What Now?
Updated:
Sorry for not posting in a while, I've gotten back into Skyrim modding. Some pretty cool new developments over there. Things like Precision, Community Shaders, Immersive Equipment Displays, Dynamic Activation Key, and EVG Animated Traversal have really opened up some new spaces in mod development. Obviously there are dozens more I'm playing with that didn't make that extremely short list. A few mod authors turning to ImGui for interface development these days. Really cool stuff to play with.
One that's really got me excited is Stress and Fear. A really cool idea for such a simple gameplay tweak that really makes things interesting. It causes you to develop phobias against enemies of a given type when you only just barely pull through a battle. You nearly died, that's traumatic! This causes fights against that type of enemy in the future to lower your stats from the fear, making it even more difficult. However, you can overcome your fear by beating a certain number of them. After that, you gain a permanent buff against them. So simple, yet it makes so many things happen. First, you're on guard more. Squeaking through has consequences. Then you get the challenge of fighting at a disadvantage but the fun of collecting all the buffs. Really fun risk-reward cycle and collection mechanic.
That's just the fear, the stress is also fun and really helps flesh out an immersive roleplay focused play style. It encourages taking breaks between the action and has you constantly weighing the desire to press on against the need to turn back or at least find a way to relax. If you play with mods like Campfire and SunHelm it fits in really well.
Sorry if this pushes you to install Skyrim again. Yahtzee did it to me so I'm passing it along like an irrationally addictive chain letter. Enjoy your next month getting your load order just right.