In which I take a long hard look at what I'm doing here.

So, I've not posted here in a while now. I've been focusing a lot more of my mental energies on my food related writing and experimentation, and even my gaming thoughts have been leaning more towards just wanting to play.

The truth is, I just don't have that much patience for the nitty gritty of game design. I've got here what I still think is a great idea, a dream of mine for the last decade has been finally seeing this concept in print, but the truth is I don't think I have all the skills and resources necessary to pull it off.

So, I've recruited some help. Any of you who're still reading, give a warm welcome to Kasdaye, one of the #rpgnet regulars who in a fit of boredom has agreed to take a look at this stunted growth of a project, and maybe see about helping get this thing at least to something one can play around the table with some friends.

Since I don't know when or if I'm going to use them, I thought I might describe some of the ideas I've still got stewing, defining mechanics and concepts that I've hit on that I like, but haven't yet put to page yet.

First off, well, is the Dark itself. I've done a lot of thinking along the way, about the idea that the wild, the Dark itself, changes a person. It's like the call of the wild or the sea, but twisted into a much darker urge. The inky blackness that surrounds the Earth seems to pull at the basest and most barbaric and animalistic urges. As the mind twists and becomes darker, the body becomes similarly twisted, a bizarre manifested image of the dementia that consumes the mind in the blacker places. In game terms, I'm thinking something of a fusion of Star Wars' Dark Side Points, Vampire's Humanity, and the Chaos mutations I've heard so much about from WFRP. The GM can tempt the player with the power of the Dark, handing over a temporary burst of instinct and power, in exchange for a farther slide towards the inhuman.

The combat system I have in mind is sort of like a half-way point between full on map and tactical combat, and the usual vague abstractions. The idea is that we keep track of combat in a set of concentric circles, with the players in the center. From there we step outwards essentially be state of detection by the party, starting at close quarters, stepping out to visual spotting range, and then to audio detection range, and finally simply being unspotted, which would be effectively outside the circles. The idea is that monsters and NPCs can make stealth checks, to try and get into close range without getting spotted before hand and thus being open to attack. The rolls would be modified by the light sources carried by the party, and the amount of cover available in the combat area. Range is not a contributing factor, as it's assumed to take place at close enough range to render it a moot point.

I've also got some thoughts about how the monster and NPC systems should look. I'm thinking that to save GM prep time, we go old school D&D style or like the NPC advice given in GURPS 3rd, boiling down the baddies into only the basic stats we need to run a fight with them, plus base attribute check values to allow for any non-combat tasks needed.

I've got some more ideas still yet to be penned regarding the structure of Aralia society and government, which I hope to get down myself soon.

Stay tuned, hopefully things will finalyl get interesting again.