Planescape: Torment, the iconic Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game, was originally a 'B Team' project. It began as three different games - including a 3D dungeon-crawler.

There are many factors that can alter the nature of the game. I don't know the fancy book learningin' to change the character of a person, but there are a number of things that can do so. Robert Zak, a contributor to the upcoming PC Gamer print edition 390 (402 to our friends across the Pond), has delved into the strange history behind Planescape: Torment. He spoke with members of the unlikely Interplay Team that made it possible.

Feargus Urquhart, CEO of Obsidian, recalled: "I was trying to figure out everything and I noticed that three Planescape project had four people working on them." In 1996-97, Interplay simultaneously published Baldur's Gate and internally developed Fallout, Planescape: Torment, and eventually Planescape: Torment. Urquhart was the head of Interplay’s RPG division. This division was then merged into Black Isle Studios, the publisher's beloved subsidiary.

Urquhart claimed that "nearly no work" had been done on one project, the second is a mystery and the third is a tantalizing, but probably ill-fated, what if scenario. A first person full 3D dungeon crawler would have taken full advantage of brand new 3D accelerators like the 3dfx Voodoo.

"I said, ‘Ok, we're going to make a game without inventing any new technology.'" Urquhart said. "We're using the Baldur's gate engine and differentiating ourselves by having a unique character that isn't just going to be generic, and we're also going to reinforce this by zooming in on the camera."

Interplay devoted a lot of resources to the never-released sequel to Stonekeep, which was released in 1995. This gave newer developers the opportunity to prove themselves with a project that allowed for a high degree of creativity. Some of them were not familiar with Planescape before they started work on the game. "[Urquhart] came one day and told me, 'We're doing a Planescape', and I was like, 'What?'" Tim Donley, lead artist at PST, recalled the experience.

Donley also described Chris Avellone as the Torment's lead developer, who was initially a mystery to the Black Isle team. Avellone's initial project at Interplay was less successful than PST, which would become one of the canonical D&D games. Donley said, "Down the hallway from me was a guy who would always go to his office and shut the door." "You never knew who he really was." "All I knew was that he worked on Descent to Undermountain."

Eric Campanella was another member of the team Donley referred to as Interplay's Dirty Dozen. He sculpted and animate many of Torment main characters, despite having only experience in 2D artwork, not 3D modeling, which formed the basis for PST's Sprites. Dennis Presnell, who is now working at Obsidian on Avowed, describes himself as a college dropout. He learned how to use digital art tools in Torment by "just pressing buttons and seeing what they did."

The team would eventually make some real magic. Black Isle staff flew to BioWare's HQ in Edmonton, to show off the new game. Donley recalled BioWare's CEO Ray Muzyka telling a programmer, "You told me we couldn’t have that many animation frames." After demonstrating Torment's in-engine opening scene, Donley remembered. How does the game look so good?

PC Gamer magazine issue 390/UK402 contains the full retrospective article by Robert Zak on Planescape Torment. MagazinesDirect offers subscriptions to the magazine in the US and UK.