We all like to be the big damn heroes, as our events of the past have proved time and again. And who wouldn't? If you log in for a fair amount of time and don't kill, maim, murder, bludgeon or obliterate something by the time you log out again, you are either AFK, doing it wrong or clinically dead.
But any idiot can kill. A particularly sharp fruitcake could potentially defeat an enemy (or in our case, fish). For the enemies are getting tougher and with the fights are about to get brutal due to new combat systems, The Spine will need every edge it can get.
Introducing:
THE STEALTH SYSTEM! 
Sabotage and assassination the way only the
Elite really can! Simple mechanics in small, covert missions that will impact the ongoing story and your characters both positively and negatively should you succeed or fail.
The Mechanics:The rolling system will be out of 6, like a die. This will determine your visibility, how much noise you are making and if your escape attempts from patrolling guards are successful. Be careful though: with the numbers being smaller, the chances of you getting a critical failure are greater. But fear not! Your critical successes are also more frequent!
Guards, surveillance devices, floor traps and your environments could turn against you at the blink of an eye, so be careful before you make your moves! Previous actions could make the guards in the next room more alert for intruders, or completely unconscious and incapacitated. It's all down to you.
As said before, the shadows are
VITAL to survival. Three moves out in the open will be enough to get you caught.
One moves equals a line of dialogue, an emote or moving more than 10 yards.
Moving slowly and quietly will keep your noise levels down too. Running, yelling, or emoting any combat with the guards will end very messily for you, and potentially leave you lying flat on your face for the rest of the encounter!
Noise levels will be monitored by '
Sound Checks' through the event. Make more noise, and you will have to roll for more sound checks. No noise, no checks. Lovely jubbly.
Also introducing:
THE D.I.G SYSTEM! 
Has your whole party had bad roll after bad roll all damn evening? Sucks doesn't it? Puts a bit of a downer on the night and can get very frustrating.
But fear not! To balance out how difficult some encounters can be, your characters have been given the powers of the D.I.G, and will have a Get Out of Jail Free Card!
How the D.I.G works:The D.I.G System (Short for
DAMN, I'M GOOD !) is a one-use system to help you warp the fabric of space and time during the encounter. At the start of a very hard encounter, the party will be awarded the use of one D.I.G. Should something go drastically wrong, say a party member is caught and dies, you alert every guard in the entire base, or a rash decision leaves you standing in the open wearing only a pair of oven gloves, you can call upon the powers of the D.I.G and the laws of nature and coincidence will bend in your will to delete a misjudgment.
The D.I.G is only a reactionary system though. It can delete misjudgments or happenings that you caused, but it cannot help you overcome an obstacle you have not attempted. Think of it like the Sands of Time in the Prince of Persia series, except it deletes previous events without rewinding time.
REMEMBER: YOUR PARTY WILL ONLY RECEIVE ONE D.I.G PER EVENT! USE IT CAREFULLY!Example of when the D.I.G can be used: A, B and C are sneaking through the undergrowth. A rash decision made ends with B getting impaled on a pike and eaten from the inside out by scorpions. A and C decide the to their D.I.G to save B from the grisly fate.
Example of when the D.I.G can't be used: A, B and C come across the big villain. He is about to reveal his large death machine that will soon turn A, B and C into dust! They use the D.I.G to delete the super weapon and save the day.
Thank you for reading. Please leave feedback and/or improvements below.
And now for something completely different *explodes*
Subject: How Not to be Seen, and Other New Tricks. 
Wed Mar 23, 2011 9:59 am
