The Quests That Got Cancelled
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Richard Cobbett has been penning a fair amount of RPG-focused articles for Rock, Paper, Shotgun lately, including a a compendium of cancelled RPGs that covers both well-known projects like Interplay's Fallout 3 - nicknamed "Van Buren" by fans due to its project title - and less well known ones like Metropolis' The Witcher game from the 90s. A snippet on TORN, Black Isle's ill-fated original fantasy IP:
Torn
Torn had a pretty short life, really, going just a few months from world premiere to cancellation back in 2001. It had something of a Planescape Torment vibe to it, focusing on a wandering character cursed to bring bad luck wherever they went, though in an ever so slightly cheerier world. In terms of systems, it was going to use the Fallout SPECIAL system in a fantasy setting the world of Torn only in a semi-real time form rather than pure turn-based. Beyond that and a bit of lore, fairly stock (Order vs. Chaos) stuff really, not too much is known. Officially, the game was axed because it wasn't going well and wasn't going to be done fast enough to pull Interplay's financial chestnuts off the fire in time. While that has been contested, it's tough to get too excited about the only footage floating around.
SPECIAL did ultimately get its fantasy debut in a game published by Black Isle, the deservedly forgotten Lionheart: Legacy of the Crusader. It was an alternate history affair combining medieval history with demons, in what can best be summed up as (Great idea, weak game.) But since it came out, there's no need to dwell on that here. Onwards, to a somewhat familiar face!
