Ok, at the request of Newdragon... here's a list I started working on back in the UO days. This is based largely with a Rolemaster viewpoint too as many of you will notice, but it comes from the experience of playing RPG's for well over 25 years and online games from the "Mud" days to Meridian 59, UO, DAOC, SB, SWG, AC, WoW, etc.
It's not perfect, needs to trimming and probably some additions and modifications... but it's a place to start. FYI, there is a long list of the weapons I'd have availabe in the world that I left off.
I'm also no programmer... so who knows, some of this stuff might be impossible. But, I know from playing the online games, that some of the concepts could do many of the games a
whole lot of good and would be fairly easy to implement.
I. Skill based, not level based, system. Don?t bother with levels at all.
1) Constant progression and relatively visible accomplishment without the ?level grind? that so many people hate and burn out on done so by actually performing the skill action.
2) Allow players to lock and unlock both upward and downward progression in a skill so that they may either stop progression or potentially forget a skill over time as they develop another at their skill cap.
3) Provide bonuses in related skills for mastering a skill. Example: Herbalist give bonus to Brewer, Woodcarving gives a bonus to Fletching, Anatomy gives bonuses to First Aid, Healing, etc.
II. Possibly no official ?professions? or ?classes?. Allow complete customization of skill choices thereby making individuals that much more unique in the world. Spells could be chose by ?school? (i.e. you?d chose Religious/Spiritual, Mental/Psionic, Energy/Essence).
III. Professions / Classes (20) if needed or as examples of possibilities
1) Magic a) Elementalist ? Fireball and lightning bolt chucker
b) Healer ? full time healer
c) Cleric ? Holy caster
d) Mentalist ? mental manipulation
e) Summoner ? teleporting allies, summoning help
f) Illusionist ? illusionary armors, weapons, monsters, etc
g) Druid ? Shapechanger, nature caster
h) Alchemist ? Crafter/potion and scroll maker
2) Arms a) Warrior ? General master at arms
b) Soldier ? Seige warfare
c) Rogue ? Light fighter
d) Theif ? Burgler, sneak
e) Warrior Monk ? Martial artist
f) Archer ? Ranged master at arms
3) Semi a) Ranger ? Tracker, hunter, survivalist
b) Warrior Mage ? Melee elementalist type
c) Assassin ? Cloaking, poisons, backstabbing
d) Monk ? Paladinish warrior monk
e) Paladin ? Holy warrior
f) Medic ? Semi-Healer
IV. Separate potential caps on combat and non-combat related skills.
1) Make it possible to develop a single character that can be both an ?Adventurer? and a ?Non-Adventurer? (i.e. a Scout/Cook, Warrior/Smith, Mage/Herbalist, etc).
2) Put varying caps on the potential number of actual types of weapons a character can develop skill in. (i.e. a Warrior would be able to learn virtually all without limit, a Ranger would be able to learn two melee categories and all of the missile category, a Mage would be
V. Stats: Strength, Constitution, Dexterity, Quickness, Intelligence, Wisdom, Charisma, Luck (Str + Con = Endurance, Dex + Qu = Agility, Int + Wis = Will)
1) Increase stats by use with an overall cap.
2) As skills, allow players to lock upward and downward progression.
VI. Utilize monster drops for higher end player crafted items, creating the need, a use and a reason for such dropped ?loot? items on creatures. And DO NOT concentrate these drops in specific areas (this leads to camping certain mobs by players).
1) Skins, Hides or Plates for armors
2) Bones for Armor, Clubs, Bows, Weapon Handles, etc
3) Claws for spiked weapons (spiked maces, etc) or Arrows
4) Items actively used by humanoid target are dropped.
VII. Customization of avatars:
1) Weight (Fatter, thinner)
2) Height (Taller, shorter)
3) Age (Older, younger)
4) Sex (Male, Female, Generic)
5) Race (Elves, Humans, Centaurs, etc, etc)
6) Skin Tone (Color; Lighter, Darker)
7) Complexion (Freckles, Rough, Smooth)
Tattoo?s (Head, Face, Chest, Back, Arms, Legs, Hands, Feet)
9) Scars (Head, Face, Chest, Back, Arms, Legs, Hands, Feet)
10) Hair;
a) color
b) length
c) texture (straight, curly, etc)
d) style (at least four variations)
e) eyebrows
f) mustache
g) beard
h) sideburns
11) facial features;
a) eyes
b) ears
c) nose
d) mouth
e) jawline
VIII. Racial variety.
1) At minimum, four distinct races (with 2-4 subspecies each) but preferably twice that many base races. (These would include the usual: Human, Elven variations, Dwarven variations, Hobbit, etc).
2) Allow for a ?Sub-species? or ?Alternate-species? option where players can use an existing race to create an optional one. This would not change any statistics or values and would be in ?race name? only, but when combined with the feature customization tool could create a huge variety of role-playing possibilities. (Example: Elves could be modified into Wood Elves, Dark Elves, City Elves, etc).
a) Human
1. Rural
2. Sea
3. Mountain
4. Arctic
b) Elf
1. Wood
2. Plains
3. Sea
4. Underground
c) Dwarf
1. Mountain
2. Underground
3. Plains
4. Arctic
d) Gnome
1. Plains
2. Mountains
3. Wood
4. Underground
3) Create specialty races for players who do something to earn them. Hitting a certain level, pre-ordering, being a dedicated tester, being voted a ?swell guy? by the population, etc. (These could include: a Giant type race, Centaurs, an Aquatic race, a Flying race or taking a monster-form in the game).
a) Half Giant
b) Centaur
c) Flying race
d) ?Monster? (pick from some ?humanoid? game creatures)
IX. Open PvP with strict and enforced repercussions that will be significant, yet not essentially eliminate a character from enjoyable play.
1) A color system may be utilized to partially designate the equivalent power level of another character within the game. This, however, should not be an automatic given in judging a potential foes ability, but a rough guideline.
2) Allow a player killer to be attackable by victims or witnesses within any rural region and KOS (Kill on sight) by town/city guards of the region where the crime took place if that player has been reported to the local authorities (Note: NPC guards will not ?spawn? on the character ? s/he would have to be spotted by or pointed out to them). Victims have the choice to report a killing/theft.
3) Allow a player killer to be attackable by anyone within a region if the witness or victim was a local authority and the event happened within the regions limits (NPC Guard, Town Militia, Town Politician, etc).
4) If a third party helps a player killer the result will be that player being flagged in the same manner as the player killer itself for that given crime.
5) All of these effects are permanent and cannot be eliminated by ?good deeds?. The only way for a criminal to be redeemed is by the victims themselves. The criminal will have to ask forgiveness and it is up to the victims what the price of that forgiveness is. If a victims account is closed then the criminal is considered forgiven by that victim.
X. Player Title system
1) An optional title based on skill mastery achievement, accumulated wealth and/or account age. This will allow those who want to be recognized for their achievements to be publicly recognized, but for those to want to remain more private and obscure to do so.
2) A non-optional title system based on character reputation/alignment and number deaths per a set game time ratio. This will ensure that players are held accountable for their actions and also warn potential groups if a player significantly lacks any skill and would be a danger to the group.
XI. Collision Detection and strict enforced punishment for those who abuse it for grief play. This is essential to good PvP tactics and battles and eliminates many problems that appear in medium to large scale combats.
XII. One solitary world that is enormous in scale and contains the entire population.
1) Make it take many hours of playtime to cross large areas. A minimum of six hours of constant travel to cross into other kingdoms or continents.
2) Create zones based on servers such as large cities, islands, kingdoms, the ocean, etc. Meaning each zone, whatever it may be, would be an individual server.
XIII. Allow a flat four characters if the game is all one server. If multiple servers/worlds are required then players are given two characters per server and six per account.
XIV. Make increased travel speed an option for a price significant enough that it is somewhat prohibitive (only used liberally by the most wealthy).
1) Catch a sailing ship out of a port, an airship off a mountain, a riverboat, etc. Give the form of travel some risks depending on the ticket cost (i.e. there could be a ?shipwreck? or ?crash? that leaves the character washed ashore or in the wilderness).
XV. Utilize cities for player housing/shops.
1) They are often given a back seat role as NPC shopping locations and for quick re-supply trips and loot selling. Encourage player interaction and promote gathering within the cities by making them a place where the majority of players live, craft, sell and buy items by using all the ?eye candy? buildings and shops as player run and owned establishments and living quarters.
2) Other forms of player housing, outside of cities, would be available at an increased cost. Lots would be pre-determined where placement is allowed.
3) Housing private space/storage is determined by the number of characters on the server and can be divided between the characters as the player wishes.
XVI. City Types
1) NPC Cities
a) About 6+ Main NPC cities / About 36+ NPC Towns (towns being expandable by players potentially).
b) 1 Rogue community in each kingdom (no law ? no reporting for killing/theft)
2) Player Cities
a) Designate a few locations that would be entirely player built communities in varying locations (forest, plains, desert, mountain, subterranean, coastal, island, etc).
XVII. Computer NPC Merchants and Vendors
1) They will not buy just ?anything? that you have to sell.
2) They will only sell the basic items and equipment needed to start a character off in the world. All other transactions will be on a player to player basis.
3) If players do not have their own vendors NPC Merchants and Vendors will allow you to sell items through them via a commission system. However the NPC determines the value of the item, not the player, in this case and will also not accept overstocked items.
XVIII. Player run NPC Merchants and Vendors
1) Player owned NPC Merchants and Vendors have their own space limitation, but can also utilize storage within the shop to expand that storage space.
2) Have a ?main market? within main cities where PC Merchants are allowed to place vendors. There would be a limit on the number of crafters here which would be determined by who has the highest sell rates in the city (players would be warned they need to move their vendor if they fall to low in ranking within the city). If possible, a limit would be set on the number of vendors selling the same kind of inventory.
3) You can set your Merchant/Vendor to buy certain items from players, setting qualifications and paid prices for those items. Purchased items will go into private storage (where gold is kept) on that vendor.
XIX. A good selection of Equipment slots.
1) Armor Slots: Helm (Head), Gorget (Neck), Pauldrons (Shoulders), L. Rerebrace and R. Rerebrace (Upper Arms), L. Vambrace and R. Vambrace (Forearms), Gauntlets (Hands), Breastplate (Torso), Left and Right Guisses (Upper Legs), Left and Right Greaves (Lower Legs), Boots (Feet).
2) Clothing Slots: Cloak, Shirt, Pants, Gloves, Boots, Hat
3) Jewelry Slots: Nose (1 nose-ring), Ears (2 earrings), Neck (necklace), R. Wrist (bracelet), L. Wrist (bracelet), R. Hand (2 rings), L. Hand (2 rings).
4) Equipment Slots:
a) Belt: R. Waist (equipment slot ? 1handed items), L. Waist (equipment slot ? 1handed items), Back (equipment slot ? 2handed items), Pouch (money).
b) Backpack: Main, Pouch, Pouch, Front Pocket
c) Misc: Face (Mask), Eyes (glasses)
XX. Weapons combat that is pro-active, not entirely automated.
1) Allow choice of strike speed/power, high/low, left/right attacks. (Possibly use the number keypad #1-#9 using 0 as block and 5 as ?thrust?).
2) In the case of ranged combat, make the rate of fire effect the accuracy of the attacker (the longer a shot is held the more accurate it becomes ? to a limit). Also check for hits when fired, then determine if there is an intervening obstacle immediately before the hit (this creates the possibility of dodging behind objects if there is time).
XXI. A magic system that is versatile enough to allow for player created spells (assuming there will be a magic system)
1) Give ?runes? properties that can be combined together to create spells of varying power and effects with the overall power consumption and casting time based on power and effect of those runes.
2) Possibly gear these casters towards a more combat oriented existence. (They would not require as much of a cash investment as a Alchemist type character and have more variety in customized spell effect, but would likely be a bit slower in ?casting? their spells).
XXII. Create an Alchemy system for potions that allows for caster types that use components instead of mana or power (assuming there will be an alchemy/magic system)
1) Possibly gear these casters a bit less towards a combat oriented existence and give them a specialized ability to craft potions, dusts, salves, and magical raw materials to be used by crafters in the making of magical equipment.
XXIII. Creating magical equipment.
1) You will need a crafter.
2) You will need an alchemist to provide the raw materials (which will have had to of been mined by a miner or found by a nature type in the case of wood).
3) You will need a proper caster to cast the spells needed on the item during creation (if making a wand of fireballs you need someone that can cast fireball).
4) The higher the quality of the raw materials the more skilled the miner, alchemist and item crafter must be. Obviously the higher level the spells being imbued into the item the most skilled the caster must be.
5) While many of the professions that are crafter related would be setup under a system where a player could do both, having full fledged Alchemists be independent of that theory might be a good idea (however it would be nice to give them some kind of combat role ? such as using potions and scrolls instead of weapons or spells).
XXIV. Guilds:
1) Player Guilds
a) Allow guild wars.
1. Good vs. Evil
2. Specific Guild
b) Allow guild alliances.
c) Allow for a wide range of possible custom heraldry.
2) Craft Guilds
a) Alchemy
b) Brewing
c) Etc?
3) Combat Guilds
a) Warrior Guild
b) Scout Guild
c) Archer Guild
d) Magician Guild
e) Thieves Guild
XXV. Combat:
1) Characters can move at a walking pace and continue combat actions with a penalty.
2) Character cease combat actions when moving at a running pace (or faster) unless riding on (not piloting) a chariot, wagon, siege equipment, ship, etc.
3)
XXVI. Non-Weapon Skills;
1) Alchemy*
2) Anatomy* (Helps in both healing and battle)
3) Animal Handler*
4) Bard-craft* (Requires Musician)
a) Entertainment
1. Have a number of basic tunes.
2. Allow for creation of own tunes.
b) Provocation
c) Pacification
d) Inspiration
1. Combat
2. Movement
e) Protection
1. Magical
2. Physical
5) Blacksmithing
a) Armorsmith
b) Tinker (general items)
c) Weaponsmith
6) Botanist (Grows plants useful in healing, alchemy, d?cor, etc)
7) Brewer
Carrying (Gives encumbrance bonus)
9) Cooking
10) Dancing
11) Delving
a) Item Identification
b) Spell Identification
12) Disguise
13) Evaluation (of players/monsters)
14) Fishing
15) Etiquette (Improves some NPC reactions)
16) Glassblowing
17) Guarding* (guards a teammate in combat)
18) Healing*
19) Hiding*
20) Horsemanship* (Required for fighting from horseback)
21) Inscription
22) Jeweler
23) Jumping
24) Lore
a) Heraldry
b) Beasts (Animals, monsters, etc)
c) History (Items, places, people)
25) Lumberjacking
26) Meditation (Improves healing and other regeneration times)
27) Miner
28) Musician
a) Singing
b) Instrument
29) Parrying*
30) Persuasion (For use on NPC?s only)
31) Pick Locks
32) Pick Pockets
33) Running* (Improves running speed)
34) Set/Remove Traps
35) Spell-craft* (Magicians)
36) Stalking*
37) Stonecraft
38) Swimming (Improves swimming speed)
39) Tactics*
40) Tracking
41) Tailor (includes leather armors)
42) Taxidermist
43) Training (of animals)
44) Veterinarian* (Healing of non-humanoids)
45) Woodworking
a) Bowyer/Fletcher
b) Carpentry
