First, Rich asked who gets to name HIREd units. I'd say don't name them at all.
the masses of peasants are there to form a backdrop, and I think nothing more
than "with 40 Peasants" is sufficient for turn listings.
Next Varian described a system for exploration, where every square has an
encounter resource which is used when an EXPLORE succeeds, and limits the amount
of EXPLORING to be done in an area. Also, a square with excess encounter
resource starts spitting out wandering monsters to terrorize the outlands.
Personally, I like this a lot. I think this integrates well with Warlording
(maintain your lands or have your residents overrun with Orcs), and also moves
the good EXPLOREing out to the borderlands where it should be more wild'n'wooly.
However, I'd still suggest that some of the resource be spent on RUIN-like
things - longer quests with traps/secret doors/nastier monsters and bigger
rewards (ie. here's where the magic items would be). One-shots are fun, but
without longer quests there's less planning, less epic undertaking.
Finally, Rob described a detailed system for building ruins into buildings, and
buildings into ruins. The one problem with this is I think it'll be a one-way
street. How many buildings are there that are actually going to go unoccupied?
The only buildings I think out there that might be empty now are Guild Towers,
and if the Guilds are to survive there'll need to be hireling permanently
staffing the towers. So, I'm not so sure how usefull this system will be.
Scott