Ironically i got this idea on the basis of the general ideas for the battlefields in <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/beyond.gif" alt="" />.
I.e they are optional and they take place in another world.
I will explain in a minute.
First imo guilds in general do not need to have the same no of members or be as large as one another. i feel that personally that there should be 2 large guilds..the mages and fighters guild.
The others: theives,archers,merchants,assassins and any other guilds should be smaller.
Also in almost every other rgp game each guild is at war with each other...in <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/div.gif" alt="" /> however i dont think this should take place...indeed i think that each guild should have "outside " problems..i.e problems which do not involve stealing,questing against other guilds.
The only restriction i would have is that you cant be in more than three guilds.
Now for each guild you would need to be to have certain attributes...
Not anything big but say you wanted to join the fighters guild..you would need minimium strength of say 30.
Archers should have say a minimium of say 5 skill points in the bow/crossbow expertise e.t.c.
Now you will have merchants in the guilds but i dont think that they should necesserily carry better stuff than anybody else...id say that they are us like any other merchant.
The real advantage of joining a guild is that you get quests and exerpeinces/rewards from them.
Now for the larger guilds there would be factions....i.e specialised fighters..eg. barbarians,knights and paladins.
When you would speak to a knight he would say " those paladins...if you wanted to pray to god so much they should go to a church!!!" Or of the barabians "They remind me of pigs,its all well to wander the world...but a real fighter needs to earn a living".
I.e they would be tensions between the groups.
Whenever you do a quest it will take place in another world...e.g you talk to the leader of the barbarians then he would say...i need a strong man to storm a outpost and get me a sacred helmet"
So when yu are ready he opens up a portal and says " these men will help you" and 10 men come in and help you obtain the helment.
In the mages guild you would have the factions of necromency,wizardary and say druidary.
But in any case i think that the quests should greatly vary between guilds.
So in the assassin guild...you would need to aviod detecion...like in <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/beyond.gif" alt="" /> act 4 where you have to avoid the shadows of statutes or you are teleported back to the saring point.
The archery guild could ask you to take part in and archery contest when you have proven yourself to them.
