Spiderweb Games - Interview @ 1Up

Nice to see some indie service at a major site with 1Up's RPG Blog interviewing Jeff Vogel.  It's a short interview mostly covering the end of the Avernum series:

1UP: What exactly does it entail to bring a long-running series like Avernum to a close? The series' world has developed quite a history, not to mention certain tics and trademarks. Was it difficult to bring all these things together to offer payoff to long-time fans and create a sense of closure, or did the pieces simply fall into place?

JV: A good question. It's pretty rough. The hard part is ending the story. This was really, really hard for Geneforge. I agonized about it for weeks. It wasn't as rough for Avernum because I've known for years how it would have to end, but the process still began with thinking about the end point.

Then I made up the storyline, the series of events that gets everything from A to B. What the player will do, in other words.

And then, in that structure, I cram in as many beloved characters, dangling plot threads, and blatant fan service as I can. I really try to reward the longtime fans (without alienating new people).