TOWN/VILLAGE GAME MECHANIC

If you want to implement a reputation system, I'd definitely consider making the dialogue of many, if not all random citizens change depending on how highly regarded you are in that location. Making the player feel like their deeds are actually acknowledged by other characters in the game, rather than being repaid with some shiny prize and then forgotten about forever, will make interacting with NPCs feel much more rewarding.

(If you'd like assistance implementing this sort of system on the writing side of things, I'd be happy to offer my services.)

author=Jess24
Also, try it would be great to have "dialogue challenges", where instead of fighting, you are given a dialogue tree and you have to select the "right" choice to get what you want. You can base them on the INT, LUCK or STR stats (or your game equivalent), so the more intelligent your character is the more options they get (or less options they get, so they have a higher chance to get the right choice). EX: you have to get certain item from an NPC known to be a coward. You can Intimidate it (STR), Bluff him (LUCK) or reason with him (INT).

Personally, I'm not a fan of games with an INT stat which affects options in gameplay. Whereas things like strength and dexterity and stamina are totally distinct from personality, intelligence is very intertwined with how an individual behaves.

When a character's statistical "intelligence" isn't a factor in how they respond to in-game dilemmas, as a designer, you're free to either make them blank slates for the player to project onto, or distinctly written characters with their own unique personalities. Making part of their personality beholden to their statistics takes some of that power out of both the player and the designer's hands.

The fact that video game characters often see their "intelligence" spike through the roof over the course of their games, without a corresponding change in how they act, is also one of my least favorite invocations of Statistically Speaking, which is why I favor replacing it with a Magic stat.

Making options depend both on reputation and on stats is, I think, also liable to overcomplicate matters. At least in Eastern style RPGs, where the protagonists tend to grow comprehensively rather than in a few specific parameters you choose to focus on, once a character reaches a significant level, compared to an ordinary person, all their stats can probably be lumped together under the heading of "high." If the locals know you're badass enough to slay the Marauding Gorilla-Dragon, then the technicality of your Strength stat probably isn't going to matter to them.

I think that reputation alone is probably sufficient to create an interesting and in-depth experience in towns. Whereas a lot of existing games implement a "reputation system" which is essentially a spectrum where your reputation is either good or bad, in a slightly less open game (which doesn't allow you to influence your reputation by, say, slaughtering random NPCs and such,) you can implement it as a system of event triggers where NPCs take note of and respond to the specific things you've done.

author=Proteus
That kind of reminds me of similar mechanics in Heavy Rain, and, more recently, The Wolf Among Us. It's a lot of fun to play, but when I think more on it, dialogue challenges might not exactly fit the theme of my game. Though if someone made like a detective/horror game or something, it could be fit really well. (I figure amazons might always resort to beating answers out of someone.)

This got me thinking about a reputation system more. I don't want it to become like a "good or evil" kind of thing, like in Infamous, but you could add that axis to add more options. For example, you're not very well known, but are known for doing good, which could open more options to you than if you're more well established and have a mixed record. Also I was thinking you could add to reputaition just by entering and exiting a town (raising it by a small amount), or talking to key figures. Getting well known could make shop owners want to give you bargains (or sell to you at all...), but could close options in quests, such as sneaking into a pub unnoticed.

I think that having your reputation in a town go up simply by entering and exiting is liable to be immersion breaking for a lot of players; if the player realizes they can become recognizable to some of the locals just by popping in and out of the town entrance without actually talking to anyone, it won't feel like the reputation increase is a logical consequence of their actions. Tying it in to talking to key figures in town makes more sense.

You might organize towns in the game into "regions," where your reputation in a region propagates somewhat between towns ("Aren't you the ones who thwarted the Mouse Apocalypse in Billesville?") but your reputation doesn't propagate much between regions, so once you enter a new one (at least until you start becoming really famous,) you start as something of an unknown quantity again.

If you want me on board to help add content to the game, I'd be happy to take part.