Perhaps to get your weighting system for what advances the story (since you have to have numbers in there somewhere), you could start with a basic template:
(just ideas, of course
Story points:
- Is a logical action for character type - +5
- Will reveal information heretofore unknown - +1
- Will steer the player toward humorous/cool event or setting - +2
and so on.
Then you ask the player either outright, or through some leading questions (a la Daggerfall) to define what they like. They may choose to weight for more violence, for humor, for mystery, for surprise, roleplay, etc.
Then you mix ''em all up and write an engine (heh, I can barely write ''Hello world!'' in C++) to analyse the choices in various scenarios, and award the points. A player chooses a path in conversation, a direction at a crossroads, whether or not to kill someone, and gets points accordingly.
Periodically, you advance the character in some fashion and let the player know it (in whatever way you please - stats, NPC reactions, whatever). What would be really cool would be if there was a database of the actions chosen, and you could hear about them in conjunction with the advance - ie, "We have heard of the nobility of your actions, saving the girl from the wolves, sparing the life of that troll in WeenerTown, and so we present you with the Halberd of Cheesy Goodness!"
ideas, ideas.
- gollumgollum
