its your call

[Bayle]

ok i didnt see this, so i thought this would be a good topic.
i dont so much want to hear what games you liked, i want to hear what mmorpg you would make, and what it would be like, what would make it different, basically your spin on the mmorpg market if you had the control to make it so. i guess we can tolerate some remakes, with the tweaks you wanted as well. i will get this thread started.

i think i would perhaps make a post nuclear war mmorpg, ala Mad Max, or Fall Out style. i know AO took a stab at the future feel, but i feel its too high tech for a mmorpg, if we were as high tech as they are, we would likely program a bot to go do the killing for us.. so i like the future feel of a nation ravaged by war.

i really like the fallout settings, and races, i am even guessing we could keep alot of those cheesy tag skills, and skill system, just have a 3d engine and a persistent world, with instanced dungeons for missions.
of course i would keep pvp in place, i would perhaps offer a wastelands of sorts, for the free for all settings, and offer a arena for in house pvp, squad based fights. i would probablly go the route of AO with factions also, i would have the brotherhood of steel vs tribes, or whatever evil faction we could dream up.

well i know i didnt totally flesh this out, but i dont want to bore you to tears, i want to hear about your ideas.

[Karmajay]

My MMO would be like the C64 game Neuromancer.

Your gear would be various hacking 'rigs' and programs to travel through the matrix.

Best game evar!

Also, my MMO has to constantly have goals for you to pass. Not linear goals, but not much of the free form 'what do I do now?' that the SWG gave you.

[Derelict]

From the sounds of it, EQ2 is going to have a whole Good vs Evil theme going.

As I played through Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic and having played SWG, I was always going through the back of my mind how fun it would have been if SWG was set in the KOTOR setting. Everyone starts off the game with the aim to develop into either a Light Side Force wielding Jedi or a Dark Side Force welding Sith.

You'd have the opportunity to choose your weapons between the light sabre and the ranged laser guns each with their advantages and disadvantages. You'd be able to choose your force powers and develop them to various levels dependant on your character level.

Then there'd be the ever presiding "goal" of the game of Light Side vs Dark Side.

Other than that, there's only one other MMO game that I'd like to make, but that's currently in progress - Dungeons and Dragons Online.

[TGBO]

I'd make a Shadowrun MMO
Novel to follow

--Character creation--
Would be much like the table-top, but with some options/changes to make life easy on the newb.

No classes, no levels. Just races, each with some advantages and disadvantages. It'd be a skill-based game. The closest thing to level is in magic initiation. I'd also use the point-buy setup from the game. Give the ability to allocate those points however you wanted between stats, skills, spells, resources, and even your race. If possible, I'd add the edges and flaws to help further customize the charaters.

And there'd be archetype templates you could choose from and then modify if you wanted. These templates would auto-allocate all the points and give some brief descriptions of the character setup and playstyle. And it'd have another set of templates for getting gear. Ones to match the character templates, as well as a ton of little "packages" of various costs. Like one might have a Gun, armor vest, holster, clips, and ammo as a basic kit.

Everything in character generation would have an extra little window with in-game descriptions and also some stat descriptions, and a little blurb of advice. The advice would be given based on the starting archetype/stats/skills you picked. So for a street sam it'd be reccommending against buying magic talismans, while a magic-capable character would be advised of the penalties in taking cyber. Things like that to help the newb avoid accidentally gimping himself through ignorance.

Oh, and plenty of cosmetic options ^_^

--Character Advancement--
Comes in the form of Good Karma (ie: experience) and Nuyen (money). And I'd add some ways to exchange one for the other to a small degree. After all, cyber sams need more money for new enhancements, while mages need more karma to perfect thier spells. It'd take time to do the change though, so not simple for someone to ebay the money and get mega karma. And the change would take place over time, wether logged in or not.

Things would actually need some time to train or build-up, too. To advance a skill, you can choose to learn it by yourself, or from an instructor (which costs extra money). Then you can either spend time in-game learning it actively (like going to the shooting range to practice your pistol skill), or just let it go offline and your character will be studying while you attend to Real Life. Likewise for implants. Go to a doc to undergo surgery, or log out and your character will do it while you're off-line. This may seem a bit odd, but I think it'd help keep immersion going while not being a big inconvenience for the players.

--Content--
In game, you'd have the entire Seattle sprawl for the game. From the apacolyptic wastes of the Barrens to the hip Downtown area. Later content expansions can add more regions like the NAN, or the Elven nation. Tons of expansion possibilities. And there's already a lot of material to work with, but without the stifling strickness of settings like the Star Wars universe.

You'd have a contact system a little bit like City of Heros. The fixer sets you up with Johnsons who in turn have job offers for you or your team. You'd be able to try to negotiate with them, too! And in your NPC interaction, you'd have both your character's negotiation type skills, and a set of dialog options that combine, along with your charisma, to determine thier responses. Kinda like Fallout. Oh and your race can affect it too. The Humanis Policlub Johnson's not going to like talking to a troll, after all.

There'd be some static missions to do, a whole slew of pre-generated ones to do like CoH has, and also a ton of on-the-spot generated ones like AO had. Generated ones can be the generic runs like Steal some data, exctract an employee, yadda yadda.

Rewards would be more flexible, too. And you'd be informed upfront what your choices were (modified by any negotiations). Like an Ares Macrotech Johnson might offer good pay, but also have a selection of guns you could take as part of your payment. And generated missions would try to match the generated rewards to what you could actually use, so no troll-size motorbike for a dwarf.

And for heaven's sake, no static spawn points. Cetain areas would be prone to spawn a certain range of critters (like devil rats in the sewers, but not in the corporate enclave), but no static camp spots.

And instances! Wherever possible missions will be instanced for the group completing it, and whoever they decide to invite.

--Economy--
All sorts of options here for ye olde buy/sell.
*Simple in-game bulliten boards on the Matrix players can post things to, like an in-game ebay.
*buying and selling things through your fixers, which would be based on a combination of store price and current average player-auction prices.
*The actual stores themselves, for things legal.
*Pawn shops for some quick cash on about anything, but it'd pay less then just about anywhere.

*Delivery systems! Send items around to other players easy as pie! Once again, your fixer can do this for illegal goods.

And it can have all the transactions happen while you're offline if you want to sell.

Every economy will need a money sink, and there are some in this game too. Just about anything can degrade and break. Mind you, it's not gone, but it'll cost to get it fixed, and will likely need some skills to do it. Again, if you lack the skill, find a PC to do it, or pay a big fee and have an NPC do it.

There are other costs, too. Like ammo for a gun, replacement grenades, materials for summoning an elemental, and so on.

--Crafting--
Everything has a craft skill, and everything can be made, provided you have the tools for it. From vehicles to spells to guns and armor. If you have the skill, the knowledge, and the tools, you can do it. Of course, a lot of things may require more tools then players tend to get thier hands on, like a factory production line for a car. even if the facilities aren't available, it will be craftable for future expansion, and also to aid in player customization.

Lots of things that can be modifed, too. Like adding burstfire to your heavy pistol, or a supercharger to your car. Or a nice new dikote to your cyber-spur.

Lots of this can also be done for you by NPCs, for a hefty fee, and if they like/trust you.

--Play Environments--
I'd cover as much as possible. And some things I'd even have some fun customization for the players. Deckers, for instance, could get a reality filter for the deck and the game would display whatever textures they might want for things in the matrix. Even have a couple ready-made options for folks without the desire to make thier own. Mages could chose to customize what thier elementals look like, etc.

The mages would have the astral to use. Float around and even fight in this world of thought.

And then the good old mundane world for everyone.

--PvP--
I'd like to make it all-out PvP. But the NPCs would be rather involved as well. If you start a fight on the street in downtown, expect Lone Star to intervene. Out in the Barrens? No one is likely to care.

People could put a bounty on your head and then Bounty Hunter NPCs would start coming after you. Or if you've gotten a big enough police record (like by murdering other players), then Lone Star will start hunting you down, too. Tick off any faction enough, actually, and they may also put a price on your head for a while.

I'd also add some extra options, like a dueling ring, where players can step in and duke it out without outside intervention or the normal penalties of killing each other. And there'd be an actual ladder associated with it, too, for anyone that wanted to climb the ranks. Ladder matches could even accept items in a strongbox for the winner of the fight to claim.


--Death--
This is always a tricky part to me. Make it still be fun, but also a deterrant to being suicidal. Well, I do have an idea. See, in the original game, every so many Good Karma you get (exp) you got a single point of "Karma". This Karma could be used to influence rolls, or burned to help drastically. It could also be dumped entirely for a "Hand of God" that would save your character. So here's the idea:

As you accumulate Karma, the random number generator rolling your dice starts giving you small bonuses on your rolls. You succeed a little more often, basically, mostly focused on helping you avoid catastrophic failure. When you die, you burn some of that karma. The Good Karma (exp) is still there, but the bonus from Karma is reduced. You then respawn in your home. This is a choice, mind you. You can also wait for a player to try to revive you with some medtec skills (at reduced karma loss, depending on skill). You could also spend the money on a Doc Wagon contract, which respawns you in a hospital instead with a reduced amount of karma loss.

If you have no Karma to loose when you die, then one of two things happens depending on your total Good Karma (exp). Before a certain point, you'd be considered a newbie character and just sent home with no further penalty. Above that, it will give a Karma Debt. In essence a penalty to your rolls making you fail more often/spectacularly. That could be paid off with nuyen, by earning more Karma, or by just logging out for a while.

So in every case, you can still gain exp normally, still keep your gear, and your biggest possible obstacle will be travelling back. Meanwhile, the careful player can gradually build a decent bonus (it'd *have* to be capped).

--Factions--
Some was already covered, but I'll add in Factions and Reputation here. What you do will follow you throughout your virtual career. The difference is that you could actually get the chance to join them here. If you manage to join, then you gain access to a lot that factions special goodies, missions, etc. You also get an emblem you can display that you're part of that faction. Of course, if you betray a faction, you can expect some pretty harsh punishments from them if they get thier hands on you. So choose wisely. It can also affect Housing opportunities for yourself, your Team, or your Guild.


--Crime and Punishment--
And hey, what happens when the Star is after you? Not everyone is just out to kill you, after all. I'd add a jail system. If you got caught, you could try to bribe/fast-talk/mind-control the officers arresting you to let you go, or they could haul you in. Then you'd get a police record entry, and depending on what they busted you for maybe bail and walk, or try to break out (sneakily or violently). Or call a buddy NPC and have them get you out (at a loss of face with the NPC/faction). PCs could bail you, too. Or you could just decide to sit in the tank for a few hours (which would go on while logged out, too)

The point is that getting busted should be something to avoid. But if it happens, there should be some entertaining options, and always a way out for the poor broke friendless skill deprived guy.

--Where does it hurt?--
Ahh the old fashion Hit Points ideal. Not here. Everyone has the same basic survival. 1 bar of health, and 1 bar of stun. Both are equal across characters, and both are constant throught the game.

It's how those get hurt that determine the "tanks" out there. A character's stats and some other abilities will allow them to mitigate a certain amount of damage, which can vary for each hit. Armor and the like makes that go more in the character's favor.

The stun bar is damaged by non-lethal attacks like stunguns or fists. When it runs out, you pass out for a bit. Various enhancements can help with this. Once it's gone, those attacks will start hurting your health.

Magic does not use any sort of mana. Rather, it will drain your stun bar. Higher skill and certain attributes can help mitigate this, even to the point of no drain at all.

As either bar goes down, your character starts having trouble. They get penalties piled up on their "dice rolls". No more of the character at 1 hp being every bit as nasty on the attack as the character at full health. On the upside, this also applies to NPCs. This alone could radically change the current method of PvE in MMOs that always focuses on one at a time.

Stun bar naturally regains over time if you're not actively doing much, and recovers very quickly while resting. You are easier to hit while resting though and your combat pool has a lesser effect (see next section for pools)

Health has a lot of ways to heal. From first aid / Biotech skills to medical treatment, to just good old fashioned rest. It does not, however, recover nearly as quickly as Stun with just rest. And, as a side note, going home would restore your health and stun both.


--the Pools--
Combat Pool and Spell Pool.

Combat pool is a slider that adjusts how much effort you put into attack and how much for defense. More attack means you hit more often and likely do more damage, while defense helps you with dodging and absorbing incoming attacks.

Spell pool has 3 bars to allocate it on. 1 for attack with obvious results. 1 for Drain, which helps reduce the Stun bar hits from spell-casting. And 1 for Magical Defense which helps negate incoming spells against you and, optionally, your party.

--Guilds, Groups, and Teams--
Ahh, the multiplayer part. Finally, heh.

Groups of runners get better assignments. More lucrative offers will come for larger groups. And by that, I mean even after the value is divided among the PCs, each one still gets more per mission then they would solo. But, they'd also be harder to complete.

Teams would be a more permenant group. Once setup, the team as a whole can start to build a reputation. The team can get special contacts that only deal with groups, and only offer higher-stakes jobs. The team can also invest together to buy equipment, so they could easily pitch in for a vehicle or whatever. And thier reputation as a team will affect how other NPCs treat them, as an extra factor beyond just individual reputations.

Guilds are the next step up. These are the rare big boys. the runners that hit the big time. A guild builds off a team, and can start managing things on it's own. It can have it's own base of operations, which can include a lot of the hard-to-get crafting facilities. It could even hire it's own fixer to handle buying/selling of guild goods, or handing out guild bounties or missions. They could also hire NPC guards, from the lowly neighborhood gangs to the top-notch private security firms. Guilds can also setup in-house appartments for members.

There are, of course, a limited number places a guild can own. So there's going to be some fighting over them >:} Guilds can duke it out for control of these facilities. Different ones are fought over in different ways. The rougher parts of town have a knock-down drag-out brawl for control. But that's just not going to fly in Downtown. There it's a financial war of bidding to see who will get the contract for the place. Others will have virtual battles on the matrix to gain a hold of it. Some will require appeasing the spirits of the land it's on. And others will be faction-owned and offered to the guilds with the best reputation with that faction. Still others will hold a unique contest appropriate to the facility (like an across-town race for control of a vehicle garage).

--Player Housing--
I've a love-hate with this in most games. I love having it, hate the typical pain of maintaining it. So here's what I'd do:

Players can have appartments. These are instanced rooms/suites inside various buildings across town. They'd offer a lot of nice little bonuses. One already mentioned was full healing. Another is some storage ability. This is especially important since a character themselves can't carry just TONS of stuff. You could setup crafting labs in an apprtment also to do more advanced work. And you'd recieve a bonus on how quickly/easily you repair or refit various things. Like recharging the batteries on your shock-gloves.

You can decorate it, too. And yes, what you decorate with has more effects. Containers give more storage. Work areas make the matching skills easier. Comfort items help off-line skill progression go faster (easier to learn while relaxed). And some others are for fun, like a stereo would let you play music from the game or from a local mp3 folder. And, it's also just nice to have a place to sit when you invite friends over.

And yes, you'll be able to let other people into your appartment. By name, Team, or Guild you could restrict / grant access, or make it entirely public or private if you like. With a second permission set on being able to modify anything in it.

Everyone starts with a basic appartment in a ratty part of town. The place has a basic rent that is assumed to be paid by your character already. No maintenance needed. If you never want fancier, you're set.

Nicer places cost some money to upgrade to. When you get one, you have a couple options. You can pay a weekly (real time) rent which is auto-pulled form your account, or you can pay a much larger sum to just have it permenantly (you invested and pay the rent off the interest or somesuch). If you missed rent payments, rather then getting the boot, it'd go into debt. And while in debt, the appartment's bonuses (except healing) all act at progressively smaller percentage of normal capacity as you go deeper in debt, to a minimum of 10%. You could pay up, or downgrade to something affordable at your leasure.

--Pets--
Lots of types of "pets" in the game. Riggers could have drones, for instance, mages summon elementals, shamans call spirits, and deckers have utility programs in the matrix. And yes, if you have the skills / gear / magic required, you can have them all. At once. Of course, trying to control all that would be rather difficult

In addition, the awakened (magical) characters can also try to get a permenant pet called an Ally Spirit. The difference is that this pet costs Good Karma (exp). And has it's own faction standing with you. Lots of neat things they can do, like help with drain, or even fight/cast on thier own. You can also take control of them directly. But if you treat em rough, they won't like you. And if you get knocked out, and they don't like you, they can try to get free and then bye-bye good karma investment. And if they REALLY don't like you, they'll not only go free, but attack you. So be nice to your little buddy, mkay?

--GM events!--
In addition to the standard stuff to do, and whatever inter-Team and inter-Guild conflicts arise, there's got to be some GM action! I'd be trying to keep the number of servers down to as few as possible. Then I'd have a devoted GM team setup seperate from the in-game support staff that most GMs act as now. This new staff would just run events for players. And this is another area where character repuation comes into play.

See, they'd have access to the database to check on reputations. Then they'd run some of the events to involve large teams and guilds in the plot. Like if a Guild is in good with Lone Star, they could be contacted by a GM-played officer to help out. And always the plot moves onward with at least 1 story-event a month, prefferably 2-4. And they'd be at varying time of day to help include more people.

Also, I'd have a dynamic mission system in the game. It's already been done before, so I'll do it here. Allow GMs to setup various missions via NPCs that will last for a limited amount of time. This also has the bonus of letting them make more content on a lower budget

--------------------
If I think of more, I'll add it later =)

[TGBO]

And if you actually read through that entire last post of mine, you deserve a cookie!

[Ryain]

Originally Posted by TGBO

And if you actually read through that entire last post of mine, you deserve a cookie!

Well, I have to admit I started scrolling when I saw the novel. No cookie for me. I think I'll read it tonight or tomorrow, but I dont have enough time to read it before I'd have to go home But I will earn that cookie

It's pretty clear you've thought about this before though

[Bayle]

guys i am very impressed on many levels, for one it seems as though i drink the same water as you all... 8O i really had thought kotor wouldve made a better version of a mmorpg for star wars than swg did, and it also seemed more straight forward than swg is or was. the hacker theme would also be a good idea to flesh out, and then our buddy TGBO basically stole the words from my mouth, "if he likes the hacking theme, maybe he would like Shadowrun?" those books are very rare now, but were amongst the most entertaining books i had read to date. the dirty grimy city of awakened individuals, people jacking in, and noone is ever really what they seem to be. shadowrun is a very good scenerio for a mmorpg. the amount of detail put into TGBO's post makes me think you missed your call in life friend, you are the developer i wished we had.

i really do feel as though that niche in gaming has really been passed over, i played the little rpg for the Sega Genesis, but that really made me want soooo much more.

guys please keep the ideas coming, this has been a really neat thread to read through.





p.s. how do i get my cookie? and will it be a Tim Tam?

[TGBO]

Oooh, I dunno if I entirely missed my calling.... I do write software for a living. Though I if I get the chance to make the jump to the gaming industry someday, hey sounds good to me. In the meantime I'm going to keep working on my sketching skills and dream of the day Shadowrun gets a worthy computer version

And for cookies? I said you deserved a cookie! I, unfortuantely, am cookie-less myself

I uh, actually kinda wrote all that off the top of my head... But I've been playing MMOs and Shadowrun both since I was 18 (y'know, a whole 6 years ago) so I guess it's just been brewing in my mind

[TGBO]

SR MMO Round Two: A Greater Detail

mini-novel to follow

--Good Karma and how to burn it--
So, just how does one get this? Lots of ways. The first and most obvious is going to be combat. But no levels, so how do you govern what's "trivial"? Or a better question, "Do you need to"?

See, there's more then just combat for getting GK. Building something would get it. Interacting with NPCs in ways you haven't before would get some. Doing well in negotiations could net you a little. Pulling off a mission would you get some, and get even more if you did it without breaking any guidelines the Johnson gave you. Just plain surviving for a while when on-line would get you a trickle of GK if you're not in your apartment (since it's safe), so long as you're not doing something else that gives GK.

Lots of ways to get GK.

Unlike other games that do that sort of setup, I don't plan to divide it into different types of GK that can only be used in that area. You get GK, it goes into the pool with the rest, no matter how you got it.

Instead I'll give various skills and such a flag when you use them. A flagged skill can have good karma spent on it. After a period of time, the flag fades. You could also spend a little extra GK and force-flag something. But that would only work for the first few levels in the ability. Essentially it lets you have an easier time getting a foot in the door for a new ability, but if you want to get really good at it, you have to actually use it.

So back to How to determine how much you get from something. I'd do a combination of things on that. First, how challenging it is would determine the base amount you get. Compare your ability level to the opposing / target ability (like your Pistol Skill vs thier combat pool, or your Electronics skill vs. the MagLock's rating). The easier it is, the smaller the amount you get for a base. But then it's modified by success rate. If you do reeeally well, then you'll get a percentage bonus on that base. Likewise a huuuge failure is going to take a big chunk from it, but you can still get some. Yes, that's right, you can still make some small progress even in failure. The balance would be such that a challenge will also always give you more then something easy assuming average result against the challenge and great against the easy. In other words, you get more out of it for taking on a challenge, but you can still advance OK on easy stuff.

The idea is this: Ever log in for a while and feel like you got nowhere at the end of the night? I hate that. Hence this system is set so you can always gain something, and the more you work for it, the more you get. But even if you just log in, chat with some friends at the club, then log off, you still progressed. And for a lot of MMO players, making progress always adds to the fun of the game.

And from a business perspective: If my players are logging in, I want to reward them for that. I want them to keep logging in, because then they keep paying me

--More on NPCs--
What you're wearing will affect how they react. If you walk down the street in full *obvious* armor brandishing a Panther Cannon, expect the populace to run screaming and someone to call Lone Star (unless you work for them and have the badge displayed, then they'll trust you're a Cop on a mission and just avoid you). It always annoys me in game how people never bother to even holter a weapon when they walk into a resteraunt. Puts a real damper on any attempt at emmersion when you're trying to hold a pleasant conversation at the pub and you're both hold a sword in each hand.

Likewise, if you go into an uptown bar wearing a tanktop and bluejeans, they'll be asking you to leave, if they even let you in at all.

If you dress in a nice suit for the meet, then a Corporate Johnson will probably be a bit friendlier with you since you put on what the NPC believed to be an air of responsibility. If the Johnson was military, then combat fatigues might be better. Ganger? Street cloths. You get the idea.

--Cybertech--
Ooo this is a fun one. While there's a lot of things I could do with this, I think the simplest would be to treat it something like spells for the gameplay interface. Various bits of cyber give various abilities that you could trigger as actions. And some items will also have an effect on your character's appearance. If you get an obvious cyberarm, then it'll show on your character, but a synthetic would still look like the original flesh arm. A datajack will add a little plug behind your ear, while a sub-dermal one won't.

Cyber is generally treated just like the original game. Some boosts stats and abilities, others are triggered. When installing cyber, certain items can give you a choice of where to install it. This will mainly have an effect when you have cyberlimbs as you can install a variety of items in those to reduce the essence costs, but each only has so much space.

And yes, Essence. Since 0 essence means you're dead, and every item of cyber reduces your essence, the limit of cyber would have to be set to go no lower then 0.01 essence. Removing an item doesn't restore that though. It leaves a hole. A doc might be able to slowly repair that, though, with a costly procedure. Cyber also comes in various grades. The higher the grade, the more exspensive, but the less it costs in essence.

But what's to keep someone from just maxxing it to 0.01 essence? Again, NPC reactions. Your essence is like your life, soul, or humanity. As that goes lower, you start to seem less human. And gradually, NPCs will start to treat you that way. Most will have a negative reaction to heavy cyber. But some, mostly other cybers, will actually like you more. Sporting illegal cyber can have it's own set of problems, too. Expect places with good security to not let you in the front door if they scan it on you.

Lots of cyber also has a negative impact on your immune system. So the more you have, the weaker you are to any poison or disease attacks. There is some cyber that helps boost that resistance though, so you can help counter it if you want to spend some money and essence on it.

Also, cyber can degrade over time like any other gear, and must be maintained. If it falls behind, whatever bonus it provides starts to fade until you get it repaired.

--Bioware--
Basically acts the same as cyber, but with a few differences.

Rather then essence it *addS* to a bioindex. The max is bassed off your current essence, so no maxxing out cyber and bio both

The overall bonuses of bioware tend to be a little less, but they don't require constant maintenance, and are usually much harder to spot, so they don't tend to have the sort of NPC reaction effects Cyber gets. Heavy Bio changes has a bit heavier penalty against diseases though.

These also include a lot of cosmetic biowares that could be used to modify character appearance after creation. May not even bother making most of these cost BioIndex, since it's just looks.

Another thing to consider is that some Cybers and Bios do not work together, so there will also be some restrictions on those.

--Magic--
After all the cyberpunk tech goodies, now we move on to the mystic goodies.

There are two types of magic users. One is the obvious spell-casting type, the other is a Physical Adept that turns the magic inward.

A PhysAd would be able to divide thier magical power among several powers they can choose from. A lot of these can duplicate cyber abilities, while some others are unique. When choosing a power, you could add certain restrictions to it called Gasea (sp?). And those limits could be on either using it at all, or on it's effectiveness. The more severe the restriction, the less magic power it takes to get the ability. An example would be a greatly enhanced stealth skill power that only works at night. Thier various powers would basically act like Cyber for the interface and triggering them.

Spell casters work a bit different. They get some spell points to spend at the start, and can buy/create more spells later in the game. Spells have some options for limits as well, but thiers are more specific. Things like an exclusive spell that requires you not be doing anything else to cast and maintain it. Others would need a little physical fetish to focus on the spell. Or you can cast it straight. The restriction can be used to either lower the purchase cost, or to lower the drain the spell exacts when it's cast. And each spell can be cast at varying levels of power, up to the maximum learned. The more power you throw in, the nastier it'll be, but the more drain you'll suffer. You could set a default mode to cast at, too. So if you always wanted to cast a spell at max power, set it like so and then when you just trigger it, it casts that way. You could also set it to choose what you like when you cast. And I'd have the ability to setup hot-keys / command buttons in a bar for casting a spell at any given setting.

The power level can also have more direct effects. If you cast a spell at a level at or below your magic power, then it's stun drain. You *can* cast it higher, but then the drain is applied to your health bar rather then your stun bar.

Oh, and I forgot one other thing. Some spells require concentration to maintain, like an invisibility spell. As long as you're mainting a spell like this, all your other actions start getting more difficult, including casting more spells and resisting thier drain.

The real catch to magic is that it doesn't mix well with cyber and only a little better with Bio. As your essence falls, so does your magic power. So it becomes harder to cast powerfull spells. If it drops low enough you can actually loose your magic entirely. Naturally the game would give you warning about doing that sort of thing Bioware doesn't actually lower your magic permenantly, but it does prohibit using some of it as long as the bioware is installed. If you get it out, you could use your magic again.

--Interface--
First off, make it customizable to the extreme. For those that recall how flexible the updated EQ1 interface was, that's the starting point. Full in-game documentation would be available from a help menu, with an extra option that could be turned on/off to give extra help for each screen/window/gizmo.

Every command imaginable should be bindable to virtually anything. Macros would be able to do a few things in succession, but not call other macros or do enough to automate a character. Rather the purpose to allow you to tie a few actions together. Like drawing your gun, and yelling at the target.

And there'd be bars of hotkeys setup. You could have several out at once, too. Pretty normal stuff here as I think they tend to work well in games that have em.

The chat interface has to have multiple windows available, and multiple channels, including custom ones. This does cut out the normal benefits of comminications gear in game, but it makes it more fun to play when you're not tied down in talking to your buddies. Such gear could, however be given use in talking to NPCs, and even giving some small bonuses to group members that are outfited with them.

NPC interaction would have a list of options to choose from at junctures in the conversations. what options you get depends on your reputation, skills, knowledge, race, charisma, intellegence, and anything else I think up The thug character won't have the option to sweet talk the bouncer, but that attractive elf over there with some knowledge of the bar's owner could have several options to talk her way in. The thug, however, might get some intimidation options the elf would not.

Some other neat things I'd add:
Vocal pools. These are collections of sayings tied to different keys. when you hit the key, it randomly pulls one from the pool and your character says it. So you could have an array of taunts, or interesting exclamations, or greetings, or whatever you liked. It'd just read them from a file when you got ingame.

Swear Filter. But not the usual, again. Rather then just censoring what you say, it'd replace it with the closest in-character equivallent, like "You really saved my hoop!" or "Oh drek, we're in trouble".

Built-in voice chat utility compatability. I'd make the game so you could easily incorporate the popular voice-chat programs in if you like. Makes life easier on those that want to use it

Oh, and yes the interface would be skin-able.

[TGBO]

---More on Difficulty and GK--
Oh, one other thing to note on the GK gains and what not...

One thing you have to keep in mind is that in shadowrun, anything can be deadly. Nobody gets huge health bars that can just play meatshield. No PCs, nor NPCs. If a kid has a gun, he has a decent chance to hurt you, and maybe even a small chance to kill you. Point is, there's always a chance. So nothing is ever truely trivial. Some things are harder, but it's not like other games where you could just go back to starting area and stand there with everything trying to hit you and go afk for an hour without fear.

Therefore, everything can still give you some GK.

I'm not concerned about farmers, because I'd have a lot of instanced options, which I would generally make more attractive anyway.

--Phat Lewt--
Ahh, the staple of MMO material gains. Kill something and get loot. Well, it's going to be making more sense this go around.

If you kill a street thug, he'll maybe have some chump change, and whatever gear he was wearing. The gear will likely be damaged from the fight, but you can take it. Yup, everything they'd have can drop. There is one little catch though. You can only carry so much. Sure, you killed a whole gang, but how do you plan on carrying 7 uzis, 3 armor vests, 2 cyber arms, a pile of ammo, and a motorbike? Without drawing unwanted attention from the Law?

On the flip side, if they wouldn't have it, it won't drop. A devil Rat does not carry money in it's fur, nor does it have leet gear. However, you night be able to find someone offering a bounty on killing the pests, either in Nuyen, or article of gear for x amount killed.

The majority of the cash, however, will come from completing missions. People want to pay you to do things, and it pays a lot more then mugging people. And you can get nicer gear (that's in good shape even!) as part of your payment for a run then you could normally get by randomly geeking people on the street.

Side bonus of this? Camping doesn't help you advance nearly as well as the dynamic content. Don't sit there waiting for spawns, get out and DO something. Prefferably with other players since it pays even better. Not to mention being safer in numbers.