By ''Romantic interest'' I am talking about a BG2 style of romance, but it could have a much bigger impact on the story, opening up whole new endings etc (when you think about it your partner makes a big difference to your life, a fact that a lot of games seem to overlook). I was not talking about a totally romantic oriented RPG.

One the whole mercinary thing, consider two different players:

Player 1: Is only intersted in killing and loot, spends the whole game fighting and aquiring treasure by any means. None of the NPC''s like him. This is ''in character'' for a mercinary''

Player 2: Has talked to NPC''s and done them favours, and is currently in a relationship with a seven foot amazon and the head of the assasins guild owes him a favour. He may not have as much loot, or be as strong as player 1, but he can call in help. This is probably in chracter for some kind of heroic adventurer type.

I think the idea I was trying to get across with this is that the player chooses the role they want to play in the game through their actions, rather than selecting a role and trying to force the player into it. In game terms this could mean that you have a list of words that describe your personality traits. This list would start off blank and be filled in as your character interacts with others (e.g. your character could be described as rude, cowardly and miserly). This list would affect how other characters interact with you and effectivly replace your reputation stat. For instance the town moneylender would be much more friendly toward you if you had a reputation as a bit of a miser, and you would be much more likely to get a job in the royal guard if you have a repuation for being loyal to the king and a good fighter, and the local sherif would take more of an intrest in you if you start getting a reputation as a theif.

Stuart