ToME WikiRavenRed: Just a little word about how excited I am about Arda. Even more than I'm excited about 3.0.0 (if that's possible). It seems like it will be the quantum leap that ToME was/is when compared to Vanilla, even if they have an engine that is similar. I'm interested as to how it will be balanced/unbalanced when compared to ToME (which still has one or two legacies of Pern-era cheese). The total rejiggering of monster power levels will be good, as it will make playing less predictable (to experienced playing) whilst not making it nightmarish for newbs. Can't wait to squizz at the changes NeilStevens has made already... (Which I'll do as soon as I can get off my behind long enough to install the requisite software.. 
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NeilStevens: I'd love to get it done, too. I just don't work on it much, though. So yes, please, install GNU Arch and even help fill out the monster list!
RavenRed: Very willing to... <crack of thunder, signalling divine wrath>... once I've finished with the resistances for DG. (which isn't far off now)... On ideas for that: to quote from your Post in Forums:
- * Monsters ** Fewer types of monsters, more ego types. No demons, angels, liches, and other things that strain the theme. Various kinds of orcs and trolls get created and powered up to fill in the gaps. More kinds of natural and slightly-corrupted creatures should work, too.
Have you considered what ego-types you'd be interested in?
NeilStevens: I list some in the monster list file. One major idea I have is that I want ego-types of major player classes for all the major intelligent races. Warrior, Sorceror, Demonologist, Summoner, Dark Priest, and so on.
RavenRed: So the monster list will consist of base-types, with the Ego-types being a HEAVY component of monster generation. Interesting. Sorry to sound stupid, but can the power-levels of spells be scaled up with the level of monsters (i.e. a Demonologist Snaga would have a much lower level of success for summoning a demon than a Demonologist Urloki)...
NeilStevens: There would be multiple ego types, I forgot to mention. From low-level novices on up.
RavenRed: "Novice Demonologist Foo", "Demonologist Foo", "Expert Demonologist Foo"? Cool.
kfoelsch: This sounds pretty exciting. I'd be particularly interested to know if your changes could allow player levels to reach 100 or higher...
NeilStevens: My module would not allow players to go above level 50. One of my goals in Arda is to shorten the game.
MayLith: Are you keeping subraces, too? I mean, obviously Vampires, Spectres etc. would be gone, but you could keep Hermit, Barbarian, and a few others, and have double flavors. "Foo" being a race:
- Hermit Novice Demonologist Foo
- Foundling Experienced Rogue Trapper Foo (foundling = poor starting stats, but very street-wise)
- Crusader Practiced Warrior Foo (crusader = going through life with blinders on, to some extent; but very focussed on one narrow path. Decreased intelligence.)
- Mystic Expert Dark Priest Foo (mystic = perenially interested in the mystical side of the world; lots of minuses but some plusses too. Hmm, I guess this one is like Hermit, but maybe you could differentiate between the two.)
- Peasant blah blah foo (peasant = basic, solid stock -- decent starting stats, perhaps some handy practical talents (make small food, make small light), and a modest CON boost). Vulnerable to disease.
- Woodsman blah blah foo (Woodsman = plus to perception; access to tree-walking, fire missile weapons in forested areas, and maybe even "build barricade" -- invest a few turns to make a crude wall (in other words, boost AC and chance of reflection at highest levels)
Um, that's all I can think of for now.
NeilStevens: Novice, Expert, and such are to be for monsters, not players. For players I'm likely to eliminate most or all subraces. For thematic reasons I'm inclined to replace subraces with a proliferation of races. More human types, more elf types, more hobbit types, plus some other races like dwarves and ents, should be sufficient give the game diversity of strategy.
MayLith: Oops -- please pardon me, my bad.
On the other hand, Human, Hobbit, and Elf types could just as easily be implemented with subraces as with races, so this really could go either way.
MayLith: What can I say. Game-wise, I have a rather longstanding fascination with subtle flavors. Oh, the little details to play with... <g>
NeilStevens: Well if we get 5 or so kinds of elf, 5 or so kinds of human, 3 kinds of hobbit, a dwarf race or two, an ent race or two, and some maia types, would that be sufficient?
MayLith: Sounds fun! I'm looking forward to seeing this.
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OutoLumo: I'd love to see the time travel concept (the way BlackSmurf suggested in Modules/Time Travel) applied to Arda, as well as expanded Wilderness (as in Modules/aWESoME)...