Welcome back, Darien!

> Okay. The first and foremost suggestion I have to make is that, for my part, disregard any element of needing food that you are considering.

I wouldn't be caught dead considering it. That's just a nuisance element, not a gameplay element.
Ditto for characters who can become "lost" forever if a resurrection spell fails. Monsters draining levels is out, too.

> Second thing to do - make any magic items very hard to find.

I'm going to keep the object generator from my 1996 game, because it works quite well -- as you go through the game, you tend to get equipment that gets steadily better as you travel farther, but you never get so many great objects that there isn't something left to do to outfit your crew. The most powerful objects are comfortably rare, meaning it's unlikely you won't find *some* rare items but also unlikely you'll find even close to all of them -- and yet, it's not "practically impossible" to find any of them. The equipment in these types of games is, I think, one of the most fun parts.

> Avoid stereotypical mishmash. I probably don't have to say this to you, but just to be safe... kidnapped princesses have been done to a painful, bloody *death* . . . unless you're going to put a truly original spin on them, they're not anything we haven't seen before.

Go play "Fantasy Quest" on "Adventure Games Live."

Thanks for the suggestions -- let's keep them coming.