the Beyond," which I gather is where the Torment game will take place. Now that area is so strange - even by Ninth World standards - that the corebook actually has a listing for many of the communities there simply entitled "The Weird," where a certain truly odd characteristic of a specific village (or one of its "settlers") will be described. It's very easy to see why they chose that section of the world to set Torment in - a great deal of it effortlessly evokes Planescape (there's a location, of sorts, called "The University of Doors" which just screams it).

Haven't playtested it yet, but the game mechanics and rules systems seem likely to change quite a bit in the translation to Torment (Tides/Legacies for example don't feature in the Numenera corebook). The evocative setting is what will probably have the most impact on Torment, and it has immense potential.
Click to expand...
thanks for this. sounds amazing.
 
T

TommyT

Member
Mind sharing what tier you were Zeliard? Or rather, what tier contained the book?

edit: NVM, found. Looks like I was just under to get it. Was hoping it would come with the physical tier :\
 
Z

Zeliard

Member
TommyT said:
Mind sharing what tier you were Zeliard? Or rather, what tier contained the book?

edit: NVM, found. Looks like I was just under to get it. Was hoping it would come with the physical tier :\
Click to expand...

This page has a table of the various tiers, split between digital and physical, so you can double-check exactly what your pledge came with:

http://tormentrpg.tumblr.com/thekstiers

The physical (or pdf) corebook can also be purchased separately through various retailers, brick-and-mortar or online. Well-worth it. Even if you aren't into tabletop, there's a good deal in there about Numenera's setting and general lore, the art is cool, and it's just enjoyable to read through. The PnP rules are actually relatively minimalist and not as rigidly defined as is typically seen. It relies heavily on narrative, which bodes well for the transition to Torment.
 
I

inm8num2

Member
Have they set up a separate forum yet, other than the UserVoice page?

If not, are there plans? No biggie, just curious in case there is a place I should register.
 
T

trab pu kcip

Member
Torment update #24 has a lot of details on Tides, Colin answering some more of your questions, and kicks off the combat discussion

love the parallels he draws to planescape in order to explain the tides.
Dak'kon would be Blue in that he strives to *know* himself and the teachings of Zerthimon.
Annah would be Red. She's quick to follow her emotions, whether they're anger, fear, or passion.
Vhailor would be Indigo, because he believes in justice and order so much that he carries on his mission even after his death.
Fhjull Forked-Tongue would be Gold, even though his acts of charity are forced upon him by a contract he signed with a deva. Remember, his motivations don&#8217;t matter&#8212;people remember him as the fiend who must perform good works.
Ignus would be Silver because he is willing to endure great suffering in his relentless pursuit of power.
Click to expand...
 
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