Numenera Torment to launch Kickstarter, support video by Chris Avellone

Two page IGN article:

http://www.ign.com/articles/2013/03/04/the-strange-new-world-of-torment-...

Snippet from Colin McComb on the game:

"...We are going to be going into the darkness again on this game. We’re going to get really dark. But we’re not going to be there the whole time. Any life worth living has joy and laughter and love and hope and, inevitably, death. We want to hit all of those...."

Also Cromlich, looks like the Bloom will be the setting's Nexus.

And now the Kickstarter is launched!

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/inxile/torment-tides-of-numenera

Awesome artwork, good pitch.

Stretch goals are here as they don't have room on the main page:

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/inxile/torment-tides-of-numenera/pos...

Pic of the female player (gender option was the 1.2 million stretch goal):

Thanks Cromlich, cool to see the stuff they're considering or already have planned.

Now that the 2 million mark has been reached, they put in some cool location descriptions that come with the stretch goals:

Crystal Dimension

In strange and distant worlds, life flickers toward awareness even amid the most brutal landscapes. For instance: massive mountains of crystal heave from the land and pierce the sky under pale suns, their light refracting and bending around cunning spires never touched by human hands. The infants of this land are giants, vaguely humanoid crystalline monsters torn from the land itself and given shape and purpose by the elders, who share the light and heat from their ever-diminishing bodies, chipped and worn by age.

Ruins of Ossiphagan

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.

Castoff’s Labyrinth

"Death is the end. That's what they say. But that's not entirely true, is it? When Death crashes over you like a looming wave, you don't die. Your body knits up fast and your eyes stare off. You move and twitch. So what is it you're seeing? Where do you go when you die?"

When you open your eyes, you're in a chamber with four... no, six... make it five walls. Call it five. It's almost definitely five walls. Each of them has a door of different material, each of them wavers before you, but they become more distinct the closer you approach. The chamber is dark and dripping, a faint tremor like a slow pulse shaking the floor on a long timeline. You put your hand to the door and it opens for you, and before you lies a crumbling stone walkway over fathomless mists. You can see no roof above you, nor stars nor moon. The mists curl and lap at your feet, broken occasionally by stray eddies of wind.

There is a feeling of recognition deep inside you. You know this place. And ahead, across the span, you see a familiar face.

"What are you doing here?" you ask

"You're dead," she says. "What I mean is that you're not dead. You're coming back to life. And now you've got fragments of us in your head. Every time you take our suffering, we get stronger. In here, I mean. But if you want to come back to the world, you need to find your way out of here."

Information, articles, Q&As, etc on the new tumblr:

http://tormentrpg.tumblr.com/

New Update discussing Numenera as a setting, the rules, and clarifying the idea behind stretch goals and what increased funding means:

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/inxile/torment-tides-of-numenera/pos...

Apparently it's moving at a faster clip than projects that hit the 4 mil mark, though I don't know how fast the rate of increase is falling.

I'm actually hoping they stop hiring more writers unless there's more clarity on what this buys players. More writers presumably means more content, but I wish they'd be a bit more specific on this.

I'd like to see them add some programmers for a more reactive world -> If I steal from the baker the town should know. If I save the farmer's kids it should make me more popular with the village.

However, I do like the explanation of transferring the consciousness via the Meres + expansion of the Castoff Labyrinth in Update 6:

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/inxile/torment-tides-of-numenera

Update 7: Info on Tides and a peek at the Crystaline World:

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/inxile/torment-tides-of-numenera/pos...

At $39 bucks you get digital goods + novellas in the Numenera setting.

Link to AMA:

http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/1ao3p4/we_are_monte_cook_brian_far...

Game Banshee, Torment: Tides of Numenera Interview:

http://www.gamebanshee.com/interviews/111067-torment-tides-of-numenera-i...

"We’re planning to have a variety of inputs and options based around the Tides and Legacies, but we don’t want to give away too much just yet. They’re not widely known, though certain groups have indeed risen that believe that they comprehend (whether dimly or more insightfully) the forces of the Tides, and some of them are consciously or not pursuing aims that accord well with the Tides. The Tides might just be a belief system for others, and unknown to far more. As for what impact they’ll have in gameplay... you’ll have to wait and see. We’re integrating them into both plot and character, and we’re looking to move well beyond 2nd Edition D&D’s alignment system for the effects the Tides have on gameplay. The more funding we receive for the game, the deeper we’ll be able to make this system, and we’re hoping for some incredible reactivity when the game is complete."

Quick favor guys. Even if you don't plan on playing Torment, mind liking the Facebook Page:

https://www.facebook.com/Torment.inXile

10,000 likes gets us another level on an in game labyrinth.

thanks!

Update 13:

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/inxile/torment-tides-of-numenera/pos...

Torment Sourcebook for Numenera Tabletop game, Pat Rothfuss Digital Comic and Companion, New Stretch Goals, Technology Test (video).

Also, from Update 11, Nathan Long on stories:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=ae3cG6QAos0

"Hall of Lingering Reflections

This gathering place will offer unique opportunities and tools to help you defeat your foes. It is a living museum, a history, a prison. This subterranean vault is a place of memories, a vault of pain and laughter, built by a forgotten power for forgotten reasons. The memories of its denizens are frozen in time, and so they have no knowledge of the passage of the centuries beyond these walls. Its doors open into smaller worlds, pocket dimensions that house these shells in a simulation of their memories. But who lies hidden here? What secrets might you unlock? And is it possible to spirit one of this company away as you seek your creator?"

=-=-=

"A gigantic dome of water shimmers in the middle of a vast desert, seemingly impervious to the cruel rays of the sun's heat. Curved obelisks from another age rise from the sands to cup and surround the bubble like gentle fingers.

But humans live here too, mostly for trade or work. They use various numenera to breath underwater – implantable gills, breathing apparatuses, portable air bubbles, and so forth. A town of air-breather buildings has grown up around the outside of the dome. These air-breathers are reliant on the dome, as most of their food (and all of their water) comes from within, but they make a good trade in the unique foods, animals, and textiles grown under the water. And of course visitors can find multiple shops in the air-breather town that will provide the varied numenera they need to enter the dome themselves."

Comprehensive post on vision, concept art, links to design videos:

http://tormentrpg.tumblr.com/vision

Final update has screenshot of male version of PC: