I'm planning on making a more user involved RPG game. By user involved I am saying that I want to add more to combat than just hack and slash ( Use mouse/touchpad to do weapon attacks, similar to daggerfall but to a greater degree including parrying and such as it is in Thief. I think this concept will add a lot more to the combat aspect.), add things like trap laying ( Even a simple trip line by tying a rope to two trees could make for a great advantage in an ambush for instance. I don't think I'm going to try for complex traps just simple rope and maybe logfall style. ) , and I think that adding magic similar to black and whites method of using the mouse to draw a rune in the air for casting would be a huge improvement.

In a different area of the game the AI.
I realize it is too hard to make a truly great AI for every monster and npc in the game. What I plan to do is have each time a monster kills an PC have its kill counter go up at a certain number of kills it will gain to a level of 1 or more if it gets more kills or better kills. at this point it will get a better algorithym and a memory area depending on its level so the ones that do really good can become accual forces in the game, maybe even add recruiting to there skills at a certain level( make it possible for an orc or something to become an orc chieftain sort of.
I think that over time this would make some nice enemies in the game and give real incentives to go on a dragon hunt after a high level one (hoards can be made from kills treasure. Ultima did this for a little while and it was decent, went about it wrong though.) : hoards and xp values would get larger over time.

also though this would be hard to add I want to add Trees as a true part of the terrain, not just obstacles. I think climbing would add something for archers, and some monsters.
I believe thats why archers have never been very good in most games, they haven't been able to use terrain to their advantage.
I would also have to make fireballs and torchs burn trees(could be chancy even if they can't climb hehe).

If you have any ideas or refinements on mine please tell me. I want to get it as good as I can.

By the way I am planning to program an RPG with some of these concepts if you would like to help I am under the Announcements Page (Newbie programmers are welcome.)!

it sounds as though you are on the same track as i am.

i am working on a game system that has many 'new ideas' such as those that you have mentioned.

more details later, as i am still doing preliminary design/planning documents (and some of my original idea may need to be pruned due to technical limitations).

the most dramatic thing that i am going to change is the whole system of hitpoints and levels. i despise seeing a warrior get stomped on by a dragon and living to talk about it. 1-4 hitpoints is considered in AD&D 2nd Ed. to be "the average human". notice that the damage for a dagger falls into this category (one dagger hit, as in reality, could indeed kill someone). this brings up the idea of having target areas on the body. getting stabbed in the thigh, for instance, will most likely not kill you, however it will slow you down quite a bit.
not to mention the bleeding factor. perhaps we should talk about some of these ideas in another forum (such as email). im not sure where you stand in relation to actually completing a project, but im sure that we could learn from each other.

cheers
drtremmie