A few more random thoughts...

As we get to work on this project, another thing to remember is that combat can sometimes really drag on, especially if the party size gets to be much over four people. I remember having a couple people in a cave fighting 12 hook horrors between a couple different rooms and it took over an hour. I know Mr. Shade likes speed playing where everybody throws their attack roll at once and stuff like that. If we start dividing damage between specific parts on the body and the armor, as well as recording wear and tear on weapons and sheilds and elaborating on defensive moves, speed playing (I think) would almost become essential or the game could grind to a halt during heavy combat. All of these ideas are good ideas and would surely bring more realism to the game. I guess we have to decide if we're concerned with balancing time with realism, or if we're choosing at the moment to committ soley to creating the most damned realistic combat system ever and who cares how long each round takes. Another idea is including a maximum time during which a player has to decide on their course of action. If you want to go truely realistic, then players whose characters are not near each other should not be able to discuss their actions. Looking forward to the work.