If I'm building a roguelike or trying to enhance the Gamist aspects of my RPG, where can I discuss the proper methods of, say, character advancement, taking inspiration from Diablo vs. D&D 3e? Or has this been done already?

For awhile I've really enjoyed reading the forums, but a lot here is geared towards abstracting design away from Simulationist and Gamist aspects. Not that I mind, the stuff's something important that needed examination since birth of RPGs 30 years ago, but sometimes a tutorial on regression to determine power levels can magically disappear 50 posts of "review my quarterstaff rules".

Forge has steadily been moving away from content-based content categorization towards process-based thought; thus the proper forum for your discussion depends on the process it's inspired by. The two main candidates are Actual Play and Indie Game Design; the former if you wish to reflect on your play experiences and build from there, the latter if you're designing a game for publication. If you're simply focusing on a customer segment based around certain types of rules, Publishing could be the proper venue for market analysis.

If you're indeed in the throes of game design, with the intent to publish, then it's a simple matter: just take your game into Indie Game Design and lay out your questions! We can go on from there depending on the particulars. Note that if your interest is purely academical and does not fall in any of the process-based categories of the Forge, the proper place for discussion is somewhere else. I recommend www.storygames.com or Chris Lehric's blog as starting places, but there are many other possibilities.

The art of game design forum on RPG.net may also be of help.

Hi.

Since you're looking for advice about a game you're designing, Indie Game Design would be the ticket.

Please post!  I'd love to see more discussion of classical Gamism on this site in general.

yrs--
--Ben