Well, Jon and I had both worked on Thief, and Xemu had been at LG for many years, so we were a fairly natural choice to work with the engine. Well, umm, well, Shock 1. And of course Ultima Underworld. Alone in the Dark, Jagged Alliance, Zelda, etc. But as a sequel to a great game, we have an easier time than someone starting from scratch.
RPG presents is how to mix stats, numbers, etc.
UW answered a lot of those questions for us and gave us the brain space to take the genre into the next generation. I'm a huge history buff, as is Jon, and all of our game ideas tend to be thinly veiled retelling of some major historical event. As the guy who gets to write most of the content, its a pleasure having such a strong starting point. There are two main axes of growth in computer games. I think Shock 1 is an CRPG in the sense that your character grows over time.