This idea has been bouncing around my head for days, and I get so excited thinking about it. It would be something like this:

Every character in the game is their own loot dropper, containing a randomized amount of guild-specific and generalized objects that exist within a separate inventory that they cannot(1) access.

If you have played the Elder Scrolls Online and stolen from an NPC, this will be very familiar.

For instance, if you steal from an Empath, you might come away with a few Empath-specific items, such as a roll of fresh gauze, or a small packet of potent herbs(2). From a Ranger, maybe a pouch of bait. From a Bard, a stylized instrument pick, or a half-finished song scroll. Necromancers and Thieves would have items from their pretend guild, as well as simply have a higher chance of you nabbing an item from the "general" collection, things that can't be tied to any specific guild, but that an adventurer would sensibly have about their person. Order members could have another pool to draw their loot from as well.

The possible items someone might have could be influenced by their circle within their guild, or their position within an Order. Nabbing an expense report from an Order's Treasurer, for instance! For some guilds, a lot of the items would be information, slips of paper and things, more so than baubles and trinkets.

To make money, you could complete sets and turn them in to the pawnshop. Trader's Guild Circle 1-15 set, made up of 5 items that are only stealable from Traders of that circle. The higher ranking the collection, the more payout you get.

To manage inventory, and to make completing sets possible for F2P characters with limited inventory, the items would not be "real" after being stolen from. Instead, they would be checked off a list.

> recall collections trader

You recall you have pilfered the following items from traders:
1) A contract with juicy details about Lady Magen's finances
2) A coded list of inventory
3) ---
4) ---
5) ---

You need three more to complete this collection (worth 5 platinum kronar).

Roleplaying benefits! Community benefits! Since you are not longer stealing another player's hard-earned (or easily-earned) items or coin, no one is hurt by being targeted. There would be no reason to be locked Open for stealing these items - but there would still be danger of being caught and attacked by your victims. If someone has no interest in PvP, they could simply cuff your ear and turn you in to the authorities, without feeling like they are being forced into a conflict they want no part of. They lost literally nothing by being stolen from with this system, and would have no reason to be upset or frustrated by it happening to them. But they can pretend to have lost something and retaliate how they see fit, as the thieves would be locked to Guarded and, being the instigators, would have given consent to battle with that particular person. And any nearby Paladins, perhaps?

Paladins! What could they have or do to make this all more fun for everyone?

What about non-Thieves? People outside of the Thieves guild would be able to partake, of course! Maybe they don't get as big a bonus from the pawnshop? Maybe they can take their filled collections somewhere else? Or maybe its the exact same and if they're stealing things from people they can live with the concept of selling the information to a shady source!

What about coins? You could still steal coins. Nothing changes there. I personally would prefer that players opt-in to having their coins stolen, the same way they opt-in to PvP, since it has been said time and time again that stealing coins is considered a PvP attack.

What about gems? Same as above.

What about the economy? Would it be too easy to fill collections and turn them in? Could you fill a collection by stealing from the same person over and over? There would have to be a balance of some kind. A timer between stealing an item from the same person, or something like that. Or have collections be worth more depending on who is turning them in.

Ideally, this sytem would help lower-level players catch up, and dis-encourage higher-level players from "mining" newbies for quick cash. It needs to strike a balance between slow, risky, and rewarding. A high-level player should be able to have fun with it, without feeling ripped off, and without their money sky-rocketing into hundreds and thousands of plats. And a low-level player should be able to have fun with it, without being too put off by the difficulty of completing a collection.

And as for the items to steal, I think that would be a fun community drive, to come up with them. There could even be alterers that change your general loot pool to more personalized items. Steal mementos from friends, family, and enemies! That's getting maybe too far ahead of myself, but that's what ideas are for!



(1) It would be neat if they could access it, and have a little reserve of RP props.

(2) I couldn't think of non-healing items an Empath might have, don't hate me for implying they're all healing types! Empaths are scary...

That's my story, and I'm sticking to it!