Deep development

I'm at the point now where I've built a stable foundation of core rules, and I'm just chipping away to make the surrounding skill subsystems and mechanics fit that core as well as possible. Most recently, I've been going skill-by-skill and asking myself what a reviewer might have to say about them. Do they mesh with the core game loop? Are they fun? Are they anoying, boring, overwrought, or unnecessary? The answers are various, and finding the line to ride between overwrought and unsatsisfying is a hurdle. The identity of the game is in there---in the way people interact with it, and the kinds of people who want to play, or the mass appeal or lack thereof. Each skill contributes to the feel at the table.

Hunting and fishing are a good example. It's a popular skill, and vital to a starting hold, so it comes up a lot. Originally, it was just a skill roll, telling you what you came home with after your week's hunting. But what about the adventure, the unknowns, the mishaps and surprises? I've since retooled Hunting to be more than just a skill check, but a series of tables you can roll on. Sure, sometimes it's just "you bring in your quarry of x size, good job," but taking inspiration from my mining skill, you can now find things while out! There are spark tables for minor discoveries and points of interest. Crucially, hunting is now done in two phases, a tracking step and a hunting step. Tracking gives you trails to follow for quarry of various sizes, and hunting carries out said hunt, with a table that defines how it goes. This is modified by the size of the prey, and crucially- they don't always go down easy.

This is just one example, but adding depth and impactful feeling to each skill (when warranted) marks a huge improvement over the quickstart. 

I might do a series of devlogs and vlogs where I talk about the development of each skill and my thought process. Let me know if that sounds interesting to you.