So, here's where I'm at

This is sort of a "thinking while typing" post, so thanks for bearing with me.

I'm talking to a couple folks about a tabletop group. If I can get two high-functioning gamers on board, I can probably shanghai my wife into finally trying out RPGs in a group setting (after nearly a decade and a half of bemused laughter).

I'm starting the traditional fantasy project I've been threatening for a while. Unlike the main Thool setting, this project will not be restricted to source literature in the public domain, and therefore I won't ever be publishing it in any format more formal than a blog and a wiki.

I don't yet know exactly how I plan to approach the traditional fantasy setting. There's a large portion of my brain that's obsessed with weird fiction, but there's another equally large portion that loves more "standard" fare like Lloyd Alexander, John Bellairs, C.S. Lewis, and of course J.R.R. Tolkien.

I think it's absolutely daft to think a setting inspired by such literature, along with European fairy tales and folklore, is by necessity boring or "generic." This is a pretty rich vein to mine, and as always, I'm interested in reading the source literature and coming up with my own take, rather than reflexively using the accumulated D&D interpretations. There are instances where the D&D interpretations are pretty cool, but I'd like to do my own thing first, then graft on the D&D stuff that fits.

Anyway, I'm still mulling things over. This project will be undertaken with the goal of using it for tabletop gaming in the near future, and I don't know yet what ruleset we'll be using. My conversation with a friend yesterday leaves me skeptical as to how much I'll like D&D 4e -- this guy knows my tastes fairly well and is 99.99% convinced I'll dislike it immensely. So we're probably looking at OD&D, B/X, AD&D 1e, or T&T.

I'm hoping this provides the needed change of pace ... I'll figure out later how to fit this project into the context of the overall Thool setting.