Just wanted to air out some ideas before I make any more Proposals.

A while back I made a couple of Proposals, Goosebump Potential and Proof of Concept that would allow players—just me at first—to reserve items’ descriptions.  My idea was that we could create items whose effects were unknown until discovered.

One idea that came to mind was to use an Encryption widget like we used a few dynasties back.  An item’s effects could be in the Ruleset in encrypted form.  When the proper criteria had been met for that item’s purpose to be disclosed, I (or whoever) would reveal the private key and the effects could be unencrypted.

This could lead to a lot of coolness; it might also be more trouble than it’s worth.  Secrecy and mystery are a big part of text adventures, though, and I think it’s worth some contemplation on how we might incorporate them.

So yeah.  I don’t have a draft of anything yet, I’m just wondering what people think about secret/mystery items and places, and on encryption (or any other mechanic) being the way we implement it.