Bay 12 Games Forum

Well... it could run on Low AND High magic...

Everyone gets low magic if they are lucky

And Wizards, gods, and Ultimate Creatures/items get high magic

It's not the difference in power, it's the difference in frequency. Magic isn't extraordinary and amazing anymore if every stable boy does it - it becomes just a part of physics then.
An additional problem with common magic is the effect on the economy: that's going to be quite different from a medieval economy if teleportation, haste or create <whatever> are commonly practised magical procedures.

If a classification is useful:

Infanticidal
Abandoning   
Ambivalent
Intrusive
Socializing
Helping

http://www.geocities.com/kidhistory/modesw.htm

Combining some ideas: Nobles currently have rising demands according to their status. Let there be a chance for them to ask for something anytime their (or their house's) status warrants extra wealth, step-by-step. They could for example start with asking a chest, then a finely decorated chest, then a masterpiece chest, then a masterpiece silver chest, etc. Not in any particular order, but a random, more expensive type within the range of values appropriate for their status.

This would require the dwarves to remember and retain their demands. If their status drops, however, those trinkets remain in their possession. The corollary is that they won't ask for more stuff until their (or their house's) status rises above their former greatness (though occasionally they might relinquish the ownership of an item and demand a replacement of similar value). As a result the shifting balance of power doesn't simply require rearrangement of the furniture, but an ongoing expansion of resource extraction and industry, serving as an in-game need for expansion, more colonies, deeper mines, etc... stories of greed and industriousness, indeed! Strike the earth!

Vermin. Otherwise, it would be a popular place to commit suicide.

Just bringing this article under attention:

Character attributes in role-playing games
http://hiddenway.tripod.com/articles/attrib.html

It will be very useful when reconsidering the attribute system. For the reluctant readers: there is a list of common attributes at the bottom of the article.

* It would be interesting if the user could highlight a noble and hit (o) to (o)verthrow them. Of course, if this occured unsuccessfully, the player might face the hammerer's wrath.

I'm all for immersive gameplay, but this goes a bit too far.

Seriously, it would be a good thing if nobles were a bit more effective in enforcing their demands. Seizing goods is good - you can always make new stuff. Giving the only armorer in the fortress -effectively- a death sentence because the noble really wants gauntlets, is counterproductive. Dragging him to the forge with a guard on both sides until it's finished, is better. The best would be if the armorer in question actually cared whether the noble demanded something (for fear of fines/eviction/demotion/..), and actually hurried up production because of it. Right now punishments for unmet demands are just random violence.

Which brings me to an important point: nobles don't terrorize their subjects without consequences. They fulfill functions: they are placeholders for the king and as such they organize and lead the defense, exert justice and protect the wellfare of the land and the economy. The populace in turn serves in the military, abide by the law and pays taxes. If the noble doesn't fulfill his part of the deal, they don't. And it's always possible to appeal to higher authority, in this case the king, to remove the offending noble. Nobles that act like a blood-sucking parasite exist, but they are rare, and don't last long.

Sliding walls and secret doors would fit on the list too. Isn't boiling oil already mentioned?

It would also be great to be able to combine a pressure plate and a trap/trapdoor on the same square, or to have a weapon spring out of an adjacent wall.

Introducing moving engines in the game will have unforeseen consequences. Look at what happened with the industrial revolution. If implemented at all, steam power should require a steel-plated engine chamber hollowed out in granite or something like that, so they could exist as a local oddity in fortresses with too much coal (ha!).